Since Shen Bing knew that the Chu army was going to abandon Chencheng, why did he suggest borrowing Anling City in the first place?
Then think deeper:
Ouch...could it be that I fell into Shen Bing's trap?
Shen Bing knew that the king could not borrow An Ling, so he used this to delay time?
This guy's chain plan is so good that even I was kept in the dark!
Thinking of Yang Duanhe, he glanced at Shen Bing but did not dare to say anything.
The reason is very simple. Although this suggestion was given by Shen Bing, it was Yang Duanhe who reported it to the king.
If this was revealed and reached the king's ears... he, Yang Duanhe, said that nothing could get rid of the relationship.
So Yang Duanhe gently stroked his beard and added:
"That makes sense."
"If Chu had not withdrawn its troops, Anling City would be the best."
"At this time, since we have withdrawn our troops and plan to abandon the city, Chencheng is the best choice."
Shen Bing was speechless when he heard this:
Can't we keep this to ourselves? Isn't it too obvious that there are no three hundred taels of silver here?
Fortunately, Meng Wu didn't hear anything. He still stared at the map and said:
"If the Chu soldiers withdraw secretly, then our army will have to..."
Shen Bing and Yang Duanhe couldn't help but be stunned.
Meng Wu didn't say anything right when he came to Daliang, but his words hit the point... The Qin army couldn't just watch the Chu army withdraw and then shrink the defense line to defend. It would be troublesome to attack when the time came.
So the Qin army had to launch an offensive in advance.
The whole army made preparations for three days. Yang Duanhe urgently sent Yingzheng a plan to attack Chu. After receiving the agreement, he urgently sent a batch of grain and grass from Handan, and then the Qin army set off.
The army was divided into three groups and marched towards Chencheng. Meng Wu led 100,000 Qin troops along the east bank of the Bian River, Shen Bing led 70,000 troops south along the west bank of the Bian River, and Yang Duan led 100,000 Qin troops to respond from the rear.
The reason why Meng Wu's 100,000 Qin troops were arranged on the east bank was because the east bank was a dangerous area for Caozhou and Chencheng to attack, so it was natural that Meng Wu would lead the regular Qin army to take charge.
There is even a section of the west bank to the south that is within South Korea, which is obviously safer than the east bank, so the surrender troops led by Shen Bing were responsible.
Shen Bing felt that Yang Duanhe had another reason for this arrangement:
Yang Duanhe didn't really believe in Wei Jiangbing.
Otherwise, the ancients were very taboo about not being victorious at the beginning of the battle. Even if the first battle is not an elite one, it should still be an army with combat experience.
But the Liang Army was a newly formed army without any armor.
Yang Duanhe made this arrangement because he was worried that the Daliang army would be placed in Daliang... If the rebellious Daliang was gone, the entire strategy of attacking Chu would be over, and the Qin army would immediately be surrounded by enemy troops.
Although it is said that "there is no need to employ people without suspicion", Shen Bing felt that there was no problem with this approach because the risk was too great, not to mention there was nothing wrong with sending the Liang Army out of the city to fight.
The news soon reached Xiang Liang who was stationed in Chencheng.
Xiang Liang was Xiang Yan's third son. He had been following Xiang Yan in marching and fighting since he was a child and was familiar with military books. At this time, Xiang Yan had appointed generals to stand alone.
Xiang Liang frowned when he heard that Qin's army of more than 100,000 troops was marching south to attack Chen.
The general said from the side:
"General, the superior general ordered us to abandon Chencheng and retreat once the Qin army attacks."
"Is it time to..."
Xiang Yan raised his hand to interrupt the general. After thinking about it for a while, he said:
"The Qin army sent troops earlier than the general expected."
"The Caozhou soldiers have just withdrawn. If we withdraw at this time, we may have already attacked Ruyin before the Caozhou soldiers can withdraw the Qin army."
Ruyin is an important transportation town a hundred miles away from Shouchun. It and Chengfu formed a line of defense through the Ru River and became a barrier for Shouchun.
Xiang Yan's plan to shrink the defense line is to block the Qin army in this area.
But of course, if the Qin army approaches the city before the Chu army arrives, this line of defense will of course no longer exist.
The general asked:
"What should we do?"
Xiang Liang did not answer, he just ordered to the spies:
"Explore further and find out who led the two Qin armies, what kind of soldiers they were, and how many people there were!"
The spies took the order and left.
It is not that easy to detect this information. You have to get close to it or even sneak into the Qin army.
So Xiang Liang didn’t get the news until the next day:
"General, on the east bank are the 100,000 Qin troops led by Meng Wu."
"On the west bank is the 70,000-strong Liang Army led by Shen Bing."
Xiang Liang couldn't help being stunned when he heard this:
"Shen Bing? But the Shen Bing who flooded my army?"
The spy replied:
"Exactly this person."
"It is said that because he trained the Black Armor Army to defeat our Navy Army and made meritorious service, he was asked to train the 70,000 Liang Army."
Xiang Liang gritted his teeth with hatred, paused and asked again:
"So, those 70,000 Liang troops are the surrendered troops of Wei?"
The spy replied:
"It was the State of Wei that surrendered its troops. Since there was no title, there was no soldier in the whole army."
Xiang Liang couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this:
"This is God helping me."
"The Qin army would actually attack with tens of thousands of Wei soldiers without armor... How can we wait until we don't fight now?"
The general said with some concern:
"General, is there any fraud here?"
"What's more, there are still 100,000 Qin troops on the east bank to support us."
"It is said that the leader of the army, Meng Wu, is the son of Qin general Meng Ao. We should deal with it carefully."
Xiang Liang looked at the map for a while and replied:
"No need to worry."
"We can send a small team to harass and block the Mongolian military on the east coast."
"After Shen Bingjun moves forward... our army will be able to defeat him!"
"If Shen Bing's army is defeated, the Meng Wu army will be left alone."
"This will not only frustrate the Qin army's vigor, but also buy time for our main force to return to defense."
The generals nodded in agreement.
This is indeed a good plan.
The Qin army attacked both the east and west banks of the Bian River at the same time in order to control the waterway and reinforce each other.
However, Xiang Liang deliberately blocked the enemy and let it go, so unknowingly Shen Bing's side would go deep alone because of the smooth march. At that time, it was time for Xiang Liang to counterattack.
Shen Bing admitted that he didn't feel at all that Xiang Liang was setting a trap for him.
But Shen Bing didn’t jump into the trap either…
It had been expected before that the march operations on the east bank would be more complicated, and it had long been known that the marching processes of the armies on the east and west banks were inconsistent.
So a few people made an agreement early in the morning: no matter which side was marching faster, they would stop and dismantle the river defenses in Bianshui.
There are really countless river defenses, especially the wooden piles in the water, each one looks like an underwater forest.
It is not troublesome to dismantle these wooden piles. You only need to tie them tightly with hemp ropes, and then use horses to drag them from the shore... and the wooden piles will be pulled up one by one.
It’s just that there are so many of them, so it’s also very time-consuming.
Shen Bing's troops marched while drawing, but their speed was almost the same as that of the Meng Wu army.
If the wooden stakes are pulled out, the troops and food can be transported down the river. Once they are pulled out all the way to the city of Chencheng, Chencheng will face not 170,000 Qin troops but 270,000.