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

Chapter 178, He Zongchang and Zhao Guo who were starving and dying everywhere

June 37, the 6th year of the First Emperor's reign, Baima County, the main tent of the Allied Forces.

Under the liaison of the Han envoys, envoys from various princes gathered in Baima County.

Xu Fan, the king of Han, Jiu, the king of Wei, Tian Jie, the representative of Tian Heng, Kuai Che, the representative of Chen Yu, Xiang Liang, the representative of Xiang Bo, and Zhang Ao, the representative of the State of Zhao, gathered to discuss matters.

General Ji Xin, who joined the army, told the representatives of various princes about the current battlefield of the coalition forces: "On the Western Front battlefield, our Han Zhennan general Yingbu led an army of 5 to attack Xingyang. The 5 Qin army in Sanchuan County was suppressed and was unable to fight back. "

Tian Jie, Kuai Che, and Xiang Bo were all amazed. With the same strength, they did not even dare to fight the Qin army in the field, but the Han army could suppress the Qin army. Even the Qin army's garrison defense was extremely difficult. Is this still the Bao Qin they remembered? Why is this Han army more like violent Qin than violent Qin?

"However, in Guanzhong, the Qin Dynasty gathered another 5 troops to rescue the Qin soldiers in Sanchuan County. The battlefield on the western front may turn from offense to defense. In Hanoi County, Zhonglang General Zhang He led 3 Han troops to defend Hanoi and intercept the Qin army in Aocang. On the grain road, Qin General Meng Tianfang’s main force of 5 Qin troops is currently unable to move forward.”

"On the central battlefield, Meng Tian's 25 troops were stationed in Chaoge, Anyang County, and Dongwuyang. Meng Tian led his troops several times to break through the Yellow River defense line, but was defeated by our Han army in many places. Now Meng Tian's north The Xinjiang army can only survive by relying on the food and grass on the ground."

After Ji Bu introduced the various battle situations of the Han army, Tian Jie, Kuai Che, and Xiang Bo all looked envious. It is good to have strong fighting power. The Qin army could actually fight. They were helpless.

At this time, Tian Jie came out and said: "Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, our Qi army has recovered Ye County, Huang County, Xiang County, Dongmou County, Changwu County, Linqu County and other counties. Now the Prime Minister and the Yan King coalition have With more than 100,000 people, the entire Jiaodong County is about to be recaptured by our army."

Chen Xiao frowned and asked, "How many Qin troops are there in Qi?"

Ji Xin thought for a moment and said, "Could it be that the Qin army was short of food and grass, so Feng Jie had to retreat to Linzi County."

Tian Jie said: "There are about 3 to 4 people, but they are all stationed in the fortified city. Our ability to attack the fortified city is insufficient."

Chen Xiaodao: "It's very possible. After all, this is the food and fodder for the 50-strong army, and Meng Yi is obviously unable to suppress the situation in Qi. If Feng Jie retreats, Qi will have enough troops. In a short time, the Qin army can still Occupy Qi."

Representatives of various princes presented three sacrifices and promised to God that they would not stop fighting until Qin was destroyed.

Xu Fan knew that the Qi people at this time had been defeated. They were beaten by Zhang Han in history and collapsed at the first touch. He was beaten by Xiang Yu and collapsed at the first touch. He was beaten by Han Xin and collapsed at the first touch. That is to say, they have a strong family background, and everyone still regards them as a big country.

Xiang Bo said: "My eldest brother and Feng Jie's tribe fought hard for more than a month, but they still can't defeat Feng Jie."

Xu Fan shook his head and said: "Although our army has fought with the Qin army during this period, it has not seriously damaged the Qin army."

After hearing Tian Jie's words, the Han generals frowned. 10 people still couldn't defeat the Qin people scattered in various places. The Qi people no longer knew how to fight?

Zhang Liang said: "If the Qi and Chu armies can completely recover Qi, the Qin army will definitely collapse. The lower official suggested that Prime Minister Tian Heng and General Xiang Liang take advantage of our army to contain Meng Tian's tribe, unite and attack Linzi, and let the war burn out. All the way to the hinterland, further reducing the amount of food and grass that Meng Tian can obtain."

Not only the ability to attack fortresses, but also the field ability of the Qi-Yan coalition was poor. After Tian Heng had more than 10 troops in his hands, his self-confidence swelled. He gathered all the troops and planned to conquer Linzi in one fell swoop.

It's not that Feng Jie led the main force to besiege his uncle. Tian Heng and Chen Yu had more than 100,000 troops. How come they didn't even capture Jiaodong County?

And Xiang Bo is even simpler. Their original goal was to occupy Qi and achieve hegemony. The Qin people are the enemy now, and the Qi people will be the enemies in the future. The purpose of conquering Linzi with the Qi people now is not to help Tian Heng improve his strength, so they Speaking of reporting to Xiang Liang, he actually planned to send his cronies to let Xiang Liang speed up the attack on Linzi and not let Tian Hengjie get there first.

Xu Fan didn't know what they were thinking but continued: "I plan to send an army to Julu and join forces with Zhao to continue to compress Mengtian's strategic space. As long as our armies from various princes cooperate with each other, we can completely besiege the Central Plains. Kill the Qin Army's 50-strong army, and when the two main forces of the Qin Army are destroyed, the Qin Dynasty's defeat will be unstoppable."

The envoys from various princes looked at the Qin army surrounded by the armies of various princes on the map and said: "The king of Han is wise."

Fortunately, Xu Fan came to the rescue and said, "I wonder what General Xiang Liang's battle situation is like?"

But neither of them had the idea of ​​​​union. Tian Jie believed that the state of Qi belonged to their Tian clan. What would happen if Xiang Liang's Chu army arrived in Qi and occupied the land of the Qi people?

If the Qin people and the Qi people didn't hate the country's subjugation, the conflict between Qi and Chu was actually deeper. The two sides had fought for hundreds of years. From the struggle for hegemony in the Spring and Autumn Period to the fight for land during the Warring States Period, Tian Jie did not trust Xiang Liang's Chu army.

Xiang Bo: "I will tell my brother later."

Tian Jie said: "The foreign ministers will report to the Prime Minister."

Then representatives of various princes jointly respected Han King Xu Fan as the co-leader of the anti-Qin alliance.

Xiang Bo continued: "But in the past two days, Feng Jie's tribe took the initiative to retreat, and now it has retreated to Linzi County. The eldest brother and Fan Canjun thought it was the King of Han who severely damaged the Qin army, causing Feng Jie to retreat."

As a result, they were attacked at night by Meng Yi under the city of Linzi. Tian Heng and Chen Yu's 10 allied troops were defeated. If Meng Yi had not wanted to suppress Linzi at this time and did not dare to lead the troops in pursuit, Tian Heng had the opportunity to contain the army. However, Tian Heng lost troops in this battle, and he could only lead the remaining troops to attack Jiaodong County, where the Qin people were weak.

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

Peng Yue said to Xu Zhongzhao and Liu Bang: "Two brothers, I can only send you here!"

Liu Bang smiled and said: "Brother Peng, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to reach Julu County so smoothly. Next, it will be your turn to make contributions. My eldest brother is in Zhaodi, waiting for your good news."

Xu Chongzhao and Liu Bang, tens of thousands of people, boarded Peng Yue's warship at the White Horse Ferry, sailing close to the south bank of the Yellow River. When they arrived at Qidi, they only dared to sail at night, and went all the way down the river. After three days, they arrived at the Bohai Sea area in later generations, and then landed on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Nangong County.

And Liu Bang is indeed a communicative genius. He told Peng Yue that he had been a guest of Lord Xinling and what happened in Qin Jia. He also told Peng Yue many things about the Han army, which made Peng Yue admire him. In just three days, After communicating with Liu Bang, he asked Peng Yue to kowtow and become his younger brother.

After entering Nangong County, Zhang Ao said extremely excitedly: "When the two uncles arrive in Handan, my nephew will definitely ask my father to entertain the two uncles."

Liu Bang said: "Your father is my eldest brother, there is no need to be so polite between us."

Zhang Ao said with a smile: "I want it, if it hadn't been for my uncle's advice, my father and I might never have met again."

But Xu Zhongzhao said with a solemn expression: "It's almost June now, why can't we see many fields growing food here in Julu?"

Not long after they left, they saw fields covered with weeds. This made Xu Zhongzhao, who was born in a farmer, extremely heartbroken. How much fields and grains were wasted. The fields were full of weeds, and the people had no food. The giant deer must have starved many people to death.

Zhang Ao also put away his happy expression at this time and said helplessly: "Since the Qin army invaded Zhao State in March, the war in Zhao State has not stopped. Young and strong people are either recruited as soldiers or as civilian husbands. I don’t know how many people died in the entire Zhao land. Farmers did not dare to come out to farm, and the land was abandoned. Julu County is not yet the core battlefield, so some food can still be seen here, but the land in Handan County has been completely destroyed. Abandoned.”

War disasters have been like this since ancient times. Not many people actually died because of swords. However, the two warring parties dragged young men to serve as soldiers and as civilian husbands. As a result, the people were unable to farm, and the land was abandoned. However, the yield per mu of land in this era was extremely low. Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered in one place, and it was very easy to eat up the small local grain reserves.

After all, Sun Tzu said, "Sun Guzhi will serve his enemies well." If you eat an enemy for one minute, you will be worth twenty to me; if you eat one stone of stalks, you will be worth twenty stone to me."

But Sun Tzu never thought that if you eat this stone, one person may starve to death, and if your army of hundreds of thousands eats up all the local grain reserves, hundreds of thousands of people may starve to death.

And now Zhao Di is such a desolate scene. Meng Tian can't even support himself now, so how can he care about the life and death of the people in Zhao Di.

Xu Chongzhao understood that although he couldn't tell it yet because everyone's food reserves were still there, he could dig some wild vegetables to satisfy his hunger at this time, but when all the people's food reserves were eaten up, this place would become a purgatory.

Not long after they left, they saw a large number of people gnawing tree bark and digging weeds in the wilderness. They even saw many people who had fallen on the ground. They didn't know whether they fainted from hunger or died of hunger. The reality was more serious than Xu Zhongzhao. It was even worse than he imagined, because the people of Zhao Di could endure it for a few months, but now they could no longer endure it.

Xu Chongzhao asked the soldiers to invite some women who were nibbling tree bark and asked: "Have you eaten all the food?" The woman said sadly: "My husband was captured by the Qin people and made a peasant husband, and the food in the house was also confiscated by the Qin officials. It was said that it would be handed over to the front line to fight the war."

Xu Zhongzhao said angrily: "This is absolutely insane and inhumane."

Liu Bang looked at Zhang Ao strangely and said, "Isn't this the territory of Zhao State?"

The woman said: "The Qin people came a few months ago, and the gentlemen in the county took refuge with the Qin people. It's just that these Qin people want our lives!"

After saying this, the woman burst into tears.

Zhang Ao said with an embarrassed look: "My father can only control Handan City now, and I'm afraid he can't control other cities."

Xu Zhongzhao said: "Don't worry, our Han army is the army of the common people, you will not die."

Then Xu Zhongzhao summoned a cook in the army and asked him to get some food for the women. At the same time, soldiers were ordered to take in the refugees along the way.

Xu Zhongzhao said to Liu Bang with a solemn face: "We must provide disaster relief from now on, otherwise many people will starve to death."

Liu Bang hesitated and said: "The King of Han asked them to attack the Northern Xinjiang Army, but now you say you want to provide disaster relief. Will this go against the King of Han's strategy?"

Xu Chongzhao said: "The King of Han asked us to rely on the people of Zhao, but the people of Zhao are starving to death. Who should we rely on? Don't forget that the King of Han often said that our Han army is fish, and the people are water. Fish will die if they lose water." , the Han army cannot develop even if it loses its people."

Liu Bang thought for a moment and said, "Let's call the supervisors here. If they all agree, we will find ways to provide disaster relief?"

Liu Bang called the Duwei Supervisor Chen Ying and the Duwei Supervisor Zhang Qiang to tell Xu Zhongzhao what he had just discovered.

Zhang Qiang immediately said: "We Han army want to save the people."

Liu Bang smiled bitterly and said: "I am not from a good background. I am willing to save the people. But not to mention the huge number of people saved, where do we get the food? The King of Han only gave us a month's supply of food. We Most of the food and grass in the back will be provided by Zhao Di, how many people do you think we can save with this little food and grass in our hands?"

Xu Chongzhao smiled and said: "The people don't have food in their hands, but I know that there is a kind of people who definitely have food in their hands. As long as we can borrow food, we don't have to worry."

Liu Bang laughed even harder when he heard this. He still didn't understand the old traditions of the Han army.

But he said worriedly: "We are in Zhao Di now, and what we can rely on is Zhao Di's strength. If we offend them like this, Lao Xu, you won't worry about them defecting to the Qin people."

Xu Chongzhao smiled confidently and said: "Now Meng Tian is eager to skin and eat the flesh of Zhao Di's two dogs. If they really defect to the Qin army, their fate will be worse than if they defect to our Han army. They have no choice."

Zhang Qiang also said: "The King of Han also taught us a lesson before. I remember he said that there are only tens of thousands of landlords and powerful people, but there are tens of millions of common people. The landlords and powerful people look powerful, but in fact they are all paper tigers. They became strong by bullying the people. They were foxes who stole the power of the people, and used this method to intimidate everyone.

And our Han army must replace the powerful landlords and organize the people. In this way, our strength will be the most powerful in the world. Neither the violent Qin nor the powerful landlords will be our Han army's opponents. "

Liu Bang felt a little enlightened after listening to Zhang Qiang's words. Yes, the landlords are powerful, not because they have more money and food, but because they control more people. But if the people are organized by the Han army, the landlords will be powerful. It becomes a rootless tree, just a bunch of fat pigs.

For the first time, Liu Bang felt that he had mastered the truth, and he had a smooth feeling all over his body. He looked at Xu Zhongzhao and Zhang Qiang with envy. He joined the Han army too late and didn't know many things.

On the afternoon of June 6, Nangong County.

Originally, the flag of the Qin army was still flying in the morning, but at noon, news came that 1 Han troops had landed in Nangong County. Immediately, powerful spies were sent to inquire about the news, and tens of thousands of Han troops were actually discovered.

The powerful people in Nangong County immediately changed the flag of Zhao State in a panic. It was not that they did not want to change the flag of Han State, but it was not done in a short time. They could only use the flag of Zhao State to fool them first, and even many Everyone was lucky that when Meng Tian came over, the Zhao flag was only hidden instead of burned. Otherwise, today's situation would be a bit ugly.

When Liu Bang led his army to approach the city, he ordered the army to camp outside the city, and he led a small number of personal guards to meet him.

These powerful people immediately commanded the people to give them a warm welcome. Liu Bang immediately bowed to the powerful people in Zhao and smiled: "Old fellow villagers, you are so polite. Our Han army is a people's team, a team to fight against the violent Qin. We are here, so you don't have to worry. The Qin Dynasty is here to bully you again. If anyone dares to bully you, our Han army will uphold justice for you.

"Even if our Han army commits any illegal behavior, you can tell me that I will deal with it according to military law and will not be lenient. All villagers can live in peace of mind and come to me if you have any difficulties."

The village elders in Nangong County were relieved to see Liu Bang being so easy to talk to. This Han general didn't look fierce and should be easy to deal with.

"We have no food to eat, can the general help us?" Suddenly a voice shouted.

When the village elder from Nangong County heard this, his expression changed greatly and he said, "You have the right to speak here. Get out of here!"

After saying that, two servants wanted to take this person away.

But Xu Chongzhao stopped the behavior of the two servants and walked to the man who made the noise. The man was wearing tattered clothes and was as skinny as a stick. This reminded him of his previous life in his hometown. He was like a mirror. Looking back at my past self, I found it difficult to eat enough even if I tried my best.

Xu Chongzhao said slowly: "The Han army needs many craftsmen to make weapons and equipment, and many people to join the army to defeat Qin."

The man said: "Give me food, and I will join the army to fight against Qin."

Xu Chongzhao pointed in the direction of the camp and said: "Don't worry, our Han army is a team of common people. You will be able to get food in a short time. You can go to our Han army's camp to find something to do."

However, Liu Bang seemed not to have seen this incident, and continued to communicate enthusiastically with the local elders, and agreed to discuss major issues in Nangong County with the local elders in the evening.

The powerful gentry in Nangong County also understood that they wanted to offer sacrifices to buy peace. I heard that the king of Han had a good reputation, so the number of offerings should be less than that of the Qin people. Many powerful gentry comforted themselves in this way.

As for Liu Bang, Xu Zhongzhao led a team of personal guards into the Nangong County government office. Xu Zhongzhao began to check the accounts, and Liu Bang monitored the warehouse.

Not long after, Liu Bang came back and shook his head and said: "It's empty. The granary only has 100 shi of grain. The arsenal has been emptied by Meng Tian."

Xu Zhongzhao said angrily: "The Qin people didn't come to Nangong County at all. Not only did they take the initiative to empty out the Nangong County warehouses, but they also helped Meng Tian plunder the local people. They should be cut into pieces by a thousand cuts."

Meng Tian's main force was along the Yellow River. He just sent a group of cavalry over. The powerful gentry in Nangong County were frightened and immediately planted the flag of the Qin army. Then the powerful gentry in the county turned into the Qin army's lackeys. Not only did they transport all the grain and grass from the Nangong County treasury to Meng Tian's military camp, but Meng Tian came to ask for grain and grass later, so they snatched the few rations from the people to meet Meng Tian's needs.

Xu Zhongzhao said: "No wonder the King of Han has always distrusted these powerful landlords and has been replacing them with my Han soldiers. They are just a bunch of doglegs who work for the tiger."

Liu Bang smiled and said: "This has always been the case. Many of them were originally Qin officials. When King Zhao came, they were Zhao officials. When the Qin army came again, they would change their flags. As long as they could protect their own interests, they would not be able to do anything. It doesn’t matter who rules above us, but this time we have to find a way to make them vomit blood.”

(End of this chapter)