As an isolated army hanging from abroad, the Chu army under Dou Yuzhi was in a very difficult situation. The Qiang people were only a semi-kaihua tribe, and the farming yield was very low. Although the Chu army was not satisfied with the troop, there were 30,000 to 40,000 people. These 30,000 people ate meat every meal and only had corn. Just to make the entire army full, Dou Yuzhi pulled off countless hair and lost more than 20 kilograms.

The Chu army was half hungry, and the Wan Qiang people were also half hungry. The counties in Longxi that were robbed by them were already hungry and were all over the ground a year ago. Some strategists in the shogunate had no choice but to propose eating human flesh, which was firmly rejected by fighting Yuzhi. Human flesh was a custom of the merchants, and the Chu people did not have this tradition. At the most difficult turn of spring and summer, the Chu army barely survived by fishing, hunting and gathering, and the Chu army was able to eat enough in September and October.

There is a reason why the Chu army stationed Didao. Itado is located on the east bank of Taoshui, a tributary of the right bank of the Yellow River. The river can transport food from the entire basin. The bird and mouse Tongxue Mountain (now eight kilometers west of Weiyuan County) is a watershed between Taoshui and Weishui. The east side of the mountain is the Weishui River basin and the west side of the Taoshui River basin. The bird and mouse Tongxue Mountain is thirty miles south of the Weishui River. The source of the Weishui River is twenty miles away from the source of the Taoshui tributary Mabangshui (now Manba River). The short ridges in the valley divide the Weishui River and Taoshui. In order to allow the Qin army to advance west, the Chu army gave up this crucial ridge. Unexpectedly, the Qin people stopped leaving when they arrived at the Fengshui Road.

"The Qin people are just afraid of me." The snowflakes in the sky could not blow into the Mingtang of the county magistrate's mansion, and only the whimpering wind could be heard in the hall. Xi Shishi led Cheng Si to express his guess. He was holding a bronze wine lord in his hand and drinking the wine hidden in the Qin people in the palace. "Although our army does not have many artillery, the birds and rats are all in the West Rong area west of the cave mountain. The Qin people do not know how many of our army and the enemy is unclear. How dare they enter?"

"Or..." Lu Gao, a shogunate adviser, was also drinking, and he disagreed with Cheng Si's guess. "In order to decide with the king, the Qin people all went to Daliang, otherwise why didn't Bai Lin enter?"

Lu Gao stayed in the Grand Sima Mansion for a while, and then entered the Qin Palace as the attendant of the genius doctor, Fengli. These two experiences made Dou Yuzhi look at him differently, not to mention that he had many feats. He heard his judgment, Dou Yuzhi asked: "The previous news said that the King of Qin was eager to fight, but Wang Jian refused, so he stopped the general. This time, Wang Jian became a general again, so how could he fight quickly?"

"This life is not the same time," Lu Gao said. "I heard that King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent Bai Qi to death, and he was guilty of his descendants. Bai Lin was the only general of Bai family. He led 100,000 troops but did not advance westward. The guards and the King of Qin were not angry? Wang Jian was a Qin general, and he had plans to fight slowly and quickly."

Lu Gao also speculated that his guess was deeper than Cheng Si, but it was still not enough to convince the generals and Simas. Xin Cai Shima Ma Pankang smiled and raised the wine lord on the table and said, "The king Shashui defeated Meng Tian in a battle, and half of the 300,000 soldiers were all Mo Tai. The Qin people were scared from then on and they no longer dared to fight with me. I am the king's life and the prince's life."

The battle of Shashui was in April. It was reported to Qiang when the entire army was hungry. The soldiers of the entire army were very happy when they heard this. They still remember it freshly and were very excited when they mentioned it. Pan Kang mentioned this matter, which was both refuting Lu Gao and celebrating the king. The generals followed him and shouted: "For the king's life, the prince's life."

"Wang Jian did not fight, and Qin had no food, and I had the valley of Dongzhou, so I would definitely win." After everyone finished drinking, Lu Gao said again. "So I thought that the Qin people would have finished their food soon after the battle, and they had to fight."

"Oh." Dou Yuzhi refused to comment. This was not the first time that Qin had shortage of food, and he saw it more than once. However, this had no effect. Hundreds of thousands of Qin troops were still confronting the Chu army in Daliang. This not only gave people an illusion that it was not the Qin army confronting the Chu army in Daliang, but the army of other countries.

"However, the Qin people have obtained Shu, Qi and Wei, and Longxi may not have food, but Guanzhong and Guandong have food." Pan Kang directly refuted Lu Gao's point of view this time. Lu Gao did not refute this. This was a guess he proved for the sake of proof, and he was not very sure of his judgment, especially the argument that the Qin people had to fight the Chu army with a shortage of food.

In fact, he already thought that the Qin army would probably win this war. He and Lu Qi killed officials and burned bamboo slips in Yangxia County, and now they attacked Baohan, Didao, Lintao, Xiangwu, and Chengji in Longxi. During this period, they were enfeoffed in Hanzhong as fake kings. His personal experience made him fully realize the difference between Chu County, Qin County and enfeoff kings.

Perhaps the system of ceasing kings can give birth to an elite army, but the system of Qin County can recruit more soldiers and accumulate more corn than the system of ceasing kings. It is also a county of 50,000 people, and it would be nice to have a brigade of more than 1,500 people under the feudal system of Chu State, but Qin County can recruit a division of more than 6,600 soldiers.

Under the system of monarchy, 50,000 people must first remove the industrial and commercial household registration that accounts for about 30,000, leaving 35,000; 35,000 people minus 17 years old, only 15,750 people remain; among these 5,750 people, men account for half, that is, 7,875 people. More than 7,800 people cannot all join the army, and about one-third of the soldiers can become soldiers, that is, about two,500 people. But this is just a number, without compulsory measures and a complete household registration system. Many people, especially those who have no land, will flee to Linxian or the mountains, and in the end, only 60,700 are actually recruited, just one brigade.

The soldiers who can recruit a division in Qin County are: Qin County has very few industrial and commercial household registrations, accounting for at most 10% of 50,000 people, or even less than 10% of the people. The number of people who are 10,000 more than the monarchy system is 10,000 more than the monarchy; secondly, among the approximately 20,000 adult men and women over 17 years old, Ding is the loser. The proportion of one warrior with two deputy soldiers or strong husbands remains unchanged, and the soldiers who can go to the division are more than 6,600 soldiers. And under the guarantee of the official and household registration system, the registration rate often exceeds 90% of the number of people on paper.

The number of soldiers on both sides is four times different, and the grain accumulation is at least twice as different - there is no industrial and commercial household registration to eat grain, and at the same time, the witches are cleaned up, and the sacred temples are suppressed to prevent farmers from sacrificing new sacrifices (feeding ten stones of millet a year). These two items alone can double the grain accumulation. From the perspective of a staff officer, Lu Gao had to admit that the Qin army had an advantage in the battle of Chu and Qin. But he could only hide this in his heart after reading various bamboo slips in Qin County, even if he did not say it clearly to Lu Zi.

Because of this, he often seems to be depressed. If the Qin army won this war, then what will happen to him, the Sixth Division, one Brigade, and three, and ten thousand Chu soldiers in the West? Not to mention that they cannot return to Chu, even if they can return to Chu, if the Chu army loses in the decisive battle, what should he do? Death to die for the country or to endure humiliation? What should the soldiers in the Sixth Division, one Brigade do? Invade Xianyang or go far to the Western Regions?

The snow became denser and denser. Lu Gao drank without saying a word. The generals in the Mingtang no longer discussed how the Qin people were stagnant. They discussed what they would do after returning to Chu. They had been away from home for more than a year, and the generals led their soldiers to miss home. Not only did they miss home, but they were not used to the climate of the Qiang land. If they were in Chu, it would not be snowing at this time and would not be so cold.

"Report—!" When most generals were dizzy when they were drunk, a stern military newspaper came from the dim sky outside. The sound of horse hooves suddenly stopped at the steps. Soon a cavalry general rushed in with wind and snow. This was Cheng Kui.

"What's the matter?" Dou Yuzhi looked at Cheng Kui who was stroking with drunkenness. He did not follow the troops to retreat to the Qiang land, but he was alone with more than a dozen Chu infantrymen on the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains that stretched for hundreds of miles for several months, and finally arrived at the Qiang land.

"Shouying has news!" Cheng Kui took out a golden copper tube from his arms. The copper tube was welded to death, and the solder had steel printed patterns from the Grand Sima Mansion. The generals left half of the copper tube when they saw it.

"Quick, come! Quickly resolve the news." In order to prevent forgery and leaks, Junxun not only has many protective measures, but also writes it in secret language. When the messenger rushed to take the copper tube and quickly resolve the news, Dou Yuzhi asked, "Where does this news come from?"

"From the outside of the border," Cheng Kui replied, only then he realized that the Hu cavalry who followed him had not been on the ranks.

The Qin people occupied Nanyang and Yinshan Mountains, and the Chu army could not return to Chu through Nanyang Land like Xiong Jing. Otherwise, 30,000 people from the Chu army would cross Nanyang Land, cross Yinshan Mountains, and reach North Korea across the grasslands, and then they would be able to board the sea boat returning to Chu.

The Qin people knew that tens of thousands of Chu troops lived in Qiang, Beidi County, Nanyang County, Jiuyuan County, and Yunzhong County. They were all prepared to ensure that these tens of thousands of Chu soldiers could not return to Chu like King Jing. However, the army could not return to Chu. They could cross Henan and contact the Chu state through the Xiongnu, Donghu, and Korea. Such a connection was nearly ten thousand miles, and it took several months to go back and forth.

The Hu cavalry who was summoned to Mingtang by Yuzhi first gave him a pot of wine and started to ask questions after he finished drinking. He was entrusted by Duan Quan, a great animal husbandry merchant, and crossed the grassland and Helan Mountain for more than 20 days and arrived at Didao. Because he was walking on Helan Mountain instead of Nanyang, the journey went smoothly and was not intercepted by the Qin army.

"Zhenyan Mountain?" Dou Yuzhi had never heard of this place name. Lu Gao, who was very interested in the Helan Mountain Road that did not need to pass through Nanyang, was also surprised by the place name. Both of them wanted to know where this Zhenyan Mountain was on the grassland. Hu Qi knew a little about Zhao Yu, and after talking for a long time, he realized that it was a city of the Huns. Duan Quan had a mansion in this city.

"How many miles does Zhenyan Mountain take here?" Lu Gao asked. "Do you come here without going through Nanyang?"

"Zhenyan Mountain is here for three or four thousand miles." Hu Qi replied. "When we left the city, there were fifteen people and more than one hundred horses. I was the only one here. The rest of us either died or returned."
Chapter completed!