At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 173 Purge and Meng Tian’s Inspection

Zhao Tuo could also take it up and put it down, and bowed his hands to Lu Jia and said, "Sir, you are a wise man from the Central Plains. What should Tuo do at this time?"

Lu Jia nodded with satisfaction and said: "Our King of Han has a saying that is very famous in our country of Han. Who is our friend and who is our enemy? This is the most important question for the rebels.

And now this is also the most important issue for the general. The general must find his friends, identify who is your enemy, and then unite his friends to attack your enemies, so that the general can control the entire southern Xinjiang. "

When Zhao Tuo heard this sentence for the first time, he felt as if he had been brainwashed by Hong Zhongdalu. He seemed to have become enlightened and said: "The King of Han is indeed a great hero who dares to challenge the First Emperor. What he said is really wise."

After hearing this, he immediately had a direction of action. Zhao Tuo thought for a moment and understood that his enemies were the military officers and local Qin officials who were committed to the Qin Dynasty, and his allies were the survivors of the Six Kingdoms, the core of whom were His confidants were the remnants of the Zhao State. The Baiyue tribesmen in various parts of Nanjun were oppressed by Qin officials. They were also allies who could be united. He wanted to unite with these people to suppress the Qin officials in southern Xinjiang.

After distinguishing between ourselves and the enemy, Zhao Tuo conveyed instructions to the troops at various passes in the Nanling Mountains to take advantage of the danger and defend, saying: "The stolen troops are coming, so hurry up and gather troops to defend yourself."

It is said that it is to prevent the uprising army from the Central Plains from invading, but in fact it is to isolate the news of the mutiny in southern Xinjiang.

"Jiang Tao, Huang Shi, Qin Hong, and Bai Fu are all old Qin people and cannot stay. Zhao Yu, you lead the troops to relieve their military power." Zhao Tuo said to his confidant Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu thought for a while and asked, "What should I do if they don't want to?"

"Behead them on the spot, don't give them time to react!" Zhao Tuo said decisively.

Ji Bu asked: "Does the Army General Staff think this Zhao Tuo can control southern Xinjiang?"

Zhao Tuo's cronies rushed to military camps across southern Xinjiang and began to remove the Qin Army officers from their military power. Of course, these officers refused, and a bloody storm broke out in southern Xinjiang.

After the internal strife in southern Xinjiang, Lu Jia returned to Qianzhong County to meet with Ji Bu, the general who conquered the south, and then reported to Ji Bu what happened in southern Xinjiang.

In Nanhai County, Zhao Tuo asked the local Qin officials to obey his rule, but some hard-core people yelled at Zhao Tuo: "You, a rebellious rebel, dare to ask us to surrender. You really think that your surname is Zhao and that you are a clan member of the Qin State." , you are just a guy who relies on women to get to the top."

Lu Jia said: "Zhao Tuo is a powerful man. He is ambitious and unwilling to be subordinated to others. He is ruthless and ruthless. Before the official left, Zhao Tuo had already launched an operation to purge Qin officials in Panyu. He could also unite the survivors of the Six Kingdoms. And the people of Baiyue, there are not many heroes in the entire southern Xinjiang. I think the credit for the development of the Qin Dynasty in the past ten years belongs to Zhao Tuo."

Zhao Tuo was still somewhat related to the mother of the First Emperor, and of course he was also implicated by this relationship. He was thrown into the wild land of Nanjun.

These dozen Qin officials looked frightened and said: "Spare your life, spare your life, we are willing to surrender!"

In the next month, the entire southern Xinjiang was in a bloody storm. Zhao Tuo purged a large number of Qin officers and officials and replaced them with his cronies. Completely control the military and political power of Nanhai County and Cangwu County.

Ji Bushong said in a tone: "The southern Xinjiang army cannot enter the Central Plains, which is the biggest good thing for us Han."

Qianzhong County, Dongye County.

Not long after, a soldier was carrying a wooden tray with the head of the Qin official just now.

But Zhao Tuo didn't listen to them at all. These were Qin officials who were doing evil in Nanjun. The local Yue people hated them to the bone. Those Yue tribes were willing to take refuge with Zhao Tuo. The only requirement was that Zhao Tuo killed them. Their enemies. Now the Yue people are also one of Zhao Tuo's most important supporters. Compared with the Yue people who are guaranteed by force, these greedy Qin officials are naturally the targets to be eliminated, so they can't take refuge in Zhao Tuo if they are willing.

"However, Zhao Tuo sorted out the entire southern Xinjiang, causing violent turmoil in southern Xinjiang. There will be no way to open up outside within a few years, so Zhao Tuo cut off the Five Ridges."

At the same time, Zhao Tuo also understood that the possibility of Qin officials resisting with such forceful actions was very high, so he assigned 500 Yue soldiers to each of his cronies.

Two soldiers came out to drag the Qin official out. The Qin official also knew that he was bound to die, so he scolded Zhao Tuo even more difficultly.

One thing Zhao Tuo was right about was that in the face of the conflict between Qin Army officers and Zhao Tuo, the lower-level officers either joined Zhao Tuo's ranks, or stood aside and watched Zhao Tuo purge the Qin Army officers.

When Zhao Tuo heard this, his face turned livid with anger and he waved his hand and shouted: "Drag him down and kill him."

Zhao Yu was a little embarrassed. He was worried that such toughness would cause unrest in the entire southern Xinjiang army.

After the mutiny, Zhao Tuo immediately summoned the surrounding Yue leaders. In order to win over them, Zhao Tuo promised them to abolish the strict Qin laws, recognize the status of the Yue commanders, and promised them to share the southern border with them after expelling the Qin officials. Therefore, these Yue people Talents have become his allies, and now his most trusted allies are these Yue people.

But Zhao Tuo said firmly: "Don't worry about these Qin officials causing turmoil. When you get there, win over the officers of the six countries first. They will not be buried with the Qin people."

Zhao Tuo pointed at a dozen Qin officials with a cold face and said: "Pull them out and chop them!"

At this time, Ji Bu was the supreme commander-in-chief of the Han Dynasty in the south. He not only had to block the southern Xinjiang army, but also guarded against the Qin army in Shu. The pressure was considerable. Now that his biggest enemy was in civil strife, he could breathe a sigh of relief.

Lu Jia asked: "I wonder how the war in the Central Plains is going?"

Ji Bu said: "Because of Meng Tian's rescue, our original plan to attack Sanchuan County and capture Aocang failed. But Meng Tian's plan to conquer Handan and destroy Zhao also failed. Now the King of Han leads an army of more than 20 and Meng Tian's North The Xinjiang army is now facing a confrontation along the Yellow River. On the Xingyang front line, Yingbu continues to lead an army of 5 to attack the Qin army. In Qi, Xiang Liang Tianheng leads an army of more than 20 to besiege Feng Jie's tribe."

Lu Jia said excitedly: "It's such a pity that we can't see such a big battle."

Such a decisive battle involving millions of people was the only one that happened in the Qin-Chu war. The scale of this war between the anti-Qin alliance and the Qin army was even greater than that of the original Qin-Chu war. This kind of war only happened once in decades. This was destined to happen. It would be a pity not to be able to participate in a battle that will go down in history.

Ji Bu also sighed: "I also want to go to the Yellow River to fight, but it's my duty and I can't leave."

Ji Bu understood the importance of guarding southern Xinjiang. Only if he guarded his hometown well could the King of Han be assured of going out to fight.

June 37, the 6th year of the First Emperor's reign, Xiuwu County.

The sun rose slowly, and it soon became hot. The sky was cloudless, and there was not even a breeze.

Today is not a good day. Let alone siege the city in such weather. Even if they stand under the hot sun for half an hour, the soldiers will sweat profusely and even suffer from heatstroke.

But that day, Meng Tianfang led a group of Qin Army officers out of the tent to meet his Shangguan Meng Tian, ​​who was also the supreme commander of the entire Northern Xinjiang Army.

Not long after Meng Tianfang and the others arrived at the entrance of the camp, a plume of smoke and dust appeared in the distance. Because there was no wind, the smoke flew extremely high. Soon Meng Tianfang and the others saw that the person in the front was the protagonist they were waiting for today. .

"General!" Meng Tianfang immediately led the officers to greet him.

But Meng Tian said with a cold face: "You have time to greet me at the camp gate, why not lead the troops to attack Xiuwu County, even if you kill two more enemies, it is worse than welcoming me here."

Meng Tian is very dissatisfied now. The attack on Xiuwu County is related to the Northern Xinjiang Army opening up the Aocang grain road. It can be said to be related to the life and death of the entire army. It is because of this importance that Meng Tian arranged for his confidants to find a way to open the Aocang grain road. He was given 5 elite troops.

As a result, Meng Tianfang led 5 elite troops to attack Xiuwu County for several days, but they failed to break through the small town. The 5-strong army stalled, so much so that he came to supervise the battle in person.

Just when Meng Tianfang was about to speak, Meng Tian said: "Take me to inspect the battlefield first!"

Meng Tianfang smiled bitterly and said: "No!"

Meng Tianfang took Meng Tian and his cavalry to the foot of Xiuwu County.

Xiuwu City had been destroyed by the Qin army and was in tatters. Only a few flags of the Han army were flying. The land around it was dyed black with blood. A large number of broken limbs were hidden in the corners of the city. , countless mosquitoes and flies were flying around the city wall, they greedily sucked the flesh and blood of the soldiers on both sides, and there was an unbearable stench of corruption when approaching the city wall.

"General, please see, although Xiuwu County is small, the rebel generals across the street used food as bait and called on tens of thousands of people in the county to dig two trenches before our army arrived. The soil dug in the trenches was turned into dirt by the rebels. Low walls, these trenches are extremely difficult to climb, and our army paid an extremely heavy price to barely level these trench low walls." Meng Tian could see the area 200 steps away from Xiuwu City, and found a lot of dark blood, even if He could still see it now, and he could imagine the bloody battle taking place between the two sides at this distance.

"The enemy left the city to fight?" Meng Tian couldn't believe it.

You must know that according to the news he received before, Xiuwu only has a thousand rebels, but their Northern Xinjiang Army has 5000 vanguards. How dare they go out of the city to fight?

Meng Tianfang smiled bitterly and said: "Come out. The rebels sent 500 crossbow archers. They attacked when we were bulldozing the trench, causing us hundreds of casualties. When the general wanted to counterattack, they retreated to the city. .

The rebel general in Xiuwu County was extremely cunning. He never wanted to defend the city at ease. He would come out at night to beat gongs and drums, shoot cold arrows, and attack the camp at night. He would always make some moves to cause casualties to our army.

Of course, such a small means does not harm the overall situation, but the rebels have a lot of crossbows. In the past few days of siege battles, more than 100,000 crossbow arrows were fired. Because the crossbows were too dense, it was too dense for our army to siege the city. caused great difficulty. "

"More than 100,000 crossbow arrows?" Meng Tian was shocked.

Again, the cost of making long arrows in this era is too high. Even if there are so many long arrows, few generals are willing to shoot them all. In other words, human life in this world is not valuable, and most generals would rather pay the lives of thousands of soldiers than waste hundreds of thousands of long arrows.

On the contrary, under the influence of Xu Fan, the Han army has deviated from the appearance of this world's army. Each battalion of soldiers has thousands or even more crossbowmen. They will bring two arrow pots, and one battalion will have 10 crossbowmen. branch, or even more long arrows.

Of course, Xu Fan himself was also influenced by movies and TV dramas such as Heroes. He thought that every time the Qin army fought, they would first be covered with a hail of arrows, crippling all the enemies on the opposite side, and then the infantry would finish it off.

In order not to be suppressed by long-range firepower, thousands of soldiers in the first battalion of the Han Dynasty will be equipped with crossbows and bows. These archers will carry two pots of arrows. The standard for a battalion to be equipped with long arrows is 100,000.

Because in Xu Fan's opinion, if 10 long arrows were exchanged for victory in a battle or to reduce casualties by half, the three thousand stones of grain would be worth it.

Not to mention that after the blast furnace was built, the price of a long arrow had dropped to about one liter of rice, which allowed Xu Fan to be more unscrupulous and use long-range firepower to attack the enemy.

Later, Xu Fan realized that this was an exaggeration in movies and TV shows. In this era, an army that could shoot three arrows before engaging in battle was considered to be an army with relatively sufficient logistics. Most of the battles actually consisted of wielding spears and stabbing each other. In the Spring and Autumn Period, three long arrows were used. The pension is more expensive than a soldier.

And this is why all generals understand that long-range anti-personnel weapons, bows and arrows, are more powerful, but they cannot become the mainstream on the battlefield. A soldier can wield a spear for several months, but even hundreds of long arrows are not enough for a few days. , the productivity in the feudal era destined that bows and arrows could not become the mainstream on the battlefield.

The Han Dynasty is different. They are already somewhat industrialized. At least they have caught up with the efficiency of manufacturing long arrows. Xu Fan improved the efficiency of manufacturing arrow shafts by relying on the primitive lathe he built, and improved the efficiency of manufacturing arrow shafts with blast furnaces. Regarding the efficiency of arrows, the price of a long arrow in Han is now 10 times lower than that in Qin. Naturally, long arrows can be used extremely luxuriously to increase the lethality of the army.

The number of long arrows of the Han army increased and the price dropped, but the concept was not so easy to change.

From this aspect, Han Xin is Xu Fan's best student. The other generals have not yet changed their minds and feel that long arrows are too precious to waste. They still like to use three arrows in battle and then engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Han Xin did not care at all about the preciousness of long arrows. They would not kill enemies who could be covered with bows and crossbows. Enemies that could be killed with long arrows would never be killed without spears. Meng Tianfang was killed by Han Xin's long arrows. Without a start, the superior strength of the Qin army could not be exerted at all under the long-range firepower of the Han army.

"You will arrange a siege later. I want to see it myself?" Meng Tian said seriously.

"promise!"

The words were divided into two parts. Han Xin stood at the top of the city wall and spotted Meng Tian and others who were inspecting in the distance.

He immediately called Wang Jin, who was the most accurate archer in the army, and said, "Did you see the man in armor below? He looked like an important general of the Qin army. Are you sure you can hit him?"

Wang Jin asked strangely: "General, how dare you be sure that he is a high official?"

"The Meng Tianfang next to him is the commander-in-chief of the Qin army, but look at how groveling he is, how smart is this guy?

Maybe there are Zhang Han and Meng Tian below. If you shoot him to death, you will be able to achieve first-class merit. When the time comes, the King of Han will personally lead the horse for you to praise your merit. "

Wang Jin was indeed attracted by Han Xin's painting. He looked at Meng Tian and others full of fighting spirit. He took a closer look at the distance between the two and said: "The distance of more than 200 steps is too far. Even the strongest crossbow in our army is difficult." It’s coming, I can only give it a try, I’m not sure.”

"Then give it a try. If you don't hit, it will be considered as a greeting gift to them. If you hit, it will be great luck for us," Han Xin said.

Wang Jin took out a long arrow and carefully observed whether the arrow feathers were damaged, and then weighed the weight of the long arrow. After having a clear feeling about this, he placed the long arrow on the crossbow, pointed it in the direction of Meng Tian, ​​and pulled the trigger. .

"call out!"

"Poof!" The long arrow fell about five steps away from Meng Tian, ​​making Meng Tian jump in fright.

If this shot hit him, he would definitely die.

He quickly took Meng Tian away from him.

Meng Tian was a little stunned and said: "The enemy really doesn't play according to common sense?"

"Almost!" Han Xin clapped his hands and said regretfully.

Judging from Meng Tianfang's expression, Han Xin believed that the general opposite was most likely Meng Tian. If Meng Tian was to be shot to death, Han Xin would have accomplished a great feat.

"It's not just a slight difference, it's a lot worse. It's only five steps away, and at such a distance, the power of the crossbow is long gone, and it would be difficult to shoot through the Qin general's armor."

It was no pity for Wang Jun. As soon as the arrow was shot, he had no chance of hitting it.

Wang Jun said: "If we have stone cannons, we should be able to hit that position."

He had seen the power of stone cannons under Daliang City. At that time, he felt that this was the weapon that men should control. It was a pity that they were not equipped with stone cannons here.

Han Xin said: "When we attack the city, I will ask you to fire a stone cannon."

Wang Jun smiled and said: "Then we have an agreement."

Han Xin turned to the soldiers around him and ordered: "All soldiers, listen up and get ready for battle. This time they have a high official coming. Meng Tianfang and these people will definitely give this high official a good performance. This time The momentum of this attack will definitely be extremely fierce. But he wants to perform well, but I will not agree. The soldiers must resolutely withstand the Qin army's offensive at all costs and severely attack the arrogance of these Qin army."

"No!" all the soldiers shouted loudly.

The sun gradually turned to the west, the hottest afternoon heat passed, and even a slight breeze began to appear.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The thunderous sound of war drums began to be heard in the distance of Xiuwu City, and then Han Xin and the others saw a line of smoke rising into the sky in the distance, and battalions of Qin soldiers slowly appeared in neat steps.

Captain Cao Xing came to the Xiuwu Tower with his soldiers, looked at the Qin army in the distance and asked, "Han Xin, can you hold it?"

Han Xin said confidently: "Captain, don't worry, the Qin people can't attack. Of course, Commander, if you can support some long arrows, the general will be more confident. With 10 long arrows, the general can guarantee that the Qin people can even train us." You can’t even touch the city walls.”

"You really dare to say that." Cao Xing complained and glanced at Han Xin. The standard long arrows for a battalion of the Han army were 10. Because he was defending the city this time, the King of Han asked him to lead Xiuwu in order to ensure that he could defend the city. 50 long arrows were made.

One-third of these long arrows have been used, and Han Xin has used more than half of them. If Han Xin had not achieved the greatest results, he would have wanted to teach Han Xin a lesson.

(End of this chapter)