The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Wu Rui and the Yue people in Yugan City travel by water. The Yue people live by the water, use boats as vehicles and oars as horses. It doesn't matter if the mountains and forests are difficult to walk through. They don't need to cut down trees to open roads. The river is a natural green and smooth road.

The boats are brand new and exude the smell of resin. On the Yugan River, following the current, their speed is no less than that of horses and carriages. Although it is a little shaky, Wu Rui can stand steadily on the bow, and the splashing waves hit his bare feet.

He is the captain of this ship and the leader of dozens of boats behind him. He brought the best warriors and the best swords of Yugan. His father asked him to meet with the Qin people and try to make friends with them, but he planned to see first whether they are worthy of his respect.

Wu Rui turned around and saw the Chu warrior lying in the boat, not daring to stand up. He held the boat tightly with his hands, not daring to let go. His long sleeves were wet, and he looked a little embarrassed.

Wu Rui smiled contemptuously, walked over and asked him condescendingly: "Mr. Xu, how many people will the Qin army send?"

Xu Shu raised his head, wiped the water off his face, and smiled: "No less than the Yugan Yue people."

"Mr., how do you think my warriors compare to the Qin soldiers?"

Wu Rui looked at the Yue people who were embroidered with dragon and snake tattoos and rowing on both sides with oars in their hands. Their equipment was simple, and few of them wore armor, but they were all strong and strong, with Ganyue short swords hanging on their waists.

He pointed to a man with fish-shaped patterns on his face: "His name is Ju Yu, he can fight with giant alligators in the water, and cut off the alligator's tongue to offer to my father."

He pointed to another big man with a broad waist and a big body: "His name is Ju Qu, he can fight wild boars on the mountain, and he carried the big boar back to the city by himself."

There was also a thin man sitting at the end of the boat steering: "His name is Lu Ma, he can blow arrows with one hand and never miss a shot!"

"I heard that the Qin army swept across the Chu State. Among the Qin soldiers, there were many such warriors?" Wu Rui said proudly.

Xu Shu smiled and said, "Most Qin people are farmers who till the fields. I don't think there are many such warriors."

When the Ganyue tribes fought each other, they fought in groups. Wu Rui didn't understand the military discipline of the formation. Hearing this, he thought that the Qin army had no warriors and looked down on them...

Unexpectedly, Xu Shu said, "But I think that the victory of the Qin army is not the result of personal courage, but the victory of weapons, equipment, and military discipline. If a Qin man fights with a Yue man barehanded, the Qin man may not be the opponent of the Yue man, but if he is made to wear armor and carry a spear and hold a strong crossbow, one Qin man can defeat two Yue men. If a Qin man and a Yue man fight in formation, three hundred Qin men can defeat more than a thousand Yue men."

Wu Rui was a little dissatisfied, but at this time, a loud shout came from the boat in front: "The Gan River has arrived!"

Wu Rui turned around and saw that the water surface was suddenly widened, and the Yugan River merged into the Gan River here.

Further down, Shishui also converges, and thirty miles ahead, Xiushui also converges from the west. At this point, Ganshui is truly as big as Jing River, and you can't tell cattle and horses apart between the two banks and cliffs...

This place is two hundred miles away from Yugan. When Wu Rui was a child, he went downstream with others, continued forward, and drove into Pengli Lake to Xunyi and Pengze to trade with the Chu people, so he had some impressions of the scenery along the way:

Two thousand years later, the world has changed dramatically, and this area will be submerged by the water of Poyang Lake, but now it is a vast plain, full of dark swamps, and low-lying and humid land. Looking around, there is no road at all, only reeds and jungles, and you can often see groups of elk running in between. Some Yue people who live by the water live in stilt houses made of mud and thatch in the weeds, and make a living by catching fish and clams in the rivers and lakes.

But now it was a little different. On the east bank of Pengli Lake, there were more than ten ships moored. Compared with the boats of the Yue people, those warships and big wings were huge, not to mention the building ship. Even though it was quietly moored by the lake, people could already fully feel its height and terror: a brown streamlined hull dozens of steps long, a large mast, fifty long oars, and a deck large enough for a hundred people to stand on...

The Yue people who were rowing stopped their oars at the same time and sighed.

"It's so big..."

"Like a mountain."

Wu Rui couldn't laugh anymore. He secretly calculated that if they fought in the lake, they would probably be knocked over and all fell into the water. Even if they were a hundred steps apart, the waves would make their boats shake. And there were many soldiers holding bows and crossbows on the building ship. Even if they avoided it from a distance, they would be shot to death by them from a high position.

As they got closer, they found that a group of people were continuously transporting large bags of food from the boat to the shore. Going south from Pengze, the road along the way was narrow and it was difficult to transport food, so they asked the people on the tower ship to carry the food back to the lake mouth, enter the southern lake of Pengli Ze, and meet up with the land army here on the east bank.

After discovering the Yue people's boats going straight down the Gan River, several warships immediately turned their heads and aimed at them. Under the command of a dark and thin Qin official, the Qin people on the shore also raised their bows and arrows.

The Yue people were also very alert and reached for the short sword at their waists. Fortunately, Xu Shu asked someone to raise the Qin flag he was carrying and explained his intention.

"Mr. Xu is really punctual."

The dark and thin Qin official reached out to help Xu Shu get ashore, and then looked at Wu Rui who was on the same boat.

"Is this the leader of the Yue people?"

He looked at Wu Rui and smiled, "You are quite young."

Xu Shu introduced the two to each other: "This is Zhao Tuo, the leader of the Qin army's five hundred ships."

"This is Wu Rui, the son of Yu Ganyi."

Zhao Tuo greeted Wu Rui, and Wu Rui also returned the Yue people's courtesy. The two people who later became enemies in history were very ordinary and friendly when they met for the first time.

Zhao Tuo said that he had just arrived in the morning, and the land army led by Hei Fu arrived here yesterday and has now built a camp.

"The lakeside is low and wet, and it is difficult to camp, so the camp is set up on a hill one mile away. Mr. Wu, Mr. Xu, let's go now!"

Wu Rui knew that he could not take a thousand people to see the Qin army Sima, so he asked his men to drive the boats to the west bank of the Gan River to anchor. On the one hand, it could prevent the soldiers of both sides from clashing, and on the other hand, if they encountered any emergencies, they could leave calmly and not be wiped out.

He put away his ignorance and replaced it with deep distrust of the Qin people.

Wu Rui took three of his most courageous subordinates and followed Zhao Tuo and Xu Shu for a few hundred steps. When they climbed the hill, they were shocked to find that this uninhabited place was like mushrooms growing overnight during the plum rain season, and there was a camp of tents.

And an army that Wu Rui had never seen in the past 20 years was neatly lined up in front of the camp, all dressed in black, wearing Qin army leather armor, ten people in a row, a hundred people in a row, a full thousand Qin soldiers, which looked much more pleasing to the eye than the mess of the Ganyue people's gathering.

And the shining spears, swords and halberds in their hands were no less than the more than a hundred short swords of the Ganyue people. Wu Rui immediately remembered Xu Shu's words to him, "One Qin can defeat two Yue people; three hundred Qin people can defeat more than a thousand Yue people."

At this time, a fierce drumbeat sounded, and accompanied by the drumbeat, a thousand Qin soldiers were neatly divided into two parts, leaving a road several steps wide in the middle, leading directly to the gate of the Qin camp.

Although Wu Rui was a small lord of Yugan, he had never been far away. To put it bluntly, he was actually a country bumpkin. He participated in several tribal fights and thought that Yugan was a very powerful city within a thousand miles, and his warriors had no rivals.

But now that he saw the regular army from Qin, his previous contempt disappeared, leaving only admiration and envy.

As he passed through the center of the Qin soldiers, he thought to himself: "If Yugan also had so many armors and weapons, Fanyang could be easily captured..."

When he reached the camp gate, he saw that the atmosphere inside was quite strong. He saw that from the hundred steps leading to the Qin army's tent, a hundred sturdy short-soldier guards all stood out. They wore heavy helmets, thick armor, black battle robes, and held long halberds more than ten feet long and short swords with black scabbards. They lined up in two vertical rows, standing from the gate to the tent.

A young military officer of the same age as Wu Rui and Zhao Tuo, wearing a plate crown and holding a long sword, stepped out. It was Gong Ao.

"I am here to welcome Lord Wu of Yugan under the order of the Sima of another department."

He waved his hand and said, "Lord Wu, please come in!"

The weapons in the hands of those short-sword guards were all real weapons. At this moment, the sun had peeked out from the clouds and shone on them, shining brightly and illuminating the road ahead. Hundreds of warriors also turned their heads to look at Wu Rui, their eyes were full of deterrence!

The three warriors behind Wu Rui were a little alert, but Wu Rui was not afraid at all. He held his short sword and stepped forward. Zhao Tuo, Gong Ao and others behind him couldn't help but look at each other and nodded secretly, thinking that this little ruler of the Yue people was quite courageous.

Walking to the front of the camp gate, Dongmen Bao stood in front of the curtain with a fierce look, pointing at the short sword on Wu Rui's waist and said: "How can I not take off my sword when meeting Sima? Please hand over the weapon to me!"

Wu Rui didn't understand what Dongmen Bao said, but he guessed what he was going to do, so he frowned and said: "The sword is like the wife of the Yue people, how can I hand it over to others? If you insist on taking my sword, I will leave!"

Xu Shu hurriedly stepped forward to persuade him, and Dongmen Bao was about to get angry, but a voice came from the tent to stop him.

"Forget it, since the customs of the Yue people are like this, there is no need to force him, let him in!"

Dongmen Bao reluctantly made way, and Zhao Tuo and Gong Ao entered one after another, opening the tent on the left and right, and made a gesture of invitation.

Wu Rui was a little impatient to step in. After seeing so much along the way, he was very curious about what kind of person the Qin army Sima was inside?

A black-faced Qin official wearing a pheasant crown stood up from the table and looked at Wu Rui calmly. He was plain-looking and not the hero Wu Rui imagined. His eyes seemed to hide a lot of thoughts.

"I greet Sima!"

Zhao Tuo and Gong Ao on the left and right bowed one after another. After hesitating for a moment, Wu Rui also imitated them and bowed slightly to Heifu.

Wu Rui was proud, but not stupid. He had understood that this Qin army was indeed very powerful. And according to his father, for the Qin State, these thousands of Qin soldiers were just a drop of water in the river. As long as the Qin State was willing, it could mobilize an army ten or even a hundred times larger!

"Even if we can't be friends, at least we can't anger this person and make Qin and Ganyue enemies."

So, at this moment, the three kings of Nanyue, Linjiang, and Changsha in history all bowed in front of Heifu...