Wang Gua is a native of Anlu County, and he is short, and the winter sunflower who is the same as him is thin and tall. Since they set out from the battalion, although the leggings implemented by the captain in the army have relieved the soreness of their calves, the two of them are still tortured by the pair of extremely poor quality cloth shoes along the way, their feet are full of bubbles, and the thick winter clothes on their bodies also make them sweat profusely under the sun and consume a lot of physical strength.

Fortunately, the leader loves soldiers like a son, not only gave his summer clothes to the two of them, but also gave them a pair of new cloth shoes. Although the summer clothes are a little loose, and the cloth shoes are a little ill-fitting, but on the mat a piece of cloth, it is good to be able to wear it, the pawn is lowly, the march is outside, it is good not to be barefoot, which is so picky?

After the Nanjun soldiers left Liyang, they arrived at the dormitory first, the feudal monarch of the dormitory had already run away, and the head of Heifu ordered the local Chu people to hand over 300 summer clothes, 300 pairs of shoes of different sizes, and the two finally found the right shoes, the local Chu people secretly resented, but the soldiers were grateful to the captain of Heifu.

As the vanguard of the heel army, they did not stay long in each location, and the next day they hurriedly went on the road, and after two days of rapid marching for more than 100 miles, they arrived at Hucheng and Ruyang)......

These are two cities, but they are only two miles apart from each other, and Jiangling and Yingxian are quite similar, Hucheng City is high and deep, used to garrison the enemy, Ruyin is the place where the market and the people are concentrated, and the two cities form the trend of each other's corners.

However, when the Qin army arrived, they gave Hucheng away and instead concentrated their troops in Ruyin City.

The Qin army was happy and quickly occupied Hucheng, and the military commander Kong Zhanghan commanded everyone to use the city as a base, and sent people to fetch water, preparing to cook and eat before dark, in preparation for tomorrow's attack on Ruyin.

Wang Gua and Dong Ngai were led by Tun Chang and Shi Changyuan Bai to escort 200 people to the river to fetch water. Yingshui is a big river, nearly 100 steps wide, buckets are thrown in one after another, breaking the calm of the sparkling water, the two also squatted by the river to wash their faces, the cold river water makes them refreshed, and they are about to take a sip of clear water, but they are kicked over by a person next to them!

Wang Gua was kicked to the ground, and the water was sprinkled all over his body, he was furious, and when he looked up again, he saw that it was Ji Ying, the herald next to the chief......

"Ji Jun!"

Wang Gua hurriedly got up and paused, and Yuan Bai also greeted him with a smile on his face, although Ji Ying was only a small chief, with a knighthood, but he was the most trusted person around the commander, and ten of his men rode horses to pass military intelligence orders between the various tuns.

"You can't drink this water!"

Ji Ying loudly passed the order of the chief, and at the same time pointed to Yingshui upstream and scolded: "You are blind, don't you see what is floating there?" ”

Wang gourd and winter sunflower looked at it, and couldn't help but gasp, it turned out that in the middle of the river, something was floating in a sinking and floating place, and when it was far away, I thought it was driftwood, and when I got closer, I found that it was a few swollen and white corpses!

Looking up, there are more floating corpses than fish! Among them, there are Qin soldiers in black armor, and more Chu soldiers in red armor!

Seeing this situation, Wang Gua and the others were afraid for a while, and the people who were in a hurry to drink water also hurriedly clasped their throats and spit out the water, only to feel that the river was full of fishy smell, how could it be clear before?

Yuan Bai asked people to empty the buckets one by one, and said to Ji Ying with a smile: "Ji Jun, why are there so many floating corpses?" ”

"Do you know where the water flows?"

Ji Ying, who had seen the map in the black man's military tent, began to show off his geographical knowledge, and said proudly: "It's Xiangcheng!" I heard that the Chinese army of the old general Wang Jian caught up with the Chu army in Xiangcheng the day before yesterday, the two sides fought a big battle, the Chu army retreated, and tens of thousands of corpses of the Qin army died in Yingshui, so they were washed here by the current, and the water in this river may not be drinkable in the month! The commander ordered you and the others to go to the Lilu around the city to find ready-made wells! By the way, let's see if we can find food! ”

Everyone received the order, and each of them dispersed with the tun chief and the chief.

Wang Gua and their tun, holding a sword, walked cautiously on the road by the river, but saw that in the field next to the road, the green seedlings in the paddy field were just rising, and the water had dried up a little, but no one came to take care of it.

Along the way, they passed by two miles, but they were empty, not even half a chicken and dog left, and finally caught a person, but it was an old man who couldn't walk and was waiting for death at home.

The Qin army killed prisoners, but did not kill the old, weak, sick and disabled, because it was useless to kill. So everyone silently closed the door, and the well-intentioned Wang Gua also left a small bag of fried rice in his arms in place, and the old man thanked him weakly, and his voice was almost the same as that of Nanjun, and Yuan Bai laughed at Wang Gua's own ignorance of the foolish behavior of those who could not protect themselves and were concerned about the mortal.

Later, in the next mile, they caught three rogue rangers wandering around the village, rummaging through their belongings. After capturing him, they replied that as early as yesterday, when they heard that the Qin army was coming, a gentleman in Ruyin City organized the people outside the city to enter the city.

"Everyone said that the Qin people were violent, and if they stayed where they were, they would definitely become prisoners, and the Qin soldiers would cut off the head of the man when they saw him......"

These bold rangers showed their yellowed teeth and smiled, "Isn't that the case?" ”

Yuan Bai and Wang Gua, Dong Kui and others looked at each other and smiled meaningfully.

By the time they left the alley, there were three bloody heads with wide eyes hanging from their waists......

"As long as it's not a woman, a child, or an old man's head, it's okay to cut it off, especially if these few light heroes may be the fine work left outside the city by the Chu people! Killing is also a credit! Yuan Bai Zhen Zhen said, and everyone nodded one after another.

Although they harvested a few heads, they did not find any food or water source, because the well was either blocked with stones, or when the cover of the well was opened, they found that there was a dead dog and flies flying inside, and the well was contaminated......

……

At nightfall, after the people who had scattered to the surrounding areas to find water and food reported back, Heifu also reported the matter to Li You.

"Captain, although there is no water source in Yingshui and the surrounding Lilu, the military commander can organize the people to dig wells on the spot outside the city, and the Ci River, Liu River, and Run River, which range from 20 to 50 miles from here, can all draw water, and the convoy can go there tomorrow morning, and you can go back and forth in half a day......

And it's urgent, as long as the water in the Yinghe River is boiled, it can be drunk, and it depends on whether the soldiers can endure the nausea.

But Li Duwei frowned, feeling that things were not so simple.

"The Chu people found out that our Xingjun arrived, it was only the day before yesterday, they hurriedly entered the city yesterday, but they were able to organize everyone to clear the wilderness, take away all the grain, and block and pollute all the well water......"

"Not bad."

Qin Mo Chengshang, who was following Zhang Han, also said: "In addition, according to my observation, outside Ruyin City, all the walls within the range of arrows have been knocked down, and all the large and small trees within a mile have been cut down, this is to avoid being used by our army as a fortification for advancement, and to facilitate the manufacture of equipment nearby." Some timber and wooden houses that could not be brought into the city in time were burned down so that they would not fall into the hands of our troops. Even the cattle were taken away or slaughtered, and those that could not be eaten were thrown into the wells......"

After finishing speaking, Cheng Shang said: "There are people in the city, proficient in the method of defending the city!" ”

Heifu also said: "What Cheng Jun said is right, but General Mengwu's military order says that this Ruyin must be taken within three days!" ”

Since leaving the fortress camp, although the 10,000 soldiers of Nanjun have served as the forward of the heel army of the southern army, following the route taken by Li Xin in the last expedition to Chu, and attacking cities and territories in the Yingnan region, they have been relatively smooth along the way and have not encountered any hard battles.

This is because the main force of the Chu army, mostly concentrated in the area north of Yingshui, was hung by Wang Qian's main force, and the two sides fought several big battles in Chen Ying and Xiangcheng within a few days......

At present, Xiang Yan's main force of 100,000 people has all retreated to the east of the chasm, organizing a second line of defense between Kuxian and Xinyang, and leaving only 10,000 people in Huaiyang (Chen Ying) to garrison.

And Wang Qian's army, only 10,000 Qin troops and tens of thousands of people were left to besiege Huaiyang, and the main force of more than 100,000 people was increasingly persecuted to the east, and the Huaibei Plain was in no danger to defend, and the Chu army was long in time, and I am afraid it would not be able to stop it for long.

Wang Jian didn't plan to let the Chu army retreat all the time, he hoped to fight a beautiful war of annihilation and eliminate the main force of the Chu army in one fell swoop, so the 80,000 people of the southern army led by Meng Wu undertook the task of strategic outflanking, they wanted to penetrate Yingnan, and then force Yingshui to cross, appear in the rear of the Chu army, and complete the encirclement!

As the heel army, the task of the Nanjun soldiers is to cooperate with the Xingjun army to take Ruyin City, which is guarding the Yingshui Ferry.

"If you can get this city, you can cooperate with the Chinese army to encircle the Chu division in the north, and you can seize Yingkou and drink Ma Huai water in the south, which will directly threaten the capital of Chu......" Li You's eyes flashed, this was a good opportunity for him to make contributions.

The state of Chu also seemed to know this, and still prepared thousands of troops in Ruyin City, waiting for the arrival of the Qin people.

It's useless to say more, the knife of the military order hangs overhead, even if there are people in the city who are good at guarding the royal son, Li You must also fight this battle hard. So he asked the military secretary Kong Zhanghan to organize the people to cut wood, and then asked Qin Mo Chengshang to assist in making siege equipment, and he would start attacking the city tomorrow!

After dusk, in the dead of night, most of the Qin army also slept, and only the patrolling soldiers walked around Hucheng and the camp.

Suddenly, two miles away in Ruyin City, a violent drum beat was suddenly heard! Immediately, the soldiers and civilians all over the city let out a loud shout!

Tens of thousands of people shouted, the sound shook the rubble, and the Qin troops inside and outside Hucheng couldn't help but be startled, and they got up and left the camp one after another. At first, Heifu thought that the enemy wanted to attack at night, so he held a sword in his hand, looked in the direction of Ruyin, and asked Liham, who was ordered to patrol, only to learn that it was only chanting from inside the city, and not a single soldier left the city.

"Is this a deliberate attempt to make us tired?"

"No, it's to suppress the arrogance of the Qin army and make the soldiers and civilians in the city unified."

Qin Mo Chengshang, who was wearing a single coat on the side, muttered: "This is also a common method used by the Mo family in the Book of Ink to defend the city, if my expectations are correct, there may be ink people in the city assisting the Chu army!" ”

Sure enough, in the early morning of the next day, Li Youzheng convened a pre-war meeting of the military secretary, the military opinion, the commander and others, and a military marquis came outside to report, saying that the head of Ruyin City was sitting on a bamboo basket and fell down, saying that it was a messenger in the city and wanted to see Li You!

"Bring him in!"

But the marquis hesitated, "But this man is poorly dressed and does not look like a doctor's envoy, and we suspect that he is an assassin sent from the city!" ”

Li You frowned slightly, but still asked the short-range soldiers to search the body several times and bring it into the account.

When the man was brought into the tent, the black man, who was sitting at the head of Li You, saw that it was a young man dressed in a coarse brown coat, with a tan as tanned as himself, and a pair of straw sandals on his feet.

This is the messenger of the city? I guess I'm a craftsman farmer......

All the leaders thought that he was here to entertain him, showing anger, and Meng Jia, who had argued with Heifu about Wang Qian's use of soldiers, even took the case and wanted the soldiers to take down this person and blow him away.

At this time, Qin Mo Chengshang was a little excited, got up and spoke: "Qiu Brown is the clothes, and the stumbling is the clothes...... Are you the ink of the South? ”

"Yes."

A young man of the same age as Heifu bowed his hand to everyone present: "The ink of the south is like a leather in the south, and I have seen all the kings!" ”