In the thirty-fourth year of the First Emperor of Qin, in the middle of the twelfth lunar month, a Qin army of tens of thousands arrived in Nanye County, Yuzhang County (Nankang County, Jiangxi Province).
They were about 40,000 people, including 10,000 Guanzhong soldiers, 10,000 Jiujiang and Donghai soldiers, and 20,000 civilian men recruited from Jiujiang and other counties. Because the roads were narrow, it was difficult for vehicles and horses to run parallel to each other, so most of the baggage was carried by civilian men on their shoulders.
The small place of Nanye was packed to the brim.
This large army walked for two full months before arriving here from Jiujiang County.
As Yuzhang, it was also the county in the extreme south of the Qin Dynasty. Nanye County was the only way to attack South Vietnam, and Wei Xiaotao of Nanye County also respectfully paid homage to "General Jia" who led the army.
"Your Majesty and General Tu have entrusted Jia with an important task. I heard that Tao Xianwei has been stationed here for nine years and is familiar with the situation within Wuling. I hope you can give me some advice."
General Jia was originally a captain stationed in Jiujiang County. He rose to the rank of right concubine, and now he has tens of thousands of troops. Although he spoke politely, he didn't care in his heart. When talking to Xiao Tao, he found that he stuttered, and he was even more contemptuous!
"Xia Li Tao... Tao..."
Xiao Tao was still the same. Because he had a lot to say in his heart, he was stuck for a long time and couldn't explain it clearly. He could only ask someone to find a pile of paper. These were the key points of the Southern Expedition written by Xiao Tao in advance and presented to General Jia.
Take a look.
The fake general took a few glances and realized that this was a map of the Wuling Traffic Route. All the hills that the garrison had explored were marked one by one, even a stream and a path that was about to be annihilated were not left out.
But this is only limited to the area a hundred miles south of Limen. Further south, there is nothing.
General Jia took a quick look and put it aside: "Although the map is good, it is not much different from the maps presented by those merchants..."
County Lieutenant Xiao Tao became even more anxious and handed over another piece of paper. General Jia patiently looked at it and found that the above mentioned information was from the Mei family of the Yangyue tribe.
Xiao Tao wrote everything he knew on paper: There are many tribes in South Vietnam, and the northernmost one is called "Mei". It is said that this tribe slowly migrated from Yuzhang to Lingnan after King Goujian of Yue.
Now it occupies a long and narrow mountain platform south of Limensai, called Meiling Road. Although the Mei tribe is not big, with only 6,000 disciples, it occupies an important transportation road. If the Qin army wants to attack South Vietnam, it must pass through their territory.
Qin Shang also found out that because they were foreigners, the Mei family was very unpopular with the South Vietnamese natives. They often came to hunt for heads and cut off many of their heads. This made the Mei family have a blood feud with various tribes in South Vietnam for generations. With a little work, they might be able to win over them.
come over……
Xiao Tao said that in the past few years, he had been in contact with Mei Yi, the leader of the Mei clan, and exchanged information. If the Qin army could guarantee not to invade the Mei clan or plunder its tribesmen, Mei Yi was willing to make way for Qin.
The army passed!
He hoped that this idea would be adopted by General Jia. In the past few years, Nanye and the Mei family had been on good terms, until General Jia's forwards arrived. Those arrogant northerners did not listen to Xiao Tao's orders and broke into the Mei family's sacred place to worship their ancestors.
, causing the relationship between Nanye and the Mei family to break down.
General Jia frowned: "How did I hear that the forwards who went to explore the road were attacked by the Vietnamese, their weapons were taken away, their clothes and armor were stripped off, and they were allowed to return naked?"
It is the twelfth lunar month now, and although the south is not as frozen and snowy as the north, it is still as cold as late autumn. The unlucky soldiers could only cover their bodies with leaves and return shivering. This made General Jia feel that he
was insulted.
Xiao Tao could only explain helplessly: For the Yue people, it was extremely lenient to not cut off the heads of outsiders who broke into their land without permission, but to let them live as a sacrifice to their ancestors.
Now, as long as General Jia agrees, Xiao Tao can send a translator to negotiate, explain the misunderstanding, and reconcile the two parties...
General Jia sneered: "It's ridiculous, a mere tribe, not overestimating its own capabilities, dares to offend the mighty soldiers of a great country. They should be wiped out, so why talk nonsense! What's more, once the army marches south, if those untrustworthy barbarians suddenly regret it.
, if you attack my baggage, wouldn’t it mean that you will be attacked from both sides?”
He believed that this kind of transportation artery must be controlled in the hands of the Qin army to be reliable, so he stood up and said: "There is no need to talk about it. Tao County Lieutenant only needs to send a few guides who are familiar with the roads to lead my tens of thousands of troops.
Go get rid of these mosquitoes and flies!"
Xiao Tao was shocked and quickly tried to dissuade him, saying that the Mei family was familiar with the mountains and valleys and could gather and disperse at any time, so it would be difficult to annihilate them all. Moreover, they had six thousand disciples, all of whom could hunt with spears and had certain fighting strength...
"Six thousand?"
General Jia smiled. The Qin army had been invincible for countless years, which made him confident.
"Tao County Lieutenant should know that this southern expedition is different from the past. The purpose is to capture people. If you capture prisoners alive, you can also get military honors. If you don't commit any crimes, it will be useless to this group of barbarians. There are many people in that generation. We
Just in time to capture more people! We can also reach the coast of South Vietnam as soon as possible and join up with General Tu’s partial division!”
Xiao Tao wanted to reply, but General Jia waved his hand and said:
"There is no need to reply, Lieutenant Tao Xian. You just need to keep an eye on the grain road and wait for good news from me!"
…
"I knew it would be like this..."
Ten days later, as spring approached, County Magistrate Li Xian of Nanchang County, Yuzhang County, looked helpless when facing Ji Ying, who had come all the way to deliver Xiaotao's letter.
There was a lot of excitement in this southern expedition. Qin Shihuang sent a total of 200,000 people, which was similar to the first time he destroyed Chu. This has given Baiyue great respect.
But the south is sparsely populated and the roads are difficult to navigate. Two hundred thousand people are crowded together, so there is no need to fight. After eating the bark of the local grass roots and trees, he himself starved to death. In addition, the tribes of Baiyue are scattered, so there is no use in joining forces.
.
Therefore, the general Tu Sui divided the 200,000 men into five groups: one army fortified the ridge of Tancheng, one army defended the fortress of Jiuyi, one army attacked the coast of the South China Sea, one army left the boundary of Nanye, and one army formed the remaining gantry.
water...
Among them, Changsha County was the main direction of attack. Tancheng and Jiuyi's army attacked Xiou, which was disobedient to the Qin Dynasty, which was later Guangxi. This was the West Road.
There is also an army leaving Yangshan Pass and heading straight into the South China Sea, trying to split South Vietnam into two! And an army going south from Nanye County in Yuzhang will join the Yangshan Army to sweep away the South Vietnamese Zhuge Liang, which has the largest population in Baiyueli.
Department. These two armies are counted as the middle route.
The last route is to gather in Yugan County, go east around Wuyi Mountain, and march towards Dongou. I want to meet the boat division from Kuaiji on the Minhai coast, and then attack Minyue together. This is the east route...
The southern expedition front was thousands of miles long. The east, west, and middle routes were nominally owned by Tu Sui, but in fact, they were brothers who went up to the mountain and worked hard individually.
On the west side, Tu Sui himself led him. The only person on the other side who was related to the Nanjun Xiang Party was Zhao Tuo. He was an old member of Tu Sui, but later he became very close to Heifu. Perhaps it was because of this that Tu Sui disliked him.
This guy has been tepid in recent years.
The East Route Army, commanded by Yuzhang County Lieutenant Yin Tong, directly mobilized many soldiers and civilians of Yuzhang and stationed them in Yugan, which was the territory of the Ganyue people. Unlike other Yue people, they were highly civilized and had defected to the Qin Dynasty early.
.
County magistrate Wu Rui was still Heifu, Zhao Tuo's brother-in-law. At that time, Heifu's position was not high, so Wu Rui didn't feel much about it. But now, whenever he mentions Heifu's name, those who came from him will look down on him with their nostrils turned upward.
The officials of "Barbarian Yue" immediately became solemn.
Wu Rui benefited a lot from this relationship. Although he was the chief of Ganyue, he helped Qin officials capture Yue slaves from other tribes, and he was not ambiguous at all.
In addition, Yin Tong relied heavily on Heifu's old troops, so as far as Li Xian knew, Wu Rui was doing well under Yin Tong. Gan Yue had close contacts with Dong Ou, and with him as a guide, the East Route Army made progress.
It was relatively smooth.
But the Middle Route Army passing through Nanye County is different. General Jia has a lot of trusted generals under his command. Dongmen Bao, the captain of Luling County, and Xiaotao, the captain of Nanye County, who were ordered to obey him, can't speak at all now. Dongmen
Bao Bao wanted to fight for the position of vanguard, but was arranged to escort the rear army, and Xiao Tao could only be responsible for logistics.
Factional disputes exist in every dynasty and every generation, and it is understandable. Who would leave their direct lineage alone and trust outsiders...
But seeing that General Najia insisted on going his own way, after the army penetrated deep into Lingnan, he rashly made enemies and started a war against the Mei tribe that he could have won. Xiao Tao was so anxious that he wrote to Li Xian. He said that this was the same as the battle that "divided and collapsed and defeated each one" in Heifu's secret letter.
The strategy is completely different...
After understanding Xiao Tao's situation, Li Xian shook his head and said to Ji Ying: "Last year, we discussed that the most suitable candidate for the southern expedition was the pavilion chief, but what about Xiao Tao? We always thought that Baiyue was not suitable
It is easy to fight, but in fact, this is not a question of whether it is good or not. The emperor's decision will not change. If the commander is not the commander, he will have to be replaced by someone else."
He spread his hands and said: "Now, Tu Sui is the commander-in-chief. Except for Yin Junwei of the Eastern Route Army, who is one of our own, the rest of the deputy generals of the partial division are also outsiders. The Anlu disciples who used to be under the command of the pavilion chief and were powerful in southern Xinjiang,
Now I can only look at the baggage, eat dust, and watch others make meritorious deeds."
Ji Ying was a little anxious. After so many years, they, as a group of people, had already become a group with shared interests. It was their private agreement to make meritorious deeds together, earn money together, and eat sweets together.
Now that the war is on, Dongmen Bao, Xiao Tao and other brothers are being marginalized, with no benefit at all!
"Now we are like the little servant's adopted sons, unwelcome."
He cursed and said tentatively:
"Look, do you want to ask the director of the pavilion..."
"Don't bother the pavilion chief with everything!"
Li Xian said with a straight face: "The pavilion chief is now not only the governor of Jiaodong County, but also the supervisor of the Northern Expedition. I recently heard that Young Master Fusu failed to wipe out the bandits. The army has been stationed in Haidong for a long time. There is also a lot of mess there.
The pavilion chief takes care of it. Even if he has the energy to solve our problems, how can he come to the south because of the limitations of his authority?"
"so what should I do now."
Ji Ying rolled his eyes. In this situation, they, a group of local snakes in Yuzhang, were being controlled by others, which made him feel unhappy.
"No hurries!"
Li Xian sneered: "Since the generals despise Baiyue, thinking that they can destroy the dead, and treat the old troops of Nanjun indifferently, and do not use Xiao Tao's strategy, then we have no choice but to remain silent! Without our help, this battle will be really difficult.
Is it going well? It's good in the middle of winter right now. When spring turns to summer, these northerners will know the horrors of the south!"
