There are only two updates today due to things happening, and I will continue with three updates tomorrow.
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Wang Jian was responsible for breaking the ice heading north.
At this time, Hetao can be said to be a land without one... Li Mu died and the Zhao Kingdom was destroyed. Zhao Jia was unable to resist the Xiongnu, so he had no choice but to abandon this area.
The northern land in history was too far for the Qin State, which was busy unifying the six kingdoms of the Central Plains. It was more than 1,700 miles away from Handan.
So Qin failed to take care of it for a while, and then it was occupied by the Xiongnu.
It was not until Qin unified the six kingdoms that Meng Tian expelled the Xiongnu and re-incorporated this land into the territory of Qin.
Now, due to some combination of circumstances, the Chu army surrounded Daliang. To be precise, it was Xiang Yan's grand strategy, which forced the Qin army to divide its troops to the north in advance.
What troubles Wang Jian the most is the distance: more than 1,700 miles.
At the infantry's marching speed of fifty miles per day, this distance would take more than a month.
In principle, more than a month is not a big problem. Wang Jian inquired about the winter flood situation and learned that the Yellow River is frozen for about three or four months and will not thaw until the spring of next year.
In other words, if the ice is successfully cut and water is released during this period, the downstream area will be flooded.
The problem is that Wang Jian is worried that if the time is delayed and the river is frozen for too long, for example, it will be frozen for tens or even hundreds of miles... then it will not be possible to finish digging.
Wang Jian's countermeasure was to organize three thousand cavalry to advance first.
The cavalry is much faster than the infantry. If they march in a hurry, they can march 150 miles in a day. In this way, they can arrive in the north in more than ten days to organize the manpower to cut the ice.
The general asked [81中文网 www.zwdu8.me] with some concern:
"General, has the northern land been occupied by the Huns?"
"If there are Huns or Northern soldiers defending, we and the three thousand cavalry will be afraid..."
Wang Jian understood what this meant.
Neither Li Mu's northern soldiers nor the Huns were easy to offend.
As long as there is one of these two, Wang Jian's three thousand cavalry will soon be filled up, and not even a scrap will be left.
But Wang Jian thought about it and shook his head and said:
"No need to worry."
"The soldiers from the North must have been recruited by Zhao Jia, and the remaining few soldiers are also miscellaneous soldiers from non-governmental organizations."
"As for the Huns..."
"Winter will begin soon after Zhao is destroyed, and the Xiongnu will have to wait until spring next year to attack."
"So the defense of the Northland at this time should be weak, and three thousand fine cavalry are enough to deal with it!"
Wang Jian's analysis was reasonable and well-founded, but after all, it was just an analysis. What the facts were was another matter, so even Wang Jian felt a little nervous.
Another point is that Wang Jian is worried about the people there...
But of course Wang Jian would not just dive in head-first, so he immediately sent a fast horse to the north to conduct reconnaissance.
At the same time, he quickly organized the cavalry and led it himself, and then followed, and finally there were 30,000 infantry.
Wang Jian had made some preparations before that, and he brought someone with him.
This person's name is Wu.
The reason why he got this name is that his parents were both slaves. Although he came from a humble background, he was hardworking and willing to work. He worked full-time in Handan to cut ice and divert water... It is said that he also had a method that could quickly defrost the ice without using much manpower.
This made him quite famous in the Handan area, so Wang Jian sought him out.
Also traveling with me were dozens of his servants and the "equipment" that took more than ten horses and carts to pull.
Wang Jian originally wanted to persuade him to put down those "equipments" because they would slow down the cavalry's march.
But I told Wang Jian:
"General, if you want to cut ice and break rivers, this item is indispensable!"
"If you keep this thing, we don't have to go."
So Wang Jian had no choice but to give up.
Wang Jian led his cavalry all the way to the Northland and found that the situation was just as he expected. There was no one to defend the Northland, but even the people were able to escape...
This is actually to be expected, and it is also what Wang Jian is worried about:
As soon as Li Mu died, everyone knew that the Northern Territory was over, either occupied by the Qin army or the Xiongnu.
So if you stay here, aren't you just waiting to die?
Coupled with Zhao Jia's instigation... Zhao Jia had to do this, that is, move the soldiers and civilians in the north to the east. Otherwise, Zhao Jia would not be able to face both the Huns and the Qin army here.
Moreover, these people and troops are the foundation of Zhao Jia's founding of the country, so of course he will not let them go.
As a result, the entire Northland was empty of buildings, leaving only the elderly who could not move or had no need to move.
Wang Jian couldn't care about that, so he ordered the cavalry to stay in the houses and rest for a while, then took his children out to survey the river.
After taking a group of people to explore along the river, I gave the answer in just half an hour:
"General, fortunately we arrived early and the river was only frozen for three miles."
"If the weather gets colder, I'm afraid we won't be able to catch up with the freezing speed!"
The frozen area is the first corner of the "ji" shape. This location is further north and there is a big bend. The river water slows down here and is more likely to be frozen.
However, even so, Wang Jian was still shocked:
"Frozen for three miles?"
"But we only have three thousand cavalry, and all the people in the north have been moved away by Dai..."
If there are tens of thousands of infantry or civilians, enough manpower can be organized to pile them up.
Now there are only a few thousand people, how can they dig through the three-mile frozen river?
I don’t think about it but I am very confident:
"General, don't worry."
"As long as the weather doesn't get cold and freeze over a large area in the past few days, it will be enough to break the ice!"
Then I ordered my servants to transport his cartload of "equipment" up.
Those "equipment" are not complicated things, they are just big iron boxes.
To be precise, they are iron boxes without lids. Wang Jian initially thought that these iron boxes were used to transport ice cubes, but when he thought about it, he felt it was wrong... Wouldn't it be lighter if they were used to transport ice cubes in baskets?
Wang Jian didn't ask any questions along the way. When he saw the group of people lining up the iron boxes in the river, he knew that they seemed to have another use.
Then he discovered that this was indeed the case, so he led the men and threw firewood into the iron box, burned it and lit it.
Wang Jian couldn't help but say "oh" when he saw this.
This method is good. The firewood is burned in the iron box to melt the nearby ice cubes into water. At the same time, a group of people dig aqueducts on both sides to drain the melted ice water from both sides. Then more ice cubes are melted.
Over and over again...
Not more than half an hour later, the river at the iron box cracked open as if it had been slashed by a long sword.
If you continue to cut upwards like this "sword by sword", you will soon reach the top.
There is a lot of river water stored in the upper reaches. When the time comes, these ice blocks will crack like a collapsed dam, and then the river water will rush down layer by layer...
Wang Jian sighed:
"Wonderful, wonderful!"
"No wonder this guy doesn't take this frozen three-mile river seriously."
"So there is a way!"
Of course, this work cannot be done by just a few people. Wang Jian waved his hand, and the cavalry formed a team and stepped forward to help.
This is how I allocate manpower:
One thousand people went to chop wood and chop firewood, a thousand people carried firewood to light the fire, and another thousand people dug canals to divert water...