Just when Wang Ji and Wang Ling were worried about the vanished Zhao cavalry before, Li Mu had already led his army of 20,000 cavalry into the Guanzhong Basin.

At this moment, in front of Li Mu is a city, the city is not very tall, the blue-black city wall has been beaten by hundreds of years of wind and rain and looks a little mottled, it looks like it gives people a sense of history.

The name of this city is called Liyang.

Speaking of this oak city, it has a lot of origins.

In the second year of Qin Xiangong, that is, in 33 BC, the Qin State moved its capital to this Liyang City.

It was also in this Liyang City that Qin Xiaogong, the son of Qin Xiangong, enabled a man named Shang Ying and started a famous movement called Shang Ying's reform, which finally made Qin State from a weak chicken country that was overwhelmed by Wei to become the Western Heavenly Tyrant among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States.

Although Shang Ying presided over the construction of Xianyang City soon after the reform, and the capital of Qin was moved from Liyang to Xianyang in 350 BC, Liyang City is still a city of great significance for today's Qin State.

In terms of geographical location, if you expand the map of Guanzhong, you can find that Liyang City is located right in the middle of Xianyang City, the capital of Qin State, and Wang City, the front line of the battlefield between Qin and Zhao.

If the cavalry of the Zhao State could occupy the city by surprise, then the connection between Xianyang City and the front line of the royal city would be completely cut off.

But when Li Mu saw the closed gate of Liyang City and the ubiquitous Qin soldiers on the city wall, he knew very well in his heart that his plan to raid and take Liyang City in one fell swoop had come to naught.

This damn beacon tower of the Great Wall.

At this time, a general of Zhao State, who was about forty years old, rode a horse to Li Mu's side and said to Li Mu: "General, I just captured a few prisoners, according to the information from the interrogation, there should only be 5,000 defenders in this Liyang City, do you want to make siege equipment and prepare to attack the city?" ”

You must know that at this moment, there are as many as 20,000 people under Li Mu's command, although this number has not yet reached the standard of ten encirclements in Sun Tzu's Art of War, but in fact, in the actual war, this number is enough.

The name of the general of Zhao who appeared next to Li Mu was Xu Li, and he had made great contributions in the battle of Yan and He more than ten years ago. In the past ten years, he has been promoted because of his merits, and now he has become one of the generals of Zhao State.

This time, Xu Li was acting as Li Mu's deputy, assisting Li Mu to carry out this raid on the Qin State Pass.

Although Li Mu's age is much younger than Xu Li, Xu Li does not have any opinions because of this, let alone the behavior of relying on the old and selling the old, and he is dutifully responsible for the responsibility of the deputy along the way, so that people can't find any fault.

Therefore, Li Mu actually has a lot of respect for this deputy who is older than him.

This person is actually like that between people, if you respect me a few times, I will respect you.

But respect doesn't necessarily mean recognition.

So after hesitating for a while, Li Mu shook his head lightly and said to Xu Li: General Xu Li, this Liyang City can't be attacked. ”

Looking at Xu Li, who was obviously a little puzzled in front of him, Li Mu patiently explained to Xu Li: "General Xu Li, now we are leading 20,000 cavalry, these cavalry are all treasures, far from being comparable to infantry, how can they be damaged here out of thin air?" ”

"Huh?" Xu Li's mouth opened a little wide.

Regarding Li Mu's words, Xu Li obviously didn't understand a little.

However, this is also a very normal thing, after all, in this era, the infantry is recognized as the king of soldiers, and cavalry is just an auxiliary class.

Therefore, in Xu Li's opinion, Li Mu actually regarded the cavalry as more important than the infantry, which is simply a very incomprehensible thing.

Li Mu thought about it for a while, and decided not to continue to entangle in this place, but directly changed the topic, and said: "If in the general's opinion, if we directly set up a formation here to besiege this Liyang City, then how many days will it take to capture it?" ”

Xu Li thought for a while, and then replied: "At most, in half a month, this Liyang City will definitely become the bag of our army." ”

When Xu Li said this, he was full of confidence.

Li Mu smiled at Xu Li and said, "What the general said is indeed true, but what I want to remind the general is that we don't have half a month now." ”

When Xu Li heard Li Mu's words, he was a little stunned, and couldn't help but ask, "What does the general mean by this?" ”

Li Mu said: "The general should know that I have sent several cavalry units in advance to rescue the enemy. ”

Xu Li nodded.

Saving food from the enemy, to put it bluntly, is grabbing food.

This person in Li Musuo's department eats horses and chews, and the daily consumption of food is a big problem.

Therefore, even before departure, everyone's rations had been strictly planned, but by today, the rations of Li Mu's department were basically left.

So you have to grab it.

This method was common in the Warring States period, and was also mentioned in various military books such as the Art of War, as a way to weaken the enemy.

Li Mu continued: "Just half an hour ago, one of our cavalry discovered and ambushed a grain transport team of the Qin army, snatching three thousand stone of grain and some supplies. ”

"Three thousand stones!" Xu Lixi is colorful.

It's not a lot, but it's a lot.

Li Mudao: "There is a herald in this grain transport team, judging from the intelligence found on this herald, the current war situation in Handan is very critical, if we can't make some achievements here earlier, then Handan is likely to be unable to support it." ”

"What?" Xu Li was shocked when he heard Li Mu's words, and then he was a little worried: "But we are far away in Guanzhong now, and we can't go back to help." ”

Li Mu winked at Xu Li and said with a smile: "General Xu Li, in fact, we don't need to go back, we just need to end the battle in Guanzhong as soon as possible, then Wei and Qi will not be in trouble." ”

Xu Li urged Li Mu: "If the general has any plans, come quickly." ”

Li Mu stretched out his hand and pointed to the tall Liyang City in front of him and said: "General, according to prior intelligence, the defense equipment in this Liyang City is perfect, although there are not many defenders, they are all elite, if you want to forcibly capture this place, it will definitely waste a lot of time, so it is better not to attack the city." Now the cavalry under our command is good at field warfare, so it is the best strategy to find a way to lure the Qin army out of the city to fight in the field. ”

Xu Li nodded approvingly and said, "But this Qin person doesn't seem to want to go out of the city. ”

Li Mu smiled, suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed in a certain direction in front of him, and said to Xu Li: "General, please look there." ”

Xu Li turned his head and found that about two or three miles away from the direction pointed by Li Mu, there was a group of hundreds of people slowly approaching the direction where the two of them were.

Xu Li took a closer look and found that these people were all wearing ordinary people's clothes, and immediately understood the identity of these people.

They should be the people of the Qin State from the nearby villages.

And behind these Qin people, there are dozens of cavalry of the Zhao State escorting them.

Xu Li glanced at Li Mu with some confusion and said, "Could it be that the general wants to take these people of the Qin State as hostages?" ”

If this is really the case, then Xu Li feels that Li Mu is really stupid and naïve.

Li Mu shook his head and said to Xu Li, "General, please come with me." ”

After Li Mu said this, he pulled the reins of the horse and went directly towards the hundreds of people of the Qin State in front of him, Xu Li shook his head, he didn't know what medicine was sold in Li Mu's gourd, so he had to turn his horse and follow.

The two of them quickly came to the front of these people of the Qin State.

These people of the Qin State stopped and looked at Li Mu and Xu Li with frightened eyes.

Xu Li looked at the people of Qin State in front of him and found that most of them were women, children, old and young, and the proportion of adult men was very low, less than one-tenth.

For a perennial militaristic country like Qin, a large number of young and middle-aged people died in fact.

In fact, not only the Qin State, but also the entire world princes.

Due to the continuous struggle for hegemony for hundreds of years, many people died in the war, and those who can live peacefully to old age and then die peacefully surrounded by their children and grandchildren can be described as one in a thousand or even one in a thousand.

Li Mu looked at the team of Qin people in front of him very calmly, and said slowly: "Is there a pavilion chief, a lieutenant chief?" ”

No one answered.

Li Mu shook his head and pulled out the long sword in his hand: "Is there a pavilion chief and a lieutenant chief?" ”

This time, there was a commotion among the people of the Qin State, and many of them set their eyes on a gray-haired old man.

When Li Mu's eyes also looked at the old man, the old man knew that there was no way to avoid it, so he stood up and said to Li Mu: "I am the pavilion chief, I don't know what the officials commanded?" ”

The old pavilion chief was obviously a little scared, and immediately said to Li Mu again: "There are women and children here, and please raise your noble hand to the general." ”

Li Mu smiled gently, and suddenly said to the old pavilion chief: "Pavilion chief, do you know how many soldiers and horses this general brought with him to the south this time?" ”

Hearing this, the old court president raised his head in some panic and looked around.

The old man's eyes were not too good, but even if his eyes were not very good, he could see the countless Zhao soldiers and dazzling war horses who were busy camping around Li Mu.

When the number reached a certain level, trying to tell how many people there were with the naked eye was a very difficult task for the old man and even for all the people of the Qin State present.

The old pavilion chief looked at it for a long time, shook his head with some difficulty, and said to Li Mu: "General Hui, I don't know." ”

Li Mu laughed, and said to the old court president in front of him: "Old court president, I have a word that I hope you can tell the defending generals in the Liyang City, if you promise to stay for this general, this general will let you go, how about it?" ”

When the old man heard Li Mu's words, he naturally agreed in a hurry.

Li Mu coughed, and said: "Now I have led 20,000 cavalry into Guanzhong, this Liyang can go down overnight, but this general is not the brutal and murderous man, if Liyang City is willing to surrender, then this general can guarantee that no one will die in Liyang City!" ”

The old man immediately said: "Please rest assured, if you can enter Liyang City, you will definitely tell you this." ”

Li Mu nodded, glanced deeply at the old man in front of him, waved his hand and said to the cavalry of the Zhao State who were originally guarding this group of people of the Qin State: "Let them go to Liyang City by themselves!" ”

These hundreds of people of the Qin State were a little reluctant to believe that they had really gained freedom at first, and they walked back three times at a time, lest the Zhao army make any unfavorable moves against them.

After walking a mile away, and making sure that the cavalry of Zhao State had no intention of chasing after them, this group of people of Qin State took a big step forward and ran towards the gate of Liyang City with a shout.

Xu Li was a little puzzled, and said to Li Mu: "Why did the general tell the Qin people the details of our army? ”

Li Mu turned his head and smiled at Xu Li with a smile: "The general thinks that if this group of women and children of the Qin State can enter Liyang City, will the city guards of Liyang City believe their words?" ”

Xu Li thought about it and said with some uncertainty: "Maybe." ”

Li Mu smiled: "Actually, to be honest, I really hope that the city guard can believe it." I have already sent an order that all the cavalry who are attacking outside will drive all the Qin residents in all the villages dozens of miles outside Liyang City to Liyang City, increase the burden of Liyang City, and at the same time let the defenders in Liyang City understand that they have been completely surrounded by the army of Zhao State. ”

Xu Li seemed to understand a little: "So what does the general mean is that he wants to make the Qin people in Liyang City panic?" ”

Li Mu nodded and said, "Yes, as long as Liyang City gets this information, they will definitely find a way to send this information to Xianyang no matter what." If Qin Wangji learned that our army was only 20,000 people, in order to calm the hearts of the people in Guanzhong, he would definitely mobilize troops to fight with our army. At that point, it's time for us to come in! ”

Xu Li suddenly clapped his hands and said: "The general's plan is wonderful!" But what if Qin Wangji blocked the news and ordered the defenders of Liyang City to defend it? ”

The corners of Li Mu's mouth twitched slightly, revealing a smile: "Liyang City is in the middle of the Qin army's grain road, as long as Qin Wangji doesn't want his frontline army to run out of food, then after knowing this information, he will definitely find a way to confirm the number of our army, and when the confirmation is completed, he will definitely order the Qin army to attack!" ”

Xu Li was still a little uneasy: "But if there are two attacks on Xianyang and Wangcheng, what should I do?" ”

Li Mu laughed and said, "General Xu Li, there are 20,000 cavalry under our command!" Can there be an army surrounded by 20,000 cavalry in this world? ”

After a pause, Li Mu smiled again: "Of course, in order to make Qin Wangji make up his mind to attack as soon as possible, why don't you ask the general to take 5,000 cavalry and go to the outskirts of Xianyang to ride horses?" ”