"By the way...General Qu Cheng, are you and the other three the only ones who have returned to our army safe and sound this time? Where are the other generals under Lord Xiong Hu?"
After watching Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, and Wuma Jiao for a long time, General Zai Fugen finally couldn't help but ask.
After hearing this, the Lord of Yangcheng, Xiong Tuo, who was still furious just now, looked at Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, and Wuma Jiao with surprised eyes, as if he was thinking about something.
Sure enough, it came...
Qu Cheng secretly thought to himself and did not panic. He only smiled and said awkwardly: "Please forgive me. At that time, the general saw that the situation was over, so he put on the leather armor of a soldier in the chaos and asked his bodyguard to pretend to be me. The way..."
"Hmm." Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, nodded suddenly.
In fact, it is not uncommon in Chu State for generals to pretend to be ordinary soldiers and escape. After all, Chu State attaches great importance to blood status. When the war situation is unfavorable, as a nobleman, he pretends to be ordinary soldiers and leaves his bodyguards or others to escape. It is a common thing for soldiers to wear the general's armor and die.
In the arrogant words of the nobles, it is their honor for the untouchables to die on behalf of the nobles!
And Qu Cheng was born with the surname Qu. Although he was from a side branch, he was still a nobleman. Therefore, if Qu Cheng escaped with this method, Xiong Tuo would not say anything to him.
"Where are you two?" Xiong Tuo looked at Gu Liangwei and Wuma Jiao.
Fortunately, Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, and Wu Majiao had discussed it earlier, so they were not panicked. After looking at each other, they fell to their knees with a thud, trembling, and shrinking their heads. Dare to speak.
With Qu Cheng's lesson learned from the past, it is self-evident what they meant.
Useless stuff!
Xiong Tuo, who was mistaken, snorted coldly in his heart. He wanted to reprimand or even punish the two of them, but because Qu Cheng also used this method to escape, he did not have an attack. He said calmly: "Get up!"
"Many...thank you, Your Majesty."
Gu Liang Wei and Wu Ma stood up anxiously.
In fact, the panic on their faces was not all fake, because they were afraid that Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, would find out something.
And this panic combined with their actions just now can be said to be a mistake.
"Qu Cheng. Where are the other generals under Xiong Hu's command?" Xiong Tuo asked Qu Cheng.
Perhaps because Qu Cheng was also a noble of the Chu State, Xiong Tuo not only had a much better attitude toward him, but also gave him relatively more trust.
"I have carefully inquired about this matter." Qu Cheng clasped his fists and said respectfully: "Wei Jun General Xiong Hu, thousands of generals and above, are all detained separately..." When he said this, there was a trace of hesitation on his face. color.
Seeing this, Xiong Tuo frowned and said, "What's wrong? Why are you hesitating?"
Qu Cheng glanced at Xiong Tuo hesitantly, and then said hesitantly: "Towards evening, some Wei soldiers beat up my soldiers... I learned a piece of news from them, but I don't know if it is true... …”
"What's the matter? Tell me quickly!"
"I heard from those Wei soldiers that in the afternoon, Ji Run, the Su King of Wei State, led a group of crossbowmen to the big tent where Master Xiong Hu and other generals were imprisoned. For some unknown reason, they imprisoned all the generals. Kill. Even Master Xiong Hu was tortured to the point of death..."
"What?!" Xiong Tuo's eyes widened when he heard this, and he gritted his teeth and cursed: "Ji Run, how dare you do this!"
Just after he finished cursing, he quickly fell silent.
Because he suddenly remembered the failed prisoner trade today, when Su King Zhao Hongrun rejected his prisoner exchange proposal and unexpectedly shot the prisoners of Wei to death.
As a result, a conjecture suddenly emerged in Xiong Tuo's mind: Obviously, King Su who shot his captives to death in desperation must have been holding back a lot of anger at the time, so when Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, led his army After leaving, King Nasu led his people to the tent where Xiong Hu and others were imprisoned, killed those Chu generals and tortured Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu to vent his anger.
"Xiong Hu...how are you now?"
"This..." Qu Cheng said in embarrassment: "I have also heard about it, but I don't know the details."
"Damn it!" Xiong Tuo heard this. He didn't care about Qu Cheng's noble status and cursed: "The life or death of the emperor you are loyal to is uncertain, but you are greedy for life and fear death, pretending to be a soldier to escape?... Do you still have the nerve to come back? !”
"The last general deserves to die, please forgive me Lord Yangcheng." Qu Chengkeng begged, and Gu Liangwei and Wuma Jiao also hurriedly knelt down.
Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, glared at Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, and Wuma Jiao fiercely. His eyes seemed like he wanted to drag them all out and execute them.
Seeing this, Qu Cheng quickly said: "Your Majesty, although we pretended to be soldiers and were greedy for a living, we also learned some things about Wei Ying..." As he said this, he seemed to be afraid that Xiong Tuo would blame him, so he couldn't wait to say: "Wei Ying I may be able to draw a few details about the internal architecture..."
"..." Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo was stunned when he heard this, and the anger on his face slightly lightened: "Do you know the situation in the Wei camp?"
Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, and Wu Majiao nodded in succession: "Reporting to your Majesty, the reinforcement of the Wei camp was almost done with the help of my 30,000 soldiers. The general and others took the opportunity to remember some of the situation in the camp... …”
"You still have the nerve to say it!" Xiong Tuo cursed in a low voice.
He felt angry when he mentioned this matter. After all, after Zhao Hongrun squeezed out the use value of the 30,000 captives, he regarded them as a burden and threw them back to him, Xiong Tuo, but Xiong Tuo had to continue to hold on.
This makes Xiong Tuo feel extremely annoyed!
Under Xiong Tuo's instructions, Qu Cheng indeed drew the location of the entire Wei camp.
After all, that camp originally belonged to Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu. The Wei army only built some defensive facilities after settling in, making the camp more indestructible.
It's not that Qu Cheng, Gu Liangwei, and Wu Majiao betrayed Zhao Hongrun again. The problem is that in the current Yanshui Camp of the Wei Army, even if Qu Cheng draws the internal architectural structure in detail and gives it to Xiong Tuo, it will be of no use.
At most Xiong Tuo sighed: Ah, it is indeed indestructible.
Of course, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, did not know Qu Cheng's wishful thinking. Seeing him draw a map of the location of the Wei army's camp, the anger in his heart subsided a lot.
But just as Qu Cheng expected, this map of the Wei army's camp structure could not help Xiong Tuo at all.
Troublesome, how tricky!
After studying the architectural plans of Wei Camp for a long time, Xiong Tuo became more and more anxious.
Because the more he looked at this picture, the more he felt that this military camp was a Xiongguan fortress that was simply impossible to capture, at least before the next spring. There was almost no possibility of it being captured.
"Qu Cheng, do you know about the grain in the Wei camp?"
After hearing this, Qu Cheng smiled bitterly and replied: "Reporting to your Majesty, the general does not know how much food the Wei army has. But the general still knows how much grain the military camp originally had..."
"Damn it!" Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo couldn't help but cursed.
Because he just remembered that the Wei camp now in front of him originally belonged to Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu. If nothing unexpected happened, when Xiong Hu captured Yanling or Anling, the military camp would be handed over to The army of Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, includes all the facilities and provisions in the entire camp.
But now, everything belongs to Wei Jun.
"Didn't Xiong Hu leave any soldiers to guard the camp?" Xiong Tuo asked angrily.
Qu Cheng hesitated for a moment and said in embarrassment: "No one thought that the Wei army could defeat Lord Xiong Hu, including Lord Xiong Hu himself, so..."
"Careless! Xiong Hu is so careless!" Xiong Tuo hammered the table in frustration.
Everyone in the tent looked at each other after hearing this, but said nothing.
In fact, I am afraid that no one here has ever thought that the Wei State, whose national and military power was far inferior to that of the Chu State, was able to defeat Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's 60,000 pioneer division in one fell swoop and take over the military camp.
In their opinion, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu should have played a triumphant song all the way to Daliang, the capital of Wei.
"This is trouble." General Cheyu couldn't help but said: "The Wei army has obtained the baggage, food and grass from Lord Xiong Hu's army. They should not be troubled by food and grass in the short term, but our army... There are so many unprovoked With 30,000 mouths open, the problem of food and grass becomes more serious... The general believes that those 30,000 people remaining in the army will be a burden."
"Then what do you say? Should we tell those 30,000 people to go back to the Wei camp? Or should we just kill them and be done with it?" Xiong Tuo asked angrily.
Zi Cheyu's complexion changed when he heard this, and he quickly confessed, not daring to say anything more.
Realizing that he had lost his composure, Xiong Tuo let out a long breath. After calming down his mind, he sighed: "I also understand that leaving those 30,000 unarmed and unarmored soldiers in the army will undoubtedly consume military rations in vain, but For the sake of military morale, we must not expel them. Otherwise, disaster will result."
"Why don't we let those 30,000 people go back to Dachu first?" Lian Bi tentatively suggested.
As soon as he finished speaking, Zaifu Gen said with a wry smile: "I'm afraid those people will freeze to death and starve to death halfway before reaching Pingyu County... Forcing them to return home at this time is tantamount to asking them to die. "
A fierce look flashed in Lian Bi's eyes, and he whispered: "In that case, why not simply attack Wei Camp tomorrow..."
This guy...
All the generals in the tent turned their heads and glanced at Lian Bi.
"No." Xiong Tuo shook his head and sighed: "Not to mention that those 30,000 people now have no weapons or armor. Even if someone gives them weapons and armor, how many of them will still have the strength to fight?... You just saw it. , Those people have yellow faces and thin muscles. Apparently Ji Run, the child, had expected it a long time ago and simply didn’t give them much food to weaken their physical strength..."
Having said this, Xiong Tuo suddenly turned to look at Qu Cheng: "Qu Cheng, do you have any suggestions?"
Qu Cheng said sarcastically: "How dare you, a defeated general, suggest anything to your Majesty..."
"If you have something to say, just say it."
"This..." Qu Cheng hesitated for a moment, then suddenly gritted his teeth and said: "The general thinks that if we attack Wei Camp now, even if we suffer heavy casualties, we may not be able to capture the military camp... it is better to retreat."
"Retreat?" Xiong Tuo had a complicated look in his eyes.
"Yes." Ignoring the suspicious looks cast by the three generals including Zaifu Gen in the tent, Qu Cheng said calmly: "Your Majesty is aware that at present, the seven counties of Zhaoling, Xiping, and Linying are under the control of our army. In your hands, it is better to disperse the army and station it in these seven counties. When the spring comes next year, reorganize the army and continue to attack Wei."
"..."
Zaifu Gen, Zi Cheyu, and Lian Bi were stunned when they heard this, and the anger on their faces was immediately replaced by surprise and embarrassment.
Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, also looked at Qu Cheng in surprise, nodded slowly and asked: "Then... what should Xiong Hu do?"
"This..." Qu Cheng looked at Xiong Tuo hesitantly and said in a low voice: "The general thought that it would be better to try to return one or two Wei cities in exchange for Lord Xiong Hu..."
Xiong Tuo was stunned when he heard this, then nodded thoughtfully and said: "Well, this is worth a try..."
call……
Qu Cheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Because the sharp edge he felt inexplicably just now has gradually moved away. (To be continued.)