Chapter Thirty-Five: Deception City

  The Qin army was defeated so quickly, beyond the Crown Prince's expectations. As the Zhao army swept the battlefield, a plan to raid Yique suddenly occurred to the Crown Prince.

  Perhaps people of the time only admired or feared Bai Qi, but memories from later generations told themselves that Bai Qi was a well-deserved god of war! Even Mao Taizu of later generations praised him as "the best at annihilating wars, no one can surpass him for thousands of years".

  For a renowned general like Bai Qi, who excels at unconventional tactics and is adept at annihilating enemies in the wilderness, defensive warfare is the worst option. You can't anticipate what strategy he will devise to counter you, and Wangcheng is the heartland of Korea. If Bai Qi fails to capture it by force, he will inevitably target the surrounding cities of Wangcheng. In that case, Korea will ultimately suffer a huge loss.

  The Crown Prince would never allow such a thing to happen. Acting as Zhao's vanguard to weaken the Qin army? Let's leave this kind of Lei Feng-like behavior to Wei instead!

  As for the surprise attack on Yique, the Crown Prince had his own understanding. For decades, it has always been the Qin army attacking other countries, and basically no other country dares to attack Qin's idea. The reason is simple, as a sheep, you can only hope that the hungry wolf will not take a fancy to you, dare to provoke the hungry wolf, unless you are tired of living.

  The defenders of Yique also had such a mentality, which was where the Korean army could take advantage. When they first heard the news of the defeat 100 miles away, anyone would be flustered. Once the city gate was opened, things were half successful.

  As for the possible suspicion of the defending army, the prince also has a countermeasure. In this era, there is no absolute loyal minister. Everyone is for wealth and honor, to show off their ambitions! Don't you see that half of the high-ranking officials in various countries are foreigners? From the thousands of Qin soldiers captured earlier, select the clever ones, entice them with benefits, and move them with emotions. A bold plan is presented before everyone's eyes. Now it really looks like the "Qin army" has been defeated and is seeking help, and the defending army at Yique has a great chance of believing it.

  "What? The prince wants to send Qin's army to capture and deceive the city gate?" Tian Hu exclaimed in surprise.

  "What's all the commotion about? Are you trying to let the whole world know?"

  Tian Huo rubbed his head awkwardly and said with a blush: "I didn't mean it that way! It's just, the prince, can they be trusted?"

  The prince nodded resolutely and replied, "Doubtful people are not used, and those who are used are not doubted. Since their surrender, they have cut off all roads back to the Qin state. People die for wealth, birds perish for food. Taking a step back, even if we assume they are pretending to surrender, we haven't lost anything, let's just consider it an emergency military expedition."

  "I've never seen so many people rushing about." Tian Hu muttered under his breath.

  They are currently in the vanguard, consisting of a hundred or so Qin soldiers and three thousand Han soldiers. Behind them is the ten-thousand-strong iron cavalry of Zhao, and at the very back is the main force of forty-thousand-strong Han army.

  As ordered by the Crown Prince, he would soon lead more than 200 Korean soldiers and over 100 Qin soldiers as bait. Whether they could deceive the city gate and open it depended on the performance of this small team.

  The crown prince directly ignored Tianhu's words and lowered his head to think about his worries.

  If the city of Ikuo is taken, the attention of the great army of Qin will be diverted to Ikuo. Naturally, Korea's losses will be minimized. More importantly, after this, even if the Qin army attacks Korea, it will take Ikuo as its first target. Most areas of Korea will gain a rare opportunity to breathe.

  The crown prince needs such an opportunity. Korea needs time to reform and strengthen itself, and the upper and lower classes of Korea need to rest and recover, all of which take time. Without a peripheral stronghold, the Qin army can occasionally enter the heartland of Korea around Wangji at any time. Such harassment will greatly distract Korea's attention, and there is no chance for reform and strengthening.

  So, Yque himself must win. Heaven! This time he must bless himself to succeed! The crown prince clenched his fists.

  Thus, a strange scene appeared on the battlefield: about three hundred gray-headed and dust-covered "Qin army" wearing damaged armor, riding horses at high speed on the road from Ye Wang to Yi Que, with ten miles behind them being tens of thousands of spirited Zhao army, and further away was the murderous Korean army.

  The Qin army was in a state of panic, whipping their war horses mercilessly without any regard for their well-being, trying to speed up. From noon till sunset, the pursuit continued intermittently. Every time the Zhao army approached from behind, the Qin army would hastily continue their escape. Until the darkness deepened to the point where one could not see their own fingers, this situation did not stop.

  They ran almost all night, and at the hour of five watches, this "Qin army" finally approached the city of Yique. As if they had seen hope, the "Qin army" excitedly shouted loudly, fearing that the defenders of Yique would not know of their arrival.

  "Halt! Take one more step forward and we'll shoot!" Qin's five hundred strong army warned loudly, having been disturbed from their good dreams.

  In the dead of night, I thought it was a riot and scared myself. Although with the help of the dim torches, I saw that the people below the city wall were wearing black armor "friendly troops", but the strict military law still forced the 500 main to warn the "friendly troops" to keep their distance from the city gate.

  "Don't shoot arrows! We are soldiers of the You Shu Zhang Hu Yang's cavalry camp, with urgent military information to report to your general, open the city gate quickly!" A standard Xianyang accent voice came from under the city.

  "What's the military situation?" The 500 hosts were puzzled, what kind of military situation was so urgent in the middle of the night?

  As if dissatisfied with the slow response on the city wall, the "Xianyang accent" below the city spoke again, "What are you dazing about! Can you afford to delay military information? Hurry up and go!"

  Wu Bai Zhu could not help but put aside the doubts in his heart, instructing his deputy to take over for him, while he himself hurriedly went to the Cheng Shou Fu. He had delayed military affairs and even if he were beheaded a hundred times it would not be enough. Qu Shi was implementing the Taishou's administrative and military dual grasp, with the Taishou also being in charge of the entire city's military affairs.

  Gongsun Yun has been living a very comfortable life recently, and there's nothing better than being an outside official. In Xianyang, that ghostly place, you have to nod your head and bow from time to time, no choice, high officials are everywhere in Xianyang. You can even meet a group of royal nobles just by going out on the street. Being an outside official is different, it's like being a local emperor. Everything is up to yourself.

  Although Yique is located on the front line, it faces the weak and small Korea and Dongzhou. These two cowardly countries dare not provoke the whiskers of the great Qin, let alone the fact that there are 15,000 elite Qin troops accumulated in Yiyang behind them. In fact, Yique is very safe. Therefore, Gong Sunyun's daily routine was to inspect the military rations and occasionally take his troops out for a tour, while intimidating the two countries across from him.

  Tonight, Gong Sunyun was sleeping soundly with his new concubine as usual. Just when he was dreaming of marrying ninety-nine more concubines, he was woken up by the knocking at the door outside.

  "What a damn nuisance! Who dares to disturb your grandfather's beautiful dream!" Gong Sunyun shouted in discontent.

  "Sir, there are General Hu's men outside the city, saying they have urgent military news to report!" The housekeeper replied cautiously from outside the door.

  "Which General Hu?" Gong Sunyun's face relaxed slightly, and he asked in surprise.

  "It's the General Hu who is attacking Ye Wang right now!" The housekeeper reminded.

  "Ah!" Gong Sun Yun slapped his thigh and shouted, "Wait a moment, I'll change into official robes and come out right away."

  "What's the hurry to get up so early?" A lazy voice of a beauty came from beside his ear, and an arm made of jade blocked Gong Sunyun who was about to get up.

  "Beautiful girl, be good, I'll be right back!" Gong Sunyun really couldn't bear to part with the beauty in front of him, but after thinking twice, he resolutely got out of bed. After all, Hu Yang was now a favorite of the king! He couldn't afford to offend him.

  Under the leadership of the five hundred honest and fearful, Gong Sunyun arrived at the city head, looking at the Qin army below with disheveled clothes and bloodstains, Gong Sunyun subconsciously frowned.

  "This official is the Taishou of Yique, what military information do you have to report?"

  "Great! General Gongsun, I am the Military Marquis of the Xiuji Camp under the command of Hu Yang, Right Vice-General. Our army is currently surrounded by the 300,000-strong forces of Zhao, Wei and Han, and our general has specially sent us to request reinforcements!"

  What? The Hu Yang army has been surrounded? How is that possible?! Gong Sun Yun suddenly became flustered. Isn't the Qin army invincible in battle?

  "Prefect, let's enter the city and rest first! The brothers have been running all night, they're hungry and tired. We still need to rush to Yiyang, time is not waiting for us!"

  "Good! Good! Open the city gate quickly!" Gong Sun Yun hastily commanded, himself completely immersed in confusion. This shouldn't be! What's going on? Gong Sun Yun couldn't wait to ask the military marquis below the city.

  "But General!" The leader of the 500 troops hesitated, according to regulations, even if it was an urgent military situation, the number of people entering the city should not exceed ten, and the other side had clearly exceeded that.

  "Open the door! I'm going to die of thirst!"

  "My old man is fighting to the death at the front, while you're hiding behind the city walls. Just wait till I go up and see if I don't cut you down." The shouts from below the city wall came in various local accents.

  "What's the delay? Open the door quickly!" Seeing Wubai's hesitant face, Gong Sunyun's expression became even more displeased.

  "Ah!" replied Wu Qing with reluctance. The accent below the city wall was undoubtedly that of an old Qin person from within the pass, perhaps he had been overthinking!

  At the order of the Five Hundred Lords, the drawbridge at the East Gate of Yique slowly lowered and the tightly closed gate opened.

  More than 300 "Qin soldiers" were overjoyed and rushed towards the city gate. The "Qin soldiers" at the back of the palace waved their torches three times, and the 500 masters' expressions changed as they shouted: "Close the city gate, they are enemy troops!"

  Unfortunately, it was too late. The chain of the suspension bridge had been cut off by the "Qin army" under the city. Three hundred "Qin soldiers" killed everyone they met and quickly occupied the area near the city gate. Behind them, the sound of iron hooves echoed!