The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

The Qin army had been besieging Xiangcheng for ten days, but the gates of Xiangcheng were tightly closed. Xiang Yan's banner stood firmly on the top of the city, ignoring any temptation and provocation.

Although the siege equipment was being built in an orderly manner, the two attempts to attack the city ended in failure. The Qin army commander did not seem to be in a hurry. He asked the soldiers to build two new barriers outside the military camp on the south bank of the Yingshui River to resist the enemy. It seemed that he planned to confront the Chu army in Xiangcheng for a long time.

So in Hei Fu's opinion, this siege was too leisurely, which made him more and more doubtful whether Xiangcheng was the real main attack direction.

As expected, on this day, the news that the Qin army's "partial division" had defeated the Chu army and was advancing with great strides in Huaibei came, causing the Qin army's siege camp outside Xiangcheng to boil.

The army is a place where good news is reported but bad news is not. The military officers will try their best to hide the news of failure, but if it is a victory, they want every soldier to know it. This good news was spread inside and outside the camp, which relieved the depression of the Qin army that had been besieging the city for ten days without any success, and there was laughter of celebration everywhere.

Hei Fu was also in this atmosphere. As a short-armed guard, he was much more informed than ordinary officers. After asking other short-armed generals, he got many different opinions.

"It is said that General Meng Tian personally led 30,000 elite troops from Guanzhong and has already broken through Pingyu and Qinqiu."

"In the battle of Qinqiu, more than 10,000 enemies were killed and the Chu army was completely defeated. No wonder no reinforcements from Chu have come to Xiangcheng in recent days."

"Some people say that General Meng Tian has arrived at the lower reaches of Yingshui River and is preparing to attack Juyang. Those ships carrying grain outside are going to support him!"

Although there are many opinions, a marching route can still be pieced together. Hei Fu thought to himself: "My intuition is right. The so-called detachment is the real main attack force. Now it has broken through Pingyu and Qinqiu from the flank and is approaching Yingshui River. In this way, it can get support from upstream ships to transport grain and fodder. It's really a good idea."

But to be able to carry out a long-distance raid of 300 miles, this army must be lightly equipped. It may not even bring enough food and arrows, let alone siege equipment. Therefore, it is impossible to expect this detachment to capture cities and territories. Li Xin should just go to fight the enemy.

In any case, the balance of victory seemed to be slowly tilting towards the Qin State. Some people even boldly estimated that the war would end before the arrival of spring...

However, Hei Fu was not so optimistic.

It seemed as if God had blessed the Qin army with victory after victory: in Dun County, in Pingyu, in Qinqiu...

But as the Qin army continued to win, Hei Fu became more and more afraid.

The war situation was complicated and changed in an instant, which made Hei Fu even more puzzled. What happened to this originally victorious war against Chu that eventually failed?

He didn't have Baidu at hand, so he had no way of knowing. He could only sharpen his sword, look for news everywhere, and wait day and night.

...

On the arrow tower on the top of Xiangcheng City, Zhou Wen also noticed the small changes in the Qin army camp and frowned.

"The Qin army seems to be happier today than in the past. Is there any news from outside?"

As the "sun watcher" of the Chu army, he had to wait on the wall all day to observe the movements of the Qin army: whether there were new enemy troops arriving, whether there were enemy troops quietly leaving, those seemingly ordinary dispatches, and even the number of enemy campfires when cooking, he had to record them one by one. And he couldn't fall into the wrong strategy, because in these days, wars always like to use the strategy of reducing or increasing stoves to mislead the enemy.

In addition, he had to record the layout of the Qin camp: where the two barriers were the weakest in defense, where the general's tent was probably, where the civilians lived, and where the horses and chariots were concentrated? Which camp was the food that was continuously transported from the direction of Chen Ying piled up?

The gates of Xiangcheng were closed, surrounded by two rammed earth barriers built by the Qin army, cutting off all contact with the outside world. They could only use this method to understand the enemy camp's strengths and weaknesses.

Zhou Wen's observations not only helped "General Xiang" in the city to judge the enemy situation, but also laid the foundation for their future counterattack...

Unknowingly, night had fallen. Behind the two walls, in the Qin army's camp, campfires were slowly lighting up, like the countless stars of the Milky Way. It was difficult for Zhou Wen to count them all by himself.

After recording what he saw and heard today on the wooden slips, Zhou Wen walked down the arrow tower. The walls of Xiangcheng were full of Chu soldiers wearing red leather armor. They all lived there, waiting for battle in groups of three or two. Although the Qin army's siege was not fierce, the soldiers were still vigilant.

For the Chu people, the Qin army was an invading bandit. The jackals were wandering outside the city. How could they relax and sleep?

The hatred between Chu and Qin began when King Huai of Chu was deceived into Qin and died in a foreign country. In the decades since then, new and old hatreds between the two sides have continued to accumulate. Therefore, among the six countries, Chu was the one that disagreed with Qin the most and resisted the most fiercely.

Zhou Wen himself is the most typical example.

His ancestors were from Jiangling, Nanjun, and worked as minor officials in Yingdu. When his grandfather was alive, Bai Qi conquered Yancheng, and the Zhou family had no choice but to flee eastward with the King of Chu, and the whole family left Yingdu, where they had lived for generations.

Qu Yuan, the official of Sanlu, watched this scene and wrote "Ai Ying", which can be said to be the voice of those who migrated from Chu.

"If the Emperor's fate is not pure, why are the people shocked?

The people are scattered and lost, and they migrate east in mid-spring.

Leaving their hometown and going far away, they follow Jiangxia to exile..."

The tragic defeat and migration left a deep memory for the people of Chu.

If it is said that before this, the people of Chu were unwilling to fight for their lives because of corruption and flattery in the court, it was "the country did not know its people, and the people did not know their country". After the scars of the eastward migration, the nobles and civilians of Chu began to hate Qin, and the forces calling for war continued to rise.

Unfortunately, the kings of Chu in all dynasties have always been afraid of Qin. They moved from Yingdu to Chendi, then from Chendi to Juyang, and finally to Shouchun in Huainan. In the past fifty years, three generations of Chu people have moved the capital three times for fear of Qin. The kings of Chu never tired of it, but the Chu people were exhausted. Even Zhou Wen was forced to leave his hometown Chenying last year and drifted to Huainan.

They couldn't imagine where they could move to if they lost this war again?

Jiangdong? Wuyue?

At least in Zhou Wen's view, he didn't want to flee in embarrassment anymore. Under the call of Xiang Yan, the upper pillar of the country, they decided to stay and fight to defend their own village.

Thinking of this, Zhou Wen had already walked into the military tent in the city. The general had to listen to the "suns" report the enemy situation every day, and then make defense arrangements for the next day.

When Zhou Wen walked into the hall holding the wooden tablet, many Chu generals were sitting on both sides, talking among themselves. The focus was on the Qin army ships that went south along the Yingshui River, which seemed to be full of food. Could it be that the Qin army had already penetrated deep into the lower reaches?

Zhou Wen walked closer and bowed respectfully to the commander sitting in the middle.

"General Xiang, I am Zhou Wen today, come to report the enemy situation!"

"Go on."

A full-bodied voice came, but the face reflected in the light was particularly young. He was a middle-aged general in his thirties, with dark hair and beard, and a burly figure. How could he be the old general Xiang Yan with gray hair on his temples?

Although he did look like Xiang Yan when he was young...

The "General Xiang" in the city was not Xiang Yan, but Xiang Yan's eldest son, Xiang Rong!

In the Qin army camp, Li Xin's general flag was hung high, with a dragon flag and feathers.

On the top of Xiangcheng City, Xiang Yan's high-ranking flags were also flying, looking very impressive.

The two flags were facing each other, giving each other the illusion that "the enemy commander is here".

But on the chessboard, the black and red generals in the nine squares had long disappeared...