Chapter 78: Achieve Success in One Go
The Battle of Li Ze lasted until midnight and ended with a great victory for the Wu army!
Adhering to the principle of achieving success in one battle, Sun Wu led his troops in pursuit of the victory, chasing the Yue army for 20 miles, beheading more than 5,000 people, and capturing nearly 6,000 people, achieving a very brilliant result!
The Vietnamese army threw away their weapons and armor, fled in a panic, and headed south without daring to stop for a moment.
Such a result of the battle was incredible even to Sun Wu himself!
Is it that the Wu army is too strong, or that the Yue army is too weak?
Sun Wu is unknown.
When the news of Sun Wu's victory reached Zhenzi, Qingji couldn't help but laugh heartily and said, "Hahahaha, Sun Wu is really amazing when he fights!"
"As the saying goes, one battle makes one famous. Sun Wu's name will eventually be known to the princes! My friends, our Wu Kingdom has nothing to worry about!"
Qingji immediately handed the victory report in his hand to generals such as Hefu and Meng Ben on both sides for them to read.
At the same time, Qingji's heart was filled with emotion!
Sun Wu truly deserves to be called the Military Saint and the teacher of all military strategists. He is truly a military genius.
If you don't make a sound, you'll be nothing. But when you do, you'll make a stunning debut. This is what people like Sun Wu are like!
Qingji originally just hoped that Sun Wu could defend the Wu capital, or at least hold off the Yue army for some time, so that he could quickly eliminate the Chu army on the eastern battlefield and then return to support the Wu capital.
Unexpectedly, Sun Wu was so powerful that he could defeat the Yue army with a smaller force in one battle!
This made Qingji no longer have any worries.
The balance of victory has completely tipped towards the Wu State!
At this moment, after seeing Sun Wu's victory report, all the generals of the Wu army were overjoyed, but also very puzzled.
Meng Ben said carelessly: "The Vietnamese barbarians are really hard to resist! With twice as many troops as us, they still suffered such a defeat. This is rare in the world!"
"Haha! What kind of fighting power can the Vietnamese barbarians have? They can only bully the barbarians in the mountains. Fighting in the plains is really not what the Vietnamese are good at."
"Yes, yes. I have fought with the Yue army before. These Yue barbarians are very brave. In terms of individual bravery, they are not inferior to our Wu soldiers. But when two armies fight, especially in large-scale wars, how can the unruly Yue barbarians be so easy to command?"
Including Qingji, many Wu generals present could clearly recognize the direct cause of the Vietnamese army's disastrous defeat!
The personal ability of the commander is secondary.
The most important thing is that the quality of the soldiers of the Wu and Yue armies is different!
The State of Wu imitated the military system of the Central Plains countries and studied their military training methods for many years. It had long since abandoned its original rebellious habits and was generally able to enforce discipline and obey military orders.
Moreover, for nearly seventy years, the targets of the Wu State's wars have all been the Chu State or some neighboring countries. The State has rich experience in warfare and is particularly good at large-scale troop operations and plain warfare!
The situation in Yue State is different!
Most of the Yue people still retain the habit of eating raw meat and drinking blood and refusing to submit to the king. They can obey orders, but there are rarely wars involving more than 10,000 people.
The long-term opponents of the Yue State were mostly barbarians in the mountains and were not worth mentioning.
Although the Wu and Yue countries fought many times, most of them took place in swampy and hilly areas and were mostly fought on foot, so the Wu army rarely gained an advantage.
This gave everyone an illusion that the strength of the Wu and Yue armies were equally matched!
This is not actually the case. It mainly depends on the battlefield environment.
And Sun Wu was able to see this and make the best use of his strengths and avoid his weaknesses!
"My lords, the Yue army has already fled south. In this disastrous defeat, more than half of Yue's troops were killed. They are no longer qualified to compete with our Great Wu!"
Qingji looked around at the generals on both sides and said slowly: "Zhenzi's Chu army is also at the end of its strength. Pass the order, the whole army should cook, gather strength and prepare to attack the Chu army camp tomorrow!"
"promise!"
Qingji wanted to achieve his goal in one battle, but he might as well give the Chu army and Shen Yinshu a chance.
Therefore, Qingji wrote another letter and asked someone to deliver it to the Chu army general Shen Yinshu, ordering him to take off his armor and surrender immediately, otherwise the battle the next day would cause even greater bloodshed.
This is exactly the rule of using courtesy before force!
Of course, Qingji hoped that Shen Yinshu would lead his army to surrender voluntarily, otherwise when a war broke out, the Wu army would inevitably suffer more casualties.
Night falls.
When Shen Yinshu received Qingji's handwritten letter, he couldn't help but fall into silence.
Is it a war?
Is it a decrease?
Shen Yinshu still hasn't made up his mind.
But no matter what choice he made, the Chu army's disastrous defeat and annihilation were irreversible!
So far, the Chu army still has more than 40,000 people, but they are no longer able to withstand a battle.
The hungry soldiers of the Chu army had to kill their war horses to satisfy their hunger, but this was still a drop in the bucket and could not fill their stomachs for long!
There are many Chu soldiers starving to death now. Shen Yinshu sees it all and feels pain in his heart!
Although the Wu army had only 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers, their advantage was that they were capable of fighting and had high morale.
In the battle the next day, the almost powerless Chu army faced the fierce and ferocious Wu army. How could they not be defeated miserably?
Shen Yinshu, who was still hesitant, immediately walked out of his tent and inspected the camp.
At this time, the entire Chu army camp was like a stagnant pool, so quiet that it was terrifying.
The soldiers who had originally been so heroic and high-spirited following Shen Yinshu to attack Wu now looked like eggplants hit by frost, with their heads drooped and looking listless.
They curled up on the ground like quails, and from time to time you could hear their stomachs rumbling, which was very irritating!
The soldiers of the Chu army have reached this point and are almost unable to speak.
Go into battle and fight?
It is not easy to be able to wear armor and carry weapons.
Perhaps even a ten-year-old boy could kill one of the Chu soldiers with his bare hands.
They are all the sons of our Great Chu!
Shen Yinshu was filled with sorrow.
"Brother! Brother!"
Just then, a cry was heard not far away.
Shen Yinshu looked around and saw a soldier lying on the ground, dead. He must have starved to death!
Shen Yinshu has seen many soldiers starving to death in recent days.
Shen Yinshu felt more and more tormented and distressed in his heart!
"Wow, General, I miss home."
"Let's go home! I really want to taste the rice wine from my hometown."
"General, surrender, surrender!"
"Asshole! I'd rather die than surrender to Wu Manzi!"
"General, let's fight the Wu army! I would rather die on the battlefield than starve to death!"
Seeing Shen Yinshu's figure, the Chu army soldiers nearby all spoke with bitter expressions. The buzzing words made Shen Yinshu feel sad.
In such a desperate situation, it is human instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm, but there are also soldiers who can disregard life and death and want to die on the battlefield rather than surrender to the Wu people.
