The Third Army and the Sixth Army of the Zhu Kingdom were adapted from Marshal Boshang's Zhennan Army. The two armies had nearly 300,000 people, which was definitely the most qualified and powerful army of war. They confronted the 600,000 troops of the Chu Kingdom's harsh forces across the river and guarded the southern defense line of the Qin Dynasty.
The Fourth Army of the State of Defense was Qin Li's army. He formed a powerful army with his Longxiang Army as his soul and the rebuilt Zhendong Army as his muscles and bones... The strong generals have no weak soldiers under their command, and we firmly believe this. The number of people is 150,000, but most of them are infantry.
The Fifth Army of Zhenguo was adapted from the troops of the Marshal Xu of the East. The number of people was also 150,000. They guarded the entire Huguan Grand Canyon and restrained the Qi army of at least 200,000, which was very important.
The remaining seventh army of the State Protection Kingdom was commanded by Huangfu Zhanwen. The Hu Ben Army, Ying Yang Army, the Polu Army, and the 50,000 infantry army were the most mixed, but it was in line with the characteristics of the Huangfu Army's long-lasting and good dancing. In addition, the strict tempering over the years, its combat power should not be underestimated.
These seven armies, one million and fifty thousand, are the entire regular military force of the Qin Dynasty. Although Qin Lei can mobilize millions of reserves who have been undergoing armed training all year round at any time, the distance cannot quench the near thirst, and the combat power will not be much higher. It is better not to expect a super tough battle like the strong attack on Hulao Pass.
Taking away the third, fifth and sixth armies that were guarding the border, Qin Lei organized four armies to attack Hulao Pass and tried his best, and he even took a desperate bet!
"Why, brother is scared?" Seeing that Qin Li was so scared that he couldn't speak for a long time, Qin Lei glanced at him, put the towel in his hand, and said lightly: "Why don't we change it. You come to be the commander-in-chief, I'll go to the front line to command the siege."
"How do you write the word "fear"?" Qin Li curled his lips and said with a smile: "Hulao Pass is my Qin Yuli, so don't even think about snatching it away!"
The next morning, a group of Qin generals at the right time met His Highness Wucheng, who stood side by side with the general.
When he saw King Wucheng who was like the one who came from heaven, the smarter general was ecstatic. After the salute, he couldn't wait to ask: "Prince, is it going to fight?"
"Not bad!" Qin Lei nodded and smiled, "I set off before nightfall today. You have a daytime preparation time."
The soldiers are very fast. It seems that the training level of the Qinli army has reached a very high level. As expected, they finished packing before dark. After a sumptuous meal, they continued to advance towards Luoyang City in the night, preparing to join the First Army, and then point the front of the soldiers to Hulao Pass that they had always dreamed of!
While they were ready to go, Luoyang City also entered a first-level alert state. Luoyang Prefect Ma Kui read out His Highness's "Edict to Qi" to the people of the city, announced the beginning of the war, and recruited all male men over 16 years old and under 50 in the city to form a civilian team, responsible for transporting the food and equipment accumulated in the warehouse for seven years to Hulao Pass for the army to obtain.
Qin Lei's hard work on weekdays finally turned into a powerful war force at this moment. The food and fodder he had accumulated in Luoyang City was enough for two million people and 500,000 animals to eat for twenty months. He prepared tens of thousands of catapults in the city's armory, and the number of crossbow arrows exceeded tens of millions. Other military supplies were also available to ensure the supply of the troops, and there would never be any subsequent weakness.
Thanks to his years of overwhelming war propaganda, the people of Luoyang City have never forgotten their bones of hatred with Qi. Even young men who are not old and over fifty-year-olds have also asked to join the civilian team to contribute to the attack on Qi.
However, the three northeastern provinces can easily mobilize more than one million strong civilians. Luoyang and its surrounding areas alone form a team of 200,000 civilians, and there is no need for the elderly and children to participate...
Those who are unwilling to be elected may even be fed by dry food, and they do not have to go to the team, and they must help their soldiers with their strength... You can imagine how high Qin's spirit is.
But there are some things in this world that you can do without being prepared and determined to do so, such as... conquering Hulao Pass.
Before the arrival of the Qi army, we can review this ancient pass named after King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty was here. It is connected to Songyue in the south and the Yellow River in the north, with mountains and ridges intertwined, forming a natural danger. It is a great opportunity for a man to be at the pass, and tens of thousands of men cannot open. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, it has been a place that must be fought for by military strategists. I don’t know how many heroes and generals have failed here...
When history entered the post-Three Kingdoms period, it became the border between Qin and Qi. It was like a tall and strong guardrail, separating the Qi State in the east from the Qin State that was like a wolf and a tiger... There is a recognized saying that without Hulao Pass, Qi would not have had a national destiny of more than 200 years. Perhaps it was annexed by the prosperous Qin State a hundred years ago!
Given the important position of Hulao Pass, the people of Qi have always spared no expense to manage this place. The city walls facing the west are built against the mountains, which are extremely steep. Moreover, the terrain under the city wall is dangerous, even if no one is blocking them on the city, climbing up is not easy.
Although the Qin army destroyed the west wall when it briefly occupied this place eight years ago, eight years were enough for the Qi army to repair and improve it, and make it stronger and stronger, and able to withstand more than ten times the attack of troops without moving.
Moreover, after the internal and external cooperation was broken eight years ago... although it was later proved to be the plan of Yumeng Gong... it also sounded the alarm for the people of Qi. Zhao Wujiu sent the most loyal general Chen Liefeng to lead 100,000 elite troops to station here, and would never give Qin any chance to take advantage of it!
Qin Lei and his great Qin lion are about to attack this place... When the army finally arrived at Hulao Pass after a night of march, a red sun slowly rose from the east. Hulao Pass shrouded by thousands of golden lights was so majestic that the cheerful Qin army officers and soldiers could not be optimistic about the prospect...
However, after years of rigorous training, they have already been trained as an iron army that ignores death and obeys the order. With the sound of the snare drums, the lack of confidence in the soldiers' hearts immediately disappeared, and they were arranged in a black form to form a standard combat team, a neat and orderly marching queue, a sharp sword and gun, and a full momentum all show that this is an invincible hero!
However, they were destined not to be the protagonists of today. When the 100,000 cavalry and infantry arranged their defensive formations according to the order, one after another of the nine-bow bed crossbow chariots were pushed out from behind the formation by a group of strong soldiers, densely lined up in the front line, and three rows were shot in front and back, with thousands of them in each row. The huge and powerful crossbow had already spread its hideous bowstrings, the thick cow tendon strings, and the slender crossbow arrows shining with cold light were chilling. I wonder how far its range would be.
While the crossbow was in place, the two-driving ox carts dragged the bulky giant stone casting cannons, slowly moving forward and parked a little further away, followed by countless cannon stone supply carts covered with huge cannons.
In order to achieve the best attack effect, the crossbow commanders began to order the troops in place to attack the city wall of Hulao Pass... With the sound of groaning of equipment that made people scalp, countless huge rocks and crossbow arrows were mixed together, and dense meteor showers crossed the sky, flying towards the city wall one after another. Many Qi soldiers screamed and fell from the wall, and suddenly fell into flesh mud.
Disdain to celebrate this victory, the cannon stone crossbowmen nervously and skillfully debugged these big guys based on the landing point of the arrow stone just now, striving to achieve the best results.
On the Hulao City Tower, the white-haired old general Chen Liefeng was wearing a mighty armor and holding the sword at his waist tightly.
He looked coldly at the dense Qin army under the city.
For him, eight years have passed since the last battle, eight years have been enough to make him a veteran in his sixties, and it is enough to change his originally anxious and impatient temper.
The precipitation of time made the old general very calm. After many offensive and defensive battles at Hulao Pass, he was not unfamiliar with the enemy's arrangement, but he still felt unprecedented pressure...
First, he saw two Qin King flags, one of which was his old rival, Prince Yong of Qin and the commander of the Fourth Army. This flag was used to it, and what he gave him was the other, the Qin Grand Marshal's flag embroidered with a hideous black tiger!
That means Qin Lei is coming. This name represents everything, and there is no need to repeat it in words.
So he was still mentally prepared for the enemy troops all over the mountains.
But the Qin army seemed to have prepared a large number of advanced siege equipment, all kinds of which were copied directly from Qi, and even limited models belonging to Qi... This situation is generally because although the weapons are powerful, they are too expensive. It can be said that as long as they are limited models, they must be the top secret of Qi's military and are strictly protected. How could they fall into the hands of Qin and be mass-produced on a large scale?
Obviously this is a great threat to one side, and the casualties may hit a new high.
Chapter completed!