In mid-September, after Zan Shou and Zhong You led the central Guizhou army to capture Weicheng next to Weishan Lake, Yan Yue also successfully captured Fuyang. When Zan Shou and Zhong You led the central Guizhou army to Pengcheng,
Bai Yan handed over Pengcheng to the two men, and he immediately led the remaining cavalry soldiers from Pengcheng to Qufu.
If you look at the map, under the territory of Wei at this time, from Qianzhong County, to Nanjun, Nanyang County, Yingchuan County, and then to Wei, almost all the roads leading to the Central Plains from the west and north of Chu State are already
In the territory of Qin State, in Jiao County to the south of Wei State, Wang Ben commanded more than 100,000 Qin State troops, eyeing the Chu State.
Now, Bai Yan has captured Pengcheng and Fu Yang in the west of Chu State. Not only has he penetrated deeply to the west of Chu State, he has also launched an attack on more than ten cities such as Qufu in the north. You must know that those ten cities are all for trade.
It is a prosperous and fertile land. It was because the Lu State had so much fertile land that Chu, Qi and Wei had been trying to plunder it.
Once the Chu State loses these ten cities of Qufu and all the territory from Mengshan to Wei, Chu State will no longer have a road leading to Qi State.
Boom, boom, boom~!
Outside Qufu City, drums were beating. Countless soldiers wearing Wei uniforms and holding Qin flags formed phalanxes outside Qufu City. There were 5,000 people in each phalanx. At a glance, the phalanxes
There were at least a dozen of them, and the dense sea of people was dazzling.
The Wei soldiers were holding black flags with the word Qin, which sounded a little funny, but to the Chu army in Qufu City, it was not funny at all.
On the smoke-filled city, Chu soldiers were coming and going, constantly throwing weapons, stones, and huge trees at the Wei soldiers who were attacking the city, and the crossbowmen were constantly pulling arrows to kill the Wei soldiers.
However, in the city road, at the feet of these Chu soldiers, at a glance, they were all the corpses of Chu soldiers and Wei soldiers. The miscellaneous weapons, arrows, and blood on the ground showed the cruelty of this war.
Amidst the roaring sounds, screams could be heard from time to time from all around.
"General, the Qin army has too many people. Without reinforcements, the soldiers can no longer hold the position!"
A Chu general whose face was covered with blood looked outside the city, at the sea of Qin soldiers in the distance, and another phalanx of soldiers attacking the city. He turned around with a panic on his face, came to Chu General Jing Xia, raised his hands and said
.
"You must defend it for me, there is no room for loss in Qufu!"
Chu General Jing Xia, who was in his fifties, looked out of the city with a gloomy look on his face full of vicissitudes of life.
How could Jing Xia not know how dangerous the current situation is? However, the location of Qufu is too important. It is directly connected to Yangguan of Qi State, and to the west is the Wei Dynasty, which can threaten Tao Yi at any time.
Jing Xia is a veteran of the Chu Kingdom, so he must understand what it means for the Chu Kingdom to lose its epididymis.
"General, there is no Qin army outside the east city. We will defend to the death and order people to escort the general..."
Xiao Jiliang wanted to say something else, but before he finished speaking, the next moment he saw Jing Xia staring at him with angry eyes.
"If you dare to abandon the city again, I will kill you!"
Jing Xia's face was full of anger and he said sternly.
Such an appearance made Xiao Jiliang helpless and lowered his head, not daring to bring up the matter of leaving from the east again.
Jing Xia thought that Xiao Jiliang was a trusted general whom she had personally cultivated, and that Xiao Jiliang was also concerned about his safety. After calming down her anger, she raised her head and looked outside the city, and gave Xiao Jiliang instructions.
"Tell the soldiers, as long as you hold on, reinforcements will arrive soon!"
After Jing Xia finished speaking, although her eyes were worried, they were extremely firm.
"promise!"
When Xiao Jiliang heard what General Jing Xia said, his eyes were not excited at all, but rather sad. As a close confidant of Jing Xia, how could Xiao Jiliang not know that from the beginning, their plan was for the Qin army to attack Qufu after destroying Wei?
, the 30,000 defenders in their city were responsible for holding back Qin General Bai Yan's offensive and making Qin's sergeants tired.
At that time, the Chu army in other places will surround the Qin army.
However, right now, the Qin army outside the city was not the real Qin army at all. Bai Yan and his elite Qin army did not appear at all.
Xiao Jiliang knew that even if there were reinforcements trying to rescue Qufu, they would be stopped by the elite Qin army led by Bai Yan.
"General, general, General Nongyue of Beicheng, has ordered people to take away the last batch of arrows from the warehouse. The arrows in the city are about to be exhausted!"
Suddenly, a Chu soldier hurriedly came to Jing Xia to report.
Although Jing Xia's expression was well hidden, when he looked outside the city and learned that the arrows had been used up, he still felt panic for a moment.
Xiao Jiliang was about to leave. When he heard the soldiers' report, his cheeks under the blood became paler, but he still turned around to boost morale.
Outside Qufu City.
In the Qin army, Huipu was riding a war horse. As the general of the army, Huipu looked at the Chu army on the top of Qufu City and frowned.
When a soldier came over to report something, HP looked surprised, then asked the deputy general to guard here, turned around and rode towards the rear of the army.
After a while.
In the Qin army's camp, there were few Qin soldiers in the empty camp. There were only occasional patrols and the guarding Qin soldiers were outside the camp.
HP hurriedly came to the camp with his cronies. As soon as he entered, he saw Bai Yan already in the commander's tent. Besides Zhang, there was also a man in civilian clothes beside him.
"General!"
HP came to Bai Yan to greet him and watched Bai Yan looking at the map.
"No need to be polite!"
When Bai Yan saw Hewlett-Packard coming back, he raised his head and looked at Hewlett-Packard. After returning the gift, he asked Hewlett-Packard to explain in detail the situation on the battlefield during this period.
"In accordance with the general's instructions, the general divided all the armies into three groups to attack the city from the west, north, and south..."
Huipu said to Bai Yan, telling everything about the siege of the city during this period. In the end, Huipu felt a little ashamed. Although he had 150,000 Wei troops, he still failed to capture Qufu.
Mang and Xiao He listened to HP's words and then looked at Bai Yan.
"Don't worry, you've done a good job now!"
Bai Yan looked at the map and said, 150,000 miscellaneous soldiers attacked Qufu, but they couldn't take it for a long time. The morale is still there. HP has done a very good job. At least when Bai Yan handed this matter over to HP, he didn't expect HP to be able to do it.
Let a 150,000-strong mixed army be so stable.
"General, I predict that in a few days, the Chu army will collapse without a fight!"
Huipu said to Bai Yan that from the beginning to the end, he had not deployed any troops outside the east city, and all the Chu soldiers and scouts in the city, as well as the Chu army's scouts out of the city, Huipu ignored them, and even deliberately let those people know that in the east
, there was no ambush by any Qin army.
The purpose was to achieve what Bai Yan originally expected, that the Chu army would be in chaos from within, collapse without a fight, and thus abandon the city.
"If the Chu army is defeated and flees, remember that after the Chu army leaves the city, they must not be allowed to go south and drive all the Chu troops to the ground."
Bai Yan ordered.
HP was a little surprised when he heard Bai Yan's words. Even Xiao He couldn't understand.
"General, the Qi State does not dare to attack our Qin State rashly now, so for now, there is not much threat on the Qi State's border. If the Chu Army is allowed to go to Qi, I am afraid the Qi Army will not hand over the Chu Army easily. When the time comes, the Chu Army
The army may move south at any time, which may be disadvantageous to our Qin army."
HP thought for a moment, then handed it over and said.
Xiao He also nodded and looked at the map. Once the Chu army went to Qi, even if Bai Yan, as the general of Qin, asked Qi to hand over people, it might not be possible.
Going to Xianyang will take a lot of time, not to mention discussing in the palace, selecting envoys, and then the envoys will go to Qi.
In the time it takes to go back and forth, I'm afraid there will inevitably be changes, and the Qin army will also be attacked from both sides.
This is a taboo!
"No problem! Just follow the order!"
Faced with HP's doubts, Bai Yan didn't explain too much. He just told HP to remember that as soon as the Chu army left the city, they could immediately rush to the ground and there was no need to fight to the death with the Chu army.
"Put more pressure on the Chu army!"
Bai Yan raised his head and said to HP.
"promise!"
Hearing Bai Yan's order, HP nodded, cupped his hands and said, then quickly turned around and left.
Bai Yan looked at the map, and when his eyes saw Yangguan.
"Counting the time, Tian Ding should have returned to Yangguan by now!"
Bai Yan opened his mouth and said.
"If there are no accidents, we have arrived at Yangguan."
When Xiao He heard Bai Yan's words, he nodded and looked at Bai Yan curiously.
Bai Yan looked up and saw Xiao He's eyes, seeming to guess what Xiao He was thinking.
"In two days at most, the Chu army in the city will abandon the city and leave. Without Huipu, the Chu army will also go to Qi, and the Qi army in Qi will definitely allow the Chu army to enter Qi."
Bai Yan said.
"It's Tian Ding!"
When Xiao He heard Bai Yan's words, he frowned slightly. After thinking about it, he thought of what Bai Yan had said before and immediately thought of Tian Ding. Bai Yan meant that Tian Ding would definitely send people to Qufu to let the Chu army leave the city and go to Qidi.
"Not just Tian Ding!"
Xiao He shook his head slightly, suddenly woke up, and immediately knew what Bai Yan meant.
Now all the roads going south are heavily guarded, and Chu State is unable to rescue Qufu.
Xiao He suddenly thought of the fake tripod before. Xun Shuo had said at the beginning that the fake tripod was inseparable from the Chu State.
"General, there is a man outside the camp who calls himself Ban Ding. Please see the general!"
At this time, a soldier came to the camp and reported to Bai Yan.
Bai Yan was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't expect Ban Ding, who had disappeared for so long, to come here at this time.
"Bring it in!"
Bai Yan said.
After a while, under the leadership of the soldiers, Ban Ding came to the camp. When he saw Bai Yan, Ban Ding saw that Bai Yan's face was not very good, and he immediately smiled apologetically.
"Banding, meet the general!"
Ban Ding saluted Bai Yan.
"How did you know I was here?"
Bai Yan looked at Ban Ding and asked curiously. Knowing that he had just arrived outside Qufu City, Ban Ding came to see him immediately.
"It's all because the general ordered people to sneak into the city..., so I immediately guessed that the general would definitely come to Qufu soon, so I kept waiting."
When Ban Ding said this, he glanced at Xiao He. Because he didn't know if Xiao He was a trustworthy person, he didn't tell anything about Chu General Nong Yue.
Looking at the quiet Bai Yan, Ban Ding was also a little worried that Bai Yan would be disappointed in him, so he looked at Bai Yan with questioning eyes, and then looked at Xiao He.
"This is Xiao He, trustworthy!"
Bai Yan naturally understood what Ban Ding meant and said softly.
"Xiao He!"
At this time, Xiao He bowed his hands to Ban Ding.
"Banding!"
Ban Ding quickly returned the gift.
After the ceremony, after knowing that Xiao He was trustworthy, Ban Ding stopped hiding and told Bai Yan all the people who had instigated rebellion during this period. He also told Bai Yan that he really had not slacked off at all during this period.
"What?"
Xiao He was extremely shocked when he heard Ban Ding's words. Only then did Xiao He know how much preparation Bai Yan had made in private to attack the Chu Kingdom and how many people he had bribed.
Under Xiao He's gaze, Ban Ding also explained to Bai Yan why he had not contacted Bai Yan during this period. The matter had to start with receiving news from Shouchun's informant.
At that time, Ban Ding learned that Xiang and Jing Qi seemed to be plotting something important. He was worried and went to investigate.
However, since neither Xiang nor Jing Qi seemed to be the masterminds, they only exchanged letters and few people knew about it, so it was very secretive. Ban Ding was never able to investigate, but he only got a little understanding that Xiang secretly seemed to have been looking for someone.
until……
There is news that someone saw Jiuding in Surabaya.
Having said this, Ban Ding looked at Bai Yan and raised his hand.
"General, I don't know if Ban Ding should say it bluntly. That Jiuding is probably fake!"
Ban Ding said to Bai Yan, his tone full of tangle, anxiety and uneasiness.
At this time, Ban Ding didn't know whether Bai Yan would believe this guess. After all, Ban Ding had also suspected that Chu General Huang Ye was acting and deliberately gave up Pengcheng to Bai Yan so that Bai Yan could find the fake Jiuding.
However, Ban Ding specially ordered people to investigate later, and found that Huang Ye was not cheating, but was really angry. In other words, Pengcheng was not abandoned by Huang Ye on his own initiative, but was actually captured by Bai Yan.
This made Ban Ding worry about whether Bai Yan would believe this. After all, it was just speculation and there was no evidence. However, Bai Yan took Pengcheng from Huang Ye with his own hands. There was no fraud in this matter.
Inside the tent.
After Xiao He heard what Ban Ding said, it took him a long time to come back to his senses. However, when he heard Ban Ding mention the Jiuding thing later, Xiao He, like Zhang, looked at Ban Ding with a strange look on his face.
On the sidelines, Bai Yan finally understood why there was no news about Ban Ding for so long.
"General, it's still too late to stop Jiuding at this time."
Ban Ding suggested to Bai Yan, although Ban Ding also understood that Bai Yan may have fallen into the trap now, but at least he can save it in time. If it is really sent to Xianyang in the future, it will really be a fake tripod, and everything will be over by then.
Too late.
"No need to worry about this, let's talk about Nongyue first!"
Bai Yan told Ban Ding not to worry about Jiuding's affairs, but to first tell in detail what happened to Nong Yue, the general of the Chu army in the city.
"this……"
Ban Ding saw that Bai Yan really didn't believe that Jiuding was a fake tripod, and his face suddenly showed a very worried look. But looking at Bai Yan's determined look, Ban Ding also knew that there was no use in talking more.
Sigh.
At the moment, Ban Ding can only hope that Bai Yan can find a way to remedy the situation later.
………………
Xianyang, Qin State.
At dusk, in the Xianyang Palace, Ying Zheng was in his study, dealing with one thing as usual. Reviewing bamboo slips weighing two stones every day was something Ying Zheng couldn't help but do.
"Kings!"
A light and sweet voice sounded slowly, and then Ying Zheng saw Concubine Qi and her maid bringing cold juice to the wooden table.
Watching Concubine Qi gently bring the juice from the wooden plate in the hand of the maid to the wooden table, and then Concubine Qi asked the maid to bring another bowl to Meng Yi who was standing aside, Ying Zheng didn't mind.
"Your Majesty, this is Shangshi's order to teach me how to prepare it. Please taste it, Your Majesty!"
Concubine Qi looked timidly, but looked at Ying Zheng with full of flattery.
Upon seeing this, Ying Zheng thought for a while and did not refuse Concubine Qi's kindness. He also took the opportunity to ask Concubine Qi how much ice was left on the ground.
Not only the Qin Kingdom, but also had the habit of storing ice in the winter and eating in the summer since ancient times. The Zhou royal family even had a position of Lingren, who was responsible for managing the ice. The king would also store the ice during the extremely hot weather.
Ice is given to doctors for consumption. This custom has been passed down from country to country.
"During this period, I learned that Bai Yan is from Qi, and my concubine's face looks much better!"
Ying Zheng sipped the juice, looked at Concubine Qi and said.
How could Ying Zheng not know about Concubine Qi's careful thoughts? Concubine Qi had been looming close to Bai Yan since she selected Zhanlu a long time ago. Now it is known that Bai Yan is from Qi, and like Concubine Qi, he has the same relationship with Concubine Qi.
Being from Qi State, Concubine Qi was naturally overjoyed.
"Please, Your Majesty, please don't laugh at me!"
Concubine Qi said softly.
"Back then, my beloved concubine was well-known to every household in Qi State. Bai Yan must have always heard about my beloved concubine."
Ying Zheng looked at Concubine Qi, couldn't help but laugh and said, maybe it was the destruction of Wei State, or maybe it was the news about Jiuding, which made Ying Zheng's time rarely less heavy and tiring than before.
Even now, I occasionally tease Concubine Qi.
"I never knew before that, after seeing General Bai Yan so many times, I thought General Bai Yan was a descendant of the Bai family!"
When Concubine Qi heard Ying Zheng's words, her delicate and beautiful face looked a little shy and helpless. She thought that she had been in this study room before and had seen Bai Yan so many times. She didn't know that Bai Yan was from Qi and that his mother country was the same as hers.
They are all from Qi State.
"This matter is my fault! Whatever my beloved concubine wants to know in the future, I will definitely know everything."
When Ying Zheng saw Concubine Qi's eyes, he thought of Bai Yan and Bai Yan's status as a Qi person. Ying Zheng, who had already doted on Concubine Qi, naturally fell in love with her even more now.
"Then, the king, can you tell me about General Bai Yan? Otherwise, I will not know what to say to General Bai Yan in the future. I am far away from Qi State, and now I meet General Bai Yan..."
When Concubine Qi said this, her eyes turned red, as if she was homesick.
Upon seeing this, Ying Zheng looked at Concubine Qi for a while, and when he saw Concubine Qi bowing her head, Ying Zheng also knew that everyone was now paying attention to Bai Yan's affair with Qi Ren. If he told Concubine Qi now, not to mention Concubine Qi would
If you don't tell anyone, even Meng Yi, the maids, and the eunuchs may accidentally leak the secret in the future.
But for now, Ying Zheng is still willing to tell Concubine Qi something.
"Concubine Qi, do you know that Bai Yan was once driven out of Qi State by Tian Ding!"
Ying Zheng said.
This sentence made Concubine Qi immediately raise her head and look at Ying Zheng with a look of disbelief, as if she doubted whether she heard it correctly.
"Your Majesty, Mr. Tian Ding's character and concubine's identity are clear. How could Mr. Tian drive General Bai Yan out of Qi?"
Concubine Qi shook her head slightly and looked at Ying Zheng with doubtful eyes, not believing what Ying Zheng said.
Even Meng Yi was like this. Meng Yi had also heard about Tian Ding's deeds, but he didn't believe that Bai Yan was driven out of Qi by Tian Ding.
"Why should I deceive my concubine? If my concubine doesn't believe it, she can ask Bai Yan herself when Bai Yan comes back."
Ying Zheng said with a smile.
Thinking that in Qi State, Tian Ding had always been quite resistant to Qin State, Ying Zheng wanted to know what would happen if King Qi learned about this!