"The general is incompetent. This pursuit failed to capture Xiang Qu. I ask the general to punish him."
When Zhao Tuo's general, Da Zhen, stood on the bank of Suishui River again, the captain Shejian who was in charge of the pursuit immediately came to plead guilty.
In the battle of Surabaya last year, he personally led the troops to charge into the battle and capture the flag. Although he captured the flag of General Zuo Sima, he lost Zhaoping. Now he was ordered to pursue Xiang Qu again, killing many prisoners along the way, but he still failed to capture Xiang Qu and allowed the Chu army to cross the Sui River.
Shejian felt very guilty.
Especially compared to Zhong Lizhen, who captured Qi State's Great Sima, he felt a little ashamed.
The old man is not as good as the new man.
However, Zhao Tuo did not blame him. Instead, he comforted him with gentle words: "Just run away, it's just Xiangqu. Our army is defeated. Even if he crosses the Suishui River, what big waves can he make? Wait until the next confrontation. , and then capture and kill him."
"Colonel Shejian defeated the enemy on the battlefield and pursued for hundreds of miles. He captured many people along the way. This is a great achievement. I haven't come to you in time to ask for a reward, so how can I be punished?"
As soon as Zhao Tuo opened his mouth, the generals in the tent also laughed, and their faces almost burst into laughter.
Yes, the Qin army defeated a total of 30,000 Chu troops in this narrow road battle, starting from the defense of the fortress to the final decisive battle.
After the decisive battle on the narrow road, the Chu army collapsed and was chased north by the Qin army. This pursuit lasted more than a hundred miles and reached the Suishui River.
Among them, more than 10,000 Chu troops escaped by running into various forked mountain forests along the way, but the remaining more than 10,000 people all fell into the hands of the Qin army. A total of 5,000 to 6,000 people were beheaded before and after, and the number of prisoners also reached 5,000 to 6,000, which can be said to be It's a big victory.
In this situation where the enemy must be killed and captured along the way, it is not an easy task to run for hundreds of miles and catch the escaping enemy generals, so Zhao Tuo did not No blame intended.
Moreover, this time the Qin army won a great victory and gained a lot, and the joy was enough to offset some regrets.
Soldiers at the bottom can basically be promoted to a noble title based on merit, and middle-level military officers also have the possibility of being promoted to a noble title.
For a high-ranking person like Zhao Tuo, although he did not meet the standards for promotion, it was still a great achievement and increased his "experience bar".
Of course, because now is the key to defeating Chu, the situation is very tense. They are located along the Suishui River in the hinterland of Chu State. If they want to contact Wang Jian's camp near Guling, they need to send people north to Fengfei Road in Pengcheng, then take Shanfu, pass through Suiyang, and then go south to Guling in Yangxia , this road is more than a thousand miles long, and the transportation information is very inconvenient.
Therefore, the rewards for this battle are the same as those for the previous victory over Qidi. Although they have been tallied up by military officials and sent to the general, the official titles and rewards will probably not be issued until after the war is over.
Although the title reward would be delayed, Zhao Tuo did not treat everyone badly after the war and immediately distributed his reward.
Dozens of Raging Bulls who made great contributions contributed their bodies in a very "healthy" way after the war.
The banquet of tens of thousands of kilograms of beef is enough for every soldier in the army to eat so much that it smells like beef when they burp.
In an atmosphere full of joy, Zhao Tuo still adheres to the principle of balancing rewards and punishments, and being fair and selfless. He called over the two to five hundred people who were in charge of the artillery carriages during the battle, and scolded him severely in front of the generals.
Not only Zhao Tuo, but also Black Butt looked at this Lord Zhang Erwubai angrily.
"Zhang He, you stinky fool, you made Nai Gong fall from his horse. Fortunately, Chu Ren's body was on the bottom, but his butt fell. If I had broken Nai Gong's leg, I would have beaten you to a limp!"
Black Bottom cursed, and the generals tilted their heads to hold back their laughter.
Zhang He lowered his head depressedly. He was responsible for using artillery carts to defeat the enemy. He originally had meritorious service, but due to a momentary mistake, I am afraid that his achievements will be greatly reduced again.
Not for anything else, just because this idiot actually used iron pear when bombarding the Chu army with artillery carts.
"I just thought that this thing would cover a wider area than rocks. Throwing a lot of them at one time would do more damage to the people of Chu. I didn't expect these consequences."
Zhang He defended weakly.
He used iron calabash pears as ammunition to bombard the Chu army, which indeed had a killing effect.
, but when the Chu army collapsed and the Qin army began to chase the north, they tasted the bitter fruit.
Many Qin soldiers excitedly took weapons to chase the Chu people, but they stepped on iron pear before taking two steps. The feeling was not to be mentioned.
Even when Black Butt commanded the soldiers to pursue the horse, the horse's hoof happened to step on an iron pear, causing the pain of the horse to go crazy and causing Black Butt to fall off.
Such a thing can be called a big mistake in military warfare, but fortunately it had little impact on the final result.
Zhao Tuo turned a blind eye and only punished Zhang He with "slander" and reduced some of his merits.
[In view of the general environment,
At the same time, with the end of the Battle of the Pass, Zhao Guangchu, who was supporting Pengcheng in the north, also sent back news of a great victory over the Chu army of the Prime Minister.
When Zhao Tuo faced Xiang Qu's 30,000-strong army, he also sent Zhao Guang to lead 5,000 elite troops north to rescue Pengcheng.
As the other captain under Zhao Tuo besides Shejian, Zhao Guang lived up to the general's expectations.
Outside Pengcheng, he defeated five thousand Chu troops in one battle. He killed two thousand Chu soldiers and captured one thousand prisoners.
When the danger in Pengcheng was lifted, Zhao Tuo no longer hesitated and immediately led the Qin army southward, rejoined the pursuers of the Shejian tribe, reoccupied the coast of Suishui River, and reached the outside of Zhuyi City again.
Shejian apologized, and after Zhao Tuo felt relieved, he received the news that Zhuyi City opened its doors and surrendered.
The local Chu people actually expelled and attacked the Chu army of Xiang Qu's tribe stationed here, and blocked Xiang Qu, who had fled back in embarrassment, outside the city. They closed the door behind closed doors until the Qin army arrived before opening the city to beg for surrender.
This news surprised Zhao Tuo.
"He was cruel and did not give us a way to survive, so we had no choice but to rise up and resist in order to survive. We are willing to surrender to Qin and become its citizens. I hope the general will show mercy."
The three old men elected as representatives by the Chu people in the city were kneeling in front of Zhao Tuo, shrinking and speaking.
"Since you know the current affairs, this is very good. I will definitely treat all the people in Zhuyi as our Qin people. This time our army goes south, not only will we not collect food in Zhuyi, but we will also lend you food to eat. Survive this cold winter."
Zhao Tuo understood the whole story, and after applauding the surrender of the people in Zhuyi, he even promised to borrow grain.
When the three old Chu people heard this, they were immediately overjoyed.
The Chu army was brutal and robbed them of all the food they had to survive. On the contrary, the Qin army, known as the army of tigers and wolves, lent them life-saving food.
Such behavior is so ironic in comparison.
They were so moved that they hurriedly kowtowed and shouted together: "General Zhao is benevolent and righteous! We, the people of Zhuyi, will definitely be grateful for the general's kindness in surviving and will never forget it!"
Zhao Tuo smiled and said nothing.
The Qin army is not short of food. Not only can they transport food from Pengcheng's treasury, they also have a line to transport food south from Dongjun, which has abundant supply. Not to mention how rich the food is, but they can squeeze out a little to help the Chu people in Zhuyi. , it can still be done.
Doing this will also be very beneficial to the Qin army's occupation of Chu.
When this news spreads, I am afraid that the residents of the Chu State cities south of the Suishui River will have other thoughts when the Qin army arrives.
However, Zhao Tuo has no plans to cross the Suishui River and go south for the time being.
He stood by the Suishui River and looked at the lonely winter scenery on the other side.
"South of the Sui River, all the Chu lands are short of food. If we cross the river and occupy too many cities, we will cause trouble for ourselves. Not only will we need to divide our troops for garrison, but the supply line from Pengcheng will be stretched again. Let's continue here. It’s safe to use up.”
"I cut off the Suishui road and blocked Lu's grain transportation line. Xiang Yan's army can last for a month at most. After one month, the grain will be exhausted, the Chu army will definitely be defeated, and the winner will be determined on the battlefield of Chen Ying. That's just the time. When winter ends and spring comes, it’s time for me to deploy my troops and cross the Sui River.”
"Xiang Qu, I wonder if you still have the confidence to fight me again at that time?"
…
Just when Zhao Tuo led his army south and stationed troops in Suishui again,
Wait.
A Chu army of several thousand people also marched towards the battlefield of Chen Ying under the leadership of Jing Tong.
On a carriage in the procession, there was also a coffin containing the body of Chu General Xiang Qu...
