The young general of the Qin army was stunned by the barrage of questions. After a while, he cleared his mind and answered one by one -
"Reporting to the Lieutenant--the night is hazy, and the enemy has no torches, so I can't see clearly...the number of people is unknown, the tactics are unknown, and there are no flags..."
Sima Cuo's expression was very exciting.
Okay!
I don’t know if I ask three questions!
Dozens of old Qin warriors died in the blink of an eye, and in the end, they couldn’t even figure out who the enemy was!
However... Sima Cuo did not blame the young general on duty. He just waved his hand and said, "Send someone to search the dense forest to see if there are any clues left."
A group of Qin soldiers entered the dense forest to search until dawn, but found nothing useful - there were some blood stains on the ground, but no corpses of Bashu people were left.
Obviously, the Bashu people either had no casualties or dragged away all the bodies.
On the contrary, the small group of Qin soldiers fell into a trap in the dense forest - covered by leaves and densely packed with sharp bamboo thorns.
The light brought by the torch was very dim and it was difficult to see clearly - two Qin soldiers fell into the same pit. One of them died on the spot. Although the other person was not in danger of life, a bamboo thorn penetrated the sole of his foot and he could only lie on a stretcher.
The rest of the Qin soldiers increased their vigilance and were not attacked again.
The commander of the Qin army who returned from the search was furious and cursed: "Sichuan barbarian, how insidious!"
"Vicious! Shameful!"
"I don't dare to fight against Guo Wei's Great Qin Tiger and Wolf Division. I only dare to use these despicable methods."
Sima Cuo frowned and said nothing more.
It’s no wonder that the Qin army’s centenarian was furious—
Overnight, one person died, another was injured, and two people were left to carry stretchers for the wounded soldiers - a good elite centurion, 4% of its combat effectiveness was lost.
There were no enemy corpses, only a few weapons scattered in the forest - Sima Cuo looked at them and took a deep breath!
He couldn't be more familiar with these swords and halberds used by thieves!
They are clearly the standard weapons of the Qin Army!
However, this doesn't mean anything - it is entirely possible that the rebels captured the weapons from the Qin soldiers in Bashu.
All in all, it’s still confusing.
Seeing that the sky was bright, Sima Cuo immediately ordered: "Raise the camp and march quickly!"
"Enter the hinterland of Bashu as soon as possible and leave the dense forest!"
"By the way - are there any villages or towns around here?"
Xiang Meng took out the map, briefly analyzed it in his mind, and then reported: "Not far from here, about ten miles away, there is a mountain village of Ba people."
Sima Cuo nodded slightly, a cold light flashed in his eyes.
…
The 50,000 Qin troops continued to advance, encountering several more harassments along the way.
Facing the Bashu people who were familiar with the terrain and proficient in mountain warfare, the Qin people who grew up in the endless land of Longxi really seemed clumsy - in the dense forest, the Qin soldiers had limited means to counterattack.
If you want to chase, you will inevitably be ambushed - traps such as pits, nooses, rows of spikes, and ground nails, which make the Qin soldiers shy away from the dense forest.
But Sima Cuo's method is simple and crude!
Suppress with an iron fist!
Wherever the Qin army was attacked, all Bashu villages within a radius of twenty miles would face the bloody revenge of the Qin people!
The cavalry of the Qin army came quickly and drove the Bashu people in the village together for interrogation.
If you don't get the desired results, you'll kill them all!
When carrying out the massacre mission, the Qin soldiers did not have any psychological burden - in the Warring States Period, after the war between the two armies, it was very common for the victor to massacre or plunder the enemy's civilians.
It is a common method to maintain morale.
Qin's army is particularly inhumane in this regard - after a big battle, civilians in surrounding villages and towns are often killed - these are all living 'war exploits'!
And the Bashu people in front of them... are even more hateful in the eyes of these Qin people!
Even though we are under the rule of Da Qin, you people, how dare you have any rebellious intentions? Should be killed!
Heads rolling in, showing no mercy.
The corpses of old, young, women and children were piled up with photo albums... The only thing that made those Qin soldiers sigh was that they had not yet fought with the enemy, so they could not use these heads as 'military merit'...
No matter what, the Qin soldiers came all the way and faced significantly less resistance in the end.
One day we set up camp.
Sima Cuo and a group of Qin generals gathered together and were checking the remaining supplies of food and grass, the direction of march, etc... when they saw a messenger coming in a hurry.
"Report—to the Lieutenant of the State, there is someone outside the camp asking to see you!"
Sima Cuo was startled.
oh?
With enemies all over the place, the Bashu people avoided the Qin army like snakes and scorpions... and some came to ask for an audience?
"Bring in." Meng Xixiangru, the general of Pi, ordered.
When he was brought in, everyone was confused at first, and then suddenly realized!
I saw that the man's linen robe was in tatters, his hair was dirty, and his face was covered with mud - he looked like a beggar who had been rolling in the ravine all night. But he still had a Qin sword on his waist.
It was Gongsun Cheng, the guard general of [Cheng Gu] who slipped through the net.
This guy knelt down in front of Sima Cuo and started crying with snot and tears. During the conversation, he just talked about how cunning the enemy was, how he fought hard to defend the city, how he killed countless enemy troops, and finally died when he was "outnumbered". 'It's a pity to lose' and so on...
The acting skills are very good. If you are not aware of it, you will be fooled.
Sima Cuo frowned and said, "Gongsun Cheng, since you fought with those rebels all night, you must know something about them?"
"How many people were there in the enemy army at that time? What was their equipment like? What was their combat strength?"
"Are they just a mob, or are they the rumored elite soldiers?"
Gongsun Cheng's eyes rolled.
Although he was actually not in the city that night, it was not difficult to answer these questions——
During these days of fleeing, he had seen the Palestinian rebels more than once.
"Report to the Lieutenant of the State——" Gongsun Cheng wiped his face——
"The lights were dim that night, and the enemy's number was unclear."
"But these days, those bandits have been recruiting new soldiers - there must be more than 10,000 of them now."
"As for weapons..." Gongsun Cheng paused and dropped a shocking explosion news!
"The Ba people's rebels all use our Da Qin standard weapons!"
The whole account was shocked!
All the Qin generals were speechless!
Meng Xixiang opened his mouth wide, and it took him a long time to recover, and then said angrily: "Nonsense!"
"There are tens of thousands of enemy troops, and they all use Da Qin's standard swords and halberds?"
"The total number of troops that Great Qin has stranded in Bashu is not that many - even if those weapons were captured by the Ba rebels, there is no way they would be that many!"
Gongsun Cheng recalled the Pakistani rebels he had seen on the roadside... and then said with certainty: "The general dare not lie with his words - everything is absolutely true!"
"The Ba rebels are equipped with Qin weapons!"
All the Qin generals are still doubtful...
Sima Cuo suddenly widened his eyes and stood up!
The suspicions that had been hidden in my heart were finally confirmed!
…
