"Xiangbang, the Qin army is here, and that is the large banner of Qin general Zhao Tuo. Zhang Zifang is right. Chen Yu's assassination plan failed, and Zhao Tuo is not dead after all."
The towering city walls of Dai City.
Zhao Xie stood behind Zhao Jing, the acting prime minister, pointing to a few miles outside the city, looking quite excited.
There were a large number of Qin troops arrayed there, and from a distance, it was completely dark.
In the Qin army's formation, there was a large ornate flag erected high, which was the flag of the Qin army's general Zhao Tuo.
Qin general Zhao Tuo went outside the city in person to inspect the terrain and defense of Dai City.
Zhao Jing murmured: "According to previous scouts, the total number of Qin's Xingjun and Zhongjun is at least 50,000. Their number is greater than the total number of people in the city on my behalf."
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of several people who were close around him immediately changed, and fear flashed in their eyes.
As Zhao Jing said, although their country claims to be a country, it is actually just a county. Moreover, this country is still famous for its small population and poor land.
In the original history, when the census was conducted in the late Western Han Dynasty, the number of households in the entire eighteen counties of Daijun was only more than 56,000, and the total population was more than 278,000.
And now it is the end of the Warring States period with continuous wars. After the fall of Zhao State, although a group of Zhao people poured into Dai land, they encountered a famine immediately and directly killed a group of old and weak people. Dai Wangjia continued to lead the army.
They lost a battle in Yishui and sent out a wave of kills.
Nowadays, the total population of the entire Dai Kingdom may only be more than 100,000. The limit of the number of soldiers that can be recruited in all cities is about 30,000 or 40,000. This is still considering that Dai is a border county and everyone fights bravely.
A situation where anyone from a young man to an old man can serve as a soldier.
There were originally 20,000 soldiers in Dai City. When the Qin general Zhao Tuo led his troops to attack, Dai Wang Jiaqin led more than 10,000 elite troops to attack, and then they were wiped out in one fell swoop.
After the defeat, Dai Wangjia returned to Dai City and headed north with two thousand soldiers who were willing to follow him.
Today, there are three thousand soldiers in Dai City, all of whom are passionate men who are willing to fight to the death with the Qin army rather than join forces with the barbarians.
In addition, there are about 40,000 residents in the city, most of whom are women, children, the elderly and the weak.
The total number of people in the entire Dai City was really not as large as the Qin army outside the city.
The disparity in combat power makes people feel desperate.
I saw fear on the faces of people around me.
Zhao Xie stood up.
"What do you have to fear, Xiangbang!"
Zhao Xie shouted.
"Zhao Jia sacrificed his troops and horses at the hands of the Qin people, was greedy for life and feared death, listened to Yan Xi's words, and was willing to join the Huns. He is really a descendant of the Zhao family in vain!"
"Now that the Qin army is approaching the city, since we did not leave with Zhao Jia, we should all be brave and fight with the Qin people here. Even if we die in battle, we can let the people who betray our ancestors outside the city know who the Zhao family is.
Man!"
Hearing Zhao Xie's words of encouragement, Zhao Jing's face turned red. The soldiers guarding the city around him were inspired and raised their arms and shouted.
Officials from the city also came to report that there were tens of thousands of old, weak, women and children in the city. They all said that their children had died at the hands of the Qin people. They would rather fight to the death than live in vain, and were willing to go to the city to guard it.
Hearing this, Zhao Xie and others were even more overjoyed.
"Okay, even the old and the weak are willing to go to the city to join the battle, so what do you have to fear?"
Zhao Xie immediately ordered people to distribute weapons and prepare defense facilities for a decisive battle with the Qin army outside the city!
At the top of Dai City, there was a roar of passionate shouts, which was quite impressive.
…
"This city is dangerous and solid, and the soldiers in the city are willing to fight to the death. Although there are not many soldiers defending the city, it is really troublesome to attack the city by force. If ants attack the city, our army will have to kill thousands of people. If we build huge cannons and equipment,
It will take a lot of time.”
Zhao Tuo stood outside the city, looking at the defense and terrain of Dai City in the distance, feeling a little tricky.
Hearing this, Li Shiqi laughed heartily and couldn't help but said: "When I was learning the art of Zongheng, I heard that it was very easy for our ancestors to capture this city."
Zhao Tuo rolled his eyes.
He knew what Li Shiqi was talking about.
Dai City was the capital of the former Dai Kingdom, a country with the same surname granted by Shang Tang, and it has been inherited for more than a thousand years.
It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period that the head of the Zhao family, named Zhao Wuxie, came up with a way to seize the land of Dai.
He pretended to befriend the acting king and married his own sister to him.
King Dai became Zhao Wuxie's brother-in-law, so the relationship between Zhao and Dai was naturally friendly.
After a brief rejoicing, Zhao Wuxie invited King Dai to have a banquet. At the banquet, he asked the cook to use a wine vessel called a copper ladle (dou) to pour wine for King Dai and his accompanying officials.
In the middle of pouring the wine, the cooks directly used the copper ladles in their hands to hit the heads of King Dai and the officials of Dai Guo.
King Dai was shot in the head by Tong Gai, and the Zhao family took the opportunity to send troops to pacify Dai.
From then on, Daiguo was owned by the Zhao family until today.
As for Zhao Wuxie's sister who was married to the king, she cried and cried to heaven when she heard the news and committed suicide with her hair tied.
People felt pity for her and named the place where she died as Mount Moji.
Zhao Tuo's ancestors' capture of Dai City was not a glorious thing, but it was very easy.
But now, facing this solid Dai City, Zhao Tuo could only choose to attack by force.
"We must capture Dai City as soon as possible and then pursue Zhao Jia, otherwise he will lead the Huns south, which will be troublesome."
While Zhao Tuo was thinking, bursts of cheers came from the top of the city.
Soon, the military officials responsible for the investigation came to report that there was a group of old and weak women and children on the walls of Dai City. They were armed with weapons and could help Dai's army defend the city.
"The old and the weak come to the city..."
Zhao Tuo narrowed his eyes slightly, and suddenly his heart moved, thinking of Wang Jian's method of conquering Wuyang City when he was conquering Yan.
"Li Shang sent an order to find a thousand people with family members in Dai City among the captured prisoners. He said that if Dai City could be captured, he would release them and keep their families' lives and property safe."
"only."
Seeing Li Shang follow the order, Li Shiqi's eyes lit up and he said, "General, are you trying to attack your heart?"
Zhao Tuo nodded and said: "However, if the old and weak in the city cannot go up the wall, this plan may not work. Now that there are old and weak people on the city wall to guard the city, it is a flaw in the city that can help our army break the city."
Li Shiqi shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The general is so smart, I, Li Shiqi, have no place to use him."
Zhao Tuo burst out laughing and said: "Sir, why should you belittle yourself? Zhao Tuo has always admired your wisdom and scheming, but the enemies you encountered were quite stupid, so you didn't need your advice."
"In addition to being good at strategy, Mr. Zhao also has an eloquence that is incomparable to Zhao Tuo. When the Qi army is conquered in the future, I will have a day to show off my talents."
Hearing this, Li Shiqi chuckled, with a flash of expectation in his eyes.
The State of Qi was the place where he was destined to take off.
After Zhao Tuo decided on his plan, he did not attack the city immediately. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to camp outside the city to rest and recover the energy consumed after the long-distance attack.
On the city wall of Dai City.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark, the Qin army outside the city had no intention of attacking the city.
Acting Prime Minister Zhao Jing breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It seems that Zhao Tuo will not attack the city today. We still have a night's rest."
Zhao Xie shook his head and said, "Don't be lazy, Prime Minister. I heard that Zhao Tuo is very scheming. He pretended to be assassinated by Zhao Shuo before to deceive Zhao Jia. This is a clear proof."
"There's no telling how much scheming a person like Zhao Tuo has in his chest. We must not take it lightly. From my point of view, if he is pretending not to attack the city now, he might launch a surprise attack at night. We must be careful and guard against it."
Zhao Jing thought for a while and said: "What you said makes sense. With Zhao Tuo's trick, the Qin army is likely to attack the city at night. We cannot relax. But we only have 3,000 soldiers and we need to be prepared for tomorrow.
When the Qin army attacks the city, it is impossible to defend the city day and night, otherwise it will be a waste of energy and there will be no energy left for a real fight. It is better to let the old and weak in the city be responsible for guarding the city and alert the Qin army when they find it is attacking. Our soldiers rest nearby to build up their strength.
, wait until the Qin army attacks the city, and then fight with the opponent in a bloody battle!"
Zhao Xie thought that their soldiers were indeed too few, and they needed to take turns to conserve their strength for the battle.
He nodded and said: "What Xiangbang said is that we will send more people in the city to take charge of security."
Time passed and darkness swallowed the earth.
Tonight, the moon and stars are scarce.
At the top of Dai City, there were old people on the four walls, and women and children were lying on the female walls, watching vigilantly for what was happening outside the city, in case the Qin army attacked the city.
Outside the city, the Qin army camp.
Under the night, many figures came out.
Some of them were holding strange-looking things in their hands.
"Historical Records of the Zhao Family": Xiangzi's sister was the wife of Dai Wang... and invited the king to act on behalf of the king. She ordered the cooks to use copper ladles to feed the king and his followers, and then ordered the butchers to kill the king and his followers with copper ladles.
After serving as an official, he raised troops to bring peace to the land.