"General, there is no ambush in the woods five miles ahead."
"General, there are no Qin troops ambushing us ten miles ahead."
…
The scouts in front continued to investigate and report, which made Jing Tong, who was following the army, feel at ease.
This time Xiang Qu went north to prepare for Jing Tong to lead 5,000 people to the rear, responsible for building ships and transporting grain and baggage from the west bank of Suishui River. Logistics was very important for military affairs and must be guarded by generals.
But Jingtong refused.
He was left with a shadow in his heart by Qin general Zhao Tuo in the last battle of Surabaya. He was afraid that Xiang Qu would be ambushed by Zhao Tuo on his way to Pengcheng, and the incident in Surabaya would happen again.
Therefore, Jing Tong persuaded Xiang Qu to let other generals take charge of logistics and food transfer, while he himself followed Xiang Qu to keep him alert at all times.
He was afraid that Xiang Qu would be ambushed by Zhao Tuo on impulse and end up like Zuo Sima Zhaoping.
Xiang Qu and Zhao Tuo had fought against each other several times, but they had always been at a disadvantage, and he was quite wary of this opponent. When Jing Tong said this, he also felt that it made sense.
He ordered his generals to lead five thousand soldiers and horses to support the rear. He himself, Jing Tong, and Cai Wu, who was supporting from Xiangyi, led a total of 30,000 troops north to capture the Qin army of Zhao Tuo's tribe who had fled towards Pengcheng.
Along the way, Jingtong learned from the experience and lessons learned from being ambushed by the Qin army last time, and sent out scout cavalry in front of the main army to explore all possible places on the road ahead where the Qin army might be ambushed.
However, the Qin army seemed to have no intention of attacking with an ambush this time.
The Chu army traveled for several days and finally arrived about forty miles south of Pengcheng. No Qin army ambush was found along the way until the scouts reported that they found Qin army's fortress in front.
"The people of Qin built a barrier in the middle of the road to block our army?"
After listening to the military intelligence report, Jing Tong's expression changed and he turned to look at the commander-in-chief Xiang Qu.
Xiang Qu looked indifferent and whispered: "Breaking roads and building walls, do you want to block our army in the south and delay our army's journey so that we can return to support Pengcheng?"
"Zhao Tuo is quite good at it."
In Xiang Qu's analysis of this matter.
He believed that Zhao Tuo might have left some soldiers and horses to build a wall here to block him and delay time. Zhao Tuo himself led the remaining Qin army back to Pengcheng to encircle and annihilate Xiang Yue's Eastern Chu army.
"barrier?"
"Watch me break it!"
Xiang Qu punched down hard and his voice was decisive.
On the bank of the Suishui River, he prepared for a battle with the Qin army. However, the Qin army fled at night and left the camp empty, which made him extremely uncomfortable.
Now after pursuing all the way, the traces of the Qin army were finally discovered. Xiang Qu was about to fight hard to vent his anger.
After resting and eating, the Chu army immediately went north and drove directly to the fortress built by the Qin army.
Due to the limited width of the road, it was not suitable to drive a car, so Xiang Qu and Jing Tong drove their horses forward to observe several hundred meters away from the Qin army's fortress.
"The Qin army is really good at choosing places to build forts along narrow roads."
Jingtong took a deep breath.
The Qin army's barrier in front was one foot high and made of rammed earth. It looked very solid at first glance and cut across the entire road.
There were fully armed Qin soldiers on the ramparts, holding bows, crossbows, spears and halberds, ready to attack.
In front of the fortress, there are trenches and deep moats, with deer antlers blocking horses.
There is a river obstruction to the east and a dangerous slope to the west.
The steep slope is full of potholes. What are those densely packed holes?
Caltrops!
Even if Jing Tong had already guessed that the Qin army's defense facilities were powerful, he couldn't help but take a breath when he saw such a scene.
This kind of road and this kind of defense, the Chu army may have to sacrifice human lives to fill it.
Xiang Qu also had a gloomy face. He remembered the Qin army camp he faced at Honggou a few months ago.
"Wang Jian is an old turtle, and Zhao Tuo is a little turtle!"
"But you want to stop me even with just one layer of barrier? Let me break it down in one day!"
Xiang Qu spoke bitterly. At this point, he had no choice.
If we can't break the barriers and win Pengcheng, then everything will be lost!
"Go back to camp!"
Xiang Qu reined up his horse and turned around, leading Jing and others back south to the camp.
Because the Qin army built barriers on the narrow road, the road less than ten meters could not allow the Chu army to camp, so the Chu army camped in an open area five miles away.
Therefore, if the Chu army wants to attack the Qin army's fortress from their own camp, they have to walk five miles first, and their energy will inevitably be weakened. This is also a factor that the Qin army took into consideration when building the barrier.
"This is a great feast for the soldiers. Let them eat and drink well. Let me attack the fortress overnight and break through the turtle shell of the Qin army in one battle!"
Xiang Qu issued the order.
Thirty thousand Chu troops made fires and cooked meals in the camp. After a feast, they immediately began to attack in an orderly manner in accordance with military orders.
In addition to the troops attacking the enemy from the front, Xiang Qu also ordered people to build rafts with bamboo and wood in order to spy on the Qin army's intelligence behind the barrier from the river.
However, the Chu army went down the river on a raft. As soon as they reached the barrier, they were overturned by the Qin army's crossbowmen who had been well prepared.
However, the Chu people lived in the south where rivers crisscrossed the river, and many people were good at swimming. Some soldiers swam back from the cold river water, shivering, and reporting on the military situation they saw behind the barrier.
"There are about a thousand Qin troops behind the barrier!"
Xiang Qu nodded slightly. Thousands of people guarded the barrier, and it turned out to be similar to what he had guessed.
It’s just a thousand people, why can’t we defeat it with 30,000 people?
"Drumroll me, attack!"
Xiang Qu issued an offensive order.
The loud and exciting war drums beat, and the Chu army officially launched an attack on the Qin army's barrier in front.
At the front were the crossbowmen, who were the first to suppress the Qin army on the battlefield with firepower.
The two sides fired at each other for a while. The Chu army lacked the barrier to cover it and suffered slightly more casualties, but it successfully suppressed the Qin army on the barrier.
At this time, the Chu soldiers holding huge shields covered the soldiers carrying soil moving forward.
The task of the first batch of Chu troops was not to attack the fortress, but to fill the ravines.
In front of the earthen fortress was a deep trench dug by the Qin people, which was also covered with iron caltrops and various obstacles. Therefore, they had to remove the obstacles and fill up the trench to facilitate subsequent attacking troops.
Whoosh!
The Qin army fired another burst of arrows, and the shield soldiers blocked most of them, but some unlucky guys were still wailing and fell down after being hit by arrows.
Time passed amidst the screams and fighting of the soldiers. After suffering dozens of casualties, the Chu army finally cleared away the obstacles in front of the base. The trench was mostly filled with corpses and soil. The real battle began next.
Under the passionate beating of war drums and the scolding and roaring of the soldiers, the soldiers of Chu bravely fought forward. Braving the rain of arrows thrown by the Qin army, they carried simple wooden ladders and went straight to the wall to compete with the defenders above. Qin soldiers fought bloody battles with each other.
Limbs were scattered and blood splattered.
As soon as the Chu army fell, someone from behind rushed up. The Qin army on the base also fell, and Pao Ze behind him immediately took over with weapons.
The Chu army was large in number, while the Qin army was small in number.
But at this less than ten-meter-long barrier, there were equally many people on both sides fighting. The Chu army's large number of people could not give full play to its advantage, and they could only rely on human lives to fill the Qin army's barrier.
However, the large number of Chu soldiers does not mean that there is no advantage at all. Every once in a while, they will replace the injured and tired soldiers and send another fresh army to engage in wheel battles with the thousands of Qin soldiers behind the camp.
Under such tactics, finally at midnight, the Qin army behind the camp could no longer hold on, leaving a pile of corpses behind, and the remaining hundreds of people retreated.
"Our army has captured the Qin people's barrier!"
The news that the Chu army had conquered the Qin army's fortress was sent back to the camp five miles away.
Even though it was late at night, Xiang Qu, Jing Tong, Cai Wu and other Chu generals gathered in the tent to discuss the war.
"Haha, General Xiang is indeed the son of Ling Yin. He said he could break the Qin army's barrier in one day, and he actually took it in one day. He is really a fierce general of our Chu Kingdom!"
Cai Wu smiled and flattered him.
Jing Tong frowned slightly. The Chu army arrived at noon and conquered the Qin army's camp at night. It did take less than a day, but the casualties were slightly heavy.
According to battle reports from the front, in less than a day, the Chu army suffered seven or eight hundred casualties, while the Qin army was annihilated only about two to three hundred. The rest of the Qin army retreated because they fought hard and were exhausted. Otherwise, if they continue to fight to the death, the Chu army may suffer more casualties.
"But it doesn't matter. If we lay down the barrier here, the road to Pengcheng will be smooth."
Jing Tong felt comforted and a smile appeared on his face.
Xiang Qu was even more high-spirited. He defeated the Qin army's barrier in one battle and shattered Zhao Tuo's turtle shell. This was a good sign.
Just when he was about to give the order to let the Chu soldiers who had fought hard all night in the front withdraw their troops and go back to the camp to rest. When they set off north again at dawn, soldiers from the front line rushed back to the camp to report the latest news.
"Report... General Xiang, our army has leveled the Qin army's barriers and the road is ready for our army to pass. However, the scouts scouted the front of the road at night and discovered the Qin army about two miles behind the first barrier. The second barrier of the army.”
"What! The Qin army has a second barrier!"
Xiang Qu was shocked.
The smiles on Jing Tong and Cai Wu's faces froze even more.
After the barriers, why are there still barriers?
Xiang Qu couldn't bear it any longer, so he led Jing Tong on horseback and ran at night. They passed the first leveled barrier and ran for more than a mile. As expected, he saw hundreds of meters ahead under the clear moonlight. , there is another tall barrier standing in the middle of the road.
Because there was the first barrier in front, it bought more time for the Qin army behind to build.
This second barrier was even taller. After all the soldiers of the first barrier withdrew, the side passages were re-sealed. From a distance, it looked like a copper wall and an iron wall. The barrier was also full of people standing with crossbows. The soldiers of the Qin army were watching with eager eyes.
"Zhao Tuo... is really good at it!"
Xiang Qu gritted his teeth, clenched his hands into fists, and the tendons on his upper body bulged out.
Jing Tong had a bad premonition in his heart and said in a trembling voice: "If this road is long enough, then the Qin army will have to build continuous barriers. After our army lays down this wall, will there be more behind it?"
Jing Tong's bad premonition came true. On the second day, the Chu army suffered nearly a thousand casualties. After taking this barrier, they found the Qin army's third barrier one mile behind.
"Zhao Tuo! You're so stupid, you're really like a tortoise!"
Xiang Qu's white teeth were almost broken, and his face turned red with anger.
He only wanted to rush straight to Pengcheng, support Xiang Yue's 5,000 men, fight openly with Zhao Tuo's Qin army, and use his superior strength to defeat them head-on.
Unexpectedly, although they rushed all the way and caught up with the Qin army, they were faced with tougher and tougher walls.
What the hell is this called fighting?
This is chewing on a turtle shell!
Xiang Qu was angry and annoyed.
But under the current situation, Xiang Qu has no other choice. There is only one road from here to Pengcheng.
If we had to force a detour, it would take at least half a month, and by then everything would be too late.
Now that it was impossible to retreat, Xiang Qu could only hold his nose and fight all the way. He did not believe that Zhao Tuo could build the barrier all the way to Pengcheng.
The main reason why these walls are difficult to attack is that one side of the road is close to the river and there are steep slopes all the way, making it impossible for the Chu army to go around. As long as this narrow road reaches the end, the frustrating days will be over.
Next, the Chu army attacked Pengcheng at the speed of conquering a barrier in one day.
It's just that these Qin army's walls and fortresses built on the defile are becoming more difficult to attack one by one, and the casualties paid by the Chu army are becoming more and more serious day by day.
In addition to the casualties, the Chu army was trapped outside the Qin barrier for several days, and suffered heavy casualties while attacking the fortress, which led to a sharp drop in the morale of the soldiers. The lower-level Chu soldiers began to complain.
However, as the commander-in-chief of the army, General Xiang had no time to worry about this, because after several days of continuous offensive operations, the Chu army had already defeated the Qin people's six camps.
The road ahead gradually opens up, and the steep mountain road on the right has reached its end and disappears completely after the last barrier.
Here is the seventh barrier of the Qin army and the last wall blocking the Chu army.
"Zhao Tuo, this is the last one."
…
Two miles behind the barrier, there was the Qin army's camp, with black flags fluttering in the wind.
Zhao Tuo stood on the high platform built for him and looked at the Qin army's walls standing in the road in the distance.
There were bursts of shouts of killing coming from the wall, and the Chu army on the opposite side was launching a continuous offensive in an attempt to break through the last Qin army barrier today.
"After breaking through my sixth barrier in a row, the Chu army suffered heavy casualties. Moreover, the blunt soldiers were severely defeated, the Chu people's morale was exhausted, and the army had no fighting spirit. Even if we can break through my seventh barrier today, how much combat power will be left? "
Zhao Tuo looked indifferent.
On the wide land between the seventh barrier and the military camp, tens of thousands of Qin soldiers who had rested for several days had already formed a battle formation.
Strong bows and crossbows were placed in the front line.
Swords, halberds, spears and swords stood at the rear.
When the Chu army broke through the seventh wall, it was the time for the Qin army to launch a fierce attack with the force of tigers coming down the mountain.
The entanglement between Chu general Xiang Qu and Qin general Zhao Tuo for nearly two months will also be decided in this battle.
The third update is sent.
In the next chapter, the decisive battle between Zhao and Xiang comes to an end.
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(End of chapter)
