A system notification rang in Ouyang Shuo's ears as Bai Qi took command of the army.
[System notification: Congratulations to player Bai Qi for obtaining the authority to command the Qin Dynasty's camp. You are rewarded 50,000 contribution points and 20 contribution points.]
How powerful!
50,000 contribution points was enough to make other players' eyes turn bloodshot with jealousy. In other words, if Ouyang Shuo obtained 10,000 contribution points, he would be rewarded with an additional 2,000 contribution points.
With the achievements of Shanhai City's army, Ouyang Shuo would be able to reap another huge harvest.
Following that was a battle announcement.
[Battle Announcement: Shanhai City's General Bai Qi has fulfilled the hidden conditions and obtained the authority to command the Qin Dynasty's camp. Bai Qi will take over Zhang Han's command of the Qin Dynasty's 450,000 strong army and the inhuman army.]
The moment the announcement was made, all the lords had mixed feelings.
For the lords of the Qin Dynasty's camp, they had bet on the right treasure this time. War God Bai Qi would definitely be able to command the army much better than Zhang Han.
Most importantly, Bai Qi would not be constrained by the imperial court. That was the most important thing.
After Bai Qi took command of the army, the first order he issued was for Wang Li's army and Zhang Han's army stationed at the corridor to withdraw. They were to remove the encirclement around Giant Deer and retreat into Jiyuan City.
This move was beyond everyone's expectations.
Even Zhang Han was perplexed.
"Lord of Martial Peace, Wang Li's army has finally managed to encircle Jiyuan. Why are they withdrawing?"
Bai Qi shook his head and asked, "In your opinion, can Wang Li's army take down Jiyuan City?"
"Of course not!"
Zhang Han shook his head firmly. If they could, they wouldn't have been unable to make any progress for two months. Looking back at the Battle of Jiyuan City, there was a true hero behind the scenes who had been intentionally forgotten by history.
This hero was Minister Chen Yu of the State of Zhao.
As mentioned earlier, King Wu Chen's general, Li Liang, was humiliated by Wu Chen's elder sister and killed King Wu Chen and his sister in Handan City.
After the officials of Zhao, Zhang Er and Chen Yu escaped, they went to Xin Du, north of Handan, to support the old nobleman Zhao Xie as King of Zhao, and then defeated Li Liang who was pursuing them.
This Chen Yu was that Chen Yu.
The mastermind of the Battle of Jiyuan City was Chen Yu.
Why do you say that? Let's take a look at what Chen Yu did in the Battle of Jiyuan City.
The first was to gather up the remaining troops.
After Julu was besieged, Chen Yu actively gathered reinforcements and formed the Hebei army.
The second was to communicate with Julu City.
The two ministers of the State of Zhao, Zhang Er and Chen Yu, were close friends. Zhang Er, the King of Zhao, and Zhao Xie were trapped in Julu. During the siege, Chen Yu was the only one who maintained contact with the city.
The third was to communicate with Xiang Yu's army and the Zhao army.
Xiang Yu had killed Song Yi and led his troops to rescue Ju Lu. The liaison between the two armies was Chen Yu.
Therefore, Chen Yu was the core of communication between the city and the reinforcements.
With Chen Yu outside the city, it would be difficult for Wang Li's army to take down Julu City.
Right after Zhang Han said those words, a deep frown appeared on his forehead before Bai Qi could explain himself. Now that he thought about it, retreating now was indeed the best choice.
With the addition of the Mutant Army, the Qin army could reinforce Wang Li's army. But do not forget that the Chu camp on the other side of the Yellow River had also gained five hundred thousand mutant soldiers.
In other words, in order to attack Giant Deer, the Qin army was divided into two.
Part of it was in Julu City, and the other part was in Jiyuan City.
If the two armies could work together, it wouldn't be a problem. The problem was that the Chu army led by Xiang Yu was stuck at the lifeline of communication between the two armies. It was an uncomfortable situation.
It was like a snake that had its weak spot stepped on.
Continue attacking Giant Deer? It wouldn't be able to take it down in a short period of time. Hold the fort? And face the threat of the Chu army at any time.
It was really hard to get off a tiger's back, unable to advance or retreat.
With Bai Qi's command, the situation of Xiang Yu attacking Wang Li's army while Zhang Han's army watched from the sidelines wouldn't happen.
However, it would be extremely difficult to defeat the Anti-Qin Alliance Army with this.
The two sides would only be able to maintain a stalemate, and no one knew how long this stalemate would last. If they were careless, the Chu army might be able to find an opening and catch them off guard.
Therefore, after Bai Qi understood the situation of the battle, he decisively decided to give up the siege on Giant Deer and retreat to Jianyuan City with his entire army.
This was Bai Qi, someone who never followed common sense.
Retreating was only the first step in Bai Qi's strategy. He had other considerations.
Bai Qi's specialty was that he liked to ponder over his opponents and strategies. He would often be able to pinpoint the crux of a battle.
Seeing that Zhang Han had thought it through, Bai Qi continued, "The crux of this battle is rations."
After Zhang Han conquered Handan, he plundered all the rations around Handan and transported them to Jiyuan City. Thus, Zhang Han's army never ran out of rations even after being besieged for more than half a year.
If the siege of Giant Deer was lifted, the Chu army's rations problem would be alleviated in a short period of time. It didn't seem to be a big problem.
But the danger was hidden within the mutant army.
As the saying goes, fortune and misfortune go hand in hand.
Everything had its pros and cons.
The 530,000 mutant army of the Anti-Qin Alliance was a powerful force. At the same time, it brought an unexpected burden to the alliance's logistics.
Giant Deer City was besieged, and there wasn't enough rations in the city.
If it was just the alliance army, they could still hold on for half a month. But with the addition of the 500,000 mutant army, the alliance army would run out of rations in less than a week.
Furthermore, there wasn't any rations in the surrounding areas for the alliance army to plunder.
Thus, the Qin army that had retreated to Jiyuan City was already invincible before the battle even started.
At the same time, Bai Qi had also analyzed Xiang Yu's personality.
Given Xiang Yu's arrogance, he wouldn't continue wasting time with the Qin army. The only way out was to use Xiang Yu's best method to solve the problem, and that was to forcefully attack Jiyuan City.
This way, the Qin army would have the geographical advantage.
All of a sudden, the Qin army was on their side.
It had to be said that Bai Qi's plan was far better than Zhang Han's.
Zhang Han couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
The next step was to discuss how to ensure that Wang Li's army could retreat successfully and not be ambushed by the Anti-Qin Alliance. Zhang Han was experienced in this aspect, so he didn't need Bai Qi's guidance.
On the first day of the battle, Bai Qi had already set the general tone for the entire battle.
Of course, Xiang Yu's powerful individual combat strength and terrifying explosive power were the biggest uncertainty. Anyone who dared to underestimate Xiang Yu would definitely suffer a huge setback. The title of the greatest general in history wasn't just for show. In history, both Wang Li and Liu Bang had suffered under Xiang Yu's hands.
The ferocious warriors of Jiangdong led by Xiang Yu had gone berserk.
The Battle of Julu had yet to reach a conclusion.
Over the next two days, Wang Li's army successfully retreated to Jiyuan City under the protection of Zhang Han's army.
Before Wang Li's army retreated, they took away all the rations in the camp. Those that couldn't be taken away were burned to ashes, leaving not a single grain for the allies.
At the same time, Xiang Yu had just finished reorganizing the army of the mutants.
After learning that Wang Li's army had retreated, the siege of Julu was unexpectedly lifted.
Xiang Yu didn't think too much about it. He crossed the Yellow River and moved his army to Julu City.
At the same time, the 300,000 vassal army that had been watching from the sidelines also entered Julu City. At this point, the Battle of Julu had taken a completely different path from history.
Both sides occupied a city each, facing each other in the north and south.
The specific location of Jiyuan City was Shuiye Town in the west of Anyang. The north, south, and west sides of the town were surrounded by the Taihang Mountain Range, resembling a pocket. Shuiye Town was located at the bottom of the pocket.
Anyang City happened to be the mouth of the pocket. Although it was a pocket, it wasn't a dangerous place.
From Shuiye Town to the west, there was a road that passed through the steep Taihang Mountain Range and led straight to Lin Province. From there, one could enter Hanoi County, the rear of Zhang Han's army.
The terrain here was dangerous. To the north was the watershed between the Zhang River and the Huan River. The Zhang River and the Huan River flowed out from the west to the east, forming a natural barrier.
After Bai Qi took command of the army, he arranged for the army to build three layers of fortifications at the frontline of Jiyuan City. One after another, they advanced until they reached Jianyuan City.
Although they had retreated to Jiyuan City, Bai Qi still pursued a proactive defensive strategy.
Building fortifications was Bai Qi's forte.
At the same time, Bai Qi also roughly reorganized the 450,000 Qin soldiers and 700,000 mutants, assigning them a general defensive area.
Wang Li's 150,000-strong army was mainly made up of light cavalry. Bai Qi arranged for them to be the reserve army. They were in charge of providing support to the battlefield at any time.
Zhang Han's 150,000-strong army was stationed in Jiyuan City. The remaining one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers formed a vertical defensive chain with the three fortifications as the axis.
The 700,000-strong mutants were either stationed in the three layers of fortifications or on the city walls.
Every unit had a specific area to defend.
With this, if the mutants wanted to earn contribution points, they would have to fight against the Anti-Qin Alliance in the area they were in charge of.
If they won, they would be rewarded. If they lost, they had no one to blame.
Bai Qi's arrangement minimized the conflicts and confrontations within the mutants.
The lords of the Qin Dynasty had nothing to say about this arrangement. They had completely dispelled the doubts in their hearts. Bai Qi's command of the army had caused the lords to suspect that Bai Qi would favor the Alliance of Mountains and Seas.
However, it turned out that they were merely gauging the heart of a gentleman with the yardstick of a petty man.
Bai Qi had truly made it a point to treat everyone equally.
The only strange thing was that Ouyang Shuo and the 3,000 Featherwood Guards had disappeared from Jiyuan City during the chaos.
Since then, until the end of the war, the lords of the Qin Dynasty's camp had not seen Ouyang Shuo's figure. Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang had also disappeared along with him.
Although the lords were puzzled about this, they did not take it to heart.
As long as the army of Shanhai City remained in Jiyuan City, nothing else was a problem. In a war like this, the role of the lords was negligible. (To be continued.)
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