The fire dragon clearly indicated the position of the Qin army. Jia Yan ordered the bonfires in his camp to be extinguished, and all the soldiers adjusted their positions in the darkness. As soon as the Qin army approached, they fired at the fire with all their strength. Unexpectedly, Bai Qi saw the bonfire in Zhao camp extinguished and ordered his own torch to be extinguished. Both sides had to grope in the dark. Only the intermittent sound of drums and bells informed the other party of their location.
There were also shouts of killing in the distance. It was the main force of the Wei army fighting Wei Ran. The Beicheng Army of the Wei Army was a force controlled by Mang Mao himself. It had 10,000 soldiers and about 80,000 civilian troops. After Mang Mao disappeared, General Wu Zu took over the command. Although some civilian soldiers panicked and fled under the cover of night, under the suppression of Wu Zu, the military camp stabilized and went into battle. Neither side launched a charge, but stood within a stone's throw of each other, shouting loudly and occasionally shooting arrows at each other. The general was worried that Wei Ran was waiting for Bai Qi to deal with the rear army, and then attacked from both front and rear, and sent a warning to the rear.
In fact, Bai Qi's army did not need to patrol: the Qin army attacking Zhao's army extinguished their torches, but the two fire dragons attacking Wei's rear army did not extinguish it and still moved forward steadily. Although it looks like they are squirming from a distance, their location is clearly visible. These two fire dragons were heading north-east, leaving General Wei confused as to which army they would attack: a flanking attack on the Beicheng Army? Flank the Dongcheng Army? A joint attack on Zhao Jun? The fire dragon squirming in the darkness attracted all the attention.
Suddenly, fire appeared behind Beicheng Army. While everyone was still in shock and judgment, the fire spread all the way from west to east. Everyone finally saw that the military camps were set alight: camp fences, vehicles, food and grass... The Beicheng Army's deployment was invisible under the fire. General Wu Zu was desperate: he had been tricked by Wei Ran. Wei Ran was not waiting for Bai Qi's help at all, but took the initiative to send an army to his rear. In desperation, he ordered the drums to be beaten, preparing to deliver a desperate blow.
The soldiers rushed forward, followed by the civilian army. In the firelight, their figures were very clear; on the contrary, the position of the Qin army was blurred.
Such an obvious advantage would naturally not be let go by Wei Ran. With the sound of drums, he ordered the front row to get out of the way of the attack of the soldiers, and rained down arrows on the heads of the civilian soldiers. The civilian soldiers without protective equipment were shot down one by one. The soldiers who rushed out a hundred steps also came into contact with the Qin army in the rear row, but the Qin army did not fight with them. Instead, they slowly retreated under the guidance of the bell, forcing the soldiers not to dare to turn around to rescue and step by step. Stay away from the civilian army.
Death threatened the civilian soldiers who rushed forward. Finally, they were overwhelmed by fear and collapsed with a scream. So Wei Ran's army also started harvesting mode.
The soldiers who were advancing step by step noticed a black shadow appearing behind them. Although they were well-trained, they couldn't help but attack from both front and back. Under difficult circumstances, they reorganized into a circular formation and resisted desperately. However, after a hail of arrows, they completely lost their ability to fight and were all beheaded in the end.
When the Beicheng Army collapsed, almost all of Dongcheng General's civilian troops were gone, and only a thousand soldiers remained. The Dongcheng Army General had no choice but to lead these thousand soldiers to retreat eastward to the Great Wall. Not far from the camp, they encountered a Qin army. Neither side knew the enemy's situation, so they had no choice but to shout and fight together.
Jia Yan, who was confronting Bai Qi in the camp, heard shouts from behind the camp and suddenly woke up. Bai Qi had sent troops to bypass him. He immediately issued an order, and the three armies took turns covering and retreated in turn.
A thousand soldiers alerted the enemy and saved Zhao Jun's life. When the Qin army's roundabout troops arrived, the roundabout had turned into a frontal attack. Although the Qin army launched an attack, they were repulsed without any suspense due to their inferior strength.
It's getting daylight. The situation on the battlefield is clearly presented in front of everyone. All the Wei troops had collapsed. The soldiers who had previously escaped under the cover of darkness were completely exposed to the Qin army after dawn, and became their targets for beheading and meritorious deeds. Some begged for mercy, some ran away, some lay down, and some took up arms to resist, but the result was the same: they were stabbed or hooked by the Qin army, and finally their heads were cut off. Zhao Jun, who had been confronting Bai Qi, completely withdrew from the battlefield ten miles away.
Bai Qi ordered the three armies that had been entangled with Zhao Jun at night to continue pursuing Zhao Jun. He drove to Wei Ran. Wei Ran's tent was set up on a slightly higher barren hill. He sat casually on the ground, and five officers and officials from each army sat on both sides of him. He could naturally see Bai Qi's movements clearly. Seeing that his troops continued to pursue Zhao Jun and that he was coming towards him, Wei Ran said to the generals: "Jun Wu'an is coming, we will welcome him!"
Everyone got off the mound and came out to welcome him. When Bai Qi saw Wei Ran coming out to greet him, he jumped out of the car from a distance, ran up and bowed to his chest.
Wei Ran said: "Jun Wu An, thank you for your hard work!"
Bai Qi said: "Marquis Rang has worked hard!"
Wei Ran said: "Wu'an Jun attacked Huayang and destroyed the Zheng army. His contribution is not small. I should congratulate him."
Bai Qi said: "A mere 20,000 ears. Marquis Yan Ruorang defeated the Wei army of 180,000!"
Wei Ran said: "How can we get so many, but only 80,000."
Bai Qi said: "Zhao's army is thirty thousand, and I am willing to attack and destroy it!"
Wei Ran said: "Zhao Jun, you little thief, why should you care!"
Bai Qi said: "My merits are not as good as those of Ranghou, and the army is not convinced. I am willing to attack the Zhao army to build up my merits!"
Wei Ran said: "I see that you have ordered the army to pursue you. Although I want to seize your power, what can I do?"
Bai Qi said: "Thank you Ranghou for your accomplishment!"
Wei Ran said: "There are many waterways on the way of Zhao Jun, so we need to be careful!"
Bai Qi said: "I would like to teach you!" He bowed and left.
Wei Ran watched Bai Qi get into the car and speed away.
Wei Ran said to himself: "King Zhao is guilty of this crime, what can he do?"
Although there were small rivers on Zhao Jun's retreat, it was not an obstacle to a large army. It was not until he encountered the chasm leading from Yingkou that he encountered some trouble. It took a while to find a place where we could wade through the water. Bai Qi speeded up at this time, as if he wanted to use the river to cause some trouble for Zhao Jun. Therefore, after Jia Yan crossed the chasm, he left a force of a thousand men behind, preparing to take advantage of the river to delay the Qin army's pursuit. During the retreat, he had sent multiple military envoys to the bank of the Yellow River and notified the Zhao army on the other side to sail to meet them.
The Qin army rushed to the shore and found that Jia Yan had placed his troops beside rocks or pits of different heights in the grass, just outside his shooting range. They were a little annoyed, but they had no choice but to prepare for battle according to the procedures of forced crossing. Five thousand people were selected and divided into five groups to cross the river. When the first batch hit the water, almost an hour had passed. These thousand men did not wear armor, but only carried small shields and halberds. The next four groups entered the water twenty steps apart. They didn't even have shields, and they all held halberds or spears.
Jia Yan ordered to shoot arrows. At a distance of a hundred steps, each person shot ten arrows from all directions. Although they achieved considerable results, they did not slow down the Qin army's advance. Seeing that there was no opportunity to take advantage of it, Jia Yan had no choice but to lead his troops to withdraw from the river bank before the Qin army came ashore.
The Qin army that crossed the river did not pursue them, but sent out warnings on all sides to cover the army's crossing of the river.
Thirty thousand Qin troops crossed the river in a mighty manner, and it took another hour. After reorganizing the team, it was almost dark again.
Bai Qi asked his five officials, "Does Jia Yan have to cross the river at night?"
The fifth doctor said: "That must not be the case. Crossing the river at night, you are feeding fish and turtles!"
Bai Qi laughed loudly and said, "I want him to cross at night, so why not!" He ordered the troops to take a rest, eat some dry millet, drink some water, and set off in the dim light of day.
Jia Yan caught up with the brigade. The troops had already marched to the Jishui River, but no boat came to meet them. An ominous feeling came to Jia Yan's heart. He quickly sent out military envoys to search for him. Soon the military envoy reported back that a large number of Qin troops appeared at the junction of Jihuang and Jilin, and had blocked the passage of the Yellow River into Jiji. General Dan led his troops to the Yellow River to take a boat.
When Jia Yan left, the Qin army's forwards had already crossed the chasm, and his troops stayed by the Jishui River for a long time. He had no time to think about other countermeasures, so he simply consulted the generals for their opinions and ordered to move along the Jishui River. Go up the river.
After traveling for more than twenty miles, Jia Yan saw the situation in Jishui: on the other side of the river was the Qin army, numbering about ten thousand; on the other side of the river was the Zhao army who came to meet them, numbering only two to three thousand. The two armies faced each other across the river, each holding a crossbow. It is safe for ships to sail along the river bank here. If they enter the middle of the river, they will be violently shot by the Qin army. Not to mention the casualties, the huge impact of the crossbow was enough to make the boat spin in the river. Therefore, the Zhao army could only dock the ship on the bank of the Yellow River next to Jikou in order to avoid the Qin army's attack and control a relatively safe ferry.
By the time Jia Yan arrived at the ferry, it was already dark. Jia Yan issued a warning and discussed crossing the river with the general who came to meet him.
Knowing that the Qin army was behind him, the general advised Jia Yan that he must kill the Qin army before he could cross the river, otherwise he would suffer heavy casualties. Jia Yan naturally knew, but he looked at Zhao Jun, who had not rested since last night and was in a tense fighting state, and couldn't make up his mind to fight. He said to the general: "We have not had any rest since night. We have been fighting hard all day long, and our soldiers are all exhausted. If we try to meet the enemy, we may not be able to support them."
The general said: "There are 300 boats, but they can't cross more than 3,000 people each time. We have to go back and forth ten times before we can cross. It's already dusk, and there's only one crossing." Jia Yan looked at the boats with no end in sight, thinking that he could only do it. That’s it. He ordered the wounded to board first. When the three hundred ships were full and set sail, the sentry came to report that the Qin army was ten miles away. Jia Yan quickly ordered the rear army to prepare for battle. I watched anxiously on the river bank as the three hundred boats rowed slowly to the other side, docked, unloaded the wounded, and rowed over again. Jia Yan wanted the second group of crew members to board the ship. The general said: "It is already dark, and the wind and waves are strong on the river. It is not possible to cross at night."
Jia Yan said: "If we can't cross, we will have to fight Qin."
Before he finished speaking, a rapid drumbeat sounded from the rear army. The sound of bowstrings and shouts came in waves.
Since the Zhao army's position was close to Jishui on one side, the Qin army could not outflank it on both sides, but it still penetrated from the left wing. Jia Yan had no choice but to send troops to intercept. Then he said to the general: "General, please wait and see. If you are too late, the ferry will be lost."
