Bai Qi was still worried and asked: "Where will you place the swordsman and cut off his support?"
Meng Ao said: "There is no need to defend the formation. But it is okay to disturb the Zhao camp. The Zhao army is crowded, and its reinforcements cannot come far, and they must be close to the camp. However, many camps are frightened, so they dare not go out, and they do not dare to fight when they go out. That will help!"
Bai Qi thought for a while and said, "You should be careful in your approach!"
Since Dongling was occupied by the Qin army, Li Bing's Northern Army and Bai Qi's Nanjun Army had already communicated with each other. Using them as a link, the two groups of Shicheng and Taniguchi can also be united as a whole, and the strategic encirclement of Zhao Jun has actually been completed.
At the same time that Bai Qi was inspecting Li Bing's camps, Zhao Kuo and tens of thousands of Zhao army generals also had a long discussion in the big tent.
Twenty-five people, old and new, unanimously expressed their pessimism about the situation. There are only two or three days left before the scheduled ten days. Instead of improving, the situation is getting worse day by day. More than 400,000 people were concentrated in a narrow valley that was no more than a few dozen miles wide. They had to watch in despair as the Qin army mobilized freely on the mountains, but they were unable to do anything. Even if they want to fight at present, there is no room for war: Qin and Zhao are entangled, and they can only hug and tear each other, and there is no need to punch or kick.
Everyone also criticized Zhao Kuo's approach of concentrating the elite of all armies to fight to the death in the past few days. In several days of fighting, Zhao Jun lost tens of thousands of elites. Currently, there are only ten soldiers in the camp who can fight. Although they retain an empty frame, they actually have no combat effectiveness. If they had been able to fight according to the organizational structure, they would have lost tens of thousands of soldiers, but now they would at least be able to fight.
Listening to the complaints of the ten thousand generals, Zhao Kuo was naturally dissatisfied, but he did not refute, but let everyone express their opinions fully. When everyone's anger was almost gone, Zhao Kuo said: "Kuo is insignificant and in vain. The king does not use Kuo as an ignorant person, knowing that there is a loyal person who can be used. Now that the Qin Dynasty is strong, there is no food and grass inside, and there are no reinforcements outside. The matter is extremely urgent." Do you think the plan will work out? Maybe Kuo is incompetent, but if there is someone who is willing to protect all the armies, Kuo is willing to be a favor!"
Naturally, the tens of thousands of generals did not dare to respond. They all knelt down and said, "I am all following the general's orders and do not dare to disobey him."
Zhao Kuo said: "No one dares to abandon it except Kuo. If the Changping army is defeated, Kuo will die in Changping and will not dare to leave."
Everyone said: "We are all willing to follow the general underground!"
Zhao Kuo said: "At the right time, the plan will be settled!"
One of the ten thousand generals said: "Each camp is short of food. The first thing to plan now is food. The general will provide ten days of food to boost the morale of the army. The battle is unfavorable today, so we should slow down. It is not convenient to stick to the old order. .”
Zhao Kuo knew in his heart that there was no more food in the granary. There is dirt accumulated inside. At the beginning, in order to create the illusion that a large amount of military rations had been shipped, Zhao Kuo mixed a large amount of soil with the transportation and pretended to be grains. But only a few young officers who came with him from Handan knew about this, and no one else knew about it. Zhao Kuo didn't say anything, and said: "What the general said is true. However, the Qin army is closing in on Cangcheng, how can we open it? We must drive them away to get food."
Everyone felt that what Zhao Kuo said was reasonable, so they stopped talking.
It is easy to drive away the Qin army and regain the six lost mountains! Zhao Meng contributed almost ten battalions to Zhao Kuo's strong attack, but all of them were disabled. Now his soldiers are weak soldiers transferred from other battalions. And because he is closest to the Qin army and occupies the fighting area, only he can fight. And with his current situation, it would be good if he could hold on to his camp without losing it. How could he still have the ability to counterattack?
Zhao Meng knelt down and said: "If we can get a thousand archers and a hundred thousand arrows, I am willing to fight!"
Zhao Meng felt bitter. His troops were trained by him personally and were very capable in fighting. Therefore, Lian Po placed him north of Cangcheng to guard the granary. After Zhao Kuo arrived, he repeatedly mobilized his troops to fight to the death with the Qin army. Although his troops fought bravely, fighting a war is by no means a matter of bravery. Useless efforts will only cause a large number of casualties without achieving any results. All his old troops were injured, most of the junior officers were lost, and they almost lost their combat effectiveness. The soldiers who were added to him lacked training and were not in order, so he had to start all over again.
During the day, Zhao Meng launched an attack with new troops. Although he could not win, he achieved the purpose of containing the Qin army. The Zhao army guarding Cangcheng went out to fight, but the granary was not in danger. He felt that if he attacked seriously, it was possible for Qin Ying to win. After all, he had twenty battalions, while the Qin army only had six battalions. Therefore, when Zhao Kuo proposed to drive the Qin army away from Liangshan, he volunteered. ——Actually, no one else is qualified except him. After all, that is his combat area!
Zhao Kuo actually wanted to silence everyone with words and did not want Zhao Meng to take over. He patted his knees and said: "How magnificent! But it is difficult to prepare for a hundred thousand arrows... Each army must declare its own number!"
There were 250,000 generals, and one army reported 20 people, making up 500 people. Zhao Meng expressed his gratitude to everyone and said that he would live up to everyone's expectations and would capture the enemy camp to avenge his shame!
Due to the large amount of arrows used some time ago and the difficulty in recovering them, the number of arrows in Zhao's armies dropped sharply. Zhao Jun had no craftsmen. This issue was also raised.
Not only arrows, but other weapons were also damaged to varying degrees, especially shields, which were particularly damaged. During the battle a few days ago, the wounded soldiers could only be dragged back during the retreat. Their weapons were discarded on the battlefield, which resulted in the embarrassing situation of many soldiers without weapons.
Zhao Kuo could only ask tens of thousands of people to find skilled craftsmen among his soldiers to be responsible for repairing weapons. As for arrows, in addition to strengthening recovery, unnecessary consumption should be reduced. All archers are under the unified command of ten thousand generals and are no longer delegated to individual battalions.
Regarding the most difficult food problem, everyone unanimously suggested that Zhao Kuo should send a document to King Zhao urgently to ask for support! Many tens of thousands of generals also had relatives in the court, and they all expressed their willingness to come forward to write or send messages to their connections, asking them to come forward to suggest or support King Zhao in sending troops to support. Zhao Kuo knew it was impossible, but he still took care of it one by one.
Due to the current shortage of troops and weapons, it can only support an offensive war. Tomorrow's attack will start with Zhao Meng. Zhao Kuo stipulated that only the soldiers participating in the attack could eat enough, and the rest of the soldiers had half a meal. Compared with the previous order, half meals were changed from two meals to one meal. He knew that in fact, many tens of thousands of soldiers had been half-eaten for a long time, but he still issued a clear order to shoulder the grievances of the entire army.
That night, Zhao Kuo and the ten thousand generals with connections wrote letters or asked their confidants to send oral messages. After the modification, we set off quietly, sneaked out of Changping from the mountains under Danzhu Ridge, and took the road to Handan.
Zhao Kuo calculated silently: There are still eight days in a month. He didn't know whether he should hope that this day would come sooner or later. He only hoped that he could survive until that day, because it meant that he had completed the task assigned to him by King Zhao, an impossible task.
Many messengers were captured by the Qin army's patrols, and letters addressed to King Zhao and other dignitaries were found on their bodies. There were also some people who claimed to be residents of Shangdang. No documents were found on them, so they were let go.
After the Qin army captured the front line of Shicheng, Bai Qi ordered Guanzhong, Shangjun, and Beidi each to send a battalion, stationed in Changzi, Lucheng, and Licheng respectively, about a hundred miles apart. They were mainly responsible for inquiring about the surrounding news and monitoring the surrounding movements. , promptly detecting Zhao Jun who may be coming for reinforcements; at the same time, isolating the connection between Changping, Handan, and Taiyuan. This time, many messengers went in separate ways, and most of them took the main road. After all, if they forcefully cross the no-man's land, they may be attacked by poisonous snakes and beasts, which is much more terrifying than the Qin people!
It should be said that Zhao Kuo is still very careful. He wrote his writing on a piece of silk, cut it into more than ten small strips of cloth, and gave it to different people to take out. Some of those tens of thousands of generals were careless, and some only wrote a few sentences, sewn into the corners of the messenger's clothes, or hidden in their hair, easily revealing the message they wanted to convey.
Although Zhao Kuo's documents were intercepted incomplete, indicating that someone still slipped through the net, most of them were intercepted and spliced together, the meaning should be more complete than what King Zhao obtained. Generally speaking, he reported that he had severely damaged the Qin army in battle, but failed to push back the Qin army, and that Shicheng had been lost and was struggling to recapture it. At present, there is insufficient food and grass, and it is difficult to replenish the enemy's arrows. Please ask King Zhao to send reinforcements quickly. Others have similar meanings, but they are not as detailed as Zhao Kuo.
Bai Qi smiled coldly and asked people to take a shortcut on horseback to inform the defenders of Lucheng and Licheng. It would be a good search. Sooner or later, the enemy's messenger would pass through. He also sent someone to inform the King of Qin that a military envoy was missing and went to Handan. We should pay close attention to any developments in Handan. Chen Si, who was stationed in Wencheng, immediately strengthened his strength in the direction of Handan.
With Zhao Kuo's report, Bai Qi felt more confident: He didn't even need too many battles, as long as he fought against the Zhao army, the Zhao army would inevitably collapse! He also asked the Hedong side to count the grain stocks in Hedong. The work of millet frying by the concubines must be stepped up to ensure that the army is not short of food. Anyi side must step up the manufacturing and maintenance of weapons, especially the casting of arrowheads, to supply the front line in time. On the contrary, the Nanjun Lieutenant was not urged to supervise the work of making oars.
Zhao Meng returned to his tent, summoned more than 500 officers from each battalion to the tent, and announced to them the order to attack the Qin army across the board tomorrow. Notify them that because the Qin army blocked the door of the granary, the food in the granary cannot supply the entire army, and they must be driven away; now that the entire army is short of food, driving away the Qin army is not only a military achievement, but also self-help. Then he announced his battle plan: all battalions will go into battle tomorrow, five of them will launch a diversionary attack against the five battalions of the Qin army facing them, and the forces of the four battalions will be concentrated to launch a strong attack on the Qin battalion closest to the granary, in order to achieve the goal. must be overcome; two battalions are used as mobile to reinforce all parties at any time; the remaining nine battalions are used as reserves to transport baggage for the combat troops, rescue the wounded, and supplement the vacancies of the combat troops at any time. The assist direction will be in charge of a general Pi, and the main attack direction will be supervised by himself. Anyone who flinches and refuses to go forward will be killed immediately! A Pi general was in charge of the reserve army.
He did not let the officers express their opinions and forcibly assigned the tasks.
officers
