Chapter 1137: The Battle of the Northern City

"According to reliable information, the enemy general this time will be Li Xin. Does anyone have any opinions?"

Qin Mu sipped his tea as he spoke; clearly, even he had not expected Li Xin to be the one leading the troops.

That's right, it was that very Li Xin. Ever since he returned in defeat from the campaign against Chu, Li Xin had been incredibly depressed, listless every single day.

Furthermore, he had not been valued by Qin Shi Huang, and he hadn't even been sent to fight a single battle.

Yet now, his own Emperor actually trusted him, allowing him to lead troops once again, taking one hundred thousand men to hunt down an unknown force in Bashu.

Li Xin felt both happy and amused.

To think he had been reduced to hunting down a force that wouldn't even come out of their city, and he had to use one hundred thousand men to do it!

At the time, Li Xin had only wanted to lead fifty thousand, but His Majesty insisted on forcing one hundred thousand troops upon him. This couldn't help but make Li Xin feel like he was using a butcher's knife to slaughter a chicken!

His ambitions did not lie here; he wanted to go to the old lands of Western Chu and slaughter those who had once humiliated him!

Unfortunately, these thoughts were things he could only keep to himself; he couldn't possibly speak them aloud.

Li Xin had never believed that Qin Mu's troops were all that formidable; he only felt that it was all just rumors.

It was simply that Meng Tian was incompetent!

However, what Li Xin did not know was that Qin Shi Huang had actually never trusted Li Xin from the very beginning.

He had never even considered that Li Xin could return in a great victory; he would be quite satisfied if Li Xin could just bring sixty thousand soldiers back alive.

That's right, Ying Zheng had only ever viewed Li Xin as vanguard cannon fodder from the start.

Qin Shi Huang only wanted to use Li Xin to test the strength of that mysterious Bashu force, and he also knew that winter was about to set in as the army marched there.

There were too many uncertain factors in fighting a war at that time. Ying Zheng did not want to take risks; once Li Xin finished probing, he would have Wang Jian go out to battle once more to flatten this mysterious Bashu force.

Perhaps Bashu was close to Xianyang, but the roads were not easy to travel; it was said that the road to Shu was harder than ascending to the blue sky.

One could imagine that the greatest distance in the world was the fact that this road was so difficult to traverse.

If it were any other place, one could arrive in three or four days by riding at full speed.

But Bashu?

You couldn't expect to arrive in less than a few months.

Not to mention that, after Qin Mu finished speaking, the people below began to discuss it in a flurry.

Without exception, they were all guessing at Great Qin's objective, while only a few military generals stood there in a daze.

No, it should be only Zhao Yun and Wei Zhuang.

Yu Ji was staring at Qin Mu, completely infatuated, while Han Xin began discussing things with Zhang Liang beside him.

The three of them, including Master Zhuge Liang, were also discussing it together; they were people from later generations, and many things were not easy to say in front of Zhang Liang and Han Xin.

But without exception, they all felt that this battle would definitely be won!

The reason was simple: they really looked down on Li Xin.

"Quiet," Qin Mu suddenly said. He felt that if he didn't call for a stop, his ears would be blasted deaf by them.

"For this great battle, Han Xin will be the commander-in-chief, leading five hundred thousand new recruits to get a taste of blood! Everyone else will follow Han Xin's arrangements and obey Han Xin's orders.

Do you have any objections?"

After Qin Mu finished speaking, he looked around and saw that everyone was shaking their heads to indicate they had no objections, which couldn't help but make him feel a hint of satisfaction.

But just then, he suddenly saw Zhang Liang, who was off to the side, actually nodding?

"Zifang, do you have something to say?" Qin Mu asked, appearing as if he didn't care at all.

Zhang Liang hurriedly stood up, cast an apologetic look at Han Xin who was sitting opposite him, and then spoke.

"My lord, this is Han Xin's first time commanding a battle. Would it be inappropriate to hand five hundred thousand new recruits over to him just like that?

Furthermore, with five hundred thousand new recruits, it seems we don't have enough weapons for five hundred thousand, right? Even ten thousand would be a bit of a stretch?"

Facing Zhang Liang's questioning, Qin Mu only smiled. Coming from a later generation, he knew just how formidable Han Xin was.

And that Li Xin was such a failure—arrogant, looking down on everyone, thinking everything was easy, yet his own strength was nothing to write home about.

....... Begging for flowers... 0

Never mind Han Xin, even Zhao Yun could suppress the opponent and beat them, right?

Unfortunately, Zhang Liang was destined not to know this. Considering that Zhang Liang was also doing this for the good of Bashu, Qin Mu didn't make much of an issue of it and just said casually:

"You will know when the time comes."

After Qin Mu finished speaking, he hurriedly changed the subject to avoid the atmosphere becoming awkward for everyone.

"Which city do you think the opponent will attack first? What do you think?" Facing Qin Mu's new question, the group did not start discussing it this time.

Instead, everyone frowned and pondered; clearly, this question was a bit difficult.

The Imperial Capital was certainly not something they could attack, so that left only the four small cities of the southeast, west, and north. The Xicheng and Nancheng, being closest to the Qin army, were the most likely targets for an attack.

The opponent had one hundred thousand men, and they had five hundred thousand. Obviously, they couldn't split the five hundred thousand into five groups and have one hundred thousand new recruits guarding each city.

That would only lead to them being defeated one by one!

So, how to deploy troops to guard the cities was very important!

"I will go to guard the Xicheng!" Zhao Yun volunteered directly at this moment.

Clearly, he also knew that the Xicheng and Nancheng were more likely to be attacked.

"I'll go to the Nancheng," Wei Zhuang also said. The two most dangerous cities were taken on by them.

That left the Beicheng and Dongcheng. Among them, the Beicheng was perhaps the least likely city to be attacked besides the Imperial Capital, because it was right near the Imperial Capital!

Thus, this city was handed over to Yu Ji, and she was even equipped with two hundred thousand new recruits!

Everyone had a tacit understanding of this; they all thought that Han Xin was trying to curry favor with their lord.

That's right, it was Han Xin who made this decision.

Two hundred thousand new recruits for the Beicheng, fifty thousand for the Nancheng, fifty thousand for the Xicheng, and two hundred thousand for the Dongcheng!

That's right, two hundred thousand new recruits for the Dongcheng. According to priority, the Dongcheng should be the third choice for an attack.

Yet Han Xin directly equipped it with two hundred thousand new recruits, and Han Xin himself went to guard it.

Qin Mu seemed to understand his thinking a little, but others might not necessarily understand it; perhaps Guo Jia or someone like that would.

But Zhang Liang, who had joined before Han Xin and could be considered a senior, and who was well-read in poetry and books, still could not understand Han Xin's purpose in doing this.

Thus, the officialdom greenhorn Zhang Liang stood out once again.

"Why arrange it this way? What if they attack the Xicheng? Wouldn't we lose a city directly?"