The camp abandoned by Mei Wei was still burning in the flames, and the indiscriminate and ethereal wind occasionally went southeast and occasionally northwest, blowing the smoke into chaos, and some of the burned ashes were carried by the wind and fell on the inside of the Qin military camp, so frightened that Shao Ai hurriedly asked people to prepare buckets for fire prevention.

When the 60,000 Qin troops led by Sima Xin arrived, he saw a large number of soldiers carrying buckets of water waiting for battle, and he rode his horse to look at the blazing camp, and then at the fort that had only one roof in the river, and let the troops enter the camp through the four gates.

The wind was blowing very strongly, and some ashes really fell in the Qin army camp and ignited some hay, and the Qin soldiers, who had been prepared, shouted to people to carry buckets and hurriedly ran over to water them. With the first one, the second will be ignited, and the time when Shao Ai should have gone to meet Sima Xin was delayed for a while.

Shao Ai saw Sima Xin in a tent that had just been extinguished, he couldn't see anything from Sima Xin's face, and cautiously walked over and saluted: "See the second general!" ”

Sima Xin didn't have any expression on his face, but he just said "hmm" a syllable and didn't speak again. He looked around, walking around the camp as if he were walking around casually. In fact, he was observing the soldiers of the vanguard army, and every time he won or lost a victory, the soldiers would have different feelings, and he saw a kind of discouragement and helplessness from the demeanor of the vanguard soldiers.

20,000 troops besieged a fort for three days, paid the price of 4,000 men but did not take it, and the last time people lured it in, nearly 3,000 people were killed, and their bodies were left in the wilderness. There were 7,000 men all the way to intercept the enemy, but only 3,000 came back, and almost all of them were wounded. When the main force of 20,000 arrived, there were less than 5,000 people left, and the soldiers said that it was impossible not to be discouraged, they had been busy for three days and nights, and the enemy army had withdrawn, and they had to prevent the burning ashes of the enemy's camp from igniting their own barracks at any time, how could they not feel helpless in their hearts.

The morale of the army is observed from the appearance of each soldier, and the state of the vanguard army that Sima Xin saw was not very good, and the face of Shao Ai would not be much better. He asked Shao Ai to take him to the Chinese military camp tent. When he entered the tent, he was reprimanded.

Shao Ai was scolded so much that he couldn't raise his head, and in the end there were less than 5,000 of the 20,000 soldiers left, and the most important thing was that the results achieved were not satisfactory, and it was pale to explain in any language.

The progress of things to this point is actually beyond many people's expectations, although the Qin military warned that the enemy combat effectiveness of Nanjun would not be too weak before sending troops to test it, so that the Central Plains Army could not have the heart of underestimating the enemy in the south. However, whether it was Xu Yan or Sima Xin, Lu Zhe had only been eight months since he became the lord of Nanjun from a military marquis, and it was not easy to stabilize the place, and he could no longer train a strong army.

As for the defense line of Nanjun, Xu Yan and Sima Xin knew that a lot had been built, but in the eyes of most Qin generals, the defense line was built in just eight months. How strong can even the fortifications of the defense line of Honan County, which has a new fortification, be built? Probably some bluffing stuff.

Now, the facts tell them that the fortifications of Nanjun are not imaginary, the defense line that Lu Zhe has built in eight months is not as vulnerable as imagined, and the vanguard armies of the two routes have not found good terrain to launch an attack so far, and the other way of besieging has besieged but has suffered heavy losses and has not been laid.

"It was easy to clear the outer fortifications, but it was difficult to attack the inside of the fort. According to the description of the escaped soldiers, the inside of the fort was full of labyrinthine corridors similar to Yongdao, and after the soldiers entered it, they encountered the ...... of the organs," Shao Ai had to introduce, and then said: "I went to check it out in person after the fort fell." Found that the enemy fort also has a secret passage outward. ”

The siege was not long, otherwise Shao Ai could have foreseen that if the defenders were given a chance, they would inevitably come out of the dark passage and attack the barracks, and once the enemy attacked successfully, the camp would be set on fire.

"Thoughtful!" Sima Xin's face was expressionless: "I heard that Lu Zhe had just quelled the chaos and immediately built a so-called defense line. But before he had a rebellious heart. ”

Shao Ai bent down and saluted: "What the second general said is extremely true. What else can I say besides this sentence, I also know that Sima Xin is shirking some responsibility for the disadvantage of the vanguard army along the way.

The two were talking, but there was a shout of "water walking" outside. It should be the camp tent around the big tent of the Chinese army, which was set ablaze by the ashes that drifted in.

When Mei Hong arranged the fire, he found a large number of dry leaves and weeds, with the intention that mixing firewood and saltpeter could spread the fire quickly. The fire in the discarded camp really spread quickly, and no one thought that after the fire, there would be a sudden strong wind. The wind is so uncertain again.

How long has Sima Xin been here? A large amount of ash has ignited at least six places, and it seems that the fire in the camp abandoned by the enemy army is getting bigger and bigger, not only the Qin army camp has been ignited, but in addition to the Hanshui side, some of the surrounding weeds have also been affected by the fire.

The two of them went out of the tent, and a gust of wind blew in with the smell of smoke and dust, and they had to squint their eyes.

"Greetings to the lieutenant general! The wind was so strong that the camp could not be erected for a while. A forest to the north was also set on fire, did you send soldiers to extinguish the fire? "It's the party that comes to the party.

Sima Xin looked up at the sky, there was a large dark cloud in the southeast direction drifting quickly, "The weather in the south is ......", he wanted to say that the ghost weather in the south can change no matter how it is said, and he closed his mouth when he was blown in the middle of the dust, and waited for a while, "Don't worry about the woods, it will rain soon, hurry up and set up the camp tent!" ”

The woods on the boundary of Nanjun are on fire and the Qin army is on fire, even if the whole county is on fire, it is the people of Nanjun who dare to follow Lu Zhe's rebellion, if the people in the whole Nanjun are burned to death, then the Qin army will save trouble.

However, the wind that blew the ashes all the way to the Qin army camp, and there were people everywhere shouting "go to the water", Sima Xin frowned and looked at Shao Ai, Sima Xin suddenly had a strange thought in his heart: "Why did such a thing happen when the army just arrived, is it a warning from heaven?" ”

In this era, the army should pay homage to the ghosts and gods, and any little thing can be a kind of omen. Sima Xin studied Confucianism, and although Confucianism has the famous saying that "the son is silent and the power is chaotic", on the other hand, when he emphasized "etiquette" and "etiquette", he told the scholar more than once to know how to revere heaven and earth.

In the period of the unification of the world, various doctrines are also evolving, and now except for the Legalists, which family is seeking to change, Confucianism also absorbs nutrients from the Mohists and the Yin and Yang families, Sima Xin is a Confucian student and naturally has been affected by some influences, and I don't know if it is a coincidence, the banner erected by the Chinese army suddenly broke with a "click" when he just turned his head.

"......" The hearts of those who saw this scene were gloomy, and the banner of the Chinese army was broken by the wind, which was a very ominous sign in anyone's eyes.

Before leading the main force to set off, Sima Xin wrote an official letter to Xu Yan, to the effect that there was preliminary news about the temptation of Nanjun, and those fortifications were not imaginary decorations, and it was almost impossible to sweep hundreds of miles like Wang Ben's division in a few days and nights. He asked Xu Yan that the military's strategic deployment was to conduct two-way testing before the arrival of winter, and now it seems that the Central Plains is better than Nanjun, and whether the temptation of Nanjun will be stopped.

Now Sima Xin has not received a reply from Xu Yan, and as soon as he led the army into the territory of Nanjun, he made a violent wind and blew off the banner of the Chinese army, combined with the loss of more than 14,000 troops in three days, he felt more and more that he should not continue to go south.

"Lieutenant?" Shao Ai had already called a few times, he saw that Sima Xin's face was constantly changing, and after calling again, he finally made Sima Xin come back to his senses, and immediately said: "There is a Lu Zhe army that retreated from here two hours ago, and our army pursued until Ye County before returning. "It's hanging, not chasing, but he must say chase.

Sima Xin looked at the dark clouds that were getting closer and closer, and asked, "How far is this from the place called Ye County?" ”

Shao Ai replied: "About thirty miles." ”

Sima Xin asked again: "What about the situation in Ye County?" ”

After organizing the rhetoric slightly, Shao Ai gave a detailed introduction: "Ye County is a small county of more than 10,000 people, and it is also close to Hanshui, and the enemy army has been transferring the Qianshou in the township during this period of time, and now there should be about 30,000 Qianshou in the city. Lu Zhejun added a wall of three feet and four feet to the old city wall, and there was an arrow tower every fifty meters. At the south gate, the enemy built a road to the camp outside the city, and if the enemy army in front of it was counted, the number of enemy troops in Ye County so far exceeded 50,000. ”

There are 50,000 defenders in Ye County? Sima Xin frowned again, the siege battle was very difficult without more than ten times the strength of the enemy defenders, even if he transferred the troops along the mountain capital, he now only had more than 84,000 people on hand, which was less than twice the enemy army in Ye County, and it seemed that there was a Yan County behind Ye County, where there were also about 80,000 enemy troops led by Lu Zhe himself?

"Yes, according to the scout's report, the head of the enemy army, Lu Zhe, led 100,000 reinforcements to the north, and now there are 70,000 enemy reinforcements staying in Yan County and not moving. If the original garrison of Yan County is added up, the current enemy army strength in Yan County is also 83,000 people. Shao Ai immediately solved his doubts.

"More than 140,000! The distance between the two places is less than twenty miles......" Sima Xin's brows furrowed even deeper, "echoing each other from afar, it is rumored that Lu Zhe is familiar with the art of war, so it seems that it is true." ”

As he spoke, the wind seemed to have become a little lighter, and the voices of those shouting "go to the water" were finally not so frequent.

The first drop of rain dropped on the tip of Sima Xin's nose, he raised his hand and touched it, "It's raining......", subconsciously looked at the soldiers who were busy erecting camp tents, the soldiers he brought were all people from Guanzhong and Longxi, to be honest, they didn't adapt to the humid air in the south at all, and it was raining before the camp tent was erected, but don't fall ill before you fight, otherwise you really don't have to fight, just retreat from the army. He looked at Shao Ai: "Order someone to prepare ginger soup." ”

Shao Ai Ying "Hey", before leaving, he saw Sima Xin's brows frowning deeply, for the soldiers who went south, before the war really started, the main general frowned, this is really not good news. (To be continued......)