Qin's 600,000-strong army went south to attack Chu. It is now divided into three parts.
Looking from south to north, the "Southern Army" is the 150,000 Qin army led by deputy general Yang Duanhe, stationed on the Shangcai and Rushui lines, facing off against Chu State's right Sima Ye Sheng.
In the north, Yangxia was used as a stronghold. Wang Jian used General Feng Wuze's skillful behavior and asked him to lead the Qin army of 30,000 to guard the Yangxia military camp. As the "Northern Army", he protected the flanks of the Qin army and Zhe, which belonged to the Chu state in the east. There was a confrontation between the troops garrisoned in Xian County and Kuxian County.
Wang Jian personally led the "Chinese Army" of more than 400,000 people, including Zhao Tuo's troops, southward and stationed themselves on both sides of Guling and Honggou, overlooking Chen Ying of Chu State in the south.
Although the Qin army was large in number, they did not take the initiative to launch an attack. After setting up camp, they began to order the civilian coolies in their respective military camps to build barriers and walls in front of the camps and adopt a defensive posture.
After nearly a month of emergency repairs and construction, the Qin Army's defense line stretching for hundreds of miles has built a simple barrier wall, and it is still being reinforced.
At the Qin State's Central Army, there was a camp of 20,000 soldiers near Honggou Pier.
General Pi Zhao Tuo, who is in charge of the defense here, is leading his generals to inspect the construction work of the fortress several hundred meters south of the military camp.
The walls and fortresses built by the Qin army used the traditional block building method.
The so-called version building means that when building a wall, two wooden boards are clamped together, and wooden pillars are used to support the outside of the board. The space between the two boards is filled with soil. When the soil is filled between the boards, the folk are asked to use ramming pestles to compact the soil. After tamping and repairing, remove the planks and wooden posts on both sides, and the rammed earth in the middle will become a wall.
There are also tall turrets built on the wall, which serve as defense and observation.
Behind the wall and in the open space between the military camp, many towering wooden watchtowers were built, with sentries on them patrolling day and night to monitor the vast land outside the wall. Once an incoming Chu army was discovered, they would immediately send out a warning signal. .
Zhao Tuo noticed that the battlefield commanders in this era mainly used drums and golden trumpets to issue orders, and there were no horns commonly used in later generations.
The horn has a high-pitched sound, is simple to make, and is easy to carry. It was also used by ethnic minorities in some remote areas during this era.
It's just that no one in the Xia has used it in the army. It will be a long time before it is widely popularized in the army.
With such a good thing, Zhao Tuo would naturally not let it go. He had the horns hollowed out and made into special horns, which were carried by the sentries on the watchtower. When he saw a large number of Chu troops appearing outside the wall, he blew the horns. warning.
To this end, Zhao Tuo also conducted several battle simulations to train his soldiers on how to form formations to respond and counterattack when encountering an attack by the Chu army.
"This wall is not very good. If the Chu people hit it with wooden stakes, I'm afraid it will crack in a few hits."
Everyone inspected along the wall. Black Butt reached out and knocked on the wall that had just been built, muttering.
He had served on duty before, participated in local projects, and knew a thing or two about wall construction.
Qin Law stipulates that walls built by guardsmen in service have a long warranty period. If they are damaged within that time, the relevant responsible persons and builders must be captured and rebuilt. Therefore, every guard who serves must know whether the wall he builds is feasible and whether it will leave any hidden engineering hazards.
Zhao Tuo recruited Jun Sikong, who was responsible for building the wall.
As soon as the army officer Sikong arrived, he said with a face full of resentment: "General, this barrier is not as good as the Guanzhong wall. Firstly, there is not enough time and it cannot be compacted in a short time. Secondly, the soil quality in Huaibei is not good. It is far worse than the wall in Guanzhong." Let’s go to the loess in Guanzhong.”
Zhao Tuo nodded. This was due to the influence of objective conditions, so he did not embarrass Army Sikong.
Instead, he thought of something that might enhance the wall's defense.
Use lime, river sand, loess and other things to mix and ram it to become "sanhe soil".
On the front lines, lime is hard to find, but if you really want to get it, you can use clam shells in the divide to bake it.
This material has actually been used for a long time and is called mirage.
"Zuo Zhuan" clearly records that when Song Wengong died, he was buried with mirage ashes. In the Qin State, this kind of thing was often used whether it was building palaces or painting houses.
It's just that the Qin army's defense line is too long, hundreds of miles away. Even if they wipe out all the oysters in the chasm water and burn all their shells to ashes, it's not enough.
Therefore, Zhao Tuo gave up on building a wall with Sanhe soil to increase defense, but since he had this idea, it cannot be useless.
Zhao Tuo still sent people to search for oysters in the water, and then asked military craftsmen to test the ratios to find the best ratio for making hard triple clay.
Sanhe soil is strong and easy to use. If you can't use it now, it doesn't mean you can't use it in the future.
He worked out the formula first, and when he found a large amount of limestone in the future, he could put it to great use. This kind of building material has a promising future and can be used in many places in the future.
Just as Zhao Tuo was thinking about his new invention, the soldiers responsible for the lookout and early warning on the turret suddenly issued a warning, and a high-pitched horn sound was also heard from the wooden watchtower not far away.
Immediately afterwards, countless black smoke ignited on the walls and ramparts.
Beacon warning!
The Chu army has arrived!
"Great, these Jingchu barbarians are finally here, and the buttocks of Nai Gong and others are itching!"
Hei Butt looked overjoyed. He had been in this military camp for nearly a month and was already gearing up to have a big fight with the Chu people.
Unexpectedly, it was only in the first few days that the Chu army sent people to harass and attack. After being shot at indiscriminately by the Qin army, they dropped the bodies and ran away, never to be seen again.
Today is finally here.
Zhao Tuo asked Shejian, Heiyi and other generals to immediately return to the military camp to organize the soldiers to form defensive formations, while he took Zhong Lizhen, Lu Wan and other close associates to the wooden watchtower at the rear.
Standing on the top of the towering watchtower, Zhao Tuo could see at a glance a large red armored army approaching from the south. At a quick glance, I'm afraid there are as many as 20,000.
"Are you serious?"
Zhao Tuo narrowed his eyes slightly, but he was not afraid in his heart. Instead, he was excited.
Because the Qin army's advantage is too great.
The reason why Wang Jian set up the Chinese army's camp along Guling was that he needed to rely on Honggou Wharf and Guling City for supplies. What's more, this place is just over thirty miles away from Chen Ying, the Chu State in the south.
This distance is not long and can be reached in a day's march.
If the Chu army sent troops from Chen Ying to resist here in one day, they would definitely be exhausted. If he rested for a night before coming back, he would have to travel ten miles that day. In terms of physical strength, it would be impossible to compare with the Qin army who was waiting for work in the camp.
The second point is that although this wall was built in a hurry and is not particularly strong, it is very effective.
With this wall and barrier here, the Chu army's chariots and cavalry could not function, and it was impossible to attack from the flanks and rear. They could only charge the wall head-on with infantry.
In this way, the Qin army could first use their crossbows to kill a wave of Chu soldiers, and then when the Chu soldiers rushed forward, they could use the cover of the wall to engage in hand-to-hand combat. With the walls protecting them, the Qin army's casualties would be smaller than those of the Chu army.
It doesn't matter if the Chu army captures the wall or even destroys it. With this wall blocking the front, the Qin army in the rear barracks has already been alerted and lined up their troops in the open space between the wall and the barracks. The formation is filled with strong bows and crossbows.
After the Chu army broke through the wall, they would be hit by a hail of arrows before they could get into position inside the wall, resulting in heavy casualties.
After the rain of arrows, the Chu people were greeted by the energetic and fully armed Qin army in battle formation.
A small fortress wall is enough to change the entire battlefield situation. No wonder it is called a turtle shell by Yin Xiangyan, the commander of Chu.
Therefore, Zhao Tuo did not think that Chu on the opposite side would be stupid enough to launch an attack. The Chu army had few troops to begin with, so why bother launching an attack and damaging the soldiers?
The Chu army did not want to waste its national power with the Qin army, so the only way was to lure the Qin army out of the barrier and fight outside.
Sure enough, after the Chu army arrived, they did not immediately beat the war drums and launch an attack.
"General, the Chu army is going to use equipment to attack the wall. Is that a stone machine?"
Lu Wan shouted.
Zhong Lizhen beside him saw it clearly and said in shock: "No, look at that posture, it's not ordinary
Could it be that the stone-throwing machine is a giant cannon! "
"Yes."
Zhao Tuo nodded slightly.
Standing on the tall wooden building, he could clearly see behind the Chu army outside the wall, ox carts pulling various huge wooden blocks and metal parts.
The Chu soldiers removed the components and then began to assemble them in the open space about two hundred steps away from the wall.
With this distance and size, as the father of giant cannons in this era, Zhao Tuo could naturally tell what the Chu people were doing at a glance.
[In view of the general environment,
"The Chu army indeed has huge cannons."
Not only was Zhao Tuo not angry, but he actually looked like that.
Because the Qin State had already prepared for it, and Xiong Qi, Lord of Changping, had a noble status. When Li Xin attacked Chu, he was in Huaiyang and was responsible for all logistics. How could he not obtain the manufacturing technology of the giant cannon.
Not to mention that after the defeat of Meng Wu, there were countless Qin soldiers captured by the Chu people. There were many craftsmen among them, enough for the Chu army to produce such weapons.
Since Wang Jian wanted to use the tactic of fortifying the wall and defending himself, he would naturally take these factors into consideration.
"It's a pity that the Chu people have no creativity, and the opponent still looks like the most outdated first-generation machine."
Zhao Tuo smiled, shook his head, and ordered: "Zhong Lizhen, go down and tell Zhao Guang. Pull out our army's new cannon. Show it to the other side."
