As the saying goes, if there is a destiny from above, it must be fulfilled by those below.
As Zhao Kuo's decisive order to kill was issued, the originally peaceful Handan City suddenly became restless.
There are those who are surprised. After all, the king personally went on an expedition. Although there was such a tradition in the Zhao Kingdom, it was already a product of the era of King Zhao Wuling. It was a bit strange that the king suddenly took command now;
There are opponents. In any case, the king's expedition is a big risk for a regime, especially before there is any bad news from the front line. It is not a very good idea for the king to go on an expedition in person;
Those who are secretly happy are even more so. There are not even a few people who hope that Zhao Kuo will never return. Although Zhao Kuo is recognized by the vast majority of people in Zhao State, it is undeniable that there are still many people who are against Zhao Kuo.
Of course, the most exciting thing is excitement and anticipation.
Yes, excitement and anticipation.
Who is Zhao Kuo? He is someone who can lead a weak army of 400,000 to defeat the Qin army of 600,000. He is someone who can withstand the Yan army's tens of thousands of attacks with 5,000 soldiers.
Now, the king is back on the warpath, and everyone seems to have seen that a great victory is just around the corner.
Whether it is blindness or optimism, this is the trust that Zhao Kuo brought to the people of Zhao State.
This is of course a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, when Zhao Kuo goes on an expedition, he brings his own buffs, which naturally increases morale and improves his winning rate; but on the other hand, such high morale can easily make Zhao Kuo, who leads the team, feel proud, which is very important for the battle. It is obviously extremely disadvantageous.
And once there are any problems with Zhao Kuo's expedition, the impact on the confidence of the entire Zhao country will be immeasurable.
Fortunately, Zhao Kuo, as the person involved, did not have such blind confidence, let alone any arrogance.
On the contrary, facing the current predicament, Zhao Kuo is somewhat worried to a large extent.
If in the Changping Battle, Zhao Kuo still had the advantage of a time traveler's understanding of history, then at this time, all Zhao Kuo could rely on was his true strength.
Of course, these are actually not important to today's situation.
The important thing is that Zhao Kuo knows that he must set off as soon as possible before Qin can react.
In order to ensure the confidentiality of the news, Zhao Kuo immediately declared martial law in Handan while ordering the army to set off. Not to mention personnel, even homing pigeons are not allowed to be released.
Of course, as Handan is the capital of Zhao State, long-term martial law is impossible. Five days, Zhao Kuo's request was five days. Within five days, no one is allowed to expose the information to the outside world.
In fact, this is what the government announcement told the people of Handan.
Five days, from the perspective of the female cadres left in Handan by the Qin people, this was just the time it took to assemble and prepare the troops and set off. Naturally, he would not be too persistent in passing on the information about Zhao Jun's march south.
However, the people of Qin obviously did not know that as early as Zhao Kuo was determined to send troops to destroy Yan, he had already ordered the Handan army to prepare for war. Therefore, the time for Zhao's army to assemble and prepare did not take five days at all.
On the contrary, after only one day of preparation, Zhao Kuo led an army of 20,000 people on the road south.
These five days were enough for Zhao Kuo to lead his army to the Shangdang area quickly; five days were enough for Li Mu's troops, who had received the order, to advance to the border of Han.
Obviously, Zhao Kuo continued to try every means to buy more time for his troops.
It's a pity that the Qin army actually didn't pay much attention to Zhao Guo's actions. In Wang Lu's eyes now, there is only one target - Chendu, Chu State.
Wang Hao still left the task of cleaning up the surrounding cities to Meng Ao.
In front of him, a full 200,000 troops pressed against Chen Du without any delay.
The good news is that as early as when the Qin army invaded the Chu State, the King of Chu had already received the report, and because of Zhao’s early reminder, a hundred thousand troops had already gathered in the Chen capital of the Chu State;
The bad news is that with the rapid fall of Zengcheng and Xincai, the Chu army in Chen's capital lacked the confidence to defeat the Qin army.
Although the Chu army that escaped from Zengcheng and Xincai City increased the number of troops defending Chen Du to more than 125,000, the increase in military strength did not mean an increase in combat power.
On the contrary, after learning about the elite and size of the Qin army from the Chu army soldiers who fled from Zengcheng, the Chu army was unknowingly cast a shadow of defeat, even though the Qin army was actually still alive. Didn't kill Chen Du.
Not only among the Chu army, this panic immediately spread to the entire Chen capital with the easy fall of Xincai City.
Many dignitaries even began to secretly transfer property and people outside the city. No matter how secretly they did it, they could not escape the eyes of the people.
Undoubtedly, the actions of the high-ranking officials and nobles made the people of Chu lose their confidence in victory.
And the panic of the people once again affected the court of Chu State.
As a result, the proposal to persuade the King of Chu to move the capital to temporarily avoid the spotlight gradually became more popular.
It should be said that King Chu was moved for a moment when faced with such a proposal. After all, no one wanted to risk his own life.
Fortunately, as a king, he had enough sense to stop King Chu at the last moment.
The sober King of Chu soon realized that once he gave up Chen Du, he would be giving up the most important territory of Chu State. From then on, Chu State would completely withdraw from the stage of hegemony and become the same as Han State. , the country that lives depends on the expressions of Qin and Zhao.
More importantly, Chendu may be the strongest side city in the northern part of Chu State today.
It is easy to give up Chen Du, but will the Qin army stop their march?
If the Qin army continues to pursue them all the way, where will they retreat to before it ends? The land of Wuyue? Or the Southern Barbarians?
What's more, as the king of Chu, he showed no resistance in the capital of his own country. How can he be the king after this? Who else is willing to obey their orders?
Therefore, whether in public or private, Chen must abide by it, and must abide by it.
After making this basic judgment, the King of Chu no longer hesitated. When several ministers who were about to propose giving up Chen Du were imprisoned, at the same time, they directly captured the generals Zeng Cheng and Xincai who had lost their army and rushed back. Ask about the crime.
Obviously, these two actions have only one purpose, and that is to tell all Chu people: Chendu must be defended.
After expressing his attitude, the next thing King Chu had to do was to tell everyone: We may not lose this battle.
It's a pity that facing the Qin Army's 200,000 troops, even Chu State, which has terrain advantages, has difficulty in winning.
If you want to win, strict arrangements are naturally necessary. King Chu has also made great efforts in this direction. Of course, such a large gap cannot be solved by strict arrangements.
The most important and most effective way is to tell everyone that they still have reinforcements.
So, while the King of Chu issued King Qin's order to the surrounding cities, he also sent envoys to the three kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, and Qi.
The King of Chu believed that at least Zhao State would not let Qin State annex Chu State wantonly.
And as long as Zhao is involved, Chu may not be able to reverse the situation or even make a comeback.
Soon, inspired by King Chu's half-truths, the Chu army stabilized their mentality and began to launch a tight defense against Chen Du.
At the same time, the main force of the Qin Army arrived outside Chen City.
Without the slightest pause, almost as soon as the camp was set up, Wang Hao ordered the army to start attacking.
Obviously, Wang Haocun didn't want to waste any time that might be surpassed.
Hundreds of thousands of troops (tens of thousands of people remained in the rear army) began to spread out outside the huge Chen City. The black and silver flags shone in the scorching sun, and the whimpering horns made the whole sky become deep and solemn. got up.
To the beat of neat drums, the Qin army in black armor appeared in the city in a mighty manner.
In the eyes of the Chu army officers and soldiers.
Far more arrow towers, ladders, and city rush vehicles than those in front of Xincai City were lined up almost in a row, as the soldiers of the Qin Army slowly approached the towers of Chen City.
Obviously, Qin Jun had made sufficient preparations for this moment.
Looking at the vast and endless front line of the Qin army, the Chu army soldiers on the tower couldn't help but swallowed hard.
Fortunately, as the Qin army approached, the drums inside the Chu army also sounded, which awakened the Chu army soldiers from shock and fear.
After licking their chapped lips and clenching the Changge in their hands, the soldiers of the Chu army immediately prepared for a bloody battle amidst the beating of drums.
"Let go!" The Chu army, which had a high advantage, took the lead in launching an attack on the Qin army.
It is still in the form of crossbow shooting, opening up a new attack and defense. However, compared to Xincai City, which had to mobilize troops from the north gate and east and west gates, Chen Du's troops were obviously more abundant.
And under the denser rain of arrows, more Qin troops were naturally killed on the spot.
However, Wang Hao wouldn't even blink at these casualties.
The captain of the Qin army in charge of the infantry held a war sword and raised it high - as if he had not been affected by the rain of arrows from the Qin army just now, he still ordered his troops without hesitation: "Advance!"
five hundred steps,
four hundred steps,
...
Soon, the Qin army's arrow tower finally reached the effective shooting range - and the crossbow shooting began immediately.
Immediately afterwards, the Qin Army infantry under the arrow tower accelerated again, and the Qin Army soldiers, as mighty as ants, rushed towards the tower one after another.
There was only a crisp sound of "click", and the ladders were immediately hung on the tower.
Shouting "Aoao", countless soldiers of the Qin army immediately stepped onto the ladder that was not yet completely stable and attacked the Chu army in front.
However, the Chu army was not dead after all.
Just when the ladder was about to be set up, countless long swords stretched out from the battlements and pushed the ladder aside.
Even if the ladder has been built to the city tower, the Chu army will naturally not let it go. Countless rolling wooden stones and thoroughly burned gold juice will be the best gifts to welcome the Qin army.
Countless Qin troops who rushed up the ladder fell down again, and red, yellow, and white ones flowed all over the ground.
The battle heated up almost from the beginning.
Watching this scene, Wang Hao let out a long sigh in his heart: Sure enough, Chen Cheng is not easy to attack!
However, Wang Hao now has no other option when facing Chen Cheng, except to use his life to pile up...
