It is said that the Qin generals who defended the Yaoguan defense line were Hu Qing and He Yutai, both of whom were trusted generals promoted by Li Xin from the original Qin army.
After Li Xin first arrived at Lantian Camp, he realized that there were too many problems in the army. The generals were corrupt, training was ineffective, and the Qin army was dispersed...
But not everyone is like this, it’s just that they can’t express their ambitions in such a big environment
Such an army and atmosphere made Li Xin's nose crooked with anger at first. Is this the same Qin army that wiped out Liuhe before?
With such a decayed and disorganized army, it is even worse than the armies of the Six Kingdoms that were destroyed before. It is surprising that the Qin army can defeat the Six Kingdoms of Kwantung with such a force.
After reading this, Li Xin had no doubt that if King Qin was not in power again, such an army would not be able to stop Liu Bang, let alone Xiang Yu...
It has only been more than ten years since the six kingdoms were unified, and the government was disrupted by Zhao Gao for several years. In more than ten years, the Qin army has declined to such an unbearable state...
After Li Xin quickly learned about various situations in the army one day after joining the army, he gathered the generals for several meetings
Scold those who deserve to be scolded, beat those who deserve to be beaten, surrender those who deserve to be surrendered, and kill those who deserve to be killed! The atmosphere in the Third Heavenly Army changed drastically. Everyone in the Qin Army was in danger, and finally resumed their previous training.
And Li Xin also used his unique way of knowing people to dig out some loyal and reliable people without complicated backgrounds from the lower-level generals to serve as the Qin army's commander-in-chief.
Hu Qing and He Yutai, who were sent by Li Xin to take over the customs defense, were promoted.
Hu Qing was a centurion before. Because of his physical strength and orderly leadership of troops, he was promoted to the position of deputy general by Li Xin, with the ability to lead thousands of people.
He Yutai was previously a captain of thousands. Because he was familiar with the Qin army's military system, proficient in various combat techniques, and proficient in various skills, he was promoted to the position of deputy general, able to lead ten thousand people, and in charge of training.
After Li Xin learned about the general situation at Aoguan, he immediately sent Hu Qing and He Yutai to lead 20,000 troops to support Aoguan.
Li Xin's order to the two of them was to defend the Pass. Even if Liu Bang died on the battlefield, he would not be able to enter the pass with one soldier! And the rear would not provide additional troops.
However, Li Xin also clearly told the two of them that they only need to defend Liu Bang for more than ten days, and then they will listen to the orders. When the time comes, they will lead the Qin army to surrender unconditionally to Liu Bang's army.
Regarding Liu Bang's bribes and strategies, accept them when you should, and fall for them when you should be fooled.
The two most important tasks are to completely deceive Liu Bang and prevent his troops from crossing the border.
Hu and Qing were confused at first, because the Qin army would be consumed faster. But they did not dare to have any doubts. They must have reason for Li Xin's arrangement...
However, Hu Qing and He Yutai have become more and more aware of Liu Bangjun's impatience in recent days. They storm the Aoguan Pass several times a day and continue to send small groups of troops to harass the nearby border defense lines.
Liu Bang's army sometimes did not let go at night, which made the Qin army guarding the pass exhausted.
The result of this is that the Qin Army's garrison strength dropped rapidly, and 2,500 Qin Army troops were lost in two days. If this continues, the Qin Army's defense line will completely collapse in less than ten days...
.........
The 30th day of the reign of King Qin Ying Ziying
At night in Lantian Camp, the general's main tent was brightly lit, and all kinds of generals were crowded into the big tent.
And on a wall inside the tent hangs a map of the entire Guanzhong and Bashu regions several meters long and wide...
Ying Jingyu and Li Xin were standing next to the map. Li Xin pointed at the pass with a thin wooden stick and said loudly: "Everyone, the plan seems to have changed."
"Today, the commander-in-chief stationed at Aoguan, Hu Qing, wrote a letter saying that Liu Bangjun seemed to be unable to wait any longer and launched an uninterrupted fierce attack on Aoguan and nearby defense lines!"
"And the Qin army's casualties are getting worse every day than in the past. If this continues, Liu Bang will be able to bypass the Aoguan Pass in less than ten days and attack us from Lantian and Xianyang!"
The generals tensed up after hearing this. This was too fast. With 50,000 Qin troops guarding the dangerous pass, they couldn't guard against Liu Bang for two months?
Suddenly, everyone no longer dared to underestimate Liu Bangjun. If he didn't have a certain level of strength, how could he have fought all the way to Guanzhong and was about to break two levels in a row?
Ying Jingyu saw the emotions on the faces of the generals, narrowed his eyes, and said sternly: "You guys, please don't think too highly of Liu Bangjun."
"The defense of Yaoguan is not like the natural barriers at Hanwu Pass. Yaoguan can be bypassed. Besides, today's situation is exactly General Li's plan!"
After hearing this, everyone felt like a shot in the arm. They immediately calmed down their somewhat panicked mood and continued to look at the map.
Li Xin pointed to the positions of the Aoguan and Lantian Camps and continued: "As long as Liu Bang's army breaks through the Aoguan defense line, they will rush to our Lantian Camp within a few hours, and can reach the foot of Xianyang City in a day!"
"..."
"Everyone knows that Xinzhi's plan is to lay an ambush near Lantian and annihilate Liu Bang's army in one fell swoop. But the question is how to get all Liu Bang's army to enter the pass?"
After finishing speaking, one of the generals said: "If all Liu Bang's troops are allowed to enter the pass and the tens of thousands of defenders at Aoguan are withdrawn to our Lantian camp, Liu Bang will lead his troops here!"
Li Xin smiled and said: "I heard that there are talented people in the Liu Bang army, and it is definitely not a fluke that they can fight all the way here. If my troops guarding the pass are withdrawn blindly, do you think Liu Bang's army will enter the pass with confidence?"
The general asked again: "How about pretending to be defeated and retreating while fighting?"
Li Xin: "When the defense line is broken, Liu Bang will send more scouts to explore the truth in our pass. If he knows that I have an ambush, he may withdraw from the pass early."
"..." Everyone was silent
Jingyu knew this plan well, so he changed the subject and asked Li Xin: "General Li, how many Qin troops can I mobilize at present, and how can I lay an ambush?"
Li Xindao: "Master, I have ordered the Qin troops stationed in Bashui and other places to come to Lantian camp. There are more than 30,000 troops. There are now close to 90,000 Qin troops in our Lantian camp. If Liu Bang waits for a few days,
Later, when we arrived at Lantian, our adjustable army could reach more than 120,000 people..."
Ying Jingyu took a breath after hearing this. He had underestimated the potential of Guanzhong in the past. He thought it would be good to reach 100,000 troops, but he never expected that he could reach 120,000 Qin troops in such a short period of time.
With such strength, and with the internal and external cooperation of Liu Bang's Qin army, it seems that annihilating Liu Bang is not that difficult.
Li Xin looked at the somewhat relaxed expressions of everyone and said solemnly: "Everyone, the problem is not the number of Liu Bang's troops, but his cavalry."
"I'm waiting for the arrival of the 'Thunderbolt' from Xianyang, and tomorrow Ba Shang's Qin army will join Lantian. By then, everything will be ready, and Liu Bang's army can be led into Lantian at any time!"
Ying Jingyu nodded: "What General Li said is true, but how many cavalry equipment do we have in Guanzhong now?"
Li Xin frowned slightly and said, "More than nine thousand horses."
Ying Jingyu sighed inwardly, cavalry has now become the biggest shortcoming of the Guanzhong Qin Army. I am afraid that the Guanzhong Qin Army in history also encountered this problem.
Obviously the military strength is not much inferior to that of Liu Bang's army, but they were crushed by Liu Bang into Xianyang City. Corruption is one aspect, and the lack of cavalry is also an important factor that cannot be ignored.
Ying Jingyu said: "Then... wouldn't it be nice to equip our Qin army with the war horses brought by Liu Bang?"
Everyone was shocked! It wasn’t even big yet, and they were ready to divide the spoils.
Li Xin chuckled and said, "It's just what I want!"
