The three generals Chong Heihu bowed their heads to apologize.
Seeing this, Liu Xiu sighed, helped the three of them up one by one, and said comfortingly: "It's not your fault. Meng Gong made full preparations in advance. The Jiangling garrison only had less than 10,000 troops, but he sent out 1,500 garrison troops."
By guarding you three, you can be considered as sharing a lot of pressure for our army to attack the city."
After hearing Liu Xiu's words, the faces of the three generals improved a lot, but Chong Heihu still looked unwilling.
"Lord, let's attack the city at night. Once it's too late and the line of sight is blocked, even if the Qin army discovers the night attack, the crossbowmen will definitely not be able to shoot so accurately. By the end of the day, the general will be able to climb the tower." Chong Heihu was full of confidence.
said.
Liu Xiu's eyes also lit up and he smiled and said, "You can give it a try."
After that, Liu Xiu decisively ordered the siege to stop and the entire army to withdraw to the main camp. After all, if you continue to attack by force, you will be wasting your money. The foundation of Chu State is far inferior to that of Qin State, so you cannot waste all your precious troops on siege.
Late that night, Liu Xiu led an army of more than ten thousand, as well as generals such as Chong Heihu and Wei Wentong, and prepared to launch a night attack on Jiangling City.
Looking at the Jiangling City Tower with lights, Liu Xiu couldn't help but feel calm in his heart, but he had just ordered the attack when suddenly countless torches lit up on the Jiangling City Tower, making the entire city gate shine in the night sky like daylight.
Then arrows rained down from the tower, killing a large number of Chu soldiers.
"Haha, Liu Xiu, do you really think I didn't expect you to come to attack me at night?"
Meng Gong appeared on the city tower and shouted to the people below the city: "If you want to capture Jiangling, you can come and try and see whether your Chu army has more people or our Qin army has more arrows."
Liu Xiu, who had always been calm and composed, now had a rare hint of anger in his eyes. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth and said, "Meng Gong, please wait for me."
After saying this, Liu Xiu turned to his left and right and said: "Withdraw the troops and return to camp."
Chong Heihu said with a puzzled look on his face: "Master, why don't we fight now?"
"Why don't you use the flesh and blood of our soldiers to consume the Qin army's bows and arrows?" Liu Xiu said angrily.
"Uh, this..." Chong Heihu was speechless.
The Chu army came in good news but returned in defeat. They thought that a night attack would be successful, but they didn't expect Meng Gong to be so thoughtful and prepared for a night battle.
Liu Xiu didn't want to compete with the Qin army, so he had to retreat first and then discuss it carefully.
Seeing that the Chu army retreated, Meng Gong felt relieved. Even if he prepared a large number of kerosene torches to illuminate the night like day, the night was still black after all, and the crossbowman's accuracy could not be compared.
It was daytime, so he still didn't want to fight the Chu army at night, but fortunately, the Chu army also didn't want to fight a war of attrition and took the initiative to retreat.
"Just hold on, as long as the governor comes back, Jiangling's crisis will be resolved." Meng Gong murmured to himself.
Meng Gong knew that with his 3,000 defenders, 5,000 new soldiers, and 2,000 remnant troops, it would be too difficult to protect Jiangling from the 50,000 Chu army's offensive. The only possibility was to delay the withdrawal of Yiling's main force.
Therefore, Meng Gong's main strategy at the beginning was to delay time. If Liu Xiu's envoy hadn't been shot to death by Han Shizhong, he would have even prepared to fake a surrender.
On the other side, after Liu Xiu withdrew his troops, he immediately summoned the generals to discuss how to seize the generals. However, facing the invulnerable Meng Gong, even he could not think of any good ideas. What good ideas could other generals have?
"Report... inform my lord that General Wei Zhang is back."
"Please come quickly."
Wei Zhang Wei Zhang was a general of the Qin State during the Warring States Period. In 312 BC, he defeated the Chu army, captured its general Qu Gai, beheaded 80,000 people, and captured the land of Hanzhong.
Wei Zhang was a general who was brought into the world by Shang Yang, and his implanted identity was that of the fallen Wei Yan tribesman, so he naturally came under Liu Xiu's command.
The biggest characteristic of generals during the Warring States Period was their balanced abilities. After all, if you could stand out in the chaotic era of the Warring States Period, you must be excellent in all aspects, so there will not be too many shortcomings in the fifth dimension, and the same is naturally true for Wei Zhang
.
Wei Zhang, who had balanced abilities in all aspects, was undoubtedly a useful talent in Liu Xiu's eyes. Liu Xiu valued Wei Zhang very much, so he gave him the task of intercepting the Qin army's reinforcements.
Before the three armies of the Chu State returned to Jiangling, Wei Zhang had already led an army of 70,000 to the north, responsible for intercepting and defeating the Qin army coming to Xiangyang for reinforcements.
Over in Xiangyang, Qin Zheng's reaction speed was no slower than Liu Xiu's.
The Chu army had just landed in Nanjun. Before Qin Qiong's order for reinforcements was sent back to Xiangyang, Qin Zheng had already sent reinforcements to support Jiangling.
Qin Zheng knew that Jiangling's garrison was too small and could not hold off the 50,000 Chu army for long, so Qin Qiong ordered Zhang Xian and Wang Gui to lead 3,000 veterans and 7,000 recruits in advance before Qin Qiong's order was received.
, a total of 10,000 troops went to support Meng Gong in Jiangling.
What Qin Zheng didn't expect was that Liu Xiu had already guessed that the Qin army in Xiangyang would send reinforcements before the Chu army arrived at Jiangling, so he sent Wei Zhang and seven thousand troops to intercept them in advance.
Wei Zhang's mission was originally to intercept the Qin army's reinforcements, but he found an area that was very suitable for setting up an ambush on the way, so he set up an ambush halfway and personally led three thousand troops to lure the enemy.
Wei Zhang cleverly used a trick to fake defeat, causing the former army commander Wang Gui to lose his mind. He directly led the front army away from the main army and went to pursue it. As a result, he was ambushed by the Chu army without checking.
In the end, Wang Gui was killed by Wei Zhang himself, and the entire 4,000-strong army was wiped out, including 1,000 precious veterans.
When he learned that Wang Gui had left the army to pursue him, Zhang Xian had a bad feeling in his heart, and he was ambushed as expected.
Zhang Xian originally wanted to rescue Wang Gui's former army, but after he arrived with his army, the former army had been destroyed and Wang Gui had died in battle.
Zhang Xian originally wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Chu army had just finished the war and was exhausted, and defeated the Chu army in one fell swoop. However, his soldiers were mixed with old and new soldiers. There were too many new soldiers, and the entire army was too weak. In the end, it was defeated.
Wei Zhang's exhausted army was defeated.
Realizing that the new army's combat power was too weak, even if the Chu army was exhausted, it was still no match, so Zhang Xian decisively ordered a retreat toward Xiangyang.
Wei Zhang beheaded Wang Gui and defeated Zhang Xian. He won two battles in a row. The morale of the Chu army also increased greatly. After a slight repair, they came to pursue Zhang Xian.
Wei Zhang pursued Zhang Xian for dozens of miles, and the pursuit of Zhang Xian was miserable. If Qin Zheng had not personally led the army to come to the rescue, Zhang Xian's army might not have been able to return to Xiangyang.
The Chu army pursued the Qin army for dozens of miles, exerting great physical strength. Naturally, it was no match for the main force of the Qin army, which was waiting for work.
In the end, Wei Zhang was defeated by Qin Zheng's main force of 3,000 Qin troops, and the 6,000 troops suffered more than 2,000 casualties. The Qin and Chu armies were both defeated.