The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Standing on the east wall of Yingyang, Heifu observed the Chu army outside. Several chariots had already arrived at the foot of the city and were circling Yingyang for reconnaissance. Several scouts on horseback were running back to report military intelligence.

And a mile away, a large force of the Chu army was crossing the stream east of Yingyang with clear flags. With the rising sun, Heifu roughly estimated their number.

"The Chu army is probably more than 2,000 people, three times ours."

Seeing that the number of Chu troops was not as terrifying as tens of thousands, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Zhai Chong smiled and said, "In this case, even if the Chu people come to attack, there is no need to be afraid. The circumference of this town is only one mile, but we have more than 700 people. I just went to inspect it. The soldiers are in high spirits after a night of rest, enough to resist the attack of the Chu people."

Qin Mochengshang, who followed them to the city to watch the enemy, also interrupted and said, "Hei Fu Baijiang, I have learned the art of city defense, and I can also help Baijiang to resist the enemy."

However, Hei Fu shook his head: "This is not a question of whether we can defend it. Once the enemy finds it difficult to capture, they can stop and wait and watch us. You see, the Chu people are coming from the east, which means that Qinqiu has fallen. Although we can resist the attack, if we stay in Yingyang, we will face more and more reinforcements from the Chu State, and we will be isolated and helpless."

"So, the first thing to consider now is not how to defend Yingyang, but how to get out smoothly. We must leave here today, otherwise, the situation will get worse and worse."

Xu Yang suggested: "The enemy army has only sent chariots and cavalry to the city, and most of them are still crossing the Ying River. It will take a moment to reach the city. Why not immediately order everyone to open the west gate and leave the city?"

"They can't run far."

Tu Si shook his head worriedly: "General Xu Bai, please look, this Chu army has at least 30 chariots and nearly 100 single cavalry, but we have sent all the horses that can run to deliver letters. The only chariot is carrying Li Duwei. If we get entangled halfway, we will have no way to get out."

At this time, the chariot soldiers of the Chu people stopped dozens of steps outside the city. The charioteer held up a long chief spear and shouted provocatively at the city, full of unpleasant words.

"The people of Jing are so brave!"

Zhai Chong was furious. He took the horn bow of a soldier next to him, aimed at the charioteer and shot an arrow! He was born in Shangjun Baidi and was a good archer. Unfortunately, the distance was too far and the arrow fell a few steps in front of the chariot.

Seeing this, the three people on the chariot became even more rampant, and the shouting and cursing came from afar, saying that the Qin people were cowardly and defeated generals.

Zhai Chong put away the horn bow and gritted his teeth and said, "The Chu people are so arrogant! Should we rush out and fight to the death!"

In the defeat of Xiangcheng, they were attacked from front and back by many Chu troops, and there were also arsonists from Chen Ying. They lost inexplicably and were quite unwilling. After a night's rest, morale and energy were restored, and the will to fight came back. After all, everyone was a relatively elite short-soldier personal guard.

"That's exactly what I meant."

Hei Fu nodded: "The Art of War says that when our army goes out of the country, we camp in the enemy's territory. The enemy is very large and surrounds us in several layers. If we want to break out, we are blocked from all sides. At this time, we will die if we defend or flee. It is better to encourage the soldiers and fight them! After defeating this Chu army, we will seize their chariots, horses, flags, and armors, so that we can retreat to the west smoothly."

However, they are outnumbered and facing the Chu army, which has just won a victory and is in high morale. The outcome is uncertain. Even if they succeed in defeating the enemy, they will inevitably suffer heavy losses, at least half of them will be lost...

While they were talking, the Chu army had already arrived at the city and deployed their troops. It looked like an experienced military officer was commanding in an orderly manner.

Then, two chariots drove straight to the city. After the chariots stopped, a man dressed as a Qin military officer approached the city under the threat of a spear behind him and shouted loudly:

"I am Liao Ping, the commander of the five hundred guarding Qinqiu, ordered by General Li. Now Qinqiu has surrendered to Chu. Fortunately, Lord Hu and Lord Qin are merciful. No matter the generals or soldiers, they are all alive. Tu Baijiang, you don't have to resist. It's better to surrender quickly!"

"It's really Liao Ping who guarded Qinqiu."

Tu Si spat and cursed: "I usually think that this man is old but afraid of death. Sure enough, he surrendered to Chu. Not only did he become a 'military thief', but he also implicated hundreds of soldiers. Poor their parents, brothers, wives and children will be implicated and taken as slaves and concubines."

In the Qin military law, the worst behavior is not losing troops and territory, but surrendering.

Nanjun was fine. In Guanzhong, where Qin law had been in place for more than a hundred years, fathers sent their sons, brothers sent their younger brothers, and wives sent their husbands to join the army. They would warn each other: "If you violate the law and disobey the order, I will die, and the village will be governed." The subtext was that even for the sake of your family, you had to obey military orders and fight hard. You must not be a deserter or even surrender...

So in order not to implicate their families, many Qin soldiers would rather die in battle than surrender.

The same was true for Heifu. Surrender was his worst option, not to mention that he knew that Chu would be destroyed. Surrender was a temporary solution. A few years later, Chu was destroyed. Would they wait to be liquidated by Qin law and become slaves to build the Great Wall for the First Emperor?

Everyone on the top of the city had this attitude. The five hundred masters offered the sleeping hill. This was probably the reason why the Chu people came so quickly. Even if they resisted for an hour or so, they would have left safely now.

This assumption is meaningless, but watching the five hundred masters wasting their breath to persuade them to surrender, Hei Fu came up with an idea.

"Does the enemy not know that there are more than a hundred people in the city?"

Unfortunately, the five hundred masters later told Tu Si to persuade the five hundred masters who entered the city last night to surrender together.

"It seems that the enemy general has already known. It must be that we were discovered by the Chu scouts who were observing from a distance when we entered the city yesterday."

However, the Chu scouts only knew that there were hundreds of people entering the city, and they thought it was a leader or five hundred masters, but they did not expect that there was a big fish like Li You in the city.

Hei Fu was a little discouraged. He was still thinking that if the enemy did not know the real number of people in the city, they would play an "empty city plan" to lure the Chu people to take over the city, and then launch a surprise attack. It seems that he has to make another plan.

At this time, Zhai Chong started to draw his bow again, intending to shoot the traitor Liao Ping with an arrow.

Hei Fu quickly reached out to stop Zhai Chong and said to everyone: "I have made up my mind. I will gather everyone in the city and go out to attack the enemy later! But before that, maybe we can use the Chu people's tricks to make them relax their vigilance and give us a better chance of winning..."

Xu Yang frowned: "How to use the Chu people's tricks?"

Hei Fu didn't want to say it now: "This strategy must be approved by Li Duwei, and it must be carried out by people with great wisdom and courage, so that there is a chance of success!"

Just when the Chu people sent cavalry to spy, Hei Fu had already left the battlements, not letting people outside see his appearance, and now he said to Tu Si:

"Tu Bai will continue to stay here, and reply to the military bandit, saying that we will send someone out to discuss it later!"

...

"General Dou, General Sun, the people in the city said that they will send someone to discuss it later."

"It's good if the people in the city want to surrender."

Qin Gong Sun Feng breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing that he didn't have to fight anymore. Although the Chu army defeated the Qin people in the final decisive battle, Sun Feng still remembered the scene when Li Xin's army defeated the Chu people outside Qinqiu City.

Now he only wanted to complete the task as soon as possible, return to the territory, and repair the walls and houses destroyed during the war.

"It seems that the Qin people are really scared by General Xiang Yan. This is the third batch of guards willing to surrender."

Hu Gong Dou Ran was sitting on the chariot. After receiving the reply from the surrendered Qin general, he smiled with satisfaction.

As a descendant of the Ruo'ao clan who moved east, Dou Ran's family has not lived comfortably for decades. The good territories in Huainan and Huaibei have been occupied by Qu, Jing, and Zhao. Recently, the Xiang clan has risen and entered the court. And their Dou clan can only become a second-rate noble like the Sun clan, barely making ends meet in Hu County.

But this was already good. If the Qin army destroyed the State of Chu, the Dou and Sun families would lose even their last territories.

Fortunately, when the Qin army was approaching, the Chu people united in the face of the danger of national destruction. The nobles also tried their best to send their best soldiers to Xiang Yan to command, and defeated the arrogant Li Xin with the power of the army of mourning, allowing the State of Chu to avoid the fate of national destruction.

After the decisive battle of Xiangcheng, Dou Ran, who led troops from Hu County to the north to reinforce, received a new order halfway through: to recapture the towns previously captured by Li Xin.

So Dou Ran led his troops westward and successfully besieged Qinqiu with the help of the local Chu people.

The five hundred lords guarding Qinqiu found that they had to face not only more than a thousand Chu soldiers, but also Chu people in the city who could revolt at any time, and wisely chose to surrender.

Sun Feng was then freed from captivity and restored his status as the Duke of Qin. So the two of them joined forces and continued to march westward with two thousand men. Their ultimate goal was to join forces with the army besieging Pingyu along the route that Li Xin had taken.

Although the Qin people in Yingyang City showed their willingness to surrender, Dou Ran was not careless. He asked his men to line up and wait, and set up his own tent. The nobles of the Chu State were very particular about etiquette, and it would be useful for accepting the surrender later.

When the tent was set up, the Chu soldiers outside also came to report that the people sent from the city to contact had arrived.

"Bring them in."

Dou Ran sat in the middle of the tent, Sun Feng sat beside him, and Liao Ping, the leader of the five hundred Qin people who surrendered, also sat below.

But outside the tent, there were two rows of Chu people wearing red leather armor, all holding halberds in both hands, with the two halberds crossed. At this moment, the sun has peeked out from the clouds, shining on the weapons, glittering and illuminating the road ahead, and more than a dozen Chu soldiers also turned their heads to look at the people coming from the city, their eyes wide open and full of murderous intent!

The person who came was a black-faced man who was seven and a half feet tall. He had a right bun and a red scarf wrapped around it. Judging from his appearance, he should be a high-ranking man. He hesitated for a while as he looked at the two halberds crossing the road ahead, then lowered his head and walked slowly, but he couldn't hide the trembling of his legs.

After entering the camp, he immediately saluted Dou Ran and Sun Feng, and said in a thick Nanjun Jingchu dialect: "My name is Zhong, the head of the garrison sent by the five hundred masters in the city to negotiate surrender. I meet you generals!"