Most of the main Qin army this time, Han Xin’s peasant Qin army, had been through a few battles.
So it grew quickly.
And with the Great Qin’s border army on the side to press the battle, so everyone was still confident.
Of course, everyone was also ready for a big battle.
Having fought against the Chu army these days, we could also tell that the Chu army was not weak in battle.
Only soon did the Qin troops realise that something was wrong.
For it was not until they crashed through the gates and charged into the city.
It was only at the city gates that the scattered Chu troops began to resist.
Most of them were standing there in a dumbfounded state.
Against these men, the Qin army did not kill them painfully.
The chief had said that as long as these people surrendered and did not resist, they could not be killed indiscriminately.
It was just a somewhat bizarre situation.
And it was not until they entered the centre of the city that they encountered a dense and sizable Chu army, with several Chu generals with their own personal guards, standing at the front.
When the Chu generals saw the Qin army, they didn’t hesitate much before howling ‘death for country’ and rushing towards them.
All the Qin troops were only slightly relieved at this point.
That’s right, that’s what war is all about.
And they rushed forward without fear!
The battle started quickly and ended quickly.
When the first Qin army killed through the Chu formation, heads were still a little confused.
So many men and they had killed through?
With great difficulty, when he looked up, he saw that the numerous Chu soldiers were standing in place without moving.
What they had killed was the general of the Chu army.
Just when the Qin army wanted to attack again.
Instead, the Chu army at the head suddenly lowered their weapons and said that
“We are willing to surrender!”
Having said that, all the Chu soldiers said in unison that
“We are willing to surrender!”
Seeing this scene, the Qin army at the head was completely dumbfounded, and after swallowing his saliva, he hurriedly said that
“Go back and report to His Highness the Crown Prince!”
“The Chu army has surrendered!”
Soon, a Chu soldier was running wildly in the direction of Zhao Lang outside the city!
At this moment, Zhao Lang was sitting on his horse, looking at the city with some boredom.
He would have liked to be the first to charge himself, but unfortunately his horse’s rope was firmly in Meng Yi’s hands.
Once the other side realised that Wang Li was no good either, he came to pull Zhao Lang himself.
Han Xin could now command instead of him anyway.
He was also happy to have Zhao Lang’s man come and take up the mantle, so that the credit could be put on Zhao Lang’s shoulders in name only afterwards.
It was impossible for Zhao Lang to leave his sight anyway.
It was only when several people heard the Qin army come to report that the Chu army had surrendered.
They all froze slightly for a moment.
“Most of the Chu army generals died in battle, and everyone else surrendered?”
This time, despite the noise, the strength of the Chu army was actually still there.
It was actually taken just like that?
But Fan Zeng and Xiang Zhuang, who were on the side, were not too surprised.
They had been looking at the battle from the perspective of the Chu army.
Indeed, there was no longer any need to fight the Qin army at this time.
If it was necessary to pay casualties and be able to take the Qin army off here, then there was still a need.
But no amount of men could withstand such a killing spree by the Qin army!
The Chu army no longer had any morale left.
So, it was a matter of course to surrender.
Meng Yi, who was standing by, quickly asked
“Then where is Chu’s great general Long Tho?”
The Qin army froze for a moment and replied back that
“My subordinate, however, does not know.”
He was a junior soldier and did not know the other side, and could not see if there was Long Tho among the group of Chu generals who had volunteered to die.
On the side, Hu Hai said.
“Shangqing Meng, shall we not go in and have a look?”
Meng Yi nodded at once and took the lead in walking towards the city.
Now that the army had already entered the city, there was no need to worry about it being an ambush.
When he soon reached the place where the Chu army had gathered, Meng Yi did not delay in the slightest and looked at the dead Chu generals and saw no Long Tho.
At once, he asked the Chu army at the head of his opponent.
“Where is your General Long Tho!?”
The Chu army replied back that
“General Long Tho has been rescued and sent, with some of his men, to another city.”
“We are all willing to surrender.”
Hearing these words, Meng Yi gave a slight thought and understood at once that
“That’s a good calculation.”
The opponent was already certain that this battle was already a certain defeat.
This solution would both delay these demoralised Chu troops and delay them.
It would also increase their burden.
It is considered the best option after a certain defeat.
As expected, the world is full of heroes.
Soon, Han Xin, who was on the side, also figured out the trick and asked Zhao Lang
“Chief, what should we do with these people?”
He took a cursory look, there were at least 20,000 to 30,000 people here, so it was indeed not easy to dispose of them.
Zhao Long was extremely calm, the farming family was very good at placing people.
“Big Dog, tell them.”
“Those who are willing to go home will be fed and given some money for the journey back.”
“Those who don’t want to go back, do the work.”
“Those who are physically fit can also stay and join us.”
Hands are needed now, both in the fields and in the city.
These young and strong people, he simply didn’t have too many.
Of course, this would put some pressure on logistics.
The good thing is that today people don’t ask for much in terms of wages or food.
To put it mildly, he is still sure that these people will not starve to death.
Only not to starve to death, of course.
Any higher demands? They would have to struggle again on their own.
Naturally the big dog led the way.
On one side, Hu Hai said, frowning instead.
“Brother Long, if all these people go back to Chu and are recruited afterwards, then we want to clear the Chu army.”
“Wouldn’t it be more difficult?”
He had followed Zhao Lang around and knew what the Chu army was doing these days.
The four words “militaristic” would say it all.
Hearing these words, Zhao Lang instead revealed a smile and said back that
“If all these people are re-recruited when they return, our army will only have a better chance of winning.”
Hu Hai listened with some confusion.
But Meng Yi, who was at the side, smiled and nodded; His Highness the Crown Prince’s vision was unmistakable.
Looking at things, he could always see the key points.
Fan Zeng also closed his eyes with some pain.
He understood Zhao Lang’s intention.
If all these people really went back to the Chu land and then re-entered the Chu army.
Then it would also mean that there would be countless more spies within the Chu army to propagate the Qin army!
It was a real attack on the heart!
Having taken this one city, the army was soon ready to clean up and take over.
According to orders, they will continue to take other cities early tomorrow morning.
As a rule, such continuous conquests are extremely likely to tire out the soldiers.
But this time, all the Qin troops were extremely excited and could not help but want the next day to come quickly.
For they wanted to see if His Highness, the Crown Prince, could summon heavenly thunder again!
None of them had much preparation for today and were blindsided.
It was just as well to take a closer look tomorrow.
Just unlike everyone’s excitement and anticipation, Zhao Lang now looked at Chen Ping, who was full of grumbling in front of him, and said, with some tears and laughter
“Isn’t it just some crossbows and arrows and black gunpowder? What are you so distressed about?”
Chen Ping stared back with wide eyes and said.
“Chief, do you know that a single crossbow arrow, counting only the cost of materials, is almost a month’s spending for an ordinary person!”
“That’s not to mention the gunpowder production, and it’s still transported all the way here!”
“That’s a lot of money! Besides, we’ve used most of it this time, what can we do after that?”
Zhao Lang knew that what Chen Ping said was the truth.
Crossbows and arrows were not something you could just find a random piece of wood for.
The same goes for gunpowder, charcoal is fine, other raw materials, in the current Great Qin, would also cost a lot of financial resources to process out.
And after that, there should be a big battle with the Chu army, so these things should indeed be saved.
Blame it on the current productivity.
We can only wait for it to develop slowly afterwards, and when it gets bigger, the cost will naturally come down.
So back to that.
“All right, I know, we won’t need them for the attack on the city later.”
Those remaining were still to be left for the final showdown.
Only then did Chen Ping nod his head, when he heard Zhao Lang say.
“Right, first thing tomorrow morning, take your bows and go to the gates of the Chu army.”
Chen Ping all but froze at the sound of it, and complained that
“Chief, didn’t you just say that you didn’t need it? Why are you still pulling them out?”
Zhao Lang laughed at this time and said.
“Who said that this crossbow must be fired to be effective?”
“It’s the same effect when it’s just sitting there.”
Chen Ping was stunned for a moment, then understood and smiled back, saying
“The chief is wise!”
In terms of playing with people’s hearts, this chief of his could be said to be everyone!
Chen Ping quickly excused himself, and Zhao Lang, without too much exertion, looked in the direction of the other Chudi cities.
Once he had broken through the outer defences of the Chu army, he would be able to go straight into the heart of the Chu land!
At this moment, not far away from here, inside a Chu army city.
Ying Bu looked at Long Tho in front of him in utter astonishment.
“General Long Tho, you led tens of thousands of troops, and in one day you lost the city?”
“It’s tens of thousands of animals, the Qin army can’t catch them all in one day!”
He had actually received a report from his scouts during the day.
Saying that the Qin army had summoned heavenly thunder and had already entered the city, he simply could not believe it.
He even had the scouts beaten into jail!
You should know that the first line of defence of the Chu army was the Chu army’s great general Long Tho with tens of thousands of troops.
At the very least, it could have been defended for ten days, or even a month!
But now, a day, not even a day!
With Long Tho right in front of him, there was no way he could not believe it.
Faced with Ying Bu’s almost insulting words, Long Tho did not show the slightest expression of anger at this time, as he touched the bamboo tube in his arms, which he had taken off from his crossbow.
It no longer mattered whether he and the other Qin soldiers lived or died.
As long as he could send this back to the Overlord, it was worth anything!
Because it contained the secret of the Qin army’s summoning of the Heavenly Thunder!
Long Tho said with extreme blandness that
“General Ying Bu, I’ll leave this place to you!”
“No matter what, if you can hold it! The crowning of the king is at hand!”
“I will leave some men for you.”
Having said that, he left the place with the men.
He was going away for the night.
He had only come here to escape the Qin army and to stabilise Ying Bu.
Their front line, they can’t just lose it yet!
Looking at Long Tho’s back as he left, Ying Bu changed his expression for a while at this time, and said to the personal guard next to him that
“Bring the scouts from the daytime to this general! Find two more routed soldiers!”
Soon, the scouts and routed soldiers of the Chu army appeared in front of Ying Bu.
Ying Bu separated several of them and then questioned them one by one, and shortly afterwards, sent the men away again.
His face, however, was extremely ugly, for the men all told the same story of
“The Qin army fired a burst of crossbow arrows and then summoned heavenly thunder.”
“The city gates were destroyed, the houses caught fire, and those who were struck by the lightning instantly perished, and even if they didn’t die, they lost their souls!”
Thinking about the combined descriptions of these people, Ying Bu only felt a chill in his heart.
His troops were already not as numerous as Long Tho’s, and his battle strength was not as strong as the other side’s, but the other side actually wanted him to defend this place to the death.
“It’s fine that Long Tho was defeated so quickly, but this man is so vicious!!!”
Ying Bu cursed in extreme anger.
Soon the thoughts in his mind turned rapidly and he already had a plan, saying to himself that
“Hmph, you are unkind and I am unrighteous, you have defended for half a day, if this general can defend for two days, it will be justifiable!”
“Someone, call this general’s personal guard to come over.”
Those people that Long Tho left behind said they were here to help him, but who knows?
After all, he was not a man of die-hard loyalty.
Early the next morning, before the sun had risen for long, the soldiers on the walls of the Chu army, saw a black line slowly approaching.
The Chu army quickly issued a warning.
Ying Bu also led his men to the city walls at this time.
Looking at the slowly marching Qin army in front of him.
One of the Chu generals beside him said that
“General, the Qin army has long been exhausted, we will be able to defend against them if we defend ourselves against the city!”
Ying Bu looked at several Chu generals who were vaguely surrounding him, and his heart could not help but feel some coldness.
Soon, the Qin army had come to a slow halt in front of the city and then, under the gaze of the crowd, slowly rolled out a rack of bows from behind!
Seeing this scene, several Chu army generals had a look of trepidation on their faces, and quickly said that
“General! Let’s get everyone out of the way for a while!”
Even though they were determined to die, they were a little frightened at the sight of the crossbow arrows!
They couldn’t forget the scene from yesterday!
Ying Bu said with a few chills at this time that
“Generals, is it true that the Qin army can summon heavenly thunder?”
Several Chu generals hesitated at this time, and could only nod their heads.
“General, we’d better take shelter for a while!”
Ying Bu revealed a cold smile and said that
“It’s true, Long Tho he abandoned the city and fled, why do you want this general to die defending!”
“Your elite Chu army is human, but my general’s commanders are not?!”
Several Chu army generals heard straight frowning, one of them said that
“General, what do you mean by that!?”
“The situation was critical yesterday, and abandoning the city was a necessity! You… Well!”
He didn’t finish his sentence before he saw Ying Bu take out his weapon and stab him in the chest!
The other generals were about to strike back when, all the time behind them, Ying Bu’s personal guards did the same.
In a flash, all these die-hard Chu soldiers had fallen in a pool of blood.
Ying Bu looked coldly at the rest of his men, then said that
“The Xiang clan is immoral, forcing the Righteous Emperor to die and brutalising the people, now I, Ying Bu, have abandoned the darkness for the light!”
“Do you all have any objections?”
He was familiar with the matter of Xiang Yu forcing the Righteous Emperor to death.
The others did not hesitate for long and quickly said that
“Obey the General’s order!”
At this moment, outside the city, Zhao Lang looked at the crossbows that had already been set up and said indifferently that
“Go one by one and persuade them to surrender, tell them that if they don’t surrender, they will summon heavenly thunder!”
When the others saw this scene, they all hesitated a little.
Even though they had made such a big fuss yesterday, wasn’t it too arrogant to let people surrender with a single word?
Just at that moment, the gate of the city suddenly opened.
A Chu soldier rode out on horseback and shouted that
“Where is His Highness the Prince of the Great Qin? Our army is willing to surrender!”
Hearing these words, everyone froze on the spot.
Zhao Lang couldn’t help but blink, he hadn’t even advised them yet, how could they surrender?
But it was good that the door to the Chu land was now open!