Burn the boat and break the cauldron, and move forward indomitably!
This method of warfare was not invented by Xiang Qu, but was already recorded in the Art of War left by Sun Tzu Wu.
And in actual military battles, famous generals also used it.
For example, in the past, Duke Mu of Qin sent General Meng Mingshi to attack the Jin State in order to avenge the defeat of Xiaoshan.
Meng Ming set fire to the river and cut off his retreat. In the end, the Qin army marched forward bravely and defeated the Jin army, avenging its previous humiliation.
Decades ago, Bai Qi, Lord Wu'an of the Qin State, also used this method of warfare to attack Chu.
The Qin army went deep into the Chu territory alone. Bai Qi ordered the demolition of bridges and burning of ships along the way to show his determination to fight to the death.
In the end, Bai Qi led the Qin army, marched straight in, captured Yanying of Chu, and achieved world-shattering feats.
Now, after the Chu general Xiang Qu led his army across the river, he also ordered his people to burn the ships, indicating that the Chu army had no way to retreat and could only survive by defeating the Qin army in front and winning, thereby stimulating the bravery of the soldiers to fight.
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The reality was just as Xiang Qu expected. Inspired by such tactics, the 20,000 Chu troops were all enthusiastic, roaring and rushing towards the Qin army camp ten miles away.
The five thousand Qin troops stationed here were the first enemy they faced. After the Chu army defeated them, they could take advantage of their victory to attack and take Zhuyi directly.
The red flag was fluttering, and everyone's face was as red as blood.
The 20,000 Chu troops, ranging from the general Xiang Qu to the common soldiers, were all holding their breath and preparing to unleash their fury on those Qin troops.
Kill the Qin people!
Tear them apart!
Drive the Qin army out of Chu!
However, when the Chu soldiers arrived at the Qin army camp ten miles away, full of anger and fighting spirit, the scene in front of them stunned them all.
There was no expected Qin army to defend the camp, nor was there the imagined offensive and defensive battle. Even the black Qin flag originally planted on the Qin army's camp was taken down.
The blood-red red flag hung high, announcing that this camp had long been owned by the Chu army.
In front of the gate of the camp, Chu army deputy general Jing Tong was leading a group of generals, waiting helplessly for the strange army led by Xiang Qu.
"Zitong? You actually broke through the Qin camp?"
Xiang Qu was extremely surprised.
You must know that there are five thousand Qin troops camped here. They guard along the river and take advantage of the geographical advantage.
As long as the Chu army crosses the river here, it will be attacked by the Qin army halfway across the river. Even if Jingtong has ten thousand people, twice the number of the Qin army, it will be difficult to successfully capture the camp.
Therefore, Jingtong's unit was only a sheep attack in the plan, specifically to contain the 5,000 Qin troops here, so as to cover Xiang Qu's crossing of the river from the lower reaches.
He, Xiang Qu, is the killer move in this battle plan.
Unexpectedly, Xiang Qu, who was the trump card, rushed over with his troops excitedly, only to find that the camp had been captured by Jing Tong, who was in charge of the sheep attack. This result did not surprise him.
Jing Tong said awkwardly: "General Xiang, the number of Qin troops in this camp may only be about a few hundred. When our army began to cross the river to attack, they abandoned the camp and fled. So this camp..."
It takes no effort at all to get it.
Jing Tong didn't say anything anymore because he was embarrassed.
Xiang Qu led 20,000 people to brave the cold wind in the middle of the night and took a ten-mile detour to cross the river from the lower reaches. As a result, the Qin army in the camp had no intention of defending and simply fled without fighting.
From this point of view, can Xiangqu just cross the river directly from here without taking people to take a detour?
Xiang Qu's face turned blue and he was angry.
However, he quickly regained his composure and noticed the important message in Jing Tong's words.
"You said there are only a few hundred Qin troops in camp here?"
Jing Tong nodded and said: "Of course, according to previous intelligence, there should be five thousand people stationed here. It seems that the Qin army escaped at night, leaving only a few hundred people to guard the camp to intimidate our army."
Xiang Qu narrowed his eyes slightly.
After a moment, he laughed.
"I know, then Zhao Tuo is cautious. After he heard that the Prime Minister sent troops to march into Pengcheng, he sent thousands of people back to help. He was also afraid that our army would cross the river to attack and form a situation of overwhelming the minority, so he recalled the troops from this camp.
Five thousand Qin troops should join forces with him to avoid being defeated individually by our troops."
"Zhao Tuo also left hundreds of people living in this camp, pretending that 5,000 troops and horses were still there, and intimidating our troops from crossing the river to delay time. Zhao Tuo is really a little fox."
"Good morning, General!"
Jing Tong agreed, what Xiang Qu said was reasonable and reasonable.
The Qin army had a small number of troops, so naturally they did not dare to divide their troops. Instead, they united their troops in one place to avoid being defeated by the Chu people.
"It is passed down that the people of Qin knew that our army was crossing the river, and their hearts and minds were trembling, so they abandoned the camp and fled. This is the military power of our Chu army, which forced the Qin people to flee at night without fighting!"
"Our army should take advantage of the victory to pursue it, and defeat Qin's great victory today!"
Xiang Qu took advantage of the situation to boost the morale of the army.
The 20,000 soldiers came in anger and prepared to fight the Qin army, but they failed to win a battle, which made them feel a little depressed.
Now that they heard that General Xiang said that the Qin army fled overnight because they were afraid of him, the soldiers suddenly became happy again and became more and more confident about the victory of this battle.
Of course, what made them most happy was that after General Jing Tong led his army across the river to capture the camp here, many ships were parked on the east bank of Suishui River.
Hey, it's good to win the battle. If we lose the battle, we still have a ship to go back to.
The soldiers of Chu State were lighting a fire in the camp, cooking and eating the morning meal, while they were frequently looking at the boats in the river.
This scene was noticed by Xiang Qu.
There was a boat here, so wouldn't his attempt to cross the river by burning the boat in the middle of the night have been in vain?
There was a flash of hesitation in Xiang Qu's eyes, but when the scouts he sent to investigate near Zhuyi came back to report, he made up his mind again.
The Qin camp was still there outside Zhuyi City, and there were cavalry patrolling outside the camp. There were even bursts of drum beating from the camp. It seemed that the Qin army was training.
Zhao Tuo was in the Qin camp outside Zhuyi City.
Qin Jun can't escape this time!
"Burn the boat and smash the cauldron!"
"Our army will fight the Qin people in this decisive battle, and the victory will never end!"
Xiang Qu was very courageous. In the eyes of all the soldiers who were full of resentment, he once again ordered to burn all the boats that Jing Tong had crossed the river, and then smashed all the cauldrons that everyone had just used to eat, completely cutting off the Chu army.
retreat.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! After re-delivering a speech, the morale of the 30,000 Chu troops gathered here was once again inspired by Xiang Qu.
The 30,000 Chu troops had no way to retreat and had no choice but to move forward and fight to the death.
The Qin army abandoned this place and fled with an empty camp, which proved that the Qin people were afraid of them.
Under the superposition of conditions, the morale of the Chu army soldiers became high again. After resting, they once again mustered up their strength and rushed towards Zhuyi in the west along the Suishui River.
They want to work together there to annihilate the Qin army under Zhao Tuo!
The Chu army will definitely win this battle!
With flags flying, 30,000 red-armored troops lined up along the Suishui River. From a distance, they looked like a giant bloody snake crawling along the riverside, which looked quite penetrating.
However, when these 30,000 Chu troops, who were full of fighting spirit, arrived at Zhuyi.
What was waiting for them was not the Qin army's prepared formation.
"The last general, Cai Wu, has met General Xiang and General Jing."
After receiving the report, a bearded general about forty years old came forward with a group of red-armored Chu soldiers to greet him.
Behind Cai Wu, there were nearly five thousand Chu troops who were controlling the Zhuyi city and the Qin army's camp outside the city.
They are reinforcements coming from the northwest direction of Xiangyi.
Xiang Qu and Jing Tong looked astonished.
Where is the Qin army?
Didn't the scout say that there were Qin cavalry patrolling nearby and drums were playing in the Qin camp? Why did it fall into the hands of the Chu army in Xiangyi now?
Could it be that Cai Wu was a famous general in the world? Five thousand Chu troops defeated Zhao Tuo's 20,000 troops?
"General Cai, where is the Qin army?"
Jing Tong couldn't help but asked in surprise.
Chu general Cai Wu replied: "After receiving the order from General Xiang, I immediately led five thousand troops from Xiangyi and was about to encircle the Qin army here with the two generals."
"Unexpectedly, when we arrived here, we saw hundreds of Qin cavalry running northward. The Qin camp seemed to be unguarded, so the general boldly attacked it and found that the camp was indeed empty."
"According to the local Chu people, the Qin army set off northward last night, leaving only a few hundred people here to guard and patrol, creating a false impression that the Qin army is still there."
Speaking of this, Cai Wu laughed loudly: "But that Qin general was really cunning. He actually hung up a sheep in the camp. There were war drums under the sheep's hooves. The two front hooves of the hung sheep moved wildly.
, the drums kept beating, and this trick almost deceived the general."
"The Qin army acted like this. It seems that the Qin general Zhao Tuo heard that our army was preparing to encircle him. He was afraid of the power of our army and fled overnight. The general was about to send someone to inform the two generals, but he didn't know that the two generals had already led their troops.
Get there, hehe."
Amid the laughter of Chu general Cai Wu, Xiang Qu's face turned livid.
Hanging Sheep drumming!
In addition, hundreds of cavalry patrolled the periphery, blocking the Chu army's scouts from approaching, making it impossible for the Chu people to find out.
Combining the virtual and the real, what a clever plan for the empty camp!
He actually deceived Xiang Qu.
"Zhao Tuo... Shuzi."
Xiang Qu squeezed out a curse, and the anger in his heart almost burned to the extreme.
It's so frustrating.
Xiang Qu carefully thought up the encirclement plan, and after various arrangements, he achieved a situation of defeating the minority with the majority, and was waiting to defeat the Qin army led by Zhao Tuo. To this end, he did not hesitate to brave the cold wind all night and lead his troops to sneak across the Suishui River ten miles away.
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The two shipwrecks inspired the soldiers and brought the fighting spirit and morale of the thirty thousand Chu troops to their peak. All the Chu people were waiting for a decisive battle with the Qin army, fighting to the death.
In this case, the Qin army actually ran away?
The Qin army fled at night, hanging sheep and beating drums, and treated each other with an empty camp.
Zhao Tuo, you actually ran away!
Damn, hateful, shameful!
For Xiang Qu, this feeling was like he mustered up all his strength and punched the enemy in front of him with all his strength. However, the opponent ducked sideways, causing his punch to hit the empty space.
This feeling is really uncomfortable and frustrating.
Not just Xiang Qu.
The 30,000 Chu troops in the rear who were originally puffed up and full of fighting spirit saw the Qin people fleeing without a fight. The anger they had been holding in their hearts all morning suddenly leaked out as if a hole had been broken.
"I'm so exhausted. I got up in the middle of the night and ran so far. I can't run anymore."
"Yeah, I've been running all morning and I'm so hungry."
"Qin Jun ran away, let's rest for a while."
…
After the enthusiasm and fighting spirit subsided, the 30,000 soldiers began to complain softly, and the entire army's morale suddenly disappeared.
Not to mention them, even Xiang Qu felt tired from the bottom of his heart at this moment.
He looked up and found that it was already noon, and the winter sun was high in the sky.
The Chu soldiers got up in the middle of the night and traveled ten miles, crossed the Suishui River at night, and then ran all the way. They relied on their anger and fighting spirit to support them, hoping to give the Qin army a fierce fight.
Now that the Qin army had escaped, the battle could not be fought, and their efforts throughout the night and half of the day were almost in vain.
"Zitong, let the soldiers make fire and make food, and rest for now."
Xiang Qu sighed. He felt uncomfortable and wanted to find a place to stay alone for a while.
But Jing Tong not only did not go down to deliver the order for the soldiers to rest and eat, but instead stood there with a blush on his face, staring at Xiang Qu, as if he was hesitant to speak.
Xiang Qu frowned and said, "Why, there's not enough food? If there's not enough food, go to the treasury in Zhuyi to carry it."
Jing Tong said sarcastically: "General, our soldiers have a day's worth of food. This meal is enough. It's just..."
"The cooking cauldron was destroyed by your order, General."