Chu State, Yingdu.

This year was not good for the state of Chu, there were few pedestrians in the streets and alleys of the past, and the clouds of war filled the sky over the city. Although reinforcements from all over the country continued to enter Yingdu, some from Yiling, some from Jiujiang, and more reinforcements were transferred from the Huaisi Valley, Yingdu's strength has steadily increased to 60,000, but this cannot make the people of Yingdu feel at ease.

Because just two days ago, 20,000 soldiers stationed outside the city went to the camp, and I heard that they were going north. Obviously, the people intuitively believed that the war in Lantian was not conducive to the Chu State. If it weren't for the king of Chu ordering the closure of the gate of Yingdu, maybe tens of thousands of people would have escaped from Yingdu!

Of course, the state of Chu would not sue the people under the rule of Sù, and the reason why there were 20,000 troops going north to Lantian was because the harsh peace conditions put forward by Korea were unacceptable to the state of Chu. Therefore, on the one hand, the state of Chu asked Zuotu Huang Xie to continue to make peace with Korea, and on the other hand, he quietly mobilized 20,000 soldiers and horses to go north to Lantian to prepare for the danger that might occur at any time.

For the state of Chu, there is still a lot of good news recently. It's just that these good news are only circulated in the upper echelons of the Chu State, and the ordinary people don't know about it.

First of all, Chu's fraudulent surrender plan took effect, and Korea mistakenly thought that Chu would really agree to cede the three cities of Juyang, Shouchun and Lantian, and slowed down the offensive against Lantian. Just five days ago, after Huang Xie handed over the maps and household registrations of the three places to the Han army's chief general "Han Yi" (Han Teng's pseudonym, used to deceive the Chu State), the Han army withdrew half of the army in front of Huang Xie, although it was only to Yancheng, but it was enough to make the Chu State feel relieved.

In addition, the State of Qi had already agreed to the request of the State of Chu for help. Zhao and Qi combined 300,000 troops and sent troops to Dongjun, intending to attack Xinzheng and even Luoyang and force South Korea to retreat!

In the end, Jingyang had obeyed the will of the king of Chu and sent 50,000 troops back to Yingdu. Up to a month later. Reinforcements will arrive in Yingdu. By that time, even if the Han army saw through the Chu State's strategy of delaying the army and mobilized 100,000 troops to find trouble with the Chu State, it would definitely not be able to please it!

"Your Majesty! Zuo disciple asks to see you outside! Just when the king of Chu was looking at the map and silently calculating the shape of the state of Chu, the eunuch Ling walked in front of the king of Chu. Said softly.

King Chu immediately raised his head and said excitedly: "Quick! Hurry up! ”

Now that Huang Xie is the messenger of peace, going back and forth between Lantian and Yingdu, the king of Chu has ordered that no matter when Huang Xie asks to see him, he must tell himself as soon as possible! King Chu is very concerned about when Korea will find out that they have been tricked!

"The minister has seen the king!" Huang Xie walked in and saluted.

The King of Chu hurriedly stood up and approached Huang Xie. Said eagerly: "Aiqing, get up!" What's happening in South Korea right now? ”

Huang Xie wiped his sweat and replied: "Your Majesty, Korea has accepted the 30,000 stone grain and grass and 500 horses we have transported, and the minister has witnessed that the Korean army has lifted the siege of Lantian and 20,000 Korean troops have gone north and set up camp thirty miles north of Lantian!" The chief general of the South Korean army said that when the two countries formally conclude an alliance, the South Korean army will all withdraw to Nanyang! ”

The king of Chu listened to this. Relieved. After all, South Korea did not become suspicious, and at a normal pace. It would take a month for the protons sent out by himself to arrive in Luoyang. Slow down a little, and before the proton entered Luoyang, Jingyang's reinforcements arrived. When the time comes, with the size of South Korea, it will not be easy to hide a few people!

"This is the memo written by Qu Ping, the general of Lantian Guard, to the king!" Huang Xie took out something from his arms and stretched out his hands respectfully.

The eunuch order took over the fold. Hand it to the King of Chu to look at. The King of Chu opened it and was immediately attracted by the contents. Qu Ping first pleaded guilty in the fold, and the defense line north of Lantian held out for a few hours before it was broken by the Korean army in the north and south, and Lantian was directly besieged by the Korean army. Although these days, the whole city is grateful for the kindness of the king of Chu. Concerted efforts and hard fighting, more than 5,000 South Korean soldiers were killed and wounded (most of them were wounded, and a few died), but more than 4,000 lives were also paid (more than 2,000 were not reported). Qu Ping begged the king of Chu to punish Yunyun.

The king of Chu was originally a little angry with Qu Ping in his heart, but Qu Ping was the general of the army launched by the Qu clan after all, and in the face of this crisis, the Qu clan contributed all the private soldiers and had done their best. Speaking of which, it's no wonder that Qu Ping is too cunning in the Han army. Didn't you see that Qin and Zhao were repeatedly deflated under South Korea? The national strength of Chu is not as good as that of Qin and Zhao, and Yancheng is too close to Lantian and there are many small roads, so the Chu army is really invincible against the Korean army!

"Let Qu Ping continue to make meritorious contributions in Lantian! What do the leftists think? "The king of Chu consulted Huang Xie's Jianyì.

Huang Xie naturally agreed, changing generals in the battle, which hurt morale! Who knows what the defenders of Lantian will think if the King of Chu replaces Qu Ping to guard Lantian instead?!

In this way, Yingdu was calm for five days, and during this period, in addition to urging the Chu State to send protons, the Han army actually stationed quietly north of Lantian without any abnormal movement. Yingdu was also cautious, except for sending a small number of personnel to and from Lantian and Yingdu, and did not send additional reinforcements or transport grain and grass to Lantian! Lantian even opened the city gates, instead of closing the city gates and not going out.

If the Chu State could send scouts to the Han army camp dozens of miles north of Lantian at this time, it would find that there were only 1,000 Korean troops in the entire camp! The main force of the South Korean army has long been unknown!

Jiujiang County, because the Chu State mobilized 10,000 troops to aid Yingdu, the army of the Dongyue State had a numerical advantage for the first time! Moreover, the army of the Dongyue Kingdom, which was in rebellion in Jiujiang County, adopted the method of robbing the rich and helping the poor, and won over a group of ordinary people who were bullied by the magnates of the Chu State on weekdays. Although there are not many of them, these people, as locals, are familiar with the local situation. Dongyue Kingdom or rushed hundreds of miles to attack the Chu army's grain road, or attacked the Chu army's weakly defended cities in the east and west, Jiujiang County has a total of 20 cities, and Dongyue has captured eight, which has the potential to burn the plains!

The main general of the Chu army, Hou Xiang of Anping, was limited to his strength and could only take a defensive position, although the call for counterattack against the Dongyue army in the army has always been high. But Xiang Cheng always listened to it, and even showed it to the generals of the Chu army who admonished him with death.

Xiang Cheng's strategy was simple, the more cities the Dongyue army occupied, the more dispersed the forces became! The truly prosperous and important cities of Jiujiang County were all in the hands of the Chu army, and the eight cities occupied by the Dongyue State were either remote or had little food and grass. It doesn't affect the overall situation. The Chu army deliberately limited the scope of activities of the Dongyue army and gradually compressed its living space, Xiang Cheng did not believe that when Yingdu freed up his hands to send some more troops to himself, where else could the Dongyue army escape!

The bad news arrived in Yingdu at the end of January, and 100,000 Korean troops marched down the river from the direction of Bashu. In one fell swoop, the Chu army defeated Huang Yongbing, the defender of the Chu army, most of the 20,000 Chu troops were killed, a small part surrendered, and the number of casualties of the Korean army is unknown. According to the defeated Chu army, the Han army appeared in the city suddenly, without any warning beforehand, and coincidentally, perhaps the news that Han and Chu were negotiating peace paralyzed the defenders. Caught off guard, the defeat of the Chu army seemed to be taken for granted!

In the palace, the King of Chu's face was pale, obviously because of the news that he had been lost. At the beginning, in order to protect the safety of Yingdu, the king of Chu obeyed the construction of Miliang and Huang Xie, and transferred all the main forces of the army of Badong and Yiling back. Now the loss of the pass means that the South Korean army can drive straight into the two places and take the two places. All the way to Yingdu. The South Korean army will never meet any resistance!

"The minister is guilty! Please, the king, punish you! "Make Yin Qiliang bow his head and plead guilty, at the beginning. It was the self-mobilization of troops, and in any case, this posture must be necessary.

"The minister is also guilty! Please, the king, punish you! Huang Xie was not to be outdone. Although anyone with a discerning eye knows that it is really to blame, the culprit who made Chu State go deep into the crisis all of a sudden is Huang Yong, if he had not been defeated and died. The pass will not change hands, and Padang and Yiling will be safe and sound. But now that the king of Chu is angry, no one dares to say such things.

Fortunately, the king of Chu still knows the general situation, and there were only 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and horses in Yingdu at the beginning, so if he did not transfer the army of Yiling and Badong. Once the Han army breaks through Lantian, Yingdu will be isolated! Ling Yin Qiliang and Zuo disciple Huang Xie are all well-intentioned, if you want to blame Huang Yong for being too careless, the king of Chu only feels that he is not human!

However, the Han army entered the pass silently, could it be that the Qin army had already dug a secret passage and was known by the Han army? You must know that the Qin army has been holding the gate for several years! After South Korea conquered the two counties of Bashu, it was inevitable that they would not know some secret military situations. If this is the case, then the Chu State will be too embarrassed to lose this time. Moreover, South Korea is afraid that it regarded its own peace negotiation as a child's play from the beginning, or saw through the strategy of the Chu State, and did a fake show. If it's the latter, maybe it won't be long before the Korean army in Nanyang will make a comeback! For a while, these thoughts passed by the King of Chu in a flash!

"I don't complain about Ling Yin, nor do I complain about the left. At the beginning, the decision to transfer the troops of Badong and Yiling was made by the widow, and the widow still has this responsibility! ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, 100,000 Korean troops are going down the river, and there are only more than 1,000 defenders in Badong and Yiling, and they can't stop the Korean army for a few hours, at most three or four days, and the Korean army will be able to come to the city of Yingdu! Where to go, all of you Aiqing will talk about it! King Chu waved his hand and changed the topic angrily.

Ministers, you look at me, and I look at you, but they are silent. Although Yingdu now has 60,000 troops (40,000 inside the city and 20,000 outside the city), the number of Korean troops is 100,000, and even if the Han army loses tens of thousands of people in order to attack the pass, it is still 30,000 more than the Chu army. Now the plan can only be to stick to it. Hold on for another half a month or twenty days, and General Jingyang's 50,000 reinforcements will arrive, and then we will think about it in the long run! However, if Nanyang sends another 50,000 troops here, the pressure on Yingdu will be even greater, and it is really difficult to say whether it can hold it! Seeing that South Korea has been planning for a long time, the probability that Nanyang will not send reinforcements is very low, very low!

"Your Majesty! South Korea was originally still negotiating peace with our Chu State, but now it has suddenly gathered 100,000 troops to invade our Chu State, presumably trying to make peace with our Chu State for a long time! Now, I haven't received an urgent report from Lantian, and I think there's something strange about it! Mi Liang said in a deep voice.

The king of Chu nodded, there are only two possibilities for this situation, one is that Korea did not have the time to unify Nanyang and Bashu counties to attack Yingdu, according to the Korean style of acting, the probability is very small; Another is that South Korea plans to capture the old and indulge, and when Chu uses all its energy to deal with the Han army in Bashu, Nanyang's 50,000 troops will suddenly move south and attack Yingdu together. But if this is the case, Lantian will be a hurdle that the Han army can't get around, and it can't be justified. Could it be that the Han army wants to force itself to take the initiative to abandon Lantian and surround Yingdu without much effort? This possibility is still there.

Mi Liang also really did what the King of Chu thought, and analyzed the inconsistency of South Korea, and the ambivalence of wanting to win Yingdu but not wanting to take Yingdu. However, in the end, Mi Liang boldly put forward an idea, that is, South Korea may be short of troops. Therefore, the Korean army in Nanyang did not send troops for a long time.

At the beginning, South Korea must have wanted to force the state of Chu to submit, otherwise, South Korea would never have dispatched such a valuable force of 50,000 troops to attack Lantian when it was tired of dealing with the million-strong army of Qin, Zhao, Qi, and Chu! But after finding that Lantian was difficult to conquer, South Korea may have changed its strategy. The peace of Chu was a rare opportunity. Taking advantage of this time, South Korea ordered the Korean army in Bashu to assemble and prepare to go down the river to attack Yingdu.

If the state of Chu is sincerely seeking peace, it will definitely be helpless in the face of such a situation! The 150,000 Korean troops attacked Yingdu on both sides, and Lantian was caught off guard, and it was very likely to be lost! The Han army could easily march under the city of Yingdu, and the state of Chu could not only surrender but sign an alliance under the city. There is no second way out.

But the state of Chu asked for help from the state of Qi, and the two countries of Qin and Zhao jointly put pressure on the state of Qi, and the two countries of Zhao and Qi gathered 300,000 troops to attack Dongjun! In Mi Liang's opinion, these 50,000 Korean troops are likely to be transferred from Dongjun, which means that Dongjun's troops are very nervous! Perhaps when the Korean army in the two counties of Bashu was assembled, the combined forces of Qi and Zhao were in the land of no one in Dongjun, and South Korea had no choice. Urgently transfer 50,000 Korean troops to Donggun! This is why the 50,000 Han troops in Nanyang have not moved for a long time, and only the most likely explanation for the 100,000 troops of Bashu going down the river!

There is also a possibility that the Qin State is smooth sailing. After gaining the upper hand in Hedong, attack Wuguan. Nanyang's troops were tight, so they could only transfer these 50,000 Korean troops back. In short, in these two cases, the state of Chu only needs to face the 100,000 Han army in Bashu, and does not have to worry about the 50,000 Han army in the direction of Nanyang!

"Send someone to Lantian immediately. Sue sù Qu Ping, no matter what method he uses, in short, he must determine the specific number of Han troops! The king of Chu immediately made a decision.

These are just conjectures, although the king of Chu thinks it is very likely, but it must always be verified. Now. The real threat facing the state of Chu is the 100,000 Han troops that are going downstream! If it is determined that the Han military camp north of Lantian has been emptied, it will corroborate Mi Liang's conjecture. The state of Chu could consider sending some reinforcements from Lantian to defend Yingdu. If the Han army is still entrenched north of Lantian, then the Chu State will have to be prepared to be flanked by 150,000 Korean troops, and the situation will undoubtedly be worse.

"In addition, General Jingyang's reinforcements should be about to arrive in Jiujiang, send people to Jiujiang for 800 miles to expedite to Jiujiang, inform the reinforcements of the news of the invasion of 100,000 Korean troops, and make them ignore the rebellious army of Dongyue Kingdom, no need to stop, speed up!" The king of Chu gave the second order.

According to the discussion of the monarchs and ministers of the Chu State, the reinforcements sent by Jingyang were to be in Jiujiang County for a few days to assist Xiang Cheng in defeating the army of the Dongyue State, and then return to Yingdu. But for the state of Chu, Yingdu is now under great threat, and Xiang Cheng is only slightly at a disadvantage in Jiujiang County, and he is not in a hurry. One is the disease of scabies, and the other is a serious trouble, and the king of Chu certainly knows how to choose.

"Your Ministers obey!" The ministers responded in unison.

Huang Xie also made a suggestion at this time: "Regardless of whether Nanyang will send an army of 50,000 to attack Lantian or not, the minister thinks that all the people, grain and grass in the vicinity of Yingdu need to be concentrated in the city, and the Han army must not be given the opportunity to replenish grain and grass!" In this way, the Korean army has not been able to attack Yingying for a long time, and the grain and grass are exhausted, and they will inevitably retreat! ”

The king of Chu nodded and said, "Not only grain and grass, but also the Korean trebuchet is very powerful!" Within fifty miles of Yingdu, there will never be a single brick left for the Korean army! ”

Huang Xie frowned inadvertently, in this case, the houses of the people outside the city will all be demolished! When the South Korean army is defeated and retreats, the problem of reconstruction will be very serious. But after weighing it, it is better to make up your mind than to let the South Korean army use local materials and destroy the defense of Yingdu.

"The king is wise!" The ministers complimented.

Although this strategy was a bit of a waste of money and labor, it could show the Han army the determination of the Chu State not to surrender. As for how depressed and sad the people who poured into Yingdu after the defeat of the Han army found that their residence was destroyed, it was completely out of the consideration of the magnates of the Chu State. Anyway, it's all cheap, and if the people are angry, it's a big deal to say that it was destroyed by the Korean army. What else can they do but complain?! I can only accept it!

"The minister thinks that he should also send an army of at least 10,000 or more to threaten the grain route of the Han army outside the city, so that the Han army can be distracted from the grain route!" Huang Xie put aside his worries and continued.

If it is just a hold, the South Korean army can calmly organize an offensive. Huang Xie's point of construction is quite in line with the king of Chu. In fact, if there are 80,000 troops on hand, the king of Chu is more willing to set up a camp according to the city, so that the city and the camp are horns of each other, and the Korean army will not break the camp and will not attack the city, and he will be safer. However, in the face of a possible attack by 150,000 troops, it was obviously inappropriate to set up a camp outside the city to hold on, and it was more practical to send a small number of troops to harass the rear of the South Korean army and contain the strength of the South Korean army. Although an army of 10,000 is a lot, it is not essential to Yingdu. Because this 10,000-strong army can contain more South Korean troops!

"The widow is right! However, in order to prevent being surrounded and annihilated by the South Korean army, it is still divided into two parts, with 5,000 people in each part, so as to echo each other! What does Aiqing think? ”

"The king is wise!" Huang Xie suddenly found that in terms of saving his life, the king of Chu was still very willing to use his brains.

Seeing that the king of Chu was so good, other ministers also made suggestions one after another, but in an hour, the monarchs and ministers of Chu discussed how to deal with 100,000 or even 150,000 Korean troops! (To be continued......)

PS: First bullet!