Qin Official

When Dou Ran was young, he visited King Chu's Huainan Beast Park. There were not only precious flowers and trees there, but also various rare birds and beasts, including countless rhinos, elk, and elk.

King Fu Chu of Chu, who was still the prince's younger brother at that time, once took Dou Ran and the others to watch a "game".

Put a tiger that has been hungry for many days and looks very weak into a sheepfold. After just a moment, after smelling the fresh blood and flesh, the two hanging eyes of the hungry tiger that was lying on its back dying and standing upright suddenly bloomed. The light. It stood up, rushed towards the flock of sheep, pounced on one and bit its neck crazily, drank blood, and then let out a long-suppressed roar...

That day, the crazy hungry tiger killed more than 20 sheep in the sheepfold. Although there were many sheep, they could only bleat and run around, allowing the hungry tiger to slaughter them.

At this moment, the situation of that day seemed to reappear.

The Qin army in the front pretended to surrender, and the trapped soldiers and spear-armed soldiers attacked the Chu people at a very fast speed, beating the front row to pieces. Even the Qin soldiers in the rear who were captured by the Chu people and detained in the pit with low morale suddenly roared like hungry tigers.

Before surrendering, the Chu people thought that they were tigers and their enemies were sheep. Only at this moment did they realize that their identities were reversed.

Ji Ying and others got angry and cut open the bonds of Zhou Hua and others with hidden knives. The Qin officials began to call on the prisoners to resist. They pounced on the Chu soldiers who were guarding them with bare hands, threw them to the ground and choked them. Throat, seize weapons, and storm the Chu army's rear line to respond to friendly forces...

For a time, the Chu army was trapped in a pincer attack. In front of them were Qin soldiers who were getting closer and closer. Half of the array of more than a thousand people was defeated, and only five or six hundred people were left to fight against the Qin people who had a similar number. However, the 500 men in the rear line were also in chaos due to the riot by the prisoners, and could not be mobilized for support at all.

The archers and cavalry who Dou Ran had high hopes for were ignored by the opponent's general. The Qin people charged forward blindly, regardless of the arrows on their sides and heads, aiming directly at Dou Ran's chariot!

Thirty steps, twenty steps, ten steps! Dou Ran could even see the ferocious faces of the Qin people in the front row covered in blood. There was even a tall man with a red birthmark on his face. He jumped up high, raised his hand and threw a short halberd. Then he broke through the distance of more than ten steps and threw it in the direction of Dou Ran.

Dou Ran was caught off guard and could only kneel down subconsciously. The halberd knocked away his bronze armor, which rolled down under the chariot. Dou Ran was so frightened that he fell into the chariot and broke out in a cold sweat!

The drumbeat he had been beating so hard suddenly stopped!

As a last resort, Dou Ran's charioteers began to move with their chariots. Under the protection of their personal guards, the chariots ran over several broken soldiers blocking the way forward and began to drive towards the south where the structure was still intact.

Sun Feng's chariot and five hundred soldiers were over there. Sun Feng had been in a daze from the beginning of the war to this day. After Dou Ran sent people over several times to urge him, he sent hundreds of people forward to outflank the Qin people's flanks. Unexpectedly, the Qin people ignored it and barely blocked its attack with only a hundred soldiers, while the rest were still attacking the center...

Dou Ran planned to withdraw and use Sun Feng's manpower to reorganize his team to counterattack. However, this happened to play into the Qin army's way.

"The Chu army was defeated! The Chu general escaped!"

Under Heifu's instruction, the Nanjun soldiers in the Qin army suddenly shouted loudly. The Chu army who was still resisting in the front were shocked. They turned around and saw the flag of the Douran chariot that had been steadily supervising the battle behind them. , has already run more than ten steps towards the south.

In a daze, they were pushed back a few steps, and their last will to resist collapsed.

The two thousand people brought by Dou Ran and Sun Feng were not the elite of the Chu army, but just soldiers from their respective tribes. Among these people, there were a large number of undisciplined rangers from the Chu Kingdom, as well as farmers holding sickles and rusty swords left behind by their grandfathers, and even young people from Luzuo who were found in the alleys and had not completed their training.

Such an army could do well to fight with the troops of Zhao, Jing, Qu and Xiang, but it was a little confused when it was suddenly attacked by such a fierce attack. At this moment, I heard shouts of killing coming from the rear again, and my general also "escaped". He was even more panicked. Not only the five hundred soldiers who had been defeated by the Qin army, but also the remaining five or six hundred people began to Step back.

"Stop, stop!"

Dou Ran was shocked when he saw this. He recovered from the shock just now. He quickly helped the chariot hold the horse and asked his bodyguard to shout: "Hu Gong's flag is still here!"

But it was too late to make amends. The defeated soldiers seemed not to have heard the shouts of Dou Ran's soldiers and were still running around like headless flies. Beside Dou Ran's chariot were more than a dozen tall family soldiers, all wearing armor. Now they were all stained with blood, but the blood was not that of the enemy, but one of their own.

In the past, whenever there was a slump in combat and retreat, cutting off the heads of a few cowards would force the entire army to stand still. But it didn't work this time. Even after cutting off more than ten heads, there was still no way to stop the rout. In a short time, all the more than a thousand people in the center of the Chu army were defeated!

Dou Ran stared at this scene blankly, and a sentence about the art of war flashed through his mind.

“Burning boats and breaking cauldrons is like driving a flock of sheep, driving them back and forth without knowing where they are going!”

…

"Is this herding sheep?"

Sun Feng, who was more than a hundred steps away in the south, looked at the scene in front of him and murmured to himself.

From his position, it seemed that the Qin people did not pay attention to the rules of war, and there was some order at the beginning. But now, they no longer care about the array, and just keep charging and charging, thus opening a big hole in the Chu array, forcing Dou Ran to move away.

As a result, the Chu soldiers were defeated on a larger scale, and they ran in all directions noisily. As fighting also broke out in the rear, the hundreds of Chu people in the rear also fell into a bitter battle with the Qin prisoners and found it difficult to support them.

For a time, the only well-organized troops on the entire battlefield were the five hundred men under Sun Feng, and the Qin people never paid attention to them.

It stands to reason that the number of Sun Feng's men is equal to that of the Qin army. If they cover up and kill Dou Ran from behind, or rescue Dou Ran, they may be able to save the defeat. But in this flash of lightning, Sun Feng, who had to carefully calculate even a little food, made a choice.

"Lost."

Sun Feng said frustratedly, "We lost."

He seemed to remember the day when Qinqiu was captured by Li Xin, and suddenly lost all fighting spirit. Before the Qin people turned around to attack him, he ordered the chariot to turn around and took more than 500 of his men and subordinates with him. More than a hundred of his riders left Dou Ran behind and fled towards the sleeping hills in the east...

…

"My lord, Sun Feng has escaped, let's retreat too!"

In the midst of the chaotic army, the charioteer turned around and urged Dou Ran to leave with an anxious look. Although the front line had collapsed and the back line was in chaos, they had chariots at least. As long as they drove away, they would definitely be two thousand soldiers ahead of the Qin people. The legs run fast!

Dou Ran looked dejected, but he had no intention of following Sun Feng's footsteps and running away in a hurry. Instead, he stroked his sword and sighed: "Yes, I was defeated. Throughout the thirty generations since the founding of the Ruo'ao clan, there has been no one who has been defeated and is still alive. The head of the family!"

Since the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Chu has had the tradition of overthrowing the army and killing generals. Generals who lose a battle do not need to be held accountable by the King of Chu and the national law, and most of them will commit suicide first!

During the reign of King Wu of Chu, Mo Ao Quxia led his army to attack the Luo Kingdom. He was defeated because he underestimated the enemy and rashly advanced. He hanged himself afterwards.

During the reign of King Cheng of Chu, another branch of the Ruo Ao family, the head of the Cheng family, ordered Yin Ziyu to fight the Jin army in Chengpu. After the defeat of the battle, Ziyu was so ashamed that he committed suicide in Liangu.

During the reign of the Communist King of Chu, Sima Zifan fought with the Jin people in Yanling. The Chu army was defeated again and lost its hegemony in the Central Plains. Although the King of Chu did not blame Zifan afterwards, Zifan still stubbornly committed suicide and died.

During the reign of King Ping of Chu, Sima Chuanyue ignored his subordinates' advice to raise an army and fight again, and committed suicide after failing in the battle with the Wu army.

During the reign of King Zhao of Chu, Zuo Sima Shen Yinrong ordered his subordinates to cut off his own head after being defeated in a fierce battle...

This is relatively well-known, and in total, nine people from the Ruo Ao family died in this tragic way!

"My grandfather and father once said to me that the generals of Jingchu and Chu will have the glory of death but no shame of life!" I was so defeated that I forgot the pride of the illustrious Jingchu!"

The real nobles of Jingchu, the real descendants of Emperor Gaoyang, even if they lose, they must lose with dignity!

"I was arrogant and unprepared. Now that the dead army has overtaken me, how dare I forget about his death?"

After saying this, as the Qin people were getting closer and closer, Dou Ran drew his sword and bowed to the retainers and guards:

"Dou Ran is so incompetent that he has caused the second and third sons to suffer such a great humiliation. Dou Ran is extremely ashamed, but I hope that the second and third sons will remember to serve the Ruo'ao family for generations and defend me against the enemy for a moment longer!"

"I respectfully send you off! May your soul return and travel to Jingchu forever!"

The dozen or so guards did not try to persuade them any more, but knelt down on one knee, with tears in their eyes, and shouted loudly. Then they drew their weapons and rushed towards the Qin people who were already close at hand! I vow to stop them for a moment and let the Lord go on his way in peace.

There was also a noble ceremony for the Chu nobles to commit suicide. With the help of the charioteer, Dou Ran gently wiped the sword with white silk to make sure it was spotless. Then he stood upright, raised his hands, and placed the sword blade across his neck. …

When cutting, you must also cut from right to left, never the other way around!

"I just hope that after I die, I can really come back as a soul! Let's go back to my former home!" Dou Ran thought in his mind at the last moment.

However, just when Dou Ran was about to commit suicide, an arrow flew towards him more than ten steps away and hit his wrist!

The sword fell from his hand, and Dou Ran held his bleeding wrist in pain.

His clan soldiers had already fled and died. The guards were also killed by the Qin people's random swords. Even the charioteer who was holding a big halberd and trying to stop the enemy was hit by arrows and died. A large number of Qin people rushed over and surrounded them. In Dou Ran's lonely military chariot, another Qin official jumped onto the chariot and kicked away the sword Dou Ran tried to pick up again!

Dou Ran raised his head in despair, only to see the small village leader who had come to "surrender" in the morning, looking at him with a smile.

"Mr. Dou, you and I meet again."

"Zhong, you are indeed pretending to surrender..."

Dou Ran smiled miserably: "Now that the victory has been decided, I have nothing to say. I just want to die! I hope you can tell Master Cheng Wubai and ask him to help me, a defeated general!"

As soon as these words came out, Dongmen Bao, who had challenged Dou Ran with his halberd, and Xiao Tao, who stopped him from committing suicide with an arrow, couldn't help laughing. For a while, dozens of Qin soldiers around the military chariot burst into laughter.

Dou Ran was ashamed and angry, feeling that he had been humiliated. Hei Fu stopped everyone and said to him: "I lied to Dou Gong. There is no Cheng Wuyou Five Hundred Lord in the city."

"Then who directed this battle?"

Dou Ran originally felt that he had lost unjustly, but now he realized that it was a confusing battle, and he didn't even know who his opponent was.

"It's me."

"You?" Dou Ran's face was full of disbelief. Is this the general who went to the enemy camp in person to feign surrender? this……

Heifu said: "I am not the commander of the village, but a hundred generals. I was appointed by Lieutenant Li You as the false leader of five hundred to temporarily lead everyone."

"My name is not Zhong, my real name is Heifu! Yes, he is the Anlu pavilion chief that Duke Dou is looking for."

Dou Ran's eyes widened, as if the man in front of him was a terrifying monster.

"So, Duke Dou, you can't just die like this."

Hei Fu also burst out laughing: "You still owe me 700 acres of good land!"