Xinzheng City, which was not lively in the first place, became increasingly depressed with the departure of the aristocratic family.
On the streets and alleys, soldiers of the Zhao army were coming and going. Although they were in a hurry, the joy of victory could not be concealed between their brows and eyes.
Especially after the surrounding cities that originally belonged to the Kingdom of Han surrendered one by one, the atmosphere of victory filled the entire Xinzheng City.
It's no wonder. In just one month, the army not only destroyed the Qin and Han coalition forces, but also captured the country of Han in one fell swoop. Anyone else would be extremely happy.
Of course, Zhao Kuo and Li Mu were not among these people.
As the decision-makers of the war, both of them obviously knew that it was easy to defeat Xinzheng, but it was difficult to deal with the Qin army.
Although Zhao Kuo has arranged a series of actions, even Zhao Kuo has no absolute confidence in whether he can withstand the Qin army's crazy revenge.
There is no way, the gap in military strength is too big.
According to intelligence, there are at least twenty-three Qin troops in front of Chendu in Chu State. With the more than ten thousand Qin troops fleeing from the valley, the Qin army's front-line strength will reach a terrifying 240,000.
But today's Zhao army only has more than 65,000 people. Even if Zhao Wei's 3,000 heavy cavalry arrived in time, the total strength is only 70,000. Facing the Qin army that is three times the size of our own, Even with Li Mu by his side, Zhao Kuo could not remain calm.
Although Zhao Kuo also had Guo Kuo to defend him, he managed to hold off the Yan army's attack of more than 60,000 people with only 5,000 men.
But that was Yan Jun! As far as the combat effectiveness of individual soldiers is concerned, the Yan army is not even qualified to carry shoes with the Qin army.
More importantly, the Qin army stormed Chendu, and their men must have made enough siege equipment. This alone was more than a little stronger than the Yan army, which was almost unprepared.
It can be said that once the Qin army really abandons Chendu and attacks Xinzheng, Zhao Kuo will face the most dangerous battle since time travel.
Looking at the map in front of them, Zhao Kuo and Li Mu both fell into deep thought, their deep eyes constantly patrolling the ravines, trying to find a breaking point.
"My king." Li Mu couldn't help but said after all: "Can you please ask the Chu army to contain the Qin army? It doesn't need to be too much. As long as the Qin army can contain even a hundred thousand troops, the pressure on our army will be reduced a lot. .”
"If the number is between 30,000 and 20,000, it is still possible." Zhao Kuo replied almost without thinking: "If there are more troops, the Chu army may not be able to protect itself. What's more, if this matter is not handled properly, the Chu army will be hit. The Qin army's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain only made things worse."
Li Mu was also speechless when he heard this.
In the Chen capital of Chu State, there are no less than 120,000 capable soldiers now, but such a huge Chu army cannot even stand up to the Qin army's 20,000 to 30,000 troops.
This is unbelievable to anyone, but to Chu Jun, it is a real fact.
The reason is very simple. The Chu State's military strength is actually patchworked together. Although there seem to be so many people, they also fight very similar in defensive battles.
But Zhao Kuo knew clearly: Because of the enfeoffment system, these more than 100,000 troops may still maintain a high degree of consistency in defensive warfare, but once the defensive war turns to offensive warfare, these more than 100,000 troops will instantly become A plate of loose sand.
In addition, the current Chu army lacks an absolutely strong man like Xiang Yan who can bring all the troops together. Naturally, it is almost impossible for the Chu army to cooperate with the Zhao army and delay part of the Qin army. .
At least, from the perspective of war preparations, neither Zhao Kuo nor Li Mu should have taken the presence of the Chu army into consideration.
So, the question returned to the original one - how to win between 70,000 and 240,000.
"Where is the Wei army?" Li Mu seemed unwilling to give up, even though the Chu army could no longer place hope, and instead turned to the Wei army.
To the northeast of the Kingdom of Han is the Kingdom of Wei. The long border between Korea and Wei makes it very easy for the Wei army to enter. As long as the King of Wei wanted to, even if they set off from Daliang, Wei's army could reach Xinzheng City in just a few days. Read the book
But the question is, will King Wei be willing?
Zhao Kuo
He quickly gave the answer and said: "If there is no benefit, we can't do it early. In addition, the incident at last year's anniversary has already whetted the appetite of the Wei State. If our army does not provide sufficient benefits, the King of Wei will not Send troops to assist."
"How could Lord Xinling just watch Qin grow bigger?" Li Mu asked again.
"Of course Lord Xinling will not just watch Qin grow bigger, but similarly, Lord Xinling doesn't want our Zhao Kingdom to grow bigger." Zhao Kuo shook his head helplessly and said, "If it weren't for Lord Xinling, maybe we could still do it. To convince the King of Wei with gold, silk and jade, Lord Xinling..."
"Hey..." Zhao Kuo also smiled helplessly.
Indeed, when a smart person becomes one's ally, it is naturally very satisfying, but when a smart person has a conflict of interest with oneself, or even becomes an opponent, he often becomes the most annoying person.
Because he is smart, he can always find the conditions that are most beneficial to him;
Because they had been friends with each other, he was also able to identify his own weaknesses and force himself to submit.
While smiling bitterly, Zhao Kuo also vaguely felt that after this battle, perhaps the plan to destroy Wei should be put on the agenda. He and the State of Zhao can no longer be manipulated by such a decadent Wei State.
"If the land of Han is divided equally with Wei, is it possible to exchange for reinforcements from Wei?" Li Mu obviously still refused to give up, and then continued to ask.
"Except for Xinzheng, there is almost no useful land in the country of Han. If Xinzheng in Han is not given to the State of Wei, King Wei and Lord Xinling will not give up. But if it is given to the State of Wei, then our army will occupy What's the point of this? It's better to return the land of Han to the King of Han and forget about our army retreating to Zhi City!" Zhao Kuo's tone became obviously more unhappy.
"Hey." Li Mu sighed deeply and said, "It seems we can only rely on ourselves."
"No, it should be said that the only thing we can rely on is ourselves." Zhao Kuo shook his head and denied again.
"However, those who should send envoys must send them out." Zhao Kuo then continued: "Please do not invite them to come, that is our business, and whether they come or not is their business. It is just for me to come. If we resist the Qin army and don't come, we will be despising our Zhao country and betraying our Zhao country. The time to attack next year will have a dignified name."
"Yes." Li Mu agreed immediately.
"As for Xinzheng." Zhao Kuo continued: "It would be best to be able to defend it until Yanbei's army moves south. Even if it cannot be defended, with Zhao Wei's three thousand heavy cavalry escorting us back to Shangdang, it will still be better. No problem."
"Yes, I will be taught eventually." Li Mu immediately agreed again.
Immediately, after some discussion, Li Mu immediately threw himself into the intense defense arrangement again.
What everyone didn't know was that just as the Zhao army was mobilizing in full swing and preparing to defend Xinzheng, the Qin army's general Wang Lu had also received a defeat report from Meng Ao.
However, he did not attack Xinzheng with all his troops as Zhao Kuo expected. Instead, he ordered Meng Ao and Han Chu, who were on their way south, to repair the border on the spot and defend Zhao Jun from going south.
As for his main army, he threw every one of them into the battle against Chen Ducheng.
Obviously, Wang Hao no longer wanted to care about the life and death of Han Zhiguo. He had to win the immediate interests for Qin and capture Chendu. Although the benefits the Qin army gained from Chen Capital were far less than the benefits Zhao had gained from connecting the two countries, it was still better than nothing!
It can be said that Wang Lu was really frightened by Zhao Kuo. Even with an absolutely superior force, they still did not dare to launch a desperate fight against Zhao Jun.
Of course, this idea is easy to understand.
Although there are 120,000 Chu troops in Chendu City, their combat effectiveness is actually on par with the 670,000 to 70,000 Zhao troops in Xinzheng who are supported by Zhao Kuo.
In this way, one is the capital of Chu State, which is close at hand, and the other is the capital of Han State, which is hundreds of miles away;
If you win one, you can include it in your territory, but if you win the other one with all your efforts, you may not be able to include it in your territory;
Obviously, from a profit perspective, there is no problem in choosing to continue attacking Chen Du.
As for the problem of the roads going east and north being blocked by the New Deal, it is not unsolvable, such as borrowing the road from Wei. Or join forces with the Wei army to attack Zhao?
As Zhao's national power gradually surpassed Qin's, Wang Lu believed that there would be no changes in Wei, which was just under Zhao. Similarly, after Zhao conquered Yan, Qi relied on Zhao's breath. The country will not feel oppressed.
These will become the basis for Qin to re-propose the strategy of connecting horizontal lines.
Now that the fall of Han has become an established fact, what Wang Lu should do most is to capture Chendu as soon as possible and narrow the gap with Zhao as much as possible.
Of course, such an idea cannot be considered wrong, and the correctness of Wang Lu's judgment cannot simply be analyzed based on short-term and long-term interests.
It can only be said that Wang Hao chose a low-level difficulty. For Qin and Zhao, the war instantly became a simple mode.
Of course, the pressure on Zhao's side is gone, but the pressure on Chu's shoulders is even greater.
Especially when the King of Chu knew that Zhao had defeated the Qin and Han coalition forces, but did not continue to go south to support him, and the Qin army once again strengthened its offensive, an indescribable feeling of powerlessness suddenly rose from the bottom of his heart.
Even towards Zhao Guo and Zhao Kuo, the King of Chu and his ministers quietly felt a trace of complaint in their hearts.
Of course the King of Chu knew that by attracting tens of thousands of troops for himself, Zhao Jun had actually done everything he could to be benevolent and righteous.
However, it has always been like this when love and enmity become enemies. Zhao State failed to rescue Chu State from Qin State, which was Zhao State's unforgivable original sin.
However, the King of Chu and his ministers had forgotten that the interests of countries were intertwined. Attacking Han and saving Chu was all Zhao Kuo could do to deal with the current situation.
The only reason to blame is that the Chu State's military strength is still too small - if you fall behind, you will be beaten. This has always been the unchanging truth.
After the Qin army scaled the city wall for three consecutive days and caused a large number of casualties to the Chu army, the evacuation advice was once again placed in the Chu court.
