"That is to say... Zhao Guo is now fighting on four fronts." Li Si's eyebrows were knitted together, his right hand holding his chin, his eyes a bit gloomy and ruthless.
Fighting on four fronts, plus relocating the people, he could already imagine how busy the imperial court would be.
This also means that the country may no longer be able to send reinforcements, and they need to rely on themselves to win this battle.
"Not bad." Le Yi nodded.
"If we win the other three battlefields, we will lose. We will definitely be laughed at in court for several years." Li Si raised his head and looked at everyone, suddenly grinning.
After being interrupted by Li Si, the atmosphere in the camp became much more relaxed.
"Even if it's to avoid being laughed at, we can't lose," Jia Yan said.
"General, the Qin army is driving out the people in Xingyang." At this time, a messenger opened the camp door, walked in, and reported with clasped fists.
"I'm going to take a look." Le Yi stood up and said, and the generals followed behind him and walked outside.
The Zhao army camp was not far from Xingyang. After a while, Le Yi saw the civilians who had been expelled from the city by the Qin army rushing here in groups.
Seeing Zhao Jun, the civilians wanted to step forward, but they were a little afraid. After thinking twice, they still walked around Zhao Jun.
"Brother, was it the Qin army that drove you out of the city?" Le Yi stopped the group.
"This military master, a large number of Qin troops suddenly entered the city today, and then drove us out. They also took away all our houses and food, without even leaving a grain for us. I don't know how long our family will survive. God." The man sighed, the wrinkles on his face bunched up.
"The Qin army is deliberately creating problems for us." Gongsun Long already understood that the Qin army planned to use these civilians to contain the Zhao army.
"How many households are there in the city?" Le Yi asked.
"More than 10,000 households, I heard that they were all driven out by the Qin army." The man looked back and saw that the road was crowded with people, spreading from outside the city to the inside of the city, and there were cries and shouts everywhere.
Some were digging holes on the roadside to bury the bodies. These were all those who had just stood up to resist and were killed by the Qin army. After the family members carried it out, they could only bury it on the roadside.
"Dad, when can we go home? I don't want to be outside." The five or six-year-old girl hugged the man's thigh, tears falling down.
"We're going to visit relatives and we'll be home in a few days." The man rubbed his daughter's head, his eyes a little confused. Where do they still have a home now?
"How about we go to the Kingdom of Zhao to eat big steamed buns?" Le Yi picked up the little girl, wiped the ash from the girl's cheeks, and said softly.
When the man saw Le Yi picking up his daughter, he stretched out his hands to stop her. He saw the soldiers behind Le Yi and thought that his daughter would starve to death if he followed him. Finally, he lowered his hands feebly.
"Where is Zhao Guo?" the little girl asked curiously.
"In the north, it's far away from here. We need to take a car and then a boat to get to Zhao State." Le Yi said.
The little girl didn't speak. After a moment, she seemed to understand something. She looked at Le Yi with her big eyes, "Can my father, my mother, and my uncle and aunt also go to Zhao Country?"
"You can, uncle will arrange cars and boats to take you to Zhao." Le Yi said.
"Then I'll go to Zhao Country." The girl wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at her parents.
Le Yi put the girl back into the man's arms and said to the man, "You guys come with us."
After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the military camp.
The man thanked him quickly and followed Le Yi with his daughter in his arms. When they arrived at the gate of the military camp, Le Yi did not let them in. Instead, he ordered someone to take them to a camp specially designed to house refugees.
Although Zhao Jun gathered the refugees all the way, the refugees were not allowed to enter the military camp. This was to prevent the refugees from including female cadres of the Qin Army.
Moreover, the food that Zhao Jun gives to the refugees is rationed. Except for the children, others can only eat 60% of the food, which is also to prevent intentional people from causing trouble.
"Li Si, you are responsible for gathering the civilians who were expelled from the city by the Qin army and registering everyone's name, age, and occupation. See if any of these people are useful to us." Le Yi
Looking at Li Si, he understood that Li Si knew what kind of person he was looking for.
Xingyang is a big city, and there are countless aristocratic families living in the city. In order to leave a way out for themselves, these aristocratic families often leave secret passages to the outside of the city in their homes in case of emergencies.
Even if there is no secret passage, there will be some capable and righteous men who know Xingyang and its surrounding terrain very well, and these will be useful to Zhao Jun.
"I understand." Li Si nodded.
"Yan Zhou, use your eagle to send a letter to the Prime Minister, telling the court about the situation here and asking the court to prepare a place to resettle these refugees." Le Yi said to Yan Zhou.
"No." Yan Zhou said, cupping his fists.
"Report to General, General Baoyuan led the Korean army to arrive ten miles away." Not long after Le Yi returned to the camp, another messenger reported.
"Okay, the Korean army has finally moved north." Le Yi was very happy. He was worried about how to attack Xingyang. The Zhao army only had 10,000 infantry, and the rest were cavalry. They couldn't use cavalry to attack the city.
He originally planned to write a letter to Handan and ask Handan to increase its troops, but when he learned that Qin, Qi, and Yan were attacking Zhao in three directions, he had to give up this plan and find another way.
At this time Baoyuan came with Han Jun, that would be great!
"Hahaha, brother Baoyuan, I have been looking forward to the stars and the moon, and finally you are here. Come on, hurry up, let's go, brother has prepared a banquet, we are just waiting for him." Le Yi held Baoyuan's hands excitedly and couldn't help but say He pulled Bao Yuan into the chariot and drove Bao Yuan himself.
Bao Yuan was confused, and before he could react, he was pulled into the tent by Le Yi.
"Come on, come on, General, drink." Le Yi personally poured a large glass of wine for Bao Yuan. Drinking is not allowed in the army, but as the head coach, Le Yi couldn't stop him.
Bao Yuan looked at Le Yi in confusion, no, are we so familiar?
But after all, Le Yi is the head coach of the coalition forces, and Zhao Guo helped South Korea defeat the Qin Army. No matter from which angle, this wine can only be drunk.
"How many troops did the general bring this time?" Le Yi stared at Bao Yuan and finished his drink, then asked.
"Thirty thousand." Bao Yuan held out three fingers.
"Thirty thousand is enough to capture Xingyang." Le Yi said confidently. Zhao Jun also had 10,000 infantry, which added up to 40,000. The Qin army was defeated all the way, leaving only a few thousand troops with low morale and low combat effectiveness.
Bao Yuan suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.
"By the way, where is Tian Dan?" Le Yi suddenly thought, shouldn't Tian Dan be with Bao Yuan? Baoyuan shouldn't be here, Tian Dan hasn't come yet.
"Jun Duping went to attack Hulao Pass. He said that he would completely cut off the Qin army's retreat and let us capture Xingyang as soon as possible." Bao Yuan said.
Hulao Pass is the most important pass connecting the east in the Heluo Basin. As long as Hulao Pass is captured, whether the Qin State wants to send reinforcements or the main force of the Qin army wants to return home, they can only take a detour southward and take Xuanyuan Pass and Yique Guan or Wuguan.
The prerequisite is that there is enough food and there are no enemy troops.
If there is insufficient food, or if the enemy forces surround you, it is not certain whether you can return alive.
It can be said that if Hulao is captured, the three Jins will win half of the battle.
But Tian Dan's action took a huge risk and showed his full trust in Le Yi.
Because Xingyang and the Heluo Basin are both in the hands of the Qin army at this time, if Leyi cannot defeat the Qin army here and capture Xingyang. Even if Tian Dan could capture Hulao Pass, he would still face a flanking attack from the Qin army.
Hulao Pass is not a big city like Xingyang. It is just a pass. There are no people in the pass and there is not much food and grass to store. If you are attacked on one side, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. But if you are attacked on both sides, Hulao Pass is a dead place.
"Is he crazy? Why didn't he wait until Xingyang was captured before attacking Hulao Pass?" Le Yi said in shock.
Yan Ju told him before that Tian Dan was going north soon. He always thought that Tian Dan was going north to attack Xingyang, but who knew that Tian Dan was going north to attack Hulao.
"Du Pingjun said that the opportunity to fight is fleeting. Wait until the Qin reinforcements arrive at the front line, or the main force of the Qin army withdraws from Daliang. At that time, the difficulty of attacking Hulao Pass will increase tenfold and a hundredfold. Only then will the Qin army be strong. Empty, even if he knew he was attacking Hulao Pass, he couldn't
Returning support is the best time. "Bao Yuan said.
If Zhao's goal is to defeat the Qin army, there is actually no need to take this risk. If Qin feels that there is no hope of victory, Qin will naturally withdraw its troops.
But before the expedition, Zhao Kuo had already set the tone for this battle, making it impossible for Qin to go east again within ten years.
It is impossible to achieve such results without taking risks.
Not only do you have to take risks, but you also need the support of your teammates.
If his teammates weren't Le Yi, they wouldn't even do this to kill Tian Dan.
"When did Tian Dan set off?" Le Yi asked.
"Three days ahead of me. The journey from Huayang to Hulao Pass is half a day longer than here. Logically speaking, we should have reached Hulao Pass long ago. If we were quick, Hulao Pass might have been captured." Bao Yuan said. .
"Hey." Le Yi sighed, feeling an extra pressure on his shoulders.
Regardless of whether Tian Dan failed to defeat Hulao Pass, he could only treat it as a victory and capture Xingyang as soon as possible. He could not leave Tian Dan alone and helpless and was finally defeated by the Qin army.
"From now on, the entire army will be under unified command. The entire Korean army will obey my command. Does the general have any objections?" After a moment, Le Yi slowly raised his head, as if there was a flash of thunder in his eyes.
"The general has no objection." Bao Yuan said quickly, clasping his fists.
"Okay. We will start attacking the city tomorrow." Le Yi said in a deep voice.
"By the way, there are still a group of prisoners for you to take in." Bao Yuan said. According to the agreement with Tian Dan, he handed over the captured Qin troops to Le Yi.
"Leave it to us." Le Yi nodded. Zhao Jun's cavalry did not need to attack the city. They had enough manpower to guard and transport the prisoners.
The next day, Le Yi led the Zhao-Han coalition forces to Xingyang City and started a scolding battle according to the procedure.
First he scolded Wang Lu, and then he scolded Lu Buwei. By this time, Zhao Jun already knew that the Qin Army's military advisor was Lu Buwei.
After the scolding, he scolded Bai Qi. After scolding, Bai Qi scolded Qin Wangji. After scolding Qin Wangji, he scolded King Wu of Qin and King Huiwen of Qin. They continued to scold them from generation to generation.
These scolders were all selected by Le Yi from tens of thousands of troops who were best at scolding. The scolds were dirty and unpleasant.
But no matter how much they were scolded, the Qin army could not get out of the city. Even the expressions of the Qin soldiers did not change much.
After such a long time, they had long been immune to Zhao Jun's yelling and scolding.
No matter how harsh the scolding is, you will get used to hearing it every day.
Bao Yuan next to him was stunned for a moment. Whether it was Zhao Jun's scolding skills or Qin Jun's ability to endure, his three views were refreshed.
He had lived for several decades, and when he heard Zhao Jun scolding him, he had the urge to rush forward and kill people. Qin Jun was stunned but there was no change.
Le Yi did not expect that the scolding war would provoke the Qin army to leave the city, it was just to suppress the morale of the Qin army.
Soon, rows of catapults were pulled out.
The soldiers skillfully placed the boulders in the baskets, and with the sound of breaking wind, the boulders accurately hit the city wall, leaving large craters one after another.
There was even an unlucky guy who was hit by a boulder. His whole body was embedded in the city wall, and his rotten flesh was splashed all over the ground. It was extremely miserable.
After improvements, Zhao Jun's catapults became more accurate, with almost no misses.
"Didn't you mean to delay Zhao Jun? Why did Zhao Jun attack the city the next day?" Zheng Anping said anxiously.
"The Korean army is coming." Lu Buwei sighed. The Korean army arrived on the battlefield at this critical moment and gave the Qin army another heavy blow.
"How long will it take for our catapult to be assembled?" Wang Hao asked anxiously.
Although the catapult is not very lethal, the blow to its momentum is too heavy. The Qin army had been defeated again and again, and its momentum was very low. If it was hit again, it would be difficult to hold on.
"General, don't worry, it will still take two or three hours. However, our catapults are few in number. Even if they are all assembled, I am afraid we will not be a match for Zhao Jun." The craftsman said.
"Hurry up and assemble it, the rest has nothing to do with you." Wang Lu said.
"No." The craftsman did not dare to say anything and could only work hard.
"General, I'm worried that Zhao Jun will dig a tunnel
. Lu Buwei said.
"I have ordered people to dig holes everywhere in the city and put dogs in the holes. As long as Zhao Jun digs tunnels, the dogs will bark." Wang Lu said.
Tunnel sieges have been around for a long time, and there are also ways to prevent them.
"Can Zhao Jun know how to attack by water?" Huanjue asked.
"Although Xingyang is close to Xingze, the terrain is relatively high. The Zhao army dared to break the dike in Xingze and flood Xingyang. The Zhao army was the first to be flooded." Wang Lu waved his hand and said, indicating that there is no need to worry.
The generals of the Qin army were relieved.
While the catapults were attacking the city, Bao Yuan also led the Korean army to attack the city.
Without probing, Le Yi directly pressed all 30,000 Korean troops forward.
If Xingyang is captured one day earlier, Tian Dan will be less in danger.
The Zhao army is basically cavalry and is not suitable for siege. The main siege force can only be done by the Han army.
Baoyuan also knows this truth, and Tian Dan is leading the Korean army in attacking Hulao Pass. If Tian Dan is defeated because he fails to capture Xingyang, Tian Dan may not necessarily die, but the more than 50,000 Korean troops will definitely be beheaded by the Qin army. .
Therefore Bao Yuan did not dare to neglect at all and personally led the troops to charge into the battle.
Although the Zhao army did not send a large army, generals such as Le Cheng, Jia Yan, Yan Xiong, and Ju Xin did not hide in the rear, but attacked the city with the Korean army.
Le Yi waved his long sword, and a bright moon slowly rose from behind the army and hung above their heads. The morale of the whole army suddenly increased.
Led by Bao Yuan, the Korean army poured into the city like a tide.
For a moment, the shouts of killing shook the earth, and the weapons in the hands of the soldiers shone coldly in the sun.
The rain of arrows covered the sky and the sun, and came towards the Korean army under the city to cleanse them. The Korean army held their shields above their heads, carried the ladder, and quickly approached the city wall.
As the rain of arrows fell, Qin troops continued to fall to the ground after being hit by arrows. The remaining Korean troops seemed not to see it, with only cold expressions on their faces as they rushed forward desperately.
When they arrived at the city wall, they were just about to lean the ladder against the city wall. Rolling stones, wood, and golden juice continued to pour down from the city wall, and screams came from the mouths of Han Jun.
"Soldiers, follow me and charge!" Bao Yuan rushed at the front, wielding his Changge, blasting the boulder with a diameter of more than one meter into pieces, and quickly climbed up.
"If you rush ahead at your age, go to hell!"
Wang Luo stared at Bao Yuan who was rushing at the front, took the bow and arrow from the deputy general, and shot an arrow at Bao Yuan.
"Get out!" Bao Yuan yelled, and Chang Ge swept away the arrow, smashing it into pieces.
