The gunpowder was gently loaded back by Wei Yu, and the cast iron ball was put back into the wooden box. Zhao Zheng watched his action, and said in the end: "Jing people have witch weapons again, what can I do with Daqin?" ”

"Witchcraft can only break the formation, not invincible." Wei Yi listened carefully to Wang Ao's report, and he already had some understanding of the use and performance of artillery. Tongues of fire and roar can't be explained, but the power is not unmatched. "For today's plan, I can only break the Zhao State first. Only by breaking Zhao can we connect the people and control the Jing people. ”

The strategy of attacking Zhao first seems to be wrong, but the mistake is correct at this time, and there is no need to delve into it. The chariot of Great Qin has already chosen to destroy Zhao, and it is almost impossible to stop.

"If you are widowed...... Zhao Zheng suddenly thought of Mi Xuan, and he felt that he should not marry Mi Xuan immediately. King Jing loves Mi Xuan very much, maybe Mi Xuan can be used as an important bargaining chip in the future. After the words came out, he realized that King Jing did not have the ability to dictate the dynasty, he might compromise for Mi Xuan, but Jing Ren would never compromise for Mi Xuan.

"Our army should attack Zhao quickly, if we don't destroy Zhao this year, we will destroy Zhao next year!" The Qin army had already regained the cities of Yanshi and Chaona, strengthened their forces in this direction, and rushed to attack the two counties of Yunzhong and Jiuyuan to cut off King Jing's retreat. The most important thing at the moment is to quickly destroy the Zhao Kingdom, and it is best to destroy the Zhao Kingdom this winter. After three years of fierce battles and a major drought, Zhao Guo has reached the moment when the oil is exhausted, as long as Li Mu is defeated, Zhao Guo will die.

Speaking of destroying Zhao, both Junchen thought of Li Mu, and also thought of Jing Ke, the guard sent to assassinate Li Mu. The news of Zhu Lian Jing Ke's family spread last year, and if he really had the intention to assassinate him, he should do it.

*

It was ten days before Xiong Jing returned to the land of the meander. When he went out of Qin, the grain carts and horses of the Yan clan and the grain and horses of Chaona City were all collected, and some Qin people were also taken out of the fortress by Zhao Junsheng and thought they were slaves.

There was already a snowstorm outside the Great Wall, and the Qin army's tent that was robbed was not Pippen, so that the Chinese army shogunate lit more than a dozen fires, and it was cold to the bone. Although it has left Qin, the situation is still grim.

The situation in the army is as follows: including the wounded and wounded, there are a total of 3,079 people in the whole army, including 495 in the Chu army and 2,584 in the Zhao army; There were more than 3,000 war horses in the Huangshui Valley, and they were attacked and over-enforced for days, and only more than 1,600 horses were left when they returned to the land of the river meander, of which the Chu army had more than 700 horses, and the Zhao army had less than 1,000 horses.

Moreover, the news from Jiuyuan County was that Yunzhong County was occupied by the Qin army again, and the Qin army occupying Yunzhong was attacking Jiuyuan. When the county guarded Zhao, he advised the cavalry not to retreat back to Zhao from the line of Jiuyuan and Yunzhong.

With the situation in Guanzhong, the speed of the Chu Zhao cavalry army, which had retreated to the land of the river meander, could not compare to the Qin army. Under the geography of the character "day" in Guanzhong, the left half of the "day" is the upper county of the Qin State, from the upper county can be passed to Yunzhong County, the Qin army wants to intercept the cavalry is very simple, as long as the flying message is sent from Xianyang, even if the flying message does not understand, you can also send an order from Xianyang. Galloping 300 miles a day, you can reach the clouds in a few days, and you can't rush here.

The retreat is broken. Even if they retreated, the soldiers did not have enough horses, at least not enough Zhao Jun horses. The Chu army had sixteen fifteen-pound cannons, which were extremely inconvenient to march on the grassland, but it was impossible to discard them.

"The minister thought that when he crossed the big river in the west of Henan, crossed the Yin Mountain and went to the grassland, he could return to Zhao Ye." Li Qi is still the general of the Zhao army, and how to return to Zhao has long been discussed. "It's October, and it's more than 2,500 miles away from Yanmen County, so our army should move quickly."

"There is already ice and snow north of Henan, and our army is short of horses, and it will take 50 or 60 days for more than 2,000 miles." Yi channel. After saying that, I felt a pity. "We have entered the Qin State, but we have not taken the horses of the Qin people......"

Near Yan's Sai is the horse farm of Wushilu, but at that time he was in a hurry to enter Qin, and he didn't have time to grab the horses. The land of Huangwei is also the horse farm of the Qin State, but the retreat is very urgent, and the horse is not grabbed. These two horse farms have robbed either of them, and the cavalry is not in a state where there are no horses available now.

"How about spending the winter here and next spring?" Xiong Jing looked at the generals seated.

The generals were shocked when they heard this, and Li Qi said: "The king, the Qin people are attacking the Zhao country, and we are like arrows, looking at the king Mingjian." ”

"North of Yinshan, the temperature will be minus 20 degrees in another month, and General Li wants to freeze to death to death in order to return to Zhao?" Xiong Jing asked. Even the Chu army, because it had to tow artillery and ammunition wagons, was short of horses. Out of Yin Mountain to the grassland, and then from the grassland to Yanmen County, of course, the march can avoid the Qin army in Jiuyuan County and Yunzhong County, but it can't avoid the wind and snow outside the fortress.

How many degrees below zero Zhao was puzzled, and after Wu Jiheng explained, Li Bocai said: "The meaning of the king, we need to stay here for a few months?" ”

"You can't stay here for a long time, the Qin army will go south after capturing Jiuyuan County." Yi channel.

"So what?" Li Bo was puzzled. Since you want to spend the winter here, you can't stay here for long.

"I'll wait to find a place to spend the winter." Xiong Jing Road. His eyes were on a certain part of the map, but it was hundreds of miles away.

"Where does the king want to spend the winter?" Li Qi asked.

"Hundreds of miles away." Xiong Jing didn't say it explicitly. "Our army should plunder the Qin people again, so as to get more grain, otherwise it will ......" Speaking of this, Xiong Jing looked at Yi Tong, "How much grain and grass does our army have?" ”

"Your lord, it's not that our army still has food and grass, but that you can't stay here for a long time. You can't take all the grain and straw from this place. "Yi Channel." Except for the artillery, all the horses were loaded with grain, and each of them was no more than two stone of millet, and they could only eat for a month......"

"Each person can carry two stones, and the stolen carts." I heard that there was only a January eclipse, and now I was also anxious.

"It is true that each person can carry two stones of food, but what about the tents, weapons, and armor?" Yi Tong's words were interrupted by Yu Jing before he finished speaking. "And those women robbed by General Li's corporals, how can they bear two stones of grain?"

In the world of war, adultery is rare, but captivity of women is common. This is the spoils of war, the poor can be wives, and the rich can be concubines. When breaking the city and Wangcheng, Sergeant Zhao not only robbed treasure money, but also robbed many women.

"This is the end of the sin." Li Qi was ashamed, he couldn't do anything about it, this was the soldier's trophy.

"How much grain can the cart carry?" Xiong Jing didn't want to care about robbing women, he only cared about the army's ability to carry it.

"Most of the chariots and double-wheeled carts are broken from Yanshi to here, and there are only two or three hundred vehicles that can be used, even if they can carry grain and straw, each person is only one stone." Yi channel. "Our army lacks horses, and without horses it can only travel thirty or forty miles a day. If one person and two horses can travel sixty or seventy miles a day, and each horse can carry as much as five or six stones of grain. ”

"How many horses are there in the chariot?" Xiong Jing asked again, where did he want to get a horse in his mind?

"Most of the wagons are serving oxen, and there are only more than 300 serving horses." Yi Tong said about the current situation, he had to let Xiong Jing understand one thing, that is, in addition to the fact that the retreat route had been cut off and the food was insufficient, the army's mobility was also insufficient.

In addition, there were some things that he couldn't say in front of Zhao Ren, and after arranging for everyone to try to find horses everywhere, he said: "Zhao Jun can't be trusted." Our army has more than 700 horses, and with 300 service horses, it is already a thousand. A thousand horses are enough, and our army is out of the fortress and back to Zhao. ”

"No." Xiong Jing disagreed with his one-man strategy, "Our army is like this, and the Zhao people will complain." ”

"Zhao General Li Qi is anxious to return to Zhao, just let him go first." Yi Tong said again. After he finished speaking, seeing that Xiong Jing didn't answer, he immediately guessed Xiong Jing's intentions, "Does the king want to enter Xianyang again and welcome the princess?" ”

Xiong Jing didn't think about this matter in his heart, and Yi Tong stopped him when he asked. Hearing that the attack on Qin was leaked, he quickly chased after it to save Yihou and Xiong Han and others. His decision was not wrong, the Chu army survived two hundred and thirty-two people, and more than one hundred and fifty were killed in battle. If he does not come, including Xiong Qiang, these two hundred and thirty-two people will die in that valley.

Mi Xuan is still in Xianyang, and he is not in Yingdu outside the Great Wall of Qin, only a thousand miles away from her, and it is only four or five days to gallop for thousands of miles. King Qin is dead, and he hasn't thought about re-entering Qin, but he doesn't want to leave here either.

"Within a few days, I know that there should be a Hou spy out of the plug." Xiong Jing replied.

"The king is waiting for the Hou spy?" Yi Tong asked, "If Hou Spy Yan can enter Qin again to welcome the young son, what about the king?" ”

"Don't ......" is really a difficult question to answer, Xiong Jing opened his mouth a few times and said: "If you can be trusted, you should enter Qin." ”

"If this is the Qin people's plan again, what can I do?" Yi Tong pressed step by step, and after that, he didn't want Xiong Jing to take danger again: "The king is outside my Chu country, don't take risks for a woman." If you want to enter Qin again, you should send your ministers to enter Qin. ”

Yi Tong's words made Xiong Jing uncomfortable. He felt that it was his private matter to take Mi Xuan, and the courtiers should not sacrifice for him. A few days later, the news brought by Hou Spy aggravated his mentality.

"King Qin is not dead?!" Looking at Xiong Qi's servant Yong Li, Xiong Jing was stunned.

"Not dead." Yong Li's wind and dust, Yan's plug can no longer get out, he ventured out of the plug from Fangqu.

"Why don't you die?" Cheng Kui's archery skills Xiong Jing completely believed it, he said that if he shot, it would be impossible to miss, and it would be even more impossible to lie.

"I don't know." Yong shook his head. "The lord asks me to tell the king, the empress dowager has died."

"The Empress Dowager has died?" Xiong Jing was taken aback again, and he asked urgently, "How is Mi Xuan?" ”

"After the Empress Dowager Zu, the son-in-law cried every day. The Queen Mother Zhao Ji is already the head of the harem and has set a wedding date for her. Yongkasa said.

"When?" Xiong Jing asked unconsciously, not realizing that his fists were clenched.

"A few days after the burial of the Empress Dowager." Yongkasa Road. "The lord asked the king to return to Zhao quickly, and the king of Qin has ordered the Qin army to attack the two counties of Yunzhong and Jiuyuan, wanting to cut off the king's way back. Yiqu Yu was also transferred back from Jingcheng and will enter Henan to pursue the king. ”