The next day, Zhang Xun and Ji Zheng led 20,000 elite troops to make a detour, avoiding the mountains on the north side of Ailing, and marching towards the hinterland of Qi. Xiao Shi did not follow, but stayed in the battalion to be in charge of the logistics of the troops.

After six days of marching, we were halfway through the journey. At noon, the troops passed through a mountain village, which consisted of no more than twenty or thirty thatched huts, and for some unknown reason, the village was empty.

Suddenly, the reconnaissance team found more than a dozen suspicious people on the outskirts of the mountain village, and Zhang Xun immediately ordered Yu Ke to go and search for them. Yu Ke led people to hurry up and catch ten of them, but unfortunately the remaining few people got into the mountains and forests and disappeared.

After some interrogation, Zhang Xun learned that those suspicious people were Qi Guo's fine work, and they were staying here to find out if the Wu State coalition army had made a detour.

Yu Ke knelt in front of Zhang Xun and blamed himself: "It's all my fault, let a few people go, now the people of Qi must know the whereabouts of our army, and their subordinates are guilty!" ”

Zhang Xun waved his hand and said: "It's okay, our 20,000 people marched, and it was impossible not to be discovered." What's more, our goal this time is not to capture Linzi, but to force the main force of Yigu to come to the rescue, and create conditions for the large army to attack the hinterland. Therefore, the people of Qi know it. ”

Ji Zheng nodded and said: "That's right, we not only want to let the people of Qi know, but also need to make the people of Qi pay attention, and in the next few days, we can even make a big show to induce the Qi army to divide troops to resist." ”

"Well, General Ji is right, in this case, we must also be prepared for battle."

"Exactly."

Yu Ke was still uneasy, he wrinkled his brows and asked, "General, how to deal with these ten captives?" ”

Zhang Xun thought for a while and said, "Let's bet first." ”

Subsequently, Zhang Xun ordered the troops to rest in place and bury the pot to make rice. These days, the march is difficult, and the war is approaching, Zhang Xun specially ordered logistics to add food, and the whole army has meat.

Yu Ke shot a pheasant in the mountains, and after roasting it, he sent it to Zhang Xun, Zhang Xun was overjoyed, and ordered Yu Ke to call Ji Zheng to eat together.

But Yu Ke looked around, but didn't find Ji Zheng.

At this time, Ji Zheng and his soldiers brought food to the ten captives, and the captives were very excited when they saw the food, and they couldn't imagine that they could eat meat as prisoners. These days, they squatted on the edge of the mountains and forests every day, and they were miserable, and now they can eat this hot meal as if they were dreaming.

The captives devoured, and one of the captives in his early twenties even cried while eating, saying that he was a refugee and fled to Qi to serve as a soldier, but Qi was treated very poorly, and he said that he didn't want to stay in Qi anymore and planned to go to Wu to make a living.

Ji Zheng sat down next to him and gently patted him on the back to tell him to eat slowly, and he cried and nodded. However, just as he picked up the bowl and licked off the last grain of rice in the bowl, Ji Zheng suddenly pulled out the Chongli sword and pierced his chest with a sword.

Afterwards, several soldiers drew their swords and stabbed at the captives.

"Nope! Stop it! ”

Zhang Xun shouted, but Ji Zheng had already stabbed the Chongli sword into the chest of the last captive.

"Little ...... Small...... No, General Ji, you, what are you doing! ”

Ji Zheng's expression was indifferent, he raised his hand, pointed to the corpse that fell to the ground, and said, "I'm dealing with the prisoners." ”

"Dealing with captives? They...... They have already surrendered! Why kill them?! ”

"Or else? We are in a hurry, and we have been out for six days, so we must not be able to escort them back to the prisoner camp in Bo. ”

Zhang Xunzhi hesitated: "We...... We can take them with ......."

Ji Zheng cut off a piece of clothing from the captive, wiped the Chongli sword in his hand with the cloth, and asked calmly, "Take them with you?" Did you bring it all the way to the Qi country? Hehe, otherwise we can only let them go, and wait for them to come back and kill us. ”

Zhang Xun had nothing to say, just stared at Ji Zheng, in his opinion, Ji Zheng was so strange at this time.

"We've done our duty, at least they've just had a full meal, and they didn't suffer more when they died."

Zhang Xun took a deep breath, the smell of blood suddenly filled his snort, he didn't want to look at Ji Zheng anymore, turned around and strode away. Back at the camp, looking at the fragrant roast chicken, Zhang Xun only felt disgusted, he ordered Yu Ke to take it away, and then he found the pot of treasured silk wine and poured a big sip.

On the tenth day of leaving the army, 20,000 elites had already bypassed Yigu and arrived at the hinterland of Qi State, which was less than 100 miles away from Yigu Pass, and only more than 300 miles away from the capital Linzi. Zhang Xun led his troops to an open field, and sure enough, a large number of Qi troops were found here, and it seemed that the Qi people had divided their troops to block it.

After Yu Ke found out, he reported to Zhang Xun, "General Zhang, there are more than 40,000 Qi troops in front, which is twice the size of our army. We can't avoid them, so how can we deal with them? ”

Zhang Xun looked at Ji Zheng and asked, "General Ji, what do you think?" ”

"No fighting."

"How?"

"Our task is to contain the Qi army, if the Qi army divides 40,000 men to stop us, then there will not be many people left in the Yigu Pass. Therefore, we must maintain a confrontation and contain the forces of the Qi State. ”

Zhang Xun nodded, and ordered Yu Ke to give an order, "Establish a position, strictly defend the defensive line, and do not attack without my order." ”

Ji Zheng added: "In addition, we must send people to closely monitor the dynamics of Yigu, I estimate that King Wu is ready to act." ”

"Hmmm! The big war is coming! ”

At the same time, a man suddenly arrived in the camp of the coalition forces stationed west of Ailing, this person named Guo Shu, who claimed to be the deputy general of the Qi State, and he came here to surrender to the king of Wu on behalf of the main general.

King Wu was curious, although he didn't believe that the people of Qi would surrender, he still planned to meet this person named Guo Shu.

Guo Shu was forty years old, tall and extraordinary, he strode into the camp, respectfully and decently saluted King Wu, and then handed over the letter of surrender written by the lord himself.

King Wu took the book of Toucheng, read it, and couldn't help laughing: "Haha, Toucheng? This kind of trick to deceive a three-year-old child, do you really think this king will believe it? ”

The surrounding generals also laughed. Xiao Shi stood at the back, but he didn't laugh, he just tilted his head and looked at Guo Shu curiously.

Guo Shu was not in a hurry or impatient, and said with a smile: "If this is a scam, then it is true that even a three-year-old child cannot be deceived, but Your Majesty might as well think about it in reverse, if our army is not sincere, why should I take this low-level deception to die?" ”

King Wu thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, regardless of whether you are sincere or false, since you want to surrender, there must be a reason." ”

"Your Majesty divided the troops to detour, and according to the speed of the march, the 20,000 elites should have bypassed the Wing Valley and arrived in the hinterland of our country."

King Wu glanced at the sand table on the side, nodded and said, "Well, it seems that you have done a good job of reconnaissance." ”

Guo Shu continued: "20,000 soldiers and horses came from afar, in fact, there are 5,000 defenders in Linzi City, 3,000 guards, and a total of 10,000 defenders in the surrounding three cities. If all these forces are gathered, they can rely on the tall city wall of Linzi to defend for half a year. But when our king learned that the elite of Wu was attacking, he was panicked, and he had to mobilize 40,000 troops from Yigu Pass to block it no matter what. This alone was not enough, my king was worried that more Wu troops would bypass Yigu, so he continued to draw the main force from Yigu Pass back to defend the capital. In this way, the Wing Valley is empty, and it is impossible to hold it. That's why I'm here to surrender on behalf of the general. ”

"Haha, yes, what this king is waiting for is your division of troops! In fact, our army has detected your movements, these days in the Yigu Pass troops have been frequently transferred, and the number of men and horses is getting smaller and smaller, according to the king's estimate, the number of troops in the Yigu Pass is less than 20,000! ”

Guo Shu nodded and said helplessly: "Your Majesty's estimate is very accurate. ”

"This king originally planned to attack the Wing Valley in the next two days, hum, it seems that the timing of your surrender is very correct. Tell me, how sincere are you? ”

"If Your Majesty accepts our surrender conditions, I will withdraw the defenders of Yigu tonight, open the gate of Yigu Pass, and empty the garrison in the pass."

"Huh? I'm afraid that as soon as our army enters the Yigu Pass, we will be killed by your ambush soldiers without leaving a piece of armor, right? ”

"Your Majesty's concerns are inevitable, but Your Majesty must also know that opportunities are often fleeting, and if Your Majesty does not accept our surrender, we can only resist stubbornly and fight to the death. At that time, even if all the 20,000 Qi people in Yigu were killed in battle, I am afraid that they would have to pull 50,000 or 60,000 Wu people on their backs! ”

"Bold!" A young general drew his sword and was about to step forward, but was stopped by King Wu.

King Wu motioned for everyone to be quiet, he pondered for a moment, and said: "Okay, this king accepts your surrender, tonight, this king will send 300 people as the vanguard force, and after occupying the Yigu, the army will enter the pass." ”

"It's a deal! Tomorrow morning, the general and I will lead the troops to surrender to Your Majesty. Guo Shu saluted.

"Okay, you go back, I'll reuse you after that. But if there is any trick behind this, when I break through Linzi, I will definitely break you and your family into pieces! ”

"Your Majesty, rest assured!"

In the evening, King Wu ordered people to go to investigate, and found that the Yigu at this time was very different from the past. In the past few days, bright bonfires have always been seen in the Yigu Pass, and there are often fires flashing in the mountains and forests on both sides of the Yigu Pass, but tonight, the whole Yigu is pitch black.

Therefore, King Wu ordered 300 people to be the vanguard and search and advance along both sides of the mountain forest. The vanguard did not encounter any enemy situation, and soon reached the Yigu Pass through the Wing Valley.

Sure enough, as Guo Shu said, the gate of Yigu Pass was wide open, and there was no defender, so the vanguard immediately occupied Yigu Pass, and continued to enter the pass to reconnoiter based on Yigu Pass.

It's the same in Kannai, there is no one.

King Wu was overjoyed, it seems that the matter of surrendering to Cheng is not false, although he still has a trace of concern in his heart, but he has been stationed here for more than ten days, and he has long been impetuous and impatient, and his strong desire to win drives him to enter the customs. Therefore, King Wu ordered the army to advance towards the Yigu Pass. In the hazy moonlight, the army slowly passed through the narrow valley of wings.

An hour later, the main force of 60,000 successfully passed through the Wing Valley and immediately built a defensive position in the pass. Seeing this, King Wu was escorted by the Chinese army and continued to penetrate deep into the Wing Valley.

Soon, King Wu passed through the Wing Valley, he climbed the Wing Valley Pass Tower, looked at the narrow Wing Valley, and couldn't help but sigh: "This is indeed a man who is a man and a man, if it is attacked, I am afraid it will really cost 30,000 lives." ”