On the evening of the third day, under the order of Mingjin to withdraw his troops, the Chu army, which had already suffered heavy casualties, hurried back to the rebel camp as if it were about to be amnesty, like a low tide, and did not even care about the siege equipment such as the cloud ladder, and let them be scattered all over the place.

Zhou Shi stood on the high platform, his face was cold, and said to the staff officer beside him: "Have you ever seen it clearly? According to your speculation, how many Qin troops are in the Guannei?"

The staff officer next to him flipped through the record book in his hand, bowed to Zhou Shi and said, "Marshal Qiqi, in the past three days, the Qin army in the city has changed its guard 17 times, each time about 20,000 people. ”

"The subordinates can see it clearly, every time they are some fresh faces, and their behavior in response to our army's siege is no different from that of the new army, so it is speculated that there are at least 350,000 Qin troops stationed in the pass. ”

"Under normal circumstances, the commander of the Qin army will not use all the troops, and will reserve a part of the reserve army, according to the situation of Hangu Pass, it will not be less than 100,000, so his subordinates think that the Qin army in the pass is at least 450,000 or more. ”

"How much more needs to be further observed. ”

More than 450,000 yuan? Zhou Shi grabbed the railing of the high platform with his right hand, couldn't help but use a slight force, pinched it into pieces, and turned around and left without saying a word.

Reason told Zhou that he should order the army to retreat and sweep away the Qin army that was making trouble in the rear, instead of continuing to consume here.

However, he had a hunch that if the attack on Hangu Pass failed this time, he was afraid that he would not have a chance to break through Hangu Pass for the rest of his life.

As soon as Zhou Shi stepped into the camp, he saw the three of them, including the military minister Xiang Liang Tianrong, standing firmly in front of him.

Zhou Shi couldn't help frowning slightly and asked, "The three of you have something to do with me?"

Xiang Liang was the first to speak: "Brother Zhou, I came to you today to persuade you to withdraw my troops, and you have also seen it, no matter how my Zhao Qichu army attacks the city at any cost, Hangu Pass is still as solid as a rock, and if this battle continues, it will only add casualties, so it is better to retreat." ”

Wuchen's tone was not as good as Xiang Liang's, and he said in a loud voice: "In only three days, my Zhao Qichu army has lost one-third, if you really want to attack with all your strength for ten days as you said, my Zhao Qichu army is afraid that the whole army will be wiped out, did you have this idea from the beginning?"

Tian Rong said faintly: "My Qi country is a good man, if he dies on the road to Qin, he has nothing to say." But if you are calculated and die like this, I, Tian Rong, will be the first to refuse, Zhou Dashuai, if you insist on going on like this, everyone will break up in two. ”

Zhou Shi's cold gaze swept towards the three of them, and the three of them looked at him unceremoniously.

After dozens of breaths, Zhou Shi's face showed a hint of mockery, and he said: "Tomorrow, Zhang Chu's army will attack the city, and the four countries will be treated equally, if you still have opinions, then prepare to explain the future." ”

After saying this, Zhou Shi turned around and left without looking back, not caring about the ugly faces of the three of them.

The three of them, Xiang Liang Tianrong, the military minister who stayed there, looked at each other for a long time, showed a helpless look on their faces, nodded, and left.

......

In Hangu Pass, countless animal meats were moved out, thrown into a large iron pot and cooked, cut into countless pieces, and distributed to each soldier, and a cheerful atmosphere permeated the entire pass.

When the heads of the powerful families announced that they would reward the meritorious soldiers with their fields and mansions after the war, this atmosphere became even stronger.

In the past two days, the soldiers of each family have killed and wounded a large number of rebels in the defense of the city, and according to Lin Ze's promise, this battle achievement is enough to ensure that the heirs of each family inherit some of the main titles of the family.

If you make some more meritorious contributions, it is not impossible for the family to operate again, and it is not impossible to go further.

After completing the tasks assigned by the family, the heads of each family were in a very happy mood, so they had such a show to reward the army.

As for the two days, the coalition forces suffered more than 40,000 casualties, and they were not taken to heart.

At the same time that the families were rewarding the army, Lin Ze also ordered Qianyuan to prepare a large amount of meat to appease the morale of his subordinates.

In the entire Hangu Pass, the only depressed person may be Li You, who is unable to support the 50,000 troops sent to him by Lin Ze.

This time to reward the army, these 50,000 people secretly ran to Lin Ze's side.

After Lin Ze found out, he didn't let people break it, but just told Qianyuan to prepare more meat and treat everyone equally.

This time, there are not a few people in the 50,000 army who have opinions about Li You.

......

In the early morning of the fourth day, the entire 300,000 Zhang Chu army lined up in front of Hangu Pass, and under the encouragement of the drums, they continued to attack the wall of Hangu Pass.

Under such an offensive, the armies of each family immediately showed their decline, if it weren't for last night, the heads of each family rewarded the army, and the morale was much higher, and the city wall almost couldn't hold it.

Rao is like this, Lin Zedu led the army to support twice, and it was only after he could keep the city wall.

This battle was fought directly until dark, and Fang ended with more than 90,000 casualties among Zhang Chu's army and more than 30,000 casualties among the miscellaneous armies.

Zhou Shi didn't have the heart to pay attention to the results of this battle, because the envoy sent by Chen Shi arrived, and also brought the news that the Qin army was making trouble in the land of Yangzhai.

According to Chen She's messenger, 100,000 Qin troops relied on Yangzhai City to capture more than ten surrounding counties one after another, and killed Zhang Chuguo's officials and soldiers in various counties.

The brutality of his actions is outrageous.

The officials and soldiers of Zhang Chu in the entire Yingchuan County were all panicked, and while sending people to step up inspections, they wrote to Chen Shi and asked for rescue.

In this way, Chen She, who was far away in Chen County, learned the news and immediately sent a messenger to question him, why did he let the Qin army make trouble in the rear?

If it was just a call for help from the rear, Zhou Shi might just turn a blind eye and act as if nothing had happened.

But now that Chen Shi personally inquired into the matter, of course Zhou Shi did not dare to slack off, so he could only entertain the envoy while pondering a document to explain the matter to Chen She.

After sending off the envoy, Zhou Shi was able to relax, rubbed his temples, and thought carefully about how to continue this war?

For the first time, Zhou Shi had the idea of retiring from the army.

Then Zhou Shi locked a man in a tent and locked him up all night.

Early the next morning, Zhou Shi gathered his generals, conspired, and issued a military order to retreat.

When the three of them learned about it, they almost thought that they had heard it wrong, and immediately came over to find Zhou Shi and asked, "I heard that Zhou Dashuai plans to withdraw from the army, I don't know if there is such a thing?"

Zhou Shi nodded and said: "That's right, Hangu Pass is dangerous, and it is not easy to break, so Ben Shuai decided to pack up his things and lead the army back to Yangzhai." ”

The three of them glanced at each other, and Wu Chen opened his mouth and asked, "In that case, shouldn't the antidote be given to us?"

Zhou Shi directly took out three bottles from his arms and threw them at the three of them: "There is an antidote in the bottle, one a day, and after three days, the poison will naturally be solved." ”

The three of them hurriedly accepted the antidote, but they were not in a hurry to take it, but carefully put it in their arms.

Seeing this, Zhou Shi only smiled slightly, after being poisoned by himself once, the three of them were obviously much more cautious.

After the three of them got the antidote, they glanced at each other, and invariably arched their hands towards Zhou Shi and said, "Since we have decided to withdraw from the army, I will go back to pack my things later, so I will leave." ”

After speaking, the three of them cautiously walked towards their respective camps, and seeing that Zhou Shi had no intention of blocking them, they immediately accelerated their pace, for fear that Zhou Shi would backtrack.

An hour later, the remaining 960,000 rebels left for the east.

......

Such a big change in the rebels immediately aroused the idea of the Qin army on the city wall, and Lin Ze naturally saw it, but he didn't make any move.

When the principals of the families learned the news of the rebels' retreat, they immediately couldn't sit still, and hurriedly joined together and came to the city wall.

Seeing that the rebels were really far away, he immediately proposed to Lin Ze: "Lord Shaofu, the rebels are defeated, this is the best opportunity to pursue, you can't miss the opportunity, quickly order the pursuit of the rebels." ”

Lin Ze glanced at the group of people with an idiot face, and then ordered: "Pass on the commander's military order, you must not open the city gate, and those who violate the order will be beheaded." ”

......