The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

On a deep winter night, more than a dozen ships were anchored in the stormy Pengli Lake. Under Zhao Tuo's orders, they did not beat drums or blow trumpets, nor did they raise battle flags. Instead, they folded the sails and quietly hid in the night.

Standing on the swaying edge of the boat, looking at Pengze City with a faint fire a few miles away, Zhao Tuo's face was a little ugly.

Zhao Tuo was now very weak. The bowl of chicken blood wine he drank with Heifu and Wu Rui almost took his life. On the first day of his return, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, and then vomited and had diarrhea...

"Could it be that the Yue people put a poison in the chicken blood wine?" Zhao Tuo's men were very worried.

In the eyes of the people of the Central Plains, the Yue people were barbarians living in the waters and mountains of the south. They worshipped witches and ghosts, and even raised snakes and insects as poison to poison others. Therefore, when they saw Zhao Tuo was unwell, they were immediately nervous.

Zhao Tuo thought that the bowl of chicken blood wine was made by Heifu's men, and the Yue people had no chance to poison them. They probably drank raw blood and had stomach discomfort.

At this time, they received an urgent report from Pengze by water: Fanyang Jun attacked Pengze with a surprise force!

Someone sent this situation to Heifu Sima as soon as possible, and Zhao Tuo also ordered the fleet to hoist the sails, all the members to paddle, and return quickly!

"Won't the five hundred masters wait for Sima's order here?" The men hesitated.

Although Zhao Tuo was weak and couldn't even lift the sword, his mind was clear.

"Pengze is in urgent need of help. The city may fall at any moment. It will take two days to send the news to Sima, and another two days to return here. If I stay here, Pengze will have been broken! It is better to return quickly to find out the details of the enemy and make plans. It will be in time to come back to support Sima."

After sending his men back to their boats, Zhao Tuo thought secretly: "Sima does not mind Zhao Tuo's low position and swore brotherhood with me. This is a great honor for Zhao Tuo. But I see that his subordinates Gong Ao, Dongmen Bao and others are quite dissatisfied. This is my chance to prove myself! How can I let it go?"

So, at full speed, the group arrived at the lake next to Pengze on the evening of the third day of December. They saw from a distance that the Pengze wharf was burned again, and there were more than a hundred Chu people on guard along the coast, monitoring the movement on the lake at any time.

So Zhao Tuo ordered his men to continue to move forward and hide near Xiaogushan on the north bank.

Zhao Tuo's captains, who were actually the captains, came to the ship to report the enemy situation they saw on the ship.

"The dock was burned, but the city has not fallen yet. The black flag of the Qin army is still hanging."

"The Chu people are more than expected, about a thousand people, flying the flag of Fanyang Jun, occupying the Lilu south of Pengze City as a camp, surrounding the two corners of the city, and the campfire is burning now."

"There are three hundred people defending on the shore, probably because they are afraid that the army will rush back by water."

"Master Wubai, what should we do next?"

Everyone looked at Zhao Tuo. According to their idea, after investigating the enemy situation, it would be a safe way to quickly return to Heifu and meet the army.

"When Sima learns that Pengze has been attacked, he will probably give up attacking Fanyang and return to the south bank of Pengli."

Zhao Tuo thought about it and shook his head: "Based on my understanding of Sima, he will never give up halfway!"

Zhao Tuo has also read military books. He understands that the army heading south is like a bow and crossbow with full power, which has to be fired. If it is withdrawn at this time, it will not only damage the morale, but also make the alliance with the Ganyue people a joke.

So Heifu is unlikely to come back, and it depends on Zhao Tuo and others to lift the siege of Pengze.

He smiled: "The speed of rushing water, which can float stones, is momentum; the speed of birds of prey, which can break bones, is integrity."

"Fanyang Jun thinks that he has sent out a surprise attack to put Sima in a dilemma, but aren't we a surprise attack too?"

"We?" Everyone looked at each other, a little unconfident.

"We are just men on the tower ship. We can gallop on the water for a while, but we are not at an advantage on the shore."

Zhao Tuo had his own ideas. He became serious, looked at everyone, and said in a loud voice: "The Wu people are good at water, but they can fight against the chariots of Chu on land by going up the Huai River and enter Ying after five battles. Who says that men on the tower ship can't go ashore?"

The subordinates asked again: "Even if the five hundred masters want to attack from both inside and outside with the Pengze defenders, where will they land? The dock was burned, and the Chu people also sent 300 people to guard the shore where the small boats can land."

Zhao Tuo did not answer at first, and walked out of the boat room.

They were near Xiaogushan, near the north bank. Zhao Tuo looked at the dark south bank of the river and pointed to a place with water on three sides and no light: "Penglangji!"

Upon hearing this name, everyone was furious and thought that Zhao Wubai was crazy...

...

In the early morning, under the cover of the howling wind and waves, small boats sailed from the depths of the lake to the south bank. More than ten oars entered the water at the same time, stirring the lake water and creating ripples.

If there is no dock, the big ship cannot dock, and can only rely on rowing small boats to sneak close.

Zhao Tuo squatted on the first boat. His stomach had not recovered yet. At this moment, it seemed to be knotted and stabbed. I don't know if it was the sequelae of diarrhea or because of nervousness.

Not only was he nervous that the enemy was outnumbered, he was nervous that his side would be discovered by the enemy troops guarding the shore, and he was also nervous about the waters he was about to enter.

Two miles ahead, the moon reflected the dark cliff, that was Penglangji.

Penglangji stands in the river with strange rocks, facing the river on three sides, resisting the wind and waves, and the waves are surging. Locals say: when the boat passes the reef, even if there is no wind, there are still waves, which is probably why it got its name.

Zhao Tuo turned around and found that the tower ship and warship were gradually shrinking behind him. When they were almost disappearing, Penglangji was also close at hand.

The messy wind blew from the north bank, and the flowing water hit the hull. The soldiers pursed their lips and rowed hard, their hearts in their throats, fearing that they would accidentally hit the reef in the next moment, and the boat would be destroyed and people would die. The river water in December was icy and could quickly take away people's body temperature. Even the soldiers on the tower ship would find it difficult to swim ashore after going down.

"Fortunately, I was not idle during the month of occupying Pengze."

Zhao Tuo was very grateful. He asked people to find out the local terrain and hydrology, and asked a local old fisherman to take him to Penglangji to look at the north bank.

At present, these have become their advantages.

There are tangled rocks on the shore, but it is high tide at this moment, so more than ten small boats safely passed the most dangerous area and rushed to the rugged lakeshore of Penglangji.

Stepping on the cold lake water, the soldiers skillfully dragged the boats ashore and tied them up, and then formed two teams. Everyone's cheeks were red from the cold wind in December, and some even had long snot hanging under their noses.

Although he was called the Lord of Five Hundred, in fact, Zhao Tuo had only more than 300 men. Only 200 people who stayed to guard the tower ships and warships went ashore with him to take this adventure.

Zhao Tuo used his sleeve to wipe the snot from a young ship soldier's nose, patted the nervous crowd, and said with a smile:

"If we fight in the daytime, we dare not claim to be the first."

"But if we talk about night battles, I am afraid no one dares to compete with the ship soldiers!"

Hearing this, everyone laughed in the cold wind. This is indeed the advantage of the ship soldiers. The Qin army, which is mainly composed of farmers, mainly eats millet and rice, and rarely has meat as a side dish, often has the symptom of "bird blindness". They can't see clearly at night. Even if there is a moon, they can hardly see anything at all and have difficulty moving.

However, the ship soldiers are different. They are selected from the fishermen living by the water. They grew up drinking crucian carp soup. They also ate rice and fish in the army. Vitamins were supplemented, so the symptoms of bird blindness were milder.

This dark night is indeed a good time for them to show their skills!

"After tonight, Zhao Tuo may be worthy of being Sima's sworn brother, and the second and third sons will also make achievements and become famous in the army!"

Zhao Tuo was young and not very good at speaking, but he knew that the best way to motivate people was to lead by example.

So he ignored the dull pain in his stomach and the cold wind that poured into his armor, drew his sword, pointed to Pengze City a few miles away, and pointed to Fanyang Jun's camp.

The bonfire over there had merged into the night sky, becoming a blurred spot in the distance, but it pointed them in the general direction.

"Work together inside and outside to wipe out the enemy, and then go into the city to have a warm breakfast!"

The moon hid in the clouds again, and it was pitch black all around, but in the eyes of the men on the tower ship, their 500-man lord Zhao Tuo was emitting a golden light at this moment! Leading everyone forward!

…

"Ten days ago, Zhao Tuo landed at Penglangji with two hundred men on the ship and attacked Fanyang Jun's camp in the dark. When Xiao Tao in the city saw the fire in the enemy camp, he immediately led the people out of the city to support them. The two of them worked together to kill more than a thousand Chu people. By the next morning, the battle was over. More than 300 Chu people died, more than 200 escaped, and the remaining 500 surrendered."

After informing his men of the battle that took place ten days ago, Hei Fu put down the bamboo slips sent by Peng Ze and said complacently: "How is it? My vision of people is still accurate, right?"

Dongmen Bao, Gong Ao, Ji Ying and others looked at each other. They thought they could do it with a small number of people, but landing and attacking in a place with strong winds and waves and dense reefs was not something that could be done without great wisdom and courage.

They were dissatisfied with Hei Fu's appreciation of Zhao Tuo before, mainly because Zhao Tuo did not show any extraordinary qualities, but this time, they had to accept it.

Xu Shu was relieved when he heard this, and smiled: "We have found the servant who worked for Huangjincai."

Heifu asked someone to open a wooden box that was sent with him, and inside was a head with half of the face burnt.

"This is Fanyang Jun himself, who also died in the chaos. Zhao Tuo also sent his head specially, wanting me to use it to intimidate Fanyang and shake its military morale."

Heifu stood up and walked to the side of the city tower. Looking at the Qin army that was cleaning up the battlefield and the embarrassed Chu captives, he smiled: "Zhao Tuo is shining, and I, his sworn brother, am not at a disadvantage!"

Just yesterday, after several days of attack, Wu Rui led the Ganyue people to attack Fanyang from the water gate. E Jun led more than a thousand people in the city to resist stubbornly, but they were no match for the high-spirited Qin army and were quickly defeated. After paying more than 200 casualties, Heifu has completely controlled the largest city in Yuzhang!

In mid-December, Fanyang Jun died in Pengze, and Fanyang was conquered by Heifu. Thus, the war in the north of Yuzhang was declared over. Heifu asked Ji Ying to send this good news to Li You, the commander-in-chief who was attacking Changsha, and the newly established "Jiujiang County" in Shouchun, Huainan.

In early January, Li You's order was still on the way, but Jiujiang County's reply arrived first.

"According to the king's order, the Yuzhang area in the south of the Yangtze River will be transferred to Jiujiang County, and the Fanyang area will continue to be a county, and Pengze and Yugan will be its townships..."

Along with it, there was also a letter of appointment, a brand new crown and clothes, and a small copper seal with an ink ribbon...

In the Qin system, each level had a corresponding official seal. For example, Heifu's previous work as a military left Cao Shi was a low-ranking assistant official, with a salary of two hundred stones, so he only had a small seal; officials above two hundred stones and below six hundred stones were copper seals with yellow ribbons. Heifu was the left lieutenant of Anlu County, and he was in this case.

As for the copper seal and black ribbon, with two colors under the ribbon, it means he is a "high official" with a rank of 600 shi!

Sure enough, after opening the appointment letter, Hei Fu's name was written on it!

"The fifth official Hei Fu made great contributions in the southern expedition, so the governor of Jiujiang County appointed him as the magistrate of Fanyang!"