Fire is like a serpent.

Walking on the mountain plank road of Meridian Ridge.

Turning over a mountain beam, it was the core of the frustrated soldiers, and Meng Hu stared at the towering black mountains, praying in his heart that it was not too late.

"Report to the general, the scout went out for more than ten miles, and no trace of the enemy was found." In the darkness, a cluster of torches came from the plank road in front of them, and it was the Qin army scouts who were exploring the way to send people to return.

"In terms of military construction, what has happened, is the beacon fire for help still burning?" Meng Hu asked.

"The scout department of our army has been in contact with the defenders, but the situation of the soldiers is not good, and more than half of the guards have been killed or wounded, and now, even the craftsmen have been sent to the battlefield." The scout looked tense and reported truthfully.

"Order: Speed up, at all costs, you must rush to the army at the right time." Meng Hu shouted in a deep voice. At this moment, his heart was as hard as steel, and no matter how many casualties he fell into the canyon, he couldn't stop him.

People's state of mind will change with changes in power, status, and environment.

In that year, Menghu, who led a side cavalry to rescue Li Yuan on the outskirts of Xingyang, gradually changed from a simple general to a comprehensive civil and military minister after the dual experience of the army and the locality.

As the only surviving child of the Montessori family, Menghu has the excellent qualities inherited from three generations of the Montessori family. After following Li Yuan through several wars and many dangers, Meng Hu has now truly broken away from the small group of border armies and considered the problem from the perspective of the Qin State as a whole.

How will the future Qin State develop?

This is a difficult problem in front of Li Yuan, Meng Hu, Chen Ping, these important figures of the Qin State, when he was not in the center of the Qin State, Meng Hu almost did not consider the judgment of the overall situation, and when he looked at the Qin State and the Qin Army after a year in the position of court captain, his state of mind completely changed.

Among them, Li Yuan's judgment on the situation in the world and the future of the Qin State. It has a great impact on Menghu.

"If the Kwantung region wants to be unified, although it will have to go through several wars, if the Qin State really wants to do that, it will not be impossible, but the key to reunification is not the occupation, but the attachment of the people, if the people of the Kwantung cannot accept the Qin State from the heart, then this formal occupation will be meaningless-!"

"So. What we have to do now is to be patient, to be horizontal, to find all possibilities, to make the enemy's internal turmoil, and next, the Qin army entered the Chu realm as a rescue of the people of Chu, and last year, we did a good job in Zhaodi. In Chudi, we can do the same. ”

When the temptation to achieve reunification was in front of him, Li Yuan revealed his true thoughts to Chen Ping, Menghu, and Li Zheng for the first time before leaving for Yanbei.

Experience teaches.

The First Emperor swept away the Six Kingdoms with strong force. Unification was realized, but this overly strong approach also left hidden dangers for the fall of the Qin State, when the new Qin faced an opportunity again. Li Yuan chose to fight steadily and steadily, step by step to solve those potential enemies in the Kanto, and now. The two enemies of the north, Zhao Di and Yan Di, no longer existed.

The remaining Chu State was also divided into Western Chu and Eastern Chu, and if Xiang Yu and Yingbu could be provoked to tear each other apart and fight each other, the unification of the Qin State would become a chapter.

As the court lieutenant of a country, Meng Hu also has a clear understanding of the current national strength of the new Qin, if he still implements the practice of using military force with all the people as he did in the first emperor's time, there is no problem in levying 500,000 troops, but the result of this is that the economy that Qin has developed with great difficulty is on the verge of collapse of tension.

The use of both economic and military means to further oppress and disintegrate the fighting spirit of the enemy state is the strategy adopted by the Qin state now, and through the change of hands of Zhao Di and Yan Di, the facts also prove the accuracy of Li Yuan's idea.

According to the situation in the world at the end of the sixth year of the Qin New Calendar, if the Qin State exerts all its strength to sweep away the Guandong, it is estimated that it will take a year to complete the defeat of the weak Western Chu and Eastern Chu, as for the other remnants such as the Western Wei, there is no need to think about it at all, and the reason why the Qin State retains Wei Bao is just an extra layer of buffer.

The successive campaigns required a huge amount of baggage and manpower consumption.

During this riot in Hanzhong, Chen Ping, Meng Hu, and Li Zheng, who were familiar with Qin's domestic situation, did not complain about the lack of soldiers and major generals in Hanzhong and Guanzhong, which led to the displacement of the people, because they knew that with the vast territory of Qin today, Li Yuan's nearly 150,000 generals had been used to the limit.

In Yanbei, the 50,000 Qin troops under the command of the general Han Xin had to independently face the troops of the Xiongnu Right Xian King and the Right Valley Liwang, and also beware of the conspiracy of the possible Western Chu army from Qi Land, which was really not too much.

In the area of Hexi and Longxi, Luo Jia's 20,000 elite cavalry and Li Zhongxiang's Western Regions coalition army of about 8,000 people were stationed in the long area, and they were opposed to the Huns who often came from the depths of the desert to plunder, these Hun barbarians often went south in the autumn when the horses were fat, and then returned after looting enough wealth and silk slaves, in order to block these bandits who came and went without a trace, the Qin army must have a strong and fast mobile Liliang.

As for other aspects, in Jiuyuan, Sanchuan Tiger Prison Pass, Nanjun, Yingchuan, and Handan and other directions, the Qin army must also stay with a force, otherwise, once the emptiness is taken advantage of by the enemy, the result is very likely to be the same as the former Qin who was caught off guard by the Kwantung riots, and can only hastily organize a convict army to go into battle.

――。

In the seventh year of the new Qin calendar, the seventh day of the first month.

After three days and three nights of continuous trekking, the Menghu army finally arrived at Fushui, and at this time, the battle situation created by the Fushui soldiers had turned into a hand-to-hand battle of meat grinder.

Peng Sheng's resistance was quite tenacious, with more than 250 soldiers and guards, only more than 20 people left in Zuihou still holding on, and on the craftsman side, the casualties also exceeded 300.

If Menghu's scout troops hadn't arrived first and informed the news of the imminent arrival of reinforcements, Peng Sheng would not have been able to block Lu Ze's attack even if he could create a heavenly fire from time to time.

On the Meridian Ridge.

The ranks of the displaced people were in a mess, and the deafening sound of the Qin army generals shouting and fighting from the bottom of the mountain made these Qiang people who were frightened by the Qin army lose their souls.

"The Qin reinforcements are coming up, and we can't stand it."

"Don't panic, the number of Qin Dogs will not be large, let's rush to kill again, as long as we occupy the army, Qin Gou will take it, we can't do it." One of Lu Ze's cronies is still boosting morale, but his words are clear that there are only a limited number of people he can influence.

Morale is booming.

Peng Sheng and others, who had been attacked for dozens of days, finally ushered in the moment of raising their eyebrows.

When he saw the familiar banner of the Qin Army appear in his eyes, Peng Sheng couldn't help but burst into tears, at this moment, he was like walking from the edge of life and death and coming back, while feeling lucky, there was a deep desire for revenge.

"Brothers, take up the weapons you have made with your own hands, and we will kill the enemy!"

"Da Qin, Da Qin, kill!"

The sound of this shout merged into a torrent in the darkness, and in every corner of the military construction, it woke up the soldiers of the Qin army who still had a breath.

"We've won!" On the long staircase leading to the military building, among the pile of fallen corpses, a bloody hand slowly stretched out, and he groped back and forth, holding a broken blade in his hand.

on the battlefield.

Most of the displaced people have already begun to flee.

These guys who only burn and rob with an impulse are highly motivated in good times, but they are scattered in bad times, and Lu Ze can't let such a rabble regain confidence.

After shouting for a while to no avail, Lu Ze was also ready to retreat, and Lu Ze and his cronies, who had fought and retreated, retreated from the front line, and along the way, in addition to the displaced people who were in chaos, were the corpses of the dead soldiers of the two armies.

"Those who resist, kill, those who surrender, avoid death!" At the foot of the mountain, the soldiers of the Menghu Army were shouting in unison, and when they heard the persuasion of the Qin army to surrender, many undetermined homeless people began to kneel on the ground, ready to surrender.

Now they are also clear about Qin's attitude towards prisoners, generally speaking, as long as they are not ten forgivenesses, they can be spared death, of course, it is inevitable that they will be sent to the bitter cold land to work as free coolies after being captive, but this is nothing, at least there is a bite to eat.

"Ugh!"

Lu Ze panicked, he stepped on the air, his body suddenly tightened, and when he looked down, he saw that his abdomen was red, and a black residual blade was inserted into his abdomen, and the person holding the blade was a Qin craftsman who was covered with blood and had a broken foot that could not see his face at all.

"Ah, it hurts me too." Lu Ze let out a loud cry and angrily stabbed his sword into the chest of the enemy on the ground.

This sword was extremely fast and accurate, and the body of the craftsman who was stabbed only bounced a few times, and then there was no sound.

Lu Ze gasped for breath, and after killing the enemy, he stumbled forward a few steps, and then rolled down the stairs with an unsteady clatter.

The long steps were originally at an angle of thirty degrees, Lu Ze rushed down and rolled down, and immediately even a round ball hit the pile, and the fugitive people in front of him were not on guard, and they were hit by Lu Ze and staggered, among them, there were those who were impatient and arrogant, and it didn't matter who it was after being hit, he immediately stepped on it with a big foot in anger, and stepped on the broken blade of Lu Ze's abdomen several points stronger.

Originally, the clothes thickened in winter, although the thorn that Lu Ze ate was hit by the vital point, but if it was bandaged and treated, it could also stop the bleeding and be rescued, but after experiencing the change of rolling down and trampling, Lu Ze was trampled on by dozens of pairs of feet, and when his cronies helped him up in a panic, this fierce general among the homeless people was already more angry and less in.

Lu Ze died in the chaos.

The outcasts, who had lost their command, scattered and fled in all directions around Fushui and Meridian Ridge, and these guys, who were accustomed to wandering in the mountains and forests, fled in groups of three or five in the wilderness, unaware that they were dying step by step.

The night of the Qinling Mountains.

It is a paradise for wild beasts, and in the winter of 200 B.C., tigers, leopards and jackals ruled the region, and for these hungry animals wondering where their food was, the fugitive homeless people were the tastiest food they had on their radar. (To be continued......)