Dongyang is a vast plain located south of Shandao.
Although there are swamps around this place, the breadth and density of the swamps are not much better than Shandao in the north near the Huai River. At least the roads leading from Dongyang to all directions are no longer reed-strewn paths, but flat avenues, allowing the army to move quickly.
At this time, Dongyang City was in a state of extreme tension, and there were bursts of curses in the city.
The Qin army is coming!
The men in the city were recruited by the county magistrate to carry weapons and go to the city to defend themselves against the enemy.
The soldiers from the government were shouting from house to house, looking very ferocious.
In an ordinary house, a woman wearing coarse cloth was holding a heavy wooden pestle and pounding the millet in the stone mortar.
"Mother, I bid you farewell. I will no longer be able to serve my mother. Please take care of me."
In front of the woman, a man in his thirties, with tears in his eyes, knelt down and kowtowed, looking reluctant to part with her.
The woman stopped pounding the grain, put down the wooden pestle, rubbed her swollen and sore arms, and then looked at her son who was kneeling on the ground, and said with a smile: "Why did my son say this? Wait until my mother finishes pounding the grain." , I will have dinner with you in the evening."
Chen Ying choked and said: "Now the Qin army has reached 20 miles north of the city. The county official summoned the men in the city to go to the city wall to defend the enemy. But the huge Chu State cannot stop the Qin army's conquest. This small town of Dongyang can resist." "
"I heard that the Qin army was brutal and counted their merits with their heads. I'm afraid it will be a disaster if my son goes away. It will be difficult to save the head on his neck. I will never be able to eat the food my mother cooked."
If it were an ordinary woman who heard this, she would be extremely frightened, hold her son in her arms and say goodbye in tears.
But the woman laughed and said, "Don't worry, my son, your life will be fine. If nothing happens, you may be able to come back in a coma."
Chen Ying was stunned and asked, "Why did mother say this?"
The woman smiled and said, "When I saw the county official recruiting men to guard the city wall, I thought he wanted to fight with the Qin people."
"But according to what I heard, before the Ling Yin fought with the Qin people in Chenying, he ordered various places to send grain to support, but our county official only sent half of the grain to the front line, and the rest was all It was transported to his own treasury. Not to mention that two days ago, he also took in a concubine. It is said that the concubine was less than sixteen and quite beautiful."
"How could such a greedy and lustful county official have the intention to fight to the death with the Qin people? I think he will definitely surrender to the Qin army. I heard that the Qin army will not slaughter the surrendered city, and your lives will be safe. .Just go ahead with peace of mind."
"What mother said is true."
Chen Ying was amazed and thought that most of what his mother said was right, so he left with peace of mind.
The development of the facts was just as Chen's mother expected.
When tens of thousands of Qin troops approached Dongyang City, the Duke of Dongyang County sent envoys to negotiate with the Qin troops to surrender. After receiving the Qin general's promise, the county official asked Chen Ying and other young soldiers to put down their weapons, happily open the city gate, and surrender to the Qin army.
Qin soldiers wearing black armor and holding swords immediately took control of the entire city. Fortunately, although these Qin people looked ferocious, they were indeed very loyal and disciplined. They did not kill indiscriminately. They were even cleaner than the county soldiers under Dongyang County Duke. They did not rob or engage in sexual acts, which made the Chu people of Dongyang feel at ease.
However, what Mrs. Chen said was only half correct, and the other half, waiting for Chen Ying to come home for dinner, did not come true.
After Chen Ying and several Dongyang people were called out by people sent by the county official, they were immediately handed over to the hands of Qin soldiers and escorted by these indifferent Qin people to the depths of the Qin camp outside the city.
Chen Ying was trembling, not knowing what he had done. How could a Dongyang commoner be favored by the people of Qin?
After a while, they were taken into a Qin army camp in panic.
A burly Qin general with a beard on his jaw was sitting among them, looking at them with majestic eyes.
"You often travel between Dongyang and Huaiyin, are you familiar with the roads between the two cities?"
The translator standing next to General Qin immediately translated General Qin's Guanzhong dialect into fluent Chu dialect.
Several Dongyang people had never seen the world, and their lips were trembling with fear, and they couldn't even speak.
After Chen Ying calmed down, he saluted and replied: "General, I used to travel between Huaiyin and Dongyang with my uncle in the clan, selling cloth, swords and shields. I often walked between the two places, and the roads on the way are considered familiar."
General Qin couldn't help but nodded slightly when he saw that Chen Ying was quite calm and knew the world better than the others.
"Very good, then you will stay in the army and be a guide for my army."
"ah?"
Chen Ying was stunned.
…
After a while, Meng Tian walked into the commander's tent and faced Zhao Tuo, who was sitting in front of the desk and looking at the map. He said in a serious manner: "General, I have found a few people who often travel between Huaiyin and Dongyang under military orders. I have I asked them about the situation along the way, and the answers were similar, so there was no problem. Among them, the man named Chen Ying waiting outside the tent is the best, and he can be the general's guide."
"Well, thank you for your hard work."
Zhao Tuo nodded and was very polite to Meng Tian.
Meng Tian shook his head and said: "Since the subordinates are under the general's tent, they should respect the military orders. The general can't talk about hard work."
Zhao Tuo laughed, stood up, walked to Meng Tian, and said a few words warmly.
Hearing Zhao Tuo's modest words, Meng Tian still looked serious, but a smile appeared in his eyes.
He was still a little uncomfortable with Wang Jian sending him as a general under Zhao Tuo.
In the past, when he was in the palace, Meng Tian was the lieutenant general, and Zhao Tuo was just a junior lieutenant. Now the identities of the two have been reversed. Zhao Tuo is the general, while Meng Tian has become the captain under him. This contrast will feel uncomfortable to anyone.
But Meng Tian still nodded and accepted the order. First of all, it was the order of the general. He, Meng Tian, was the defeated general, so he had no right to refuse.
Secondly, Meng Tian quickly realized that Wang Jian was helping him.
Meng Tian led his army to a disastrous defeat in the water. No matter how many reasons there were, he was defeated in the end and would be punished according to military law.
Wang Jian did not punish him because the war was undecided. Instead, he asked Meng Tian to join Zhao Tuo's side army. This was clear that he wanted to make meritorious service for his crime.
Under such circumstances, how could Meng Tian refuse Wang Jian's kindness without knowing what is good and what is bad?
What's more, Zhao Tuo respected him a lot and often treated him as Meng Jun in private. This made Meng Tian, who had a strong self-esteem, feel very comfortable and quickly adapted to him.
Meng Tian didn't seem to have that strong aversion to becoming Zhao Tuo's subordinate, and he accepted it quickly.
Compared to Meng Tian, Zhao Tuo has a deeper view on this matter.
Wang Jian is old.
The destruction of Chu this time was Wang Jian's last battle. After this battle, Wang Jian will truly retire, so he will make some good connections with the Wang family while he is still capable.
Today he helped Meng Tian and asked him to follow Zhao Tuo to perform meritorious deeds. Such behavior is enough to make friends with the Meng family. If the Wang family is in trouble in the future, would Meng Tian, with his upright character, sit idly by and ignore it?
In addition to planning for the Wang family, Wang Jian may also be doing this for the sake of Zhao Tuo. He believes that judging from Zhao Tuo's previous performance, he will be able to handle the relationship with Meng Tian well. He was giving Zhao Tuo a chance to ease his relationship with Mengshi.
After all, someone saw and spread the news about Meng Tian ignoring Zhao Tuo in the palace and scorning him.
With Zhao Tuo intending to make good friends, the relationship between him and Meng Tian made great progress as the Qin army marched south to Dongyang.
The two don't say they have become friends, but they are already able to get along harmoniously and their relationship is quite harmonious.
"The superior general sent General Bai Meng to lead his troops to the south side of Shandao to cover this section of the road for our army. There is no need to worry about being attacked by the Chu people within forty or fifty miles along the logistics road."
"But if we go deeper into the Chu territory, we will not be able to shelter us. After our army's food road is lengthened, we will definitely become the target of the Chu army's attack. The general needs to think more about this place." Meng Tian looked at the map on the case and handed over his hand to admonish. Word.
Zhao Tuo nodded, Meng Tian said there was no problem.
The biggest weakness of their partial division was the logistics and food road. Because the Qin army took a detour southward and lost the advantage of Huaihe River transportation, the troops and horses needed by their army had to be transported along the way.
The journey from Dongyang to Huaiyin is more than 300 miles. According to a normal march, it takes more than ten days. Along the way, tens of thousands of soldiers eat horse chews and consume a lot of food and grass every day. Therefore, their logistics and food teams are also very large, and they transport food. The marching speed of the troops will be slower than that of the army, and it is easy to be attacked by the enemy after being disconnected.
If the Chu army sends people to attack Zhao Tuo's grain and grass successfully. Then the 40,000 Qin army would be in danger of running out of food. Not to mention collapsing on the spot, they would definitely not have the strength to continue attacking Huaiyin, and this partial division would be immediately destroyed.
Food, fodder and baggage are the most important things in a war!
Faced with Meng Tian's suggestion, Zhao Tuo smiled and said: "What Meng Jun said makes sense. It's just that we have to go to Huaiyin for more than three hundred miles. How can we be on guard against the Chu army's attack on grain and grass during such a long journey? Instead of being on guard all night and causing our army to be exhausted." , it’s better to change from passive to active. Aren’t those Chu people going to attack the food? I’ll give him the chance to attack the food!”
Meng Tian immediately woke up and said: "The general wanted to take the initiative to trap and kill the Chu army, so why did he use the banner of General Qiangxu during this expedition?"
"Of course! If they use the banner of Zhao Tuo, those Chu troops will probably be more careful. If they use the banner of General Qiang Yu, they will be more likely to confuse the hearts of the Chu people."
Zhao Tuo smiled and said: "Mengjun, go and call Chen Ying in. I want to ask about the terrain along the way to see if there is a suitable place on the way."
"only."
Meng Tian readily agreed, turned around with a big stride, and went to call Chen Ying in.
"Chen Ying?"
Looking at Meng Tian's back, Zhao Tuo suddenly felt that the name seemed familiar. But after thinking about it, I can't remember any specific deeds.
"It's probably not a famous person from the Qin and Han Dynasties. It's probably because there are too many people called Ying in this era. This name sounds familiar to me."
Zhao Tuo shook his head.
There are really many people named "Ying" in this era. The famous ones include Guan Ying, Xia Houying and Ziying.
Not famous, but Wang Ying, Li Ying, Ji Ying can be seen everywhere...
Chen Ying's name sounds very ordinary. Any man of the Chen family could have this name, and he is not a famous person.
…
Just when Zhao Tuo summoned Chen Ying from Chu to ask about the terrain along the way.
In the Chu army's camp outside Shandao City.
The generals of the Chu army were also holding a military meeting.
"Wang Jian indeed sent a partial army to go around Dongyang, intending to bypass the water here and go straight to our army's Huaiyin territory. According to the scouts, there were tens of thousands of people on that side of the army, and they were under the banner of General Pi Qiang Yu."
Jing Tong reported the military information obtained to the generals.
"Qiang Fu, your name sounds like a Qiang? Why would Wang Jian send a Qiang to lead the army?"
"It is said that this person is a veteran. He once followed Wang Jian to destroy Zhao Fayan. He is quite qualified. We cannot underestimate him."
"I see, he is Wang Jian's old subordinate."
"As long as it's not that Zhao Tuo."
After the generals discussed the Qin army's generals, they talked about the next Chu army's countermeasures.
"Wang Jian's army is gathered to the west of Shandao, and he will use a detour to attack Huaiyin. There are tens of thousands of them and they are invincible. We should find a way to attack their food and grass."
"However, as long as the Qin army's food and grass are destroyed, there is no need to worry about diverting troops along this route."
No one expressed any opinions on the attack on the Qin army's food and grass.
Because they had few Chu soldiers and Wang Jian's powerful enemy on their side, it was impossible to send a large number of troops to confront the Qin army head-on and intercept them. But regardless of the opponent's failure, once this Qin army's partial division attacks Huaiyin, everything will be over.
So in this case, the Chu army had only one choice, and that was to send troops to attack the Qin people's food and grass.
After Xiang Yan thought for a while, he glanced at the generals in his tent and said, "Our army can only send ten thousand troops. I don't know which general is willing to lead the troops to attack the Qin army's food and grass."
Xiang Yan's eyes wandered between Jing Tong and Qu Mao.
Among the generals of the Chu army, these two are probably the only ones who can stand alone.
Just as Qu Mao was about to speak, Jing Tong had already asked for his orders.
He said: "The general is willing to do it. I will burn the Qin army's food and grass in this battle, so that the Qin army will never come back."
In order to make the plot easier to write, Qu Mao in the first version was changed to Jing Tong.
"Historical Records·The Benji of Xiang Yu": Chen Ying, the former Dongyang Lingshi, lived in the county. He was sincere and sincere, so he was called the elder. A young man from Dongyang killed his order and gathered thousands of people. He wanted to appoint a senior official, but it was not suitable, so he invited Chen Ying. Ying Ying was unable to thank him, so he was forced to make Ying the chief, and the followers in the county gained 20,000 people. The young man wants to give birth to a baby and becomes a king, and a new army rises with gray hair. Chen Ying's mother said to her: "I am your wife, and I have never heard of any of your ancestors who were noble in ancient times. It is unlucky to gain a great name now. It is better to belong to something. If you succeed, you will be granted a title. If you fail, you will easily die. It is not the world." Name him." Ying Nai did not dare to be the king.
(End of chapter)
