December 18, 260 BC.

Changping Pass.

It has been a full five days since the night when the Qin army unexpectedly occupied this place.

Wang Ling, one of the four deputy commanders of the Qin army, was standing above the pass of Changping Pass at the moment, staring at the Dan River valley in the south.

The overall shape of Changping Pass resembles a huge funnel, and the pass is located at the bottom of the funnel, and at this moment, a fierce and bloody battle is being staged on the open land of the plain on the north bank of the Dan River at the entrance of the funnel.

Thousands of soldiers of the Qin army and the soldiers of the Zhao army shouted slogans, brandished their blades and slaughtered together, and the red tide and the black tide collided fiercely on this land, splashing blood-colored waves.

Countless arrows flew through the sky like locusts, and each wave of arrows landed with a series of screams.

From time to time, huge stones whistled down with a piercing sound, smashing heavily into the crowd on the ground, each time smashing the land into a large hole, breaking the bones and tendons of many unlucky soldiers, and blurring the flesh and blood.

The sound of killing was everywhere.

Wang Ling watched all this calmly, and the expression on his face did not change at all.

As a veteran general of the Qin army who followed Bai Qi's southern expedition to the north for nearly 20 years, Wang Ling had long been accustomed to the tragedy of the war.

What's more, since the fall of Changping Pass, similar battles have taken place every day in the open land outside Changping Pass.

Behind Wang Ling stood dozens of officers and guards, apparently belonging to his shogunate, but all of them kept a certain distance from Wang Ling, with the exception of one person.

Sima Jin, the general of the Qin army, stood beside Wang Ling, his right forearm was bandaged tightly, and it was obvious that the wound that had been pierced by Lecheng's arrow that day had not healed completely so quickly.

The two of them watched the battlefield silently.

After another moment, a crisp sound of gold suddenly sounded.

This voice did not come from Changping Pass or the Danzhu Ridge opposite, but from Hanwang Mountain.

After the sound of Mingjin sounded, the Zhao army, which had been fighting bravely, began to slowly break away from contact with the Qin army, and retreated towards Han Wangshan in the rear in an orderly manner.

The Qin army, which had been fighting fiercely with the Zhao army for several hours, did not pursue, but stood still, maintaining a defensive posture, and watched the Zhao army go away.

Hundreds of corpses were left lying on the battlefield, broken blades and armor were everywhere, and even ownerless horses could be seen wandering back and forth in the battlefield.

Even the water of the Dan River is stained red with blood, reflecting a frightening glow in the sunlight.

When at least half of the tens of thousands of Zhao soldiers who went out to fight had retreated to the Zhao Lei Wall behind Hanwang Mountain, the Qin army that had been standing still finally began to move, slowly approaching Changping Pass in the north.

Whether judging from the results or the number of casualties on the battlefield, the Qin army was clearly the side that was more qualified to be able to declare that Cheng himself was the victor.

But Wang Ling, the deputy marshal of the Qin army on Changping Pass, looked at the Qin army that was approaching him, but he didn't even have the slightest smile on his face.

After a few minutes, when the Qin army had already arrived under the pass, Wang Ling suddenly spoke: "Half? ”

The answer to Wang Ling was Sima Jin, who was standing beside Wang Ling: "It should be half." ”

"Half." Wang Ling repeated Sima Jin's words, and then said slowly: "This morning, the general ordered someone to pass an order to me, and today there will be a group of soldiers crossing the river into Changping Pass!" ”

The army of the Qin State was established, and each general commanded a hard work department, and the chief of the department was called a captain, that is, a department and a school; Each subordinate has three songs, and the commander of the song is called the military candidate, that is, one song and one candidate; There are three thousand people under the song, and the commander of the thousand people is called two or five hundred masters, and then there are five hundred lords, hundred generals and other officers.

The theoretical number of the first part of the Qin army was 9,000 people, but the actual number was generally around 10,000.

And just now in front of Wang Ling, the entire elite 10,000 troops of the Qin army, after a fierce battle with the Zhao army, were brutally defeated, and only half of them came towards Changping Pass.

That's 5,000 lives!

Even if the Qin army had a total of 600,000 people, how many 5,000 people could be able to squander it like this?

And such a huge casualty figure is not unique to today, but a number that has been repeated every day since the Qin army occupied Changping Pass.

In just five days, the Qin army left at least 25,000 corpses on the north bank of the Dan River!

So Wang Ling couldn't laugh, he couldn't laugh at all.

Sima Jin obviously saw Wang Ling's thoughts, and comforted: "Deputy Marshal don't worry, the casualties of the Zhao people are better than our army." ”

The corners of Wang Ling's mouth twitched slightly after hearing Sima Jin's words, but he still didn't succeed in showing a smile.

That's right, since the Zhao army has always been the one who has taken the initiative to intercept these days, the casualties of the Zhao army must be higher than that of the Qin army, at least more than 30,000!

But the problem is that if the battle continues like this, the Qin army will simply lose 1,000 enemies and 800 casualties, and there will be no casualties of 200,000 or 300,000, so they will not want to win the victory at all.

In fact, as one of the core high-level leaders of the Qin army, Wang Ling knew very well in his heart that the Battle of Changping had been fought until now, and the number of casualties of the Qin army had exceeded any war fought by the Qin State in history!

The mighty Great Qin Xiongshi had already shed too much blood in the mountains on the south side of the Taihang Mountains, so much that even a battlefield veteran like Wang Ling couldn't help but be shocked when he thought of the casualty figures.

If the fight continues like this, even if it can defeat the Zhao State, how should the Qin army face the 200,000 Chu troops that are wreaking havoc in the two southeastern counties of the Qin State?

Of course, a front-line general like Sima Jin doesn't need to think about this, but as a deputy marshal and one day likely to become one of the leaders of the Qin State in the future, Wang Ling has long had this awareness of thinking from the perspective of the overall situation.

If the price of defeating the Zhao State is to allow the Chu State to rise, then is it really necessary to continue this battle with huge casualties?

For the first time, Wang Ling had deep doubts about the current war.

Just when Wang Ling was in a trance, Sima Jin on the side suddenly touched Wang Ling and said in a low voice: "Deputy Marshal, his soldiers have arrived." ”

Wang Lingleng paused, only to find that the half of the Qin army that had just left the battlefield had arrived under the Changping Gate.

Wang Ling waved his hand and said, "Open and close the door." ”

A moment later, the heavy gate of Changping Pass slowly opened, and one after another soldiers who had just fought bloodily from the battlefield lined up and walked into Changping Pass in silence.

Wang Ling looked at this army for a while, and suddenly said, "How is the war in the north?" ”

The north mentioned by Wang Ling is naturally the Beishangdang Basin located in the north of Changping Pass.

Sima Jin replied: "Everything is going according to the general's plan. ”

Wang Ling nodded and said, "And go with me to welcome this half of the good men of the old Qin people." ”

The two walked down the wall of Changping Pass one after the other.