Wang Jian's victory report was delivered by water and first reached Li Mu.
When Li Mu saw the good news, his eyelids twitched, he slapped the table hard, and laughed out loud: "Zhu Xiang is very good at judging people. After today, there will be another good story!"
When Li Mu returned from this march, he happened to meet Meng Wu.
Meng Wu's face twitched after reading the victory report: "Forcefully attack the three passes of Zhiyuan? Didn't you say Wang Jian was very cautious? This is called cautious?!"
The Three Passes of Zhiyuan had a new name after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, namely the Three Passes of Yiyang, namely Wusheng Pass, Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass. It was the only way from the Jianghuai Plain to the Jianghan Plain. When Wu and Chu fought, Sun Wu and Wu Zixu contributed to the "Battle of Baiju" which was recorded in the history of war.
The Jianghan Plain and the Jianghuai Plain are separated by the Dabie Mountains and the Tongbai Mountains. If the army wants to pass through, it can only go through the narrow pass between the two mountains. The three passes of Zhiyuan are narrow and rugged, "the chariots cannot move without bows and axles, and the horses cannot run side by side". This is a place that military strategists must fight for, and the attacking party always pays a huge price when fighting for it.
But this is just a "must-go" place on land.
All roads lead to the Central Plains. The Qin navy is powerful and can land and attack from the Yangtze River in the south or the sea in the east.
Even on land, Qin State did not border Chu State only in the Jianghan Plain. In history, Wang Jian attacked Chu State from the north of Huaihe River and went east along the Huaihe River. Not only did he have water transportation for food and supplies, but the roads were also much smoother.
What about the three passes of Zhiyuan and the three gates of Yiyang? Just bypass them.
Now the entire Yangtze River is under the control of the Qin army. Is it necessary for Wang Jian, a "cautious" general, to attack the Three Passes of Zhiyuan
"With less than 3,000 casualties in one battle, we were able to capture the three passes of Zhiyuan and deal a heavy blow to the morale of the Chu State. Isn't this called being cautious?" Li Mu said with a smile, "Being cautious doesn't mean being timid, but being confident enough to succeed."
Seeing Meng Wu still disapproving, Li Mu said, "Wang Jian must have spread rumors in the local area first to let the Chu generals see him clearly. This is his first time as a commander-in-chief. He had a mediocre reputation before, and he is not from a general family. It is easy for people to look down on him. When he slowly marched to the three passes of Zhiyuan, the Chu army got the news early... Meng Wu, if you guard the pass, the commander who comes is not only not well-known, but you have also discovered his marching intentions long ago. What will you do?"
Meng Wu said without hesitation: "It depends on the strength of both sides. If my strength is not inferior to his, I will definitely set up a good battle formation, lure him in, and annihilate this enemy completely."
Li Mu said, "The generals of Chu thought so too. When the Chu State was in civil strife, Wang Jian had already set up camp west of the Three Passes. Fearing that Qin would take advantage of the situation, both the rebels and the counter-rebellion forces agreed to leave heavy troops to guard the Three Passes of Zhiyuan. The troops led by Wang Jian were equal to those stationed by Chu. According to common sense, the Chu soldiers had the upper hand, set up their battle formations, and prepared their bows and crossbows first, and should be able to wipe out Wang Jian completely."
Li Mu couldn't help laughing again and said, "Showing weakness to the enemy and luring them into attacking, this is Wang Jian's strategy."
Meng Wu took a few deep breaths, held his forehead and said, "Lure the enemy to attack, and then confront them head-on and push them down? This is Wang Jian's strategy? This strategy is also..."
Li Mu sighed: "It's simple, yet unsolvable."
It is true that Wang Jian gave the Chu army an advantage. How could the Chu army not send troops when they had such a huge advantage? If they did not even dare to seize such a huge advantage, and retreated to the pass and waited for the enemy to surround and attack them, they would be courting death.
Defending a pass is always the same as defending a city. Defending it to the death is equivalent to defending it to death. If there is no reinforcement, it will be a dead end. Only by taking the initiative to attack can you repel the enemy.
The attackers would lay siege to the city and attack the reinforcements, while the defenders would also go out of the city to annihilate the attackers' active forces and seek a chance of victory.
The Chu army deployed heavy troops to defend the three passes of Zhiyuan, which also meant that the generals guarding the three passes would most likely not receive support. Therefore, the Chu generals had to seek opportunities to take the initiative to attack.
Didn't the Chu general see that the Qin army was deliberately showing weakness? It didn't matter if he saw it. Because the Chu army had chosen the confrontation position, the Chu army had set up the formation first, and the Chu army was well rested. With all these advantages, what tricks could the Qin army use
Wang Jian did not resort to any tricks.
He simply lured the enemy into attacking successfully, and then defeated them fairly after the enemy took full initiative.
"Meng Wu, do you know whose strategy among the deceased generals is the most difficult to break?" Li Mu asked.
Meng Wu originally wanted to say "Wu'an Jun Bai Qi", but when he opened his mouth, he remembered that Li Mu said "deceased", so he changed his words and said: "There are so many famous generals who have passed away, I can't say for sure."
Li Mu felt helpless about Meng Wu's "poor performance".
In his opinion, although Meng Wu's talent as a general was slightly inferior to his, if he studied hard, he would not be able to become a famous general in the second tier of the world.
But unfortunately Meng Wu himself did not have such ambition.
"We are now in Chu. Wu Qi of Chu is one of the famous generals whose strategies are the most difficult to break." Li Mu said, "Wu Qi did not have many brilliant strategies in his life. He only had strong soldiers and horses and sharp weapons and armor."
That's it.
Meng Wu frowned, and was forced to think about what Li Mu said. Then he sighed and said, "It's just one good one."
Wu Qi's skill lies in training soldiers. The soldiers he trained were first-class in combat power and morale. Not only were the soldiers strong, but they were also willing to die for him.
Strategy is always used in the early stage when information is unclear, or when you are forced to use a small force to defeat a large force. If you lead a large army to fight, both the enemy and you know each other's situation clearly, and when the fight starts, it all depends on who is stronger.
Therefore, Wu Qi was difficult to defeat.
"This is Wang Jian's style of leading troops. When he decided to go to war, he had already determined victory." Li Mu said with emotion, "He was born to be a Qin general. Only a powerful Qin State can allow him to use this fighting style to the extreme."
Whenever the Qin State attacked other countries, it would send out large armies to attack directly. With flags flying, it could tell the enemy from a distance that we are coming.
Therefore, Wang Jian was difficult to defeat.
Li Mu couldn't help but put himself in the shoes of Wang Jian's enemy, thinking about how he would deal with it if he met Wang Jian.
After thinking about it, he just felt a headache.
If the country behind him is as powerful as Qin, then he will compete with Wang Jian in terms of military strength and morale of soldiers. It will really be like what Ma Fujun said, "When two brave men meet in a narrow road, the brave one wins."
If the country behind him could not compete with Qin, then Wang Jian would slowly consume him. Wang Jian could lose many times, but if he lost once, he would lose everything.
At this moment, Ying Xiaozheng's arrogant face appeared in Li Mu's mind.
Oh, if I confront Wang Jian head-on, the Qin State will suffer huge losses. So I will probably be eliminated by Zheng'er using a strategy of alienation.
Li Mu held his forehead with his hand, feeling the pain of being hostile to Wang Jian and Ying Xiaozheng.
"Why are you sighing? Are you worried that Wang Jian will be better than you and you won't be able to become Marquis Wu'an?" Meng Wu laughed and added fuel to the fire.
Li Mu glanced at Meng Wu and said, "Even if Wang Jian's ability to lead troops is equal to mine, I became the commander-in-chief more than ten years earlier than Wang Jian. If we run forward at the same speed, can he catch up with me?"
Meng Wu had no fun watching and said regretfully, "It's a pity for Wang Jian."
Li Mu was speechless. What a pity? What a pity that he didn't suppress me? Who are you friends with
Meng Wu coughed dryly and changed the subject: "But I still don't understand what the meaning of him attacking Zhiyuan Sanai is."
Li Mu smiled again: "The capture of the Zhiyuan Sanai Pass, which was known to be difficult to capture, is a great achievement."
"Wang Jian has taken down the three passes of Zhiyuan?" Zichu rubbed his eyes, took a closer look at the battle report, then pulled Zhu Xiang's sleeve and said in disbelief, "Wang Jian has taken down the three passes of Zhiyuan? How did he do it?"
Zhu Xiang straightened the clothes that Zichu had pulled askew, and said speechlessly, "It's clearly written in the victory report."
Zichu said, "He lured the Chu generals guarding the pass to send out troops, and then wiped out the guards of the three passes of Zhiyuan in one fell swoop. The Chu generals fled eastward, and the three passes were occupied by the Qin army. That's it?"
Zhu Xiang asked, "What do you mean?"
Zichu put down the victory report, stood up, and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back: "Is this true? How is it possible? Even if they were defeated, the Chu generals could still rely on the pass to hold on. How could the Chu generals run away after failing once?"
Zhu Xiang carefully read Wang Jian's victory report again and said, "Wang Jian wrote that he wiped out the defenders in one fell swoop. If the defenders were completely wiped out, who would guard the pass? They would naturally retreat."
Zichu stopped his pace and asked: "Were they all wiped out in one fight?"
Zhu Xiang was extremely helpless: "King of Qin, Your Majesty, Xia Tong! The victory report clearly states that Wang Jian lured the defenders to fight against him head-on. He won the fight, and the defenders abandoned the pass and fled eastward. It's hard to understand."
Zichu took a deep breath and said, "Is this easy to understand? How on earth could he defeat the well-rested Chu army when the forces of the enemy and us were similar?"
Zhu Xiang said, "Anyway, he won. Why do you care how he won? You might as well think that he could win even with such a disadvantage. Qin State has produced another famous general. Great."
Ying Xiaozheng was repeating the words on the side, even though he didn't know what a repeater was: "Great kindness!"
Zichu slowly exhaled the breath he had taken in: "Yes, great kindness, great kindness."
He jumped around a few times like a monkey.
Zichu clenched his fists and said excitedly: "With Li Mu and Wang Jian, I have the whole world in my hands."
Zhu Xiang said: "The whole world has long been in the hands of Qin, but it has to be taken slowly."
Ying Xiaozheng continued to repeat: "Yes, it has long been in Qin's hands."
Zichu slapped his son on the forehead, then regained his composure and sat back in his chair: "There is only one dangerous pass on the border of Chu State, and the rest of the borders with other countries are either plains or rivers. The Qin army has a sharp fleet, and the rivers are like smooth roads. Now that the only dangerous pass of Chu State has been taken by Wang Jian, they probably won't fight any more."
This battle has little strategic significance, but great political significance.
Wang Jian's direct attack on the Chu army guarding the dangerous pass did not leave Chu without any defenses, because Qin could have taken a detour to attack Chu.
He used this battle to tell the State of Chu that even if Chu had the best of time and place, it was still no match for the Qin army.
Although Bai Qi is old, he has Li Mu, and now there is Wang Jian.
The remaining pride and sense of security of the Chu people were completely shattered in the Battle of Zhiyuan.
"It's time to send an envoy to Chu to mediate the conflict." After watching Zichu calm down after a long period of madness, Cai Ze said, "Wei, Han, Zhao, Qi, and Yan should send a coalition army and envoys to force the two warring parties in Chu to shake hands and make peace, and then use the Huai River as the boundary to divide the territory and govern it separately."
Lin Zhi propped his chin with his hand and sighed, "It's a pity that I ate too much and it's hard to digest. Otherwise, it would be great if Qin and Chu could divide the water and rule again."
Zichu also sighed: "Li Mu and Wang Jian are enough to conquer Qin south of the Huai River. Can't we just attack directly? Zhu Xiang..."
Zhu Xiang crossed his hands in front of his chest and said, "It's no use calling me. No matter how powerful I am, I can't help you pacify so many people in Chu at once. But if the rebels of the Jing and Zhao clans can rule the area south of the Huai River, give me three years, I can make their people return to Qin."
He thought for a moment and added, "It's just a commoner, not a scholar."
Ying Xiaozheng said arrogantly: "Commoners are enough. Commoners can farm and weave, serve in the army, and benefit the Qin State. As for the scholars of the Chu State, huh, there is no place for them now."
"After Qin unifies the world, there will be a severe shortage of grassroots officials, and they will always be needed." Zhu Xiang said, "Now let's run the school well. Attract Chu people to come to Southern Qin to study, and the governance of Chu may be slightly better in the future."
Ying Xiaozheng said, "I want to go back to Wujun. My Lord, when can you become the king yourself? You are young and strong, do you still need a prince to help you govern the country?"
Zichu really wanted to carry this outspoken prince out.
This unfilial son with a bad mouth is just relying on the fact that there is no other heir choice besides him, right? I will kill the young master…
Zichu suddenly remembered that he had a son: "Zhu Xiang, how is Chengjiao's enlightenment going?"
Zhu Xiang said proudly: "Very smart, you have learned a hundred words!"
Zichu said indifferently: "Oh."
This unfilial son is just relying on the fact that there is no other heir choice except him, right
(End of this chapter)