Chapter 15 The third quarter

Sima Cuo suddenly appeared in the Lantian barracks, and the generals were really surprised. Twenty-five thousand new troops from the Qin State were stationed in Lantianyuan, half of which were infantry and half cavalry.If Hangu Pass is the gateway fortress of Qin State, then Lantianyuan is the throat and lifeline of Qin State.This highland with a radius of nearly a hundred miles is bounded by mountains in the south and a bird's-eye view of the Weishui Plain in the north. It is stuck in the middle of two main roads that enter the hinterland of Guanzhong from the south—Wuguan in the east and Ziwu Valley in Nanshan in the west.In case Wuguan falls or a strong enemy sneaks into Ziwu Valley, the Lantian barracks can quickly set up a second line of defense, and the iron cavalry gallops, and it can be deployed on the plain in half an hour.From the perspective of defense in the east, Lantianyuan is more than 600 li away from Hangu Pass. If a strong enemy cavalry breaks through Hangu Pass, it will only take three or two days to get to Lantianyuan, so they can calmly deploy to attack a strong enemy.To the northwest of Lantianyuan, less than a hundred miles away from the important town of Liyang, it is very easy to get support.More than two hundred miles to the west is Xianyang, the capital of Qin Dynasty. The emperor's military amulet can be reached in half a day, and the command is extremely convenient.After Qin regained Hexi, the threats to Qin from the Hu people in the north, the Wei Zhao in the east of the river, and the Xiongnu in the western regions were greatly reduced. After entering the southeast, the important position of Lantianyuan suddenly became prominent!

At this time, the deployment of Qin's 50,000 elite new troops was as follows: 10,000 were stationed at Hangu Pass in the east, 5,000 were stationed in Lishi Fortress in the north, 5,000 were stationed in Wuguan Pass in the southeast, and 5,000 troops were stationed in Dashan Pass in the west; Fifty thousand elite new troops were all stationed on this central highland where they could support them from all sides. When the captain of the state comes to the barracks at night, there must be a major battle.But the generals didn't know anything about it at the time, which was the root cause of their surprise.At this time, there is no officially titled general in Qin State, and the country's lieutenant is the highest military position. Who dares to take it lightly?There was a burst of sharp horns outside the gate, and the Chinese army's tent suddenly became tense.

"Beat the drums and gather the generals!" General Lan Tian gave an order, the big drum outside the tent rumbled, thousands of military lights were suddenly lit, and the barracks was brightly lit!In a moment, the soldiers jumped out of the military tent, and stood in line outside the tent with their helmets on.The horses neighed, the battle flags fluttered, and they could be pulled out in an instant. Twenty military officials in light clothes and horses galloped around Sima Cuo!This is the second time Sima Cuo has come to the Lantian Barracks since he took over as the captain of the country.The first time was equipped with newly-built fine iron weapons, and they came and went in a hurry. I was not very familiar with this most important barracks and General Lantian's ability to lead troops.Kui Ye's coming this time was originally a secret move, he didn't expect that as soon as the soldiers sent out the arrows, there would be a thrilling sound of bull horns at the gate, and as soon as the sound of the horns fell, the entire battalion was activated, and it seemed that they could be deployed in an instant; they hadn't entered yet At the Yuanmen, there was a sound of horseshoes coming like a storm!Quick and coherent, really rare.

The first general got off his horse and said, "General Lantian, Che Zhen, see you! The three armies are ready, and the national lieutenant can send troops immediately!" Sima Cuo raised the bronze command arrow in his hand: "Shut down the flags and drums, and all will be paid back." Che Zhen raised his head in surprise, thought for a while, and ordered loudly: "Shut down the flags and drums, and the general will return to the account!" "Hi!" The more than 20 generals in armor and helmets thundered, and a blade of armor was resounding, and they got on their horses and returned.

Sima Cuo whispered orders to Che Zhen, and the horse team came calmly to the main tent of the Chinese army.A moment later, a general order came from the large tent of the Chinese army: "Turn off the lights in the military tent, and the sergeants rest in peace. Don't be disturbed." There was a melodious whining of the trumpet, and the vast mountain plateau was echoed by the scattered military lamps and the ding-dong. Diao Dou's voice returned to tranquility. The big tent of the Chinese army is brightly lit! According to the military decree, Sima Cuo first checked the military amulet with the chief general to verify the command arrow.Under the bright light, the soldier talisman brought by Sima Cuo and Che Zhen's soldier talisman merged into one, turning into a bronze tiger engraved with characters.Che Zhen put the integrated military talisman in the center of the commander's case, bowed deeply, turned around and took the command arrow in Sima Cuo's hand.This is a bronze command arrow shaped like a dagger, heavy and golden, with four large characters "as you come in person" engraved in the center of the command arrow!Underneath the big characters is the eagle god revered by the Yingqin tribe.Qin Fa: Those who hold this command arrow without an edict are all special envoys with important missions—their secrets cannot even be seen in the public edict, but must be orally announced by the special envoy.

Che Zhen looked at the command arrow, turned around and gave an order to Sima of the Chinese army: "No one is allowed to approach within an arrow outside the tent!" Sima strode out of the tent, and Che Zhen bowed solemnly to Sima Cuo: "Please let the captain of the country rise to his seat!" make!" Sima Cuo walked slowly to the commander's case and stood still: "Generals: I am ordered by the emperor to plan a war. The key to this battle is to keep it secret; all generals should obey the military orders and don't ask why. Anyone who leaks secrets will be dealt with by the military law. !"

The general in the tent cheered up awe-inspiringly, "Hi!", the tent was filled with awe. "Infantry Commander Shanjia listens to the order!" "The Shanjia is here!" "Your 10,000 infantry, stripped of heavy armor and spears, all lightly armed, and three days of dry food, must be ordered to go out at five drums!" "Hi!" The skinny Shanjia touched his feet, took the command arrow, and hurried out of the tent. "The commander of the rear army, Ying Ban, listens to the order!" "Ying Ban is here!" "Your department quickly refitted a hundred ox carts, all of which were loaded with spears and arrows. You personally led 300 soldiers, pretending to be merchant escorts, and traveled south to Wuguan day and night. Six days later, you will be on standby in Shangyong Valley!"

"Hi!" Ying Bao calmly accepted the order and strode out of the tent. "General Lantian's car shock hearing order!" "The car is shaking!" "Starting tomorrow, we will immediately secretly monitor all intersections in Nanshan. However, if there are business travelers going north, they are not allowed to enter and not to leave. Before the infantry squadron, the Lantian barracks must not shrink the tents and flags, and practice as usual every day!" Che Zhen and more than a dozen generals took orders in unison, "Hi!", the big tent roared.

After Sima Cuo's deployment, he walked out of the commander's office and smiled slightly at Che Zhen: "General, please select another 100 elite knights and a brave general for me. I want to patrol and defend with open fire." "National Captain, don't worry." Che Zhen turned around and ordered to a young general: "Ying Bao, immediately select a hundred iron eagle knights. You will lead them to escort the National Captain to the south!" "Yingbao has orders!" The heroic young general cupped his fists and strode out of the tent. Che Zhen said with a smile: "Guo Wei, don't think that Ying Bao is young, he is the number one fighter in the New Army."

"Is it a child of the official family?" "It should be." Che Zhen smiled apologetically, "But no one knows which family he is from." Sima smiled wrongly: "A warrior who serves the country is equal to high and low. If he doesn't say anything, why bother to ask?" While speaking, all the generals had already left their tents in a hurry, and went to dispatch and move their defenses separately.Sima Cuo explained many things to Che Zhenbei in detail, and hurriedly ate a piece of dried meat and a dry cake in the big tent of the Chinese army, and it was already the time of four drums.Qin's new army was well-trained and moved extremely quickly. Diao Doufang beat four drums, and the infantry leader Shanjia returned to his account: 10,000 infantry were ready and had assembled in the valley for orders.Sima Cuo immediately led two military officials out of the account, and galloped to the west mountain valley with Shanjia on horseback.

At the foot of the plateau in the river valley, the black infantry was connected with the wild grass and jungle, but it was so quiet that only the sound of the small river could be heard.Sima Cuo immediately rode up on the hill, and praised in a low voice: "Good! It's as quiet as a virgin." Then he ordered Shanjia beside him: "General Shanjia, your troops must be on standby in Shangyong Valley in three days. This marching Sima is yours." A guide. He will lead you through the mountains to the valley of Shangyong." The thin mountain armor was also replaced with light soft armor, with a long sword in his left hand and a smooth wooden stick in his right hand.After returning from his envoy, he has been promoted to the head of the infantry army, with the same title as the Chinese doctor.The son of Yaonong, who grew up in the mountains, was very excited about entering his hometown to fight, and said generously: "Report to the captain of the country, Shanjia, the descendants of Yaonong, have traveled all the dangerous roads in Nanshan, and the guide will be left to the convoy. If A makes a mistake, he is willing to be a military law!" Sima Cuo was not familiar with Shanjia, so he was surprised by this answer, and said solemnly: "A general, a general in command, is not a commander of a hundred men. If you just go ahead and argue the way, how can you be in the middle? There must be no mistakes. If a general lives and dies, how can he worry about the rise and fall of the country? If the general does not refrain from being reckless, Sima Cuo will immediately change the general!" Shanjia is bold, careful, and highly savvy. He broke out in a cold sweat when he was shocked by Guowei's stern words: "Shanjia is taught, and dare not play with state affairs, but obeys Guowei's orders!" "Let's go!" Sima Cuo ordered decisively. Shanjia pointed his right hand to his mouth, and heard a whistle resounding through the river valley!The boundless "wild grass jungle" suddenly uprooted from the valley, moved towards the south mountain pass, and gradually disappeared in the dark night. The marching route chosen by Sima Cuo was extremely peculiar, and even the Ziwu Valley Trail, which was usually considered to be extremely secret, he didn't think it was secret enough.The road he gave Shanjia was an unnamed mountain stream: he was only allowed to go up the river with water to reach the peak of Denan Mountain, and then flow down another mountain stream to the Hanshui Valley. This unnamed mountain stream is one of countless small rivers flowing from the hinterland of Nanshan to Guanzhong.The water volume is not large, gurgling like a stream, but it goes out through the mountains, flows into the Bashui River, and then enters the Weishui River; upstream, the source of the nameless stream reaches the peak of Nanshan (Qinling Mountains).The peak of the Nanshan Mountain is a watershed. After crossing the peak, this small stream becomes a tributary of the Han River flowing south, and finally merges into the Haohao River.This kind of small stream is roughly similar. The riverbed and valley are covered with smooth pebbles that have been impacted for thousands of years, and light infantry can move along the river or through the water. At that time, if you want to enter the Nanshan Mountains from Guanzhong to the Shangyu Mountains or the Hanshui Basin, you only have the Wuguan Trail in the southeast and the Baoxie Trail in the Southwest Dasanguan. These two roads are official roads. .There is also a trail in the middle, which is the nearest and direct Ziwu Valley trail.This trail goes straight from the central part of Guanzhong to Nanshan, which is hundreds of miles longer than the roundabout on both sides.Although Ziwu Valley is not an official road, business travelers from Chu State often go north, or businessmen from Qin State go south.In this way, there is still the possibility of "violent masters" in this kind of trail.After careful deliberation and investigation, Sima made a marching strategy of "taking the stream as the road and hiding traces", requiring 10,000 light infantry to secretly cross the Nanshan Mountain and reach the Hanshui Valley within three to five days. At this time, the elite infantry of the new Qin army abandoned their heavy armored spears, hard crossbows and long arrows. Each of them had a short sword and a wooden stick in their hands, and carried three days of dry food on their backs. , the mountain stream washed away all their traces, and the mountain forest obliterated any movement of them.The first longest-distance sprint battle in the Warring States Period quietly started like this. At dawn the next day, a long convoy of oxen appeared on the Lantian Plateau and drove slowly up the official road leading to Wuguan. The sharp creaking sound of the wheels was extremely harsh in the field. Listening to the sound, one knew that the well-covered ox cart was heavily loaded!The first to open the way was a large yellow flag embroidered with two big black characters "Yidun", which was very conspicuous.Behind the banner were more than thirty well-dressed knights, all with Wu hooks and curved swords hanging from their waists, and hard bows and long arrows on their backs.The convoy winds for miles, and at the end is a luxurious caravan.Judging by the momentum, this is obviously the convoy of the world-renowned Chu State Da Shang Yidun!Yidun is known for doing salt and iron business with the Central Plains, and there are often hundreds of convoys entering and leaving the Central Plains countries.Such a convoy leaves Wuguan via Lantian, enters Hanshui and enters Yingdu, which is a very common business travel route. At three poles in the sun, the gate of the Lantian barracks was wide open.The cavalry commander Ying Bao led a team of iron cavalry to rush out first, followed by a bronze chariot with the banner of "Special Envoy" flying high. On the chariot stood Sima Cuo, the captain of the state with a fluttering cloak.Going out of the gate, the cart was about to turn onto the official road, when I suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes on the official road to the west!Sima turned around by mistake, but saw a group of casually dressed knights approaching with a black caravan at high speed, he couldn't help being startled, and ordered Yingbao: "Pass the cavalry, and move on." As soon as the words fell, the galloping horse team suddenly reined in, more than a dozen horses neighed immediately, and the caravan stopped abruptly, stirring up a cloud of smoke and dust.Before Sima Cuo could take a closer look, he saw the curtain of the car lifted, and the monarch Ying Si jumped out of the car and said with a smile, "I've disturbed the captain of the country." Sima Cuo was surprised, and hurriedly got out of the car: "See the king." With a wave of his hand, Ying Si stopped the knight who wanted to get off his horse to pay homage, and said with a smile: "Nothing else, I'm here to see off the captain." With a flash of thought in Sima Cuo's mind, he knew that the monarch was worried about this first battle, and he solemnly bowed his hands and said, "My lord, everything is going according to plan. I dare not take it lightly." "Victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs, and the captain of the country just let it go." Ying Si smiled and shook his head: "I want to ask the captain of the country for advice. If the surprise attack is successful, what is the plan of the captain of the country?" Sima Cuo was stunned again, this was originally a clear plan and a clear analysis of the monarch: once the raid is successful, the troops will be stationed in Hanshui for a short rest, and then they will attack Bashu again.The monarch asked this question, is there something wrong in the country?When making a decision before leaving, one should not be ambiguous. After a little thought, Sima Cuo asked frankly: "The king's intention is to give up Bashu?" Ying Si shook her head: "The two wars lasted for more than a year, which is too long; moreover, the troops are scattered and the generals are far away, so it is difficult to guarantee that Shandong will not change. Bashu, it seems that we can slow down a little. Guowei think twice." Sima Cuo came to a sudden: "I have a contingency strategy. If there is a change in Shandong, I will immediately lead the teacher to the north. How can I stick to one path?" "It's so good! Come here, get some wine!" Ying Si gave an order, and the sergeant brought two barons, and immediately smelled the aroma of the wine.Ying Si personally held a noble and handed it to Sima Cuo with both hands, and took another noble by himself: "Thousands of mountains and rivers, take care of the captain of the country. Do it!" "Your Majesty, take care, but wait for the good news. Do it!" Sima Cuo gulped down his drink and bowed deeply: "I'm leaving." He turned around and strode into the car, stomping on the bottom of the car: "Let's go!" Ruffle away. Ying Si looked at the chariots and horses going away, and at the vast and gray Nanshan Mountain, but stood there for a long time. "Your Majesty, can you rest at the Lantian camp?" the servant in the royal car asked in a low voice. "No need." Ying Si jumped into the caravan: "Go back to Xianyang." The horse team swept back like a hurricane. Ying Si came here last night after having a secret business with Dr. Xi Liji.In order to be on the safe side, Ying Si consulted Chi Liji for Sima Cuo's attack plan.Chuli Jida agreed with the raid on Fangling, but thought that it was worth pondering to carry out two consecutive raids.From the perspective of military strategists, the chances of winning Bashu are very high.However, Sima Cuo did not take into account the rule of the people other than military strategists.The land of Bashu is dangerous and crowded, and the people's customs are tough. If you want to be transformed into Qin, you must garrison troops at the beginning of the rule, otherwise it is meaningless to occupy Bashu.But in this way, Sima Cuo's elite soldiers will have to stay in Bashu, and they are anxious not to be able to teach.Before the military power of the Qin State was expanded, it was taboo for the generals to garrison elite troops in remote places for a long time, leaving the country empty.It would be safer to divide the troops to attack Bashu when the Qin State has 200,000 troops.Upon hearing this, Ying Si agreed, and rushed here at dawn. Contemplating all the way, Ying Si's heart is always heavy.Although Xishou is gone, the strategy of "hegemony" of Xishou has been lingering in his heart for a long time.When will Qin be able to start the great cause of hegemony? "Report to the monarch, Su Qin, a famous scholar in Luoyang, asks to see you." Just after getting out of the car, the head servant came to report in a hurry. "Su Qin? Are you really here?" A thought flashed through, and Ying Si ordered the old servant: "Please wait for this gentleman in the East Hall. Then please invite the doctor and Tai Tuo to enter the palace, and also to the East Hall."