In October, Qin people also spent the New Year in anxiety. The people of Qin were fooled by the people of Zhao again! The last time Zhao Gongzi Pi deceived the Qin people, the Qin people returned the three cities of Lin, Lishi, and Qi, but did not exchange for the proposed city. The Qin people went to attack, but they suffered a small loss, which made the Zhao people proud for many years! How glorious it is for Zhao to fight with him, but how shameful it is for the people of Qin! This time, the Zhao people cut off the fruits of victory halfway when the Shangdang Party in South Korea was about to mature, which made the Qin people especially angry!
However, almost everyone in Qin knew that the famous general Lian Po was in charge of the defense of Shangdang in the State of Zhao, and the King of Zhao gathered all the strength of the country to defend Shangdang, giving people, grain, and money. The angry Qin people knew that there would be a hard and bloody battle to get Shangdang back. The Prime Minister of Qin asked Qin to step up mill milling, indicating that the expected war would be long and many soldiers would be mobilized. Although the basic soldiers are all prisoners, officers at all levels must be borne by ordinary families, especially those with noble titles. In wars, the mortality rate of junior officers is often the highest, especially those of corps officers and senior officers such as public servants and superiors. The larger the recruitment of prisoners, the greater the number of officers at all levels required, and the more families affected. Families who estimate that their family members will be drafted have mixed emotions during the New Year: it may be a separation of life and death, or it may be a turning point in life! The family members try to avoid talking about the war, only remind each other of things that need attention, and silently prepare things for the war.
Both prisoners and workers worked until New Year's Eve. The young and strong were undergoing various military trainings, while the women were working hard to stir up millet. Craftsmen worked hard to create various weapons and other implements.
The most nervous people are actually the highest-ranking officials. They want to carry out all kinds of deception, packaging their true intentions in various false lies; the various measures they implement are false and true, but under deliberate guidance, they are all pointed in the direction of "revenge against Zhao State". Countless magicians concentrated on various lawsuits, strategizing like the wind, and making a lot of calculations.
Qin and Zhao just stimulated each other and competed to improve their armament levels.
After the Hungry Ghost Festival, prisoners from all over the country began to gather at the assembly area one after another, led by local nobles and nobles. This time, the assembly point was designated as Anyi, Hedong. Wang Lu arrived at Anyi in advance and was ready to accept the troops.
At this time, the Qin State had ten counties including Neishi. The three counties of Neishi, Shangjun, and Hedong were relatively close to each other, followed by Longxi, Beidi, and Nanyang. Ba, Shu, Hanzhong, and Nanjun were far away and blocked by mountains and rivers. The most remote place. But these nationwide conscriptions reached all ten counties. It is said that there were 20,000 soldiers in each county, a total of 200,000 soldiers!
Bringing together soldiers so far apart required hard organizational work. This time, the Qin people adopted the method of setting off from the farthest place first, and the soldiers from Ba, Shu, and Nanjun were the first to set off. The soldiers of Bashu passed through Hanzhong and then entered Xianyang via Baoxie Road. When the soldiers of Bashu passed through the above counties, each county had to prepare various services such as food, camps, medicine, and engineering repairs.
The soldiers of Nanjun passed through Nanyang. After passing the border of South Korea, they crossed the Yellow River and entered Hanoi, then transferred to Anyi. Nanyang also needs to provide various logistic services when Nanjun's soldiers pass through.
Both Longxi and Beidi must go through Nei Shi, and their soldiers also need to be provided with logistical services by Nei Shi.
Those counties that provide logistics support allow soldiers from neighboring counties to pass before organizing soldiers to move in, so as not to affect the quality of logistics services.
Wang Lu waited in Anyi for two months before the first batch of soldiers from Bashu arrived. It was already the middle of winter, heavy snow fell in Anyi, and it was already difficult to place the 40,000 soldiers. Zhang Lu asked the soldiers behind him not to follow up and to wait for further orders when to follow up! After leaving Nanyang, the soldiers of Nanjun stayed in the river valley between Yiru and were ordered to camp on the spot. The new city on the Yishui River was originally the fiefdom of Lord Huayang and was considered the land of the Qin State; the Liang on the Ru River belonged to the Wei State; and the Jia slightly downstream belonged to South Korea. The Qin State forced Liang and Jia to share the food supply for Nanjun's 20,000 soldiers. Two thousand shi of grain per day is not heavy for two cities with tens of thousands of people, but it is by no means easy. But at this time, no one dared to refuse easily, lest they get burned.
Hedong had the important task of receiving all the Qin troops, so the soldiers were naturally not concentrated and were still training in various cities.
Bai Qi moved the Bashu troops who had marched thousands of miles to Xintian and Quwo to control the Fen River coast. Yangchengjun was also asked to supply food for Xintian soldiers. After bargaining, the supply was changed to half, that is, two thousand shi per day. Pingyang is now completely defenseless. Under Bai Qi's supervision, Pingyang is not allowed to drill, reinforce city walls, or rectify weapons. All the ore mined must be transported to Anyi, and no smelting is allowed without authorization! Pingyang has become a lamb to be slaughtered, completely unable to resist Bai Qi's instructions.
Zhao Guo watched the Qin army's movements with vigilance. When troops from each county passed through the land of Guangrou, it aroused unspeakable tension in the hearts of the kings and ministers of Zhao State. Quickly mobilizing food and soldiers has become the subconscious mind deep in everyone's heart.
The transportation of five million stones of grain was not a simple matter, especially after Zhao She, who was good at organizing transportation, passed away and Zhao Kuo went into mourning. The newly appointed Tianbe mobilized 100,000 people and more than 10,000 livestock, and it took more than two months to transport the grain back and forth. And in the end, there were far fewer people who actually reached Changping.
After returning the transported grain to the warehouse, it’s New Year again, which is the day for the rotation of garrison soldiers. Since the first batch of prisoners from afar have arrived in Anyi, there has been controversy over whether to update the garrison this year, because it may cause chaos on the front line! But then news came from Anyi that due to the cold weather, the Qin army had stopped in Anyi for the winter, and soldiers from other counties also stopped mobilizing. The monarchs and ministers of Zhao State secretly said "lucky" and continued to rotate soldiers according to the original plan.
Since the two battles of guarding soldiers and transportation overlapped, Xu Li spent a lot of effort to recruit 100,000 troops and sent them to the front line to replace Zhao's soldiers who had been guarding for half a year. Shangdang has completely lost its production function, and all residents have become participants in defensive operations and rely on military rations for a living, including women, children, and the elderly.
But the Qin army did not come...
One hundred thousand Zhao troops plus more than 200,000 Shangdang people consumed Shangdang's food supply of 30,000 to 40,000 shi every day.
Waiting until February, Lian Po found that Changping's granary had bottomed out again and rushed to Handan to collect grain. At this time, the Qin people went against their normal behavior. Instead of withdrawing their troops, they started to march again!
In mid-February, when the winter chill was still lingering, Changping finally received a report from the Qin people: Zhao Jun, who had already sent patrols to the Shaoshui line, found dust rising in the distance to the west, and it was obvious that a large army was advancing.
Lian Po immediately issued an alarm to all armies: The Qin army is approaching!
The Duan clan on the Qinshui River was controlled by the Qin people. The Zhao army did not attack, but just stayed away from the city. The defenders in Duanshi City were naturally on tenterhooks every day, fearing that the city would fall. The arrival of the main force of the Qin army made Duanshi City rejoice.
Although Wang Lu's camp was located in Anyi, he actually did not stay there all the time. He and Bai Qi took turns squatting in a small city next to Duan clan, alternately observing the movements of the Qin army and dealing with the affairs of the army. affairs. So when the Qin army came to Duanshi, Wang Lu had already made a comprehensive plan for the battle.
He first set up an ambush in the mountains east of Shaoshui and eliminated the scouts who patrolled the mountains one by one. After five days of this, Zhao Jun's scouts no longer showed up, so Wang Lu began to concentrate his forces to attack Zhao Jun's pass at the mountain pass.
Lian Po flew to Handan to report that the Qin army had met the Zhao army and the grain must be transported as soon as possible. Otherwise, the army may be defeated due to lack of food at the most critical moment of the battle.
King Zhao was a little panicked. He asked Pingyuan Jun, Pingyang Jun, and Lin Xiangru to quickly count the granaries in Handan to see how much food could be transported forward.
It is only February now, and it is still early in the year. The necessary expenses only cover the salaries of officials. There is still a lot of grain in the warehouse. However, considering the various expenses necessary within a year, the grain in this warehouse can no longer be used. Got it! Also, February is the time to prepare for spring plowing. If people are dispatched to transport grain, will they still be able to plant grain?
But the war in Shangdang has begun. This is a battle that Zhao State cannot lose, and King Zhao cannot lose. If it loses, Zhao State and King Zhao will be disgraced, and Handan will also be directly exposed to the attack of the Qin army. Down. This is a burden that Zhao Guo cannot bear!
The monarchs and ministers of Zhao State felt a little regretful. If they had not sent their successors so early, would the food problem have been alleviated? But Lord Pingyuan, who was determined to take charge of the battle, retorted: "If the Zhao army hadn't arrived first and strengthened the wall, how could we have been planning for food here?"
There is no need to take the medicine of regret. If the Zhao army can defeat the Qin army with its superior strength within a few months, what's the harm in losing some food? King Zhao ordered that all expenses should be saved and three million stones of grain should be transported up the mountain. In order not to delay the battle, Handan recruited 100,000 civilians and collected all the livestock they could collect, striving to deliver food to Changping as quickly as possible.
In the next two months, Handan was transporting grain to Changping, and Changping was receiving grain, while the Qin army uprooted the passes set by the Zhao army in the mountains one by one.
It should be said that the passes set up by the Zhao army were very effective, and the terrain selected was also very favorable, which brought great difficulties to the Qin army's operations. However, the Qin army can concentrate its forces to seize the passes one by one and retain enough troops to deal with reinforcements from other places, while the Zhao army is in a passive state of being beaten here. Each pass is not big, and there are not many troops that can be gathered. It can only delay time, but cannot hold on for a long time.
After two months of hard fighting, Zhao Jun's passes at the mountain pass were eliminated one by one. The Qin army finally appeared on the bank of Danshui. At this time, the Zhao army had also completed its food supplies, its morale was high, and it was gearing up to compete with the Qin army!
