Not long ago, the Chu army camp.
Inside the main camp of the central army, Xiang Yu’s face was extremely ugly as he conferred with Long Tho, the
“The casualties of our army… What are the losses?”
He couldn’t even describe the battle this time as casualties, as there were basically no casualties.
This was also the first time he had encountered that there weren’t any corpses on the battlefield after a battle involving hundreds of thousands of troops.
Because the vast majority of the temporarily forcibly conscripted Chu troops had surrendered!
It was unheard of and a great shame!
Hearing the question, Long Tho also looked dismayed as he replied that
“Your Majesty, Yu Zizhi and Zhong Li Sheng have already reported that we have lost most of our 40,000 men in this battle.”
Most of the men lost this time were those Chu troops that the two men had forcibly recruited on an ad hoc basis.
Their hearts and minds were originally not strong.
They were supposed to be treated as expendable, but who knew that the Qin army would be so cunning as to persuade surrender directly in the middle of an engagement!
This was something that had never been done before.
And it actually worked!
Xiang Yu was already at a loss at this point, he now removed the tens of thousands of core elites that followed him from the Battle of Pengcheng and retreated back.
The rest are the nearly 100,000 peasants recruited by Yu Ziqi and Zhong Li Xuzheng.
But now, they have lost 20,000 to 30,000 directly!
Such a loss, if it was a simple battle loss, Xiang Yu was not unacceptable.
For generally speaking, he could, with such losses, inflict equal, if not more, damage on the enemy as well!
But now it was their loss of so many men and the Qin army’s gain of so many!
With this loss, there was a shift in strength, not to mention a shift in hearts and minds!
But he couldn’t think of a way to deal with it, so he had to send his own troops out in the morning!
After the battle, he would let the rest of the Chu army fill in!
“Alright, my king knows, you can go down first.”
“By the way, tell Yu Ziqi and Zhong Li Sheng to keep an eye on their soldiers.”
These two were stationed in the camp outside the city as a flank.
Long Tho nodded with a heavy expression and then left.
Only after the other man left did Xiang Yu return to his tent in some dismay.
As always, Yu Ji began to take care of him.
Feeling Yu Ji’s warmth, Xiang Yu only heaved a sigh at this time and said that
“Yu Ji, how do you think those untouchables dare to disobey the king?”
He still couldn’t figure out how those people dared to do such a thing, on the battlefield!
Yu Ji was stunned for a moment, but she didn’t know what had happened yet, she had only heard that Xiang Yu had been defeated for a while.
So laughing, she said.
“The people are always foolish, they must have been under compulsion.”
“Your Majesty you just let them know your majesty.”
The matter of the people’s ignorance was a perception shared by almost the vast majority of the nobles.
After all, the other side was short-sighted and unable to read and write.
Even the nobles of the Great Qin thought so too.
This has been the ruling strategy of most kings since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.
It was just that there was such an odd person as Zhao Lang.
Hearing this, Xiang Yu also nodded in extreme agreement and said fiercely that
“Good, it’s to oppress them! Only then can they honestly let themselves be driven!”
“Someone, pass the order to Yu Ziqi and Zhong Li Sheng, those untouchables are not allowed to distribute food tonight!”
With less food, these people will have no other thoughts.
As long as some food was provided in the morning, there would be no delay in the engagement.
Usually the army eats just one or two meals, only when there is a big battle, to keep up their strength.
Depending on the time of the battle, two to three meals are guaranteed.
In any case, it was better to have a decision than to be confused and without direction, and Xiang Yu’s mood was slightly lifted.
Under Yu Ji’s ministrations, he slowly relaxed and opened up.
Soon, a messenger went to the tents on either side to deliver the news.
In Yu Ziqi’s camp, the Chu troops were gathering listlessly.
They were a little sorry that they had not run away.
They hadn’t wanted to work for Xiang Yu, they had just been forced to do so.
When they were captured, they were almost defenceless in the face of the Chu army.
A slightly younger Chu soldier said to the next Chu soldier, in a low voice, that
“Brother, what can we do tomorrow?”
“If father and mother are there too, we can’t really do anything.”
With today’s lesson, it was they, the soldiers, who thought that the generals would not let today happen again.
I’m just afraid there will be more of those inspectors.
Hearing this, my brother on the side also sighed slightly; there was nothing he could actually do.
It was not like the time on the battlefield, when people got hot in their hearts and followed the others, there was no problem.
Just as he was about to say something, their centurion suddenly came over and said, with a bit of indifference
“Today our army did not fight well, so there is no more meal for the night!”
With that, he left woodenly.
Hearing these words, the morale of the Chu troops, who were already tired and hungry, became more and more depressed.
But no one resisted either, they were usually treated in the same way.
When there were no military operations, one meal a day was commonplace.
Just move less in the camp anyway.
The whole camp went into darkness in this deadly silence.
They had resigned themselves to their fate and were just waiting to go into battle tomorrow to be killed either by the Qin army or by the Chu army’s inspectors.
The two brothers were just the same, waiting numbly for the dawn.
Just then, Chu Jun, who was the younger brother, seemed to hear something, climbed up and said to his brother that
“Brother, listen.”
“It seems, there is singing, and laughter.”
My brother noticed the commotion outside at this time.
Standing up and looking outside, he saw a pile of bonfires burning in the direction of the Qin army.
Those familiar sounds of singing and laughter were drifting from there.
Seeing this scene, both brothers could not help but glance at each other, the light of the bonfire reflected in their eyes.
They could have endured the darkness if they had not seen the light.
But now, the light was right in front of them.
Chu Jun, who was the older brother, looked around him concealed at this point, then at the night, and took a deep breath before whispering that
“A-Di, do you dare to come with me?”
The brother’s eyes lit up and he nodded at once.
The two waited for darkness to fall, and with hardly any hesitation they leaned towards the edge of the camp.
The camp was surrounded by a wooden fence, which was not originally buried deep, but was easy to loosen.
Just as the two brothers were making their move, suddenly a figure appeared to them, a Chu army man.
The two brothers quickly grabbed their weapons, because as soon as the other side made a sound, they would be dead if they were spotted!
Only before they could make a move, this Chu army man said that
“Can you take me with you?”
The brothers froze for a moment, then nodded their heads.
Working together, the three soon loosened a hole in the wooden exhibit, just through which was the outside of the camp!
Chu, who was the younger brother, was the first to get in, only the hole still seemed a little too small.
The younger brother was stuck in the middle of the
“Push me through!”
My brother said at this point regardless.
All he had eyes for now were those campfires.
The brother and the other man gave a ruthless push and suddenly there was a muffled sound in the night air.
The wooden fence in front of him suddenly collapsed, but it was good that his brother got out of the way just in time.
Looking at the tandoori in front of them, several people stood up in some confusion, wondering what was going on.
It wasn’t as if they had dug too big a place.
Instead, they saw that a dark figure, just like them, had stood up next to this large section of wooden fence.
Everyone looked at each other for a while, and the brother, who was the quickest to sober up, said that
“Run!”
In a flash, countless black shadows, ran from the Chu army camp towards the Qin army.
By now, the night was already late.
Inside the camp at Gaixia, Xiang Yu suddenly woke up with a start, sat up and asked
“What’s that noise!”
Beside him, Yu Ji also woke up, but with a confused face.
When Xiang Yu reached directly outside the tent at this time, he heard a sound of Chu’s songs, coming from all sides.
Suddenly outside the tent, a rush of footsteps sounded, and soon Long Tho came over and reported back that
“Your Majesty, the soldiers of Yu Ziqi and Zhong Li Sheng’s two armies, who took advantage of the night to defect, are nine out of ten!”
Hearing these words, Xiang Yu could not help but stand frozen on the spot.