Chapter 10: All the food and grass are gathered together
Chapter 10: All the food and grass are gathered together
On the tower in An City, Li Bi looked at the chaotic battle situation outside the city. He was already anxious. If Yan Tai had not ordered people to stop him, he would have rushed out of the city to rescue the people outside the city.
Yan Tai also saw the fighting outside, but he only strictly ordered the defenders to strengthen their defense. Without his military orders, no one was strictly prohibited from opening the city gate and leaving the city. Yan Tai knew that the Qi army most wanted to escape from the city at this time. In that way, in the city
The heavy armored cavalry and strong bows and crossbows of the Qi army can be used to their maximum effectiveness. In addition, the Qi army has a superior strength over the coalition forces, and it is more likely to encircle and annihilate the Qin army. The grain and grass outside the city and the tens of thousands of Qin and Chen troops,
Perhaps it was just a bait deliberately left by the Qi army to lure him out of the city for rescue. Then the Qi army would swarm up and fight the Qin army decisively.
Although Li Bi was furious, he was blocked by Yan Tai's men and could not leave the city. Li Bi pointed at Yan Tai and cursed, pulled out his sword and wanted to kill Yan Tai, but Yan Tai raised his head and stretched his strength, allowing Li Bi to kill him.
Li Bi reluctantly put away his sword and looked anxiously outside the city.
Yan Tai saw that Li Bi was no longer as angry as before, so he stepped forward and said: "Prince, please calm down. It's not that the general will not save him in the face of death, but he is greedy for life and afraid of death. It is actually that the general wants to guard An City and does not dare to send troops easily. Prince, please see, this is
There are hundreds of thousands of Qi and Chu troops outside the city. Looking at the two wings from a distance, there are still Qi troops who have not moved, just waiting for us to leave the city. If we defend the city, we may be able to hold on for a while. If we leave the city
If we fight the Qi army in a decisive battle, we will inevitably fall into the Qi army's trap. The Qi army is accustomed to charging with heavy armored cavalry and injuring people with crossbows. Once we leave the city and are exposed to the Qi army, how can our light cavalry and infantry stop the Qi army?
The impact will not be broken at the first touch. By then, there will be no defenders in the city, and the Qi army can attack the city at will. I hope the prince will understand the difficulties of the general!"
Li Bi let out a long sigh after hearing this, turned to look at Yan Tai, and asked feebly: "General Yi Lao, what should we do? Are we just going to watch tens of thousands of people being slaughtered by the Qi army outside the city of Mazai, and watch Lun
Did the grain and grass fall into the hands of the Qi army?"
Yan Tai gritted his teeth, looked up at the outside of the city, and then said to Li Bi: "Prince, it depends on how you dig it. Either we will lose all our people and food, or we will lose our food to protect our people. Now call the gold to retreat and let Xing
If the general gives up food and grass, tens of thousands of troops will still have a chance to enter the city; if there is a further delay and the Qi army's heavy armored cavalry charges several times, our troops will be in chaos and will no longer be able to organize. At that time, we can only let the Qi army divide and encircle and annihilate
, Not to mention that all the food and grass are lost, there are not many men and horses left."
Li Bi walked to the battlements of the city wall, held the wall with his hands, and looked anxiously outside. The battle situation outside the west gate was just as Yan Tai said. The heavy armored cavalry of the Qi army charged back and forth, intending to separate the Chen army and the Qin army. Only the Qin army
After the army and Chen army were wiped out, the grain and grass naturally belonged to the Qi army, so the Qi army allowed the grain and grass vehicles to park in the formation, but no one went to snatch them. However, the Qin army and the Chen army kept trying to get close to the grain and grass convoy to take back the grain and grass.
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Li Bi hesitated for a moment, but still felt unwilling to do so, and said to Yan Tai: "General Yan, I know what you said is absolutely true, but I still feel unwilling to do so. Give me 3,000 men and I will rush out of the city to respond.
General Xing and the others will take back as much food and grass as they can when they return to the city!"
Yan Tai shook his head and said: "Your Highness, if you are surrounded by Qi's army, I can only abandon the city and save you with all my strength. What's the difference between that and abandoning An City now? If the prince insists on fighting with Qi,
As soon as the army fights, I will send an order right away, and the whole army will assemble and leave the city together. If the battle is won, we will win. If we lose, we will abandon Ancheng and retreat to Xianyang."
Li Bi was speechless after hearing Yan Tai's impassioned words. He could only nod his head and said to Yan Tai: "Then let the old general pass the order!"
After Yan Tai heard what Li Bi said, he acted neatly and immediately issued an order to ring gold at the top of the city. At the same time, all the archers were ready to respond.
Xing Yuxing was fighting in the formation when he suddenly heard the sound of golden gongs in An City and the change of flags on the city, which was a signal to withdraw his troops and return to the camp. Xing Yuxing also knew that there was no point in fighting anymore, so he quickly retreated to the city while the Qin army could still organize.
This was the best policy. So Xing Yuxing gave instructions to the soldiers around him, and then they split up to pass on the military orders and retreat together towards Ancheng.
Wang Xianquan also saw the changing of flags in Ancheng and the sound of gold ringing. He knew that he wanted to withdraw his troops and return to the city, so he ignored the provisions and ordered his men to withdraw to Ancheng.
The Qi army and the Chu army also saw the intention of the Qin army and the Chen army to retreat, but they did not try their best to stop them. They just charged and killed them for a while, then allowed the Qin army and the Chen army to retreat to the bottom of the city, and then retreated into the city one by one.
The Chu army's camp outside the west gate was full of dead and wounded from both sides, as well as countless grain and grass carts. The Qi army was on guard against the Chu army, while they were sorting out the battlefield, collecting the wounded and captured Qin troops, and the Chen army surrendered.
soldiers; while driving all the food and grass behind.
Li Bi was on the city tower, watching the Qi army shouting and jumping with joy outside. He was secretly angry in his heart. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and hit the city wall hard. The wall bricks were smashed, and Li Bi's fists were filled with blood.
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Xing Yuxing and Wang Xianquan took the Qin generals who were escorting the grain and grass to the city to see Li Bi. When they talked about the battle in the past half day, they were all upset and scolded King Wuyou for his cunning military tactics.
At this time, in the commander's tent of the Qi army, the generals have received good news. The battle outside the west gate has ended. Nearly 20,000 Qin and Chen troops were killed and wounded, more than 10,000 enemies were captured, and countless grain and grass supplies of the Qin army were intercepted.
Listening to the good news from the generals on all sides, King Wuyou also nodded and chuckled.
King Wuyou, Huo Yuan and others had already made arrangements to intercept the Qin army's food and grass this time. First, they asked Dongfang Yi to send an order to the Chu army, deliberately blocking it slightly, and then let the Qin army break through the camp defenses and go to Jiudaoling.
The captured Qin army confessed and learned the Qin army's response signal. As soon as night fell, the Qi army who reinforced the west gate from other places extended the Chu army's camp ten miles to the west.
When the Qin army began to break through the Chu army's camp at noon the next day, the Chu army's camp was already ten miles deeper than the previous day. However, Xing Yuxing was eager to rush into the city and did not pay attention. When the Chen army in the city attacked, he
The Qin Army convoy they encountered was disguised as the Qi Army and deliberately attacked and killed the Chen Army; while the Jiaocheng Army led by Wang Tianyuan also pretended to be the Chen Army and deliberately robbed and killed the Qin Army escorting grain and grass. When the Chen Army and
The Qin army transporting food actually met, and the two sides had been fighting for a long time. The three parties could no longer tell each other clearly. The Chen army was still fighting with the Qin army in front of them, but the Qin army who had just arrived did not know why, and also fought with the Chen army in front of them.
, Qi Jun fought to the death.
When Xing Yuxing separated to fight the Chen Army and the Qin Army, the Qi Army's crossbowmen and heavy armored cavalry were also ready. First, they used arrows and crossbows to injure the Chen Army, and then the heavy armored cavalry charged back and forth, disrupting the Qin Army and Chen Army. The Chu Army
Divide the Qi army from both sides and encircle and annihilate them.
Huo Yuan commanded 20,000 Yue troops to ambush on both sides of the Chu army's camp. He only waited for the Qin army in Ancheng to attack to rescue them and cut off their retreat. However, the Ancheng garrison saw the intention of the Qi army and refused to send troops. Huo Yuan
Yuan and his ambush troops were not put to use.
King Wuyou's intention is very simple, that is, to use these grains and grass as bait to lure the Qin army out of the city, so that they can fight the Qin army outside the city. Yan Tai defends the city, and the Qi army's attack on the city will not be effective for a while, but if the Qin army abandons
If they leave the city and fight decisively outside the city, the Qi army's advantage can be brought into full play. Defeat the Qin army in one fell swoop and capture Ancheng. Seeing that the Qin army refused to leave the city, they gave up their food and grass and captured the Qin army outside the city.
He and Chen Jun retreated into the city, and King Wuyou allowed them to enter the city. Because King Wuyou knew that the more people and horses in the city, the more food and grass would be consumed, so the food and grass in the city would be exhausted very quickly.
The Qin army still had only one way to break out of the encirclement. The Qi army could intercept and kill the Qin army when it broke through, which would achieve twice the result with half the effort.
The Qi army divided the grain and grass into one part of each battalion, and the rest was transported to the Qi army's camp outside the east gate of An city. The Qin army on the city watched the Qi army divide the grain and grass, but they were helpless. This time the battle outside the west gate
, the Qin army and the Chen army lost no less than 30,000 to 40,000 troops, but gained nothing.
Only then did Li Bi realize that when he led 30,000 troops into Ancheng easily, he actually entered the Qi army's pocket. Ancheng was now a prison, and the Qi army wanted to use it to imprison tens of thousands of Qin troops.
The Qin State sent troops to rescue them, so that they could fight the Qin army outside the city, turning the Qin army's position in the city into a laborious attack, while the Qi army waited for work.
Li Bi looked at the generals in the hall and saw that everyone had sad faces. Although there were nearly 100,000 people in the city at this time, they had less than three days of food and grass. Conflicts between the people and the soldiers in the city continued to break out.
No one was willing to do anything for the defenders. They gathered outside the military camp all day long. Whenever they saw the Qin army having a meal, they tried to rush into the camp to fight for food.
The dullness in the hall was broken by Wang Xianquan, the leader of the Chen Army. Wang Xianquan also saw that the defenders in the city and the newly arrived Qin Army generals were already quite resentful of defending the city, and felt that it was better to break out of the encirclement than to defend Ancheng here.
and retreated to defend Xianyang. However, the generals of the Qin Army were afraid of the King of Qin's will to defend Ancheng, so no one dared to propose a breakout. As a general of the Chen Army, he was a guest army, so there was no harm in proposing it, not to mention that Wang Xianquan was not willing to fight for Qin in vain.
He risked his own life and that of his 30,000 men.
Wang Xianquan clasped his fist at Li Bi and said: "Your Highness, all our food and grass have been captured by the Qi army at this time. There is not much food left in the city, and it is estimated that the food and grass will be exhausted soon. If we continue to hold on like this and wait for death, we might as well take advantage of it.
Now, rush out of the city and retreat to Qin for other purposes."
After hearing Wang Xianquan's suggestion, the generals in the hall nodded one after another. Although they did not dare to respond loudly, they were all discussing in whispers. Of course, Li Bi also knew that within three days, the food and grass in the city would be cut off, and the soldiers would have no food to eat.
At that time, there is no need for the Qi army to attack the city. I am afraid that the morale of the army will be weakened and internal strife will occur, and Ancheng will be lost.
Li Bi looked at the generals who were whispering among each other, and then at Yan Tai. Yan Tai just stood aside proudly and said nothing.
Li Bi had no choice but to say to the generals: "Ancheng is very important, so the King of Qin strictly ordered us to hold on and block the connection between the Qi army and the Hanzhong army. If we withdraw from Ancheng, all the southeastern part of our Qin Kingdom will be lost. The Qi army
We will march straight in and press Xianyang from the south and east, and even the state of Chen will be exposed to the Qi army's attack."
After that, Li Bi glanced at the generals and continued: "But all the grain and grass shipped this time were looted by the Qi army. There is not much grain and grass left in my city. If we continue to hold on, one hundred thousand horses will have no rice left."
Cooking. The people in the city often starve to death every day. As time goes by, the people just die in vain."