Chapter 57: Yi Qu's New Goal

  The crown prince whispered something in Bao Yan's ear, and Bao Yan's expression changed as he asked suspiciously: "Crown Prince, can this really be done?"

  "Success or failure depends on this one move! Go and do it well! Do your best, and leave the rest to fate!" The crown prince said calmly.

  It was a dark and stormy night in the northwest. As the saying goes, "A dark moon and strong winds are the perfect time for murder and arson."

  The defenders of the city were yawning with boredom. Although the three Jin armies had been besieging the city for three days and nights, the Qin army did not feel a hint of danger. The reason was simple: in these three days, the three Jin armies did not even launch a decent charge once.

  In the daytime, Zhao Jun's iron cavalry patrolled around the city of Yicheng, but as soon as the sun set, the three Jin armies immediately fled back to their large camp, fearing that the Qin army would rush out of the city.

  For the officers' orders, the Qin army soldiers were happy to follow. The officer said that the 15,000 cavalrymen inside the city had already "returned to Xianyang" with Dalangzao and Wu'an Jun, and their own task of 5,000 people was to attract the three Jin coalition forces under the city of Yiyang, not allowing them to disturb Wu'an Jun's reinforcements in Xianyang. The poor Three Jin coalition forces still thought that the big flag of Bai Qi on the city wall represented Bai Qi being in Yiyang!

  To deepen the misunderstanding of the three Jin coalition, the Qin army's lieutenant asked his soldiers to show a tendency. Specifically, it is to provoke the Zhao state iron cavalry and resolutely block the investigation of the Zhao army. Except for going out of the city, the Qin army can make any move to anger the three Jin coalition.

  The three Jin armies seemed to be very timid or afraid of death, and were unwilling to launch a strong attack on Yiyang City. As a result, two days later, the Qin army began to lose interest. There was no way, the three Jin armies did not cooperate, and ignored the provocation of the Qin army. They didn't even come to harass at night.

  Under the city wall of Yi Yang, the Korean army was carefully piling up the wood they had cut down.

  Everyone was tiptoeing, not daring to make a sound. They knew they were now dancing on the tip of a knife, and once discovered by the Qin army on the city wall, they would be greeted with "a thousand arrows firing at once". In order to transport these wooden logs, the Han army had removed their heavy armor and did not have any weapons in their hands. How much chance of survival there was under the "thousand arrows firing at once", it was really not something the Han soldiers were willing to gamble on.

  Fortunately, the wind was strong enough tonight, and many torches on the city wall were blown out. The Qin army tried to light up the torches several times, but they were quickly extinguished by the wind, and finally, the Qin army let the torches go out.

  The howling northwest wind completely covered the sound of the Korean army transporting wood, and the cold earth froze. A few diligent Qin soldiers did not find anything unusual and also retreated into the warm arrow tower.

  After working hard for half the night, the Han army finally piled up the wood to almost the same height as the city wall and set fire to the city. The wooden sticks that had been poured with oil were ignited in an instant, and the fire borrowed the wind's power, and the entire city head was burned. The golden juice stored by the Qin army on the city head was also burned by the rising flames, and the pungent smell instantly spread throughout the city from the northwest.

  The flames were too big, and the Qin army was quickly forced down from the city head. But the action of the Han army was just beginning, the powerful catapults were transported to near the city head, only this time the launch was not a giant stone but a fireball, the fireball was made of birch and pine wood that is extremely easy to burn. The two types of trees have very high oil content, once burned it is difficult to extinguish. Korea ingeniously used burning wooden blocks instead of giant stones, increasing the throwing distance while causing greater damage.

  The city of Yiyan is in great chaos, with fires breaking out everywhere. The sky seems to be raining down "shooting stars". As soon as the "stars" fall to the ground, they quickly set fire to house after house.

  Taking advantage of the chaos, the Korean army pushed a giant battering ram to strike the west gate of Yiyang. The first time, the city gate shook violently; the second time, the Qin army reacted and used their bodies to block the gate tightly, making a dull sound, and dozens of Qin soldiers were knocked flying; the third time, hundreds of Qin soldiers were knocked flying, and the gate creaked; by the tenth time, the gate could no longer withstand it and collapsed with a loud crash.

  The Han army was the first to enter the chaotic Yiyang, followed by the Zhao and Wei armies. The 300,000-strong allied forces of the three Jin swept away like a stormy cloud, while the 5,000-strong Qin army only stirred up a small wave before being slaughtered. That night, the governor of Yiyang, Xiang Shou, died in battle!

  When the sky brightened, the great fire that had raged for half the night was finally extinguished. The fire destroyed over 10,000 houses and caused more than 4,000 casualties. In comparison, the losses of the three Jin armies were minimal, with only a little over 2,000 dead or wounded.

  No one expected that Han Ran would launch a desperate attack, taking great risks to set fire to Yi Yang. What's more, he actually succeeded! The important stronghold of Yi Yang, which had been occupied by the Qin state for over thirty years, was recaptured by the Han state in just one night!

  Tongguan County, Bai Qi's army is now cooking. Three days of rapid progress, 330 miles, Bai Qi created another record in the history of Qin army marching. But even so, Bai Qi still felt slow.

  The messengers from Xianyang came one after another, urging Bai Qi to hurry up and reinforce.

  Five days ago, Yiqiu successively captured the two cities of Qushi County and Qushi County, killing 40,000 people. In Xianyang, there were three shocks in one day. Just when everyone in Qin State thought that Yiqiu was about to attack Xianyang, Yiqiu bypassed Gukou County and suddenly attacked Jingyang, killing 30,000 people. Then he broke through Gaoling and descended on Lishui.

  In just five short days, Yi Qu rushed and attacked for six hundred miles, taking down five cities in a row, killing a total of 17,000 Qin soldiers and slaughtering 100,000 civilians. Wherever they passed, not a single chicken or dog was left, fields were destroyed, and cities were burned to ashes.

  King Qin was furious and disregarded the opposition of his ministers, sending out only 20,000 cavalry to attack Yiqu, but they fell into an ambush, and only more than 5,000 Qin soldiers escaped.

  Now, the whereabouts of Yiqu are unknown, and no one knows where they are hiding. Bai Qi knew that this large army under his command was currently the only hope for the Guanzhong region, and he couldn't afford to make any mistakes, so he marched even more cautiously.

  Through the war reports, Bai Qi discovered that the Yiqu Wolf Riders, who used to be swift and unpredictable, had greatly changed their style. The Yiqu people, who were not good at using tactics, surprisingly came up with clever plans one after another, such as disguising themselves as Qin envoys to deceive the gatekeepers and open the gates of Zhenyang, and setting up an ambush that buried 20,000 elite Qin soldiers.

  Bai Qi had a premonition that behind the back of Yi Qu, there must be the shadow of the six nations. Otherwise, this series of events happened too coincidentally, the king of Yi Qu was mysteriously killed, the prime minister of Yi Qu was rescued by unknown guards, and the straightforward Yi Qu began to play with intrigue and conspiracy, all of which were abnormal. But now is not the time to investigate the truth of the matter, the most urgent thing at present is still to find out the wolf riders of Yi Qu and eliminate them!

  North of Wei River, Mei County. Qin people are searching for the Yiqu Wolf Cavalry who are resting.

  After taking Yongcheng, the Yiqu cavalry began to carry out larger-scale strategic maneuvers, so the Qin state only felt that the Yiqu had disappeared from the land of Qin.

  These days of siege warfare made Zhang Lu, who followed the army, realize that relying solely on the military strength of Yiqiu to attack large cities was not cost-effective. Just taking down five cities, Yiqiu had paid a price of 30,000 elite troops. If they continued like this, there would be no need for Bai Qi's great army to come over; Qin could exhaust Yiqiu to death just by defending the city.

  Seven days ago, after the Yiqu Wolf Cavalry captured Lanyang, they made an unexpected gain. They discovered and burned 500,000 dan of grain stored by the Qin state. This suddenly opened up a new idea for Zhang Lu, who immediately persuaded the King of Yiqu to abandon his original intention of attacking Xianyang and instead choose to attack strategic locations where the Qin state had stockpiled large amounts of grain or cities that were rich in food production. This led to the Yiqu Wolf Cavalry rushing to Yongdi after a two-day march of over 200 miles.

  Yong was the capital of Qin for over 290 years, and 19 rulers succeeded to the throne in Yong. Among them, Duke Mu of Qin was a brilliant representative of Yong's prosperity. Relying on its vast fertile land and a series of wise policies, Qin achieved its ambition of "watering horses in the Yellow River". Before his death, Duke Mu completed the great cause of swallowing up the various Rong tribes, "adding 12 counties to the state, opening up 1,000 li of land, and dominating the Western Rong".

  Now, Yiqiu's gaze turned towards the birthplace of Qin State - Yongdi!

  Goodnight everyone! Two more updates tomorrow!