In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Emperor Qin (the year before last), February 2nd.
It was the day when Qin general Zhao Tuo and Qi State's chief Sima agreed to start the war.
In the early morning, as soon as the sun emerged from the mountains in the east, it was obscured by dark clouds, and the sky and earth became gloomy.
Nanguo Gua, who came from Qidi Yeyi, was following the soldiers from the same battalion and headed southwest of Zhencheng.
Pao Ze, named Mei, complained as he walked: "Mr. Nan Guo, why are we so unlucky? We have to go to the battlefield just a few days after arriving."
Nan Guo Gu Weng said: "What are you afraid of? There are more of us than the Qin people. When we fight, three of them will beat two of them. Are you still afraid that you won't win?"
"That's right, we Qi soldiers are many. When the fight breaks out, we will charge together and catch a single Qin man and stab him. We can kill him in a few hits."
Mei picked her butt, looked around, saw moving heads everywhere, and grinned.
Judging from his experience in private fights with people in Yeyi, if there are more people and fewer people fight, the victory is guaranteed.
After hearing Mei's words, Nan Guogua shrugged indifferently. He had no desire to kill the Qin people.
This is not to say that there are no rewards after the Qi army kills the enemy. On the contrary, in history, Qi is the earliest country to establish a system of conferring titles.
During the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, there was a system of conferring nobility and household titles to honor meritorious officials. During the reign of Duke Zhuang of Qi, the system of setting up nobility titles to honor warriors was established. Its nature and function were almost the same as the Qin State's military merit nobility system.
During the Warring States Period, the Qi State of the Tian family also attached great importance to the title system. The first sentence of "The Grandson of Qi: Killing Soldiers" is "Ming Jue Lu".
It is a pity that Qi's military merit titles were not as thorough and extreme as those implemented by Qin, and the entire title system was not fully integrated into all aspects of Qi people's lives. Coupled with the strong power of Qi's aristocrats, the role of Qi's military merit titles was
, far less prominent than Qin.
Of course, the most critical thing is that Qi has not fought a war for more than 40 years, and the system of conferring titles for military merit has been abandoned. For more than 40 years, no one has been awarded a title for military merit. Most people have long forgotten about this thing. How can it be done at this time?
Inspirational.
Although Da Sima restarted the military merit reward system for this battle, after discussions with the nobles and ministers of the court, he only awarded more bounties and houses for those who had beheaded.
Such rewards may be somewhat attractive to civilians who have no money.
However, the people of Qi have always been wealthy, and many people are not willing to exchange their lives for it.
For example, after the Jiang Qigong clan like the Nanguo clan.
Although the status of the Nanguo family declined when the Tian family succeeded Qi, the ancestors of the family were once reduced to playing the Yu for the King of Qi to earn a living.
Now he has moved out of Linzi and has become a merchant's home selling melons and fruits in Yeyi. However, thanks to business, Nan Guogua's family is not short of money, and they also have some savings from the farm and house.
When Nan Guo Gua walks in nearby villages, he will be called "Mr. Nan Guo" by the villagers.
If the Qin army hadn't come so fiercely this time, forcing Qi to recruit a large number of troops to resist, Nanguo Gua would never have gone to the battlefield with a spear and halberd.
"The reward for taking the risk of beheading a Qin soldier is not as much as the money Nai Gong earns from selling melons. If the battlefield is too dangerous, I'd better run away first. The right way is to go back and sell melons."
Nan Guogua whispered in his heart, and followed the soldiers from Yeyi for a while, and finally arrived at the battlefield agreed upon by the Qin and Qi armies.
Looking down from the sky, we can see long snakes composed of Qi people winding from the direction of Zhencheng, and finally converge on the plain to the north of the river. From a distance, it looks like a dense mass of darkness.
On the chariot, Qi State's Great Sima Tianchong was wearing gorgeous purple armor, with a smile on his face and very confident.
He glanced at the army that was gathering under the command of generals at all levels.
Then he turned and looked at a large river to the south. Tian Chong asked his husband, who was riding beside him, "Does Mr. Xiangfu know the name of this water?"
"Da Sima asked well. He is indeed aware of my husband's illness. This water is called Pu River, and this place was also called Cheng Pu in ancient times."
The prime minister caressed his beard and smiled and said: "The Qin people set the time, and we, the Qi army, set the ground. In my opinion, Da Sima chose the battlefield here not only because the terrain here is open and vast, so that our Qi army can deploy its troops."
Advantage. Especially because this ancient city of Pu is where the Jin people defeated the Chu barbarians in the past!"
Xiangfu Ji said with a voice full of pride: "Four hundred years ago, the Chu barbarians were powerful and invaded the Central Plains from the north. Their ferocious power shocked the world. It was not until they were defeated by the Jin people in this city and retreated in embarrassment that they showed the majesty of our country in the Central Plains.
"
"But now, Qin Rong is marching eastward, barbaric and unethical, just like the Chu barbarian invasion in the past. The great Sima is fighting Qin Rong here, just in response to Jin's defeat of Chu in the past!"
Tian Chong laughed loudly: "Mr. Xiangfu really knows what I mean!"
As Xiang Fuji said, Tian Chong chose this place not only for the convenience of deploying his troops, but also for some superstitious reasons.
Four hundred years ago, the Jin State defeated the Chu people here and preserved the majesty of the Central Plains princes.
Four hundred years later, Tian Chong will also fight against the Qin people advancing eastward here.
In this important national event, in the era of sacrifice and military service, Tian Chong would naturally believe in some mysterious power in order to get good luck.
"The commander of the army will bless me with victory."
In his heart, Tian Chong silently prayed to the commander of the army, one of the eight gods of Qi Di.
At this time, Qi general Tian Dan galloped up and stopped near Da Sima's chariot.
Tian Dan said loudly: "Da Sima, our Qi army's various departments, a total of 150,000 people, have arrived on the battlefield and are forming formations according to Da Sima's orders."
"Okay! I have 150,000 warriors in my hands, so why worry about winning!"
Hearing that the army had gathered, Tian Chong smiled.
The Qi army claimed to have recruited 300,000 troops to fight the Qin people.
But in fact, out of the 300,000-strong army, there were as many as 120,000 auxiliary soldiers responsible for transporting grain and building camps.
And this is because the Qi army is fighting locally. If it goes out for a long-distance expedition, the proportion of auxiliary soldiers in the army will further increase.
Of the remaining 180,000 soldiers, 20,000 were stationed in the area from Zhencheng to Ayi to prevent the Qin army from raiding the rear.
Another 10,000 soldiers guarded Zhen City to prevent the Qin army from stealing their homes.
Only the remaining 150,000 people are Tian Chong's truly available force for this battle.
Although the number of available troops is half less than 300,000, Tian Chong is still confident that he still has an advantage in terms of military strength.
The total number of Qin troops was only more than 200,000.
They are going on an expedition to Qi. Even if there is river transportation, the proportion of auxiliary troops in the army will definitely be higher than that of the Qi army. In addition, Zhao Tuo also has to leave troops to guard Puyang and other important central places. The number of people that the Qin army can use in this battle
One can imagine.
"Zhao Tuo, I bet you don't have 100,000 soldiers in your army!"
Tian Chong looked to the west and saw that the Qin army had not arrived yet, and he couldn't help but smile slightly.
A gentleman's battle is when both sides set up their battle formations and fight openly and openly, without using tactics such as sneak attacks. This does not include factors such as troop strength.
He, Tian Chong, was not so pedantic that he insisted on fighting with equal forces as Zhao Tuo. Using more troops to defeat fewer troops was the right way to fight.
In addition to the advantage in military strength, Tian Chong chose this place as the battlefield. In addition to being a bit superstitious, it was also because this place was close to Qi but far away from Qin, which was geographically favorable to the Qi army.
"Although I don't have time to train soldiers, I have more troops than you, Zhao Tuo, and I, Tian Chong, can fight better than you, Zhao Tuo. Now I still have a geographical advantage. How can I not win this battle?"
Tian Chong whispered to himself, he had already found many advantages for himself, and now he was just waiting for Zhao Tuo's arrival.
At this moment, there was noise in the distance. Tian Chong turned around and saw some commotion on the right wing of the military formation.
"what happened?"
Tian Chong asked with a frown.
Tian Dan immediately went to check, and after a while, the commotion subsided.
Some soldiers came and reported back and forth: "Da Sima, General Tian Dan said that there was a dispute between the newly arrived soldiers from Yeyi and Yiwei over the positioning issue, and it has been settled now."
Tian Chong thought that the Qi troops recruited from Yeyi, Yiwei and other places were the last to arrive. They had not been trained and run-in, and performed worse than other troops. It is normal for riots to occur now.
"During a war, these people are weak."
Tian Chong felt a little troubled. After thinking about it, he ordered: "Arrange the soldiers from these two places to the rear of the left wing as a reserve team."
"only."
The short soldiers received the order and immediately went down to deliver the order.
Tian Chong felt a little more at ease now. The Qi army lined up along the Pu River. The left wing was close to the Pu River and could block the Qin army's cavalry. It was safer than the right wing.
Soon, Mei, Nan Guogua and others, who had just nearly started a fight on the right wing of the Qi army, began to move around to the left wing of the Qi army under the scolding of the military officials.
"This is a battlefield. You can't do anything at will. Otherwise, Nai Gong will definitely twist the heads of those Yiwei Shuzi."
Mei scolded as she walked.
"Stop talking, haven't you seen everyone's heads being chopped off?"
Nan Guogua curled up his neck and spoke.
When we were standing in line just now, a Qi soldier from Yiwei actually held his halberd flat. Unknown to the Yeyi soldier in front, when he retreated, he was stabbed in the butt by the halberd.
When this happened, the soldiers from Yeyi and Yiwei began to quarrel on the battlefield, and the leaders even moved their hands.
When General Tian Dan came over, he immediately killed all the leaders regardless of the reason, thus suppressing the chaos.
"The battlefield is really dangerous. There is a risk of losing your head before the battle begins."
Nanguo Gua's eyes were filled with fear. He followed his own team to the rear of the Qi army's left wing and lined up, while looking around with his eyes open.
"What is this sound?"
At this moment, Mei screamed in surprise.
"The Qin army is coming!"
"It's their singing!"
The soldiers around him spoke one after another, standing on tiptoes and looking forward.
Nanguo Gua's legs were short and he could not see the Qin army coming from behind.
"Mei, send me up there to have a look and I'll give you a dollar."
Nan Guogua called out and asked Mei to lift him up on her shoulders. He was immediately taller, allowing him to see the west clearly.
Under the gloomy sky, the ground is green, several miles to the west.
There, there was a boundless black army, lined up in a neat queue, marching in the direction of the Qi army with consistent steps.
On both sides of the black warriors, there were cavalry and chariots advancing slowly.
Before the Qin soldiers arrived, the sound had already arrived.
"How can I say that I have no clothes? I share the same robe with you. When the king raised an army, he repaired my sword and spear. I share the same enemy with you..."
There will be a third chapter tonight, a little later