Qu Ming was still wearing the beautiful Chu general armor and sitting on a chariot. From a distance, he looked quite heroic and majestic.
But if you look closer, you will find that Qu Ming's armor has several arrow holes, and there are holes and gaps in many places. In addition to the armor, if you look at his lower body, you will also find that Qu Ming One of his legs was turned out awkwardly, which looked abnormal at first glance.
"Thank you, General."
Zhao Tuo spoke and gave Qu Ming a face.
Qu Ming showed a wry smile and said: "The military marquis was joking. Qu Ming, the defeated general, was just trying to survive. It's just that I cheated on a few cities before, but now, the news will definitely be scattered and leaked. I'm afraid this Zhongli city is... I have been prepared for a long time and will not open the door. If this fails, please don't blame me."
Zhao Tuo said calmly: "It's okay, just give it a try. If it doesn't work, think of a way."
Hearing Zhao Tuo's words, Qu Ming breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at Zhao Tuo with some fear, waved his hand and asked the driver to drive the carriage and take him to the distant city.
Qu Ming's chariot was followed by a thousand red-armored "Chu soldiers" led by Shejian.
"Marquis, what Qu Ming said makes sense. The village we captured the day before yesterday had already discovered the identity of our army, and in the end we had to rely on a strong attack to get in."
"Zhongli City is a little further to the east. We must have received the news that we were pretending to be the Chu army to deceive the city. Otherwise, they would have closed the city gate before our army reached the city. I'm afraid this strategy is not very good. Use it."
Xiqigu whispered. He followed Zhao Tuo on horseback and was responsible for guard and clerical duties.
Zhao Tuo nodded, looking past the Zhongli City Wall in the distance to the north, where the Huai River flows slowly eastward.
"It doesn't matter if you see through it. Just give it a try. You won't lose anything. Qu Ming deceived the city just in time to give the army behind him a rest. Everyone has worked hard on the road. It is not suitable for tired soldiers to attack the city."
"If you can't open the city gate by deception, then attack by force. Zhongli is not a border city. The number of Chu soldiers guarding the city will not exceed five hundred, maybe only two or three hundred. The city wall is not too high. Although there will be losses in the attack, , but this city must be taken."
Speaking of this, Zhao Tuo's voice became extremely firm.
Although he used "30,000 Qin troops" and the wooden plan to frighten the King of Chu in Shouchun City, who knows how many days he can frighten him.
Sooner or later, the matter will be exposed. At that time, the angry King of Chu will definitely send Chu troops to follow and pursue him.
After all, they caused such a big thing under Shouchun City. Which king can endure it will naturally destroy these bold and crazy people at all costs.
Zhao Tuo's army is a lone army that goes deep into the Chu land. Once the King of Chu sends his horse to deliver the edict and the Chu troops from all over the country pursue and intercept them, they will be in trouble.
The soldiers are dying one by one, there are no replacements, and enemies are everywhere. Once they are blocked, they may be in danger of overthrowing the army.
Therefore, Zhao Tuo had to be quick and seize the time to quickly break through the Chu territory and return to the Qin territory in the north before the Chu army caught up with him and blocked him.
But this so-called speed is not entirely haphazard.
After Zhao Tuo led his army to leave Shouchun, he did not immediately cross the Huai River and enter the Huaibei Plain. Although that way could cross the river the fastest and get closer to the Qin border, it was also more dangerous.
First, a Qin-Chu war had just occurred in Huaibei near Xiacai. Without the support of intelligence, Zhao Tuo did not know whether there was an army of Chu in that area.
If they cross the Huaihe River and happen to collide with the Chu army in the north of the Huaihe River, or the army that has received an order from the King of Chu to return for reinforcements, it will be a fierce battle, and no one knows the outcome. It would be better to continue eastbound and find another place to cross the river.
Secondly, it was more than two hundred miles from Shouchun to Zhongli. Although there were many places suitable for crossing the river with bamboo rafts, Zhao Tuo finally gave up this option.
The last time he led his army to cross the Huaihe River on bamboo rafts, although the crossing was successful, it was not without losses.
At least nearly a hundred people were in trouble on the way, or because they were inexperienced, the bamboo rafts they built were not stable enough, causing the bamboo rafts to fall apart midway and the Qin soldiers fell into the water and drowned.
Or some people were unlucky and were swept away by the water with their bamboo rafts. They still don’t know whether they are alive or dead.
The vast Huai River is hundreds of meters wide.
Once in danger, no one can save anyone, not to mention that there are not many people in their army who are good at water, and most of the soldiers are just landlubbers.
After the last bamboo raft crossing across the Huaihe River, the army's sergeants and soldiers were all afraid of it. They were frightened when they saw the Huaihe River. They said that they would rather die in battle than risk their lives in the water on a raft again.
Unless the Chu army had already caught up with them and put swords and halberds on their necks, if Zhao Tuo forced the Qin army to cross the river on bamboo rafts, he would probably cause instability in the army and make the soldiers complain.
In fact, even Zhao Tuo himself was playing drums in his heart. If the bamboo raft he was sitting on fell apart, it would be really funny.
Therefore, Zhao Tuo followed his advice and finally decided to abandon the bamboo raft strategy and go straight east to capture Zhongli.
This is the best place to cross the Huai River to the east, except for the two banks of Xia Cai in Huaibei. The bank is open, the water is gentle, and there are many boats for them to use.
If the Qin army takes Zhongli and crosses the Huaihe River from here, it can minimize losses and the soldiers will be happy.
Of course, another important reason is that they need to capture Zhongli and need supplies from the city.
Including the rescued prisoners, the total number of Qin troops was close to 6,000. With so many mouths, just eating was a big problem.
Zhongli must be captured!
Thinking of this, Zhao Tuo said to Xiqigu again: "Although Shejian brought a thousand people in front, he did not bring siege equipment in order to gain the other party's trust. He ordered the army resting in the forest at the back to cut down bamboo and wood and make Some siege ladders, once the gates of Zhongli City cannot be opened, they will immediately let the army press on them and attack directly without giving them a chance."
"only!"
Xiqigu agreed and turned around to send orders to the troops at the rear.
…
"Call General Men."
At this moment, Qu Ming, who was sitting in the chariot, had a gloomy face, muttering the nickname given to him by the Qin people, and let the "Chu soldiers" driving him lead him towards Zhongli Yi ahead.
He, Qu Ming, was originally a nobleman of the Qu family and a well-known man from Chu. How could he have any intention of surrendering to the Qin army.
Previously, he was attacked by the Qin army in the Eight Mountains and was severely defeated. When he retreated, he was shot by a Qin crossbow and fell off his horse.
Although the armor on his body saved his life, and the horses galloping behind him only trampled his legs and feet instead of his head, his fate was worse than death and he became a prisoner of the Qin army.
The particularly young Qin army commander tried to recruit him to surrender, but of course Qu Ming refused. He held his head high and said a line about dying generously, asking the other party to kill or behead him as he pleased.
But the young military commander did not kill him. Instead, he had Qu Ming's hands and feet tied up and placed on a slope with his feet above his head, saying that he was going to be tortured to make him surrender.
Qu Ming laughed on the spot and said that even if the car was torn apart and his body was cut off, he would never frown.
His Qu family only had generals who died in battle and no traitors who surrendered.
Soon, a rag covered Qu Ming's face, and the fishy smell hit his mouth and nose. Then the Qin people began to pour water on it.
Qu Ming trembled.
One piece of cloth after another was folded over Qu Ming's face, and water flowed.
Suffocate, drown...
That kind of extreme pain is more terrifying than the so-called sword attack. This kind of punishment is simply not something that humans can inflict.
So Qu Ming surrendered.
He became the Qin people's "called general" and provided cover for the Qin army. He deceived several cities along the way, allowing the Qin army to march eastward without suffering any losses.
Qu Ming was naturally embarrassed when he called the door for the first time.
But later on, when I did more, I let go.
Qu Ming is now very familiar with it and is called a veteran.
He rode a chariot and arrived about thirty steps outside Zhongli City. He shouted to the guards on the top of the city who were watching him nervously: "I am Qu An, a member of the Qu family. I was ordered by the king to lead the army eastward. I passed by Zhongli. If you want to go to the city to rest and eat, why are you closing the door to block me, and why aren’t you letting your county highway open the door quickly and come down to see me!”
As Qu Ming shouted, the thousands of soldiers following behind him all waved their spears and halberds. The metal spearheads and halberd blades shone with dazzling light in the sun, frightening a low cry from the top of the city. The guards were all afraid. Shiver.
Behind the city wall.
The county prince Zhong Liran, who has a beautiful beard, looked through the observation hole on the female wall and glanced at the thousands of red-armored soldiers outside the city. His face was filled with bitterness, and he did not notice that his most cherished beard had been cut off by the city wall. It's all black and gray.
Although Zhong Liran received the warning before the enemy troops arrived, he promptly evacuated the residents outside the city into the city and closed the city gate for defense.
But now that the enemy was approaching the city, he began to feel fear again.
"Now the rebels have led the Qin army to the outside of the city. They are numerous and well-armed. I, the county soldier in Zhongli City, only has 400 soldiers. How can I be their opponent?"
"If you open the door, I'm afraid they will rush up to you and you will inevitably become a prisoner."
"But if they don't open the door, with the hundreds of soldiers in my small town, how can they be their match? Then the city will be covered in blood, and it will be another catastrophe. Oh, what can we do about the current situation?"
As he spoke, Zhong Liran looked at a young man beside him.
This man is about 20 years old, with thin cheeks, yellowish complexion, and a small beard under his chin.
He was not a native of Zhongli, but came from Yilu, Qu County, and was a distant branch of the Zhongli family.
His father had a good relationship with Zhongli Ran and asked him to travel to Zhongli. Although this man was young, he had many strategies and was always appreciated by the county prince Zhongliran, so he often asked him for advice and looked like a wise man.
Now seeing Zhong Liran, he was frightened and frightened, and asked him for advice.
Zhongli Mei (mò) could only respond, and stretched his head to look outside the wall. However, he did not look at the thousands of soldiers holding spears and halberds demonstrating outside the city, but focused his gaze on a group further away. In the big forest.
There seemed to be birds flying over the forest.
Zhongli Mei shrugged and said, "The only solution for now is to surrender."
"Surrender? Surrender to whom? Qin Army?"
Zhong Liran opened his mouth wide with a look of shock.
Zhongli Mei smiled, showing his white teeth.
"That's right, surrender to Qin."
"Historical Records·The Benji of Xiang Yu" quotes [Collected Explanation] "Hanshu Yinyi" as saying: "The end of the sound."
(End of chapter)
