The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

"General, you are finally here. The Qin invaders are really evil..."

On the eighth day of the eleventh month, in Yang'an Township, Langling County, Ruxi area of Chu State, the young Chu noble Jing Ju listened to the local elders' complaints while cursing himself for having such a difficult task.

"It's all because of that little cavalry officer named Zhongli Mei!"

The story started three days ago. Jing Ju is a descendant of the Jing family. This family originated from King Ping of Chu, because the complete posthumous title of King Ping of Chu should be "King Jingping of Chu". One of the princes took this as his surname. After three hundred years of reproduction, it has become one of the three major royal families of Chu State.

So although Jing Ju was only in his early twenties, he was already a leader. He followed the army north to join Xiang Rong and besieged Shangcai.

Unexpectedly, when they were marching to the bank of the Ru River, a scout named Zhongli Mei returned at high speed, with an arrow in his body and two arrows on his horse's buttocks. Zhongli Mei was almost fainted when he returned to the army, but he still tried his best to tell the general what he saw.

At the same time, their army of 5,000 people also received news sent by Xiang Rong, saying that there was a Qin remnant that escaped the net in Yingyang Town, 100 miles northeast, and it might be fleeing towards the Ru River. If they were found, they would be eliminated by the way...

Comparing the two, isn't this the Qin army disguised as Chu people that Zhongli Mei saw!

The general attached great importance to this, so he named Jing Ju and asked him to lead more than a thousand people to pursue the Qin army...

So Jing Ju was sent to Ruxi.

Zhongli Mei was seriously injured and thrown on a carriage, his life or death unknown. Jingju and his men were led by another scout who had escaped. When they arrived at the small ferry, they found that the Qin people had completely crossed over and burned the ferry and all the boats...

Burning one would have been fine. Jingju led his men to continue northward along the east bank of the Ru River, hoping to reach the next ferry. As a result, they found that the next two ferry crossings were all burned by the Qin people!

Jingju did not dare to swim across, fearing that the Qin army would attack them halfway across the river. They could only walk for another day until noon the next day. They sent scouts to the other side to confirm that the Qin army was indeed not there. They then found a few boats and spent several hours to slowly ferry a thousand people across.

At this point, Jingju's troops had lagged behind the Qin people for most of the day.

At nightfall on the eighth day of the eleventh month, when Jing Ju arrived at Yang'an Township, he learned that the Qin people had pretended to be the Chu army and opened the gate of the town...

Yang'an Township was just a small town with less than 500 households. When Jing Ju arrived, he did not see the mayor of the town to greet him. Only a few local elders were left to complain to him about the "atrocities" of the Qin people.

"The Qin invaders were led by a black-faced man. They claimed to be soldiers of the Dougong clan of Hu County, but as soon as they entered the city gate, they showed their vicious side and captured the city owner and the doctor. Then they looked for doctors and medicine to give to the smelly wounded soldiers. Then they occupied the city owner's house and invited a sick man on a carriage to enter. They ordered the people of the city to boil water, kill dogs and chickens, and cook. After a full meal, seeing that it was getting late, they robbed a lot of food on their shoulders and kidnapped the city owner and the doctor..."

The local elders' goat beards trembled, and they were obviously scared. Although Langling County was adjacent to Qin State, it was not a major transportation route. In the past, when the two countries went to war, the Qin people were not very interested in this place, and not many soldiers passed through.

"How many hours have you been gone?"

"Left three hours ago."

After listening, Jing Ju made a judgment.

"Most of the food that the Qin people brought from Yingyang has been eaten, so they took the risk of opening this small town to replenish it and rest. Now they are just half a day's journey away."

At this time, a subordinate came over and said, "I heard from the cavalry officer Zhongli Mei that the Qin people brought a lot of wounded soldiers, and because of the rush of time, all the carriages were abandoned on the east bank of the Ru River. With so many wounded, they must not be able to walk fast. In addition, they marched in Chu and fled overnight without stopping for hundreds of miles. They must be extremely tired and hungry. If we chase them quickly, Jing Gong will definitely defeat them!"

Before the subordinate finished speaking, he was impatiently driven away by Jing Ju. He heard that Hu Gong Dou Ran, who was familiar with him, led 2,000 people and was defeated by the Qin army of less than 1,000 in Yingyang, and he was also captured. Jing Ju didn't want to follow in his footsteps.

If they win, it's fine. If they lose, not only will they bring shame to the family, but they may even commit suicide under pressure... Why bother?

There is nothing wrong with being cautious. Jing Ju does not seek merit, but only seeks to avoid mistakes.

He also said seriously: "The general also said that we should expel the Qin bandits from the country and not let them affect the army's siege of Shangcai. This is the most important thing!"

So they simply rested in this small town, and asked the local elders to boil water, kill dogs and chickens, and cook again, doing what the Qin bandits did.

It was not until after a night's rest that Jing Ju picked his teeth, patted his full stomach, and left this unfortunate town with his soldiers, and continued to "pursue" the Qin army slowly, but in the eyes of others, it was no different from escorting.

In Jing Ju's view, the war had come to an end, and the Chu State was no longer in danger of extinction. The major families could rule the people in the territory as usual, and there was no need to fight like General Xiang Yan.

Although they walked slowly, on the ninth day of the eleventh month, the chariots and horses arranged by Jingju in front still caught up with the Qin people.

When Jingju, who learned the news, arrived at the south bank of the Zhuo River in a light carriage, he saw that the Qin people, who were dressed in Chu army uniforms and carrying Chu army flags, had all crossed the water, which was only ten feet wide, and walked a long way.

This river is equivalent to the dividing line between Qin and Chu, and it still remains so today. After crossing the river, they will be the two cities of Wufang and Zhuoyang, which belong to Qin. Qin and Chu have once again confronted each other in Shangcai and Yangcheng, and there are probably many soldiers stationed in these two places.

The Qin people on the opposite side also saw them. Several Qin soldiers who were drinking water by the river immediately shouted, and even a big Han man untied his belt and urinated in the river as a provocation.

However, Jing Ju did not take it as an offense. He asked the driver to turn the car around. After returning to the main force, he said to everyone with a smile on his face:

"I have driven the Qin people out of the country. Turn around immediately and return to Shangcai! Report the merit to General Xiang!"

...

At the same time, on the north bank of the Lishui River, Hei Fu, who had hidden his entire army in the bushes and was ready to fight a half-crossing attack at any time, saw the Chu army on the opposite side give up crossing the river and retreat in an orderly manner. He could only scratch his face, a little annoyed.

"Is this Chu general afraid of death or smart?"

Then he smiled at Dou Ran, who was tied in the carriage and sleeping with several bags of food they had robbed yesterday, and said: "Dou Gong, it seems that not all descendants of Emperor Gaoyang are as noble and willing to die as you are."

Dou Ran snorted coldly and turned his head away. All along, he ignored Hei Fu's inquiries. Therefore, Hei Fu did not get anything out of his question, and naturally he could not know who wrote to Dou Ran about what happened in Anlu County.

"I don't believe you can keep your mouth shut when you arrive in Qin."

Hei Fu did not have time to torture Dou Ran, and immediately asked Dongmen Bao and others who were arranged to provoke the Chu people on the other side of the river to withdraw.

"Speed up and head west, let's try to spend the night in Wufang!"

After walking more than 300 miles in seven or eight days, everyone's physical strength has reached the limit...

Fortunately, the end is not far away.

...

Wufang City, 20 miles west of the place where Hei Fu and his team crossed the river, is now Suiping County, Zhumadian. At this moment, the whole city has been mobilized as if facing a great enemy.

In the past few days, the war situation between Qin and Chu has changed again: Li Xin, who had disappeared in Chu, took his remaining 20,000 soldiers and went back to Yangcheng. Then he cooperated with Meng Tian to set up defense lines in Yangcheng and Shangcai, and defeated several attacks by the Chu army.

The Chu people did not dare to divide their troops at this time. At Xiang Yan's order, 100,000 troops were also concentrated on this line. The two sides confronted each other with equal forces. The situation of Qin's retreat since Xiangcheng was greatly alleviated. As the weather became colder day by day, the war entered a delicate balance again...

This confrontation will not last long. No matter Qin or Chu, they shivered in the cold wind and thought: "When the first snow falls, it will probably be time for the two countries to stop fighting."

By then, both sides will have a common enemy: winter. If they still stay outside without scruples, more people will be killed by the cold winter than by weapons.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the scout came to report that a small number of "Chu troops" crossed the Heishui River and headed north, heading straight for Wufang City.

Upon hearing this news, the Wufang County Lieutenant was shocked!

"Could it be that the real plan of the Chu army is to take a different route, first break Wufang, then go north to Yingchuan, or attack Nanyang in the west?"

But it doesn't seem like it, because the number of this Chu army is too small. After the scouts repeatedly confirmed that this Chu army had only seven or eight hundred people and there were no reinforcements in the rear, the always bold Wufang County Lieutenant decided to take a thousand soldiers transferred from Nanyang County and go out of the city to attack the enemy!

Half an hour later, when they saw this "Chu army" from a distance, they were marching along the Heshui River, with a loose formation and looking exhausted. After discovering the orderly formation of the Qin army in front of them, they did not stop the formation in a hurry, but instead showed joy on their faces and quickened their pace.

Moreover, the other side sent several riders over, holding the black flag of Qin high, and ran out of the range of arrows, shouting loudly: "Don't shoot, we are the Qin army, Qin people!"

"Qin people?" The county lieutenant was shocked, and then saw a scene that he would never forget.

As if in response, the seven or eight hundred people walking by the river began to take off their armor at the same time.

They took off their red Chu armors, which were full of holes from arrows and swords, and threw them all into the gurgling water, letting the heavy leather armor sink to the bottom of the cold water...

They took off their dirty ochre-colored Chu clothes, which they had worn for seven or eight days, and threw them into the water, letting them drift downstream with the current...

In the cold wind, after taking off their armor and clothes, the people, who were only wearing thin summer clothes, put down all the red flags of the Chu army in their hands and replaced them with the black flags of the Qin State, which had been hidden for many days but washed brand new...

Their hands were shaking and the flags were fluttering.

Looking around, there was a flag of five hundred masters and several small flags of a hundred people, all of which were in high spirits, which formed a sharp contrast with the crowd who were shivering with cold teeth after taking off their outer clothes...

And a captain's tiger-bear-tooth flag was in the front, placed on a military chariot. In the chariot lay a weak captain with a gratified face. He asked the driver to drive closer and showed his captain's tiger talisman to the county lieutenant.

"You are Captain Li You!"

The county lieutenant widened his eyes. There was a lot of news from the front line. The Qin army suffered a great defeat in the attack on Chu. A total of eight captains died or disappeared. One of them was Li You in front of him. He was the son-in-law of the King of Qin and the son of the court judge...

Now, after disappearing for ten days, Li You finally appeared alive! This is big news that can shock the whole army.

Looking at the Chu armor and clothes abandoned by these soldiers, as well as the Chu army flags they seized, Wufang County Lieutenant could almost guess what they had experienced.

"I can come back alive, all thanks to Hei Fu and all the soldiers!" Li You smiled weakly, bowed to Wu Fang County Lieutenant, and asked him to lead everyone into the city.

Wu Fang County Lieutenant woke up from his dream and shouted: "Quick, quickly arrange for the captain and all the soldiers to enter the city, and then ask the city to prepare clothes and bedding, and heat the stove to warm these comrades!"

One thousand Nanyang County soldiers dispersed from the middle and made way. They watched Li You's carriage pass by, and then looked sideways at their comrades who were only wearing single clothes or even naked.

Although these people were shivering in the cold wind, they were in good spirits and held their heads high, because they did not think of themselves as remnants of defeated soldiers. They were heroes and warriors who turned defeat into victory, fought three hundred miles behind enemy lines, and finally returned victorious!

However, Dongmen Bao, who was walking in front of Heifu, had lost the arrogance he had when he peed in the wind by the water to mock the Chu people. He had a long runny nose and sneezed, muttering, "Finally, the broken armor has been removed. This battle is finally over..."

Heifu was not so embarrassed. After he asked everyone to move forward, he stood at the end of the team and looked behind him, looking at the vast Chu land on the other side.

There were the promises he made, and many souls were waiting for him to take them home...

"No."

He whispered, "This war has just begun!"