Chapter 86: Battle of Chu and Qi Sishui (2) [two in one]
"This...this belongs to me!"
While cleaning the battlefield, a grain recruiter from Chu State who was estimated to be only twenty years old, luckily snatched the armor from the corpse of a Qi State soldier from the hands of his companions, and held it in his arms with joy.
Although it was just a set of leather armor with only a small amount of iron armor on the chest, it still made the food recruiter ecstatic. Even the other food recruiters who had not grabbed the Qi army's armor expressed envy or even jealousy.
Look at him.
"Hey, kid, hand over the armor in your hand!"
At this time, three strong and fierce-looking grain recruiters came over. Two of them had already put on the armor of the Qi army, but one of them did not have the armor yet, and at this time, he treated the young comrade ill-intentionedly.
Ze said.
After hearing this, the young soldier took two steps back warily, holding the armor tightly in his arms.
Who doesn't know that for these soldiers, who are considered cannon fodder on the battlefield, harvesting a set of armor from the corpses of enemy soldiers when cleaning the battlefield is the only way to ensure their survival on the battlefield.
"Hey!"
Seeing that the young grain recruiter Tongze didn't seem to be very submissive, the three grain recruiters looked at each other, vaguely surrounded the young grain recruiter, and threatened with evil intentions: "Boy, you don't want to suffer.
If it’s your head, it’s better to hand it over honestly.”
Looking at the three ferocious grain recruiters, the young grain recruiter swallowed his saliva, with a hint of fear flashing in his eyes. He wanted to give in, but when he thought of his parents, brothers and sisters at home, the young grain recruiter
Recruiting soldiers, but calmed down.
"I want to survive! I have to survive!"
Prompted by this belief, he slowly pulled out a sharp sword from the scabbard on his waist and stared at the three people with wide eyes.
However, when they saw the sharp sword in his hand, the eyes of the three strong men who recruited food and soldiers lit up. One of them smiled and said: "Oh, I didn't expect there are other good things... Boy, do you want to follow us?"
Three hand gestures?"
The young grain recruiter suppressed the fear in his heart, lowered his voice, and said slightly breathlessly: "If you want to snatch my things, you have to step over my body... But I will definitely pull someone away.
be made a scapegoat!"
"..."
As if they saw something unusual in the eyes of this young grain recruiter, the three strong men of the grain recruiter looked at each other and did not act for the time being.
At this moment, the Chu army general "Doulian" passed by with a group of soldiers. Seeing this scene, he frowned and couldn't help shouting: "What are you waiting for?"
Hearing this, the three strong men who recruited grain and soldiers were startled. When they looked back, they saw that the person who came was actually a general-level Dou Lian. They quickly put on smiles and said: "Nothing, nothing, general, just follow this little guy."
Brother, just say a few words and everything will be fine."
Chu General Dou Lian glanced coldly at the three strong men recruiting soldiers, and said expressionlessly: "Master Jingyun is inspecting the battlefield right now, don't cause any trouble for me! ... Otherwise, Dou will definitely not be able to spare you!"
"I understand."
The three strong men who recruited grain and soldiers said yes again and again, nodded and bowed, and left with flattering smiles on their faces.
Seeing this, Dou Lian continued to move forward with the accompanying soldiers, but he heard such a young soldier thanking him sincerely: "Thank you, General Dou Lian."
Dou Lian then stopped and looked back at the young grain recruiter, especially the look in his eyes. He nodded slightly and continued to inspect forward.
This small episode is just a microcosm of what happened during the cleanup work on the battlefield at this moment. It was just that this young food recruiter was lucky enough to meet Chu General Doulian, and some of the other food recruiters were robbed of their armor, but just
Not so lucky anymore.
At the same time, on the edge of the battlefield, "Shou Ling Jun Jing Yun" and "Di Yang Jun Xiong Li" were walking side by side, inspecting the cleanup work of the battlefield and chatting at the same time.
"Jing Yun is extremely grateful to Di Yangjun for bringing his troops to the rescue. If it weren't for Yi Jun's reinforcements, our army would probably have suffered a defeat at the hands of the Donglai Army." Jing Yun, Lord Shouling, thanked him.
Just four or five days later, when Qi's reinforcements "Donglai Army" arrived at "Tan City", Lord Shouling Jingyun was attacking Tancheng. Since he could not escape in time, he was attacked on the flank by Qi's Donglai Army and was eaten.
A lost battle.
From that day on, Qi's Donglai Army began to exert all-round pressure on the Chu Army led by Jing Yun.
The Donglai Army of Qi State is an army specifically responsible for suppressing the Yi people in Donglai County. It is one of the few armies in Qi State that is at war all year round. It is certainly much stronger than the general Qi State army, regardless of longevity.
Lingjun Jingyun has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, but considering that 70% of them are vulnerable grain recruits, in fact, Shoulingjun Jingyun's Chu army is mixed with good and bad, and it is really not the more than 30,000 soldiers.
The opponent of Dongnae Army.
When Shouling Jun Jingyun's Chu army was in a worrying situation, Diyang Jun Xiong Li led 50,000 regular troops and 50,000 grain recruits to come to support Shouling Jun Jingyun's disadvantage, and today, successfully
They defeated the two armies of Qi State's Donghai Navy and Donglai Army, creating the first great victory since Shoulingjun Jingyun set foot in Donghai County.
Regardless of the fact that when facing the Qi army, the Chu army always has the absolute advantage in terms of strength, but in fact, it is not easy for the Chu army to defeat the Qi army.
Facing Shouling Lord Jingyun's thanks, Diyang Lord Xiong Lilang said with a smile: "Master Jingyun is serious. In fact, I just brought the army here. Other than that, I have made no contribution to this battle."
In the end, he couldn't help but laugh a little embarrassedly.
When he said this, he was certainly not being modest.
Unlike his elder brother, the former Diyang Lord Xiong Shang, the current Diyang Lord Xiong Li was just a dandy who relied on the protection of his father and brother to enjoy wealth and prosperity in the feudal city. Whether in terms of bravery or strategy, he was not as good as his brother Xiong Shang. This was just because
Xiong Shang's son is not yet an adult, so the Xiong clan of Diyang only pushed Xiong Li to temporarily replace Diyang Jun. When his nephew grows up, the title will be returned to him.
Of course, what will happen next, or simply whether Xiong Li is willing to return Di Yangjun's title and rights to his nephew at that time, this matter has nothing to do with this battle, so I won't go into details.
Compared with his brother Xiong Shang, who is violent, domineering, and careless about human life, Xiong Li can be said to be a model of the old aristocracy of the Chu Kingdom. He is mediocre, unintelligent, greedy, and afraid of death. His only advantage may be that Xiong Li still has self-awareness - fact
Many of the old aristocrats of the Shangchu Kingdom were self-aware, and there were really few arrogant people who were clearly idiots but looked down on others.
On the side, Yang You, the confidant general under Lord Shouling Jingyun, heard the words of Lord Diyang Xiong Li and said with a smile: " Lord Diyang led an army of 100,000 to arrive at this battlefield in time, which is the greatest contribution to this battle."
Hearing this, Di Yangjun Xiong Li laughed heartily. Yang You's words were a hint to him that he must have half of the credit for this battle.
After chatting and laughing, Xiong Li, Lord of Diyang, who did not understand military matters, asked Lord Shouling Jingyun: "Master Jingyun, in your opinion, can Tancheng be defeated?" He swallowed his saliva as he spoke. , said meaningfully: "When I led the army here, Xiong Tuo made a promise that those who made outstanding contributions in this battle would be able to obtain a Qi city as a fief..."
In his words, he directly called Chu Gongzi Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo by his first name. The reason is very simple, because Xiong Tuo took off the three-day pillar title that originally belonged to the "Diyang Xiong Clan" and gave it to Chu Xi. Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu of Pingyu Xiong Clan - even though they are both members of the "Xiong Clan of Mi", in fact, ever since "Runan Jun Xiong Hao" was forced to death by the Chudong nobles, Chu The Xiong clan and the Xiong clan of Chudong have completely become strangers. Therefore, the Xiong clan of Diyang is very dissatisfied with Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, in favor of the Xiong clan of western Chu. However, now that Xiong Tuo is in power in Chudong, they All we can do is compromise and seek perfection.
But no matter what, the promise made by Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo before the war this time, that those with outstanding military exploits can get a city of Qi as a fief, regardless of whether they have already owned a fief before, this promise made the nobles of Eastern Chu think about this. He strongly supported the action of sending troops to attack Qi.
At the same time, it also made some nobles who were still wavering in their stance clearly realize the courage of Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo - if he hadn't planned to annex Qi from the beginning, how could Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo have promised such benefits? An incredible promise?
Regardless of whether the nobles of Eastern Chu were once hostile to Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, they must admit that Xiong Tuo's courage far exceeded that of their current king, Xiong Xu, and he was indeed a hero who could lead their Chu country.
Therefore, even Di Yangjun Xiong Li, who was somewhat hostile to Xiong Tuo, immediately led his army to support Shouling Jun Jingyun after receiving the former's order, hoping to gain some success on the battlefield. Some meritorious deeds enabled him to have a fiefdom of his own - after all, Diyang City did not belong to him alone.
Unfortunately, Diyang Jun Xiong Li asked the wrong person, because Shouling Jun Jingyun was not a commander who knew military matters. After listening to Xiong Li's words, he turned to look at Yang You.
Seeing this, Yang You understood in his heart and said firmly: "Don't worry, Lord, and please rest assured, Lord Diyang. Our army will capture Tancheng. It's just a matter of time." At this point, he explained with the intention of teaching Young Master Jingyun. : "Sir, Qi has made a major mistake. Do you know what it is?"
Jing Yun thought for a while and said humbly: "Please give me some advice, General."
Seeing this, Yang You raised his finger and pointed at the grain recruiters who were clearing the battlefield in the distance, and said seriously: "Among the countries in the Central Plains, our Chu army is the weakest. This is really the biggest joke in the world!... Mr. Wei The two armies of "Yan Ling" and "Shang Shui" under Run's command swept across the Central Plains without a single defeat in ten years. However, nine out of ten soldiers in those two armies were from Chu. Who dares to say that our Chu people are weak?"
Lord Shouling Jingyun nodded in agreement: It is undeniable that the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army of the Wei State once gave him a headache in the Chu State, but in terms of national honor, Wei Gongzi Run led the two most powerful forces. The army composed of Chu people swept across the Central Plains, which also made many Chu people feel a little elated.
"This understanding is actually due to those grain-recruited soldiers... But are the grain-recruited soldiers really that weak?" Yang You shook his head and said: "The reason why the grain-recruited soldiers are weak is just because they lack sophisticated weapons and equipment, and they have not After rigorous training, on the other hand, if they have enough armor and weapons, even if they lack experience, they may not be unable to make a difference on the battlefield based on their absolute superiority in numbers... In the past years, our country and Wei State Fight, fight with Qi, needless to say about the soldiers of Wei. Since the appearance of Wei Gongzi Run, our Chu army, even with its numerical advantage, is gradually no longer the opponent of Wei soldiers. Wei soldiers are equipped with Excellent and well-trained, in front of our Chu army, we can even fight one against ten, so our Chu army was defeated again and again. The same is true when facing the army of Qi. Our army of Chu was defeated by Qi in previous years, and with it It is better to say that we were defeated at the hands of the soldiers of Qi State than at the hands of the weapons, equipment and war weapons of the soldiers of Qi State."
Having said this, Yang You glanced at Di Yangjun Xiong Li and said seriously: "Just what Yang said just now, that Di Yangjun led the reinforcements to arrive at this battlefield in time is the greatest contribution to this war. This is not a polite statement. In Yang's case It seems that if our army is defeated in today's battle, then the war on Young Master's side will become difficult to fight. But now, our army has won. Apart from the reinforcements brought by Di Yangjun, our army also has We have a... Grain Recruitment Soldier with Qi Army armor. No matter how weak the Grain Recruitment Soldier is, wearing the Qi Army Soldier Armor, the casualties can be greatly reduced, and it will bring more pressure to the Qi Army on the opposite side. If this happens repeatedly, the Qi army will become weaker and our army will become stronger... This is what the last general said. Qi State made a strategic mistake. They did not gather elites like Wei Gongzi Run did to face our Chu army several times. The military strength will give our army a head-on blow at the first moment of the war..."
After listening to Yang You's words, Lord Shouling Jingyun and Lord Diyang Xiong Li were greatly inspired. They turned their heads to look at the soldiers who were clearing the battlefield and stripped off the armor of the Qi soldiers.
They finally understood why Yang You asked these grain recruits to clear the battlefield instead of sending his regular troops.
At the same time, in "Tan City" about fifteen miles away from the battlefield, General "Zou Ji" of the Donglai Army was personally inspecting the wounded soldiers' camp, comforting the soldiers who were seriously injured and dying soon.
Seeing the gloomy atmosphere in the wounded barracks, not only Zou Ji frowned, but also the general "Ji Mi" of the Eastern Navy sighed.
"The success fell short."
After stepping out of the wounded barracks, Ji Mi, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Navy, let out a long sigh and said with a bit of unwillingness: "We are just a little bit close to driving Chu Shouling Jun Jingyun's army to a dead end..."
After hearing this, Zou Ji, the commander-in-chief of Donglai Army, remained silent.
Because there is nothing to say, in the recent battles against the Chu army under the command of Lord Chu Shouling Jingyun, both the Donghai Navy and the Donglai Army, with the soldiers holding the belief of protecting their homeland and country, have exerted their full force. Even though the army under the command of Lord Chu Shouling Jingyun was twice the size of their two Qi armies, they were defeated several times by them.
If you want to hate it, just hate that the Chu State's reinforcements arrived too timely. The 100,000 soldiers brought by Xiong Li, Lord Yang of Chu Di, happened to rescue Lord Jingyun of Chu Shouling from danger, but instead caused the Donghai Navy and Donghai Navy, which had the upper hand, to
The Lai army suffered a setback - they were defeated when the opponent's strength was four times their own. This was not a shameful thing, but the two Qi generals felt very unwilling to do so.
Because as long as Diyang Jun Xiong Li's reinforcements arrived a few days late, or in other words, if Linzi, the capital of Qi State, sent another elite force, they could have completely defeated Shouling Jun Jingyun, the vanguard force of the Chu army to attack Donghai County.
, severely dampened the Chu army's arrogance.
"If you lose today, the next battle will be even harder to fight."
Ji Mi, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Navy, sighed and said.
After hearing this, the commander-in-chief of the Donglai Army, Zou Ji, nodded silently.
In recent days of fighting, they have lost more than 10,000 soldiers. This is an extremely disadvantageous thing for the Qi army, which is inferior in terms of military strength. However, the more critical issue is that after losing so many troops,
Even so, they were defeated.
What does defeat mean?
The defeat meant that they were unable to clean up the battlefield and recover the arrows and crossbow bolts left on the battlefield, as well as the weapons and armor of the Qi soldiers who died in the battle - these things may now have fallen into the hands of the Chu army.
Human life is not worth mentioning in Chu State. Even if one hundred thousand people are killed in battle today, Chu State will still be able to raise an army of one hundred thousand people tomorrow. It will not hurt at all. The real key is
It depends on the weapons and equipment - as long as the Chu army won the victory, but took away the right to clear the battlefield, no matter how many Chu soldiers were killed by the Qi army, it would not be able to fundamentally reverse the unfavorable situation.
After returning to the study room of the city guard, the two generals of Qi, Zou Ji and Ji Mi, wrote a battle report together, detailing the battle situation in the past few days, and sent someone to Linzi, the royal capital.
In the next few days, just as Qi generals Zou Ji and Ji Mi had predicted, the victory in the previous few days boosted the morale of the Chu army, so much so that Lord Shouling Jingyun and Lord Diyang Xiong Li joined forces to attack Tancheng.
The pressure was so great that the Qi army, which had clearly gained some advantages before, was now forced to huddle in the city and watch helplessly as the Chu army raided other nearby cities and counties.
In late September, King Jingyun of Shouling and King Xiong Li of Diyang of Chu State combined 200,000 troops and launched a crazy and fierce offensive against Tancheng.
Due to their absolute superiority in military strength, Jingyun and Xiong Li were each responsible for a day's siege. They attacked the city every day, leaving the Qi army in Tancheng with almost no time to rest. Even at night, Chu general Yang You
, Dou Lian and others also often resorted to night attacks - even if they could not capture the city, they still disturbed the Qi army in the underground city from sleeping.
In the face of this kind of indiscriminate bombing offensive, the Qi army that stood firm in Tancheng was simply exhausted, and its morale was inevitably set back again and again.
Finally, on September 28th, Zou Ji, the commander-in-chief of the Donglai Army, gritted his teeth and discussed with Ji Mi, the commander-in-chief of the Dongnai Navy: "We can't go on like this. If we continue like this, our two armies will be completely annihilated here!"
...We must withdraw our troops and rebuild our morale!”
Perhaps to strengthen his mind, he deliberately added: "Even General Gan Mao will definitely choose to retreat temporarily at this time!"
"Retreat?"
Ji Mi, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Navy, darkened his face and said with a wry smile: "If you and I withdraw our armies, it will be like handing over Donghai County to the Chu army. In this way, the two generals Tian Ao and Tian Wu will be stationed in Fulisai.
, I'm afraid it will be outflanked by the Chu army and become an isolated city." After that, he gritted his teeth and said bravely: "Wait a little longer and wait for the reply from Linzi."
Waiting until the fourth day of October, Qi generals Ji Mi and Zou Ji were still struggling to deal with the Chu army's endless attacks and harassment in Tancheng. On the Linzi side, the urgent battle report of these two generals had also been sent to Linzi Palace.
.
The core of the battle report of Qi generals Ji Mi and Zou Ji is very clear. It can be summed up in just eight words: The East China Sea is in danger and reinforcements are urgently needed.
But it was these eight words that shocked Qi King Lu Bai to summon Zhao Zhao, the left prime minister, Tian Bao, the right prime minister, as well as Lian Chen, Guan Zhong, Bao Shu and other scholar-bureaucrats.
In the palace, Right Prime Minister Tian Tao carefully looked at the battle report of Qi General Ji Mi and Zou Ji, and sighed: "A while ago, Mr. Zuo Prime Minister said that to deal with the Chu army, we must concentrate our elite troops.
Give a head-on blow,
We must not give the Chu army the slightest chance... Before Diyang Jun Xiong Li led the reinforcements to Donghai County, our Qi army failed to defeat Shouling Jun Jingyun. This was a major mistake. Some people must be responsible for this mistake!
"
Having said this, he glanced at the silent scholar-officials sitting in the hall with cold eyes.
Although a while ago, those Linzi nobles who came together to dissuade King Lu Bai of Qi and finally made him give up his plan to dispatch the Flying Bear Army, did not betray the scholar-bureaucrat Lian Chen, who had secretly communicated with them, but they were present
You are not a fool, how could you not guess it?
In fact, everyone in the palace looked ugly at this time, and among them, only the scholar-official Lian Chen looked the ugliest.
He originally thought that the deployment of the Donglai Army and several other county troops in Beihai County would be enough to resist the Chu army's attack on Donghai County. However, he never expected that this time Chu's attack on Qi was not so random.
, you must know that Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, has clearly expressed his intention to annex Qi and Lu in one fell swoop, and has received widespread support from the nobles of Chu State.
Under this situation, scholar-official Lian Chen thought that as long as he defended, he could make the Chu army retreat, but he was wrong.
In panic, Lian Chen said repeatedly: "It's not too late to make amends. Donghai County has not yet fallen. It should be too late to send out the Flying Bear Army at this time, right?"
"This Lord Lian Chen really doesn't understand military matters at all..."
Zhao Zhao, the left prime minister, glanced at Lian Chen, shook his head and said: "The Donghai Navy and Donglai Army have been beaten to the ground by the Chu army and have lost their energy. Even if the Flying Bear Army is sent out at this time, I am afraid it will not help..."
Having said this, he turned around
Facing Qi King Lu Bai, he said seriously: "Your Majesty, please quickly send an order to Fu to leave the fortress, and order Tian Ao and Tian Wu to burn the fortress and retreat to Donghai County... If the Chu army moves faster, they will retreat to Lu
country, garrisoned in Taishan County."
King Lu Bai of Qi was shocked when he heard this and asked in a shocked voice: "Can the Fuli fortress be defended no longer?"
Left Prime Minister Zhao Zhao shook his head silently.
"...I understand."
King Qi Lu Bai nodded solemnly.
In early October, when the battle situation in Donghai County was unfavorable, King Lu Bai of Qi sent an order to the two generals guarding Fuli Fortress, Tian Ao and Tian Wu, to burn the fortress and retreat north.
And this move meant the complete release of the hundreds of thousands of Chu troops who were personally led by Chu Gongzi Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo in front of Fuli Fortress.
This makes the situation in Donghai County even more difficult.