The next day, as usual, the Qin army formed a formation at the front of Shanbao ahead of the Zhao army. After the meal, Zhao Jun also quickly came out of camp to form an array. But this time, before the Zhao army completed their formation, the Qin army beat the war drums, and the Qin army rumbled over.
The Zhao army showed excellent quality, did not panic, and still lined up seriously. The Qin army two or three miles away seemed not to exist. When the Qin army advanced to a hundred steps away, a bell rang on the city, and each battalion retreated in turn. The Qin army's drum beat became more urgent, and the front army quickened its pace to press against the Zhao army. Zhao Jun's rear formation stood still, while the front and center formations quickly retreated. The Qin army caught up quickly and almost grabbed the tail of the retreating Zhao army. The retreating Zhao army could not maintain its formation and ran into the formation in panic; The Qin army collided head-on. Zhao Jun obviously didn't have much experience. As soon as the formation hit a big gap, he turned around and retreated. The front formation that had just formed its formation felt a little nervous when it saw that the rear formation was about to collapse. However, under the command of the officer, they still rushed forward tenaciously. There was another violent impact, and Zhao Jun was hit with a big crack and turned around to retreat.
The impact of the front formation bought the middle formation time to form its formation. Just as the front formation collapsed, the middle formation rushed up and bumped into the Qin army's front formation. The Qin army broke through two formations and walked a long way. Finally, their physical strength was exhausted. They were knocked out of the formation by the Zhao army and turned around to retreat. The central formation did not pursue, but just re-arranged on the spot and waited.
Seeing that the Qin army's central formation was also coming up, Zhao Jun switched to a strategy of retreating in one formation and retreating in two formations. The front formation (the original central formation) retreated, and the two formations in the middle and rear waited in place. When the Qin army knocked away the first formation, the second formation instantly took up the position and drove the Qin army back.
The Qin army's third formation opened up a relatively large gap in pursuit, and the third formation was still some distance away from the Zhao army. Taking this opportunity, Zhao Jun retreated three formations in a row, and had already retreated to the range of bow and arrow.
Zhao Jun was injured during the collision. Forced troops were dispatched from within the wall to replace the wounded, while the remaining soldiers remained in formation. After a moment of breathing, the drums on the base sounded, and the third formation moved forward again. At this time, the Qin army also organized its troops and drove over.
This time it was a strong face-to-face impact. Three formations and nine battalions entered the battle one after another, and no battalion could withstand two impacts. When the knocked-out battalion returned to its own position, it was called upon to form up quickly; as soon as it was in formation, it was thrown into the battlefield before it could even take a breath. The wounded soldier was rescued by his companions, and his place was immediately taken up by a fresh force.
After each battalion was defeated three times, four battalions with 2,000 men miraculously appeared in front of Zhao Jun's barrier. They formed their positions under the cover of their companions' fighting, and when their companions were defeated, they went into battle. These two thousand people were almost decisive. The Qin army's battalions were in disarray and were gathering their troops. Suddenly, two thousand Zhao troops were waiting in full formation. The Qin army could no longer produce any force that could compete with them. A bell sounded from the mountain, and the Qin army flew to the back of the mountain almost like a swarm of swarms. There was a battalion of the Qin army in a strict formation on the hill. It was the middle camp that the Qin army had never used.
Zhao Jun chased him to the mountain bag. The drums stopped and Zhao Jun stopped in front of the mountain bag. It seems that Zhao Jun did not think clearly how to deal with the middle camp on the mountain. If you abandon it and pursue the scattered main force of the Qin army, this middle camp may attack the flanks or even the rear; if you attack the middle camp first, it will be very disadvantageous to attack from the rear; as long as the middle camp can hold on for a moment, the Qin army will form a counterattack . Therefore, Zhao Jun stopped about a hundred steps in front of the hill, covering the Zhao Jun behind to resume their formation.
Bai Qi and Wang Lu were watching the battle on the mountain behind. Wang Hao discovered that Zhao Jun had a unique fighting ability. Wang Hao fought with Zhao Jun many times and severely damaged Zhao Jun, but at that time he did not realize the fighting power of Zhao Jun. It is a kind of stickiness that seems to collapse once it is touched, but it does not break away. It is difficult to completely drive it away from the battlefield. He secretly glanced at Bai Qi. Bai Qi's face was calm, and he couldn't tell whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied. Wang Hao asked carefully: "The Zhao people have been fighting for a long time, how will they defeat them?"
Bai Qi said: "If you look for a gap, there is no one else!"
Wang Lu said: "There seems to be no gap for him to take advantage of!"
Bai Qi said: "That's right. Five thousand people are fighting in a small area. There must be a gap. It must be wide and narrow for hundreds of miles, so we have to take advantage of the gap. Let's return to camp and don't use our troops. We will meet again tomorrow. war!"
Wang Lu responded and sent someone to convey the order to withdraw his troops and return to the camp.
The middle camp, which was deployed on the hill, heard the order to retreat and retreated slowly. Zhao Jun followed suit and approached the mountain. By the time the Zhao army completely occupied the hilltop, the Qin army had completely retreated three miles away and was preparing to meet the central camp. The Zhao army did not advance any further, but lined up in front of the mountain and watched the Qin army retreat behind their own barriers. Then Zhao Jun also withdrew his troops and returned to the camp.
Zhao Kuo was basically satisfied with today's battle. The sudden advance of the Qin army was beyond his expectation, but Zhao Jun's performance made him very satisfied. In the face of the accident, Zhao Jun did not feel timid, but showed his fighting courage. And he also tested a new strategy: taking turns. Since one's own troops are stronger than the opponent's, if the Qin army is consumed in rounds by a round-robin battle, it is possible for the Qin army to be exhausted. Today's battle seems to show the power of round warfare: when a new force appeared on the battlefield, the Qin army took the initiative to retreat. Moreover, he can remove the wounded and replace them with substitutes during the battle, which is also an advantage for his side. If you make good use of it in future battles, I believe you can achieve some results.
Zhao Kuo lined up all the soldiers who were going to fight today in front and shouted loudly: "If there are those who are fighting in the Sixth Formation in the army, come forward!"
Most of the five thousand soldiers took a step forward. Zhao Kuo announced: "We are all promoted to the first rank and become guards! We will eat twice as much food today!"
A retainer of the Zhao family came over and led these soldiers to the barracks around Zhao Kuo's tent. Lian Po's personal camp was originally stationed here. After Lian Po left, he also took away his personal camp. This place has been empty for the past few days. The twenty disciples quickly organized the team of about 3,000 people into an organized force. According to Zhao Kuo's wishes, officers at all levels were appointed according to their combat valor. At dinner, they received a ration of one and a half bushels each.
It would be great if we could have a month to train these troops in rotation and select elite warriors based on their performance on the battlefield! But Zhao Kuo knew in his heart that this was impossible. After a month of training, all the food is eaten up. Even if there are 100,000 troops, what's the use? He closely observed the movements of the Qin army and looked for opportunities to attack. He hoped to defeat the Qin army in front of him before the Qin army's reinforcements arrived, laying a good foundation for the next step of holding on. If possible, go forward to Duanshi and rob the food and grass there. The Qin army can basically go home.
He has received intelligence reports that the Qin army in Hedong has been dispatched en masse and moved towards Changping. It's just that the speed of movement is not very fast, and the journey is 30 miles per day. Even so, after several days of marching, the lead of the Qin army appeared near Duanshi, and the Zhi Road was also full of Qin troops. It seems that the Qin army is divided into two groups, attacking from the west and south.
The women's house behind the mountain was a mixed bag of fish and dragons, and Zhao Kuo naturally knew it. But he wasn't willing to clean it up. Firstly, those who can make money by doing business here usually have big figures behind them and cannot afford to offend; secondly, Zhao Kuo himself also wants to take advantage of the chaos in the shop to get some information and raise some supplies and even food. The information he got from the shops was that the King of Qin sent his own imperial guard swordsmen to Hedong. The first batch of 5,000 had arrived in Anyi, and the second batch of 20,000 was on the way.
After Lian Po left, Zhao Kuo persuaded some old generals to retire and replaced them with a group of young officers. At the same time, the daily drills continued, and the Qin army on the opposite side also cooperated with him in the drills. Both sides seemed content to have their soldiers familiar with the flag and drum. Zhao Kuo noticed that the Qin army that went out to fight every day was not the same group, and the opposite side should be taking turns training troops just like him.
The Qin army suddenly changed its tactics today and pressed forward step by step, which made Zhao Kuo alert: Is the Qin army planning a big move? This gave him a sense of urgency. He urged himself not to wait any longer and to take action proactively.
After dinner, Zhao Kuo sent people to call all the generals on the front line. Lian Po divided the battlefield into three areas, with a chief general in each area to coordinate the actions of the armies in the area. However, Zhao Kuo abolished the position of district chief general and only used the army as a unit to directly command ten thousand generals. Eight thousand generals were persuaded to retreat, and the generals who directly accepted Zhao Kuo's command became 12 generals of 10,000 people and 16 assistant generals. Twenty-eight people filled the big tent.
Zhao Kuo said: "Kuo is not talented. He was ordered by the king to take charge of the Ping army and fought a decisive battle with Qin for half a month. Now that the army has enough food and the soldiers have been trained, we should reward the soldiers for killing the enemy and making meritorious deeds!"
After hearing what Zhao Kuo said, it was difficult for everyone to express their opinions even if they had different opinions. One of the ten thousand-year-old generals with the longest service said: "I am following the general's orders."
Zhao Kuo said: "From today onwards, for three days, each army will have the strongest as the front army, ready to fight at any time; the weak will be the rear army, to guard the barriers. Three days later, follow my orders and go out to fight."
All generals are welcome. One person asked: "If half of the army goes out to fight and the Qin people come to attack, what will happen?"
Zhao Kuo said: "Half goes out to fight, half defends the wall, nothing is lost. A wall of a hundred miles can only be defended by one soldier per step, but 30,000 soldiers are enough to defend it. What's more, a hundred thousand!"
After the generals dispersed, Zhao Kuo became even more worried. Although he forcibly issued the order to attack in a very confident tone, he knew that it was actually difficult to conduct offensive operations on this battlefield. The reason was simple. The area was too small, and the narrow place could hardly accommodate 20,000 people fighting. It makes sense that the "exercise battles" between Zhao and Qin always take place in the south: that is a relatively open area on the battlefield.
Zhao Kuo went through Changping's terrain again in his mind, almost inch by inch. In the past half month, Zhao Kuo had become familiar with every mountain and river in Changping. Zhao Kuo had also practiced in his mind one by one where and what kind of battles could be carried out.
