The battle situation turned out exactly as Xiang Yan expected. When the Qin army arrived at the Chu army's defense line, they were unable to advance even half a minute.
The first to rush to the defense line were the 100,000 Qin troops led by Meng Wu.
Mengwu's journey can be said to be majestic. He led his troops to capture more than ten cities and villages along the way, and almost all of them surrendered without a fight.
This made Meng Wu arrogantly shout to his subordinates, "Advance with light troops quickly, destroy Chu in two months."
The morale of the Qin army was greatly boosted for a while, and they shouted: "The light troops advance quickly, and Chu will be destroyed in two months!"
At this time, Meng Wu was a little anxious.
Mengwu needs this battle to prove himself...
In fact, Meng Wu also knew that the king was determined to cultivate the Meng clan.
This is no secret to generals who have a long career in officialdom. Any country taboos the concentration of credit and power in the hands of one person and one general.
Because if this continues, power will fall to the side, and eventually the king and his ministers will be wary of each other and secretly suspicious of each other, such as the relationship between Li Mu and King Zhao.
It is believed that the way of a king is to disperse merit and military power so that ministers and generals can check and balance each other.
Now Wang Jian has successively destroyed Han, Zhao, and Wei, and defeated Yan. His achievements are so great that no one can match them.
At this time, it is time to support the Meng family and enable them to perform meritorious service and gain power, so that the Qin State can have peace.
Meng Wu had been running the Meng clan with his father in Xianyang since he was a child. How could he not know these official principles?
Otherwise, if Qin had so many generals, why would he be allowed to lead the army to destroy Chu?
Meng Wu knew that this was an opportunity for Mengshi, but it was also a test.
Because once the king thinks that Meng Wu is a piece of mud trying to get up on the wall, he will choose to support others.
Therefore, Meng Wu wanted to prove to the king that he was no worse than Wang Jian.
Wang Jian could destroy a country, and Meng Wu could do the same.
After destroying Chu, Meng would once again restore the glory of his father Meng Ao in his hands and become equal to Wang Jian.
It's just that Meng Wu never thought that all this would have to wait for his son Meng Tian to come true, and it would only be partially true... If Wang Jian hadn't taken Wang Ben with him to live in seclusion, nothing would have happened to Meng Tian.
Stimulated by this idea, Meng Wu led his troops all the way to Chengfu City.
At first, Meng Wu thought that Chengfu was just like other cities, with only old and weak Chu soldiers stationed there, so he simply built some siege ladders and ordered the siege without haste.
Needless to say what the result was, the Chu army attacked the city with a barrage of arrows, killing and wounding more than a thousand people.
On the other side, Yang Duanhe and Shen Bing's troops also arrived in Ruyin.
In fact, by going south along the waterway from Daliang at this time, you could reach the Huaihe River or even Shouchun.
The main person who played a role was the Wei State. When the Wei State was strong, in order to develop north-south water and land transportation, the Bianhe River was dug to inject sandy water. The sandy water reached Chencheng, and then it was dug southward to the north of today's Shenqiu to inject Yingshui, and then Yingshui flowed into it.
Enter the Huaihe River.
This is what history calls the gap.
However, due to years of fighting, many waterways in the Chasm were blocked.
It was not until Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, that these waterways were widened, dug, and straightened, and they became the famous "Tongji Canal."
However, of course the Qin army led by Yang Duan could not attack Shouchun directly along this waterway... If they did, they would have to make a big bend along the river into the Huaihe River, and then go south along the Huaihe River.
The cities along the way could not be garrisoned even if 200,000 people were blocked in them.
After Yang Duanhe's 100,000 troops went down the river, they could only choose to land at the nearest point and then rush to Ruyin. This was also the fastest and safest route for supplies.
After Yang Duanhe looked at the battle report sent by Meng Wu, he frowned and said to Shen Bing:
"This Mengwu seems to be a little aggressive."
"We will reach Chengfu in just a few days, which is far beyond our expectations."
Shen Bing reminded:
"The Chu soldiers abandoned the city all the way and seemed to be prepared."
"Now that the city father has troops, it means that the Chu army may use Ru River as a barrier to defend."
Yang Duanhe nodded and said:
"That makes sense."
"To the south of the city is Ruyin. In this way, Ruyin is also a place where the Chu army must defend."
After thinking about it, Yang Duanhe ordered the messenger:
"General Meng Wu is ordered not to advance rashly. The Chu army seems to be intending to defend the city. We should also prepare for a protracted war."
The messenger responded and went to deliver the order.
There is a big difference between a long-term plan for a long-term war and a quick war for a short-term victory.
A long battle will conserve strength and look for the enemy's loopholes, but a quick battle will not hesitate to expend troops to launch a fierce attack.
But Meng Wu was not willing to listen.
When Meng Wu received the order, he said to his generals:
"It is said that Wang Jian is too old to fight. I don't think Yang Duanhe is the same."
"On the battlefield of a large army, there are many signs that can deceive people's ears and eyes. Otherwise, how can a military strategist talk about 'showing signs'?"
"The only basis for judging all kinds of news lies in national strength and general trend, not in judging the facts."
"Xiang Yan is also considered a veteran general. How can he act like a mantis using his arm as a chariot?"
"Based on the facts, Xiang Yan has only one plan: to hold on to Ruyin and delay our army so that Shouchun can escape south! That's all, how can there be anything else?"
It should be said that Meng Wu's judgment also makes some sense.
He believed that from a general perspective, Chu State was not strong enough to compete with Qin, regardless of its national strength or general situation.
Therefore, Xiang Yan had no choice but to lead the Chu army and continue to flee south into the dense forest and water network area, taking advantage of the terrain to stay in a corner.
Therefore, Chengfu's defense was a false appearance, a means used by the Chu army to delay the Qin army so that the Shouchun royal family had time to escape.
Based on this judgment, we should fight quickly rather than for a long time.
The battlefield is so strange sometimes. No matter which way you think about it, you can find some truth in the military books, so "the public says the public is right, and the mother-in-law is right."
No one knows or is sure who is right until the end.
Meng Wu thought so at this time, so he did not take Yang Duanhe's order too seriously, but continued to command the troops to attack Chengfu with all his strength.
However, after Yang Duan and his team arrived in Ruyin, they fell down trees and built a stronghold step by step, then built trebuchets, mined stone bombs, ships and siege equipment, etc.
While building, Yang Duanhe asked Shen Bing again:
"Can the black-armored navy help our army break through Ru River?"
Shen Bing shook his head and replied:
"The east bank of Ru River is full of Chu army trebuchets and crossbowmen, but the black-armored navy only has three thousand people."
"If I want to break your waters, I'm afraid I'm not strong enough!"
Yang Duanhe looked at the map and sighed, saying:
"In this case, we can only attack Ruyin by force."
Indeed, the only choice is to attack the two cities of Ruyin and Chengfu, otherwise we can only risk crossing the Ru River.
Although the Qin army had a pontoon bridge that could quickly cross the river, it was simply a joke to see a large number of Chu troops defending on the other side... The Qin army was killed as soon as they crossed the river, just like adding fuel to the river and was slaughtered by others.
If it weren't for these geographical advantages, Xiang Yan would not have chosen this line of defense as the line of defense to defend his country and counterattack.
However, Shen Bing was not panicked at all.
Because he had no hope that the Qin army could capture this line of defense.