Speaking of China, Hanzhou seems to have regained hope, but Huang Zu is not optimistic about this.
He didn't say anything, but said to the soldier: "Go and call the grain officer."
"No!" The latter took the order and left.
Not long after, the grain officer hurried over, bowed his hands and saluted: "Shuai Huang, Marshal Han."
This person is a civilian official. As the name suggests, he is mainly responsible for the provision of food and grass for the army.
Huang Zu didn't waste any time and asked directly: "Master Du, how many days can our army still have enough food and grass to last?"
"It's been less than half a month." The grain officer returned truthfully.
"What?" Huang Zu frowned: "Why is it consumed so fast!"
With his tone, the grain officer thought he was going to investigate corruption in the army, so he immediately panicked and quickly explained: "Shuai Huang, the former General Huangfu divided his troops and took away a large amount of grain and grass. These were all passed through you. I agree, and so far, the follow-up supplies have not arrived. All food and grass expenditures are accounted for, and the subordinates have always acted in accordance with military orders..."
"Okay!" Huang Zu interrupted him irritably, "You go down first."
"Yes, yes, I am resigning."
After he left, Hanzhou panicked again: "This food and grass is less than half a month's use. The situation of our allies is getting more and more dangerous, and the news of supply cuts cannot be concealed."
Huang Zu glanced at him.
Han Zhou continued: "What is Huang Shuai going to do next? If he saves money and eats one meal a day, he can still last for more than a month. But at the same time, it is equivalent to telling the soldiers that our food and grass are gone. If If we don’t save, what will happen after more than ten days?”
Huang Zu was stopped by his question, and after a while he said, "What do you mean?"
"Go ahead and follow the city, look for supplies, and stock up." Hanzhou said directly.
Huang Zu shook his head: "I'm afraid this is a waste of effort. The King of Qin had this plan. The previous actions of relocating the people were obviously to adopt the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country. It is estimated that no matter how many cities we capture, there will not be a single commoner in them, and there will not be any Available supplies.”
"In such a big city, there will always be something left behind. How can you know if you don't search for it? Besides, it is better in the city than in the mountains and fields. At least, there is no such howling cold wind." Hanzhou said.
Huang Zu thought for a while: "Okay, let's go to Suicheng first." Anyway, they were dozens of miles outside the city.
The next day, nearly 400,000 coalition troops entered Suicheng in a mighty manner.
As soon as they entered, Hanzhou directly issued an order to search the city.
The generals of various ministries began to ride their war horses and give constant command in the streets.
"Quick! Quick! Keep up!"
"You go over there!"
Large numbers of coalition soldiers were divided into countless small teams and began to run forward.
The entire city was filled with the sound of infantry running in unison.
But at this moment, apart from these soldiers, there was no one there, and the shabby canvases of some tea shops and taverns on the street were still fluttering in the wind.
One after another, the houses were forcibly kicked open and the doors were broken in. However, there were no people inside, and there were no supplies, let alone food. Not even the furniture was left behind, leaving only an empty house.
This is exactly the strategy Xiao Yuan adopted before. When relocating the people, they did not hesitate to use force, because this step was necessary. Otherwise, after locking the pass, with the strength of the coalition forces, they could fight and loot all the way without worrying about food. of.
The search by the coalition forces took a whole day. It could be said that they searched all the houses in the city and only had to dig three feet of ground. Naturally, they found nothing.
There are trees in the courtyard of the county government, but in the winter in the north, the branches have become bare under the howling cold wind.
Huang Zu stood by the tree, looking at this scene, he couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Qin Jun didn't even leave any leaves for us."
Hanzhou said next to him: "At least, it's much warmer in the city than outside."
He was right. There were houses in the city. After the soldiers were stationed, they moved into small groups and settled in individual houses and started to light fires to keep warm.
Huang Zu's stay was arranged in the courtyard on the left, Hanzhou was on the right, and the main hall in the middle was the place for discussions.
After the garrison is completed, this military discussion is inevitable.
In the hall, all Lingchu generals gathered.
After Huang Zu looked around for a week, he sighed helplessly and said: "At this point, you should understand the current situation of the Allied forces. To be honest, according to reliable military information, our troops staying at Shanyuguan have been massacred by the Xuan army. This means that, Our route out of Qin has been cut off by the Xuan army, and the grain and grass supplies from the rear can no longer be transported to the front."
This opening statement was quite clear. When the generals heard the words, they all showed expressions of disbelief and looked at each other. Then General Youchu said: "Shuai Huang is joking?"
Huang Zu glanced at him and said lukewarmly: "General Chen, do you think I will make a joke out of this important military issue?"
"How is this possible?" General Chen panicked immediately.
After he was sure, everyone else also exploded, and the scene instantly became chaotic and buzzing. Someone said: "This Xuan Army is really brave! How dare you go against the Allies!"
"This is unreasonable! Xuan Jun is seeking his own death by doing this!"
"In my opinion, gather the army immediately and return to attack Shanyuguan!"
"That's right! Shanyuguan is so important to our army! Since Xuan Jun did this, he must have conspired with Qin, and they must not be allowed to occupy this place!"
"If supplies are cut off and the rear line is cut off, our army will be in danger. No matter what, we must repel the Xuan army first!"
"And when the king learns about this, he will definitely be furious, and he will definitely increase his troops to support. At that time, he and the supporting troops can attack Shanyu Pass from front to back!"
"However, there are 200,000 troops on the Xuanjun side, and the mountain pass is extremely dangerous. With our current supplies of food, grass and weapons, we may not be able to break through it in a short time..."
"Once the food and grass are gone and the arrows are exhausted, what should we do..."
"Then you can't just sit here and wait to die!"
"Now the Wu army is attacking Tongguan. If they can enter Shu and get supplies and food, there will be no worries..."
"Then what if we can't attack Shu when we run out of food and grass..."
"Taken together, it will be more difficult to attack Shanyuguan..."
"But to attack Shanyu Pass, we are very likely to have foreign aid, and we can attack from inside and outside. The situation will definitely be better than continuing to send troops to Qin..."
Everyone had a heated discussion and talked about everything, but one thing was that no one thought it was possible to destroy Qin anymore.
What they are thinking about now is how to get out of Qin.
Ignoring their arguments, Huang Zu asked Hanzhou directly: "What does Brother Han mean?"
"Return to attack Shanyuguan." Hanzhou said bluntly.
"I don't think it's appropriate." Huang Zu also retorted directly, saying: "We are fighting against 200,000 Xuan troops, and we will definitely not be able to break through the pass within a few months before the dangerous pass, and we don't have so much time. Instead of doing this, It is better to find a way to join forces with Huangfu Ye and invade Sichuan."
