"The Qin army captured Qi (qí) two days ago and also captured Qi Gong?"
On the Southwest Avenue, about ten miles away from Qiyi, Zuo Sima Zhaoping was shocked when he received the news from the forward troops.
Jing Tong, who was following from the side, was also surprised: "How come this Qin army is marching so fast."
"After we received the king's order, we immediately rushed from Shouchun to Qiyi. The Qin army was marching eastward in Huainan, but they had to go to Zhongli first, cross the Huai River from there, and then rush to Qiyi. Ah, this journey is much longer than ours, how can we run ahead of our army, and it is two full days faster?"
Zhaoping squinted his eyes and looked at an orange grove not far away illuminated by the winter sun.
As soon as you look up, there is a bright yellow color, and from time to time there is a rotten sour and sweet smell floating in the wind.
"Perhaps my judgment was wrong. The Qin army did not cross the Huai River from Zhongli, but directly crossed the Huai River to the north shortly after leaving Shouchun. In this way, they could save a hundred miles of distance. The Qin army I was able to cross the Huai River from the west of Shouchun to the south, so I guess I have mastered some method of crossing the river."
"It's getting more and more interesting."
Zhaoping sneered and said to Jing Tong: "Speed up the march and go to Qiyi first."
"only."
Jing Tong agreed and left.
Soon, the Chu army accelerated their march, and after half a day, they arrived outside Qiyi City.
"Zuo Sima, you must capture that Qin army and rescue Duke Qi."
Dou Yuan, the son of Duke Qi, saw the Chu army coming and accompanied Zhao Ping into the city with a tearful face.
Zhaoping ignored him, but looked around the city. He saw traces of fire burning in Qiyi city. There were dozens of houses reduced to ruins in the middle of the city. Everywhere he saw were ruins, black charcoal and ashes. It looked like Horrible.
"The Qin army also set fire?"
"Yes, those Qin troops set fire everywhere after they invaded the city. While my people were putting out the fire, they invaded the house and captured my father. They also captured my Qiyi treasury and robbed the food and property inside. goods, and then ran away from the north gate."
Dou Yuan spoke with runny nose and tears. He didn't know whether he was worried about Qi Gong who fell into the hands of the Qin army, or whether he was worried about the food and goods stolen by the Qin army.
Zhaoping was moved in his heart and asked: "How many people are there in this Qin army?"
"About two...there should be three to four thousand people!"
Halfway through his words, Dou Yuan suddenly remembered that if he underestimated the number of the Qin army, wouldn't it make them look incompetent.
In this great victory for the whole country and the main force of the Qin army was defeated by the Shangzhu Kingdom, Qiyi was not only raided and destroyed by one or two thousand Qin troops in one day, but the dignified Qi Gong was also captured and made a prisoner by the Qin people. If the news spread, the people of Chu would laugh to death. Do they still want the Dou family's family face?
It's better to exaggerate a little. Anyway, with the nearly 10,000 Chu troops under Zuo Sima, there is no difference between two thousand and three or four thousand.
"Three to four thousand people."
Zhaoping nodded slightly, which was a little short of the five thousand he had expected, but the gap was not too big. After all, the Qin army shuttled through the Chu region, captured cities and fought with the Chu people along the way, plus other attrition. When we arrived at Qiyi, there were only three or four thousand people left, but it was understandable.
"Zuo Sima, with such a number, it seems that they are the ones. This Qin army is going out of the north gate. As Zuo Sima expected, it is trying to escape north from Suiyang. Do we want to go north to pursue it immediately?"
Jing Tong asked. He was in his twenties. He and his younger brother Jing Ju were both outstanding children of the Jing family and the pillars of the future. Through the Jing family's connections, he was sent to Zhao Ping to follow him, so that he could learn the experience of fighting on the battlefield and see the military affairs.
Zhaoping smiled and said calmly: "Why panic? We have more than enough time to travel hundreds of miles to Suiyang, not to mention our army is deployed near Xiangyi, so they can't escape. Send the cavalry to catch up first and find the traces Let’s talk about it. Our army will rest for a while in Qiyi, drink water and eat, and then hit the road.”
At dusk, as the sun sets, the cold winter wind blows a few fallen leaves flying in the air.
Douyuan stood at the north gate of Qiyi and watched the tens of thousands of Chu troops led by Zhao Ping disappear into the distance. Then he said angrily: "Damn ten thousand people, this is really delicious. The Qin army just snatched it, and you come to eat it again." How can I, Qiyi, withstand such waste of food?"
He glanced sideways at the place where the Chu army was camped outside the city, and couldn't help but feel heartbroken. After being eaten like this, the food in the city would soon be exhausted.
Fortunately, both the Qin and Chu armies left, Dou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to clean up the mess.
His father Qi Gong was kidnapped by the Qin people, and he was naturally in charge of the entire Qi Yi.
However, it only took two days for Douyuan to relax. In the afternoon of the third day, a Chu army with a Chu flag and red armor appeared again in the south of Qiyi, with about a thousand people.
"Coming from the south? Qu's general?"
Dou Yuan's face was full of confusion, but he did not doubt the identity of the other party.
First, it was the opponent's Chijia Chuqi, who was obviously dressed as one of his own.
Secondly, with the great victory of Chu State today, it is basically difficult to see an organized Qin army in the territory. The only one has just been chased north by Zuo Sima Zhaoping, so Dou Yuan is not worried about whether this Chu army will Counterfeit.
Of course, the most important point is that Dou Yuan did not know that there was a Qin army in Huainan wearing Chu army armor and going around to deceive the city.
Zhaoping knew about it, but he thought that the Qin army was the Qin army that had just defeated Qiyi and headed north to Suiyang.
Since the target has already appeared and passed Qiyi, he naturally will not remind Douyuan of this matter.
Under such circumstances, when Dou Yuan went out of the city unprepared to meet General Qu, he was captured.
"General Qu, what are you doing?"
Dou Yuan looked at the sword blade on his neck and the red-armored Chu troops who quickly entered the city after taking down his attendants and controlled the city gates and traffic arteries.
Dou Yuan's head was confused. They are all Chu people. Why are you robbing our city?
However, the general sitting on the carriage who called himself "Qu An" ignored him. Instead, he turned to look at another young man on the horse and said respectfully: "Master She 2500, Qiyi has been captured." , the army can come over."
"Well, thank you for your hard work, General Qu."
Shejian nodded. He didn't expect that Qi Yi would be so easy to win. Even though he used ineffective tactics in Huainan, it was still so effective in Huaibei. These Chu people were not very well-informed.
Shejian sent someone to report to Zhao Tuo in the rear that Qiyi had been captured, so that the army could come quickly.
The other side sent people into the city to control important places such as the treasury in the city.
Shen Jian himself walked towards Dou Yuan who had just been controlled. He wanted to ask for information about the city.
After a while, Dou Yuan, who already knew the identity of this army, was still startled by the black-armored army arriving from behind.
The strong soldiers lined up, one after another, wearing armor and holding spears, heads held high, and several fluttering black flags in the marching team.
Qin army!
And there are four to five thousand people!
Dou Yuan opened his eyes wide, with a look of disbelief on his face. When did such a huge Qin army appear south of Qiyi?
The south of Qiyi is close to the Huai River, and crossing the Huai River is the real heartland of Chu State, Huainan.
Where did this Qin army come from?
Huainan?
Dou Yuan couldn't help but think of the more than ten thousand Chu army led by Zuo Sima Zhaoping two days ago. The reason why they came to Qiyi was said to be to intercept a Qin army here.
At that time, Dou Yuan thought that the Qin army that Zuo Sima wanted to intercept was the one that had just broken Qi Yi and marched north. In addition, Qi Gong was kidnapped by that Qin army, so he naturally kept bragging about how powerful that Qin army was.
Therefore, Zhaoping was misled by him. Although he had doubts, he did not think much and led his troops north to pursue.
"hiss……"
Dou Yuan felt chills all over his body when he thought of this.
Something seems to have gone wrong.
At this time, Zhao Tuo, who had just arrived at Qiyi on horseback, also learned from Shejian what had happened in Qiyi in the past few days.
"Two days ago, Chu State Zuo Sima Zhaoping led his troops to Qiyi, saying that he wanted to pursue a fleeing Qin army?"
Zhao Tuo was also startled.
Even though the warm winter sun was shining and it was not too cold, he couldn't help but shiver, and a cold air rose from the soles of his feet and spread throughout his body.
"You really shouldn't underestimate the world's heroes. The Chu Kingdom has been able to continue its inheritance for eight hundred years. How can there be no truly good generals in the army? It's normal for a veteran battlefield general like Zuo Sima of the Chu Kingdom to figure out my route back to the army. On the contrary, It was my lack of consideration, and I did not expect that General Chu would not pursue me in the east of Huainan, but would directly come to Huaibei to block me."
Zhao Tuo smiled bitterly and shook his head. Some time ago, the pride he had accumulated after winning several consecutive battles in Huainan and capturing Zhongli Mei was wiped away by what happened in Qiyi.
After Xin Wu got the news, he came over and comforted Zhao Tuo: "Don't think too much. Qiyi is the only way for us to go north. It is normal for the Chu people to come here to intercept it. This time it is not only you, but also A veteran like me has lost his mind."
Under Xin Wu's comfort, Zhao Tuo calmed down again. This time, he was almost blocked by Zuo Sima of Chu State, which sounded the alarm for him, but it did not make Zhao Tuo discouraged.
After thinking about it carefully, Xin Wu was right. It was a normal operation for the Chu people to calculate that the Qin army would have to pass through Qiyi on its way north.
Because as long as you cross the Huai River near Zhongli and want to go north back to Qin, whether you take the road to Suiyang or the detour to Fengfei mentioned by Zhao Tuo, you must pass through Qiyi, which is a must-pass route.
If the Chu army did not go north and was stationed in Qiyi, then Zhao Tuo would have to bite the bullet and defeat the opponent and find a way back to Qin if he wanted to go back.
"However, it is a good thing for us that the Chu army was led away. We can't go to Suiyang anymore. Just follow Zhao Tuo's advice. Pass east to Fuli, cross the Suishui River, and go back via Peiyi."
After Xin Wu learned that there were more than ten thousand Chu troops in Zuo Sima of Chu State, he gave up his plan to march north to Suiyang and agreed with Zhao Tuo's proposal to bypass Fengfei. This solved the Qin army's route problem and no longer had to worry about it.
Zhao Tuo responded. Now that the incident had happened, he no longer thought about the problem. He immediately arranged for the soldiers to rest and had people carry food supplies from the city.
Although Qiyi's treasury was almost depleted by the previous Qin army and Zuo Sima's Chu army, there were still large households in the city.
Zhao Tuo was not from Chu, and he didn't have to worry about his reputation. He directly asked Heiyi to lead his Qin soldiers to raid the homes of rich and powerful people in Qiyi and robbed a lot of food and supplies.
The Qin army burned water, slaughtered dogs, chickens, and cooked rice outside the city of Qiyi under the setting sun, and feasted on the soldiers.
Seeing his soldiers happily eating, Zhao Tuo couldn't help but look northward.
"Whose subordinates is that Qin army?"
"By some strange combination of circumstances, he actually helped us lure away Sima Zuo of Chu State. He is really a good person."
"Hope they're okay."
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(End of chapter)
