Shen Bing caught up with the Mengwu Army that evening.
When the carts of grain were transported into the Mongolian army, the Qin army was jubilant and their morale was greatly boosted.
Meng Wu came to greet him with an embarrassed face. He raised his hands and said to Shen Bing:
"Meng Wu is ashamed of his lieutenant general."
"If the deputy general hadn't come to help, our army would have been afraid..."
Shen Bing quickly returned the greeting and said:
"The general is too humble. You and I are both generals of Qin. It is natural for us to reinforce each other. There is no need to be polite, general."
Meng Wu nodded, but when he thought that his tens of thousands of troops were defeated by Xiang Yan and Shen Bing could scare them away with only more than 30,000 people, and before he and his subordinates continued to look down on the Liang Army, he I was so ashamed that I couldn't even put myself to shame.
But it was a good thing once, and Meng Wu became more polite after that.
He welcomed Shen Bing into the tent and asked:
"I wonder what strategy the lieutenant can use to deal with the enemy?"
Shen Bing cupped his hands and replied:
"I dare not say strategy."
"My subordinates believe that since the Chu army has retreated, our army can attack the city as usual."
"But as the general said, we should make long-term plans for this battle."
Meng Wu nodded in agreement.
After a pause, he said:
"It's just that our army has lost 40,000 men. If we still need to divide our troops to defend the rear city, I'm afraid we won't have enough troops..."
Shen Bing replied:
"The general ordered me to come here firstly to provide reinforcements and secondly to defend the city."
"If the general has no objection..."
Meng Wu didn't dare to have any opinions, so he quickly replied:
"So good."
"With the deputy general guarding the rear city, Meng Wu can rest assured!"
Meng Wu can indeed rest assured that Shen Bing's troops came up and scared Xiang Yan away, so there will certainly be no problem in garrisoning the walled city.
That night, the Daliang Army camped next to the Qin Army's barracks, and the Black Armored Army returned after dark as usual... The Black Armored Army was not suitable for fighting at night, so they stopped chasing.
Early the next morning, the Mongolian and Shen armies went in two directions:
The Mongolian army followed the retreat route of the Chu army and headed towards Chengfu again, while Shen Bing went west to occupy the rear walled city.
It was not difficult to capture the fortresses because they, like the other cities of the Chu army, had long been emptied.
What Shen Bing has to do is to leave a few troops in each village and city, and then build defenses and set up post stations and beacon towers.
Defense is used to deal with possible attacks.
Post stations were used to deliver letters and orders.
Originally, the post station could not pass quickly due to the lack of horses, but the horses captured after the battle with the Chu army were given to the Black Armored Army and each person had one more horse left over, which was just used for the setup of the post station.
It is said that the Chu army's cavalry arrived in time. At this time, each person in the black armored army was equipped with two horses, which could greatly improve their mobility and could be used to protect the supply line.
Shen Bing led the Liang Army to march all the way to Taocheng.
Taocheng is only ten miles away from Shashui, and is connected by an artificial river. It is an important stronghold for the Qin army to attack Ruyin and Chengfu by land. Almost all grain and grass will be transported here by water and then transported to the two places by land.
It was this place that was occupied by Xiang Yan's cavalry before, causing the Qin army to be in chaos.
Fortunately, a leader of the Qin Army, who was responsible for the security of the city, saw that the situation was not good, so he took the lead and shipped a large amount of grain back to the river, so that the grain and grass could be preserved.
However, the five hundred soldiers stationed in Taocheng all died in battle because they had no choice but to hold on without receiving the order to retreat.
This is also a drawback of Qin's strict laws.
According to the five hundred masters' own thoughts, they must first withdraw to the water with the food to avoid the sharp attack. Using five hundred people to block the enemy's large cavalry attack is not only unstoppable but also meaningless.
But Yang Duanhe's order to them was to "live and die with Taocheng."
It would be better if there were telephones or telegraphs in this era. Send a telegram to Yang Duanhe to ask for instructions. Yang Duanhe might change the order and let them retreat.
The problem is that this era did not exist, and Yang Duan and Ruyin were hundreds of miles away, so they had no choice but to die in Taocheng.
The heads of these Qin soldiers were cut off and strung with hemp ropes and hung outside the city gate. At this time, they were somewhat corrupt and their appearance was recognizable.
This practice was very common in this era. The purpose was to frighten enemies or people and tell them what would happen if they sided with the enemy.
What Shen Bing could do was to order people to remove the heads and bury them outside the city.
After entering the city, Shen Bing immediately looked around at the terrain, and then cleared the area of all civilians and soldiers.
It is not difficult to do this, because as usual, the Chu army only left the old and the weak behind, and Tao City was already empty of ten households. To clear out the people, they only needed to move them to another residence.
Then Shen Bing ordered his personal guards to dig several tunnels under the city wall.
The tunnel is not long, even from outside the city to the inside, and the entrance and exit are very secret.
The entrance outside the city is behind a small mound, which is sealed with wooden boards and then covered with soil. There is no trace at all from the outside.
The city's exits are dug directly into wooden houses, such as under beds, in warehouses, etc. They are also disguised, so even if the people come back to live in them, it will be difficult to detect them.
In addition, Shen Bing had several tunnels dug in the mountains east of the city, and carts of grain were pushed in, as well as armor and equipment collected from the Chu army.
Finally, these tunnel entrances are sealed.
Wei Wei was a little baffled when he saw what Shen Bing was doing, and he asked:
"Why is Lieutenant like this?"
"Are you worried that the Chu army will come and occupy Tao City?"
Shen Bing didn't answer and asked:
"The captain thinks our army can capture Rushui in this battle?"
Wei Wei pondered for a while and then said:
"Xiang Yan is wise and well prepared, and the nobles of the Chu state seem to be able to join forces. The number of troops on the front line of Ru River is gradually increasing. It will be even more difficult for our army to break through Ru River."
Shen Bing nodded and said:
"If our army cannot capture Rushui, then the only way is to withdraw."
"Is there any reason why this Tao City should not fall into the hands of the Chu army again?"
"I'm just making some preparations in advance. It will be much easier next time our army attacks the city."
Wei Wei thought it was right when he heard it, so he didn't say anything more.
In fact, Shen Bing did this to make it easier to regain Tao City, but the reason was not just that "the Chu army could not break through Ru River".
At this time, Chencheng, which was used as a base by the Qin army, had gathered tens of thousands of Chu people.
Lord Changping worked hard for the people all day long on the pretext of stabilizing the people of Chu.
I don’t know if Mr. Changping was acting. During this period, he was busy registering household registrations for the people, asking about their welfare, and was very busy making porridge and clothes for the people.
At first, the people did not know who Lord Changping was. They thought he was sent by the Qin State to win people's hearts, and they were still somewhat resistant mentally.
But as time went by, I realized that Lord Changping was actually the son of Chu State... I immediately felt awe for Lord Changping.
Privately, some people secretly suggested to Lord Changping:
"The Qin army in Chencheng only numbered five thousand, and none of them were wearing armor."
"There are tens of thousands of people waiting for us. As long as the master gives an order, we can wait..."