The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"Changping Jun has been the prime minister for ten years, but now he has been exiled to become a mere county governor. He has to raise food and fodder for us younger generations. General Meng, do you think he feels unfair?"

It was already dark. After sending Changping Jun out of the camp, Li Xin stood at the gate of the camp and suddenly said this to his deputy, the deputy general Meng Tian.

Meng Tian was a few years younger than Li Xin. He wore a pheasant crown with a belt tied under his chin, and the tail of the belt fluttered in front of his chest. He had two mustaches on his chin. He just smiled and said, "This is not necessarily a demotion. Changping Jun followed the king's order and took the king's eastern tour to quell the rebellion in Xinzheng and conquer the city of Huaiyang. He made great contributions. The king wanted to destroy Chu in one battle, so it is understandable to let Changping Jun, who is the most trusted, stay here. As long as he wins this battle and makes contributions to destroying the country, Changping Jun may have a chance to return to the court and become the prime minister of Qin again." Meng Tian's implication was that they and Changping Jun had already shared the same glory and loss this time, and they would be rewarded and punished together if they won, and they would be punished together if they lost. He hoped that Li Xin would not be too suspicious. "That's right."

Li Xin knew that Meng Tian's father Meng Wu and Changping Jun were old friends, so he nodded: "After all, you and I are young, and we still need an elder to sit in the middle."

Li Xin had no time to think about it, because this war, from the beginning of the Qin King's appointment of generals, revealed something unusual.

Not to mention that Wang Jian and Wang Ben, who had the merit of destroying the country, were suddenly hidden, even the old generals who followed Wang Jian to destroy the country in the past, such as Xin Sheng, Yang Duanhe, Qiang Wei, etc., were not appointed by the king.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that because Wang Jian insisted that there must be 600,000 people before attacking Chu, it meant that the war would be delayed until next year, which made the impatient Qin King quite unhappy. So he simply let the old generals guard their own places, and boldly used a large number of young and strong generals from Langwei, such as Li Xin, Meng Tian, Li You, etc., and ordered them to be responsible for the attack on Chu.

"The king intends to let General Wang and his old subordinates retire and start to let new people take over..."

Li Xin and Meng Tian both understood this. Although they were not very old, they had experienced several years of military service. Li Xin had made many great achievements. In terms of merit and seniority, he had the capital to be independent. Meng Tian was the grandson of Meng Ao, a famous general of the Qin State. He was a young general that the King of Qin admired the most after Li Xin.

Both of them knew the importance of this expedition to the Qin State and to themselves, especially Li Xin. The military exploits of his predecessor Wang Jian were in front of him, which brought him great pressure, but also made him eager to try.

After returning to the big tent, Li Xin ordered his subordinates to light all the oil lamps. He and Meng Tian were going to discuss the next military affairs overnight.

There were two maps on the table. One was the "garrison map", which was a garrison map drawn in three colors: red, black, and Tianqing. Its scope is equivalent to Dang County of Qin State, as well as the newly established Huaiyang and Shangcai areas of Chen County. The black background with red ticks on it emphasizes the garrisons and command centers of several armies under Li Xin, as well as the granaries and grain transportation routes in the rear.

Li Xin scanned the map and found the location of Ao Cang.

The art of war says that an army will perish without baggage, without food, and without reserves. As a general who has fought many battles, Li Xin certainly understands that in order to win this war of annihilation, the first point is to ensure the food supply of 200,000 people.

"Ao Cang in Xingyang is the starting point for grain transportation for this attack on Chu."

Ao Cang is a large granary newly built in Xingyang between June and July, which can store hundreds of thousands of stones of grain. It is close to the river and the starting point of the Honggou, so the transportation is convenient. Whether it is millet and wheat from Guanzhong or grain and fodder from Henei, Hedong, and Sanchuan, they can all be concentrated in Ao Cang first, and then transported to Huaiyang along the Honggou...

That's why Li Xin chose Huaiyang as the base camp for the army to attack Chu. This is the end point of the Honggou grain transportation.

He has 200,000 available manpower, of which 100,000 are civilians and prisoners responsible for transporting grain, basically recruited nearby. The other 100,000 are combat troops. Of course, it is impossible for so many people to swarm in Huaiyang. Li Xin also assigned several detachments to be stationed in Shangcai, Yangcheng, Suiyang and other places, so there are only 50,000 combat troops in Huaiyang.

"The food and fodder for these 50,000 troops will be dispatched by Lord Changping. The food and fodder for Shangcai is 30,000, Yangcheng is 5,000, and will be transported by Xiangcheng County, Yingchuan County. The food and fodder for Suiyang is 15,000, and will be transported by Chenliu."

What Li Xin, Meng Tian and Lord Changping discussed just now was the issue of food transportation. In this way, the rear supply lines of the three armies will be clear, and they all have the convenience of waterways, which can greatly increase efficiency and reduce losses.

After ensuring the food supply, the army can further consider how to move forward.

Li Xin asked people to hang up the second "topographic map". The main area of this map is the Huaibei area on the border between Qin and Chu, with the south at the top and the north at the bottom, and the orientation is opposite to that of later generations. The map uses curves of uniform thickness, and more than 30 rivers in the Huaibei area are drawn. Mountain ranges such as Mangdang Mountain are represented by closed curves with halo lines inside, with clear veins, roads drawn as thin lines, and county and township cities in various places are represented by boxes.

"The north of the Huai River is flat and almost defenseless, but we cannot advance alone, because the Chu army is concentrated in a few cities and can block our supply."

Meng Tian also pointed at the map: "According to the spies' report, Xiang County, Pingyu, and Chengfu are the first line of defense for the Chu army."

These three cities are adjacent to the three armies of the Qin army, and the two sides have been confronting each other for more than a month.

Meng Tian's finger moved backward: "Xincai and Juyang are the second line of defense for the Chu army."

Unlike the previous three border counties, these two are big cities. Once the two cities are lost, there will only be the Huai River between Shouchun, the capital of Chu, and the Qin army.

"The first tough battle must be in Xiang County."

Meng Tian stared at the end of the Honggou. As long as Xiang County was captured, the Qin army could control the entire Honggou and extend the supply line by hundreds of miles.

"We think so. Xiang Yan is known for his military prowess. Why doesn't he think so too?"

Li Xin smiled. According to the spy's report, Xiang County has already hoisted the banner of Xiang Yan, the Sima of Chu State, and the Chu army has also gathered here. Because Xiang Yan also knows that the main force of the Qin army will surely seek food in Huaiyang, and Xiang County will bear the brunt. Once Xiang County is lost, the Qin army can threaten Juyang along the Yingshui River. If so, Chu will fall into a passive position.

"Leave 5,000 troops in Huaiyang to guard the city, and the rest will all go south to threaten Xiang County. Then order Li You's troops in Yangcheng to attack Duncheng on October 1st, first take this town, and make a move to cooperate with Huaiyang to encircle Xiang County."

Meng Tian looked puzzled: "There are also 30,000 to 50,000 Chu troops in Xiang County, which is equal to our army. I'm afraid it will be difficult to capture it. General, do you want to attack it by force?"

Li Xin shook his head and said, "Who said I want to sit in Huaiyang and lead the army to attack Xiang? This should be done by General Meng Tian."

Meng Tian suddenly realized: "Then the general is going to..."

Li Xin's finger left the difficult-to-break boundary between Huaiyang and Xiang County and reached Shangcai.

In war, the right way to win is to win by the unexpected.

"My general flag is in the Huaiyang army, but in a few days, I will appear in Shangcai with chariots and cavalry, under the banner of General Meng! This is a secret, and anyone who dares to leak it will die!"

Li Xin showed a sly smile: "First bluff, let the Chu army think that our army is going to capture Xiangcheng, so they mobilized the army to defend. However, I will lead a small army out of Shangcai, first break Pingyu, then intercept Yingshui, and cut off the retreat of the Chu army!"

Li Xin's purpose is obvious. He is not going to capture cities and break through the defense lines one by one. That is a stupid way. He wants to deliberately let the Chu army gather together, and then wait for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Chu army. As long as most of the Chu army led by Xiang Yan are annihilated, Huaibei will not be a problem? Why worry about the destruction of Chu?

This is Li Xin's strategy to defeat Chu!

…

In Yangcheng, more than a hundred miles southwest of Huaiyang, as the letters from the soldiers were sent away, their anxiety seemed to be sent away as well. In addition, Li You frequently asked the kitchen staff to prepare extra meals to reward the soldiers, so the soldiers in Nanjun began to put aside their worries and their morale recovered.

With the new nickname of "Family Letter Hundred Generals", Heifu was not only thanked by the soldiers, but also valued by Li You.

After entering late September, Heifu clearly felt that the pace of war was getting closer and closer. First, the cavalry in the army was always dispatched to enter the Chu territory to spy on the enemy, and also hunted down the Chu scouts who also came to investigate the strength of the Qin army. The battles between the cavalry scouts have been frequently launched.

As Yangcheng is the only way from Huaiyang to Shangcai, soldiers have been frequently mobilized in recent days. There is even a cavalry army under the banner of General Meng Tian passing by. The road outside Yangcheng was dusty for a while. Looking at the elite cavalry of the Qin army from the north, they were all in high spirits and had a grand appearance. As a miscellaneous army, the soldiers of Nanjun felt a little ashamed.

Heifu also got the task to intensify the inspection around Yangcheng, because every time the army was mobilized, it was the time when the enemy's espionage activities were most frequent.

On this day, when riding a horse with a garrison to patrol around Yangcheng, Heifu found that there were three suspicious people on the side of the road, pointing at the top of Yangcheng...

Heifu immediately rode over and led his soldiers to surround the three people, but saw a middle-aged man with a thick beard wearing a short coat, and two young men holding a ruler and a square, all dressed in cloth, looking at Yangcheng, and discussing something excitedly.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The middle-aged man was surrounded by Qin soldiers, but he was not panicked. He took out something in his arms, handed it to Hei Fu, and said in Guanzhong Qinqiang: "We are going to Shangcai with the army and passing through this place. This is the pass token."

Hei Fu looked at the mulberry wood pass, which turned out to be a pass signed and sealed by the deputy general Meng Tian himself, allowing the three people to move freely in the cities along the way. As long as they do not enter or leave the military camp, they can move anywhere.

This is a very high treatment, but these three people are dressed in plain clothes, not officers. Could they be the staff of the general's shogunate? At the level of deputy general, they can bring some staff and guests with them to serve as military counselors.

Hei Fu had doubts in his heart, and he looked carefully at the description of the identities of the three people in the pass, and he was even more surprised.

"Are you... Mohists?"

"Yes." The middle-aged man bowed to Hei Fu and introduced himself: "Qin Mo!"