Chapter 606: The army is in the direction of Qi County

In the fourth year of Tiantong, on March 23, early in the morning, after a night of bloody battle, the Deng army finally captured the Qin army camp. However, in order to conquer the camp that was bound to enter Guanzhong, the Deng army also suffered nearly 20,000 casualties. However, all this was worth it. After taking the Qin army camp, the Deng army entered Guanzhong without any obstacles.

In the central army's tent, Li Jing was looking carefully. This was the tent of the Qin general Geng Yue. Maybe there would be some maps of the distribution of the Qin army in Guanzhong. Unfortunately, things went against their wishes, and Li Jing did not find anything.

At this time, Jia Xu brought a group of generals to the central army tent. Jia Xu said to Li Jing: "General, the entire camp has been controlled by our army. Geng Yue has already fled far away. Before Geng Yue left, he wanted to burn the food and grass in the camp, but before he could even get through it, he was captured by our army. All the food and grass that the Qin army stockpiled here was seized by our army, and another 10,000 elite Qin troops were captured."

Li Jing nodded. This surprise attack came very suddenly, and the Qin army had no time to react. If this could make Geng Yue burn food and retreat calmly, then all the generals of the Deng army would be able to apologize to death. They captured 10,000 elite Qin troops, and killed them, in this battle, at least more than 10,000 Qin troops were annihilated. In other words, Geng Yue only brought more than 10,000 people away at most.

"How are our army's casualties?" Li Jing asked. It is important to annihilate how many Qin troops were, but their own casualties are the most important. After all, after entering Guanzhong, if you want to gain greater success, your own military strength cannot be too small.

Li Siwen replied: "Return to the general, our army killed more than 3,000 people during the night attack, and more than 4,000 people were injured. In addition to the casualties during the day yesterday, our army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties."

"Twenty thousand!" Li Jing felt a little distressed when he heard this. The 20,000 people were as much as 40% of the Deng army. Now he is just conquering a camp. There are still many strong cities that need to be conquered when entering Guanzhong.

"The general doesn't have to be sad. If we take down the Qin army camp, our army's road to Guanzhong is already unobstructed. Next, we just need to wait for the General of the Cavalry to lead the army to arrive, and our army can march into Guanzhong in a large scale." Jia Xu said.

Li Jing nodded and then asked, "By the way, where did Geng Yue lead the remnants of the Qin army?" Half of the Qin army's troops escaped. The places where these soldiers and horses were the ones Li Jing was most concerned about. After all, this was related to the Deng army's subsequent war deployment.

Fu Youde replied: "Returning to the general, according to the spy's return, Geng Yue led the remnants of the Qin army to retreat and headed straight for Ji County. I think Geng Yue wanted to stick to Ji County."

Li Jing nodded and said, "This is also expected. After passing the Baoxi Road, our army's next goal is Mei County. As long as we get Mei County, our army can divide the east and west of Qin. We originally planned to take the Qin army camp and take Mei County as fast as possible. Unfortunately, our army suffered too much casualties in this battle and did not have enough troops to capture Mei County. Now Geng Yue led the remnants to Mei County. Now Mei County is not something we can conquer now, and we have to wait for reinforcements."

"General, it is a pleasure to be able to capture Mei County, but it is already a great achievement to be able to conquer the Qin army camp. As for Mei County, let's wait until the General of the Cavalry leads Wudangwei." Jia Xu also saw Li Jing's unwillingness. After all, if he could capture Mei County in one go, then the Tianwu Guard would undoubtedly be the first achievement in the battle to destroy Qin. It would be a pity if he missed it.

"What the military advisor said is, I am greedy!" Li Jing smiled and said, "Well, we cannot take all the benefits of our Tianwu Guard. Send someone to report the victory to the General of the Cavalry, and at the same time ask the army to lead the army north and enter Guanzhong."

"Here!" Jia Xu replied.

On March 25, in the fourth year of Tiantong, in Hanzhong County, Nanzheng City, and Deng’s army camp, Li Siye had just received a good news from Li Jing to conquer the Qin army camp. After clearing obstacles to enter Guanzhong, he was overjoyed. Of course, he sent people to recall Wudangwei who besieged Sanguan. Since the Qin army’s defense line was torn open, it would be meaningless to continue attacking Sanguan.

In the fourth year of Tiantong, on the third day of the April 19th, Li Siye led Wudangwei to Li Jing's residence.

After everyone came to the central army tent together, Li Siye asked Li Jing: "General Li, the Tianwu Guard can conquer the Qin army camp so quickly and open up the Baoxi Road. I think there are quite a lot of casualties. I wonder how many soldiers of the Wu Guard can go to the battlefield today."

Li Jing replied: "Go back to the general, after a period of rest, the number of soldiers that can be fought in the Wuwei Guard today is 40,000." Although the Deng army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties during the attack on the Qin army camp, it does not mean that 20,000 people were killed in battle. Less than 10,000 people died on the battlefield. The others were only injured to varying degrees. Those who were seriously injured could not go to the battlefield again. Tianwu Guard still had at least 40,000 soldiers that could be fought.

Li Siye nodded. This number was within an acceptable range. He was really afraid that Li Jing would suffer more than half of the casualties in order to conquer this camp. You must know that this time, the only soldiers and horses that Li Siye commanded the north to the north were Wudangwei and Tianwuwei. If the loss was too great, it would be difficult to maintain even if he entered Guanzhong. Now, there are still 90,000 soldiers and horses, which is barely enough.

"General Li, I wonder where the Qin army is now? How many soldiers are there?" Li Siye asked again.

Valley

Li Jing replied: "When the general was attacking the camp, Geng Yue, the chief general of the Qin army, knew it was invincible, so he led the remaining troops to retreat to Mei County in advance. Now there are about 10,000 or less than 20,000 Qin troops in Mei County. The general originally planned to take down Mei County in one go, but the casualties in his hands were too great and the troops were not enough to threaten Mei County, so he had to wait for the general to arrive on the spot."

"General Li did this very well. Guanzhong is the land of Qin. Our army fights in other countries. Every step we take must be careful and never advance aggressively." Li Siye agrees with Li Jing's approach. Although the benefits of taking down Mei County are obvious, if he fails in Mei County, it will easily cause a blow to morale. Moreover, Mei County is already the hinterland of Guanzhong. Where can we find a place where the troops are too small, it will be easily surrounded and killed by the Qin army.

Li Siye thought for a while and said to everyone: "Although Mei County is not a major city in Guanzhong, it is a must-have place for our army. According to the estimates of the General General's Office before the war, the Qin army has deployed all the troops and horses except the Xiliang garrison. It can be said that the current hinterland of Guanzhong, including Chang'an, is very empty. As long as our army can take down Mei County, it can threaten Chang'an east. Even if we cannot take down Chang'an City, it can force the Qin army from Henan County or Wuguan to return. By then, the general or the general's chariot and cavalry can enter Guanzhong, and at the same time intercept the Xiliang Qin army to rescue Chang'an, so next, our army will do its best to take down Mei County, even at all costs."

Mei County is located in the middle of Fufeng County, and its geographical location can be said to be insignificant in the entire Guanzhong, but for Deng Jun, it is a must-fight place. Li Siye's idea is to take over Mei County at all costs.

"Please give orders to the general!" everyone said in unison.

Li Siye looked at the map, thought for a while, and said, "Based on the information of the spies' return, we can know that this time Geng Yue brought at least 50,000 troops to Qinchuan. General Li Jing only wiped out more than 10,000 Qin troops here, and the rest of the Qin troops were also arranged in other places. The troops on Ziwu Road can be ignored. Ziwu Road is relatively far from Mei County. When our army has entered Guanzhong, Geng Yue will not take the risk of letting Ziwu Road come to Mei County. It is very likely that they will return to Chang'an City, where the troops in Sanguan are empty, except for the Qin army, Chang Mao and Yue Lei obey the order!"

"The last general is here!" General Chang Mao, the Wudang Guard, came out and responded.

"I ordered you and the other two to lead our troops to attack Chen Cang westward and intercept the Qin army in the Sanguan to rescue Mei County. It would be best if the Qin army in the Sanguan was able to defeat it. If you can't do it, you can keep Chen Cang tightly. Do you understand!" Li Siye said.

"Here!" Chang Mao and Yue Lei responded.

"The rest of the generals will attack Ji County with me!" Li Siye said to everyone.

"Here!" everyone responded.

On the fifth day of the fourth year of Tiantong, on the fifth day of the April 19th, after two days of rest, Li Siye led an army of 70,000 to the north to Meixian County. At the same time, Chang Mao and Yue Lei also led 20,000 troops to attack Chen Cang.

At this time, Geng Yue, the chief general of the Qin army in Mei County, was worried. He was confident in the defense line of Baoxiedao, but unexpectedly, he was captured by the Deng army in less than ten days. Although the main reason was that Deng army did not follow the rules and suddenly launched an offensive when he collected the bodies of soldiers who died in battle, he caught the Qin army off guard, but wasn't it because of Geng Yue's negligence? Now he only has more than 10,000 people in his hands, and after opening the Baoxiedao, the Deng army in Bashu could enter Guanzhong continuously. With the strength in his hands, it was not enough.

"General, according to the spies' reward, Deng's general Li Siye has led tens of thousands of elite troops into Guanzhong. Now the Deng army has at least nearly 100,000. With our current military strength, it is probably difficult to stop it." Yuan Bupo said to Geng Yue with a sad face.

"I asked you to go to Chang'an to ask for help. How is it now?" Geng Yue asked Yuan Bupo. After coming to Mei County, Geng Yue knew that the number of troops in his hands was difficult to stop Deng's army, so he immediately sent someone to Chang'an for help. Although Geng Yue also knew that it was difficult to draw troops in Chang'an now, Deng's army had already reached the doorstep of his house, and no matter how difficult it was, he had to draw them out.

But the fact disappointed Geng Yue. Yuan Bupo shook his head and said, "General, you are not unaware. In order to defend the defense line and resist the Deng army, the court has sent out all the troops in Guanzhong. Now there are only 10,000 elite soldiers left in Chang'an and there is no soldiers to send. However, although reinforcements cannot be sent, the court still transferred 5,000 star-destroying crossbows from Chang'an. Now it is on the way. I just don't know if I can be sent to Mei County before Deng's army."

The Star Destroyer Crossbow is now the last weapon of Qin. It is not easy to build the Star Destroyer Crossbow, so the Qin State has only only 100,000 aircraft over the years. Moreover, due to the difficulty of transport, it has always been placed in Chang'an City and rarely used. It is also the last barrier of Chang'an City. It is not easy to be able to draw 5,000 aircraft to Mei County. However, it is difficult to transport the Star Destroyer Crossbow and it takes a long time. I just don't know if it can be delivered before.

Geng Yue thought for a while and said, "Send someone to Sanguan to send a message and order the Sanguan defenders to quickly reinforce Mei County. As long as they defend Mei County, Deng's army will not go further. Guanzhong will be safe. If there is no Mei County, even if they defend Sanguan, it will be useless." Since Chang'an can no longer send reinforcements, it can only be used to transfer the troops and horses of Sanguan. As Geng Yue said, if they cannot defend Mei County, even if they defend Sanguan, it will be useless to Guanzhong and have no meaning. Instead of spending time in Sanguan, it is better to transfer the troops to Mei County. If the troops in Mei County can be withdrawn, then there will be 30,000 troops in his hands, and the hope of defending Mei County will be greatly increased.

"Here!" Yuan Bupo responded, and then sent someone to Sanguan to send a message. But what Geng Yue and Yuan Bupo didn't know was that at this time a 20,000-strong Deng army had already rushed to Chen Cang and intercepted Sanguan Qin army.

In the fourth year of Tiantong, on the ninth day of the April 19th, Li Siye led an army of 70,000 to besiege Mei County. At this time, not only did the Qin army in Sanguan not get out of Mei County, but even the 5,000 star-destroying crossbows sent by Chang'an to support Mei County were not yet sent.
Chapter completed!