Daqin Engineering Corps

What Yingzheng is more worried about is the remnants of Zhao soldiers or bandits in that area, plus the threat from the Huns in the north...

Li Mu, whom the Huns were worried about, was dead, and there was nothing in the north to stop the Huns.

So these [-] soldiers not only went north to break the ice, but also took over the Northland and incorporated it into the territory.

There are no more soldiers left, and there are only [-] left in the three counties.

This even made Ying Zheng feel a little flustered:

One hundred thousand went to attack the state of Wei and was surrounded in Daliang, one hundred thousand went to rescue.

[-] went to the Northland, and only [-] soldiers defended such a large area as the three counties... If Qi or Yan knew about it and sent troops to attack, it would be fatal.

Among them, Yan State is not bad. After all, Yan Wangxi was scared to death just after being defeated, and the food was almost looted. It is not easy for them to survive the winter, and the possibility of sending troops is unlikely.

However, Qi State has been cultivating for a long time and has kept a large amount of food, grass, soldiers and horses. If it takes advantage of the opportunity to send troops to the three counties... then the overall plan will be disrupted.

How is this good?

After thinking about it, Yingzheng came up with a plan: to send envoys to Qi.

The purpose of this envoy to Qi State is very strange. It is said that he hopes to use Qi State to attack Caozhou of Chu State...

This strategy is indeed feasible.

From Handan to the south, the Qin army was difficult to move because of the dense water network, so of course it could not threaten Caozhou, the base of the main force of the Chu army.

But it would be different if you could cross the Yellow River through Qi State and then go south. You can reach Caozhou and encircle it within a few tens of miles from the border of Qi State.

Of course, Yingzheng's move is not really to take Caozhou through Qi.

He already knew that Qi would find excuses to evade.

Ying Zheng used this to release two messages:

One: The Qin army hopes to cross the Yellow River to transfer the battlefield to the territory of Chu State and go south to reinforce Daliang.

Two: The Qin army still has enough troops in Handan to open up a new battlefield.

It goes without saying why these two pieces of information are passed on.

The former is to confuse the Chu army, making the Chu army think that the Qin army is making this plan, so they concentrate more troops in the Caozhou area... This area will also be flooded.

The latter is another way to tell everyone: Handan has sufficient troops, so don't try to take advantage of others.

From an objective point of view, Ying Zheng's move seemed unnecessary. Qi Wangjian had long been fooled into thinking of Qin as an ally, let alone attacking.

It's just that it is necessary for Yingzheng to do this, because this is a situation where "one mistake and all lose", and any possibility must be considered.

If you take it for granted that you are safe, it will be too late when the danger comes.

1 Fifty Chapters Break the Ice

There are only two updates today, and three more tomorrow.

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Wang Jian was in charge of breaking the ice northward.

At this time, Hetao can be said to be a land without an owner... Li Mu died and the Zhao Kingdom was destroyed. Zhao Jia was unable to resist the Huns, so he had to give up this area.

The northern land in history is too far away for Qin, which is busy unifying the six countries in the Central Plains, and it is more than 700 miles away from Handan.

So Qin didn't take it into account for a while, and then it was occupied by the Huns.

It was not until Qin unified the six countries that Meng Tian was allowed to drive out the Huns and bring this land back into the territory of the Great Qin.

But now, because the Chu army encircled Daliang, it was precisely Xiang Yan's grand strategy, which forced the Qin army to divide its troops in the north in advance.

What troubled Wang Jian the most was the distance: more than 700 miles.

At the infantry's marching speed of fifty miles per day, this distance would take more than a month.

More than a month is not a big problem in principle. Wang Jian has inquired about the ice flood situation and knows that the Yellow River will be frozen for about three to four months, and it will not thaw until the beginning of next spring.

That is to say, during this period, if the ice is successfully drilled and the water released, the downstream will be flooded.

The problem is that Wang Jian is worried that the time will delay the freezing of the river for too long, such as freezing for tens of miles or even hundreds of miles...it will never be finished.

Wang Jian's countermeasure is to organize three thousand cavalry to go first.

The speed of the cavalry is much faster than that of the infantry. If they march in a hurry, they can march 150 miles a day. In this way, they can rush to the north to organize people to dig ice in more than ten days.

The general asked with some concern:

"General, has the northern land been occupied by the Huns?"

"If there are Xiongnu or northern soldiers defending, I'm afraid of three thousand cavalry..."

Wang Jian understood what he meant.

Neither Li Mu's northern soldiers nor the Xiongnu are easy to mess with.

As long as there is one of the two, Wang Jian's [-] cavalry will fill it up, and I'm afraid there will be no scum left in the near future.

But Wang Jian shook his head after thinking about it and said:

"No need to worry about it."

"The northern soldiers should have been recruited by Zhao Jia, but the few remaining soldiers are also non-governmental organizations."

"As for the Huns..."

"Winter will enter soon after Zhao's death, and the Xiongnu will have to wait until next spring if they want to attack."

"So the defense of the Northland at this time should be weak, and three thousand elite cavalry are enough to deal with it!"

Wang Jian's analysis was well-founded, but it was just an analysis after all, and the truth is another matter, so even Wang Jian was a little nervous.

Another point is that Wang Jian is worried about the people there...

But of course Wang Jian wouldn't just plunge in like this, so he immediately sent a fast horse to the Northland for reconnaissance.

At the same time, the cavalry was organized in a hurry and he personally led it to follow, and finally there were [-] infantry.

Before that, Wang Jian made some preparations, and he brought a person with him.

This person is called Nu.

The reason why he got this name is that his parents were both servants. Although he came from a humble background, he was hardworking and hardworking. He worked full-time in Handan to dig ice and divert water... It is said that Nuo also has a method that can not only thaw the ice quickly, but also requires a small amount of manpower.

This made my son quite famous in Handan, so Wang Jian approached him.

Accompanied by his son were dozens of his servants and the "equipment" that had just been pulled by more than a dozen horse-drawn carriages.

Wang Jian originally wanted to persuade his son to put down those "equipment" because they would slow down the marching speed of the cavalry.

But Nuan told Wang Jian:

"General, if you want to dig ice and break the river, this thing is essential!"

"If you keep this thing, I don't have to go."

So Wang Jian had to give up.

Wang Jian led the cavalry all the way to the Northland, and found that the situation was as he expected. The Northland was unguarded, but even the people escaped in disorder...

This is actually predictable, and it is also what Wang Jian is worried about:

As soon as Li Mu died, everyone knew that the Northland was over, either it would be occupied by the Qin army or the Xiongnu.

So staying here is waiting to die?

Coupled with Zhao Jia's agitation... Zhao Jia had to do this, that is, move the soldiers and civilians from the north to the east, otherwise Zhao Jia would not be able to face both the Xiongnu and the Qin army here.

Moreover, these people and the army are the foundation of Zhao Jia's founding of the country, so of course he will not let them go.

As a result, the entire Northland was empty, leaving only the elderly who could not or did not need to move away.

Wang Jian didn't care about that much, and ordered the cavalry to live in the folk houses for a short rest, and then took his son out to survey the river.

After exploring along the river with a group of people, Nuan gave the answer within half an hour:

"General, luckily I came early, and the river was only frozen for three miles."

"If the weather gets colder, I'm afraid the freezing speed won't be able to keep up with me!"

The frozen area is the first corner of the "ji" shape, which is further north and has a big bend, where the river flows slower and is more likely to be frozen.

Even so, Wang Jian was taken aback:

"Frozen for three miles?"

"But we only have [-] cavalry, and all the people in the Northland have been relocated by Dai Kingdom..."

If there are tens of thousands of infantry or civilians, enough people can be organized to pile them up with manpower.

Now there are only a few thousand people, how can they cut through the frozen three-mile river.

I don't want to be naive but I am very confident:

"Don't worry, General."

"As long as the weather is not suddenly cold and frozen in a large area in the past few days, otherwise it will be enough to break the ice!"

Then Nu ordered his servants to bring up his carts of "equipment".

Those "equipment" are not complicated things, just big iron boxes.

To be precise, it is an iron box without a lid. Wang Jianchu said that these iron boxes are used to transport ice cubes, but after thinking about it, he feels wrong... Wouldn’t it be more convenient to use baskets to transport ice cubes?

Wang Jian didn't ask much questions along the way, but when he saw the iron boxes lined up in the river, he knew that they seemed to be used for other purposes.

Then it was found that this was indeed the case, and Nu took those people to throw firewood and pine lamps into the iron box and set it on fire.

Seeing this, Wang Jian couldn't help but let out an "oh".

This method is good. The firewood is burned in the iron box to melt the nearby ice cubes into water. At the same time, a group of people dug aqueducts on both sides to release the melted ice water from both sides, and then the ice cubes were melted again. again and again...

In less than half an hour, the river at the iron box split open like a long sword.

If you continue to cut upwards "one sword at a time" like this, you will soon reach the top stream.

There is a lot of river water accumulated in the upper reaches, and then these ice blocks will crack like a collapsed dam, and then the river water will rush down layer by layer...

Wang Jian sighed:

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

"No wonder this guy doesn't pay attention to the frozen Sanli River."

"It turns out there is a way!"

Of course, this job can't just be done by a group of people. Wang Jian waved his hand, and the cavalry lined up to help.

Here is the manpower assigned by the nurse:

1000 people went to cut wood and chop firewood, 1000 people carried firewood to light the fire, and another 1000 people opened canals to divert water...

Chapter 151 Breaking the Ice

The frozen "dams" in the uppermost reaches are powerless to stop the accumulated river water. They rely more on the power of the frozen river water in the lower layer for several miles to block, especially the big bend.

It is easy to understand that if the river water at the big bend freezes and loses its fluidity, the pressure from the river water will directly act on the bank instead of the ice layer downstream of the river channel.

And what Nuo did was to cut off the ice layer one by one, in fact, to make them unable to leverage each other.

It's not hard to imagine: If enough is cut, the upstream ice will collapse because it cannot withstand the pressure of the stored water.

My son may not know these theories, but he has been engaged in ice breaking for a long time and knows these laws, so he "cuts" especially densely at the big bend...

In other parts, the "knife" is only cut every [-] steps downstream, especially at the big bend, the interval is [-] steps.

Another reason is that the big bend is the "severe disaster area" that blocks the water flow. If the broken ice blocks and freezes the river again here, all the previous efforts may be in vain or it will be more difficult to freeze it again.

The reason for saying "more difficult" is that after breaking the ice and then blocking it, many places will be in a mixed state of ice and water. Not only is it not easy to operate, but the ice cubes are more prone to collapse and unpredictable, which adds a lot of danger.

Therefore, "cutting" every ten steps at the big bend is not counted, but a few "knives" are needed vertically.

Moreover, the horizontal and vertical must be cut at the same time. When the "iron box" is not enough, it even has to be divided into left and right halves or even three parts.