Chapter 27: Battle of Life and Death!

  "Form up! Form up!" Zheng Wen bellowed.

  In the daytime, one can still rely on banners to command a large army. But now is the darkest moment before dawn. The messengers of the central army had to rush to the front and rear armies amidst flying arrows to convey the commander's orders.

  In fact, without Zheng Wen's order. The front and rear armies of the Han army were suddenly attacked and almost instinctively converged on the central army. Only by relying on the war chariots of the central army did the Han army have a glimmer of hope to hold out until dawn. Only after dawn could this Han army possibly receive reinforcements.

  Chen Yong and Huang Biao were the main generals of this Qin army. Yesterday, the Qin army was defeated, and their good friend Sima Xin died on the battlefield. His cavalry regiment was completely annihilated. Although dying on the battlefield is an honor for soldiers, being defeated by the Han army made them feel deeply unworthy of Sima Xin.

  The Korean army is the weakest in the world. How can they defeat the invincible Qin iron cavalry?

  Defeated by the Korean army, Sima Xin's reputation is ruined. A brother's grudge cannot be shared under the same sky! Since Sima Xin is dead, the Korean army will not have a good time either. Tonight, let's bury these tens of thousands of Korean soldiers with our own good brothers! The two thought silently.

  The two consecutive days of defeat ignited the anger of the Qin army, as it is said that a desperate army will always win. The 20,000-strong Qin army had been waiting in comfort for the weary enemy and also held the numerical advantage, so when the battle broke out, it was a one-sided situation from the start.

  Although the Korean army was mostly cavalry, with greater mobility. But the dark night became the best protective umbrella for the Qin army. In dealing with agile infantry, the cavalry seemed pale and powerless, especially after the Qin army dug many pits.

  The crossbow arrows of the Qin army came wave after wave, falling on the hastily assembled formation of the Han army. Each wave of arrow rain weakened the morale of the Han army a layer. The main general of the Qin army led his guards and beheaded one by one the Han envoys who tried to break out of the phalanx to seek help under their horses.

  "General, the Qin army's offensive is too fierce, their numbers are at least twice ours. If we continue to defend like this, there's only one way out - death!"

  "Yes! General! We can't hold on. We are cavalry, and staying in place to defend will only lead to passive suffering. I request that the general appoint me as the vanguard of the entire army, to cut out a bloody path."

  "General, make a quick decision! Many war horses have been frightened and run away. If this continues, we will be finished."

  Zheng Wen looked around at the continuously falling soldiers and made a decisive decision, saying: "The whole army listens to orders, abandon all supplies, break out of the Qin army's encirclement."

  "Ah!"

  After throwing down at least 8,000 corpses, the Korean army barely broke out of the Qin army's encirclement. Although the Qin army had the heart to leave all the Korean army behind, they were all infantry and could not catch up with the pursuit, so they had to follow the commander's orders, with half of them staying behind to clean up the battlefield and the other half going to surround the East Gate of Ye Wang.

  "What? You were ambushed by the Qin army?" The crown prince Yan looked at the military marquis in front of him with a guilty face and asked in surprise.

  "The end will be incompetence! Requesting the Crown Prince to punish."

  "Let's not talk about punishment for now. How did you encounter the Qin army? How did you arrive at Ye Wang so quickly? Tell me one by one."

  "Report to the Crown Prince, General Pu has established a large camp of 50,000 men fifty miles west of Chenggao in order to reinforce Ye Wang in time. Our reinforcement army of 10,000 this time is half infantry and half cavalry, so we can arrive at Ye Wang so quickly."

  When he said this, Jun Hou's face darkened, and he continued to say: "On the way, we advanced cautiously under the cover of night. General Zheng ordered the scouts to strengthen their vigilance in order to prevent a surprise attack by the Qin army. Who would have thought that the main force still encountered an ambush of about 20,000 Qin soldiers twenty miles east of Ye Wang? During the breakout, General Zheng unfortunately died in battle."

  The crown prince sighed and waved his hand to dismiss the tearful General Wu.

  I already knew where the great army was defeated. The violent bird was originally a good intention, and overnight dispatched reinforcements mainly composed of infantry and chariots. Unexpectedly, the Qin army ambushed in the darkness of night, evading the detection of the Han army scouts, outnumbering them, and adding to the Qin army's recent loss of its great general, morale was low, it was not surprising that the Han army suffered a great defeat.

  If it were daytime, relying on 5,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, the Korean army could still contend with the 20,000-strong Qin army. But in the dark of night, even if Sun Wu or Wu Qi were alive, they couldn't turn the tide of defeat!

  Now the reinforcements have been defeated, undoubtedly pouring a basin of cold water on the upper and lower sides of Ye Wang City. However, this is also good. The two consecutive days of victory made the defenders of Ye Wang City proud and arrogant, and this defeat happened to knock down the Korean army that had raised its tail.

  However, the Qin army will surely boost its morale after this battle! It seems that today's Ye Wang will be another bloody battle! The crown prince Yan Huan shook his somewhat dizzy head.

  For now, we can only ask for help from the Wei army.

  After all, Wendi is only thirty miles away from Ye Wang, and the Wei State's reinforcements will arrive even faster! Moreover, the Qin army invaded because of the alliance between the three countries, so the Wei army should also make a move. It can't be just Korea fighting alone against Qin!

  Moreover, rather than believing in the long-absent Korean army, Taizi still believed more in the Wei army. Although he had defeated the Wei army in the Battle of Huayang, it couldn't be said that the Korean army was stronger than the Wei army!

  "Good! Good! You two have worked hard."

  In the Qin army's large tent, Hu Yang was overjoyed and slapped the newly changed desk with force.

  "What's the outcome?" Hu Yang asked Chen Yong and Huang Biao, the two lieutenants he had sent out.

  "Reporting back to the General, in this battle our army killed 8,120 Korean soldiers and less than 2,000 Korean soldiers broke through. We were unable to annihilate the entire Korean army, please punish me for my failure!"

  Having said this, Chen Yong and Huang Biao knelt down to plead guilty.

  "Hurry up, both of you! What crime do you have?! I heard that the Korean army this time is all cavalry and chariots. You can get such a battle achievement with only 20,000 infantrymen, which is already rare! You are greatly meritorious!"

  Huyang was overjoyed at the great victory and directly ignored the escape of more than a thousand Korean soldiers. At this time when the morale of the Qin army was low, such a big victory came too timely. How could he care about these small mistakes!

  "Where is Secretary He?"

  "The end will be there."

  "Record: Chen Yong and Huang Biao fought bravely, leading their troops to kill 8,120 Korean soldiers below the rank of lieutenant. After the battle, they were rewarded according to the great Qin law for their meritorious service!"

  "Yes!" The clerk acted according to the order.

  "Pass on the order, spread the news of this great victory throughout the army. After breakfast, we will continue to attack the city!"

  "Ah!"

  Soon, the news of Qin's great victory spread throughout the camp.

  "Did you hear? We won a great victory last night! We killed more than 8,000 Korean soldiers!" said Little Soldier A.

  "Of course, I've heard the news. Who doesn't know about our great victory? I said it before, the Korean army is no match for our Great Qin army. Yesterday was just a sneak attack." said soldier B.

  "That's right! With the Korean army's skills, only those 3,000 heavy cavalry are usable. You see, didn't last night's big defeat of the Korean army prove this point?" Little Soldier Bing shouted.

  "Really! Did you guys hear? According to the brother who launched a night raid last night, many South Korean soldiers were so scared that they peed their pants!" Little Soldier A said with a mysterious tone.

  "Haha! Yeah! I've also heard about it, what a stench!"

  "Don't drag those useless things. I can tell you, others have made achievements, we can't admit defeat. When attacking the city later, be clever and let others know that our camp is not easy to bully!" a squad leader suggested.

  "Right! Blood for blood! Revenge for our fallen brother!"

  "A life for a life!" The crowd growled in unison.

  Seeing the morale of the soldiers boosted, Hu Yang felt relieved.

  The morale of the troops can be used! Today's battle, no room for loss! No matter what, today, we must take down Ye Wang City. Hu Yang clenched his fists and secretly made up his mind.

  Sixty miles away from the Korean army camp. Hearing the news of the defeat of the reinforcements, Bao Ying was shocked.

  The situation will change drastically. After this battle, the Qin army will surely strengthen its defense east of Wangyi. If more reinforcements are sent, there won't be enough to break through the Qin army's defense, and if too many are sent, it will cause emptiness on the Chenggao front line.

  Besides, the mobile warfare was not the Korean army's strong point. According to their own calculations, unless they had three times as many troops as the Qin army, the chances of winning were too small. But the 80,000-strong army under his command was Korea's biggest trump card; if they failed, Xing Zheng would inevitably be attacked by the Qin army, and he would really have no way to escape death!

  Whether to save or not is really a difficult problem.

  Why not unite with the Wei army and support Huayang? Baoying considers this possibility.

  After all, the Wei army now has more than 700,000 troops. Even if the Wei army only sends out half of its troops, the two armies combined will have a total of 800,000 troops. And with the other half of our forces defending the Chenggao line, we can threaten the Qin army! This plan is feasible!

  Thinking of this, Bao Yi immediately sent someone to Wendi for help.

  Ye Wang Cheng. Looking at the Qin army in all directions, Prince Ran let out a bitter laugh. The messenger who had been sent to ask for help from Wen Di was chased back by the Qin army, and when he went up to the city wall to take a look, he found that all four gates of the city were surrounded.

  It seems that the Qin army is going to fight to the death. Now, even the east gate has been surrounded by the Qin army. Wangyi has completely become an isolated city.

  Facing the enemy behind, the Qin army chose to ignore them. This shows that the Qin army was confident that they could break through the city of Wei Wang at dawn, and would not give the Wei and Han armies a chance to reinforce Wei Wang.

  Wild King, can you still hold on? The crown prince asked himself silently.

  The only response to him was the almost suffocating oppression. The Qin army, on the verge of attacking the city. Unlike before, this time the entire Qin army moved out, leaving only a small amount of baggage troops to guard the large camp.

  The Crown Prince knew that the time of life and death had arrived for Ye Wang.