After retreating back to Xiapi from the defeat of Yishui Xiaolu, in order to quickly replenish the troops, Gongsun Qing hurriedly recruited more than 800 recruits on the spot in Xiapi to supplement the county soldiers directly under him, so that the number of Donghai county soldiers under his command was restored to about 3,500 people, plus the original more than 1,000 county soldiers in Xiapi, the Qin army in Gongsun Qing's hands that could be used to defend the city was actually more than 4,500 people, and the total strength was not only sufficient for defending the city, but also more than enough.

Of course, the newly recruited soldiers were naturally inferior to Gongsun Qing's original main force in terms of combat effectiveness, and at the same time, because a large number of chariots, horses, weapons and armor were lost on the battlefield of Yishui Road, Gongsun Qing would not be able to restore the army's equipment to its original peak state for a while. But fortunately, Xiapi is rich, and there are a lot of weapons such as swords, bows and crossbows in the county treasury, Gongsun Qing is not so poor that he has to let the Qin soldiers go into battle empty-handed or with farm tools, the Qin army can still ensure that each person has more than one weapon available, and the most critical number of crossbow arrows is enough to support many major battles, but the number of armor is obviously insufficient, but fortunately, this point has little impact on the battle to defend the city.

The troops are sufficient, the weapons and equipment are barely reasonable, the terrain of Xiapi City is even more reassuring to Gongsun Qing, the north is the wide and deep Yishui, the south is the open river Surabaya, and the west is the confluence of Yishui and Surabaya, all of which must rely on boats to cross the river, and only a small number of troops are needed to guard in all three directions to ensure that nothing goes wrong. The only enemy Xiapi East Gate city wall is only about two miles long from north to south, even if the Qin army takes turns to guard the city, it can easily achieve that each battlement is guarded by a soldier, and the moat under the city is nearly three zhang wide, more than half a zhang deep, making it difficult for the attackers to cross.

It is precisely because of such a geographical advantage in his hands that Gongsun Qing is full of confidence in holding the retreating young marshal army of Xiapi, so much so that after receiving the news that Xiang Kang led the army to the eastern suburbs of Xiapi, Gongsun Qing also released such a wild words, "Let Xiang Kang, that traitor, let the horse go, this official wants to see how many thieves he has to die in order to break through the moat of Xiapi!" This official also wants to see if his thieves can break through the city wall of Shangpi before they die! ”

The Qin soldiers were also as confident as their commander Gongsun Qing, while the young marshal's army was encamped, when a young marshal's army of sentinels roamed around under the city of Xiapi Simen to probe the enemy's situation, the Qin soldiers not only did not panic at all, but also continued to abuse and provoke on the city wall, and some particularly rude Qin soldiers even jumped on the arrow battlements and openly urinated on the sentry rangers of the young marshal's army.

There is no way to even touch the city wall, of course, the rangers of the young marshal army have no way to take the arrogant Qin soldiers on the city wall, and after carefully probing the various situations of the four gates of Xiapi, this small number of young marshal army sentry scouts can only slip away quickly. However, it was only after the cavalry of the young marshal army went away that the Qin soldiers on the city wall were surprised to see that the cavalry of the young marshal army actually directly played the banner of Xiang Kang's commander, and clearly told them that the general of the young marshal army who personally led the team to visit Xiapi Simen this time was Xiang Kang himself!

Gongsun Qing, who was in the Xiapi County Temple, also received this report quickly, but Gongsun Qing was not too surprised, and after slightly regretting missing a rare opportunity to capture the thief and capture the king first, Gongsun Qing sneered and scolded: "Dog thief! Do you think that if you come to peek at the four gates of Xiapi in person, you can find the flaws in the city defense of this official? If you can find it, hurry up, this official has been waiting impatiently for a long time! ”

"Junzun, it's better to be careful." Xiapi County Ling Xiao was kind enough to remind: "Xiang Kang's traitor is notoriously scheming, he came to visit the city in person, he will definitely not be lost, I am afraid that he will make a move soon." Xia Guan believes that it is better for us to be cautious and take precautions. ”

"Talk nonsense." Gongsun Qing scolded, and then said: "This traitor is only good at stealing chickens and dogs, as long as we keep an eye on his camp, prepare for night defense, and don't take risks to fight, we can make that traitor can't play any tricks." Don't worry about anything else, the more you worry, the easier it will be to give that traitor a chance! ”

Xiao was stunned and agreed, and Gongsun Qing ordered the four gates of Pi, ordering all units of the Qin army to strictly guard the city, strengthen the night defense work, and require the guards of each gate to go up to the city every hour and a half at night to inspect the sentry posts, and then ignore it and go back to sleep with great confidence.

It was night, the north wind was strong, and the temperature dropped sharply, but the Qin soldiers stationed in the city had walls and houses to shelter from the wind, and they did not suffer too much. However, the Qin soldiers stationed above the city wall had enough of the living crimes, and they were frozen one by one, their faces were white, they sneezed in the sky, and they stomped their feet and rubbed their hands constantly, but as long as they thought that the young marshal soldiers stationed on the high ground outside the city must be as unlucky as themselves, the mentality of the Qin soldiers in the city was still much more balanced - after all, these Qin soldiers still had the opportunity to rotate down the city to rest in a sheltered place, right?

The night passed quickly, and the next morning, when Gongsun Qing was still having breakfast, a soldier suddenly came in outside the door to report, saying that the young marshal's army had dispatched an army and was heading directly to the east gate of Xiapi. Gongsun Qing heard the report and said suspiciously: "This is the beginning?" Impossible? The thieves only arrived in Xiapi yesterday, and they didn't have time to prepare siege weapons, so how could they launch an attack this morning? ”

After asking Ming to come to the enemy with a team of 500 people, Gongsun Qing's surprise was slightly understood, knowing that it was impossible for the young marshal's army to launch an attack on the city with such a small number of troops, and Xiang Kang must have sent troops for another purpose. But out of curiosity, after hurriedly wiping off the oil stains on his mouth, Gongsun Qing still led a team of people to hurry to the east gate of Xiapi, and personally climbed the wall of the east gate where the cold wind was howling to check the dispatch of the young marshal's army.

The young marshal soldiers who came out of the camp marched quickly, and Gongsun Qing had just gone up to the east gate city wall, and the young marshal army had already arrived at the Li Xu place outside the east gate of Xiapi, and then in the surprised eyes of Gongsun Qing and Qin soldiers, the young marshal army actually lined up directly to meet the formation, and then arranged a team of 100 people to cover a team of 50 crossbowmen to step forward, directly towards the moat. Gongsun Qing was inevitably even more inexplicable when he saw it, and said suspiciously: "A hundred long shields, covering fifty crossbowmen to come forward?" The thief's long shield doesn't want money, so wasteful? ”

Strange is strange, but of course Gongsun Qing will not tolerate the young marshal's crossbowmen to bully the city to release arrows, directly threatening the safety of the defenders in the city, after casually giving a command to the Qin army generals guarding the east gate, the Qin army's crossbowmen immediately entered the combat post, just saw the young marshal army soldiers enter the firing range, and immediately fired a random arrow salvo, covering the heads of the young marshal army officers and soldiers.

It's a pity that the long shield of the young marshal army is too much, and the two long shields are definitely more than enough to cover the three soldiers, so the rain of arrows of the Qin army did not play much role, just shot and injured some particularly unlucky young marshal soldiers, and the young marshal soldiers trotted forward with their shields, and soon bullied to the edge of the moat outside the east gate of Xiapi, and formed a temporary fortification with the long shield, and then the young marshal crossbowmen who hid behind the shield did not hesitate, and immediately cast a rain of arrows on the city.

"Junzun, be careful!"

For the personal safety of Gongsun Qing, the loyal soldiers ignored Gongsun Qing's struggle and opposition, and forcibly pressed him to the dead corner of the crossbow arrow behind the arrow stack, but what made these loyal soldiers strange was that most of the crossbow arrows released by the young marshal army crossbowmen actually crossed the city wall directly, flew into the city and fell, only a very few arrows hit the city wall, and at the same time, the sharp-eyed Qin soldiers shouted, "There is something tied to the thief's arrow!" It's like an arrow book! ”

"Pick one and give it to this officer!" Gongsun Qing yelled, struggling to stand up, but his own soldiers still held him tightly, because the young marshal's crossbowmen under the city were still hiding behind the shield and loading their crossbows, and they could send out a second wave of crossbow arrows at any time.

When a crossbow arrow tied with a white cloth at the front was handed to Gongsun Qing, the young marshal's crossbowman really released the second round of feather arrows, and he still shot the crossbow arrows into the sky above the city wall, so that the crossbow arrows flew into the city and fell, and at the same time, many sharp-eyed Qin soldiers clearly saw that the young marshal's army shot this second round of crossbow arrows, and all of them were tied with white cloth! Obviously, the young marshal's army wants to convey some news to the soldiers and civilians in Picheng through these arrow books!

"What the hell are thieves doing? How did you shoot so many arrow books? Confused, he tore down the arrow book he had just sent, and when he took a cursory look at the contents of the arrow book, Gongsun Qing's expression was obviously flustered, and then he gradually opened his mouth, and his face gradually began to turn blue, and finally he yelled in disbelief, "Break the water of Si to irrigate the city?!" ”

"Junzun, the thieves under the city are gone!"

The voice of the pro-soldier's report pulled Gongsun Qing's frightened soul back to his body, pushed away the pro-soldier and quickly stood up to take a look, and saw that the young marshal soldiers under the city released two rounds of arrow rain about 100 arrow books, and sure enough, they had already retreated under the cover of the long shield, but Gongsun Qing didn't bother to pay attention to these at all, just yelled: "Quick! Send someone into town! Get back all the arrow books that the thieves shot into the city! No one is allowed to open it to read, who dares to read the contents of the arrow book, military law is engaged! ”

It was already late, and when Gongsun Qing hurriedly issued this order, many letters that were shot into the city by the young marshal's soldiers and soldiers had already been opened, and many of the soldiers and civilians of Xiapi already knew that the young marshal's army was ready to dig the dikes of Yishui and Surabaya three days later, and divert the river water to flood Xiapi! And if the soldiers and civilians of Xiapi who helped the tyrannical Qin did not want to suffer the hardships of flooding the city and did not want to be soaked in the icy river water in the winter, there were only two ways, one was to go out of the city and surrender! The second is to kill Gongsun Qing and surrender the city!

The terrain of Xiapi City is somewhat low-lying, and is surrounded by the water of Yisi on three sides, it has always suffered from floods, fortunately, after Qin Shi Huang unified the six countries, the sword was turned into a plow, and the successive county commanders of Xiapi have attached great importance to water conservancy construction, and have continuously strengthened and repaired the embankment for more than ten years, and the people of Xiapi have a little rest, but they are still affected by floods several times during the period, and they dare not forget the disaster of floods at any time. The young marshal army openly threatened to dig a dam to divert water to irrigate the city, and the soldiers and civilians who saw the arrow book were of course distraught, and quickly told the relatives and neighbors next to them, as well as the passers-by who were full of curiosity, so the news was like a wing, and soon spread throughout the whole city of Xiapi, causing a huge panic among the soldiers and civilians in Xiapi City.

Even Xiao Stunned, the commander of Xiapi County, was frightened away by the three souls, and Gongsun Qingcai had just returned to the county temple with a bunch of arrow books with a blue face, Xiao Su immediately greeted him, and asked with a pale face: "Junzun, I heard that the thieves are going to dig the river and irrigate the city in three days?" Really? Didn't I hear that Xiang Kang is a traitor with some hypocrisy, how could he have such a vicious heart?! ”

"It's really fake, how can this official know?!" Gongsun Qing roared with a dark face, and roared again: "This official only asks you one thing now, if Xiang Kang's rebels really break the embankments of Yishui and Surabaya, will Xiapi City be flooded?!" ”

"Does Junzun want to hear the truth, or is it a lie?"

Xiao Su really likes nonsense, and at this time he couldn't help but say another sentence, or after receiving a heavy slap from Gongsun Qing, Xiao Su covered his face and said: "Back to the county, it will be flooded, the low-lying terrain of the lower phase is the most likely to be flooded, if the thieves really break through the Yisi Ershui, then the east gate with relatively high terrain may be better, but the other three gates will definitely be flooded." Once the flood enters the city, more than eighty percent of the houses and streets in the city may be waist-deep, or even deeper. ”

"So what are you doing all the time? Why don't you hurry up and organize people and block the other three doors with earth, stone and sandbags?! Gongsun Qing roared again, and roared again: "Also, ask your people to go to the city to search for the thief's arrow book, and the thief's arrow book shot into the city must be confiscated by me!" Whoever dares to spread the contents of the thief's arrow book will be held accountable! ”

Gongsun Qing was too flustered in his heart, Gongsun Qing didn't notice that his orders were somewhat contradictory, and when he saw Xiao Xuan, who was the county commander, hurriedly preventing people from filling the city gate with manpower, the rumor that the young marshal's army was about to break the river and flood the city was not only not suppressed, but on the contrary, it spread more widely and quickly. Therefore, it was just noon, and almost everyone in Xiapi City already knew about this matter, which caused panic among the people and confusion in the hearts of the army, including the Qin soldiers on the city wall, who had no intention of defending the city, and quietly just discussed this matter and said everything.

"Big brother, you are a thief outside the city, will you really dig the river embankment to flood us? Can they really do such a hurtful thing? ”

"How could it not be? They're thieves, what can't they do? ”

"Aren't we done then? When the flood waters entered the city, where we lived, what would we do to eat? It's already winter, and we're hiding on the city walls every day, how can we stand it? ”

"If you can't stand it, don't you have to take it? Who called us unlucky, and ran into a thief besieging the city and ready to fight us? There is only one way to not want to be offended, that is, as the thieves said, hurry out of the city and surrender, how about it, do you have the guts? ”

The previous voice was silent, and it took a long time before he asked in a low voice, "Big brother, what about you?" Do you have the guts to sneak out of the city and surrender to the thieves? ”

The companion who was called the eldest brother did not answer, neither did he have the courage to answer, but also because the grassroots generals of the Qin army had inspected here, they did not dare to continue to talk about this matter. And a similar situation can be seen everywhere not only among the Qin soldiers on the city wall, but also among the soldiers and civilians in the city, there are even more people, some people who are particularly bold and unwilling to endure the harsh tyranny of Qin II anymore, and even quietly discussed such a possibility - can you find an opportunity to kill Gongsun Qing and take Gongsun Qing's head to ask for merit from the young marshal's army?

Before the matter was over, in the afternoon, the young marshal's army suddenly sent a team of light cavalry to the Yishui embankment in the northwest of Xiapi, beating gongs and drums, shouting loudly, attracting the attention of the soldiers and civilians in the city, and sent people to the city to threaten that the self-army was preparing to dig the embankment there and divert water to flood Xiapi City. The defenders in the city were of course even more panicked when they saw it, Gongsun Qing was furious, and immediately sent cavalry out of the city from the east gate to find the young marshal cavalry to fight, but unfortunately the young marshal cavalry did not want to pay attention to it at all, just saw the Qin cavalry attack, and immediately fled back to the young marshal camp from the opposite direction, and the Qin cavalry did not dare to pursue too much.

In the evening, several young marshal cavalry rode horses and rushed to the city of Xiapi, with crossbow arrows to shoot an arrow book to the city of Xiapi, after the Qin soldiers handed the letter to Gongsun Qing, Gongsun Qing was also suddenly so angry that his whole body trembled, it turned out that the arrow book of the young marshal army was written directly to Xiao Su of Xiapi County, citing the examples of the officials of the Qin Dynasty who had surrendered to the young marshal army before, and strongly advised Xiao Su to follow them, quickly find an opportunity to kill Gongsun Qing, and take Gongsun Qing's head to Xiang Kang to ask for a reward.

After the anger, there is endless fear, because Gongsun Qing knows very well that under the threat of life and death in the flood city, among the civil and military forces under his command, it is difficult to guarantee that no one will rebel because of greed for life and fear of death, and once these people really make a move, then the lightest consequences will be to cause turmoil in the city, creating an opportunity for the young marshal's army to take the opportunity to break the city. At the same time, Gongsun Qing has also clearly discovered that his military spirit has been completely chaotic, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, they will have no fighting spirit, only a slight change in chaos, and it may completely collapse at any time!

Things have come to this point, of course, Gongsun Qing has regretted his previous decision to stick to it, but it is too late to regret it, the main force of the young marshal's army has already arrived in the city, and there is no chance to withdraw directly to Tancheng, and at the same time, there are only three choices left in front of Gongsun Qing, one is to gamble that Xiang Kang will not be so hurtful to the heavens and reason, and will not really dig a dam to divert water to irrigate the city; the second is to risk breaking through the siege and strive to save part of the army to escape back to Tancheng; The third way is to make a desperate bet and directly send troops to fight to the death with the young marshal's army, and fight to the death!

It was night, Gongsun Qing tossed and turned, and he couldn't sleep anymore, so sad that he didn't close his eyes all night. On the same night, more than a dozen Qin soldiers quietly slipped down the city wall and disappeared into the depths of the night. And the next morning, the young marshal army sent cavalry again, carrying tools to run to the northwest of Xiapi City embankment to dig soil, the Qin army in the city was frightened and shouted a loud alarm, the city was also in an uproar, Gongsun Qing had to obediently send troops to block, the young marshal army cavalry was defeated and fled, leading the Qin army to the eastern suburbs of Xiapi, the young marshal's army camp also took the opportunity to send troops to fight, the Qin army morale was depressed, did not dare to fight, scattered and fled.

In order not to be flooded, the people of Xiapi even elected several elders who were highly respected in the city to come forward and negotiate directly with Gongsun Qing in person, asking Gongsun Qing to release the people from the city and let the people go out of the city first. Gongsun Qing hesitated, he could not let go of his agreement, and he was afraid of causing a popular uprising, so he did not dare to forcibly expel or directly arrest the representatives of the people and send them to prison. It's easy to put it mildly, and it was not easy to fool away a few representatives of the people who relied on the old and sold the old.

The death penalty is only a reprieve, not a few days, knowing that he and the Qin army are not very popular with the people, Gongsun Qing of course knows very well that if Xiang Kang really digs the embankment and floods the city, then there is no need to wait for the young marshal army to attack the city, and the people in the city will have to break out first, either open the city gate and open the door to rob, or directly cut off his head and surrender to the young marshal army. So when he had no choice, Gongsun Qing had no choice but to grit his teeth and make up his mind, and summoned all the generals to issue an order: "Get ready today, and send the main force tomorrow to find the thieves to fight to the death!" Go all out to break the enemy in a battle and capture and kill Xiang Kang's traitor! ”

After saying that, Gongsun Qing added another sentence in his heart, and said secretly: "If you really can't beat it, you can retreat to Tancheng, and you can't stay in the dead place of Xiapi and wait for death." ”