Bai Qi said: "You will lead your army to form a formation three miles below the city. I will destroy the city for you!"
Wang Hao was shocked and said: "We have been fighting for a whole day and the soldiers are tired. I'm afraid it's not appropriate!"
Bai Qi said: "You have been fighting for the whole day. I will stand in front of the mountain. There is no battle. You can stand in front of the city and watch me destroy the city." Without explaining, he took Wang Lu and others with him. When he got to the hill, he pointed to the open space on the bank of Danshui River and said, "You can stand there for a while, okay?"
Wang Lu said: "Yes, how difficult is it!"
Bai Qi said: "I will break it for you!"
When Wang Lu followed Bai Qi down the mountain again, he found that the army had left, and only Bai Qi's 300 mounted guards were left. Wang Hao secretly marveled that he was so close and didn't even know where the army was headed.
Bai Qi rode away. Wang Hao and others immediately returned to the army, beat the drums to gather the troops, and all the soldiers lined up and marched towards the Zhao army's fortress under the urging of the drums. It's so late and you haven't returned to camp yet. Do you want to attack the city overnight? There are questions in everyone's mind. Wang Hao and others did not explain. According to Bai Qi's request, they formed a formation on a section of flat land, sent out scouts, and advanced the patrol to about a mile away from the city fortress, allowing the entire army to rest on the spot.
The place where the troops stayed was not far from Danshui. Wang Hao asked each battalion to send people to the river to fetch water. With water, the Qin army who was sitting on the spot gradually became active. Some people wrapped their wounds, some talked in a low voice, and some fell asleep. Wang Hao pulled his flag and drum chariot to the front of the position, letting his own camp line up at the front.
This army formed a formation just outside the city, which naturally attracted Zhao Jun's attention. Everyone reports to the next level.
Lian Po managed to sneak into the city among the soldiers and immediately set up defense for the night in his tent. Although a small number of Zhao troops were isolated outside the city, fortunately all the senior generals entered the city and gathered in Lian Po's tent to listen to orders.
Originally, the soldiers who went out to fight were all the elites of the Zhao army, leaving mediocre combat effectiveness to defend the city; but after today's battle, the most elite Zhao army was wiped out under the eyes of the city defenders, and the rest of the Zhao army was also frightened. Lian Po also returned. The task of defending the city can only be given to the original defenders. The newly entered Zhao army will have to undergo a period of reorganization before they can go to the city.
Lian Po asked the defenders to continue to defend in the same area, but to strengthen patrols. They were not allowed to sleep tonight, and those who did not go to the city were all lined up in the camp and rested in place, ready for the Qin army to attack the city at any time. All armies that have gone out to fight in the city must gather their troops tonight, count their casualties and losses, and report their gains. After the generals dispersed, Lian Po also began to eat and drink.
At this time, Zhao Jiang, who was guarding the southern section of the barrier, reported that a large number of Qin troops appeared outside the barrier. Lian Po glanced at him and said, "I had known that the Qin army would attack at night, so all the battalions should not let up." The Zhao general withdrew, but felt a little uneasy.
The fortress built along Danshui is about thirty miles long, with a total of five gate towers and two troops stationed there. The troops on the ramparts were arranged according to the specifications of one soldier per step, and there were hundreds of people in each gatehouse. The general's defensive area included fifteen miles of ramparts and two gate towers. A total of about 5,000 people went up to the city, rotating between the two sides on a regular basis. To the south is the fortification group at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, which is about fifteen miles wide and is the first line of defense that Lian Po plans to use to resist Gaodu Baiqi. One Zhao army used 5,000 men to defend the fortification group, while the other 5,000 men patrolled the entire southern hillside.
Although the general Zhao Jun on the south side of the defensive barrier did not know exactly how many Qin troops there were outside the city, the dark formation was still clear enough: there were six square formations lined up, a total of 30,000 people! Moreover, the patrols and scouts patrolled all the way to the city and unabashedly looked into the city, which was obviously a plot.
General Zhao returned to his tent to rest uneasily, but his mood could not be calm. He sat there until the time came, and he felt sleepy, and then he lay down with his clothes on. But immediately someone entered the account and reported to him that the Qin army outside the city seemed to have lied down to rest. General Zhao was frightened and hurried to the gate tower to watch. As expected, the Qin army was no longer a black mass in the dark night, but lay staggering here and there. General Zhao was overjoyed and ordered a thousand soldiers to go out of the city for a sneak attack.
There was no fire in the city, and a thousand troops quietly moved to the gate tower. General Zhao personally gave instructions to charge and kill for about ten miles before returning, and agreed on the road and signals. Then he opened the wall door and released the thousand soldiers.
The thousand soldiers, some of whom were still yawning, were thrown into the battlefield. The scouts on patrol quickly spotted them and immediately called the police. The alarm alerted the Qin army five miles away. The drums of each camp were loudly beating, and the lying soldiers quickly got up and lined up.
The sound of drums also alerted the defenders in the city. Zhao Jun, who was guarding the northern section of the fortress, heard the sound of drums coming from outside the city and thought that the Qin army was about to attack the city, so he also beat drums to gather his troops. Only General Zhao in the southern section knew what was going on. Seeing that the sneak attack was exposed, he ordered his troops to retreat.
But the drums outside the city and the drums of the northern garrison also alarmed the troops in the city. They were still organizing their troops, but they were all frightened when they heard the drums.
Lian Po also climbed up the tower to watch. After taking a short look, he ordered all the troops to rest where they were. Then he went down to the gate tower and inspected the various armies that were out of the city for field battle today. Some of those battalions have been reorganized, and some are still being reorganized. Lian Po encouraged his soldiers to show their courage and challenge the Qin army.
While Lian Po was inspecting each camp, fierce drumming sounded from the south. Immediately, the cry of killing came! Everyone, including Lian Po, changed their expressions. Lian Po left in a hurry and asked his relatives to gather in the camp. The pro-camp was elite after all and assembled quickly and quietly. Lian Po led them to the south.
The Qin army has occupied the gate tower and is developing an offensive along the barrier. The Zhao troops in each fortress fought independently and could not form a joint force. Lian Po explained the battle strategy to his own camp commander, went up to a camp, and beat the drum himself to give command.
Four thousand pro-camps approached the Qin army from several directions. The Qin army sent troops to counterattack. The Zhao army quickly retreated, and the Qin army then pursued them. When they pursued them to within the attack range of the camp, a drum sounded and countless arrows and stones were shot from the camp. The Qin army was forced to retreat; the Zhao army turned back and attacked. After several back and forths, the Qin army knew Zhao Jun's intentions and controlled not to enter the attack circle of the camp, but did not dare to go far. The two sides reached a stalemate for a while.
Another five thousand Zhao troops arrived soon after, and Lian Po asked them to follow the barrier and clear out the Qin troops who entered the wall. Although the Zhao army was small, the Qin army was unable to deploy under the attack of Zhao army, and its strength advantage could not be exerted. Bai Qi's surprise attack only captured two gate towers. Now they are relying on the two gate towers to resist desperately, launching counterattacks from here and there from time to time. Although the Zhao army looked embarrassed, it did stop the Qin army's attack. Lian Po freed up his hands and mobilized two armies from behind as reserves, completely stabilizing the situation.
A cock crow was heard in the distance. Both Qin and Zhao were a little tired. The two sides broke away from contact and faced each other. Suddenly, fire broke out on the two gate towers occupied by the Qin army. The fire spread from small to large and quickly spread to the entire gate tower. Lian Po let out a long sigh: Bai Qi retreated!
Before Bai Qi retreated, he had sent someone to notify Wang Lu and asked him to retreat. After retreating, he was still unwilling to give up. He personally led an elite force of about 3,000 people to hide in an unnoticed place, preparing to attack the Zhao army who was pursuing them out of the city. However, Zhao Jun did not pursue him. Bai Qi waited all night until the sky became brighter before leading his troops back to Gaodu. The Zhao army on the city saw Bai Qi's troops behind him. Many people did not know what was going on, thinking that this was all the troops attacking them at night, and were surprised by Bai Qi's small number of troops.
It was troublesome enough to lose the battle, but something even more troublesome came again: the granary bottomed out again!
Lian Po sent an envoy to Handan and reported in detail the arrival of the Qin army and the recent war. He used prevarication to euphemistically report the news of the defeat, strongly exaggerated the Qin army's advantages, and asked Handan to send reinforcements, especially food. Lian Po pointed out that the Qin army "used troops in the early spring, built forts in the late spring, and did not return in the summer. These are all not planned. They may be at odds with Zhao for many years. I hope the king will prepare a war strategy early, and I will do my best to die!"
The news of Lian Po's defeat in the battle shocked Zhao's government and everyone. Everyone was talking about it and people were panicked. King Zhao severely reprimanded Lian Po and ordered him to expel the Qin army as soon as possible after receiving reinforcements in terms of troops and food. Since there was no more food left in Handan, King Zhao only sent 50,000 soldiers from Handan and asked Taiyuan to transport tens of thousands of shi of food to the Supreme Party.
Reinforcements from Handan arrived in a few days. But the food from Taiyuan arrived twenty days later, with a total of only one million shi. Since the distance from Taiyuan to Shangdang is not only longer, but also more inconvenient. In addition, there is a lot of rain in summer and it is muddy and difficult to travel. Only half of the goods are actually entered into the warehouse. Lian Po asked why there was so little food. The Taiyuan official replied that Taiyuan "cleared warehouses and shipped goods, and only got this number"! Lian Po was helpless. By this time, it was already June, and the sun was scorching hot and the rain was pouring.
After the battle that day, as long as the weather cleared up, Wang Hao would send people to challenge the formation centered on the hill every few days. There may be 10,000 to 20,000 people, or 3,000 to 5,000 people. Lian Po tried his best to repair the barriers that were damaged during the war, but refused to go to war. The Qin army sometimes approached the barrier, but was driven back by the Zhao army on the wall with heavy stones and arrows. Later, Qin Jun's challenge became a routine matter, and Zhao Jun was too lazy to pay attention.
As June comes, Zhao Junzhong's military morale fluctuates: the time for the rotation of soldiers is coming!
Xu Li had already prepared 100,000 Zhao troops and had to send them to the front line when the time came. However, due to the defeat of Shangdang, Lian Po asked for help and had to send 50,000 people to Changping for emergency relief.
Due to the increase of 50,000 soldiers in Changping, the total strength reached 120,000 to 30,000. In addition, there are more than 100,000 residents in Changping, and the total number reaches 400,000. According to the standard ration, 40,000 shi of food are needed every day. Discount after discount, 30,000 stones cannot be missing. If there are no more soldiers, there will be no combat effectiveness.
Hedong has been supplying Wang Lu with 500,000 catties of fried millet every month for eight months. There are still 20,000 soldiers in Nanyang to support, and the grain reserves in Hedong are gradually bottoming out. Although the exchange of grain for salt is still going on, it can no longer replenish daily losses. Bai Qi also sent people to Xianyang to report to the King of Qin.
At this time, a fierce debate also occurred in Handan City...
