sjar Chapter 15 Encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao
Chapter 15 Encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao
The sudden bad news forced the Shence Army to set up camp on the spot.
But this is the North, where the climate is harsh, and even with enough food, people can still freeze to death.
"With Beining City occupied, our path has been cut off, and the 150,000-strong Daqi Allied Army behind us should be reacting by now."
Inside the command tent, Zhuge Xuan spoke with a solemn tone.
Guan Xingsheng frowned, his face full of hostility: "These spineless cowards can't even defend a city. Your Highness, why don't I lead the troops and take back Beining City directly?"
"Absolutely not!" Zhuge Xuan immediately rejected the idea: "We have come a long way and are already exhausted. In addition, we are new to the northern border and the climate is not suitable. If we were to seize a city now, we would probably not be able to muster even half of our usual fighting strength."
"The strategist is absolutely right," Zhao Luoying agreed.
"What should we do then? We can't just sit here and wait to die, can we? Or perhaps we can retreat back to Tianshan City."
Guan Xingsheng grew impatient and began to grumble in a muffled voice.
Zhuge Xuan shook his head and sighed: "It's too late. Don't forget that there are still 150,000 troops waiting for us at Wanlipo."
"Moreover, we are currently in a precarious situation, attacked from both sides. We are surrounded by the Jurchens in front and a coalition of 150,000 troops behind us. If we cannot capture Beining City, our entire army will be annihilated."
"Furthermore, Beining City is the only foothold the prince has. If it is lost, how will he deal with the constant retaliation from the Emperor of Daqi?"
Zhuge Xuan's words plunged the room into a deathly silence. Everyone lowered their heads in deep thought, except for Qin Xuan, who, although silent, kept his eyes on the regional map on the table.
His fingers tapped incessantly on the table, as if he were deep in thought.
Zhao Luoying knew that this was Qin Xuan's unique habit; whenever something important happened, he would calm down.
"The capital of the Jurchen Kingdom, Daman City, is not far from Beining City. If we bypass Tianshan City from here and take a shortcut, the army should be able to arrive within two days."
Qin Xuan pointed to three punctuation marks on the map: one represented Daman City, the capital of the Jurchen Kingdom; another represented Beining City; and the last one was where they were currently encamped.
Looking at the map, the group was surprised to find that the distances to both Beining City and Daman City were extremely close.
"Your Highness, what do you mean..." Zhuge Xuan, as expected of a strategist, immediately guessed Qin Xuan's plan.
Qin Xuan smiled slightly and nodded: "That's right, a strategy of 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao'."
"Now that Beining City has just been captured, it must be heavily guarded by the Jurchen army. However, the defensive strength of Daman City will inevitably decrease."
"And most importantly, the Jurchens never expected that we would have arrived here by now, let alone that we would abandon Beining City and instead attack their stronghold."
Qin Xuan became more and more excited as he spoke, even feeling a surge of adrenaline.
Zhuge Xuan was also infected by this emotion, and continued Qin Xuan's words:
"If the Jurchen Kingdom returns to aid us by surprise, they will inevitably have to withdraw troops from Tianning City. If we then launch a counterattack, we can easily take back Beining City."
"But what if the Jurchen Kingdom doesn't come to our aid?" Guan Xingsheng countered.
"One is an imperial city, the other a surrendered city. If you were the emperor of the Jurchen Kingdom, which would you choose?" This time, without Qin Xuan and Zhuge Xuan even having to speak, Zhao Luoying had already rendered Guan Xingsheng speechless.
Qin Xuan nodded approvingly at Zhao Luoying: "Right now, we urgently need to ascertain two things: First, how many Jurchen troops are there in Beining City?"
"Second, where is the Great Qi Allied Forces? Have they already headed to the northern border?"
The strength of the Jurchen army in Beining City will determine how many people Qin Xuan will send to attack Daman City and how many people he will arrange to seize Beining City.
The movements of the Daqi Allied Forces are equally crucial. If the enemy has already closed in, no matter how brilliant the plan is, the Shence Army will inevitably be attacked from both sides and thus be annihilated.
Therefore, after Qin Xuan raised the question, Guan Xingsheng and Du Manjiang immediately went down to investigate.
Hundreds of scouts were deployed like a fishing net, most heading towards Beining City, while a small number turned back towards Wanlipo.
Meanwhile, in Beining City, Tu Lan, who had just beheaded the city's garrison commander, stood majestically atop the city wall.
This time, he led a total of 80,000 troops and easily captured Beining City at the cost of 8,000 casualties.
In fact, given the fortification of Beining City, even if several times more soldiers died, let alone eight thousand, they would still not be able to take it.
The problem was that the commander of Beining City was a coward who was afraid of death. He was afraid of fighting and opened the city gates after only a few waves of attacks by the Jurchen army.
"Your Majesty's prediction was indeed correct. Beining City is as easy as tofu, and it was easily torn apart by my Jurchen army."
Beside him, a man who looked like a strategist softly praised, who was none other than Gurna, the Grand Preceptor of the Jurchen Kingdom.
"Grand Preceptor, is it really possible that the so-called strongest prince of the Great Qi Dynasty, the King of Chu who is known as the God of War, will come here?" Tu Lan's eyes gleamed with a sharp light, eager to make a move.
“They will come.” Gulna nodded firmly: “According to reports from spies, not long ago the King of Chu forced the Emperor of Daqi to issue an edict of self-reproach. Now the Emperor has dispatched 150,000 allied troops to wipe out the Shence Army.”
"Hahaha, good, as long as he comes, I, Tu Lan, will make sure his head rolls."
As a commander, Tu Lan's greatest dream was to fight against King Qin Xuan of Chu.
Meanwhile, at Wanlipo, after waiting anxiously for many days, Sun Wei could no longer sit still.
"No, we can't wait any longer."
Sun Wei made up his mind and immediately gathered his soldiers, who then headed to Tianshan City.
Liu Zhizhong wanted to stop him, but seeing that Sun Wei was truly angry, he had no choice but to follow.
More than ten hours later, the allied forces finally arrived outside Tianshan City, which was less than ten miles away from the Shence Army's camp.
What's strange is that the Shence Army didn't make a single move.
"Left flank vanguard, prepare to charge!"
"Archers, cover the rear!"
"The central army is overseeing the battle!"
"rush!"
It must be said that Sun Wei did have some command ability.
He issued a series of precise orders, but the Shence Camp remained deathly silent.
Not long after, a cavalryman rode up to report: "Reporting to the commander, there are only tents and a group of prisoners ahead, but no Shence Army soldiers have been seen!"
At this moment, Sun Wei was furious and roared, "Damn King of Chu, how dare you deceive me!"
Liu Zhizhong, who was standing to the side, was already pale with fright. He quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "This King of Chu is really treacherous. Commander Sun, why don't we go into Tianshan City first and then come up with a plan?"
"Go to your egg city!"
Sun Wei was furious and pointed at Liu Zhizhong's nose, giving him a good scolding: "Use your pig brain to think! The Shence Army must have already crossed Wanlipo. What good is it for you to enter the city now?"
"Pass down the order: proceed to Beining City immediately!"
Sun Wei roared furiously, while giving Liu Zhizhong a venomous look: "General Liu, you better pray that we can catch up with the Shence Army, otherwise I'll be the first to chop off your head!"
Liu Zhizhong was so frightened that he trembled all over and immediately rode off at full speed.
However, what no one expected was that Sun Wei's failure to lead his troops into the city this time would instead leave him with a major hidden danger.