Su Dingfang not only stopped the attack on Yuyang, but also transferred back Sun Lingming, who was attacking Guangping City. These unreasonable signs also puzzled Li Guang in Yuyang City.
You must know that among the previous four armies of the Qin Army, except for Bai Qi's army, which fought steadily and without any impatience, the other three groups all launched very fierce offensives. Obviously, they all wanted to be the first to invade Guangyang County and occupy the territory to destroy the Han Dynasty.
The first achievement.
Among the four armies currently, the one closest to Yanjing City is Su Dingfang's. As long as they capture the last four cities in Yuyang County, they can successfully invade Guangyang County and then attack Yanjing City.
But at this last moment, Su Dingfang stopped the attack. This behavior was obviously very unreasonable.
To say that the Qin army did not have enough troops to attack Yuyang City? But Li Ling obviously only defeated Sun Lingming slightly, and the casualties of more than 2,000 people were just a drop in the bucket for the Qin army. There was no problem of insufficient troops at all.
So why did the Qin army stop attacking?
Li Guang was also very puzzled by this, but what was certain was that Su Dingfang must be brewing a bigger conspiracy.
"Father, you are worrying too much. Su Lie may have known that he could not capture Yuyang City, so he might have withdrawn his troops to repair." Li Gan, Li Guang's son, said with a smile.
The solemn look in Li Guang's eyes did not diminish at all, and he said in a deep voice: "As a father, I hope I have worried too much, but when Su Lie retreated, the morale of the Qin army was still strong, and the order of the army was shocking. It was obvious that there was still some strength left.
This is not a sign of weakness."
"Then why did Su Lie withdraw his troops?" Li Gan asked doubtfully.
"well."
Li Guang sighed and said, "As a father, I also want to know."
In fact, Li Guang was opposed to the task of guarding Yuyang County from the beginning, because he knew that he and Su Dingfang were not at the same level at all.
Who is Su Dingfang?
He is a famous general who has been famous for a long time. He rarely loses in all directions. Even among the Qin army, he is one of the top ones.
He, Li Guang, was just a fierce general. Before this, he had not even had the opportunity to lead the army alone.
Therefore, facing a strong opponent like Su Dingfang, Li Guang, who is self-aware, will naturally feel guilty.
Li Guang was afraid that he would live up to Liu Che's expectations, but at this time, apart from him, the Han army was already qualified to defend a county alone.
Therefore, even if he had to rush to sell the product, Li Guang could only bite the bullet and the result was as expected.
Even though Li Guang was extremely cautious, Ban Yue continued to lose battles with Su Lie, retreating from the south of Yuyang to the center, and now back to Yuyang City, the administrative seat in the north.
Of the original 25,000 troops, there were only 18,000 left. Although the casualties were not too great, morale had dropped significantly.
If Li Ling hadn't defeated Sun Lingming in the battle and greatly boosted the morale of the Han army, Li Guang would not have had the confidence to persevere.
Li Guang seems to be relaxed on the surface now, but in fact he has been forced to a dead end. He has no other way to retreat except to defend Yuyang City, because if he retreats, he can only retreat to Yanjing.
In this regard, Li Guang felt mentally and physically exhausted, but there was nothing he could do.
Li Guang thought of his old friend Zhou Yafu. If Zhou Yafu had not been captured alive by Li Jing after his defeat in Qingzhou, but had escaped, he would have been the one responsible for guarding Yuyang now, not Li Guang.
"Brother Zhou, what would you do if it were you?"
Li Guang murmured to himself, but his heart was already in a mess. Apart from defending the city, he couldn't think of any other way.
"Report... General Qi, General Tian Yu has sent news that the Qin army is ready to move."
"Send it over."
"promise."
After Li Guang took it apart and took a look, he didn't pay much attention at first, but the more he saw the back, the more frightened he became.
"Su Dingfang sent a large number of spies to Yanshan. What are you planning to do?"
Li Guang's brows frowned, and then he seemed to remember something. His expression suddenly changed, and he exclaimed: "Are you looking for a mountain road that bypasses Yuyang and goes straight to Yanjing?"
"Father, no one knows the terrain of Yuyang better than us. How can we bypass Yuyang and go directly to Yanjing?"
Li Gan looked unconcerned and said: "From what I've seen, Su Dingfang is just making a fuss. The purpose is to arouse panic in our army and lead our army out of the city to fight."
Hearing Li Gan's words, Li Guang's complexion improved a lot, but it was still very ugly. The word "puzzled" was written on his face.
"Gan'er, are you sure that there is no other path in Yanshan that leads directly to Yanjing?" Li Guang asked.
"This... Although the child has been to Yanshan, it cannot be confirmed. However, as long as we find the local hunters and inquire, we should be able to confirm."
Hearing this, Li Guang nodded: "In that case, Gan'er, I'll leave this matter to you."
"promise."
After Li Gan received the order, he directly went to hundreds of households of Yanshan hunters and questioned them one by one.
Most of the hunters said that they had never heard of this road, but there were also two or three who said that there seemed to be such a road, but that no one had used it for too long, so it had been neglected and abandoned.
After learning these ambiguous answers, Li Guang and Li Gan and his son looked at each other in shock, both realizing the seriousness of the problem.
It would be best if there was no such road, but if there was such a road, even if it was abandoned, it would still be bad news for the Han army.
This means that the Qin army can bypass Yuyang City and go directly to attack Yanjing City, and there is no point in defending Yuyang City.
Although most of the hunters said that there is no, it is more likely that this road does not exist, but a few people said that it does, which means that there is a possibility that this road exists.
In this situation, not knowing whether it is true or false is the most terrible thing, because Li Guang no longer has the capital to gamble.
"Father, what should we do now?" Li Gan asked.
"Send all the spies out, and we must find this road before the Qin army." Li Guang gritted his teeth and said.
Now the situation is even more unfavorable to the Han army. Once the Qin army is found in front of him, the entire Yuyang defense line will be meaningless.
Therefore, Li Guang had to get ahead of the Qin army, find this direct road to Yanjing, and then send troops to seize the important road and garrison it.
Given the steep terrain of Yanshan Mountain, if the Han army could successfully set up camp, they would only need two thousand defenders to completely block this road.
Hundreds of spies of the Han army searched for three days, but still could not find it, and the Qin army's search continued.
"Report...to General, Su Dingfang personally led an army of 30,000 people and disappeared after leaving Lu County for twenty miles."
"What?"
Li Guang screamed, then grabbed the spies by the collar and asked: "30,000 troops, so many people, such a big movement, how could they suddenly lose their traces?"