Chapter 38: Besieging the City (Part 1)

  The sun sets in the west, and Yi Yang City is ten miles north. Xiang Shou's face is solemn as he gazes towards the north, as if waiting for a great figure.

  If there were local people from Yiyang here, they would be surprised to find that all the officials of various sizes in Yiyang, from the governor down, have gathered here. Who has such a big face, and actually worked hard to welcome Taishou out of the city for ten miles? For anyone with some common sense, the answer is already on the tip of their tongue - if it's not Wangsun, then it must be an envoy sent by the emperor himself.

  Xiang Shou is already in his sixties, and has experienced all sorts of things throughout his life. As a playmate who grew up with the current King of Qin, he had been favored and also demoted. If it weren't for Empress Dowager Xuan's pity on him for having governed Yiyang before, if it weren't for the previous governor of Yiyang embezzling grain rations, Xiang Shou would probably still be trapped in Xianyang.

  He is very satisfied with his current high position and governing a region. Even now that he has to condescend to welcome Bai Qi, who used to be below him, Zhou Yafu has no complaints at all, even though his group of people have already waited for more than half an hour.

  In the last rays of sunset, the 100,000-strong army finally appeared on the horizon. The black army was steady and thick, like a great mountain advancing slowly and steadily, with only the sound of horseshoes and creaking wheels, the entire team had no other sounds.

  By the Luo River, with a wave of the central army's command flag, the entire army suddenly stopped in its tracks. The consequence of the neat footsteps changing from dynamic to static was that it stirred up a dust dragon, and what was frightening was that even though they were trapped in the dust dragon, not one person coughed.

  Very soon, the vanguard carefully measured the thickness of the ice surface, estimating whether it could hold a large army, and then quickly reported back to the central army. The central army's flag waved, and all the soldiers riding war horses dismounted, and the next moment, the army automatically divided into several groups, crossing the river one after another.

  Toward Shou, the color is more respectful, and dare not come forward to disturb. When the Qin army passed by Shou's group, a horse-drawn carriage finally stopped. A slightly tired-looking general jumped off the carriage and stood in front of Shou.

  "The governor of Yiyang, Xiang Shou, led all the main officials of Yiyang to pay their respects to Wu An Jun." Xiang Shou spoke first.

  "Pay respects to Wu An Jun!" A voice came from behind Shou's body, filled with excitement, reverence or flattery.

  "Please, General Taishou, everyone." Baqi cupped his hands in gratitude.

  "Wu Anjun has come from afar, and I have prepared some light wine to welcome him. Please, Wu Anjun, take a step inside the city."

  "Thank you, Governor, for your kind intentions, but I won't disturb you all as I have many military duties to attend to."

  Bai Qi waved his hand and continued, "Now the king is worried about the war, as a minister and son, I should share the king's worries. Therefore, I dare not delay for a moment, and hastily led the army to come. Yiyang is close to the front line, I don't know how the war is going now?"

  "Report back to Wu Anjun, after the defeat of Hu Yang's army, Zhao, Wei and Han took advantage of their victory to pursue and attack with a small force, opening the gates of Yique. Now Yique is entirely in the hands of the three states. According to scouts' reports, currently there are 200,000 troops from Zhao, Wei and Han combined, with 40,000 Korean troops stationed at Yique, 100,000 Zhao troops and 60,000 Wei troops camping outside the north and south gates respectively. The camps have been set up but there is no new movement, it seems they are waiting for our army to take the initiative to attack."

  "Hmm", Bai Qi nodded in satisfaction and asked, "Is there any new news from the direction of Ye Wang? Is it true that Hu Yang's army was defeated?"

  "The Korean side has assembled a large army in Ye Wang, and the number of Korean troops on the Ye Wang, Chenggao, and Xinzheng line is no less than 1.5 million. It is said that in order to strengthen the defense of this area, the city defenses on the borders with Zhao and Wei are relatively empty, and most of them are guarded by young and strong men!"

  He paused, and then continued, "The 100,000-strong army of Hu Yang has indeed been completely annihilated. According to reliable information, there are three reasons why our army was defeated so quickly: Firstly, Hu Yang was overconfident and rash; secondly, the Korean side secretly formed a heavy cavalry unit, which caused nearly 20,000 casualties for our army in the Battle of Ye Wang; thirdly, the Zhao army secretly launched a surprise attack on our army, and our army, having suffered heavy losses, feared being surrounded and annihilated, and had no choice but to break through, only to fall into an ambush."

  "Lian Po's clever move I've heard of", said Bai Qi with a sigh.

  The successive blows inevitably made Hu Yang's confidence waver, and once a general has a fearful heart, it's hard to win again. Forget it, people are already dead, and it's too late to say anything now.

  It's said that Hu Yang died shouting "Kill the enemy", and in doing so, he didn't bring shame to the great name of Qin. I suppose the three states of Han, Zhao, and Wei are rejoicing now! But there's no hurry, we'll use the heads of these 200,000 enemy soldiers to pay respects to the fallen souls of Qin.

  Bai Qi silently mourned the fallen Qin soldiers, his expression unchanged as he asked "Has Korea formed a heavy cavalry? That's quite interesting. Does the intelligence report say how many men they have?"

  "It's said that there are only three thousand people, considering the losses from the battle with Wild King, now it should be at least over two thousand." Xiang Shou thought for a moment and reported a relatively reasonable number.

  "Is that all?"

  "Yes, that's all the information we have for now. I'm afraid I'm incompetent, and South Korea has a very tight blockade on information, making it difficult to obtain."

  "The governor is being lenient, it's already quite good this way."

  Bai Qi exhorted him for a while and said: "Tonight, the great army will be stationed outside the city, and the matter of grain supplies will have to be taken care of by Governor Ta."

  "I dare not, I dare not. This is within the scope of my official duties. General Wu An, you only need to give orders, and I will do my best to complete them."

  "This is wonderful! When we win, I will personally ask the governor for a reward!"

  A night without words.

  The next day, at the hour of Si, the Qin army set out again after a night's rest. At the same time, the scouts of the allied forces had learned that Bai Qi's large army had arrived in Yiyang on the previous night, and they did not stop to rest, changing horses five times in succession, finally transmitting this urgent military information to the main force.

  Yique City, the residence of the Governor.

  Han, Zhao and Wei three armies gathered together. The news of Bai Qi's 100,000-strong army arriving at Huayang was laid out before everyone, the report also said that 100,000 Qin troops had already set out from Xianyang to rush to their aid. According to the schedule, in seven days or ten days at most, they would arrive under the city of Yiqu. At that time, there would be a full 200,000 Qin soldiers besieging Yiqu, and most crucially, their commander was Bai Qi.

  "In my opinion, it's better to take advantage of the fact that the reinforcements have not arrived yet and launch a preemptive attack. If we can destroy one of their units, defending the city later will be much easier." Lian Po suggested first.

  For Bai Qi, Lian Po had a strong desire to fight. This was the pride of being a famous general at the same time, and this was the joy of meeting an opponent on the chessboard.

  Although the Qin army is strong, it's not invincible. Moreover, Bai Qi is now isolated, while I have Mount Yique as my support, so I can attack or defend at will.

  With 90,000 Zhao cavalry against 100,000 Qin elite troops, the chances of winning are at least 50%, not counting the support of allied forces (Han and Wei armies). After all, the swift and agile Zhao army has an advantage over the slow-moving Qin army in terms of speed.

  It's just a pity that King Zhao's order was to provide limited support to the Han army. He would never allow himself to fight to the death with the Qin state in order to rescue Korea, suffering heavy casualties.

  In Lin Xiangru's plan, using the Wei and Han armies as bait, relying on the powerful impact of Zhao's iron cavalry, it is still very hopeful to surround and annihilate a Qin army in a short period. It showcases the combat power of the Zhao army, intimidates the Qin army, and does not violate King Zhao's order.

  "I agree with General Lian's view. Bai Qi's army has come from afar, and we can take advantage of their fatigue. If we let go of this good opportunity, it will be even harder to win when the reinforcements arrive." Jin Bi nodded in agreement.

  "I also mean that. Everything will be done according to General Lian's intention, and as soon as the Qin army arrives, we will give them a blow. Let Bai Qi know that the three Jin are not easy to provoke." Bo You, who had been winning continuously, also said with great momentum.

  The Crown Prince thought so too. After all, the armies of Zhao, Wei and Han had just annihilated 100,000 Qin troops. If they were to shrink back just because of Bai Qi's reputation, it would be a great blow to morale. However, Bai Qi was cunning in his tactics, and this could not be ignored.

  The crown prince spoke up at this point, "Bai Qi's use of troops is like a god, so everyone should be careful. Although Bai Qi's large army set out from Yiyang today, judging from the battles he has commanded, there have been instances where they launched surprise attacks under cover of night. Therefore, everyone should be on guard against a sudden attack by the Qin army outside the camp tonight."

  Everyone agreed and after a discussion, they each returned to their camps to prepare for battle.