For four or five days, the 80,000 Wei troops did not rush to attack Qi County. Instead, they frequently sent out to search the surrounding suburbs, looking for nearby Chu villages, distributing food to the villagers, and asking them to relocate to Xiangcheng.
Although this move delayed the opportunity to fight and reduced the Wei army's food supply, what they gained was something more precious - the gratitude of the local Chu people and the trust of more than 40,000 newly surrendered Chu soldiers.
There is no need to elaborate on the gratitude of the local Chu people. With Ju Yangjun Xiong Li, a greedy and cruel Chu king and nobleman, as a comparison, Wei Jun's image suddenly rose to the point that even Zhao Hongrun found it incredible.
Is it conceivable that the army of the Wei State was actually supported and welcomed by the local Chu people in the Chu State?
However, this also proves that the Chu State has indeed emptied the old aristocratic forces such as Ju Yangjun Xiong Li. This reminds Zhao Hongrun, Xu Yin and other Wei people that they must not teach the Wei State to follow the Chu State.
’s footsteps.
As for the trust of the more than 40,000 newly surrendered Chu soldiers, this was an unexpected gain for Zhao Hongrun.
Thinking about it, the newly surrendered Chu soldiers, even after listening to the words of the soldiers of Yanling Army and Shangshui Army, still had more or less prejudice against the Wei people headed by Zhao Hongrun. After all, Zhao Hongrun was a Wei person, and he was still
God knows whether the royal children of Wei are as black as crows in the world?
However, the Wei army's action of providing military supplies to the nearby Chu people made these newly surrendered Chu soldiers have a little trust in the slogan put forward by the Wei army's invasion of Chu - the Wei army was to liberate the aristocrats headed by the Xiong family.
They came to overthrow the oppressed common people of Chu State.
As a result, the morale of these newly surrendered Chu soldiers actually increased.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yanling Army's chief general Qu Cheng and his deputy Yan Mo, as well as the three thousand generals Lu Zhan and Xu Jiong of the Shang Shui Army who stayed here to command more than 20,000 newly surrendered Chu troops, these generals
Striking while the iron was hot, he instilled Wei's generous treatment into the newly surrendered Chu soldiers under both armies, which immediately raised the morale of the two armies' total of more than 40,000 newly surrendered Chu soldiers to an incredible level.
Compared with this good news, Zhao Hongrun also received bad news from Nanmenhuai.
It turned out that Nanmen Huai, who pretended to be Xiangcheng's defeated army, had asked for food and grass from Zhi County two days ago to test Zhi County's guard Sun Shuke's trust in him.
But in the end, although Sun Shuke, the guard of Qi County, did not expose Nanmen Huai directly, he made various excuses to refuse to deliver grain and grass to Nanmen Huai.
It can be seen that Sun Shuke had already had doubts about Nanmen Huai, which made Zhao Hongrun slightly disappointed.
You know, he originally planned to let Nanmen Huai defraud Zhi County, but now it doesn't work.
By August 16, the Wei army's camp had been initially completed.
It is said to be a "big camp", but it is actually divided into three military camps that look like a "pin" from a bird's eye view. The military camp closest to Zhi County is the largest. There are currently about 40,000 Yanling troops stationed in it. It is also the battle to attack Zhi County.
The main force of the county.
On its east side is the military camp of 10,000 Fenxing troops serving as a side response.
On the north side of these two military camps, there are more than 20,000 newly surrendered Chu troops led by Lu Zhan and Xu Jiong, three thousand generals of the Shang Shui Army. This army will not join the battle for the time being and is only responsible for supporting the Prime Minister.
The army transported food and grass to the city.
After all, Qi County is a battlefield belonging to the Yanling Army.
In the morning of that day, King Su's guard who was guarding outside the commander's tent walked into the commander's tent and reported to Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness, the generals of the Yanling Army are asking to see Your Highness."
At that time, Zhao Hongrun guessed that Qu Cheng was preparing to attack Zhi County, so he signaled King Su's guards to invite the generals of the Yanling Army into the commander's tent, and sent Zongwei Mu Qing to the other camp to invite the generals of the Fenxing Army.
Xu Yin.
By around noon, the general's tent where Zhao Hongrun was located was almost complete.
Because Qi County is a battlefield belonging to the Yanling Army, there are more generals from the Yanling Army in the commander's tent. General Xu Yin of the Fenxing Army only came with a few guards to watch, while Lu Zhan of the Shangshui Army,
Xu Jiong, two generals with 3,000 men, simply did not attend the military meeting belonging to the Yanling Army.
"Report!... Lu Zhan and Xu Jiong, the three thousand generals of the Shang Shui Army camp in the rear, went out to patrol in person this morning in order to prevent the Wei army from attacking from the direction of 'Chengfu' on the west side."
The messenger who went to invite Lu Zhan and Xu Jiong reported this when he came back.
After hearing this, everyone in the tent had different expressions.
"This is really..."
Zhao Hongrun had a headache and raised his hand to rub his brow bone.
Three thousand people will go out to lead patrols in person? And will they be dispatched at once or will they be dispatched together?
No matter how you listen to it, you think this is an excuse, right?
There is no doubt that these are the two 3,000-man generals from the Shangshui Army. The Zhi County battlefield does not belong to their Shangshui Army anyway, so they simply did not come to participate in this military meeting belonging to the Yanling Army, so as not to dislike each other.
Thinking about it, after all, the achievement of "defeating Yicheng (Xiangcheng)" was taken away by Yan Mo. Do you really think that the generals of the Shang Shui Army were not angry? You must know that even the honest man Wu Ji, the coach of the Shang Shui Army, was
Almost falling out.
Since then, the Shangshui Army and the Yanling Army have become strangers to each other. It is a pity that the predecessors of these two armies are the Pingyang Army.
The indifference of the generals of the Shang Shui Army made the atmosphere in the commander's tent a little cold. However, if he looked closely at the generals of the Yanling Army, he saw that they all looked disapproving. It was obvious that the generals of the Shang Shui Army were coming or not.
, they don’t care.
However, Xu Yin, the general of the Fenxing Army who came to watch, smoothed things over and said with a smile: "Lü Zhan and Xu Jiong, the two generals with 3,000 men, have made a good judgment. They really need to be prepared for the Chu army from the direction of the 'City Father'... Your Highness.
, in this case, let’s start here?”
It has to be said that as an outsider, Xu Yin has seen all the conflicts between the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army these days. In fact, he thinks that this is not a bad thing.
After all, the current strength of the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army has increased to 40,000. Therefore, even though he knew that His Highness King Su had strong control over these two armies, Xu Yin was still somewhat worried.
But now that the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army were strangers to each other, Xu Yin felt much more at ease.
After hearing what Xu Yin said, the generals of the Yanling Army turned to look at Zhao Hongrun. They had wanted to say this for a long time, but they didn't dare to mention it. But now that Xu Yin raised it, they always agreed.
No problem.
"Well...in that case, let's get started."
Zhao Hongrun turned his head and glanced at Qu Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the Yanling Army.
Qu Cheng understood, clasped his fists and said: "Your Highness, if we attack Zhi County, the general will think that the losses in the attack will be too great, so we might as well try to lure the enemy out of the city."
"How do you say that?" Zhao Hongrun asked casually.
After hearing this, Qu Cheng said seriously: "Zhi County is located near the beach of the Huihe River. The farmland outside the county is endless. It is already mid-August. If our army seizes the grain in the fields in Qi County, it may be possible."
Force Zhi County out of the city to fight with our army."
"..."
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Xu Yin, the general of the Fenxing Army, and found that the latter kept nodding after listening to Qu Cheng's words, presumably because he was very optimistic about Qu Cheng's tactics.
In fact, Zhao Hongrun was very satisfied. After all, even if he was asked to think of countermeasures, it would probably not be much different from what Qu Cheng said.
It has to be said that although Qu Cheng is very ambitious, he does have abilities and is a rare handsome talent.
"Well, that's a good idea..." Zhao Hongrun pondered for a while and nodded in approval: "In that case, you will be the one to command this battle, Qu Cheng."
After hearing this, Qu Cheng stood up immediately, clasped his fists with a serious expression and said, "I will obey your orders!"
Now that the tactics have been determined, all that is left is to complete the details. To put it bluntly, Qu Cheng refined the tactics into the responsibilities of each general.
During this period, both Zhao Hongrun and Xu Yin just listened quietly, and did not speak easily unless they occasionally made some better suggestions.
Xu Yin did not interfere, firstly because this war belonged to the Yanling Army, and secondly, he also approved of Qu Cheng's arrangement.
The reason why Zhao Hongrun did not interfere was because he was positioned as "handsome" and what he had to consider was the overall strategy. Local wars such as the attack on Zhi County could be left to Qu Cheng, just like he would "conquer Qixian County".
』The task is given to Wu Ji.
If he, the coach Zhao Hongrun, has to direct everything personally, what are the generals like Qu Cheng, Yan Mo, and Wu Ji going to do?
When the story came to an end, Qu Cheng turned to look at Zhao Hongrun and asked respectfully: "Your Highness, what do you think of this arrangement?"
"Hmm." Putting aside his personal bias, Zhao Hongrun was very satisfied with Qu Cheng's arrangement, nodded and said: "Let's deploy it like this... However, we must also consider in advance the possibility that Sun Shuke, the guard of Qi County, will be killed and unable to leave the city. If
He can't leave the city, what should you do?"
Hearing this, Qu Cheng frowned slightly.
He understood what Zhao Hongrun meant, and in fact he also thought about it: if Sun Shuke, the defender of Qi County, could not leave the city alive, then his Yanling army would have only two options, either to attack Qi County by force, or to cross the Hui River directly.
No matter which path you choose, one problem cannot be ignored: the Chu warship fleet sailing on the Wei River!
Yes, Chu is a country with very rich waters, and it has a regular navy.
The reason why it is said that the task given to the Wei army by King Lu Xi of Qi was not to "cross the Huihe River" but to "forcibly cross the Huihe River". That is because Zhi County and the regular navy of Chu State traveling on the Huihe River constituted
The last obstacle to the Wei army's forcible crossing of the Huihe River.
And it is a very powerful obstacle.
Facts have proved that Zhao Hongrun’s judgment came true.
The next day, the whole Yanling army dispatched to Qi County to seize the grain in the fields in Qi County. However, Qi County just watched the Wei army seize the fields without any movement.
"How calm you are!"
After hearing the report from his soldiers, Qu Cheng, the commander of Yanling Army, muttered irritably.
You must know that the food and grass for their Wei army were originally provided by Qi State, which was very abundant. Even if they robbed the grain in Zhi County, there was no actual gain for the Wei army.
In contrast, the calmness and forbearance of Zhi County Guard Sun Shuke made Qu Cheng realize that he was by no means an easy opponent to deal with.
"Are we really going to attack Qi County?"
Riding horses with several personal guards to the outskirts of Zhi County, Qu Cheng looked at the defense facilities of Zhi County from a distance, muttering secretly in his heart.