Chapter 56: The Crown Prince's Decision

  The city of Yiyang is surrounded by the allied forces of the three Jin states for three days. For three days, the Qin army has closed its gates and shown no signs of breaking out.

  On the first day, the Allied Forces were completely at ease. On the second day, the Allied Forces felt a little puzzled but still calm. On the third day, the Allied Forces became increasingly suspicious - could it be that there was a secret passage in Yiyang City and the Qin army had already escaped through the secret passage? Or did the Qin army thoroughly abandon the plan to return to Xianyang and decide to defend the city?

  The crown prince furrowed his brow and thought to himself: "What is Bai Qi trying to do? Is he really afraid?"

  Although the siege of Baima's army in Yiyang was in line with the interests of the Allied Forces, Baima's abnormal behavior still made Prince Ran feel uneasy. What makes Baima so fearless? Is it that there are already reinforcements from Xianyang and he is no longer anxious? Or does he want to paralyze the Allied Forces and then make a breakthrough?

  The most frightening thing is not how powerful the enemy is, but that you have no idea what the enemy is thinking. Unlike Lian Po and other generals, Prince Ran always felt that beneath this calmness was a huge conspiracy. Because the opponent was Bai Qi, a famous general who had created miracles time and again, he couldn't possibly give up so easily!

  "Crown Prince! Crown Prince! Something terrible has happened!" A worried voice came from outside the tent.

  "What's wrong, Xiao Wu? Didn't I tell you to go to Yique and inform Commander Feng to transport the grain back? How did you return so quickly?" The crown prince looked at his personal guard with confusion, who was drenched in sweat.

  "The Crown Prince, Bai Qi has fled!" Xiaowu's words shocked everyone.

  "What? Say that again?" The crown prince was shocked and lost his color. Wasn't Bai Qi surrounded by his own troops in Yiyang? How could he have escaped?!

  "I dare not speak nonsense, but it is true that the White Army has retreated. They were never in Yiyang City."

  "What! What's going on here? Tell me quickly and clearly."

  Xiao Wu hastily explained the whole story. It turned out that after receiving the order from Prince Ranzhen, Xiao Wu led a few people to rush to Yique City with all haste. When they rested on the way, their mounts suddenly went mad and broke free from their reins, running northward.

  The mount was captured from the Qin army a few days ago, and Xiao Wu thought that the war horse was thinking of its old master, so he chased after it relentlessly. After chasing for five miles, the war horse suddenly stopped in front of a decaying war horse corpse and let out a series of mournful whinnies. To the north of the war horse's corpse were deep wheel tracks that stretched endlessly to the north.

  These days, Xiao Wu has been listening to Taizi Ran's murmurs and knows that Taizi is worried about the Qin army not leaving the city. Is it playing some kind of conspiracy? At this time, a thought suddenly flashed through Xiao Wu's mind. Could it be that the ruts in front of him were left by Bai Qi's great army? How else would the traces of a large army appear out of thin air?

  It was only later that the Qin army camp had large military traces left behind on its west side. The allied forces then determined that the Qin army must have fled to Yi Yang. If the Qin army actually escaped northward, but covered up the traces of the large army, wouldn't the current siege of Yi Yang be a big trap set by the Qin army?

  Xiao Wu thought it was very likely, and immediately rode his horse north for twenty miles. Along the way, there were more and more signs left by the Qin army, even hastily buried bodies of Qin soldiers. Xiao Wu then hurried back to report to Crown Prince Rang.

  The crown prince listened to Xiaowu's words and immediately came to his senses. If Xiaowu's conjecture was true, then it was already the third day, and Bai Qi should have entered Huanyuan Pass, and no matter how hard he chased, he would not be able to catch up. However, conjecture is still conjecture, and it needs to be verified before it can be confirmed whether Bai Qi is really not in Yiyang.

  "Xiao Wu, go and invite General Lian Po and General Jin Bi over for me. Just say that there is something important to discuss."

  "Ah!"

  Before long, the main generals of the three Jin armies gathered in Prince Yan's large tent. Prince Yan immediately told them about this situation and proposed attacking Yiyang to test the reaction of the Qin army.

  "What? Bai Qi isn't even in Yi Yang?" Jin Bi exclaimed in surprise.

  "The Crown Prince, is it really necessary to attack Yi Yang? If the speculation is wrong, our army will suffer a great loss!" Bao Yan said anxiously.

  "General Lian, what do you think?" The crown prince turned to look at Lian Po.

  Lian Po looked at the three men's gaze, and involuntarily stood up straight, then said: "In the past few days, I have also been suspecting whether Bai Qi is really in Yiyang. Just now, the Crown Prince also said that more than a million troops' traces were found north of the Qin camp. Based on my experience, the probability of Bai Qi's army escaping northward is at least 80%. The remaining 20% is indeed as the Crown Prince said, if we launch a fierce attack on Yiyang, we will know the truth!"

  "That's good! General Lian has said so. My Korean army will take the lead, after all, Yiyang is still our Great Korea's land. Please also ask General Lian and General Jin to arrange a battle formation for my army."

  "I am willing to serve the prince." Yan Zhuo and Jin Bi replied with a serious expression.

  There was less than two hours before the sky would darken, and Bao You still thought that Prince Ye would attack the city at the earliest on the next day. Unexpectedly, after Lian Po and Jin Bi left, Prince Ye immediately issued a strange order, requiring the entire army to go up the mountain to cut down trees and collect wood.

  "Crown Prince!" The violent swallow wanted to speak but stopped.

  "Fierce General, are you wondering why I must capture Yiyang City by force and also not rely on the armies of Zhao or Wei?"

  Baoyan nodded. The crown prince looked at Baoyan's expectant face, sighed and said: "I know what the general is worried about. Since the Battle of Ye Wang, on the surface, we have joined forces with Zhao and Wei to destroy nearly 200,000 Qin troops, shaking the world. In fact, it is a bitter knowledge. Just talking about casualties, if I'm not mistaken, we've already lost 60,000 men! The Wei army initially had an army of 80,000, plus the 5,000 garrisoned in Wen Di, now the Wei army and our Han army are the same, both with 25,000 people! What about the Zhao army? There are 60,000!"

  "Yes! The crown prince. In this great war, our Korea suffered the greatest loss, almost one-fifth of the national strength. The situation in Wei and Qin is similar to ours. But they have a larger population than us, and their recovery will only be faster than ours. We can't fight anymore, Crown Prince. If we continue to fight, our Korea will be severely damaged! It's not worth it!" Baolong said with a bitter tone.

  "General Pu, I also know the reason you mentioned. But Yiyang is our Great Han's Yiyang, and it's already a great achievement that the armies of Zhao and Wei helped us drive away the Qin army! We can't expect them to do more than that. That's why only our Han army can attack Yiyang. Next, I'll tell you why Yiyang must be attacked."

  "The Qin army suffered a great defeat here, and it is likely to slow down its eastward strategy and re-examine Zhao. However, the State of Qin is still strong, and its current military strength should be on par with that of Zhao. In the next few years, there will be small frictions between the two countries, but basically, there shouldn't be any major wars."

  The crown prince paused for a moment, then continued: "Now that we have taken down Yique, the state of Wei has also recovered Wendi. Only Zhao has not gained an inch of land. At this time when Qin is in great chaos, I think Zhao will not miss the opportunity and may attack Qin's Shangjun, Hexi County or even Hedong County."

  "General, think about it, if the White Origin army has indeed entered Hangu Pass. Surrounding Yiyang will lose its meaning. At that time, the Zhao army may go north, and the Wei army will also retreat, our Han state can only retreat to defend Izumo and watch as the Zhao state attacks in all directions."

  "But if we can capture the strategic town of Yiyang before the armies of Zhao and Wei retreat, the situation will be greatly different. Within a hundred miles around Yiyang, there are small towns such as Xin'an, Mianchi, and Xincheng, where the Qin army has fewer troops stationed, and our Han state can take them down on its own. These small towns are centered around Yiyang and connected to Yique, which will greatly increase the strategic depth of our Han state."

  "But at present we only have 25,000 troops. Can we take down Yiyang with just this much military strength?" The crown prince's words were flowery, but Bao Yan still expressed her concerns.

  "It can be done! And we will breach the city tonight!" The crown prince said firmly.