Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 331

On the side of the allied forces of the two counties, Peng Yue, Li Zuoche, and Yan Shen were not discouraged by the successive defeats. As the situation became clearer, the three of them thought of a classic battle that Li Mu had won: the Northern Frontier Battle where he decisively defeated 100,000 wolf cavalry.

In that battle, Li Mu used tens of thousands of livestock and the lives of nearly ten thousand Zhao soldiers as bait to lure the main force of the wolf tribe into the Zhao army's ambush. In the end, he used the main force of infantry to encircle and annihilate the powerful wolf tribe cavalry.

Compared to that battle, Li Mu is now using a dozen or so simple camps and thousands of soldiers at a great cost to achieve a similar goal:

Firstly, to instill arrogance in the Qin army.

Secondly, it led to a flawed judgment of facts regarding Ren Xiao.

The lives of the soldiers who were sacrificed in the process were regrettable and innocent, but in this era, the fate of ordinary soldiers in the army was destined to be like this. They were the necessary price paid by their superiors to achieve their goals.

Li Mu could show concern for the troops during routine patrols, but he would never hesitate to sacrifice them when necessary.

"Ren Xiao's caution has been reduced to a minimum. It's time to deliver a blow to the Qin army."

Despite the army's repeated defeats, the morale of the allied forces from the two counties did not decline due to the setbacks at the front. This was one of the reasons why Li Mu was able to use such sacrificial tactics.

The old general stroked his white beard and nodded to Peng Yue: "The navy will be key to turning the tide in the upcoming battle..."

Chapter 416 Defeating the Qin Navy

Like the Qin army, the armies of the two counties were divided into three parts: the Jiangbei army, the navy, and the Jiangnan army. However, the main force of the Qin army was in the Jiangnan army, while Li Mu placed his most elite main force in the Jiangbei army, so the two sides could just avoid each other.

For Ren Xiao, the two counties he was to attack, Fanxian and Jingxian, were both south of the Yangtze River. The purpose of the Jiangbei Army and the navy was to provide assistance from the side, while the Jiangnan Army needed to sweep through the two counties. Therefore, making such a choice was in line with military strategy.

However, such a deployment is not hard to guess. Even His Highness Prince Qi, far away in Daze Mountain, could make a basic judgment about Ren Xiao's troop deployment based on common sense. Under such circumstances, Li Mu's arrangement seems somewhat deliberate...

After Ren Xiao's vanguard successfully breached the last camp of the two county armies in the Yishan mountain area, a flat plain lay before them. The Qin army's central naval force sailed downstream along the river ahead, while the armies on both sides of the river, north and south, lagged slightly behind.

In wars along the Yangtze River, the navy's role was not only to scout ahead but also to protect the river transport routes and ensure unimpeded communication between the armies north and south of the river. Therefore, the main force of the navy would always be able to travel ahead of the armies on both banks.

Furthermore, the sight of the flat expanse ahead, created by the rapids emerging from the mountains, unconsciously made the Qin army fleet less vigilant about the speed of their ships.

The Qin army's continuous victories further relaxed their guard. When Ren Xiao learned that the three armies were slightly out of balance in the central route, he had no choice but to order the troops on both banks to speed up and shorten the distance between them and the navy.

The rebels outside the mountainous area have two large camps, one in the south of the Yangtze River and one in the north. They are located in flat areas and, according to scouts, are the main force of the rebels. There are no fewer than 20,000 people stationed in each camp. Once this area is breached, the war to quell the rebellion will be almost over.

The Qin army was in high spirits, while the rebel army was devastated by successive defeats. Coupled with the overwhelming numerical advantage of the Qin army, Ren Xiao did not believe that the main force of the rebels could stop his vanguard.

However, facts proved that his judgment was wrong...

"Your Majesty, the battle report from the south has arrived!"

Daze Mountain was Lu Wei's stronghold, but now that he had become the King of Qi, he could no longer live in the mountains, so he moved his residence to Licheng.

This small town isn't exactly respectable, but it's enough for emergencies.

Many of his subordinates petitioned for Lu Wei to go to Linzi, the former capital of Qi. The city was prosperous and wealthy, and its grand palace had been renovated by Qin a few years ago, perfectly matching his status.

Some lesser suggestions included Chen Ping's suggestion to conscript laborers to build a small temporary palace for the king near Licheng, but these were all angrily rebuked by the upright Prince Qi.

Lu Moumou raised an army against Qin not for luxurious enjoyment, nor to enslave the people by virtue of his status, but to oppose tyranny and uphold the righteous path!

Before conquering Xianyang and saving the people, he would never live in those luxurious palaces, and he would never conscript laborers just to satisfy his own desires!

Many of Chen Ping's subordinates immediately showed remorse after being reprimanded by His Highness Prince Qi, and admitted that they were not as virtuous and noble as the king.

This righteous statement quickly spread throughout the land, passed down by word of mouth among the peasant and Confucian disciples...

The empire already has many palace complexes, and Lu Wei truly did not intend to conscript more laborers for further construction in the future, so his words were resounding.

Of course, what constitutes 'personal desire' remains to be determined, after all, the emperor has no private matters...

The reason he is not going to Linzi right now is precisely because Linzi is too prosperous. Lu himself may be able to withstand the test, but it is hard to say about the lower-level farm disciples and even the middle and upper management.

Everyone changes, especially under the erosion of wealth.

To maximize everyone's enthusiasm, it's essential to make those who follow you see that only by conquering Xianyang can you enjoy the spoils. At the same time, to prevent them from losing all hope, daily rewards need to be even more generous.

"Hmm," Lu Wei, dressed in a blue dragon robe, took the secret box from the Mo family and opened it in a few moments. The silk scroll inside was written by Yan Shen.

After Qin general Ren Xiao's vanguard broke through the Yishan mountain area, which had been used as bait, they encountered their first obstacle on the actual battlefield, meticulously prepared by Li Mu...

Li Mu's Jiangbei camp was closer to the front line, and therefore was the first to be attacked by the Qin army.

However, the tentative attack of the 10,000 Qin vanguard was met with a bold counterattack and encirclement by the old general. The Qin general did not expect that the cowardly and timid rebel would suddenly change his style and become extremely powerful in combat. Unable to react in time, he was forced to retreat hastily, leaving behind more than a thousand corpses.

During the pursuit, the Qin army suffered even more casualties and lost soldiers. By the time reinforcements finally arrived, the remaining force of the 10,000-strong army had dwindled to less than 3,000, resulting in a major defeat.

The defense of the south bank of the Yangtze River was jointly commanded by Yan Shen and Li Zuoche. They had few soldiers and could not launch an offensive, but they held their ground and did not allow the Qin army to gain any advantage.

The main camp here, built with the assistance of mechanical beasts, is more solid and is set back further than the camp north of the river. A tributary connects to the Yangtze River, forming a natural barrier, making it an excellent position that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Two successful defenses fell into Ren Xiao's hands, which resulted in two failed attacks. But this was not the most important thing: on the same day, the most crucial factor that determined the war was the complete annihilation of the Qin army's main naval fleet!

The overconfident Qin navy encountered a two-county navy personally led by Peng Yue.

Both Fanxian and Jingxian counties were built on the banks of major rivers and lakes. Their naval forces had received professional training for over a decade and were extremely experienced, while the Qin army's navy could only be described as infantrymen who boarded ships.

This southern army was composed of a complex group of soldiers, including Qin people from Guanzhong and surrendered soldiers from the other six states. Although the Chu people were somewhat familiar with water, few of them had specialized training in naval warfare.

Moreover, the naval forces of the two counties have a major weapon: mechanical water snakes!

The wooden boat was utterly powerless against the underwater mechanical water snake.

Unfortunately, the Mo family's mechanical Xuanwu was still damaged. Otherwise, with the combined power of these two mechanical beasts, the Qin army in the middle of the river would have been even more powerless. The mechanical water snake itself was not a fully mature product.

The loss of the Qin navy's large ships deprived the Qin army of its ability to make proactive breakthroughs on the river, which in turn allowed the armies of the two counties to easily attack the Qin army's river and supply lines. Furthermore, it made communication between the Qin army's forces south and north of the river more difficult.

Using his navy to cut off the Qin army's connection between the two banks was Li Mu's first step to victory.

The next step will be a prolonged standoff to wear down the Qin army's patience, which is currently riding high on its momentum.

Looking at the battle report, Lu Wei was completely relieved about the situation in the south and began to arrange the attack on Dazeshan.

On the very day he was honored as King of Qi, he issued a two-pronged attack plan against Qin, one in the central region and one in the north. Now, Han Xin and his men in the northern route are about to set off. With Lu Qiuge lurking in the shadows in Yan, Han Xin will not encounter any major difficulties in this attack. The only worry is that when Wang Li's army withdraws, Han Xin will face 300,000 elite Qin troops.

Han Xin's military capabilities are beyond doubt, but whether he could stop the Great Wall army that broke through the wolf tribe is still difficult to judge.

However, this was only a detachment. Lu Wei had prepared for the worst-case scenario of Han Xin's failure. The real main force to destroy Qin would be led by him personally, namely the central army's attack on the three Jin states.

The ultimate goal of this operation is to capture Xianyang directly, so the process must be swift, and therefore the preparation phase must be thorough.

His Highness King Qi has already learned that the new general guarding Hangu Pass in Qin is his "old friend" Zhao Yi.

This guy still owes Lu a favor; he needs to find a way to get it back...

Chapter 417 King Qi's Personal Expedition

In May of the first year of the Second Emperor's reign, after a period of playful antics, Hu Hai summoned his ministers and, without consulting Li Si and Zhao Gao, issued an imperial edict: he would build an Epang Palace on the west side of Longshou Plain.

Once completed, this massive new palace will become the imperial court and the center of the empire.

Both Li Si and Zhao Gao were moved, but they did not stand up at this time, because they both knew very well that it would be ineffective to refute the sixteen-year-old Hu Hai in public. Only by influencing the Second Emperor, who had already announced his decision, in private afterward.

However, they knew this, and not all the other court officials understood Hu Hai's temperament. Immediately, some ministers stepped forward to publicly dissuade the emperor from issuing the order:

The deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops and the conscription of millions of laborers have become a huge pressure on the empire. There are already a large number of laborers in Guanzhong, most of whom are working on the construction of the Lishan Mausoleum and cannot be mobilized. Therefore, the only option is to conscript new people from outside the pass. However, the Qi state in the east has been restored, and the war has even spread to the Yan region. In the southern Chu region, Ren Xiao has been blocked by tens of thousands of rebels for several months, with no sign of a breakthrough.

The states of Yan, Qi, and Chu could not conscript people, and the remaining three Jin states were the most severely affected areas during the empire's conquests, making them even less capable of undertaking the construction of the Epang Palace.

The empire's primary task now should be to reorganize its military and send troops to annihilate the rebel leader in Qi.

As soon as the minister spoke, Hu Hai's smiling face immediately darkened: "Rebels? Where would there be rebels in the Qin Dynasty?"

Seeing the emperor's terrified expression, the ministers were about to speak again when a Confucian scholar jumped out from among them:

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. The whole world belongs to the Great Qin Empire, and there are no rebels."

Zhao Gao and Li Si, who were keenly aware of their surroundings, recognized the speaker immediately: Shusun Tong.

Shusun Tong, a Confucian scholar with an unusual stance, was able to become the emperor's third most trusted minister after Zhao Gao and Li Si, while most Confucian scholars in the court were killed by Hu Hai after he ascended the throne because they had been close to Fusu.

Despite being a Confucian scholar, he uttered the treacherous words that "Confucian scholars are difficult to advance in and cannot be given important positions," yet he continued to consider himself a Confucian scholar.

He also had another identity, namely, Kong Fu's disciple. However, not many people cared about this identity, as Prime Minister Li Si was also a student of Xiaoshengxianzhuang.

"All ministers in the court who dare to spread rumors of rebellion should be beheaded!" Shusun Tong uttered this outrageous statement.

"His Majesty the First Emperor has long since demolished the city walls and melted down all the weapons in the land. Now, His Majesty the Second Emperor is a wise ruler with strict laws governing the country. The country is stable and the people are prosperous. Who would rebel?"

"The so-called restoration of the State of Qi is nothing but a bluff by a few thieves. The local government is actively pursuing them, so Your Majesty can rest assured!"

These words greatly pleased Hu Hai, who was ambitious and wanted to enjoy the world forever. He looked at Shusun Tong with pleasure, but when his gaze shifted to the minister with "treacherous intentions," it immediately turned to disgust: "What is inappropriate to say shall be punished with the five punishments!"

"Speaking what should not be said" means saying things that should not be said, and the five punishments are the most severe tortures that are carried out in sequence, including tattooing, cutting off the nose, cutting off the feet, cutting off the waist, and chopping into mincemeat. It is not enough to be punished for "speaking out" alone. The emperor's purpose in doing this was obviously to set up a warning against those who "speak out that there are rebels outside the pass".

Li Si frowned deeply, finally feeling an overwhelming dissatisfaction with the emperor's actions, unaware that he had already become the target of others' attacks...

...

In the Yan region, Han Xin, who had been appointed General Who Conquers the North, captured Ji, the former capital of Yan, without much trial. His peasant followers were widely distributed throughout Yan, making them suitable as internal agents. However, he did not relax his guard; two tests lay before this young man in his early twenties.

Wang Li on the northern grasslands has already inflicted a major defeat on the Wolf Clan's royal court. Moreover, thanks to the betrayal of the Luo Net, the Qin army did not suffer significant losses. The Wolf Clan's most prized cavalry horses were poisoned in their drinking water before they could even run.

Doing this would have been nearly impossible, but the Luo Wang had Touman Chanyu's absolute trust, the Luo Wang assassins were exceptionally skilled, and the Luo Wang's ability to create extraordinary poisons far exceeded expectations. These factors combined to make the impossible possible.

Wang Li easily obtained the military merit he had longed for, and Zhao Cheng relayed Zhao Gao's instructions to him: immediately return to attack the Yan and Qi regions.

This is the first test that Han Xin will have to undergo.

The second reason was that nobles in the Yan region wanted to recommend him as king...

It must be admitted that Han Xin was immediately tempted: Qi had a King of Qi, and Yan should naturally have a King of Yan as well... This was a tradition that had lasted for hundreds of years since the Zhou Dynasty.

Moreover, being made a king was Han Xin's greatest ambition, and now the opportunity to realize his dream was right in front of him, within easy reach...

The envoy from the Yan nobles saw that Han Xin was moved and was overjoyed. But then, the General Who Conquers the North suddenly drew his Qianjiao Sword, subdued him, and put him on public trial.

The senior generals of the Qi army who participated in the public trial included Lu Shan, Lu Yu, Yan Bing, Lü Chen, and Liu Ji.

The identities of these people reveal why Han Xin chose to suppress his greed: although he had conquered half of Yan, his achievements were limited, and the army, from ordinary soldiers to generals, were all under the control of that Prince Qi. If he were to declare himself king, Lu Wei would probably not even need to handle it personally; he would be bound by his personal guards and sent back to Qi.

'If you want to be crowned king, you must achieve military exploits that no one in the world can object to!' Han Xin made his decision in his heart. After interrogating the envoy, he personally beheaded him in public and led his army to wipe out all the nobles behind him.

Having dealt with the disloyal nobles in Yan, the Qi army in Yan was left with only the task of withstanding the Great Wall Legion.

Han Xin led 30,000 troops from Daze Mountain, incorporating refugees and bandits along the way. By the time he reached Ji City, his total strength had reached over 100,000, but the quality of his troops inevitably declined significantly.

The 300,000-strong Great Wall army consisted of elite Qin troops; the difficulty of fighting this war was unimaginable...

Lu Wei, the commander of the central army, handed over the affairs of Qi to Chancellor Lü Qing after reorganizing them. He then led his elite troops and 70,000 soldiers westward. Dian Qing took the lead in every battle, unleashing the power he had never displayed as a former Wei Wuzu soldier. The army quickly broke through Dongjun and entered Heneijun. After joining forces with the 20,000 Taihang troops led by Zhu Jia, they headed straight for Xingyang.

That place was the Qin army's main grain and supplies camp in the Guandong region. Taking it would provide them with ample supplies to launch a direct attack on Xianyang in Guanzhong.