The Devil's Tribulation

Chapter 192 Future Rivals

In Yinghua City, Sun Erleng carried Wang Xingyuan's head and walked into the City Lord's Mansion. He threw the head to his personal soldiers and said, "Pack up quickly and take the time to eat and rest." The personal soldiers said, "What about the hundreds of thousands of prisoners?" Sun Erleng thought for a while and said, "Take off all their weapons and armor, and then release them out of the city." The personal soldiers were shocked: "Release all?" Sun Erleng said, "Release all, send them to the south, and let them find Ji Guozhu. I don't want to support these hundreds of thousands of people who eat nothing. These grains have to wait for the Marshal to come and inspect them. All are recorded in the book, and those who dare to take them know what to do, right?" The personal soldiers took the order and went down. Sun Erleng also ordered, "Call the battalion-level generals to the City Lord's Mansion for a meeting."

Zeng Xuhui was in a good mood. The Marshal asked him to take Wang Xingyuan's place and gave him his own troops to command. It can be seen how much the Marshal trusted him. If he could repel the invading Zhou army this time, he would have made a great contribution! Zeng Xuhui thought to himself: "Wang Xingyuan is usually quite smart, how come he fell into the trap of the enemy this time?" The personal soldiers around him saw that their general was in a good mood and flattered him: "General, this time the Marshal obviously wants to use you. Everyone knows how important Yinghua City is. That Wang Xingyuan was actually frightened by tens of thousands of Zhou troops. I think the Marshal is disgusted with him."

Zeng Xuhui said with a smile, "I heard that the leader of Zhou's army is that 'One Axe Demon God'. From the beginning of the war till now, he has killed more than a dozen of our Great Chu generals, and none of them can match him. I would like to see it for myself." The personal soldiers said with a smile, "Who in our Great Chu doesn't know that the general is born with supernatural powers? A spear weighs 120 kilograms. How many people can wield it?" "Hahaha, you kid~ only know how to pick on the good things!" Zeng Xuhui was just feeling happy when a scout came to report, "General, more than people were spotted ten miles ahead..."

Zeng Xuhui was startled and shouted, "Prepare for battle!" The scout said awkwardly, "General, it's not the enemy..." Before the scout could finish his words, Zeng Xuhui whipped him with a whip and scolded, "You don't speak clearly! You deserve a beating!" The scout was whipped hard, but continued, "Ten miles ahead, there are more than 100,000 Yinghua City defenders. According to them, Yinghua City has been lost!" "What?!!" Zeng Xuhui's eyes bulged, and he didn't believe the scout's words at all. He said hurriedly, "Bring the people here immediately, I want to question them!"

After a while, several soldiers who had been stripped of their weapons and armor by the Zhou army were brought to Zeng Xuhui. Zeng Xuhui hurriedly asked, "Are you the defenders of Yinghua City?" The five soldiers nodded at the same time and said, "General, we are the defenders of Yinghua City. Yinghua City has been captured by the Zhou army." Zeng Xuhui's eyes went dark and he almost fell off his horse. The personal soldiers hurriedly supported Zeng Xuhui and said, "General, what should we do now?"

Zeng Xuhui paused for a moment, and ignored the question from his personal soldiers. Instead, he asked, "Where is Wang Xingyuan? You have 200,000 defenders, and you can't stop the tens of thousands of Zhou troops?" The surrendered soldiers replied, "General Wang has died in the battle. The Zhou army is too powerful. We have tens of thousands of people on the top of the city, and all the city defense equipment has been used. We can't stop the attack of the Zhou army, especially the thousands of Zhou soldiers in special clothing. Each of them is ten times stronger than the other. As soon as they rushed to the top of the city, the subsequent Zhou army came up one after another. We can't stop them at all!"

At this time, hundreds of thousands of Yinghua City defenders arrived one after another. Zeng Xuhui looked at these hundreds of thousands of defenders who had been stripped of their weapons and armor. Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat and he thought to himself, "Shit! This One Axe Demon is really poisonous!"

In Yinghua City, at the City Lord's Mansion, Sun Erleng sat on the main seat, looking at the excited young generals below, and suddenly shouted: "What are you happy about! Do you think it's over? The next step is a tough battle!" The people below immediately sat up straight, and Sun Erleng asked: "Ren Bin, have you counted the city defense equipment that I asked you to count?" Ren Bin bowed and said: "General, I have counted it." Sun Erleng asked: "How many rolling logs, boulders, hot oil, and bows and arrows are there in total?" Ren Bin reported them one by one, and Sun Erleng frowned and said: "Not enough! Organize people immediately, even if we have to demolish houses, we must make up for these things! You hurry up and prepare!" Ren Bin bowed and said yes, and immediately went to do the work. Sun Erleng looked at the remaining generals and said: "It is a great achievement for us to take Yinghua City, and it is also the biggest test for us!"

The hall was unusually quiet. Sun Er stared blankly and said, "Ji Guozhu now has only two options. One, surrender to the Great Zhou with 200 million troops. Two, quickly attack our Yinghua City with 200 million troops! Burn your boats and die if you don't succeed! Now they know that we actually only have tens of thousands of troops in Yinghua City. I am sure that Ji Guozhu will attack the city!"

Fan Sheng asked, "General, Ji Guozhu has no food left, how can he attack? How can he stabilize the morale of the army?" Sun Erleng smiled and said, "If there is no food, we can kill horses to satisfy our hunger. After the horses have eaten, they can eat grass roots, tree bark, or even..." Sun Erleng glanced and said, "Eat our dead soldiers!" The generals below were terrified. Sun Erleng continued, "This battle will not take too long. Wei Shuai will lead the army to follow closely. If Ji Guozhu wants to attack Yinghua City, he still has to split his troops into two groups, one to block our army and the other to attack Yinghua City!"

All the generals looked solemn when they heard their general's analysis. Suddenly, a soldier at the door said anxiously: "General, there is news from General Wei." Sun Erleng stood up immediately, took the secret letter and opened it. After a while, Sun Erleng said: "The Chu army knows where we came from. General Wei wants us to defend Yinghua City for three days. No reinforcements will come. We have to rely on ourselves!" After Sun Erleng took Yinghua City, he notified Wei Qing as soon as possible and asked Wei Qing to send tens of thousands of reinforcements to defend the city. But now the road is blocked and the reinforcements can't come. Sun Erleng and his men can only rely on themselves to defend the city.

Ji Guozhu was lying on the bed, and the guards were busy pressing his Ren Zhong acupoint and feeding him medicine. Finally, Ji Guozhu woke up slowly. The guards saw Ji Guozhu wake up and shouted happily: "The Marshal is awake, the Marshal is awake!" Ji Guozhu opened his eyes, but he didn't say a word, just staring at the ceiling. No one dared to disturb him.

After an incense stick, Ji Guozhu sat up and said, "Let them in." The guards hurriedly said, "General, why don't you take a rest?" Ji Guozhu waved his hand, and the guards dared not disobey. After a while, more than 200 senior generals came in, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Ji Guozhu was fine. In this situation, if Ji Guozhu had any accident, the million army would be leaderless and could only be slaughtered!

Ji Guozhu glanced around and said, "The fall of Yinghua City is unforgivable. I will apologize to Your Majesty." The generals below began to talk, and most of them called Wang Xingyuan a waste. Ji Guozhu raised his hand, and all the generals below were silent. Ji Guozhu said, "The fall of Yinghua City, where should the 200 million troops of the Great Chu go? Tell me."

The generals started talking again. Ji Guozhu had a headache. He looked at the generals and suddenly saw a young general in his 30s sitting at the end without saying a word. Ji Guozhu remembered that a month ago, when they decided to send troops to ambush the Zhou army, everyone was excited and the generals were so excited that they seemed to have already defeated the Zhou army.

At that time, only one person objected, and as a result, this voice was ridiculed and despised by everyone. However, this young general argued: "The Zhou army has been on a long expedition, and the supply lines are getting longer and longer. Our army only needs to defend the city wall. The longer it takes, the more beneficial it will be for our Great Chu. Therefore, I think there is no need to go out of the city and take risks."

However, everyone was blinded by the "surprise attack" strategy, including himself. He wanted to defeat Wei Qing so much that he led 200 million troops out of the city wall and ambushed them in this remote place. As a result, the enemy was not fooled at all and cut off his retreat.

Ji Guozhu raised his hand, and the generals fell silent. Ji Guozhu said, "You go down and discuss it. I will consider it again." Everyone withdrew. Ji Guozhu called his personal soldiers and ordered, "Go and ask General Qi to come over." The personal soldiers were a little surprised. They all knew that General Qi had been excluded by other generals during this expedition. Why did their own marshal suddenly want to see him alone? But since it was the marshal's order, he naturally went to ask someone immediately. Not long after, a young general in a white robe came. After seeing Ji Guozhu, he knelt on one knee and bowed, saying, "I am Qi Hong, the last general, and I pay my respects to the marshal." Ji Guozhu smiled and said, "General Qi, please sit down."

Qi Hong sat down neither servile nor arrogant. Ji Guozhu nodded secretly and said with a smile: "I remember that when I was in Yinghua City, I proposed to ambush outside the city. Everyone agreed, only you opposed. I only regret that I didn't listen to General Qi's advice at that time, which led to the current situation." Qi Hong said: "The Marshal's decision was correct, but I didn't expect that the Zhou army could capture Yinghua City with 20 defenders with tens of thousands of troops." Ji Guozhu waved his hand and said: "Wrong is wrong, I'm not so stingy. Now I have 200 million troops, and I can't advance or retreat. The food is only enough for 3 days. I want to hear General Qi's opinion."

Qi Hong kept silent. Ji Guozhu frowned and asked, "General Qi, what's the matter?" Qi Hong gritted his teeth, stood up and saluted, "General, what they said before was to put my 200 million troops to death!" Ji Guozhu stood up nervously and asked, "General Qi, what do you think? Tell me quickly."

Qi Hong thought for a moment and said, "I have asked those soldiers who have returned to defend Yinghua City. The tens of thousands of Zhou troops are definitely the elite among the elite! Even if our army has one million troops to attack, it is impossible to take Yinghua City within three to five days. By then, we will be attacked from both sides by the Zhou army and die without a burial place!" Ji Guozhu sat back on the bed. Qi Hong continued, "I know Wang Xingyuan. He is not an incompetent person. He led an army of 20 and only defended for one day and one night. This shows the combat effectiveness of this Zhou army."

Ji Guozhu also thought of Wang Xingyuan. As Qi Hong said, he was indeed capable, otherwise he would not have let him guard Yinghua City. Ji Guozhu said, "We can't take it down, and the Zhou army is right in front of us. What should we do? Do we really have to surrender to the Zhou army in order to save the 200 million troops?" Ji Guozhu had led soldiers for decades, and now he was a little panicked. He was just pretending to be calm in front of the generals before.

Qi Hong said: "Marshal, there is still a feasible way now, but the price will not be small." Ji Guozhu said hurriedly: "General Qi, please tell me quickly!" Qi Hong walked to the map and said: "Marshal, please look, 500 miles behind Yinghua City is Zhongying City. Although this city is small, it can still accommodate 200 million troops. I have learned that the food and fodder in this city can still feed the army for three months! We don’t attack Yinghua City, we just bypass it and march quickly. We can reach Zhongying City in 7 days! I conclude! The Zhou army in Yinghua City dare not come out to stop us! It’s better if they dare to come out. We can just use our absolute strength to eat this powerful force of the Zhou army!" Ji Guozhu said: "But our army only has three days of dry food." Qi Hong said with a firm face: "Eat dry food first, and then kill the horses. If the horses are gone, eat grass roots and gnaw tree bark! As long as there is water, 7 million troops can persist to Zhongying City in 200 days! As long as we enter the city, even if Wei Qing’s army comes, he can only stand under the city and sigh!"

Ji Guozhu stood up excitedly, walked back and forth, and finally gritted his teeth and said: "General Qi, if the 200 million troops can keep most of them this time, I will remember you as the first merit! I agree, the army will set out immediately!" Qi Hong said: "Marshal, if we retreat, Wei Qing will definitely attack us all the way. Give me soldiers and horses, and I will definitely hold off the Zhou army for a day and a night! Marshal, take most of the troops and quickly retreat to Zhongying City!"

Ji Guozhu was shocked: "You want to use 200 troops to hold back Wei Qing's 200 million troops for a day and a night?" Qi Hong knelt on one knee and said: "The country is in crisis, and I will do my best for the country!" Ji Guozhu asked: "How can hold back million troops for a day and a night?"

Qi Hong said, "General, please look, I plan to delay the Great Zhou here!" Ji Guozhu looked at it and asked in confusion, "Tonghuakou?" Qi Hong said, "Yes! It's Tonghuakou!" Tonghuakou is actually a three-way intersection in the shape of a Y. Qi Hong said, "This is the only way to go, and at most only 200 troops can be deployed. Wei Qing's million troops can't be deployed at all. As long as the soldiers are willing to fight, they can defend this intersection for a day and a night, and buy time for the army to retreat!"

At Tonghuakou, Wei Qing watched the soldiers fighting on the front line, sighed helplessly and said, "What a pity that Ji Guozhu escaped. Such a good opportunity was fought for by Sun Mowang. It seems that not all the people in Da Chu are incompetent." Several personal soldiers escorted an enemy general to Wei Qing, and Wei Qing asked, "Who are you?" The enemy general asked back, "You are Wei Qing, the military god of Da Chu, Marshal Wei?" Wei Qing nodded and said, "Yes, Marshal. Who are you? What position do you hold? It's great that you can hold my army here for two days." The enemy general said, "I am Zeng Xuhui, just a lieutenant general. I know I can't stop the army of Da Zhou, so I just try my best to hold Marshal Wei back." Wei Qing smiled and said, "You are self-aware. I want to ask you, do you know who gave Ji Guozhu the idea of ​​taking a detour and returning to Zhongying City this time?"