Dongyang is a plain and broad land located south of Shandao.
Although there are swamps around this place, the breadth and density of the swamps are not much better than the Shandao in the north near the Huai River. At least the roads from Dongyang to the four directions are no longer reed-strewn paths, but
The flat road allows the army to move quickly.
At this time, Dongyang City was in a state of extreme tension, and there were bursts of curses in the city.
The Qin army is coming!
The men in the city were recruited by the county magistrate to carry weapons and go to the city to defend themselves against the enemy.
Soldiers from the government were shouting from house to house, looking very ferocious.
In an ordinary house, a woman wearing coarse cloth was holding a heavy wooden pestle and pounding the millet in the stone mortar.
"Mother, I bid you farewell. I will no longer be able to serve my mother. Please take care of me."
In front of the woman, a man in his thirties, with tears in his eyes, knelt down and kowtowed, looking reluctant to part with her.
The woman stopped her movements, put down the wooden pestle, rubbed her swollen and sore arms, then looked at her son who was kneeling on the ground, and said with a smile: "Why did my son say this? I will wait until my mother has finished her harvest."
, I will have dinner with you in the evening."
Chen Ying choked and said: "Now the Qin army has reached twenty miles north of the city. The county official summoned the men in the city to go to the city wall to defend the enemy. But the huge Chu State cannot stop the Qin army's conquest. How can this small town of Dongyang resist?"
"
"I heard that the Qin army was brutal and used heads to mark merits. I'm afraid it will be a disaster if my son goes away. It will be difficult to save the head on his neck. I will never be able to eat the food my mother cooked."
If an ordinary woman heard this, she would be extremely frightened, hold her son in her arms and say goodbye in tears.
But the woman laughed and said, "Don't worry, my son, your life will be fine. If nothing happens, you may be able to come back in a coma."
Chen Ying was stunned and asked: "Why did mother say this?"
The woman smiled and said, "When you see the county official recruiting men to guard the city wall, you think he wants to fight with the Qin people."
"But according to what I heard, before the commander-in-chief Yin fought with the Qin people in Chenying, he ordered various places to send grain to support, but our county official only sent half of the grain to the front line, and the rest was all
It was shipped to his own treasury. Not to mention that two days ago, he also took in a concubine. It is said that the concubine was not even sixteen, and she was quite beautiful."
"How could such a greedy and lustful county official have the intention to fight to the death with the Qin people? I think he will definitely surrender to the Qin army. I heard that the Qin army will not slaughter the surrendered city, and your lives will be safe.
.Just go ahead with peace of mind."
"It's true what mother said."
Chen Ying was amazed and thought that most of what his mother said was right, so he left with peace of mind.
The development of the facts was just as Chen's mother expected.
When tens of thousands of Qin troops approached Dongyang City, the Duke of Dongyang County sent an envoy to negotiate with the Qin Army to surrender. After receiving the Qin General's promise, the County Duke asked Chen Ying and other young soldiers to put down their weapons, happily open the city gate, and surrender to Qin.
The army surrendered.
The Qin soldiers wearing black armor and holding weapons immediately took control of the entire city. Fortunately, although these Qin people looked ferocious, they did have a lot of faith and discipline and did not kill indiscriminately. They were even better than those under Dongyang County Duke.
The county soldiers must have clean hands and feet, and do not rob or engage in sexual acts, so that the Chu people of Dongyang can feel at ease.
However, what Chen's mother said was only half correct, and the other half, waiting for Chen Ying to come home for dinner, did not come true.
After Chen Ying and several Dongyang people were called out by people sent by the county official, they were immediately handed over to the hands of Qin soldiers and escorted by these indifferent Qin people to the depths of the Qin camp outside the city.
Chen Ying was trembling, not knowing what he had done. How could a Dongyang commoner be favored by the people of Qin?
After a while, they were led into a Qin army camp in panic.
A burly Qin general with a beard on his jaw was sitting among them, looking at them with majestic eyes.
"You often travel between Dongyang and Huaiyin, and are you familiar with the roads between the two cities?"
The translator standing beside General Qin immediately translated General Qin's Guanzhong dialect into fluent Chu dialect.
Several Dongyang people had never seen the world, and their lips were trembling with fear, and they couldn't even speak.
After Chen Ying calmed down, he saluted and replied: "General, I used to travel between Huaiyin and Dongyang with my uncle in the clan, selling cloth, swords and shields. I often walked between the two places, and the roads on the way are quite familiar."
General Qin couldn't help but nodded slightly when he saw that Chen Ying was quite calm and knew the world better than the others.
"Very good, then you will stay in the army and be a guide for my army."
"ah?"
Chen Ying was stunned.
…
After a while, Meng Tian walked into the coach's tent and said to Zhao Tuo who was sitting in front of the eucalyptus and looking at the map in a serious manner: "General, I have found a few people who often travel between Huaiyin and Dongyang under military orders. I have
I asked them about the situation along the way, and the answers were similar, so there was no problem. Among them, the man named Chen Ying waiting outside the tent is the best, and he can be the general's guide."
"Well, thank you for your hard work."
Zhao Tuo nodded and was very polite to Meng Tian.
Meng Tian shook his head and said: "Since the subordinates are under the general's tent, they should respect the military orders. The general can't talk about hard work."
Zhao Tuo laughed, stood up, walked to Meng Tian, and said a few words warmly.
Hearing Zhao Tuo's modest words, Meng Tian still looked serious, but a smile appeared in his eyes.
He was originally a little uncomfortable with Wang Jian sending him as a general under Zhao Tuo.
In the past, when they were in the palace, Meng Tian was the lieutenant general, and Zhao Tuo was just a minor lieutenant. Now their identities have been reversed, Zhao Tuo is the general, and Meng Tian has become his lieutenant. Who can place this contrast?
You will also feel uncomfortable on your body.
But Meng Tian still nodded and accepted the order. First of all, it was the order of the general. He, Meng Tian, was the general of the defeated army. How could he have the right to refuse?
Secondly, Meng Tian quickly realized that Wang Jian was helping him.
Meng Tian led his army to a disastrous defeat in the water. No matter how many reasons there were, he was defeated in the end and would be punished according to military law.
Wang Jian did not punish him because the war was undecided. Instead, he asked Meng Tian to join Zhao Tuo's side army. This was clearly to make him pay for his crime and make meritorious service.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In this case, how could Meng Tian refuse Wang Jian's kindness without knowing what is right?
What's more, Zhao Tuo respected him a lot and often treated him as Meng Jun in private. This made Meng Tian, who had a strong self-esteem, feel very comfortable and quickly adapted to him.
Meng Tian didn't seem to have that strong aversion to becoming Zhao Tuo's subordinate, and he accepted it quickly.
Compared to Meng Tian, Zhao Tuo has a deeper view on this matter.
Wang Jian is old.
This defeat of Chu will be Wang Jian's last battle. After this battle, Wang Jian will truly retire, so he will make some good connections for the Wang family while he is still capable.
Today, he helped Meng Tian and asked him to follow Zhao Tuo and perform meritorious service. Such behavior was enough to befriend the Meng family. If the Wang family was in trouble in the future, would Meng Tian, with his upright character, sit idly by and ignore it?
In addition to planning for the Wang family, Wang Jian may also be doing this for the sake of Zhao Tuo. He believes that judging from Zhao Tuo's previous performance, he will definitely be able to handle the relationship with Meng Tian. He is trying to ease Zhao Tuo's relationship with him.
An opportunity for Montessori relationships.
After all, someone saw and spread the news about Meng Tian ignoring Zhao Tuo in the palace and scorning him.
With Zhao Tuo intending to make good friends, the relationship between him and Meng Tian indeed made great progress on the way Qin's army marched south to Dongyang.
The two don't say they have become friends, but they are already able to get along harmoniously and their relationship is quite harmonious.
"The superior general sent General Bai Meng to lead his troops to the south side of Shandao to cover this section of the road for our army. There is no need to worry about being attacked by the Chu people within forty or fifty miles along the logistics road."
"But if we go deeper into the Chu territory, we will no longer be able to protect ourselves. After our army's food road is lengthened, we will definitely become the target of the Chu army's attack. The general needs to think more about this place." Meng Tian looked at the map on the eucalyptus and handed over his advice.
Word.
Zhao Tuo nodded, Meng Tian said there was no problem.
The biggest weakness of their partial division was the logistics and food road. Because the Qin army took a detour southward and lost the advantage of Huaihe River transportation, the troops and horses needed by their army had to be transported along the way.
The journey from Dongyang to Huaiyin is more than 300 miles. According to a normal march, it takes more than ten days. Along the way, tens of thousands of soldiers eat horse chews and consume a lot of food and grass every day. Therefore, their logistics and food teams are also very large, and they also transport food.
The marching speed of the troops will be slower than that of the army, so it is easy for them to get out of touch and be attacked by the enemy.
If the Chu army successfully sent troops to attack Zhao Tuo's food and grass, then the 40,000 Qin army would be in danger of running out of food. Not to mention collapse on the spot, they would definitely not have the strength to continue attacking Huaiyin, and this partial division would be immediately destroyed.
Food, fodder and baggage are the most important things in a war!
Faced with Meng Tian's suggestion, Zhao Tuo smiled and said: "What Meng Jun said makes sense. It's just that we have to go to Huaiyin for more than three hundred miles. How can we be on guard against the Chu army's attack on grain and grass during such a long journey? Instead of being on guard all night and causing our army to be exhausted."
, it’s better to change from passive to active. Aren’t those Chu people going to attack the food? I will give him the opportunity to attack the food!”
Meng Tian immediately woke up and said: "The general wanted to take the initiative to trap and kill the Chu army, so why did he use the banner of General Qiangxu during this expedition?"
"Of course! If they use my banner, Zhao Tuo, those Chu troops will probably be more careful. If they use the banner of General Qiang Yu, it will surely confuse the hearts of the Chu people even more."
Zhao Tuo smiled and said: "Mengjun, go and call Chen Ying in. I want to ask about the terrain along the way and see if there is a suitable place on the way."
"only."
Meng Tian agreed enthusiastically, turned around with a big stride, and went to call Chen Ying in.
"Chen Ying?"
Looking at Meng Tian's back, Zhao Tuo suddenly felt that the name seemed familiar. But after thinking about it, he couldn't remember any specific deeds.
"It's probably not a famous person from the Qin and Han Dynasties. It's probably because there are too many people called Ying in this era. This name sounds familiar to me."
Zhao Tuo shook his head.
There are really many people named "Ying" in this era. The famous ones include Guan Ying, Xia Houying and Ziying.
Not famous, but Wang Ying, Li Ying, Ji Ying can be seen everywhere...
Chen Ying's name sounds very ordinary. Any man of the Chen family could have chosen this name, and he is not a famous person.
…
Just when Zhao Tuo summoned Chen Ying from Chu to ask about the terrain along the way.
In the Chu army's camp outside Shandao City.
The generals of the Chu army were also holding a military meeting.
"Wang Jian indeed sent a partial army to go around Dongyang, intending to bypass the swamp here and go straight to our army's Huaiyin territory. According to the scouts, there were tens of thousands of people on that side of the army, and they were under the banner of General Pi Qiang Yu."
Jing Tong reported the obtained military information to the generals.
"Qiang Fu, your name sounds like a Qiang? Why would Wang Jian send a Qiang to lead the army?"
"It is said that this person is a veteran. He once followed Wang Jian to destroy Zhao Fayan. He is quite qualified. We cannot underestimate him."
"So that's it, he is Wang Jian's old subordinate."
"As long as it's not that Zhao Tuo."
After the generals discussed the Qin army's generals, they then talked about the next Chu army's countermeasures.
"Wang Jian's army is gathered to the west of Shandao, and he is using a detour to attack Huaiyin. There are tens of thousands of them and they are invincible. We should find a way to attack our food and grass."
"However, as long as the Qin army's food and grass are destroyed, there is no need to worry about diverting troops along this route."
No one expressed any opinions on the attack on the Qin army's food and fodder.
Because they have few Chu soldiers and Wang Jian's strong enemy on their side, it is impossible to send a large number of troops to confront the Qin army's partial division and intercept it. But regardless of the other party's inability, once the Qin army's partial division attacks Huaiyin, everything will be over.
It's all over.
So in this case, the Chu army had only one choice, which was to send troops to attack the Qin people's food and grass.
After Xiang Yan thought for a while, he glanced at the generals in the tent and said, "Our army can only send ten thousand troops. I don't know which general is willing to lead the troops to attack the Qin army's food and grass."
Xiang Yan's eyes wandered between Jing Tong and Qu Mao.
Among the generals of the Chu army, these two are probably the only ones who can stand alone.
Just as Qu Mao was about to speak, Jing Tong had already requested his order first.
He said: "The general is willing to do it. In this battle, I will burn the Qin army's food and grass, so that the Qin army will never come back."