Chapter 114: The Mysterious and Unpredictable Qi Military

  In the Spring and Autumn period, there were actually not many tactics of warfare, and many wars still continued the pattern of both sides lining up in arrays and charging at each other as in the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

  In this mode, if the weapons and equipment of both sides are not much different, the number of people will often be the decisive factor. At first, Song Xiang Gong used "benevolence and righteousness" as an excuse, refusing to attack the Chu army when they were halfway across the river, resulting in a crushing defeat at the hands of the Chu army, which had many more soldiers than the Song army, and was ridiculed by later generations.

  The times have changed, the nature of war is different, and still adhering to the old rules will inevitably lead to failure. Luo Siqi knew that Tian Yu was a famous general, so he looked forward to what kind of method he would use to take down Zhuo City.

  The next day, the vanguard of the Chu army pushed forward with cumbersome siege engines to attack Bamboo City. In Losi's eyes, those siege engines were outdated and useless, except for being wrapped in some metal that looked like bronze, they were just a large wooden log meant to break through the enemy's gate!

  The log was carried by a very crude chariot-like thing, with the sharp end facing the city gate and many soldiers pushing from behind. Of course, there were shield-bearing men around the battering ram to defend against the arrows shot down from the city wall.

  The city wall of Zhucheng was not very high, so the Chu army, in coordination with the charging chariots, had many men carrying ladders to the foot of the city wall, and behind them were many men holding small shields rushing up.

  The battle was extremely bloody and cruel, with people constantly falling down in the rain of arrows. The Chu army soldiers finally started to jump onto the city wall, engaging in close combat.

  Half a time, just half a time, when the city gate had not been broken through by the battering ram, the Chu army had already begun to gradually control the city head. The Qi state soldiers fought and retreated into the city, and when the city gate was opened from the inside by the Chu army soldiers, a large number of Chu army soldiers swarmed in, and the main force of the Qi army fled in disorder, abandoning the city and escaping.

  The sun had not yet risen to the middle of the sky, when Luosiqi followed Tianyu and Sima Yue into the central area of Zhucheng, and sat down in the city's council hall.

  Intelligence from all sides indicates that the 114th chapter of the mysterious and unpredictable Qi army has been defeated, and the direction of their defeat is exactly the capital city of Zheng, which is currently being besieged by the Jin army. In other words, if Tian Yu is willing, the Chu army can now take advantage of the victory to advance towards the capital city of Han, and may even be able to engage in battle with the Jin army before nightfall.

  This situation was not only unexpected by Luo Siqi, but also by all the Chu army generals before the war. The shadow of Zheng's destruction due to Tian Yu's hesitation and possible blockade by the Qi army at Zhushi has been lifted. The impression that the Qi army is vulnerable to attack has been deeply ingrained in the minds of every Chu soldier, including Sima Yue and Luo Siqi, except for Tian Yu.

  Tianyu rejected Sima Yue and almost all the generals' suggestions to take advantage of the victory to attack the Jin army. He even issued an order prohibiting anyone from taking troops to pursue the defeated Qi army, only sending scouts to reconnoiter in the direction of the capital of Zhengguo, then closing the gates of Zhucity, on the one hand strengthening its defense, and on the other ordering people to count the number of corpses of their own side and the Qi army. He repeatedly emphasized that the generals responsible for the investigation were not allowed to falsify the numbers, otherwise they would be beheaded without discussion.

  This order made all the generals very dissatisfied. Luo Xiqi was not good at fighting, but he didn't understand what Tian Yu wanted to do either. Soon, the generals who were sent to count returned. The Chu army had about 300 wounded men and only 76 deaths, while the Qi army had more than 100 wounded and captured prisoners, with less than 50 bodies left behind.

  The number is difficult to be called a great victory for the Chu army over the Qi army, but most people are still looking at Tian Yu with suspicion, not knowing what he means. Luo Siqi, on the other hand, felt something was off right away. She didn't feel this way because she was much smarter than others, but because she had watched some war movies in modern times. Although as a girl, she wasn't very fond of watching that kind of movie, she had still glanced over them a bit. The reason she felt something was off was that modern war movies and TV dramas were too exaggerated - one battle would often result in tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of casualties. Yet this time, it seemed like the Chu army had taken down Zhucity, which was very important strategically, with such a small cost. The Qi army's losses were so minimal that they could almost be ignored.

  So when Tian Yu and the other generals asked her, she said to Tian Yu and the other generals without thinking: "I think this is a trick of arrogance!"

  The term "Rao Bing Zhi Ji" comes from the Three Kingdoms period when Huang Zhong killed Xiahou Yuan after consecutively defeating several arrays, and Zhuge Liang told Liu Bei about Huang Zhong's plan.

  At this time, most of the people present did not understand what Luosiqi meant. Tianyu guessed what Luosiqi said because of his thoughts in his heart. He asked Luosiqi: "Is the goddess saying that the Qi army is intentionally abandoning the city and pretending to be defeated?"

  Luosiqi nodded and said, "That's right!"

  Other generals listened to Tian Yu's words and Luosiqi's affirmation, and slowly understood, but why did the Qi army deliberately lose? This is what even Luosiqi couldn't understand. In the following days, the Chu army persisted in defending inside the bamboo city and no longer went out to battle. The protesting generals said that Tian Yu directly announced that anyone who proposed war would be beheaded. As for Sima Yue, as the deputy commander, and Luosiqi, as the goddess, due to their special identities, they barely got an explanation from Tian Yu - that is, Tian Yu wanted to prepare for the upcoming battle with fewer troops defeating more.

  Tian Heng told Lu Shangqi and Sima Yue that his tactics were to use the Chu army to attract the main force of Qi and Jin, so they did not dare to attack Zheng with all their might. When Qu Li's troops arrived, the number of Chu soldiers would exceed 100,000, and then they could have a decisive battle with the allied forces of Qi and Jin.

  Luoshi had to admit that Tianyu's strategy was much better than directly confronting the enemy, especially after the Qi army's intentional show of weakness earlier.

  However, things did not develop smoothly until the arrival of Qu Wentai's troops. On the second day after the Chu army captured Zhucity and began to wait for reinforcements, the Qi-Jin allied forces started attacking the capital of Zheng again. According to the report from the scouting horse, the offensive formation was particularly strong, with a momentum that seemed to be able to capture the capital of Zheng in one fell swoop.

  After the Chu army captured Zhushigou, the Qi army built a new camp one hundred miles away from Zhushigou. Zhushigou is 130 miles away from the capital of Zhengguo, which means that the new Qi army camp was almost back-to-back with the Jin army's large camp surrounding the capital of Zhengguo.

  The Jin army's large camp is ten miles away from the capital of Zheng Guo, and now the Jin army is attacking the capital of Zheng Guo with all its might. Tian Yu's front line has only 50,000 Qi troops, compared to this combat power, the 75,000 Chu troops in Tian Yu's hands are quite sufficient.

  Tian Yu's mind seemed to have been touched, after all, the Qi army in front of him had only 50,000 people left, but he still endured and continued to defend Zhu City.

  On the third day, the scouting horse reported that about 10,000 Qi troops had withdrawn from their camp and headed in the direction of Zheng's capital city to participate in the battle to besiege Zheng's capital. Tian Yu furrowed his brow and still did not speak a word.

  On the fourth day, another 20,000 Qí troops were withdrawn, leaving only 20,000 Qí soldiers facing Tian Yu. The scouts reported that the battle at Zhengdu was extremely brutal, with the city gates and walls nearly falling several times.

  Dissatisfied voices in the camp are growing, at first, there were many enemies and few of us, the commander's decision could still convince the majority, but now the Qi army in front has only 20,000 people left, since the Qi army was defeated in Zhucity, they have been hiding in the camp and not coming out, doing the same thing as Tianyu.

  The intention is now clearer than ever, the allied forces of Qi and Jin have changed from their original plan of making the Qi army appear weak to lure the Chu army into a decisive battle, to using part of the Qi army to hold off the Chu army while attacking Zheng with all the rest of their military strength.

  Once Zheng Guo is defeated or exhausted and surrenders, even if Qu Li rushes to the scene, it will be too late. At that time, Tian Yu can only reluctantly lead his troops back to their country, watching helplessly as Qi and Jin divide the spoils of victory.

  The dissatisfaction of the following generals grew louder and louder, and Tian Yu couldn't sit still even if he was cautious. After all, there were only 20,000 Qi troops hiding in their camp. He discussed with Sima Yue, who had been angry about Tian Yu's refusal to fight for days. Now that Tian Yu finally wanted to send troops, how could he disagree? As for Luo Siqi, she herself knew that fighting was not her strong suit. Since Tian Yu thought it was possible, she didn't object either. So, the Chu army finally marched out of Zhucity to attack the Qi army in a grand manner.

  But when others wanted to fight, you didn't; now that you want to fight, they don't. The Qi army is strictly defending its own camp and upon seeing the large Chu army arriving, it doesn't have any intention of coming out to battle.

  Helpless, the Chu army began a fierce attack on the Jin army's camp, but suffered heavy casualties and achieved little.

  One day, two days, three days, the capital of Zheng Guo was about to fall at dawn and dusk, but the Chu army only broke through a part of the Qi army's camp after injuring more than 5,000 people.

  Although the cost was not small, taking down a part of the Qi army's camp still made Tian Yu feel exhilarated, because the Qi army did not abandon their camp and retreat after losing a part of it. Now, the military camps of both sides are adjacent to each other. The difficulty of attacking in the future will be greatly reduced. Tian Yu left only one deputy general with 5,000 soldiers to guard Zhu City. Although the Chu army suffered many casualties over the past three days, the Qi army also suffered heavy losses. With the current military strength comparison between Qi and Chu, Tian Yu even felt that as long as Zheng could hold on for another two days, he could defeat the Qi army and lift the siege of the capital of Zheng.

  However, Luosha's unease grew even more, especially on the seventh day when the Chu army had occupied three-quarters of the Qi military camp. She began to have a question: why did the capital of Zhengguo need to be attacked every day but never actually fall?

  She didn't ask Tian Yu about this, as he was busy with the deployment of completely occupying the Qi army's camp. She had never fought a war before and didn't dare to confirm if there really was a problem here. What if Zheng Guo had actually shown incredible resilience under the pressure of being on the verge of collapse? Would mentioning this now interfere with Tian Yu's judgment and disrupt the morale of the troops?

  Tian Yu was unable to capture all of the Qi army's camps on the eighth day, because just on the night of the seventh day, he suddenly received news that Zhucity had been suddenly attacked and fallen by the Qi army.