The news that Zhao had launched a war against Korea and occupied Yewang was like a stone thrown into the lake, causing all the princes to look sideways.

When Han Wangcang heard the news that Yewang was occupied and Shangdang was invaded by Zhao State, he was furious and scolded Zhao Yong's air again. At the same time, he ordered to immediately raise troops to attack the wild king and gallop to the aid of the party.

However, the reality is very cruel, South Korea, which has just experienced a great war with Qin, is now unable to organize effective soldiers to carry out the orders of the king of Han, and the internal power struggle caused by the reform of the king of Han has also affected the combat effectiveness of the Koreans.

When the Korean troops, known as 100,000 people, came to Yewang City, they were beaten by the cavalry of Zhao State before they were deployed. Qiu Ye led the cavalry to attack from the main gate and rushed to the main camp of the Koreans. Qiu Liquid likes to go straight, using the Hu people's tactics, coupled with the skilled archery and horse skills of the Zhao cavalry, he quickly rushed the Korean car formation. It was the first time for Han Ming, the Korean commander, to see such an unruly card, although he was also experienced in a hundred battles, but this time he was caught off guard by Zhao Hao and others, and hurriedly arranged for the cavalry on both wings to move forward.

At this moment, another cavalry unit rode from the Korean side gate, and Pang Xuan took the lead and rushed to the cavalry position on the opponent's left flank. It was precisely because Zhao Hao saw that the Korean army's main formation was in chaos in the city, so he led his troops to outflank the Korean rear army.

It should be said that the other princes are not without cavalry, but there are still no cavalry units like Zhao that have developed into independent arms. At the same time, in addition to retaining a small number of chariots in the eastern part of Handan and Zhongshan County, Zhao is gradually reducing the proportion of chariots in the Zhao army, and building a Zhao army with cavalry as the main and infantry as the auxiliary.

It is under this powerful change that Zhao's cavalry tactics can flourish, more and more young generals come from the cavalry, and the Baijin Battalion has also become the base camp for young generals to exercise.

Therefore, although South Korea claims to have 100,000 troops, this battle was damaged by Zhao Guo about three layers, which not only has the reason for the unknown command of the main general, but also the miraculous effect of Zhao Guo's cavalry attack.

At the same time, the Pang Cong Department of Zhao's army, which had already arrived in Shangdang, also took advantage of the unclear situation of the other party to take the Korean defenders by surprise, and in just five days, they captured the first Korean city in Shangdang.

The military situation came like snowflakes, and as soon as the battle was engaged, the news that Shangdang had encountered heavy troops from Zhao State was sent to Han Wangcang one by one. He thought before that this was just a coercive move by Zhao Guo, but now it seems that Zhao Guo's ambition is not just a wild king, the purpose seems to be the entire Shangdang! That is, it was almost a war of annihilation.

The whole court was in turmoil, and some people suggested conscripting troops again, and asking for help from Wei and Qi to attack Zhao; Some suggested that the king of Han sued for peace with Zhao and ceded the land in order to achieve perfection. The two factions quarreled in the court, which made Han Wangcang, who had always boasted of having some power, dumbfounded. Under the trade-off, he could only recruit troops again on the one hand, replenish the troops to the front line, and at the same time remove the commander Han Ming, and once again use the famous Korean general Storm Kite, who was idle at home due to party disputes, as the main general, responsible for commanding and resisting the attack of Zhao. At the same time, envoys were sent to the states of Chu, Wei, and Qi to ask for help.

Storm Kite is an excellent general among South Korean generals, and as soon as he arrives at the front line, he will rearm and fight, hoping to quickly restore his morale. At the same time, he also realized that it was not possible to fight with Zhao in the field, and he could only crush the Zhao army through numerical superiority and force the siege of the city. So the Koreans began to move every night, and the night was not conducive to cavalry galloping, but it was more than enough for the siege. What's more, the number of opponents is only 30,000, even if they fight in rotation, they will inevitably slack off in the long run. For a while, Yewang City was in turmoil, and Zhao Jun began to be tired of coping.

On the one hand, Zhao Hao admired the changes in Korea after the arrival of the kite, and on the other hand, he followed Xu Li's advice and sent elite cavalry to sweep the rear of the South Korean army, destroy Korean logistics, and sweep the villages outside its city. Even if he wanted to catch the kite, he couldn't catch the cavalry of the Zhao State attacking everywhere, so his originally safe logistics began to be tight, and he had to start looking for new tactics. He, like Zhao Hao, also admired this little brother, but he had to meet each other with a sword.

But a bigger problem has also been exposed, but no one has thought of it.

"Bang!" The violent kite threw the bamboo slip on several cases, stared at the grain transporter in front of him, and looked at the grain transporter in front of him, with an expression of choosing people and devouring them. The latter trembled, and if he hadn't knelt on the ground, he would have fallen.

"When the old man received the appointment, the supply of military rations for our army was still able to guarantee seven days of food for all members, but after two months, it could only maintain the supply for five days, and after another month, it could only maintain the supply for four days." As he spoke, he roared loudly: "Today you told me that you can only maintain a two-day supply for all staff, so how can the army still fight!" ”

The generals in the entire tent heard the words of the storm kite, and muttered in a low voice, no wonder, these days the food is getting more and more insatiable, so many people are stationed here, the cost of eating horses and horses is huge, if the food and grass cannot be guaranteed, who will go to war.

"The general is angry, please let me report to you." He wiped the sweat from his head and said tremblingly: "I came here today to tell the general." ”

"Tell what?" The kite looked at him fiercely.

"Tell the general that not only has the treasury of Xinzheng been cleaned, but even the grain and grass in the surrounding cities have almost been exhausted. I'm afraid that in another month, even if it is a day's food, it will be difficult to supply! ”

As soon as this sentence was finished, everyone was stunned, they really couldn't imagine when South Korea was so short of food and grass. Even the kites were startled.

"Do you know that spreading rumors and disturbing the morale of the army will kill you in front of the tent, and you don't need to ask the king!"

"I don't dare to deceive the general." He wiped his sweat again. "One has just fought with the Qin State and suffered heavy losses. Not only is there a lack of young and strong labor to put into production, but even the time to sow and harvest is missed. As a result, the land has been abandoned, no one has cultivated it, and grain production has been reduced. ”

"Second, the cavalry constantly sent by Zhao State is too harassing our logistics line, and even if a large amount of military strength is invested to maintain it, it is still impossible to guarantee supply. What's more, with the mobility of the cavalry of Zhao State, we really can't catch up. The kite-like nodded, these two points were true.

"As for the third, it is the most unexpected." He smiled wryly.

"Oh? How was it unexpected? The storm kite raised his eyebrows, and the eyes of the other party were very different.

"The general should know that in the past, King Zhao succeeded to the throne and agreed with me in Korea to exchange the war horses of Zhao for Korea's powerful crossbow arrows."

"This matter is naturally clear." Storm Kite nodded in response.

"It is precisely because of this that today's disaster is possible." The little officer sighed.

It turned out that since Zhao and South Korea agreed on this matter, South Korea increased its funding for smelting in order to ensure the supply of Zhao State, so that many people benefited from it. Seeing that smelting was profitable, many Korean aristocrats and merchants began to invest and recruit a large number of craftsmen. South Korea itself has no control over smelting, and for a time South Korea was full of subway furnaces. Many people also began to abandon farming in favor of smelting.

"Due to the decrease in the number of cultivators and the lack of care for the cultivated land, the grain production has become less and less in recent years, and the price of food has become higher and higher. Earlier, everyone did not realize it, especially the nobles because of the smelting of more and more wealth, for the price of grain is so high that they are not aware of it, even if they are aware of this, they are not willing to report it because of the profit of smelting a hundred times, because the current king has succeeded to the throne, the price of grain is even more than three times higher than the highest price of grain during the reign of the previous king! ”

The violent kite smacked his tongue, in fact, he also had a smelting family business outside, and he also made a fortune by relying on this, and he really didn't realize that food prices were skyrocketing.

So the king had to raise the commercial tax and lower the land tax so that the people could return to farming. However, after several obstructions by the ministers, the implementation did not go smoothly, and the granaries in various places were not full. Now that Zhao is at war, there is no surplus food available in my South Korea except for a large amount of strong bows and arrows and money! ”

"Now, in addition to asking for help from Wei, Qi, and Chu, the king also hopes to exchange crossbows for food, but the three kingdoms have not yet replied, because if they fail to capture Yewang within a month, not only will the supply of grain and grass for the 100,000 army be difficult, but I am afraid that even the Shangdang area will have no food available. Xinzheng can't even provide seeds for the coming year! ”

Hearing this, Storm Kite suddenly felt that maybe this was a pit dug by Zhao for South Korea many years ago, and it was precisely because of this that South Korea had almost no power to fight back after encountering Zhao's conquest. And in a month's time, facing a well-fortified Yewang City, as well as the brave and warlike cavalry of the Zhao State, do you really have the confidence to defeat it?

(End of chapter)