Daqin Engineering Corps

Because there are fences along the side of the boat, there is no need to worry about the horses falling into the river. The two people who guard the horses only need to be responsible for appeasing the horses so that they will not be shocked.

Three thousand war horses and three thousand black armored troops were loaded by three hundred such boats.

Then with an order, the three hundred boats went down the sandy water.

On the way, they even passed by Xiang Yan and led the retreating Chu army. How could the Heijia army be polite to them, and they shot randomly at those Chu troops with their bows and arrows on the boat.

Chu Jun was stunned by the beating, he quickly raised his shield for protection and shouted:

"The Qin army is in the river, they came after them from the river!"

Xiang Yan was still directing the troops to retreat at this time, when she heard the panic shout, she hurriedly pulled the horse's head and rode up a small mound, but it was pitch black and she couldn't see anything.

"Rocket!" Xiang Yan ordered.

Xiang Bo immediately passed on the order, and soon someone lit a rocket on the bank and shot it into the river.

Xiang Yan was taken aback by what she saw. The Shahe River under the firelight was already full of boats and boats of the Qin army, and the boats and boats were full of darkness. Standing on the boats and boats was the Heijia army, and there were many war horses in the boat. , and the snorting of war horses could be heard faintly.

Xiang Yan said inwardly that it was not good, because the Chu army had to transport food and grass for 30 people during this period, so the river has not been closed all the way down since then, and the Qin army is going down the river...

When he thought about it, he broke out in a cold sweat.

But Xiang Bo shouted from the side:

"General, the Qin army wants to follow our army's back."

"Let me lead a team of soldiers and horses to fight..."

Before Xiang Bo finished speaking, Xiang Yan cursed:

"Qin Jun is not taking my back, they are clearly going to fetch Rushui!"

"I fell for Qin Jun's plan to lure the snake out of the cave!"

Xiang Bo still didn't understand:

"Ru Shui? But..."

Xiang Yan didn't care whether Xiang Bo understood or not, and immediately ordered:

"Hurry up, prepare a few fast horses, and fly down the river to report to the downstream to stop the Qin army."

"At the same time, order Kuai Mafei to report to Ruyin and Chengfu, and Qin Jun must not be the first!"

Although Xiang Bo was puzzled, he still complied with the order to make arrangements.

Xiang Yan is worthy of being a famous general who has been on the battlefield for a long time. Looking at this posture, he knew that Qin Jun's target was Rushui.

This is actually not difficult to guess. The advantage of the Black Armored Army's cavalry and archery is that it can only be exerted in open terrain and during the day.

It was night, and there were Chu troops and fortifications everywhere from the port city to the south.

If the Heijia army just outflanked the Chu army's rear and landed in this area, as Xiang Bo said, it would be tantamount to seeking their own death.

So there is only one possibility, and that is to attack a more important and farther place: the Rushui defense line.

However, it is too late for Xiang Yan to think of this at this time.

Because it is night at this time, no matter how fast the horse is, it will not be as fast as the Qin army going down the river.

So Xiang Yan could only hope that the Taocheng defense line along the way could stop the Qin army for a while.

Chapter 229 Blitz

A popular tactic in modern warfare is called "blitzkrieg".

Its core idea is to use the fastest speed to concentrate troops to cut into the enemy's weak point after accurately grasping the intelligence.

So there is no disadvantage, even when the tanks enter the enemy city, there are traffic police to maintain order.

Of course, Qin Shi could not use tanks, airborne troops, or mechanized infantry to fight "blitzkrieg" like World War II, but he could use ships and cavalry to fight blitzkrieg.

Needless to say in terms of intelligence, Qin Jun retreated all the way from Ruyin not long ago, and Shen Bing checked the roads, defenses, hydrology and other conditions clearly and drew them into maps.

Even after returning to the port city, intelligence continued to come from the Chu state.

At the same time, Shen Bing also knew that the Chu army was not prepared.

In this era, the carrier pigeons are the fastest to deliver orders. However, according to the information obtained by Shen Bing, the Chu army did not bring carrier pigeons to Ruyin.

This is mainly because although Ru Yin is the focus of defense, it is not the focus of communication.

The focus of Xiang Yan's communication is Shouchun, the King of Chu. His situation on the front line and his decision-making needs to be reported to the King of Chu. He needs to coordinate logistics with the King of Chu, and sometimes obtain his consent.

As for Ruyin... If you set up a post station and travel [-] miles to expedite, you can arrive in half a day, and there is no need for carrier pigeons.

It was this loophole that Shen Bing was targeting.

What if the Heijia Army can rush faster than eight hundred miles?

Does that mean that the Chu army's information cannot be transmitted?

Or is it because Chu Jun just got the information and is too late to prepare?

This is the reason why Shen Bing chose to attack at night. The speed of the Heijia army going down the Shahe River in the dark was not affected much, but the Chu army could not speed up even though it was eight hundred miles away...

This is the case with a horse without stirrups. No matter how fast the night walk is, you don't know how much work you will have to fall along the way. It is a question of whether you can reach the destination alive, let alone deliver the letter.

So I could arrive in half a day during the day, but I'm afraid it will take one night at night.

The situation on the road was exactly as Shen Bing expected, because he failed to get the order in time, even though a Chu army's food transport team went upstream to meet the Heijia army, they didn't realize it at all, and only thought it was the Chu army.

The striker of the Black Armored Army completely ignored these food transport teams in order to hurry... If the striker made any moves, it would easily block the river and affect the entire journey.

But the rear army is different. Their task is to burn, kill and loot all the way. If the looted things are horses, food, and arrows, they will be taken away with the boat and other things. If they are equipment, they will sink into the river.

In fact, Shen Bing's order was to keep only the horses for replacement on the road, and sink everything else.

But food and arrows are the lifeblood of the army, and the soldiers of the Heijia Army are reluctant.

It was only later that they realized that it was completely unnecessary, because all they met head-on along the way were transport teams, and there were so many food and arrows that they couldn't pay them all.

No one stopped them all the way, and the Black Armor Army arrived in Taocheng an hour later.

In Taocheng, it is almost impossible not to be discovered by the Chu army, because Taocheng is not directly connected to the sand and water, but enters the city through a ten-mile-long canal and a water gate.

The Chu army standing at the top of the city saw a fleet of ships approaching from afar and ordered them to stop, and then the Chu soldiers below the city came to inspect with torches.

How could the Black Armored Army care about this much? A rain of arrows shot these Chu soldiers into hedgehogs.

The Chu army in Taocheng immediately became chaotic, the water gate was lowered "Kaka", and the ox horn broke the tranquility of the night one after another, pulling the Chu army who was still asleep to the top of the city.

The Black Armored Army landed by the canal without any haste: unloaded their horses, drove off their carriages, and then formed a team under the city to attack the city.

"There are two thousand Chu soldiers in Taocheng." Chen Duan reported to Shen Bing: "They are all infantry, and there are another thousand laborers. However, there are five thousand Chu soldiers ten miles away from the city, and they may arrive in half an hour."

Facts have proved that the reinforcements in ancient times were not so fast. Because the situation was unknown, reinforcements would not be sent at will. In addition, the army had to be reorganized and walked. It took nearly an hour for the reinforcements to arrive.

Shen Bing nodded.

He had already set up spies in Taocheng, and these spies had found out the situation and were waiting here, so the Heijia Army area could get the latest and most detailed information.

"Quick battle!" Shen Bing ordered.

Chen Duan responded and went to make arrangements.

Wang Ben couldn't help asking on the side:

"Deputy General, although this Tao City is not a strong city, it will not be easy to take it down."

"Besides, our army is a cavalry army that is not good at attacking cities. How can we make a quick victory?"

The construction of the secret road in Taocheng was handled by Shen Bing's personal guards. Due to confidentiality reasons, only Shen Bing and Chen Duan knew about it, so Wang Ben asked this question.

Shen Bing replied with a smile:

"When our army retreated, it was from this city. How could we not do something."

"Wait for a while, the city gate will open soon."

Only then did Wang Ben suddenly realize that all of this was a scheme set up by Shen Bing, perhaps even the retreat was the same... This comes from admiration and admiration for Shen Bing.

Sure enough, only a quarter of an hour later, the city was surrounded by flames and chaos, and then the gates of the city were slowly opened from both sides amidst a lot of noise.

The black armor army waiting at the city gate immediately drew out their bronze swords and rushed in shouting.

Seeing this situation, the Chu army in the city dared not resist, so they could only raise their hands one by one to surrender.

Shen Bing didn't bother to pay attention to them, he just had them all tied up, gagged and thrown into the room.

The Heijia Army took out the supplies placed on the mountain in the east of the city as quickly as possible and replaced them with the armor of the Chu Army's cavalry... These were captured during the battle against the Xiangluo Cavalry, and Shen Bing specially kept [-] sets for use at this time .

Of course, such a precious thing as rattan armor cannot be thrown away, and then put it back in the cave and hide it.

In a blink of an eye, the three thousand Heijia troops turned into three thousand Chu cavalry, and then crossed the Chu army's defense line and went straight to Ruyin as if there was no one else around.

Along the way, there were waves of food transport teams coming, from all directions.

These food transport teams were transported to the port city by the nobles of Chu State.

At this time, the intention of the nobles of Chu State has been successfully reversed by Xiang Yan, or it can also be said that the nobles knew that Xiang Yan had won the battle and expelled the Qin army from the Chu territory... More importantly, Xiang Yan did not lose many troops.

Xiang Yan's low loss of troops also means that the king's strength is still there.

In this way, if the battle situation is stable and the nobles don't perform well, wouldn't Xiang Yan and the king want to attack them when they turn around?

So the nobles dared to be lazy, and rushed to transport food to the front line while the war was not over.

When encountering these food teams, the Black Armor Army didn't talk nonsense, but rode forward to tell them that the food had been requisitioned, and ordered them to gather the food into a pile and set it on fire.

This only made the soldiers and laborers of the food transportation team look dumbfounded.

Some of them seemed to realize that these cavalry troops were disguised by the enemy, but even if they wanted to report the warning, there was no rush.

Because the Heijia Army is a cavalry army, and they travel lightly and go straight from the avenue to Ruyin... In this era, there is no means of transportation faster than horses.

Chapter 2 Thirty

As the saying goes, "Thousands of thoughts are bound to make mistakes." When the Heijia army arrived at Ruyin, they discovered that there was a problem that they hadn't considered... It was still dark and the city gate of Ruyin was closed.

If it is another city, such as Taocheng, a transportation hub, the gates of the city are not closed all night.

The reason is that there are a large amount of supplies to enter and leave from Tao City, and closing the city gate is to cause trouble for oneself.

But Ruyin is the rear line of defense. At this time, it is neither a front-line transportation hub nor a grain production base, but an important place during wartime, so a curfew is imposed at night.

Chen Duance immediately came to ask:

"Lieutenant General, what should we do at this time?"

Shen Bing understood the meaning of these words.

If you go forward and call the door, you must accept the strict interrogation of the Chu army.

Three thousand cavalry is not a small number, anyone will be suspicious, and Shen Bing will not be able to produce official documents and the like.

Another option is to wait for dawn at the base of the city. Once the city gate opens, the Black Armored Army can enter through several city gates in batches.

The problem is that if we wait any longer, the warning messenger from Xiang Yan's side will probably also arrive, and it will be even more difficult for the Black Armored Army to sneak into the city.

So it’s not worth waiting, and it’s not worth waiting.

After thinking about it, Shen Bing ordered:

"The whole army hides in the dense forest, dispatches light cavalry to garrison all roads and alleys outside the city, and intercepts and kills the messengers!"

Chen Duan responded and went to arrange.

In ancient times, it was plane warfare and the communication equipment was very backward, so it was not difficult to intercept the messenger and block the communication.

For example, now, it is almost certain that the messenger from Xiang Yan's direction is riding a horse and the purpose is Ruyin, so it only needs to block the road outside the city to prevent Ruyin from getting news.

So Shen Bing could wait in the dense forest with the Black Armored Army, and act after dawn.

However, after entering the dense forest, Shen Bing felt that this was not very appropriate.

Because Xiang Yan seems to have another way of communication...

Communication from Xiang Yana to Ruyin can only be done by land, and it is true that it can be blocked from this end of the defense line.