In general defensive operations, the most feared thing is misjudgment of the enemy's main attack direction. Although in Lian Po's view, Changping's main attack direction is clear, and it will definitely come from Gaodu, opponents like Bai Qi are unconventional, and who can guarantee that there is no conspiracy. For a while, Lian Po had doubts about his own judgment. After receiving the report from the valley, he fell into deep thought.
Due to the urgent situation, each city failed to accurately calculate the strength of the Qin army and therefore failed to report. Lian Po asked the envoy, but he only vaguely knew that many people came out of the mountain pass, and it was not over until he came out. Lian Po decided to attack the Qin army at the mouth of the valley first to test the Qin army's combat effectiveness and find out how many troops they had. At night, Lian Po's envoys waded back through the river. Unfortunately, most of them were captured by the Qin army, and a few fled back to the other side of the river.
About dawn, a military envoy appeared outside the city. After checking the festival talisman, the military envoy was sent up to the city. The military envoy reported that the general would raise troops on weekdays to fight the Qin people and rescue the two cities. He asked the two cities to be prepared to retreat. Once the Qin army's position loosened, they would rush out from within.
A captain who was guarding the city looked at the military envoy with doubts and asked, "Why are you here alone?"
The military envoy said: "The rest were all captured by the Qin people. I came as far as ten miles away and crossed the mountain."
The captain saw that what he said made sense, but he couldn't rule out the doubts in his heart. Let people send the military envoy to rest and keep a close watch on him secretly. Then he said to another captain: "If you don't know the truth, what can you do?"
Another captain said: "He didn't say anything else, but he said that an army would come to save him. If he came, it would be true, but if he didn't, it would be false. As for if he had his troops ready to go... he just said that he could defend the city."
Seeing that his words were reasonable, the captain sent the military envoy down to the city to report to another city. He no longer relayed his doubts, but only conveyed that reinforcements would arrive on Pingdan and prepared to retreat.
The city that arrived first did not have a granary, but the one that received the message did. There is still a lot of food that was just shipped two days ago. In order to prevent the granary from falling into the hands of the enemy, the captain ordered torches to be prepared. Once the order was given to retreat, the fire would be used to burn the grain and drive the livestock out of the city.
There was not much time, so the two cities drummed and called roll call. After breakfast, they began to organize the troops. But today, there is already a city that cannot have breakfast, which has caused dissatisfaction and panic in the city. The captain assured them that the general would send troops to rescue us.
The mouth of the valley is not far from here. When the sky was bright, the sound of drums could be heard faintly in the distance. The captains hurried up to the tower to watch, and the soldiers who stayed below the city also exchanged glances with each other to express their excitement.
The drumming sound became more and more urgent and louder, indicating that Zhao Jun was getting closer. Suddenly, I heard the sound of drums, the sound of bowstrings, and the shrill sound of arrows, which was almost in my ears. Immediately, the sound of killing broke out, and the ground shook. Soon the sound of collision between the two armies was heard, and the people in the city trembled in their hearts.
The drums continued to sound, the shouts, the bangs, the clash of weapons, the whines... all mixed into a porridge. The soldiers in the city gradually became numb. I can see the sun's shadow setting in the west, and the sound of fighting has not stopped yet.
The four captains stood on their respective towers and looked into the distance. The battlefield was just a few miles away. The battle formations of both sides collided with each other like waves. They entangled for a while. One side's formation was scattered and quickly dispersed. The soldiers who had no time to evacuate were captured. The enemy's soldiers stabbed him over and trampled him over. However, they will immediately encounter the opponent's second formation of soldiers and force them back... The two sides went back and forth by the river. One after another, the soldiers lined up to come forward. They were defeated and scattered. They reorganized their ranks and stepped forward again. The captain clearly felt that the Qin army was much stronger than the Zhao army. After fighting for a long time, the first line of defense had not weakened. If there were no special measures, we probably wouldn't be able to penetrate the Qin formation today and into the night.
If we can't leave the city today and are hungry for another day tomorrow, our morale will probably be lost. The two captains thought of this at the same time, turned to look at each other, and said fiercely: "Kill!" They went down the tower and ordered the city gate to be opened. Two thousand soldiers quickly rushed out of the city to form a formation. Seeing that this city had sent troops, the neighboring city also hurriedly ordered an attack. As the soldiers rushed out of the city gate, a group of soldiers set fire to the granary, and the flames suddenly shot into the sky.
The Qin soldiers surrounding the two cities held back for a while and let the Zhao army pass. Some of the Qin soldiers rushed into the city to put out the fire, and most of them followed the Zhao army, obviously with some agenda. The frightened livestock in the city ran away in all directions. Although it caused some chaos, it did not hinder the Qin army's actions.
The Qin army behind them puts heavy pressure on every Zhao army. If they can't attack in one fell swoop today, the entire army will be annihilated. But the matter has come to this, and there is no turning back. The Zhao army speeds up and heads towards the Qin army's camp.
After marching for three to five miles, they reorganized their formation a hundred steps in front of the camp. Under the command of each battalion commander, the entire Zhao army rushed towards the Qin camp.
This Qin camp was arranged by Wang He to stop the Zhao army in the city. Their troops were all arranged to rush into the valley. Taking advantage of the weakness of the shield soldiers charging and difficulty in raising the shield, the Qin army fired arrows as much as they wanted during the hundred steps. The Qin army following Zhao Jun also accelerated its pace. It was only a matter of time before Zhao Jun was surrounded.
The Qin army that fell in the valley saw the city on fire and knew that the Zhao army had abandoned the city, so they rushed out together. They crossed the city and headed towards the mouth of the valley. When they came to the mouth of the valley, all the four thousand Zhao troops who came out of the city had been overthrown by the Qin army, and only the heads were left to be harvested. With envy, they passed through the camp fence and came to the river where the fighting was still fierce.
Wang Lu placed this new force in the center of the position. With the sound of drums, they followed the front army into battle one by one. Since Zhao Jun had been fighting by the river for most of the day and was exhausted, he suddenly encountered this new force and was immediately struggling. It took two or three formations to block the opponent for a while. As a result, the central government was immediately suppressed by the Qin army and sunk.
Lian Po personally supervised the reinforcement operations. At the foot of the mountain south of Danshui is the first line of defense established by Zhao Jun facing Gaodu. There is a very solid city. And this city is facing the exit of Duanshi-Changping valley. This provides good support for reinforcement operations. The mobilization and assembly of reinforcements can be carried out under the cover of the barrier. When leaving the city and crossing the Danshui, which is not deep and wide, you can be covered by the troops on the city. It is an excellent attack position.
After crossing the river, there is a small plain formed by the alluvial water of Danshui. After walking four or five miles on flat land, and then walking on seven or eight miles of slopes, we will reach the Qin army's camp complex. Both ends of the fortress group are protected by mountains that are not steep. The Xu River flows out from the south of the fortress and flows into the Dan River. A small country, the Xu clan, was born at the intersection of the two rivers, but now only ruins remain.
The mouth of the valley is about fifteen miles long. If it is just to surprise the Qin army, it is not impossible to sneak in from the mountains on both sides. However, the reinforcement operation is to open up the exit of the Zhao army in the valley, and a frontal attack is a straightforward strategy. Lian Po has lived here for two years and has a clear understanding of the terrain. He chose a frontal section about six or seven miles long at the junction of the mountains and valleys in the north as the focus of the frontal breakthrough. Only diversionary forces were deployed in other areas. Since the total front was fifteen miles long, Lian Po mobilized 30,000 troops, including 20,000 in the main attack direction.
Three schools and six battalions were spread out on one front, with all kinds of flags flying, and weapons like a forest, shining in the sun, with a magnificent momentum. Except for one battalion of the 10,000-strong former army left as a personal camp, the remaining nine battalions were divided into three formations and took turns attacking the Qin army's positions.
The Zhao army crossed the river and marched in formation without being harassed by the Qin army, which was very smooth. When the first formation reached a hundred steps away from the Qin camp, the Qin people sounded a drum and fired a rain of arrows into the sky. When they reached about fifty steps in front of the camp, the Qin army who was lying on the ground stood up, adjusted their formation slightly, and rushed towards the Zhao army. Zhao Jun, who had just been tossed by the rain of arrows, was naturally no match for the Qin Army, which had been recharging its strength for a long time. The formation was scattered and retreated. The Qin army only pursued for a dozen or twenty steps. After breaking away from the Zhao army, they returned to the camp fence and sat down to rest.
This situation was happening everywhere on the six-mile-long front. As time passed, Zhao Jun's disadvantages of going uphill and being far away became apparent. Since each attack is uphill, it consumes a lot of physical strength. In addition, the whole team attacks from a place one mile away. I don't feel it at first, but the more I fight, the more I feel exhausted. On the contrary, the Qin army attacked from top to bottom, and each attack only took thirty or fifty steps. The gap in physical strength became wider and wider. Seeing that repeated attacks failed, the former general asked Lian Po if he wanted to attack from the mountains. Lian Po looked at the stones piled up on the mountain opposite and felt even more uncertain and did not agree.
In the afternoon, Lian Po withdrew the front army to rest and replaced the central army with attacking. The Chinese army only watched the battle in the morning and was full of physical strength. But the Qin people also withdrew the front army and replaced it with fresh troops. At the beginning, Zhao Jun could still struggle with the Qin people for a while, but after three or five rounds, Zhao Jun's problem of greater physical exertion began to appear, and the time for effective confrontation became shorter and shorter.
For the wounded who were overturned in front of the battle, the Qin army could basically get support and treatment from their companions; the Zhao army was in a miserable situation: they stumbled back and were often chased by arrows; they just lay on the battlefield, waiting for Zhao Jun's next move. An attack may be safer. ——Due to the threat of Zhao Jun's crossbow arrows, the Qin people did not dare to go there and harvest the heads.
The Zhao army's breakout and rapid annihilation in the valley were all seen in Lian Po's eyes. Seeing that the Qin people did not use all their strength, they could no longer attack with 30,000 men. More importantly, the defenders in the valley had been completely wiped out and no one could rescue them. As the Qin army's fresh troops entered the battle, the Zhao army could no longer support itself. Lian Po ordered his troops to withdraw and return to camp.
The bells on the city rang, the red flags were replaced by white flags, and the three armies rang bells everywhere and took back their troops. Zhao Jun was also well-trained, and the attacking troops retreated slowly. The Qin people pursued them fifty steps away and were attacked by Zhao Jun's bows and arrows, so they stopped pursuing and retreated slowly. Both sides broke away from contact and returned to their respective camps.
When they heard the bell ringing, the wounded Zhao Jun soldiers lying on the ground got up desperately, regardless of their injuries, and ran back risking their lives. Those who really can't run away can only accept their fate and become a headless ghost...
