The capital of Qi is Linzi, and it's dusk.
Viewed from a distance, the magnificent King Qi's palace has fallen into shadow, with only a few firelights shining in the dusk.
"My brother, today is the day of the decisive battle between Da Sima and the Qin army. Do you think Da Sima will win, right?"
Qi Wangjian took a sip of his drink and when he put it down, the bronze bowl fell off the table due to the trembling of his palms and made a clanking sound.
The maid beside her hurriedly leaned down and went to pick it up.
Qi Wangjian paid no attention to this matter, staring directly at Tianjia below.
Xiang Bangtian's fake face looked a little blue in the candlelight.
He squeezed out a smile and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. Da Sima defeated many Qin generals in the Qin Palace. Even Zhao Tuo is no match for him. Now he has 300,000 horses in his hands. If he defeats the few with more, there will be no danger." Moreover, Your Majesty has also seen a thousand martial arts warriors trained by Great Sima. With such warriors here, why should our army be worried about victory? Your Majesty only needs to wait for the good news to come back from the front line."
"Yes, the martial arts of Da Sima's men are indeed mighty and strong, and I feel at ease."
Qi Wangjian laughed dryly and looked up at the door, only to see that the night outside the palace was getting darker.
I'm afraid they won't know the outcome of the Zhencheng battle until tomorrow.
King Jian of Qi whispered: "Great Sima, you will never let me down!"
…
"I submit to the king!"
At dusk, Da Sima Tian stood on the wall of Zhencheng.
His body was trembling, and his eyes were fixed on the scene below the city.
It was a scene of countless Qi troops disarming and surrendering to the Qin people. Outside the city and in the city, there were cries and howls everywhere.
This made Tian Chong feel sad in his heart, and he couldn't help but cry softly.
In the Battle of Pu River, he was defeated miserably, and his army of 150,000 was completely defeated in one battle.
Fortunately, Tian Dan, Xiang Fuji and other close confidants comforted and cheered him up, so Tian Chong regained his energy and fled back to Zhencheng.
According to Tian Chong's plan, as long as he could escape back to Zhencheng, he could collect the defeated troops in Pushui and reorganize his army to fight again.
The 150,000-strong army was defeated. Except for those who were captured and killed by the Qin people, most of the others ran towards Zhencheng. By then, he would be able to get more or less 100,000 troops, right?
After gathering 100,000 defeated soldiers, he then recruited tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from Ayi and other places. With the city defense, he could continue to consume the Qin people.
Tian Chong learned a lot from the failure in the Battle of Pushui.
For example, this time, his 70,000 reserve troops were overwhelmed by the defeated troops on the front line without even fighting. Although he had little confidence in these reserve soldiers, he did not expect such a bad result.
Weak beyond imagination.
"Seventy thousand soldiers are unable to fight because they are not trained. Apart from the agreement with Zhao Tuo, I should not have had such a hasty duel with the Qin people. The best way is to defend the city and fight with the Qin army. Consume it and seize the time to train the soldiers at the same time."
Tian Chong said to his generals: "After I gather the defeated army this time, I will defend the city and strengthen the defense line. With the strength of our people, I will definitely be able to stop the Qin army."
"Although our army was defeated in this battle, our soldiers are also on the battlefield. With experience in military warfare, we will definitely perform better when we compete with the Qin army on the battlefield next time. If we delay the time, I will still have a chance. !”
Seeing that Tian Chong quickly calmed down and proposed a follow-up response method.
Tian Dan, Xiang Fuji and others were all pleased, and felt that Da Sima's response was indeed a good one. They all praised him: "Great advice, Da Sima."
It's a pity that although Da Sima's plan was very good, the Qin army did not give him a chance to realize it.
After defeating the Qi army at the Pushui battlefield, Qin general Zhao Tuo did not withdraw his troops back to camp, nor did he collect the corpses on the battlefield and count the gains, but resolutely pursued them with his troops.
Qin's soldiers ate cakes at noon and were full of strength. Even at dusk, they still had the energy to pursue and kill.
The Qi people were on the contrary. Most of them fought for a whole day or stood on the battlefield for a whole day. They only had enough to eat when they sent out troops in the morning. They didn't even have anything to eat at noon. Their stomachs were empty and their hands and feet were empty. Sour and soft.
Not to mention turning back to fight the Qin army, he didn't even have much energy to escape, and he couldn't even outrun the Qin people who were chasing him.
When the Qin army caught up, they did not massacre. Instead, some of the Qin army's trained men shouted in Qi language.
"Lay down your weapons. Those who surrender will not be killed, but those who resist will be beheaded."
Under the slogan of not killing prisoners, many Qi soldiers saw that they could no longer run and had no fighting spirit. They simply threw away the weapons in their hands and squatted on the ground one by one, waiting to be captured by the Qin army.
As long as one person starts, the remaining Qi soldiers will not think too much about the issue of survival and death. The Qi army surrenders to the chasing Qin army in pieces.
Under such circumstances, when Tian Chong and others rushed back to Zhencheng, they did not collect many defeated soldiers in a short period of time. Instead, they quickly waited for the Qin army who took advantage of the victory to pursue them.
The Qin army was fierce, and the defeated soldiers of the Qi army were driven straight into Zhen City. It seemed that they wanted to seize the opportunity to seize the city.
"Close the city gate quickly!"
Tian Chong issued correct orders in times of crisis.
After killing dozens of defeated soldiers who were attacking the city gate, the guards in Zhen City forcibly closed the city gate to avoid the risk of the Qin army taking advantage of the chaos to attack the city.
But at the same time, they also locked up all the tens of thousands of Qi compatriots who were fleeing for their lives outside the city, leaving them all to the brutal Qin people.
At dusk, Qin general Zhao Tuo came to Zhen City in person.
The scene he saw was that in the open space outside Zhen City, the weapons laid down and the armor taken off by the Qi soldiers were piled into a mountain.
"General, the Qi people closed the city gates in time, and our army had no chance to seize the city. However, the defeated Qi army outside the city had no fighting spirit. When our army surrendered, they had no intention of resisting. All tens of thousands of Qi troops surrendered!"
Zhao Guang looked excited and reported the military situation here to Zhao Tuo.
Zhao Tuo nodded and looked forward.
Outside Zhen City, the Qi army formed a long queue as far as the eye could see. Under the gaze of the Qi people at the top of the city, their heads were drooped and listless, and they were escorted away by the Qin army.
"I once heard that in the art of war, don't push the enemy when you are poor. But now the general is doing the opposite, using the method of 'it is better to use the remaining brave to chase the enemy when we are poor'. He pursued the Qi army relentlessly and captured the Qi army outside Zhen City. Tens of thousands, and they all besieged the city. This great victory is contrary to what the art of war says. I dare to ask the general, why is this?"
Li Shiqi's eyes showed curiosity. He also dabbled in the art of war, but it was not his main business after all, and his specialization was not deep. At this moment, he felt that what Zhao Tuo was doing was different from the art of war, so naturally he wanted to inquire and learn on the spot.
Zhao Tuo smiled and said: "The art of war is dead, but people are alive, so we must use the art of war according to the actual situation, instead of blindly reading military books and being manipulated by the art of war."
"The Art of War says that when the enemy returns to the enemy, do not contain them, and when the enemy is in dire straits, do not push them, it also depends on the specific situation. If the Qi army has fighting spirit and energy, the Qi generals will have the courage. If our army pursues it, it will naturally encounter a tenacious counterattack. Even if it can win, You will also lose a lot. This is the principle of not pursuing but not forcing."
The battle on the shores of Surabaya came to Zhao Tuo's mind. It was a true portrayal of "Don't stop when you return to the army, and don't press against the aggressors when they are poor."
He paused for a moment and then said: "Now that the Qi army was defeated in the first battle, the Qi people were frightened out of their wits. After a day of fierce fighting, they were empty-handed and weak-handed. In addition, the Qi generals had no courage and abandoned the army and fled. It was inevitable. Don’t use this art of war again.”
"And what I am doing is not contrary to the art of war. Don't you hear Sun Tzu Wu say again: The speed of the water is the one who drifts the rocks, and the speed of the birds of prey is the knot. Therefore. Those who are good at fighting have dangerous momentum and short knots. The momentum is like a crossbow, and the knots are like a machine. Therefore, the momentum of a person who is good at fighting is like turning a boulder on a thousand-foot mountain."
Li Shiqi's eyes widened, he clapped his hands and praised: "I understand, what the general did was just like a huge stone rolling down from a high mountain, with a fierce momentum, destroying everything, it is to defeat the enemy with force! The general used troops, really like a god, I I admire you so much!”
Not only Li Shiqi, but also Zhao Guang on the side looked respectful.
General Zhao's use of troops is exactly as if Lord Wu An were still alive.
Zhao Tuo certainly didn't know what Zhao Guang was thinking, otherwise he would be sweating on his forehead and trembling in his heart.
Seeing that Li Shiqi understood, he turned to look at Zhao Guang and asked, "According to your guess, how many Qi troops are there in Zhen City?"
Zhao Guanglue pondered for a while and replied: "Our army is very fast and forced Zhencheng to close the city gate in advance. The number of Qi troops in the city is not large. Adding the original 10,000 guards, the total number should be around 20,000 or 30,000. However, there are many people nearby. There are auxiliary troops from the Qi army, and these auxiliary troops will follow into the city. If they participate in the defense of the city, they should be able to exert a lot of combat effectiveness."
Zhao Tuo nodded, with a smile on his lips.
Excluding the 20,000 soldiers along the Ayi line, Da Sima had as many as 160,000 available troops in Zhencheng.
Now after a great battle, only 10,000 to 20,000 people ran into the city, which is equivalent to more than 100,000 soldiers killed in the first battle. This kind of result is enough to be called a shocking victory.
All this was really thanks to Zhao Tuo's decisive pursuit. Otherwise, if he takes a step slower, Da Sima will gather more defeated soldiers, and the follow-up will become a lot more troublesome.
"Twenty to thirty thousand soldiers, plus tens of thousands of auxiliary troops, is not a big problem."
Zhao Tuo raised his head and looked at the head of Zhencheng in the distance.
Under the dim light, a figure could be vaguely seen shaking on the top of the city.
On the top of the city, Da Sima Tian rushed out of his weeping.
He looked outside the city at the scene where tens of thousands of Qi troops were surrendered by the Qin people, stripped of their armor, and escorted away like livestock.
Tian Chong's eyes were already blood red.
"In a battle between gentlemen, when the winner is determined, everyone returns to their own camp. How can there be a strategy of pursuing them to the end?"
"Zhao Tuo, you promised to have a gentleman's battle, but you are so disrespectful of martial ethics!"
Tomorrow will be the third update and I will finish the story of Da Sima in one go. According to plan, they will be unified this month.
Thanks to book friend 20230217011427359 and book friend Huo Yi for their reward, as well as all book friends for their voting support, thank you!
(End of chapter)
