Zheng Anping, who was at the front station, notified Zuo Yiling of the news of the army's mobilization tomorrow and asked him to arrange food and lodging for the army. He deliberately moved into the house that Gai Nie had discovered, and the swordsmen were all camping on the left and right. The owner of that house knew that his whereabouts had been exposed, and he was very surprised. Zheng Anping called his master to the hall for questioning at night. Within a few words, the family all confessed: they were a secret agent arranged by Zhao. But the master swore that he had not sent a single message.
Zheng Anping did not embarrass the family and asked him to find a hundred donkeys. The family didn't know what was going on, so they had to go to the mountainous area overnight to get the donkey.
When leaving the next day, Zheng Anping left a hundred people behind to pick him up, and he took the remaining people and continued walking into the mountains. In the afternoon, the forward of the follow-up troops arrived, and Zuo Yiling had already greeted Yu Dao. The vanguard commandeered all the houses in the area. The swordsman left behind by Zheng Anping got in touch with the swordsman's forward, Dr. Gong, who immediately sent someone to take the family members of that family to Beishan to welcome them.
King Qin's army arrived at dusk and rested in the house arranged by the vanguard. King Qin secretly entered Zuoyi City to rest, accompanied by five hundred swordsmen.
After dinner, the official came over to report tomorrow's itinerary, informing King Qin that he would walk on the mountain road tomorrow and not ride in a car. Doctor Zheng arranged for a hundred donkeys to ride into the mountains tomorrow. King Qin agreed. At noon, the King of Qin received a report from Xianyang during his journey. The King of Qin's ceremonial guard will set off tomorrow, and the itinerary of the King of Qin's ceremonial guard was forecast. It is expected to arrive at Bashang tonight, enter Zheng County tomorrow, and arrive at Ningqin County the day after tomorrow. At the same time, millions of dans of grain from Xianyang have been shipped and will be shipped with the army. Grain from each county was then transported to Xianyang to replenish Xianyang's inventory.
At night, the Changping army reported that the Zhao army was still attacking the Qin army across the board, while the Qin army continued to destroy two fortresses under the cover of oar shields. King Qin informed Bai Qi that he had set off for Zhi City.
Zheng Anping, who had arrived at Yuancheng, placed nine hundred swordsmen at several mountain passes and controlled all the entrances and exits of Yuancheng; he also set up lookouts at high places. I was busy all night, and only slept in my clothes when the rooster crowed. At dawn the next day, he got up immediately and arranged patrols and guards on the road where King Qin entered the mountain. The cordon was extended fifty miles away. Mang Wei led his soldiers to guard all the passages in the county.
The next day, King Qin went out of the city and came to the house. For the first time in his life, he got on a donkey and was led by a porter, and he walked up the mountain road. The female officials accompanying King Qin and all the utensils were also carried on donkeys.
At noon, the special envoy who changed the route sent the report from Xianyang to Yuancheng. After Mang Wei received it, he immediately sent a flying horse to send it to the King of Qin.
When King Qin received the report from Xianyang, he had already joined the front team led by Zheng Anping. The king of Qin read the report on the donkey. Zhang Lu reported that all countries are busy with the autumn harvest, and there is no sign of troop deployment or reorganization for the time being. Only Zhao State has strengthened its vigilance in recent days. It should be that unfavorable battle reports from Changping have been transmitted back to Handan. King Qin looked at it and shook his head secretly: The entire army here in Changping was about to be annihilated, and the news was only received in Handan! The measures taken were only to strengthen vigilance, but they obviously did not understand the seriousness of the matter!
In the evening, King Qin's front team had already entered Yuancheng, and King Qin's rear team was still on the way. King Qin looked out from the mountains. The mountains were winding, the autumn wind was blowing, and the half moon hung in the sky, which was peaceful.
At night, all the troops were encamped, and King Qin was invited to the Yuanling Mansion. The torch was hung high in the lobby, the ceremonial door was opened wide, and the King of Qin and his entourage were brought in. Yuanling and his family all retreated to the position of servants, and all the main rooms, side rooms, and private rooms were given over to the King of Qin and his entourage. The one hundred donkeys were tied up outside the city, and a hastily built fence was provided with water and grass.
The wall city could not accommodate five thousand troops. Only two thousand people came in with King Qin, plus the one thousand people brought by Zheng Anping, the total was three thousand people. The remaining two thousand swordsmen stayed in Zuoyi and controlled the two entrances to Yuancheng. Of the 3,000 people who entered the city, only 500 could be stationed in the city. The 500 people followed the river to the mouth of the river and set up camp in a small town there. Five hundred men were arranged to guard each of the two entrances to the mountain. The remaining 1,000 men served as a reserve team and found a town to camp on each side of the Zhi Road. The farthest distance between the camps is twenty or thirty miles, and the closest ones are also three to five miles apart.
Prisoners just outside the city also felt the pressure, because the number of guards increased significantly. Those prisoners who had a good relationship with the guards even boldly asked who was in the city, and the answer was "King Qin." He was immediately laughed at by the prisoners: How could King Qin come to such a mountain den and not even find a beautiful woman? The guard also teased: "You may all be lucky!"
Soon, everyone understood that King Qin was really here, because the sound of horse hooves was heard continuously every day, and it was the sound of galloping horses, which was obviously different from the sound of horse hooves that ordinary people heard. So even the prisoners started to tidy up, and they were more attentive to the art of frying millet when they went to pick up millet. They also rushed and ran when they were sending the fried millet back to the city. The farmers became more diligent and meticulous in harvesting the cold millet, fearing that the King of Qin would see the joke.
On the day when King Qin moved into Yuancheng, King Qin's honor guard also arrived at Ningqin. After a night's rest, Ningqin County arranged for them to cross the river the next day, and the ferry was busy all day. Dozens of boats sailed down the Yellow River and arrived at Mengjin at night. Meng Jinling had already received the secret order and had been waiting at Jinkou to greet him. ——This is the forward of King Qin.
Another day later, the King of Qin's honor guard came down by boat and landed at Mengjin. After resting for a night in Mengjin, we immediately transferred to Zicheng. The rear troops accompanying King Qin arrived by boat one after another.
After the King of Qin arrived at Zhi City, he issued an order: "Give each rank of civil nobility in Hanoi one level, and those over fifteen years of age will be admitted to Changping, so that Zhao Jiu will not be able to obtain food."
This day is another full moon moment.
Nanyang, Hanoi, South Korea, which Bai Qi captured, included a few counties such as Yewang, Huai, Mengjin, Zhe, and Wen. Although the number of counties is small, the population is large, with nearly 100,000 households in the entire region.
Unlike Guanzhong, Hanoi has no tradition of joining the army. Once drafted into the army, the whole family will be frightened, cry for father and son, and the whole territory will be in commotion.
The King of Qin issued another order, exempting those who paid fifty dan of grain from the tax.
Arable land in Hanoi is scarce, and there are not many people farming. How can there be so many families with fifty dan to store grain? This order actually does not involve much. But those who could do something about it immediately scraped together and found fifty shi of grain to exempt their families from military service.
Those who were unable to be exempted from military service were organized into corps according to their boroughs, and the descendants of noble relatives who arrived from Guanzhong were appointed as corps leaders. Within a few days, Gaodu organized a team of 50,000 to 60,000 people and collected millions of grains of grain.
King Qin entered Hanoi with a high profile and mobilized all Hanoi people, attracting everyone's attention. The Qin army in Changping was also delighted when they learned that the King of Qin had gone to Hanoi to conquer the area. Only senior officials in Xianyang and senior generals in Changping knew that King Qin was not stationed in Zicheng, and they still reported daily briefings to Yuancheng as agreed.
Supervising the recruitment work in Zicheng was Gongzi Yiren, as well as Zheng Anping and Mang Wei who came with them. The King of Qin did as Zhang Lu said and left Gai Nie in Yuancheng as his personal bodyguard. But the King of Qin did not keep Genie by his side, but allowed him to come and go as he pleased.
Ten thousand swordsmen followed from Xianyang and blocked the entrance to Zhidao. Those in Hanoi who had the ability not to perform military service each handed over fifty dans of grain. There were about 20,000 people, and a total of one million dans of grains were handed in. They were all required to be transported to Zhi City to pay and put into the granary of Zhiguan.
Chen Si was in Zicheng. He admired King Qin's actions very much. After Mangwei arrived in Zhi City, in the name of his old master, he often invited Chen Si into the house for discussions, sometimes staying for several days in a row. Car dealers were requisitioned to transport fried millet to various counties. Those who were recruited into the army could each receive ten kilograms of fried millet as rations for the next month.
Zheng Anping and Mang Wei traveled to various counties every day to give short-term training to the people who were recruited into the army. Fortunately, both Bai Qi and Pi Wan paid more attention to the military training of the people. Although Hanoi was newly attached, it was still familiar with the Qin army's flags and drums.
Three days later, the first batch of 10,000 troops entered Gaodu. There, officers sent by Bai Qi took over the troops. According to Bai Qi's order, these troops were assigned to different combat areas. The casualties of the Changping Qin army were replenished and their strength strengthened.
Almost at the same time, spears, halberds, bows and arrows made in Hedong were also shipped to Changping.
Millions of stones of grain shipped from Guanzhong landed in Puban, and Pi Wan and Wang Ji were responsible for transporting them to Anyi and other places.
For a time, the Qin army in Changping was well-fed, and everyone was gearing up to give Zhao Jun a heavy blow.
The King of Qin pointed out in his reply to Bai Qi a few days ago that the recent battle reports indicate that if Zhao attacks Qin, he will lose Zhao, and if Qin attacks Zhao, he will lose Qin. I hope you will examine it carefully.
Bai Qi also understood what King Qin meant and stopped his offensive operations. He only ordered each army to send small groups to continuously harass Zhao Jun.
In the next three days, Hanoi's soldiers marched into Gaodu at a rate of 10,000 per day. Apart from adding them to various combat units, Bai Qi did not give them an independent combat zone. Bai Qi knew very well the quality of Hanoi soldiers. It was okay to bully others, but if they were asked to take the lead independently, they would just disperse in a rush. Bai Qi simply let the last 10,000 people stationed outside Gaodu for military training.
The Qin army has strong soldiers and horses, and its military strength has recovered, but the Zhao army is in decline. Even if it's just a bowl of gruel every day, the food is finally finished. There was not even porridge to drink, so naturally they could no longer attack the Qin army. The Zhao army's offensive gradually fell silent.
The harassment troops sent by the Qin people became Zhao Jun's hope. There is a rumor among the Zhao army: Qin soldiers usually carry food on their backs. If they kill one of them, they will have food to eat. Those Zhao troops who were still able to move lurked in the areas where the Qin army was active, specifically ambushing the Qin army's small harassing troops. Driven by hunger, these Zhao troops acted decisively and risked their lives, sometimes even desperately trying to kill the Qin army; usually after killing a Qin army, they dragged the Qin army's body and ran back.
The Qin army's roasted millet was indeed carried on the soldiers' backs. After grabbing a Qin soldier, the whole camp opened fire and boiled the fried millet. No matter how much, everyone had a bowl. Qin Jun's fried millet was salted, so it tasted much better than the bland millet porridge he had eaten before. This also encouraged the Zhao army to attack more and kill the Qin army at all costs and seize fried millet.
