As time passed, with Lord Xinling's return and the fall of Wei, the battlefields of Zhao and Qin also underwent earth-shaking changes.
The Yingchuan battlefield (Zhicheng, Luocheng and Xinzheng), which was originally divided into three, gradually merged into one.
In an instant, the Xinzheng battlefield once again formed a confrontation between the two armies, just like the Changping battlefield back then.
However, the difference is that the one who could not drag on the Changping Battle was the Zhao State, while the one who could not drag on the Xinzheng Battlefield at this time was the Qin State.
To the south, the total strength of the Qin army was about to reach 350,000. This also forced Li Mu, who had not yet fully arrived the reinforcements and had only 163,000 troops left in his hands, to retreat to Xinzheng City to defend the city.
However, Li Mu is Li Mu after all.
Faced with the huge disparity in troops he was about to face, not only did he not force the troops of Zhou Qi, Zhao Wei and Sun Gu behind him to speed up their march and rush to the aid of Xinzheng, but instead made some modifications to Zhao Kuo's order. XiuShu.com
After Sun Gu's troops from Yewang City recaptured Zhi City, except for the five thousand soldiers left to guard the grain road, the remaining 45,000 troops immediately headed west and attacked Quyang.
Zhou Qi and Zhao Wei's troops left 10,000 troops to defend Luocheng, 90,000 troops went south to Xinzheng, and the remaining 40,000 troops also headed west to cooperate with Sun Gu's troops to completely blockade Yangshan.
Immediately, the entire army under Sun Gu continued to move westward, cooperating with the southward troops led by Kongcang, and penetrated directly into the borders of Qin State's Hedong and Hexi, and blocked the Han Valley.
Yes, compared to Zhao Kuo's conservative treatment, Li Mu's heart was much bigger.
Obviously, Li Mu wanted to take advantage of the fact that the main force of the Qin army was imprisoned in Xinzheng, Yingchuan, and cut off Qin's wings - Hedong and Hexi counties.
Of course, if the Qin army is really weak, Li Mu would not mind attacking Hanguguan directly and marching to Xianyang.
Then this matter will be completely blown away!
However, this does not mean that Li Mu's strategic vision is more sensible than Zhao Kuo.
It's just that the Qin Army's series of actions were too fast, and Zhao Kuo, who was in the Wei State, obviously did not expect that the Qin Army would decisively adopt a retreat tactic.
What's more, they didn't expect that almost all of Meng Ao's troops, who were originally stationed in Quyang to monitor Luo City, would be transferred to the Xinzheng battlefield in the south.
Quyang is the gateway to Hedong and the only way for any army to enter or leave Hedong.
It can be said that once Quyang was controlled by the Zhao army, the Qin army's return from Hedong was cut off.
Once this road is cut off, Zhao Jun will have enough time to clean up the two counties of Hedong and Hexi.
The reason is very simple. Almost all the troops of the Qin Army have gathered under the city of Xinzheng. If the Qin Army in Xinzheng wants to come back for reinforcements, after the fall of Quyang, they can only return to Shu from Chu and then enter from Shu. Guanzhong, and finally through Hangu to reach Hexi and Hedong.
Such a path that takes a long time to contemplate cannot be completed in even one or two months.
One or two months would be enough for the Zhao army to capture Hedong, Hexi and even the Hangu area.
Even if the Qin State still has troops inside, it may not dare to go out to fight in Hangu under such circumstances.
Of course, from Wang Lu's perspective, this arrangement is reasonable.
It's not that he doesn't know the importance of Quyang, but if Meng Ao's army continues to stay in Quyang, it is very likely that when the Zhao army from Wei returns, they will immediately join forces with Yewang City and Luo City to attack Meng Ao. The army launched an encirclement and suppression campaign.
By then, the Qin army will not only lose Quyang, but also Meng Ao and tens of thousands of his elite troops.
In a word, today's Qin State is full of loopholes. Any place may be attacked by the Zhao army. If you can take care of one end, you will fall on the other end.
The same situation happened thousands of years later in Ming Dynasty 1642.
Of course, Wang Lu still has a lot more chips than Sun Chuanting.
However, under the current situation, Wang Hao could do nothing except reducing losses as much as possible.
Whether it is for the sake of the army or for Meng Ao's successor, shrinking the number of troops is the best way.
All Wang Lu could hope for was that Li Mu, who was opposite him, would remain unmoved and continue to fight him in Xinzheng.
Only in a decisive battle will Wang Hao and his Qin army have a chance of survival.
Unfortunately, Li Mu was obviously aware of Wang Lu's thoughts, and immediately gave up the idea of a decisive battle with the Qin army, and began to take advantage of the Qin army as much as possible.
Of course, this military order was also delivered to Zhao Kuo on the march at the same time.
After receiving Li Mu's report, Zhao Kuo immediately realized that he should not interfere in the Yingchuan battlefield without authorization. After all, Li Mu clearly surpassed him in terms of his understanding of the situation and his strategic vision. xь.
Immediately, Zhao Kuo also immediately re-ordered, confirming that the battle would be based on Li Mu's order, and withdrew the order that ordered all Zhou Qi and Sun Gu to march to Xinzheng.
Fortunately, because Sun Gu had just set off from Yewang City, he was even more cautious in his attack on Zhi City. Therefore, Zhao Kuo's change of orders from morning to night actually did not cause any obstacles or losses.
Soon, after taking Zicheng, Sun Gu also followed Li Mu's order, leaving five thousand soldiers to guard the grain road, and then galloped towards Quyang with 45,000 people.
As for Zhou Qi and Zhao Wei's troops in Luocheng, originally according to Zhao Kuo's order, they had to wait for Sun Gu's arrival before setting off, so naturally there was no delay.
Immediately, the Luocheng army also followed Li Mu's order. The entire 140,000-strong army was divided into three and began three completely different tasks of attacking, garrisoning and rushing to rescue.
When the Qin army finally discovered the abnormality of the Zhao army, Sun Gu's troops had already arrived outside Quyang City, and the army sent by Zhou Qi also occupied Yangshan on the south side of Quyang City.
Because they were caught off guard, Zhao Jun occupied Yangshan almost without a fight, thereby cutting off the horns with Quyang City.
Although there are still five thousand Qin troops in Quyang City, they have become turtles in the urn.
What's even more terrible is that the Zhao army led by Zhao Kuo arrived in Xinzheng City in time, causing the Zhao army in the city to instantly swell to as many as 220,000. Although it was not enough to launch a counterattack against the 350,000 army, it was enough to contain the Qin army. Any action other than retreating to Chendu.
As for Zhao Kuo personally escorting a huge amount of grain and grass, it gave the garrison in the city a shot in the arm.
To put it bluntly, although there are only 220,000 Zhao troops in the city at this time, as long as Zhao Kuo gives an order, all the Zhao soldiers from Li Mu on down will roar and rush towards the Qin army without hesitation.
Even though they all knew that the Qin army's military strength was much higher than theirs.
Under such circumstances, even if Wang Hao wanted to rescue Qu Yang, it would be impossible. Not to mention, on the only way to rescue, Zhao Jun's Zhou Qizheng led the remaining 90,000 troops to Xinzheng in a mighty manner.
Going north at this time, the most likely possibility is to run into Zhou Qi's troops, and then they will be cut off from food and grass by the Zhao army following them and be surrounded in the wild.
With the ability of Zhao Jun's cavalry, it can definitely be done.
It was obvious that as support for Qu Yang became impossible, Qu Yang's fall was only a matter of time.
This also means that Hedong and Hexi will soon become the fish and meat of Zhao Kuo's subordinates.
In this way, Qin Jun has no choice:
Or, open a battlefield and fight the main force of Zhao Army as soon as possible before Zhao Army has captured the land east of Hexi;
Or, retreat immediately, redeploy troops back to Guanzhong, take a defensive position, and wait for the opportunity.
Immediately, Wang Lu immediately sent an urgent report to Xianyang again. A decision must be made whether to fight or to withdraw. The further it delays, the more Qin will suffer.
However, the grandson Chu in Xianyang City didn't know that he had to make a decision as soon as possible.
But this decision is really difficult to make.
Fortunately, the hard years in Handan made Zichu learn to be patient. Although he knew that the front line was urgent, Zichu still endured and waited.
Waiting for the last chance.
Yes, Lao Qin has not given up yet, and neither has Zi Chu.
Finally, the day before Qu Yang was exhausted and forced to leave, Zi Chu finally got the news he wanted: Qi
, Chu sent troops to attack Zhao.
Yes, not only Qi State, but also Chu State was also included in Zi Chu's plan.
The first time Lord Xinling returned to Wei, Zi Chu seemed to have anticipated Wei's failure.
So, while everyone was pinning their hopes on Qi to send troops, Zi Chu creatively set his sights on Chu.
Although Qin had just taken over Chendu from Chu, although the grievances between Qin and Chu had been brewing for decades, and although no one believed that Chu could turn against Qin.
But between countries, there is neither eternal friendship nor eternal hatred.
It's nothing more than a matter of cost and benefit.
Since the Chu army had been standing still, and even during the confrontation at Xinzheng, not a single soldier had been sent to harass Chen Du, Zi Chu had been keenly aware that Chu's thoughts were quietly changing.
Therefore, Zi Chu immediately issued an order to the envoys who were in Chu State: At all costs, win Chu State to send troops to attack Zhao.
In fact, Zi Chu had already made plans to return the land of Yan Ying to the Chu State.
Although Qin will lose a large piece of territory as a result, it will give Zhao another opponent.
At the same time, the abandonment of the land of Yanying meant that the border area between Qin and Zhao was only a line from Hedong to Zhou Wangji, which was more conducive to the weak Qin to concentrate its forces.
According to Zi Chu's plan, after this battle, the entire world should be divided into four kingdoms. .Ь.
Of course, the specific situation to which Zhao can be forced depends on the war situation on the front line.
The best result is of course for Zhao to vomit out all the lands of Wei, Yan, Han, and Zhou.
Even if he can't, he will have to make Zhao Guo pay a huge price, and at least he will have the Hangu Passage in his own hands again.
However, Chu Guo's reply was indeed somewhat beyond Zi Chu's expectations.
Just relying on the capital of Chen, Qin's envoys had already persuaded the King of Chu to send troops to attack Zhao. Of course, after the victory, Huaisi County and Wei's Dong County were also generously given to the King of Chu by the Qin envoy.
Zi Chu was naturally very satisfied with this result.
Let alone the two counties after the war, even if the King of Chu directly asked for Handan from Zhao State, Zi Chu would happily agree while clapping his hands.
After all, let’s talk about this thing after we can beat it down.
As for Qi, under the threat of Wei's collapse, they finally nodded and agreed to the request to jointly send troops.
So, at the end of autumn when the balance of victory on the battlefield almost tilted towards Zhao, the breeze once again stirred up the waves on the battlefield.
