Daqin Engineering Corps

Because he sent Lord Changping to Chencheng to appease the people of Chu in order to force him to rebel.

It's just that Ying Zheng didn't expect Mr. Changping to be so capable, to bewitch Chu people and inflict heavy damage on Chen Cheng in such a short period of time.

Therefore, once Chen Cheng's food and grass were lost, it would directly affect Yang Duan and the battle ahead.

But of course, Ying Zheng would not admit this mistake.

Ying Zheng thought to himself, it's okay to be unfavorable this time, and it won't take much time to wait for the whole month to wait for the harvest of food and grass before attacking.

It's just that he secretly wondered when he didn't see Yang Duanhe's report.

Usually, no matter whether it is good or bad, the marching commander should report the battle situation to him in due course, why this time...

Ying Zheng also said that it was Yang Duanhe who was worried about his governance, so he sent a letter in a more gentle tone.

The letter was both reassuring and inquiring.

The meaning of appeasement is to tell Yang Duanhe that he will not blame him for this failure.

The inquiry is to know the situation of the battle.

Ying Zheng frowned when he received Yang Duanhe's reply "Everything is under control".

This is almost the same as not saying it, but the subtext seems to be developing in a favorable direction.

Is this still a favorable direction?

Ying Zheng couldn't figure it out after much deliberation, so he could only give up.

At this time Zhao Gao came in and cupped his hands, saying, "Your Majesty, Wang Jian is begging to see you."

Ying Zheng quickly responded:

"Please."

When Wang Jian got the account, he paid homage to Ying Zheng:

"My lord, my subordinates are old and frail. Although they want to continue to serve the king, they have more than enough energy."

"This time, I am here to resign from the position of General, to retire and return home to take care of my old age. I hope that your Majesty will grant you permission."

Ying Zheng was startled:

"Why did the general make such a statement?"

Wang Jian sighed and said:

"Your Majesty, Lian Po will grow old too, not to mention my subordinates..."

Ying Zheng waved his hand and said:

"The general is too modest. Although you are a little old, you are older than the army and are still walking like flying. How can you be called old?"

"It's not too late to say in a few years."

Wang Jian was a little surprised. He thought that Ying Zheng would simply accept his request to retire from old age and return home. He didn't want to...

In the next second, Wang Jian understood that perhaps something went wrong in the attack on Chu.

No wonder Wang Jian didn't know that Ying Zheng was worried that the news of Lord Changping's rebellion against Qin would cause the nobles of Zhao and Wei to follow suit, so he vigorously blocked the news.

Of course, this cannot be blocked for a long time, but it can be blocked for a while.

Wang Jian didn't hear about it because he didn't participate in military affairs during this period.

Ying Zheng didn't say much, he just waved his hand and said:

"The general should go back to recuperate, don't bring up the matter of returning home again."

What else could Wang Jian say, so he had to answer and retreated.

In fact, Wang Jian had indeed guessed what Ying Zheng was thinking.

Ying Zheng was thinking that if the combination of Yang Duanhe and Shen Bing couldn't win the Chu State, then Wang Jian would have to be used again, so why would he let Wang Jian go at this time.

If you want to leave, you have to wait until after the capture of Chu State.

As for the remaining Yan, Dai, and Qi... If the other Qin generals can't take them down, then Qin's reputation is in vain.

So it was not a good time for Wang Jian to ask for resignation this time. If it had been a few days earlier when the battle was going well, Ying Zheng might have agreed.

The Qin army on the side of Bucheng has already started to do it.

This was after the Chu army arrived at Bucheng and built the city.

Shen Bing and Yang Duanhe had a discussion about this.

Yang Duanhe was a little impatient:

"The old man thinks that we should counterattack when the Chu army has not gained a firm foothold."

"Otherwise, once they build a city wall or even block the river, we will be under the control of others."

What Yang Duanhe said made sense, especially the river channel, if it was blocked, it would cause a lot of trouble.

But Shen Bing didn't think so.

"At this time, the Chu army is extremely vigilant. If our army attacks, the Chu army may find that the situation is wrong."

"At that time, we will not be able to give it a head-on blow, and it will even ruin our plan."

"The subordinates thought that on the day when most of the city wall was built, the Chu army would breathe a sigh of relief and plan to fight for a long time."

Yang Duanhe thought it was reasonable, so he agreed to Shen Bing's plan and waited for a few days.

Xiang Yan did exactly what Shen Bing thought. During this period of time, he was a little frightened because he was afraid that the Qin army would suddenly counterattack.

Although the facts told him that the Qin army's food and grass were burned, the only way to defend was to defend, but Xiang Yan still felt that something was wrong, but he didn't understand what went wrong.

This may be his intuition that has been on the battlefield for a long time, and he feels that Qin Jun should not be defeated so easily.

It wasn't until the walled city was erected in front of the defense line and the river was blocked again that Xiang Yan breathed a sigh of relief, only thinking it was his own illusion.

Of course, only a section of the river course in Bucheng was blocked.

The Chu army has more than [-] people in Bucheng, and their supplies must be continuously transported along the river to Bucheng. Naturally, they cannot block the rear river and cut off their own supply lines.

In the evening of that day, after patrolling the camp as usual, Xiang Yan was exhausted physically and mentally when she returned to the tent, and lay down on the bed before she could take off her armor.

During this period of time, Xiang Yan didn't think about eating and drinking because of the war, and sometimes even led troops into battle in person.

In the state of mental tension and excitement, you don't feel tired. At this time, once the battle situation stabilizes and you relax a little, waves of fatigue and sleepiness will come like a tide.

This made Xiang Yan fall into a drowsy sleep as soon as he lay down on the bed, and even snored.

However, less than a stick of incense, Xiang Yan was awakened by the sound of drums. He sat up from the bed and asked loudly:

"Where's the sound of the drums?"

Not long after, Xiang Bo hurried in and reported:

"General, the Qin army is attacking."

Xiang Yan stood up abruptly, and ordered:

"Don't panic, the Qin army is just obstructing our construction of fortifications, ready to meet the enemy!"

No wonder Xiang Yan thought so.

Because it is obvious that if the Qin army really has the strength to counterattack, it should attack when the Chu army's fortress is not repaired instead of waiting until now.

But what Xiang Yan didn't expect was that what he was facing was the full-scale counterattack of the Qin army.

Chapter 228 Going Down the Stream

As usual, the battle started with the trebuchet.

The advantage of the wooden city wall is that it is simple and easy to build, but the disadvantage is that it is difficult to prevent the bombing of the trebuchet.

The Qin army took into account the entire defense line of the Chu army and focused on bombing the banks of the Shahe River.

However, this is also the focus of the Chu army's defense. The city is supported by several rows of wooden fences, and many archery towers are set up along the river.

The condescending arrow tower here can not only provide cover for land troops but also block the river.

However, the Qin army deployed hundreds of trebuchets here, and as soon as an order was given, stone bombs flew towards the wooden village one after another. In an instant, sawdust flew around and screamed, and even the arrow tower was blown up. It staggered to and fro, and the archers standing on it fell down one by one.

It took half an hour like this before Qin Jun came forward in a neat formation.

Only then did Xiang Yan know that the Qin army was not just destroying the city wall to obstruct the construction of fortifications, but a real counterattack.

However, Xiang Yan was still a little puzzled:

Did Daliang transport a new batch of grain and grass to Chencheng?

Or shipped from Handan?

Otherwise, where would the Qin army have food and grass to counterattack?

However, the news that Xiang Yan found did not change.

If the Qin army had the ability to counterattack in the first place, why wait until now?

Xiang Yan faintly felt that she had fallen into Qin Jun's trap.

But he wasn't sure.

Because there is another possibility, that is, the Qin army bluffed and hoped to force the Chu army back.

When Xiang Yan was hesitating, he saw that the two armies had started fighting at the city wall.

The Qin army rushed in along the gap made by the trebuchet, while the Chu army swarmed up to block it, and the Chu army's crossbowmen behind them shot arrows in the direction of the Qin army.

Stone bullets fell from the sky fiercely and smashed into the dense crowd of the Chu army, and occasionally a few flint bullets flew over to illuminate the night sky.

Xiang Yan on the general platform vaguely saw Qin Jun using horses to pull down the remaining wooden fences by the light of the fire.

This is not surprising, because only by opening the gap wider can more soldiers enter the Chu army camp.

However, Xiang Yan still felt something was wrong.

If the Qin army wanted to destroy the city, why didn't they continue to bombard the city with stone bombs or burn it with fire bombs?

After all, the range of the Qin army's trebuchets is farther than that of the Chu army, so the city will be in ruins after a few days of bombardment. Wouldn't it be much easier to attack then than it is now?

Why did Qin Jun choose the easy and the difficult?

A series of questions caused Xiang Yan to not focus on the battle itself at all, but to think about the Qin army's intentions, so she turned a blind eye to the fighting and screaming on the defensive line.

This is Xiang Bo rushing to report:

"General, our army is about to lose its hold."

"The Qin army seems to be counterattacking with all its strength..."

Xiang Yan hesitated for a while, then ordered:

"Withdraw the army."

Xiang Bo responded and went to deliver the order.

Xiang Yan's approach is wise. They shouldn't fight the Qin army in this stronghold. This is also the strategy he formulated at the beginning. Otherwise, who will guard the Rushui defense line after the 30 people fight in Bucheng?

So the Chu army retreated to the second line of defense.

Because Xiang Yan had prepared and even rehearsed several retreats before, the Chu army retreated in an orderly manner.

But the Qin army was not in a hurry to chase, and stopped when they captured the city.

What the Qin army needed was to capture the fortified city. In fact, what they needed was to seal the river across the port city.

As soon as the Chu army retreated, the Qin army took out warships on wheels from the camp, crossed the chains and wooden stakes blocking the river, and put them into Hanoi.

Among them, there are many soldiers carrying processed long planks on their backs.

After bringing them here, you only need to nail these long wooden boards to the middle of the two warships, and finally nail a few simple fences along the sides of the boats to join a boat.

Needless to say what this boat is used for, it is used to accommodate war horses.

If it's just a warship with wheels, each one can barely hold three war horses, and two ships can only hold six horses.

But as long as it is slightly modified, that is, connecting the two ships with wooden boards, the space can be doubled and it is very flat. A boat can hold ten horses and ten soldiers at the same time.

Eight of the ten soldiers were in charge of steering the boat, and two were in charge of guarding the horses.