In the spring of the 22nd year of the Qin Dynasty, in January, the east wind thawed, the stinging insects began to stir, fish appeared on the ice, otters sacrificed fish, and swan geese came.
On the outskirts of Fangcheng County, standing on the grass where the snow was about to melt away, Heifu drew his hard bow into the shape of a full moon and aimed the arrow at the flock of geese returning north in the sky. After taking a few breaths, he loosened his hand and
The arrow leaves the string!
Although he had a perfect posture, his accuracy was far off, and he didn't even shoot down the goose feather...
"Hahaha, Chief Heifu's shooting skills are just shooting green heads. Want to shoot down a wild goose? Let's forget it."
Gong Ao on the side laughed, but when he opened his bow and shot at the wild geese, he also failed. The two of them struggled with the wild geese and found nothing. On the contrary, Xiao Tao and Dongmen Bao had already returned with two mallards.
.
Heifu and the others arrived at Fangcheng County, Nanyang County as early as the beginning of the twelfth lunar month. The weather this year was not very good. The entire north encountered heavy snow. The snow was two feet five inches deep, so the prisoners and garrison soldiers from Nanjun were asked to stay in Fangcheng.
Stay where you are.
Square City is not a city, but the "Great Wall". As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, in order to prevent the Xia's chariots from driving south, the Chu State built many square-shaped fortresses on the high mountains around the Nanyang Basin, with defensive capabilities.
The functional fortresses were called square cities. In the Warring States period, these fortresses were connected with walls made of stones or mounds of earth, forming the Great Wall of Chu, which stretches for more than 300 miles. It resembles a "gate".
, guarding the northern border of Chu State.
Fangcheng County is the east entrance of this square Great Wall.
But since Nanyang County was captured by the Qin State, Fangcheng became the outpost of the Qin army's attack on the Chu State. This time when they attacked Chen Cai eastward, the army set out from Fangcheng County. Last year, the army that attacked Chu was stationed here and left behind
The fortress became a ready-made shack for the prisoners and garrison soldiers who arrived later.
Because the rain and snow didn't stop, Heifu and the others were stationed on the spot for a whole month. Anyway, they had nothing to do, so Heifu and his men continued to pick up weapons and practice. Especially his shortcomings, archery, were also practiced in Xiaotao.
He received reinforcements under the guidance. However, he could only achieve no miss within ten steps, and would miss the mark any further. As for difficult operations such as shooting geese, it was really difficult for him.
Gong Ao, a thief from Yan County, and the garrison soldiers he escorted also lived next to Heifu and the others. Although Gong Ao had a bit of a wicked mouth, and from time to time he would sarcastically say some weird things about the Qin government, but everyone was still a fellow from Nanjun.
We had frequent exchanges on weekdays. From time to time we would make appointments to go out to the camp to shoot birds and improve the food for the garrison soldiers.
When everyone returned to the wall where they were stationed, Ji Ying and Bu Cheng had already squatted by the earthen stove and boiled water. When everyone worked together to pluck wild animals, Li Xian, who went to the county town to buy salt, also came back.
He also told Heifu some news.
"Ting Pavilion Chief, another group of garrison prisoners have arrived in Fangcheng. I asked about them and they said they came from Nanzheng, Hanzhong County."
After hearing this, Heifu was thoughtful.
"Nanzheng is far enough away from here. Even the Nanzheng garrison has arrived. This is probably the last batch."
For more than a month, the garrison soldiers and prisoners had nothing to do here to avoid the wind and snow, but many major events happened in the world!
First of all, in mid-November, Chen Ying, who had been besieged by the Qin army for a long time, surrendered to the Qin State. It is said that the former prime minister of the Qin State, Chang Pingjun, persuaded him to surrender. Unfortunately, Heifu’s history is half-baked and he knows a few of the conflicts between Chu and Han.
Historical celebrities, but the prime ministers of Qin Shihuang, he only knew one Lu Buwei and the other Li Si. The name of Xiong Qi, Lord of Changping, was really unheard of, let alone his complicated relationship with the royal families of Qin and Chu.
Chen Ying was the capital of the Chu State and an important town in the north. After the fall of Chen Ying, the King of Chu was already frightened by the Qin army. He ignored the opposition of Xiang Yan and others from the main war faction in the country and hastily negotiated peace with the Qin State.
After regicide and usurping the throne, King Chu of Chu, who had not yet stabilized his internal affairs, agreed to cede Chen Ying, Shang Cai, and the area west of Qingyang south of the Yangtze River to Qin in exchange for peace.
When the news of the truce between Qin and Chu came, the Anlu County garrison was very happy. They were recruited for this war. Now that the war is over, they can all disperse and go home soon.
The others were okay. Although their shoes were worn out a lot from walking, they had seen a big city like Nanjun Wancheng and felt that the trip was worthwhile. Only Dongmen Bao, who had always been belligerent, was impatient. After all,
His wife is almost due to give birth, and Dongmen Bao is anxious to go home and hold his son...
But Heifu poured cold water on everyone, telling them not to be too optimistic.
"The war with the Chu State has temporarily stopped, but the war is far from over. It is still early for us to disband and return home!"
Heifu has already figured out the intention of Qin's attack on Chu this time: one of the purposes of the Qin army's attack on Chen Ying is to beat the Chu state and make the Chu king sever his desire to unite.
The second purpose is to control the chasm. The chasm is a canal dug during the reign of King Hui of Wei. It connects Daliang, the capital of Wei, and Chen Ying. It is the most important communication line between Liang and Chu. Now that Chen Ying has changed hands, Wei's
Backup was completely cut off.
So Heifu guessed that next, the Qin army in the Chen and Cai areas would probably turn around and attack Wei, and these prisoners and garrison troops were prepared for this war to destroy Wei...
His guess was confirmed, and Qin's war machine had no intention of stopping at all. Throughout December, garrison prisoners from Nanjun, Hanzhong, and Nanyang counties continued to gather in Fangcheng County.
New teams arrived every day and were arranged to rest in the old camp under the wall.
The number of prisoners and garrison soldiers gradually increased from the initial few hundred to a thousand, thousands, ten thousand, tens of thousands... until the entire ten-mile-long area inside the square city wall was densely covered with temporary shacks, and the food court
While cooking, half of the sky was filled with black smoke.
Heifu would meet these people when he went out, greet them, chat with them, and exchange food. Everyone spoke with different accents: the strong Chu accent of the Nanjun people sounded very friendly, and the Nanyang people's accent could be understood if they spoke slower.
But those garrison soldiers who came from Hanzhong, especially those with disheveled hair, animal skins, and barbarian attire, spoke in obscure dialects that were completely incomprehensible...
Heifu knew that what made everyone travel hundreds of miles to gather here was a document sent from Xianyang to various counties. What was engraved in the document was the will of the King of Qin!
Under the command of King Qin, these people from different counties seemed to be small streams, controlled by huge forces and brought together, gradually merging into rivers and then into lakes.
Qin's strong control over the grassroots was vividly demonstrated when the war was approaching.
As expected by Heifu, after the spring snow melted in early January, everyone was gathered together, and the inside of Fangcheng was densely packed. They were all crowded together for a while.
Heifu made a rough estimate and found that there were about 30,000 people, including about 5,000 from Nanjun, 10,000 from Hanzhong County, and 15,000 from Nanyang County.
Nanyang County Lieutenant and Fangcheng County Lieutenant, who were responsible for commanding these garrison prisoners, climbed up the wall and shouted to everyone. There were no loudspeakers in this era, so a few tall and fat soldiers could only stand every few dozen steps.
Pass them on in turn, so that the words of the county lieutenant can spread to all directions.
"Dawangzhi said: The king of Wei first agreed to submit to Qin."
"I have betrayed my alliance and wanted to join forces with Han and Zhao Yun to attack Qin."
"I want to kill him with soldiers."
"Let the young master make Wang Ben and Chen Ying's army go first."
"Nanyang, Hanzhong, Nanjun and other counties sent garrison soldiers and prisoners to assist them."
"Convicts and garrison soldiers try their best to use their lives, and if they have merit, they will be rewarded with honors; if they fail to use their lives, they are guilty, and they will be punished by the generals and captains!"
After the King of Qin's edict was read out, he read again the military orders and regulations that the garrison soldiers and prisoners must abide by. At this time, everyone, including Gong Ao, had turned their heads and looked at Heifu. The meaning was obvious: "Heifu said
You are right, we are indeed going to attack Wei!"
…
Early in the morning the next day after this assembly, the county captains who escorted the prisoners ordered everyone to bury pots and make rice. After a good meal, more than 30,000 people left their shacks and crossed the ancient Great Wall of Chu.
, get out of Nanyang County.
Because there were so many people, when they left Fangcheng, they were divided into two parts, each with about 15,000 people, and took two routes respectively, Yingchuan County and Shangcai.
"Heifu, where do you think we are going?"
Heifu and the others were taking the Yingchuan Line. More than ten thousand garrison soldiers and prisoners walked like a long snake along the long road. They would pass by towns and villages along the way, but they did not stop at all, and they were moving at a very fast pace.
Ji Ying and others came from a small county town and had never seen such a big scene. The county captain who led them did not announce where the end point would be, so everyone was a little uneasy. Wei State is so big, where will they be assigned to fight?
But Heifu knew it.
"There is only one possibility."
He pointed to the northeast and said with a smile: "Daliang!"
Daliang, the capital of the Wei State, is the most prosperous and prosperous city in the Central Plains. There are flourishing flowers, the palace of the capital, and the chivalrous soldiers of the Wei Dynasty. The meaning of Xinling, Xuanhe Daliang...
A huge battle to destroy the country will begin there.
“I finally caught up.”
Heifu sighed. He knew that he was still involved in the wave of this great era. Step by step, he was getting closer and closer to the center of the storm...
Although at this moment, he is just the director of a small pavilion, but in this black wave, an inconspicuous drop of water, thrown among tens of thousands of people, will be lost in the crowd, and it will be difficult to find a trace.
But Heifu firmly believes that when the dust of the war settles, he will definitely become one of the trend-setters in this era of "six kings, one in the world"!
Ride the wind and break the waves and stand towards the waves!
PS: It will be released at 12 o'clock in the evening. I hope everyone can at least give me an initial subscription. 6 chapters will be released on the first day. In March, the rhythm of three updates a day will be maintained. If you can, I hope you can vote for me in March.
