readx;?readx; Chapter 6** Soldiers besiege Shenjing City

In the summer of the eighth year of Tianyou, the Qin army broke through the barrier of Gyeonggi of Chu State, the ancient capital of Yingtian. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info If you look at the map, the sphere of influence of the Chu State has been compressed in the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

While discussing the next phase of the battle plan, a controversy arose within the Qin army, focusing on whether the next step should be to attack Shenjing or eliminate Zhulie. Shenjing was the capital of Southern Chu, and Zhu Lie and his fleet were the main force of Chu. Chu Po and Qin Youcai thought that they should directly attack Shenjing City and decide the outcome in a battle. Yang Wenyu also agreed with this opinion, and all the generals believed that as long as the capital of Chu was conquered, the rest of the country would surrender without a fight...... Even the martyrs are powerless to return to heaven.

But Qin Lei disagreed. He was keenly aware that the generals under his command were already a little frightened by Zhu Hongjun and his sailors. Of course, he doesn't complain that his generals are bullying the weak and afraid of the hard, because the martyrs have a skill and are really unique in the world...... That's the rebirth power of an immortal bird.

It is said that in the past six months, the Qin army has fought a full ten battles with Zhu Lie, and they have to make love every half a month on average. From the beginning of the Battle of Poyang Lake, relying on the newly debuted general artillery to achieve nine wins and one defeat, a total of more than 900 ships of various types of the Chu army were annihilated, and 150,000 officers and men of its navy were wiped out. But what is convincing is that Zhu Hongjun's Great River Naval Division did not die out because of this, but was able to regroup every time, stubbornly stopped in front of the Qin people, and also hit the Qin National Naval Division in full momentum in the Wuhu Water War.

Therefore, subconsciously, the generals wanted to avoid this uncooked and hammered copper lentil.

But Qin Lei firmly believed that if he acted according to their plan, he would drag Great Qin into the quagmire of a protracted war, causing a chain reaction.

Therefore, he decided to completely defeat the Zhulie's naval army first, and then launch a final attack on Shenjing City.

In order to convince his generals, Qin Lei put forward three reasons: First, since the occupation of Yueyang, the army has been overwhelming all the way, but Shenjing City is the capital of Chu State, and its defensive power, staying power, and even the cohesion of the army and the people are by no means comparable to other places, and it is impossible to achieve a quick victory.

Second, the victory in the Wuhu Water Battle was undoubtedly a great encouragement to the people of Chu. If Zhu Lie and his sailor troops were not eliminated first, the millions of people in Shenjing City would definitely have illusions about victory, which would greatly increase the difficulty of attacking the city.

Third, if Shenjing City is directly attacked, Zhulie's troops in Taihu Lake will definitely come to the rescue, then Shenjing will be extremely difficult to overcome. On the other hand, if they attack Zhulie first, the princes and nobles of Shenjing City will definitely stand by and watch, so as to avoid the unfavorable situation of being attacked by the enemy. After the destruction of the martyrs, the Shenjing City will naturally become a bag.

Qin Lei finally persuaded his generals, in fact, it didn't matter if he didn't convince him, as long as he decided on something, even if everyone objected, it was useless. For example, when he returned to Tongguan, such as issuing bonds, such as letting the boss lead the army of Vaqi, and so on. These facts prove that beneath the surface of brainstorming he has the heart of a dictator.

As soon as it was agreed, the Qin fleet began to go down the river to find the Great River Sailor of Zhu Lie. But in order to lure the snake out of the hole, Qin Lei hung up several huge banners, and wrote slogans such as "Attack Shenjing City and capture Emperor Jiankang alive", or "Kill the enemy to avenge blood revenge, destroy Chu and seek the feudal marquis", which can be seen on the shore several miles away. He also taught the officers and soldiers to sing some military songs to destroy Chu, and ordered the people to step up the construction of siege equipment such as ladders and buildings, so as to make a full posture of taking the Shenjing City directly.

The Qin fleet was very large, the queue was very long, stretching for more than ten miles, with a total of more than 600 warships, including nearly 50 Wucheng giant ships equipped with general artillery, and the lineup could be described as unprecedentedly prosperous...... The so-called Wucheng giant ship is actually the giant spirit god ship of the Chu State at the beginning, which was originally only built by the people of the Chu State.

In order to keep secrets, the state of Chu implemented a separate management of the household registration of shipbuilders, called the 'craftsman household' system, that is, his children and grandchildren, all generations, must build ships for the army in the shipbuilding workshop, and they are not allowed to step out of the workshop for the rest of their lives. He was like a slave, oppressed, hopeless, and in a very miserable situation.

After occupying the three largest shipyards of the Chu army, Qin Lei paid ten times the original salary, and restored the freedom of the craftsmen, giving their descendants the freedom to choose their jobs freely, in exchange for the allegiance of the craftsmen. Once the craftsmen start working wholeheartedly, the efficiency is suddenly doubled.

Originally, the three shipyards were able to produce a total of three warships per month, because they also had to undertake other shipbuilding tasks. Now Qin Lei ordered him to concentrate manpower and material resources to build a giant ship, and the production capacity has been increased to as many as seven. Coupled with the production capacity of 50 'Prince-class' capital ships per month in domestic shipyards, this made the Qin army fight more and more, and the more they fight, the stronger they become.

I don't know how many spies were snooped on along the way, and finally when the Qin army left the river channel and began to move south to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal...... Shen Bing's military intelligence army came with the news that the Chu army fleet had been found on the river!

The Qin army continued to move forward quietly, and the Chu army behind was not in a hurry, but just followed silently.

It was a stormy night, and there were no five fingers on the river, so the Qin army extinguished the lights, quietly anchored, and stopped on the Grand Canal.

The unwitting Chu army still advanced against the wind and rain, and when the day was about to dawn, the wind and rain stopped, and the two armies were already less than two miles apart.

In the face of the Qin fleet that suddenly killed the horse gun, the Chu army was very frightened, and the forward ships did not even have time to turn around, and they were attacked head-on by the Qin army who were waiting for it.

This was a fatal blow, because the Chu army was too long and defenseless, in an instant, dozens of warships in the front were swallowed up by the Qin army, and the rear army of the Chinese army did not even have the intention of reinforcements, so they turned around and fled.

The Qin army quickly digested the results of the battle and began to chase after each other, and the two armies chased one after the other. Because the Qin warships were too big and did not have an advantage in speed, they never caught up, but they did not give up, and closely followed the Chu army, which was slow and fast, and returned to the Yangtze River the next morning, and by noon, they were almost caught up in the sea.

The continuous high-intensity march has exhausted the rotors under the cabin and has reached the limit. Just when the Qin army was about to give up the pursuit, only to hear the drums in front of it, a fleet of more than 100 ships went upriver from the downstream and launched an attack on the Qin army.

Seeing the military flag of the Qi State planted on those warships, Qin Lei finally suddenly realized - I said why Zhu Lie is so capable, it turned out that he got together with the sailors of the Qi State.

Yes, it was the most powerful Yangtze River naval army in Qi that was killed by showing off its might. As permanent residents of the river, they naturally cared deeply about the battle between the two neighbors, and the marshal of the unified army called it 'sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight', and later used a more literal metaphor, called 'the snipe and the clam fight, and the fisherman profit'. But as it turned out, the first metaphor was more appropriate. Because in front of them, any country of Qin and Chu is enough to be called a tiger, and they are just a poor sheep......

However, Yelang's arrogance is a common disease of people, and before it has been tested by war, the people of Qi will inevitably have the illusion that everyone's strength is not inferior', that is, this illusion made them readily agree to the request of the Shangzhu State of Chu and participate in this 'ambush' of the Qin fleet.

Looking at the Qi army that ambushed him, the Qin army did not panic at all. Their battleship did not move at all, maintaining an eerie calm...... In fact, their sailors are really bored.

In the eyes of the Qi fleet that is charging ahead, there must be a conspiracy in this! Is it the unfathomable King Wucheng of the Qin State, what tricks are he going to do? However, the arrow had to be fired, and I could only move forward in confusion.

Their questions didn't last long before they heard the answer—a muffled roar of thunder. Before he could figure out the situation, he was beaten by hundreds of general cannons of the Qin army. Amid the shelling, wailing, and screams, the Qi army's vanguard suffered heavy losses, and dozens of warships lost their combat capability, and they were suddenly in chaos.

These turtles were obviously tricked by Zhu Lie, and they didn't know that the Qin army didn't need to jump gangs or fight hand-to-hand now, but instead used a more civilized weapon, called the Great General Cannon...... In order to meet the needs of the front, and also to reduce recoil, the military-industrial department of the Qin State had to reduce the quality of the artillery. Although the firing range is also two miles, compared to the 'red-clothed cannon' used in the Qi country, the power is not half a bit...... If the cannonball flies a few hundred feet, it has to fall into the water, and the power is mediocre, but it is still easy and pleasant to hit the wooden boat of the Qi army at close range.

The Qi army was quickly stunned, and the marshal of the leading naval army jumped to his feet and scolded: "What about Zhu Lie? Why hasn't it been captured yet! The generals hurriedly looked upstream, but found that the Chu fleet, which had sworn to attack the Qin army on both sides with them, was still nowhere to be found.

Only then did I realize that I had been tricked.

The battle began at noon and ended in the evening, when the Qin army destroyed more than 400 warships of the Qi army at the cost of only twenty warships, and the rest fled in disarray...... The reason why the battleship was not captured was because the ever-changing Great Qin Navy Division had long since looked down on these things.

A few hours after the momentum on the stage, the Qi State Navy was defeated and lost, and where did it come from. Until the end of the war, they never appeared again, obviously too impressed by the Qin army.

A unit that has never fought a war will not be able to compete with an enemy who has been in a hundred battles! Even if you're practicing all day.

After the victory, King Wucheng was not happy, he knew that he had been tricked by Zhu Lie. The old man saw through his 'luring the snake out of the hole', so he planned to turn the tiger away from the mountain. There is no need to guess, Qin Lei also knows that Zhu Lie has already led his troops south to the canal and returned to the Shenjing City.

"Zhu Lie must know that he can't take advantage of the water war, and he is ready to go back and defend the fortified city!" Chu Po said with a gloomy face.

Qin Lei nodded, and said softly: "It's okay to get together a piece, so we don't have to do it on both sides of the effort." Then he regained his spirit and said, "In that case, let's repair for two days and then set off!" ”

"That's what it can be." Chu Po sighed.

The news from the Military Intelligence Bureau came quickly, confirming the suspicion of the two, that Zhu Lie had indeed gone south to the canal and returned to Shenjing.

Two days later, the Qin army, which had been placed in a row, moved south again, and after another three days, it finally appeared in front of Shenjing, the capital of the Chu State.

Looking at the tall city wall that was more than ten zhang high at the top and yellow at the bottom, Qin Lei couldn't help but gasp and said in a lost voice: "Why is it so high?" In his impression, Shenjing City should be the highest. He still remembered what the people of Chu had said at the beginning, 'As long as our fleet is there, Shenjing City will not need to be defended'. But now, as far as the eye can see, there are all kinds of female walls, arrow stacks, and shooting towers, which are more complete than the ones that generally need to be defended.

Shen Bing on the side hurriedly said: "Chu Feijiao has been nesting in Shenjing all these years, watching the two countries of Qin and Qi come and go and fight lively, so she only did one thing, and that is to repair the city. ”

There are a total of nine gates in Shenjing City, including three water gates and six dry gates. The walls of each gate are extremely strong, made of large pieces of stone mixed with glutinous rice, and even the general's cannon cannot be bombarded. There are also countless ballista carts in the city, and anyone who comes close to the walls will be shot into hedgehogs and blown into powder in an instant. There was also plenty of food in the city, enough to keep it for several years.

This is also one of the sources of confidence for Chu Feijiao to firmly defend the city. The second is that the general of Shangzhu State returned to Beijing before the siege of the Qin army, which gave him and his subjects great encouragement, and Zhu Hongjun told him that the Qin State was at war with the two countries at the same time, and no matter how strong the national strength was, it would be exhausted, as long as he insisted on holding on, there would definitely be a way!

"What's the solution?" Chu Feijiao grabbed Shangzhuguo's hand tightly and asked repeatedly.

Zhu Lie's complexion was very bad, obviously he had not recovered from his injuries, he reluctantly smiled and said: "My Great Chu suffered a national disaster, and I was caught off guard before I was besieged in the capital. But in fact, our national fortunes are still there. The Qin State only captured the first line along the Yangtze River in our country, and we still have a large territory that has not fallen, and the hearts of the Chinese people are still oriented towards our ...... Weichen has already sent a powerful civil and military force to recruit and train troops in various places, as long as he gets through this most difficult period, there will be countless Qinwang troops to come to the rescue. ”

Jiankangdi finally made up his mind. In fact, as long as there is a glimmer of possibility, he will never give up...... If Shenjing is lost, he will be the king of the lost country.

He decided to fight to the death.

While it's important to be determined, it's only when you take action and get results. After the efforts of the monarchs and ministers of the Chu State to find the source of troops in every possible way, they gathered 100,000 sailors who came ashore, 50,000 Yulin troops, 20,007 Wang Gong and private soldiers, and more than 30,000 veterans to form a 200,000 garrison army, which was handed over to the full and unified command of Zhu Lie.

As for the warships of the Chu State, Zhu Lie handed them over to some excellent naval generals, and asked them to recruit fishermen to operate the boats, evade the Qin army with the help of a dense river network, and ambush the Qin army's transport fleet to destroy their supplies.

On the eve of the start of the war, they used all their resources to buy or rob, hoarding a large amount of grain, grass, lime, oil, swords, arrows, armor, and other munitions, trying to do their best to the last bit of personnel.

However, not long after the naval army of the Qin State arrived in Shenjing City, Yang Wenyu and Shen Qing led 200,000 infantry and also arrived under the city. The 400,000 waterway army surrounded Shenjing City, and it was difficult to fly.

After patrolling the Shenjing City by boat and horseback, Qin Lei and his generals did not have a good face. They all knew very well that this was going to be an unprecedented battle of hard fighting, a battle of the dead.

Qin Lei had already known about the people of Chu putting on a stubborn posture, and he decided to teach this group of guys who didn't know the times a good lesson!

He ordered people to drive away the people of Chu State, build a wall outside the city of Shenjing, and surround them, so that no one could escape.

After doing all this, Qin Lei was still not in a hurry to attack the city, and he recruited a million Chu people to build more than a dozen civil towers that were level with the city wall in all directions. Several red-coated cannons were placed on the tower, and it was truly unambiguous to point and fight.

When the preparations for the siege were finally completed, it was already the beginning of August, and Qin Lei gave the order for a general attack.

When the generals came to ask which gate to attack, he shouted to them angrily: "Hundreds of thousands of troops are besieging a city, and which gate will be divided into main attacks, and I will fight to the death!" "Then a specific direction of attack was assigned.

In addition to the attack of the nine gates, he was not satisfied, and organized four waves of troops to attack the city walls in the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest, and organized a total of thirteen troops to attack from thirteen directions, which makes people's scalps tingle when they think about it, not to mention the Chu ** people in the city.

The generals agreed and went back to their camps to prepare.

Early the next morning, the red-coated cannon erected by the Qin army on the tower first tried to attack the city wall of the Chu State, but found that in addition to the shocking effect, it could not cause damage to the main body of the city wall, so according to the predetermined plan, it bombarded the head of the Chu army instead. The scholars also stood on the tower and bombarded the head of Shenjing City with fire dragon shells, and the Chu army hurriedly hid under the city. The defensive equipment densely scattered at the head of the city was damaged, and it was smashed by the Qin army with a fierce bombardment.

Zhu Lie really tasted the pain that Chen Liefeng suffered that day, and could only watch the people of the Qin State fill in the moat, but he didn't even have a clue.

However, he was not worried about the fall of Shenjing City, because through the contact in the past few months, he already knew that the cannons of the Qin State could not shoot continuously, and they did not have the power to destroy the city walls, and in the end, it was still necessary to rely on people to attack the city!