The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Hei Fu's distance made it difficult to see the details of the battlefield, but Zhou Wen, the "sun watcher" of the Chu army, could see it clearly!

The so-called sun watchers have two responsibilities. One is to observe the sun's shadow and calculate the good and bad times, which belongs to the ranks of "military yin and yang masters". On the other hand, they also have to use their good eyesight to observe the enemy's movements and report to the general.

So Zhou Wen was fortunate to witness the contest between Wang Jian and Xiang Yan, two famous generals of the time.

Xiang Yan's army in the east has a total of 90,000 people, including 10,000 "Wang Zhi You Guang", 10,000 Xiang clan soldiers, 10,000 Qu clan soldiers and Zhao clan soldiers, in addition to 30,000 Huaibei, Huainan, Jiangdong county soldiers, and 20,000 local small feudal lords.

The Qin army in the west had about 100,000 people. Zhou Wen was not very clear about their composition. He only knew that Wang Jian had three 10,000-man corps at the front, flying the flag of the Qin army's Guanzhong troops, with thousands of chariots on the left and right to protect them.

At the beginning of the battle, Xiang Yan ordered Zhao Hua, who had the strongest execution ability, to lead the Zhao clan soldiers to attack the Qin army, with chariots leading the way and infantry following, to test the junction of the three corps of the Qin army's vanguard.

The Qin army first had crossbowmen kneeling upright to shoot in turns. After thousands of arrows were fired, the crossbowmen dodged and retreated to the two wings, the Chen gate was opened, and the infantry followed and broke into the Chu army formation. Just as the two infantrymen were fighting, the assembled Qin army chariot soldiers also quickly rushed out from the two wings and attacked the Chu army from the side...

The Zhao clan soldiers pretended to retreat in defeat, and the three corps of the Qin army's vanguard also began to pursue and fight with the Zhao clan soldiers. The position where they fought was to the north.

"General, your plan has worked!"

Watching this scene, Zhou Wen was not worried but happy. According to Xiang Yan's plan, because his own troops were slightly less, he had to fully mobilize the enemy. After the battle began, Zhao Hua had to pretend to be defeated to lure the enemy and tie down the main force of the Qin army to the north, while the main force of the Chu army had to march towards Wang Jian's central army and give a decisive blow!

However, the course of the battle was beyond the Chu army's expectations. The three Qin corps attacked fiercely, so that they soon defeated the Zhao clan soldiers and even threatened the overall situation on the north side.

In order to stop the Qin army from making a detour to the rear of the Chu army in the southern section, stabilize the defensive formation, and also attract more Qin troops to this direction, Xiang Yan waved his flag and ordered the 10,000 Huaibei county soldiers and 10,000 Fengjun troops deployed on the second line of the northern section to quickly engage in battle and attack the enemy's left rear from the northeast.

Because the new forces of the Chu army suddenly launched a fierce counterattack, the three Qin army corps were temporarily unable to break through, so the Qin army mobilized another 10,000 infantry from the center to join in, and the battle seemed to be stagnant on the northern line...

Attack, defense, counterattack, feign defeat, real defeat, battle, stalemate, reinforcement, and then tug of war. Wang Jian and Xiang Yan were like two cautious chess players. This series of moves alone lasted for a whole hour, and thousands of people had died in the wild!

As a result, the 40,000-man Qin army was dragged on the northern line by more than 30,000 Chu people. At the same time, in the south, there were also 10,000 Chu State Qu's divisions that came forward and entangled at least 20,000 Qin people.

Wang Jian fought the way of encircling the two wings, placing the elite troops of Guanzhong on the left and right, and now they are gradually gaining the upper hand. But in this way, too many troops were invested in the north and south, which made the center of the Qin army reveal a flaw! What stood in front of the Chu army were only tens of thousands of people in disordered formation, holding the flags of the Hedong and Sanchuan soldiers.

This was the opportunity Xiang Yan had been waiting for for a whole hour!

Zhou Wen was overjoyed. After reporting this situation, the drums suddenly beat loudly at the flag of Xiang Yan's central army!

The Chu army had 50,000 soldiers in the central army. Except for 10,000 feudal lord troops with messy clothes, the rest were soldiers from the Xiang clan, You Guang, Jiangdong, and Huainan. They were all wearing red clothes, red hair, red armor, and red feathers, and they looked like fire.

After receiving the order, the Chu king You Guang, who was mainly composed of chariot soldiers, was the vanguard, the Xiang clan soldiers were the core, and the soldiers from Jiangdong and Huainan were on the left and right. They began to march forward like an overwhelming red wave!

Wang Jian also noticed the intention of the Chu army. With the flags waved, thousands of chariots drove out of the Qin formation and launched a counterattack against the Chu army!

"Fighting chariots with the Chu army?"

Zhou Wen felt ridiculous and immediately had someone report what he had noticed to the general.

Although the Chu State was located in the south and had fewer good horses, its chariots were not weak. During the Spring and Autumn Period, thousands of Chu chariots traveled across the Central Plains!

"Holding Wu spears and wearing rhinoceros armor, the chariots are crossed and the close weapons are engaged!"

Accompanied by a loud Chu song as the beginning, in the Chu State formation, the Chu King You Guang, who carried the glory of four hundred years, started thousands of chariots. The horses wearing tiger skin or cowhide armor neighed and passed by the Qin chariots that were speeding forward.

In the chariot era, when two chariots met, they did not confront each other head-on, but had to stagger and fight on the side. Bows and arrows were used for long distances, and spears, spears, halberds, and other "five weapons of chariots" were used for short distances. Swords were used for close combat. This is the so-called "cross-hub" fighting.

When it comes to chariot warfare, the Chu people are experts. They also specially equipped their chariots with long-bladed hubs. When the chariots started, the long-bladed hubs also rolled rapidly. When the two chariots crossed, not only could the legs of the horses passing by the side be completely cut off, causing the limbs to fly all over the battlefield, but the charioteers' superb skills could also hit the enemy's wheels and destroy their axles and spokes.

After a fight, only more than ten Chu chariots were destroyed, but hundreds of Qin chariots fell to the ground. Even if the charioteers, charioteers on the left and right were lucky enough to survive, they were soon killed by Chu soldiers.

Seeing that the chariots had the upper hand, the morale of the Chu army was boosted, and the pace of the infantry also accelerated!

"The flags cover the sun and the enemies are like clouds, the arrows are flying and the soldiers are vying for the first place!"

After You Guang, the Xiang clan soldiers also sang "National Mourning". Even though the number of Qin troops on the opposite side was almost the same as their own assault troops, even though their flags covered the sky and the enemies were like clouds, even though the arrows were flying and falling like raindrops, the Chu people were still fighting bravely and moving forward!

The Xiang clan soldiers, who were taught by Xiang Yan, were often inspired by him with the national humiliation suffered by the Chu people in the past hundred years: from the disastrous defeats in Chuisha and Lantian, from King Huai of Chu being detained by Qin and not returning, to the hundreds of thousands of Chu people dying in the Battle of Yanying, to King Xiangxiang's humiliating eastward migration, and finally Qu Yuan's grief-stricken suicide.

The past hundred years have been a road of rising up with high morale for Qin, but a road of falling down and failure for Chu. Most of the Chu nobles are deeply ashamed of it...

"A hundred years of national humiliation, avenge it in one battle! Take down Wang Jian's banner for me!"

Xiang Yan's order reached everyone's ears. Under the leadership of the noble generals, although they were a little confused about the "national humiliation", the Chu soldiers, who also believed that the Qin people were invading their homes and wanted to seize their wives, children and fields, followed and sang a louder Chu song!

"The sky is falling and the power is angry, and the severe killing is abandoned in the wilderness."

"You can't go out and you can't go back. The plains are suddenly far away."

Tens of thousands of people ran and trampled, causing dust to fly on the battlefield, which merged with the dust raised by the chariots and the battlefields in the north and south, covering the sky that had just cleared up.

This was destined to be a battle that would turn the world upside down. Perhaps after this battle, all the soldiers of the army would die in the vast wilderness, but even if they never returned, they would never regret it!

With this momentum, the soldiers of the Xiang clan, Huainan, and Jiangdong shouted and charged forward, hitting the weak Qin army array heavily! And defeated the Qin army in one fell swoop!

However, when the Qin army in front of him "retreated" rapidly to both sides, when the smoke curtain cloud covering the battlefield in the rear completely dissipated, Zhou Wen, who rode his horse close to observe the battlefield, couldn't help but take a breath!

…

Wang Jian's big flag with a dragon flag and feathers was clearly visible, but between him and the Chu army, there was actually a square array of tens of thousands of people. With the cover of the army in front, they had already set up their array!

This Qin army, with about 40,000 people, was divided into four parts, arranged in two front and back formations. The front three armies, the right army relied on the hills to form a formation, the left army relied on the stream to form a formation, and the middle army was deployed horizontally between the left and right armies.

At the front of the square formation was a scattered crossbow army, with hundreds of people in each row, a total of thousands of people. The soldiers did not wear armor, holding long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows, and quietly kneeling on one knee on the ground.

After that, there were infantrymen, who followed the formation of long soldiers in front and short soldiers in the back, taking into account both offense and defense, without leaking a drop of water. In addition, on the left and right sides of the array, there were also several rows of crossbow soldiers, arranged outwards, respectively, to prevent the enemy from attacking from both wings. The formation was complex, with a large formation inside a small formation, combined together, and changed freely.

After the front three armies, the rear guard army gathered at the junction of the front three armies as a support and support, and it was also the location of Wang Jian's military command post. The ceremonial guards were bright and the guards were strict. The messengers went in and out, and the golden drums and flags changed in an orderly manner, just like the hands behind the scenes in the lantern play, commanding the movement of each legion and army formation, like a shadow following the body.

The elite of the Qin army shocked Zhou Wen, and the Qin army's formation made Zhou Wen confused. He realized that the Qin army in front of him was extraordinary, and it must be the elite among the elite!

What made Zhou Wen even more terrified was that he found that this Qin army was fighting with the flags of the tens of thousands of "Guanzhong soldiers" who should have been attracted to the northern front!

"Which one is true and which one is false?"

Zhou Wen vaguely realized that everything before seemed to be a trap, so he immediately asked someone to inform Shangzhuguo!

However, the arrow has been shot and there is no turning back. The pace of the army in front did not stop. Although the Chu people were slightly stunned, they continued to move forward under the order of the captain, wanting to defeat this Qin army and capture and kill the enemy's main general like before!

Facing the Chu army surging like a wave, these Qin people were not afraid. They stood shoulder to shoulder, armor to armor, as if they were one body!

I don't know who took the lead, and in contrast to the Chu song on the opposite side, a song of Qin Feng sang from the tens of thousands of Qin soldiers.

"Who said I have no clothes? I share my clothes with you. When the king raises his army, I will repair my armor and go with you!"

The Qin Feng was high-pitched, and compared with the tragic Chu song on the opposite side, it was not inferior at all!

This was the Qin sound with a full voice, and it was the official Guanzhong dialect.

Zhou Wen understood that these people were the children of Guanzhong recruited from the Internal History and Longxi, the so-called "old Qin people"!

Since Shang Yang's reform, they have been through six or seven generations of military rank inheritance and war baptism.

After a hundred years of accumulation of military merits, among the 50,000 people, all of them had titles, and the lowest was also a public official.

These 50,000 men were all young and strong. They were taught by their fathers that private fighting was shameful and public fighting was honorable. Their lives were only about farming and fighting!

They were proud of their identities and their achievements. They were the core force of the Qin army. They were extremely determined. Facing the violent attack of the Chu army, they remained unmoved!

"Who said I have no clothes? I share the same robe with you. When the king raises his army, I will sharpen my spears and halberds, and I share the same hatred with you!"

The kneeling crossbowmen fired thousands of arrows at the same time, killing and wounding a large number of Chu people and then dispersed to both wings. The spearmen in the back came forward in an orderly manner, shouted angrily, and laid their spears and halberds horizontally to stop all attempts to approach. The archers arranged by the Qin people in the formation also continued to shoot arrows.

With this elite force guarding the gentle slope, Wang Jian's flag did not move a step. On the contrary, the Chu army's wave-like attack was like hitting an immovable black reef, without any effect...

"This is indeed a lure to the enemy!"

Zhou Wen felt a little desperate. General Xiang Yan had been slowly pulling the strings for an hour, and the soldiers had made countless sacrifices and created this opportunity with great courage. The raging fire in their hearts was almost extinguished by Wang Jian's last killer!

But what was even more shocking was that the rumbling of horse hooves sounded to the side of Zhou Wen...

The 3,000 cavalrymen of the Qin army, who had disappeared throughout the battle, made a big circle and appeared to the side! The hundreds of chariots of the Qin army, which had just pretended to be defeated and scattered, also joined them and rushed towards the center of the Chu army!

Xiang Yan has released the last reserve, hoping to break through the Qin Central Army in one fell swoop. At present, he has only 10,000 feudal lords' armed forces around him. Those are the miscellaneous troops of the Chu State, and they cannot be expected to be defeated. If they are approached by the chariots and cavalry, they will surely collapse.

Fortunately, You Guang, who had already fought a fierce battle, regrouped at Xiang Yan's Central Army. He did not even have time to rest and replace the injured horses, so he could only fight out of the formation again.

Five or six thousand war horses, two or three thousand horse legs, galloping on the plains, like rolling thunder, shaking the feet of the infantry! These chariots and cavalry are extremely fast, and soon the enemy and us rushed together, the chariots and horses turned over, and fell into a melee. The long-bladed chariots of the Chu State are very effective against the chariots of the Qin State, but the flexible cavalry is not affected by this. Instead, they can use their flexible body shape to besiege a chariot with several cavalry. For a time, the two sides are in a difficult situation.

Zhou Wen was somewhat stunned. He looked away from the chariots and cavalry, and looked at the Qin army gradually gaining the upper hand in the south and north lines, and then looked at the Chu soldiers in the middle who were struggling to break through the Qin army's defense line in Guanzhong.

The current situation was deadlocked again. If the Qin army's chariots and cavalry, the left and right wings first defeated the Chu army and completed Wang Jian's encirclement, then Qin would win; if the main force of the Chu army first defeated the Qin elite in Guanzhong, then Chu would win.

"Mr. Zhou, look over there!"

However, the battlefield situation changed rapidly, and an accident happened again. At the shouts of his soldiers, Zhou Wen turned his head and looked to the southeast of the battlefield, and his face was immediately horrified!

Xiang Yan placed his hope of blocking the Qin reinforcements on the 20,000 Jing clan soldiers. He only arranged a small sentry unit of more than 100 people in the southeast, but now it has been defeated and scattered.

A Qin army of more than a thousand people was already standing there, and a tiger and bear flag was firmly planted at the highest point of vision! And they were still lining up in formation, as if they might charge down at any time!

The Chu people who saw this scene couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Even Xiang Yan, the Supreme State Pillar, couldn't help but sigh: "The Jing brothers misled me. The Qin army's reinforcements were not stopped?"

...

In the southeast of the battlefield, after running more than ten kilometers with muddy feet and exhausted, the commander Hei Fu finally took a breath and straightened his chest on the small slope.

He stood on the edge of the battlefield, listening to the noisy Chu songs and Qin winds in his ears, and his eyes were fixed on the Chu army camp just two miles away, which was only protected by 10,000 feudal lord troops!

Hei Fu's eyes gradually became eager, as if he was excited about being so close to the center of the times for the first time.

He raised his hand high, as if he was going to order the whole army to charge, regardless of his thirty miles of profit and the fact that he had only a thousand men under his command! Do that thing where one general's success is achieved at the cost of thousands of lives!

But after turning back, Hei Fu just smiled at the Anlu soldiers who were exhausted, panting and unable to even straighten their backs:

"Seconds and thirds, plant all your flags on the top of the slope so that both the enemy and us can see them at a glance, and then rest where you are and wait for the friendly forces!"