In this battle, the Chu army was severely defeated. Three hundred thousand people were drowned, dead and injured, and only about one hundred thousand remnant troops escaped.
Not only these 300,000 people, but also the fertile farmland and people in Caozhou were severely affected.
Xiang Yan was lucky enough to save her life.
At that time, he was discussing with his generals in the tent how to recruit the Wei and Zhao soldiers and the people of various countries.
This is actually Xiang Yan's real purpose of sending an army of 250,000 to fight against the Qin army... At this time, standing on the opposite side of Qin, he can order all countries, even the recently destroyed South Korea.
However, at this moment, I heard the bodyguard shouting from outside the tent:
"General, something bad is happening!"
"The flood is coming from upstream. If we don't evacuate, it will be too late!"
Xiang Yan replied with a "hum":
"This is when the upper reaches are frozen. Where did the flood come from?"
However, before he finished speaking, he heard a huge chaos among the Chu army outside the tent.
Xiang Yan frowned and led his generals out of the tent. What he saw shocked him on the spot...floods coming from nowhere were rushing towards the Chu army's camp in waves.
This is the west side of Daliang, and the Chu army's camp is still on a high ground. If the flood reaches here, it means... Xiang Yan secretly thinks that something is wrong. The flood is probably caused by the Qin army.
While Xiang Yan was hesitating, the water became stronger and mixed with ice, and it suddenly knocked down several tents.
The general protected Xiang Yan and said:
"General, leave quickly, I'll wait here to break up..."
This is just an idiom.
If there are pursuers in the rear, we can still break off the rear. But what is catching up from behind is a flood... So how can we break off the rear?
Xiang Yan knew clearly that not leaving at this time would do nothing but save his life, so he immediately took a few personal guards and evacuated to higher ground.
But it was too late to retreat at this time. Another big wave came and rolled the tent and Xiang Yan away.
The guards screamed and tried to rescue him, but they couldn't help it in the flood, and they were all washed to pieces.
It seems that Xiang Yan's life should not be cut off. The hemp rope of the tent was caught by a tree before Xiang Yan was rushed out very far. Xiang Yan grabbed the tent and struggled to climb up before she was able to get out of the water and take a few breaths.
Finally, he was asked to climb into the treetops until the flood receded.
However, by the time Xiang Yan came down from the tree, she was already out of her mind.
He didn't act like this because he almost drowned.
As a veteran general of Chu State, Xiang Yan has long regarded life and death as a matter of routine.
But Xiang Yan has been on military campaigns for decades, but he has never encountered a situation like this: watching his men being routed in a tree but having no choice but to watch it all happen.
Then Xiang Yan thought of the main force of the Chu army stationed between Handan and Daliang... If Daliang was flooded, how could the main force be spared?
Sure enough, after the guards found Xiang Yan, the first thing they did was report to Xiang Yan:
"General Zhang sent a beacon fire request for help. They may be attacked."
Xiang Yan did not answer.
He knew what the beacon fire meant. They were not attacked, but flooded.
But... how can Xiang Yan go to the rescue in this situation? What can he do to rescue her?
Xiang Yan had a grimace on his face. After thinking about it for a while, he ordered:
"Send my order and the entire army retreats!"
The general was shocked when he heard this:
"General, many of our troops are trapped on high ground and cannot retreat."
"If our troops withdraw, then they..."
Xiang Yan raised his hand to interrupt the general.
What the general said may be right, but Xiang Yan knew that if he didn't withdraw now, everyone might not be able to leave.
Xiang Yan's decision is correct.
Because it is obvious that this flood was not the normal flooding of the Yellow River but was intentional by the Qin army.
If the Qin army had done this intentionally, then the Qin army would have been prepared, and would have taken advantage of the disaster to attack the Chu army when their morale was severely damaged and they were defeated.
Can the Chu army withstand the Qin army's counterattack at this time?
Obviously not, even if Xiang Yan could manage to gather more than 100,000 troops.
Because these more than 100,000 troops were swept by the flood and couldn't even find dry clothes. They stood shivering in the cold wind and maybe couldn't even hold their swords. How could they fight against the Qin army?
Therefore, the wisest choice is to run away and escape from this land of right and wrong as quickly as possible.
After Xiang Yan made his decision, he implemented it simply. He led the remaining soldiers to retreat to the south. At this time, only Chencheng in the south was still safe.
Xiang Yan was still a little unwilling before retreating.
Xiang Yan wants to know what is going on and who is the loser to.
So he left a group of spies here pretending to be Wei people to gather information.
This task was not difficult to accomplish, because at this time Shen Bing's deeds had spread throughout the army and even among the people of Wei.
This was actually spread intentionally by Yang Duanhe.
Because Yang Duanhe believed that establishing a hero would be more beneficial to the Qin army in ruling Wei in the future, and at the same time, the Qin army also needed such a hero to boost morale.
So Yang Duanhe deliberately revealed more information, more details, and even made up some nonsense to beautify and deify it.
For example, Shen Bing calculated with his fingers exactly where the Chu army would deploy its main force, and then deliberately chose to capture Daliang instead of retreating.
As these news were passed down by word of mouth among the people, they soon spread more and more mysteriously.
It is said that Shen Bing had the help of the God of Thunder to split the ice upstream, so he was able to flood the Chu army.
Not to mention, this trick is really useful. The ancients were very fond of ghosts and gods.
This made the Qin army think that they had divine help, while the Chu army felt even more guilty. As a result, the morale of the Chu army further widened.
Then Xiang Yan got the relevant news before she could escape back to Chencheng:
"Shen Bing? Is this all Shen Bing's plan?"
The spy replied:
"Back to General, it's absolutely true."
"It's Shen Bing who invented the waterwheel and overturned it to cure the drought in Zhao."
"they said……"
Xiang Yan asked:
"what did they say?"
The spy replied:
"They say Shen Bing was sent by the gods to help Qin unify the six countries!"
"That's why Shen Bing was able to first perform meritorious service when attacking Zhao, and then to control drought in Zhao, and then to attack Yan and Wei..."
The last spy didn't dare to say anything, and there was also Yanchu.
How could Xiang Yan not know this? He just said "hum" and gritted his teeth in anger.
Of course Xiang Yan doesn't believe in this theory of ghosts and gods.
But whether you believe it or not, you don’t have it.
Xiang Yan doesn't believe it but can't stop others from believing it.
As long as others believe it, Qin's unification of the six kingdoms will become a matter of course and unstoppable.
Especially important is Ying Zhengxin.
When this "rumor" reached Handan Yingzheng's ears, he slapped his thigh:
"Go on!"
"If Shen Bing was not sent by the gods to help us unify the six countries, how could he plan to kill Li Mu?"
"You must know that Li Mu was an obstacle that the Qin State could not clear after more than ten years, but Shen Bing was able to remove it in one go."
"And how could he invent so many things?"
"How can we wake up everyone with delicious food again and again?"