The course of the Yellow River in the Qin Dynasty was slightly different from the modern course.
It starts from Xingyang in the north of Daliang and goes north through Anyang, Handan, Shanggu (today's Baoding) and then from Jingu (today's Tianjin) to the Bohai Sea.
Therefore, if the Qin army wants to attack Handan, it only needs to go south along the Yellow River.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zuo Qiuming once lamented: "As long as the river is clear, how long can a person live?"
It means that life is short and waiting for the Yellow River to become clear is impossible.
Although the high sediment content in the Yellow River is a bad thing, it can also be said to be a good thing.
There are too many bad things to say.
Flooding and diversion caused by high sand content and a series of disasters are numerous.
The good thing is that the North China Plain and the Huanghuai River Plain are actually formed by the continuous accumulation of sand and soil brought by the Yellow River and its continuous change of course.
If the Yellow River were clear, Qi State would not even exist at this time, and large areas of Wei, Zhao and other countries would be a vast ocean.
Sitting in the carriage, Shen Bing looked at the Yellow River rolling northward in the east and sighed to himself. No wonder the Chinese call it the mother river.
This is not only because the Central Plains countries divert more water from the Yellow River for irrigation, but also because it has a huge impact on the thinking, living habits and even culture of the Central Plains people.
Because the Yellow River would change its course and flood, people had to take advantage of the good times to farm hard, and when harvesting, store as much as possible to deal with possible crises in the future.
Thousands of years later, this sense of crisis and habits have become deeply embedded in the blood and marrow of the Chinese nation.
Make most people agree that "people who have no long-term worries will have immediate worries" and develop the living habits of hard work and storage.
On the other hand, the northern nomadic peoples and Western commercial peoples who live in pursuit of water and grass generally do not have these habits and concepts.
only……
This Yellow River is not that Yellow River.
Shen Bing didn't know when he would be able to return to the familiar Yellow River in modern times, and his family was waiting for him to return.
Just when Shen Bing was feeling sad, a soldier rode up to the carriage and reported:
"Stingy man, I have ordered you to cut down trees and build a bridge on the spot."
Shen Bing asked casually:
"How is the enemy situation ahead?"
No wonder Shen Bing asked this question. The Qin army had been marching south for more than three days. Except for encountering a small number of Wei troops at the border, they almost marched straight in without any resistance.
The soldier replied:
"We only encountered a few small groups of enemy troops, nothing serious."
"But the wooden bridge was set on fire by the Wei army!"
Shen Bing said "Oh", got out of the car and ordered the troops to cut down trees and build a bridge, while he and several personal guards went forward to inspect the situation.
It was just a small river with a width of more than ten paces. It would be enough to build three or five rafts, so Shen Bing didn't take it to heart.
However, things were not that simple. Not long after building the pontoon bridge to cross the river, another ditch a few steps wide lay in front of them, and the engineers had to stop again to build the bridge.
Only then did Shen Bing truly understand the meaning of "dense water network".
There are ditches used for irrigation all over the farmland in this area. Although they are not wide, they are as dense as spider webs.
On the other hand, with more farmland, there are fewer trees, so logging and building bridges usually requires hauling wood from miles away.
If it weren’t for the help of Meng Liang and the hundreds of soldiers under his command, this would really not be an easy task. Yes.
But even so, this still will not affect the marching speed of the army.
The marching sequence of the Qin army in battle usually looks like this:
At the front is the spy.
Spies usually ride in groups of five or more and ride fast horses to inquire around.
Their purpose is to find out where there are enemies and obstacles.
Followed by a detachment of cavalry.
This cavalry has about five hundred troops and can be said to be the quick reaction force of the Qin Dynasty.
As soon as the spies detect the enemy's situation and send a signal, they will rush to reinforce them.
If the enemy is a small group of harassing troops, the cavalry will deal with it.
If the enemy is a large army or a small and large fortress, wait for reinforcements from the rear infantry.
After the cavalry came the engineers and a team of a thousand men.
Needless to say, it is Shen Bai and Zhang Xuan's troops.
They advance faster with light equipment, build bridges when encountering rivers ahead, and clear roads through mountains.
Finally, there is the main force of the Qin army.
The main force is slow because it has a large number of troops and a large amount of supplies accompanying the army.
Shen Bing and others took advantage of this speed difference to build the bridge.
However, after two more days of this, there was still no Wei army to fight. At the same time, several pontoon bridges were built in the rear, and Shen Bing felt a little upset.
After thinking about it, Shen Bing stopped Meng Liang who was walking outside the carriage:
"Zuo Shifu, do you still have that map of yours?"
Meng Liang was stunned for a moment and asked:
"Map, what map?"
Then he suddenly slapped his head and thought:
"Here, the map... the map of Wei!"
"I'm sorry, but I forgot where I put it."
"Let me search for you!"
After saying that, he got into the carriage and rummaged around inside. After a long time, he came out with a bag of dried meat and said excitedly:
"Let my subordinates find it!"
Shen Bing took a look and saw that this guy had used the sheepskin map to wrap dried meat.
What the hell...
Shen Bing didn't even know what to say.
Not long ago, we said that we should work hard and work hard, right?
He also took the map and asked Shen Bing how he defeated Wei, didn't he?
As a result, when we finally arrived in Wei State...
Use such a precious map to wrap jerky?
Mengliang didn't notice the difference in Shen Bing's expression, so he spread out the map and handed the dried meat to Shen Bing and said:
"Stingy husband, how about a few bucks?"
"Although it's not as delicious as the scallion pancake, it can satisfy your cravings in the middle of nowhere!"
Shen Bing:......
However, Shen Bing had no time to argue with Meng Liang at this time. He grabbed the dried meat into Meng Liang's arms, spread the wrinkled map on the carriage and smoothed it.
The map is still not detailed enough, and many ditches and rivers are not marked.
But this doesn't seem strange.
Because many canals may have been dug after the map was made, and some may have been dug by the people themselves. There is not even a map of Wei State.
Shen Bing frowned as he looked at the map. The battle seemed not as simple as he thought before.
Thinking of Shen Bing, he told Meng Liang:
"You stay here and watch the troops, I'll go find the general to discuss something!"
Meng Liang responded, but when Shen Bing boarded the carriage, he asked from behind:
"Stingy husband, are you serious about not bringing some dried meat?"
Shen Bing suddenly felt like he was being trusted to someone else...
The carriage went all the way back and found Yang Duanhe who was looking at the map. He immediately stepped forward and handed over the report.
"General, my subordinates think this battle is a fraud."
Yang Duanhe raised his head:
"Oh, tell me!"
Shen Bing pointed at the map and said:
"General, look, we are going against the current of the Yellow River."
"And the Wei army went northward along the Yellow River."
"The Wei army avoided fighting along the way, fearing that they would lure the enemy deeper and lead our army to Daliang City."
"Then we will send naval troops down the river to attack our army's rear."
Yang Duanhe smiled and said:
"Although what the stingy man said is reasonable."
"But the Wei State does not have such talented people as stingy men. They don't know how to use troops like this."
"You can move forward with peace of mind, stingy man!"