si-mexico Chapter 404: Inquiring about the Liang Army's Intelligence
Chapter 404: Inquiring about the Liang Army's Intelligence
Hearing this, Huan Qi's expression changed slightly and he said,
"Are you talking about...Yan State?"
Bai Wuan nodded seriously and said,
"Yes, the rise of Yan State was too fast, as if it suddenly rose up. In just one year, it jumped from a small country that was almost as weak as Liang State to a great power that dominated the north.
Their weapons, their military strength, and their national strength are all too strong.
They also had young emperors and princes who were energetic, knew how to appoint the right people, and made the State of Yan increasingly powerful.
They are also very ambitious and are our biggest enemy."
Hearing this, Huan Qi sighed and said,
"These are all orders from the Emperor. What else can we do? We can only fight."
Bai Wuan snorted coldly and said,
"I have advised the Emperor that according to my strategic thinking, we should absolutely not attack Liang. We should leave Liang and Qi behind as a buffer zone to defend against the southward advance of Yan. We will then mobilize all our national strength to march south to destroy Chuan and occupy the Chuan region.
The northern part of Chuan State is easier to enter, but the eastern part is full of mountains and rivers, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The army cannot enter at all. Even Qian State is difficult to conquer.
We will enter the State of Chuan from the north and occupy it. Then, all of Chuan's arable land, food, and population can be absorbed by us, and our Great Qin will inevitably become more powerful.
Moreover, Sichuan is easy to defend but difficult to attack, so we don’t have to worry too much about the rear.
Sichuan is known as the Land of Abundance, with abundant food and grass and a large population. What a great foundation it has.
Let’s look at the Liang Kingdom. It has a sparse population, poor mountains and bad water. Apart from the Yinchuan Plain, is there any place suitable for farming in the entire land?
If we conquer Liang, not only will it not bring us any benefits, but we will have to provide disaster relief and quell the rebellion, and we will also have to face the attack from Yan.
If according to my idea, after we conquer Chuan State, Yan State will probably take action against Qi Liang.
After we conquer Qi and Liang, they will surely move south. With the lands of both countries under our control, we will be able to contend with Yan.
Even if we are defeated, we can abandon Xianyang, abandon the Qin ancestral land, and move to Sichuan to defend it."
Hearing this, Huan Qi also sighed heavily and said,
"We can attack when we advance and defend when we retreat. What a great strategy! But the emperor can't see it. He only sees the immediate benefits and the hatred between us and Liang. When the envoy from Qi came and said they wanted to attack Liang, the emperor immediately agreed."
Bai Wuan looked at the map in front of him, lost in thought for a long time, and then said,
"The king's order is hard to disobey. Let us fight, so let's do it. After we destroy Liang State, I also want to see how strong the rumored powerful Yan State is.
It won't be long before we run into the State of Yan, and they won't miss this golden opportunity."
At this moment, a scout came in, knelt on one knee and said,
"Reporting to the commander, our men have spotted a large number of enemy troops on the hilltops on both sides five miles ahead, and they have successfully escaped."
Upon hearing this, Bai Wuan immediately frowned and said in disbelief,
"How could our soldiers successfully approach the enemy's ambush and escape successfully? What are the enemy's scouts doing?"
The scout heard this and smiled a little embarrassedly, saying,
“We killed them all.”
"Huh? Please elaborate."
"General, those scouts are not professional at all. They are just groups of two or three, scattered everywhere. Some are sitting and resting, some are walking, and they are far away from each other and cannot support each other.
We used surprise attacks to kill them one by one, and then successfully approached the enemy's ambush position."
A scout is a reconnaissance soldier. Don’t think that a scout is weak and only needs to collect intelligence.
In fact, scouts are the elite among the elite. They are versatile, have strong combat capabilities, and are very smart. When necessary, they can carry out assassinations, infiltrations, and lurking. They are definitely special forces.
Only excellent soldiers can complete difficult reconnaissance missions.
Bai Wuan pondered for a moment and said,
"Tell us everything you saw."
"Yes."
The scout immediately said,
"General, they have very few tents, and most of the people are resting in the open air. They have almost no armor, and their weapons are all broken copper and iron. They are all pale and thin, and their morale is completely gone. Among those weapons, I even saw farmers' tools.
If it weren't for the banner of Liang State among them, I would have thought they were all bandits and rebels.
They had almost no military training and were clearly conscripted soldiers.
There are about 50,000 people on the east side of the mountain, and the same number on the west side."
Hearing this, Bai Wuan waved his hand to let him go and sat alone to ponder.
Huan Qi said,
"Marshal, we can defeat this rabble if we fight our way through."
Bai Wuan immediately shook his head and said,
"No, the enemy is high up and has the advantage of terrain. Our army will be at a great disadvantage if we fight them. We must find a way to lure them down."
"But they are the defending side."
"Send the scouts to capture a few alive and interrogate them about their food supplies and military distribution."
"As ordered!"
At Bai Wuan's command, the scout team set out again.
On the Liang army side, because all the scouts were dead, they sent out some more people as scouts, but this time they learned their lesson and were alert, and the distance must be not far.
But the Qin scouts were all elite, and they did not come this time to gather intelligence, but to capture people.
For them, just being able to see people is enough.
The Qin army scouts gathered together and attacked one point together, defeating the Liang army scouts with great ease and capturing three people alive.
After severe torture, they easily obtained intelligence about the Liang army.
Bai Wuan also learned about Zhao Kuo's troop distribution and food supply situation.
Back in the general's tent, Bai Wuan looked at the map, comparing the mountain names mentioned by the prisoner one by one, and suddenly laughed,
"This Zhao Kuo is quite capable. He set up layers of defense on the mountains, maintaining the advantage of being high above us, depleting our manpower, and finally surrounding us in the valley. He's quite impressive."
Huan Qi's expression also became serious. He also realized that he had really underestimated the enemy commander.
"General, do you have any plan to defeat the enemy?"
Bai Wuan had an unfathomable smile on his face and said slowly,
"At least, we have two very useful pieces of information. First, the Liang army's food and fodder are only enough to last for ten days. Zhao Kuo must do something within these ten days.
Second, Zhao Kuo was young and ambitious.
In that case, let's give him some credit."
Huan Qi was startled when he heard this and said,
"They only have enough food for ten days, so we only need to wait for ten days. If they run out of food, won't they have to withdraw on their own?
Does the Marshal have any other plans?"