Chapter 607 What Is an Infrastructure Maniac? Wang Jian's Strategy Failed Miserably!
The horses' hooves trampled the new mud after the rain, carrying the knights southward.
A village hastily summoned all the young and strong men, holding weapons in hand, looking at the black and purple military flags fluttering in the distance with tension.
After the army completely left, the young and strong men in the village breathed a sigh of relief, but left a sigh in the air.
Thanks to the efforts of Peng Yue and his troops, the spears and halberds of Ying Chengjiao's troops were not stained with blood after crossing the Huai River.
When passing by Yanling City and other cities captured by the Qin-Qi coalition forces, they could even obtain food and grass supplies from the city.
If it weren't for the pairs of vigilant and hostile eyes along the way, the soldiers of the Qin-Qi coalition forces would even mistakenly think that they were not walking in the heart of Chu, but through the territories of Qin and Qi!
July 19th, sunrise (5:00)
The summer sun is always more energetic.
Not long after sunrise, the sun had already spread to the earth, making the city in the distance jump into everyone’s sight.
On a small hill seven miles northwest of Helu City, the fortune teller spoke in a deep voice: "According to the investigation of my Great Qin Marquis."
"After the Chu State moved its capital to Helu City, it began to repair Helu City, and King Qi of Chu even stepped up the efforts to rebuild it."
"To this day, the overall layout of Helu City is still the Daguo City, which is about 910 feet (2102 meters) long from east to west and about 610 feet (1409 meters) wide from north to south, and two small cities built in the east and west. The west city is where the Helu Palace is located, and the east city is where the arsenal, granary, money storehouse and garrison are located."
"The wall of Daguo City is about 5 feet (11.5 meters) high, the wall base is about 30 feet (71.6 meters) wide, and the top of the wall is about 10 feet (23.1 meters) wide, all of which are built of rammed earth."
"There is a moat around the city outside Daguo City. The trench is about 20 zhang (46.2 meters) wide and 15 zhang (34.6 meters) deep, and there is a moat about 18 zhang (41.5 meters) wide that connects to the Lujiang River. "
"The outer wall of the west city is about 7 zhang (16.1 meters) high, the wall base is about 32 zhang (73.9 meters) wide, and the wall top is about 10 zhang wide. "
"The inner walls of the east and west cities are about 5 zhang high, the wall base is 28 zhang (64.6 meters) wide, and the wall top is 9 zhang (20.7 meters) wide. "
"King Qi of Chu also dug a ditch about 15 zhang (34.6 meters) wide outside the inner walls of the east and west cities, and diverted the water of the Lujiang River as a moat. "
"There is a gate in the west city of Helu City that leads directly to the outside of the city, but this gate has three urns..."
The fortune teller read out the information about Helu City in detail.
The intelligence was so accurate and detailed that one even wondered if the intelligence officer of the Qin Dynasty had consulted the renovation drawings of Helu City!
After the hexagram-waiting man finished reciting, Ying Chengqi said with a sigh: "When I came to Helu City last year, Helu City was far from being so strong."
"Everyone says that my Qin Dynasty is good at infrastructure, but this Chu State is not bad either!"
Tian Zhen said with emotion: "Terrible!"
"Such a strong city was built in just a few years."
"How much manpower did the Chu State mobilize!"
"How many casualties will our army have to pay if we want to break through this city!"
The generals of the Qin and Qi armies looked at each other.
King Qi of Chu, who had spent most of his life in the Qin State, had already opened the skill point of the infrastructure maniac.
Under the almost crazy renovation of King Qi of Chu, the thickness of the wall and the strength of the city defense of the Helu City in front of him have surpassed the former Daliang City.
Water systems, trenches, urn cities and other types of city defense fortifications have formed an all-round protection for Helu City.
It is no exaggeration to say that the current Helu City has officially surpassed the former Daliang City and is truly the strongest city in the world today!
Faced with such a strong city, many generals felt a strong despair in their hearts.
They were like tigers facing a turtle.
Even though they had sharp teeth and claws, they had no idea where to start!
Tang Ju said with some embarrassment: "This city is indeed strong."
"But perhaps, our army does not need to attack this city by force?"
"Our army has encountered six groups of messengers along the way, all of which set out from Helu City and went to Xia Pi City."
"Although our army has not intercepted these messengers and has not obtained the royal orders carried by these messengers."
"But looking at the current situation, the royal orders carried by those messengers must be orders for the Chu Shangzhu State to withdraw!"
Sima Chuang also nodded in agreement: "General Tang is right."
"These are only the messengers that our army has noticed."
"There must be messengers that our army has not noticed and are rushing towards Xia Pi City."
"From this, it can be seen that the King of Chu is really anxious."
"Perhaps it won't be long before the Chu Shangzhu State will be able to withdraw!"
Tang Ju and Sima Chuang expressed many expectations of the Qi army generals.
Although the reward for breaking through the enemy city is very tempting.
But how much would they have to pay to capture such a strong city?
Even if they were willing to pay a heavy price, could they really break such a strong city?
If they had a choice, they really didn't want to attack Helu City by force!
Ying Chengjiao's eyes were quite solemn: "But to this day, our army has not received any news that the troops of the Chu Shangzhu State are trying to withdraw!"
Ying Chengjiao and Wang Jian both hoped to force Xiang Yan back to the south of the Huai River as soon as possible to quickly end the war.
Compared with Ying Chengjiao's simple and straightforward raid plan, Wang Jian developed a more detailed and meticulous strategy around the relationship with the Chu court.
Ying Chengjiao didn't want to cause any trouble, he just wanted to end the battle quickly so that he could go back to Chang'an Township to see his crops.
So Ying Chengjiao chose to trust Wang Jian, and personally cooperated with Wang Jian's strategic plan to slowly move south to create enough pressure. At the same time, he ordered Zhuang Jia and Peng Yue's troops to assist Wang Jian in completing this strategy.
The Qin-Qi coalition perfectly implemented Wang Jian's strategic plan, making the entire Wu and Yue land a mess.
But Ying Chengjiao didn't know whether there was a problem within the Chu State, or whether the night battle of Xia Pi made Xiang Yan dare not withdraw his troops again.
Ying Chengjiao has not seen any signs of the success of the intimidation strategy to this day!
Tian Zhen tentatively said: "Perhaps it is because the Chu State needs some time to prepare?"
"After all, Helu City and Xiapi City are far apart. It will take several days for the Chu State to receive the king's order, and it will take some time to prepare the baggage and food for the withdrawal."
"Perhaps our army will get the news of the withdrawal of the Chu army if we wait a few more days!"
Ying Chengjiao said in a broken voice: "I don't know what happened in Chu that made our army's strategy fail."
"Of course, since our army's strategy has not been effective until now, we can no longer pin our hopes on the original strategy."
"Otherwise, Chu will only think that our army is bluffing!"
"Not only will this make the original plan fail completely, it may even put our army in danger!"
War is all about momentum!
If Ying Chengjiao's troops, who have exerted enough pressure, stop in front of Helu City, wouldn't they become clowns?
The sense of oppression created by the Qin-Qi coalition will be lost in a day, and may even boost the morale of the Chu army, and may even allow the Chu army to turn defeat into victory!
So Ying Chengjiao must fight even if he has to bite the bullet.
And he has to fight hard!
Tian Zhen said worriedly: "Although there are only 50,000 soldiers in Helu City."
"But our army only has 100,000 soldiers."
"With twice the number of troops as the enemy, facing such a strong city."
"Can our army really win?"
Ying Chengjiao did not speak, but his eyes were deeply heavy.
The problem that Tian Zhen was worried about was also the problem that Ying Chengjiao was worried about.
Ying Chengjiao really had no confidence in attacking such a strong city with only twice the number of troops.
While thinking, a loud shout suddenly came.
"Report!"
"There are soldiers and horses rushing from the south of our army, holding the Qin-Qi flag!"
Ying Chengjiao's eyes suddenly lit up, and he laughed loudly: "Generals, follow me to welcome our comrades!"
Tightening the reins, Ying Chengjiao rode his horse to the south to welcome them.
Li Xin, Su Jiao and other Qin generals followed without hesitation.
Tian Zhen, Tang Ju and other Qi generals looked nervously at Helu City, which was also on the south side, and whispered to all the family soldiers to follow, and then hurriedly chased Ying Chengjiao.
A group of Qin generals swaggered across the Helu City area under the eyes of the Helu City defenders.
But the Helu City defenders did not say anything about this.
This was not only because of the 100,000 Qin-Qi coalition troops stockpiled in the north of Helu City.
It was also because of the black and purple military flags that covered the sky and the sun in the south of Helu City!
"So many!" Tian Zhen rubbed his eyes and looked into the distance in disbelief: "This, this, this!"
"Didn't our army only send 20,000 troops deep into Chu?"
"Why are there so many troops coming to join us?"
"Could it be that the Chu army is using our army's banner to deceive our army!"
Tian Zhen muttered nervously, but Ying Chengjiao urged the warhorse under his crotch to speed up.
Because Ying Chengjiao had seen a familiar figure from afar!
"Peng Yue! Jingpo! Huang Kuang! Deng Ming! Ge Ping!"
As if they heard Ying Chengjiao's call, five war horses came out and accelerated to meet Ying Chengjiao.
When the distance between the two sides was only ten feet, the six war horses raised their front hooves at the same time and stopped in place.
The five generals dismounted, bowed loudly, and shouted excitedly: "I, the humble general, greet the commander!"
Ying Chengjiao also dismounted, stepped forward quickly, helped Peng Yue up, and then helped each general up one by one, with a brilliant smile on his face: "Good! Good! Very good!"
"All of you have gone deep behind enemy lines for our army, and I can't sleep every night thinking about you."
"Now, all of you have finally returned victorious!"
"It's good that you have returned safely, it's good that you have returned safely!"
Seeing Ying Chengjiao's genuine joy and his undisguised concern for them, even the Jingpo couldn't help but feel warm in their hearts.
Peng Yue's eyes were slightly red.
But he didn't know how to express his gratitude, so he just bowed again: "I led 4,000 soldiers into Chu to execute the general's order."
"Today, I lead 7,300 comrades to return to the army to obey the order!"
Huang Kuang, Deng Ming, and Ge Ping also couldn't wait to bow: "I led 4,000 soldiers into Chu to execute the general's order."
"Today, I lead 17,203/15,891/19,732 comrades to return to the army to obey the order!"
Jingpo had a self-conceited smile on his face and bowed: "I led 4,000 soldiers into Chu to execute the general's order."
"Today, I lead 23,981 comrades to return to the army to obey the order!"
The five generals shouted in unison: "Fortunately, we have fulfilled our mission!"
Further back, more than 80,000 new and old soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs:
"We are here to meet the commander-in-chief!"