Bai Qi looked very ugly. Because just now, even he didn't come up with a battle plan to save the crisis. If he was not the one commanding the battle, he might have been defeated.
A group of people in disarray rushed forward with halberds raised... Bai Qi replayed this scene over and over in his mind. If there are no arrows, it seems really difficult to resist.
Under normal circumstances, doing this or that would be madness: when the rain of arrows falls, the group will fall like stacks of grain. But if there aren’t enough arrows…
The Qin army issued a military order: attack on the same day with arrows; each army attacks the corresponding area on its own, but there is a side task. The victory includes retrieving the arrows of the Zhao army. A victory of 100 arrows counts as one level.
This strange military order aroused the fighting spirit of the Qin army: the attack was carried out with arrows, which was obviously serious, but the victory and defeat of the arrows were also included in the victory, which was unprecedented before. Each army tried to find a way to consume less arrows and induce Zhao Jun to shoot more arrows.
The widespread commotion among the Qin army also attracted the attention of Zhao Jun and reported it to Zhao Kuo. After Zhao Kuo boosted the morale of the Zhao army and announced that all soldiers going into battle would receive double the food, he climbed up the mountain and looked at the Qin army on the opposite side. He saw that the Qin army's camp was indeed filled with dust. Although it was difficult to see what they were doing because of the mountains, it was obvious that they were making big moves. Zhao Kuo felt that today's failure might have stimulated the Qin army, and the Qin army might do something serious tomorrow! He felt uneasy and a little longing at the same time.
At the regular gathering after dinner, Zhao Kuo informed everyone of what he had discovered. Many generals also made other discoveries, which collectively pointed to the Qin army's possible big move tomorrow. Zhao Kuo asked everyone to go back and prepare carefully. After the troops that will attack tomorrow arrive at the designated camp, Zhao Kuo also begins a routine patrol of the camp throughout the day. The details of the attack were carefully discussed with the attacking troops, and some instructions were issued, ordering them to attack simultaneously on both sides. Then continue to patrol along the route that was not patrolled yesterday.
The next day, the Qin army coming out from the south still numbered 5,000 people. The Zhao army also went out with 5,000 regular soldiers, and the rest of the strange troops lurked behind the wall, waiting to come out.
What Zhao Jun didn't expect was that the Qin Army brought archers this time. When Zhao Jun's formation was broken up, the archers shot at the unprotected soldiers, knocking them down in one fell swoop. The screams from the front also shocked the Zhao army behind. Although they subconsciously moved forward under the urging of the drums, their strength was no longer enough. They were knocked away by the Qin army all at once. The soldiers dodged the spears and halberds that were thrust towards them. , retreated backwards, and were once again pursued by arrows. Zhao Kuo didn't seem to expect that the Qin people would actually bring bows and arrows to the battlefield. That meant they were serious and ordered them to retreat urgently. Unexpectedly, the Qin army did not retreat, but stepped forward tenaciously. Those wounded Zhao soldiers who failed to return to their formation were beheaded by the Qin people. The Qin people's formation was not chaotic and they killed people in an orderly manner. Screams could be heard on the battlefield. Although the number was small, it was enough to make people feel chilled.
Just when the Zhao army in the south was being harvested by the Qin people, the Qin army in the north also broke out of the barrier, divided into three groups, and attacked the Zhao army camp. Zhao Jun's warning drums sounded repeatedly. Zhao Kuo was shocked: Could this be the Qin army's revenge? Did the Qin army stop practicing and directly go on the offensive? Zhao Kuo deeply regretted that he was ignorant and took the battlefield as a joke, and was caught off guard by the Qin army! Now it's hard to get off the tiger, so we can only bite the bullet and do it! Fortunately, not many people were lost, and most of the injured people escaped. In other areas, the 10,000-man generals, 1,000-man generals, 1,000-man generals, and 500-man generals were all very effective and quickly led the soldiers up the wall to hold on. Zhao Kuo glanced to the north and saw that there were not many Qin troops coming out of the wall. Each of the three Qin troops had only two or three battalions of more than a thousand men, so they should not pose much of a threat. Relax, devote all your attention to dealing with the Qin army in the south, and try your best to find ways to restore the situation.
He asked Zhao Jun to retreat within the range of the bow and arrow on the barrier as originally planned. Due to the large number of injured people and the great loss of combat effectiveness, new soldiers had to be sent out of the city and mixed with the uninjured soldiers. However, the Qin army did not stop outside the range of the bow and arrow, but rushed into the range of the bow and arrow. There was a sound of drums on the rampart, and the sound of bowstrings rang out. At the sound of another drum, a rain of arrows flew out. The shield soldiers in the front row of the Qin army raised their shields high, and the spear and halberd soldiers behind also lowered their bodies. A large number of arrows hit the shield, making a sound. Some shot into the shield, some popped out and fell into the soil in front; and some shot into the back of the Qin army. Due to the timely evasive measures taken by the Qin army, this round of arrow rain caused no casualties. The Qin army took a few steps forward, and the second batch of arrows rained down from the sky. The Qin army still used similar movements to avoid the arrow attacks. He took a few steps forward again and met the third batch of arrows.
Three batches of arrow rain came almost one after another, and the Qin army only moved forward less than ten steps. Three batches of arrows were fired, and the Qin army suffered no casualties. This is conceivable, because after all, the Qin army was far away. The purpose of shooting is to slow down the opponent's forward speed and buy time for the entire team. It wasn't until the Qin army reached about fifty steps that the three bursts of arrow rain were truly lethal. Then came the assault of the commandos. Generally, after being hit by a hail of arrows, it is difficult for the attacking troops to withstand the counterattack from the defending side. If the organization and command are not effective at this time, the attacker will suffer heavy casualties. In order to pass through this area as quickly as possible, the attacker will usually speed up the pace at this time, which will expose more flaws and suffer more blows.
The Qin army seemed to have realized at this time that the attacking troops had already entered the Zhao army's range, and hurriedly sounded the bell to withdraw their troops. The Zhao army shot three more arrows before the Qin army retreated from the shooting range.
After arranging the queue outside the shooting range, the Qin army pulled out the arrows from their shields, and the Qin army came back again... Ten steps ahead and then retreated... After pulling out the arrows, they entered again...
The strange actions of the Qin army aroused Zhao Kuo's vigilance. Where is the Qin army going to cause trouble?
When the Qin army turned back and entered the shooting range for the fourth time, Zhao Kuo asked Zhao Jun to stop shooting arrows and wait until the Qin army got closer before shooting. The Qin army walked to the shooting range of the bow and arrow, but did not wait for the arrow rain. They seemed a little surprised. They continued to walk ten steps forward, but there was still no arrow rain. The bell rang on the opposite formation, and the Qin army retreated.
At this time, Zhao Kuo understood the Qin army's intention. The Qin army used a shallow approach to the shooting range to attract Zhao Jun's arrows and consume Zhao Jun's arrows. Zhao Kuo was shocked because the Qin army was now launching an attack across the entire front. If all of them adopted this tactic, the Zhao army would consume a lot of money. He told the ten thousand generals commanding the battle that they must wait until the Qin army entered seventy steps before shooting, and not to shoot too early. Then veered hastily in another direction.
Sure enough, as Zhao Kuo expected, this was the tactic the Qin army formulated yesterday: attack to the vicinity of a hundred steps, wait and see, to attract Zhao Jun to shoot; and at this distance, it is difficult for arrows to cause casualties.
Zhao Kuo went all the way and told the generals under his command to wait until the Qin army had advanced within seventy steps before shooting arrows, and not to shoot too early. By the time he reached the northernmost section, the archers there had each fired fifty arrows, almost half of which had been consumed.
Due to Zhao Kuo's instructions, the Qin army tried many times, but Zhao Jun refused to shoot, and the Qin army did not dare to go within 70 steps, fearing that it would not be worth the loss if it could not bear it. After repeated trials several times, the Qin army picked up all the arrows on the battlefield, handed them over to the archers, and then returned to the camp.
Zhao Kuo was so frustrated that he couldn't say anything, so he regarded the defeat as a victory, encouraged all the soldiers in the battle, and announced that all the soldiers who went out to fight would eat twice as much food today!
Generals who commanded the front line kept coming over and said that all the arrows they shot had been picked up by the Qin people. They could not recover the arrows they shot. What would they do in future battles? Zhao Kuo comforted them one by one and said that he would definitely find a way to supplement them. In fact, there was no way for him to supplement it. It would be too late to make arrows now, and it would be impossible to transport them from Handan. If the Qin army kept using this tactic, Zhao Jun would run out of arrows sooner or later. This forced Zhao Kuo to make up his mind and must switch to the attack as soon as possible, otherwise he would be no match for him if he wasted his time here! The other party has infinite wisdom to make unnecessary consumption of himself.
Bai Qi was so happy that he picked up more than 300,000 arrows from Zhao Jun. Although some arrow shafts were broken and some heads were deformed, half of them were still usable. Bai Qi did not hesitate to record the merits of the more than 3,000-level troops participating in the battle: his side did not shoot many arrows, only a few thousand, and cut off dozens of real heads!
However, Zhao Jun was fooled several times and actually learned to behave. When Qin Jun entered again, he stopped shooting arrows, which made Qin Jun soldiers very unhappy. Inspired by the achievement of level 3,000, the Qin people discussed again that night, how to harvest more bows and arrows? The direction is very clear, that is, we must go deeper into the range of Zhao Jun, all the way to the death line. Finally someone said: "Damn it, I put on a winter coat and went to fight, what can I do to him!"
The expletive drew a chorus of praise. The people of Shu have left their hometown since October last year. Winter has turned to summer, and autumn is here again, so they take their winter clothes with them. Immediately someone said: "If you wear three winter clothes, the arrow will not penetrate!" Immediately someone took out his winter clothes, folded three pieces and hung them on a tree. An archer stepped back ten steps away and shot an arrow. Everyone watched. , As expected, the arrow did not penetrate into the tree trunk, but only penetrated three layers of winter clothes, revealing a little head. The crowd burst into cheers.
The results of this experiment quickly spread throughout the army. Everyone found their own winter coats, some thick and some thin, all with different protective functions. It just requires people to wear three layers of winter clothes. Not to mention the sweltering heat, it is also very inconvenient to move. I have to choose those who are more flexible and thin to wear. After wearing three layers of winter clothes, I lost flexibility in wielding a halberd and could only use a spear. In the end, only a hundred people were selected from each battalion, and everyone took out all their winter clothes and gave them to them. The preparations have been made and everyone has a rest.
The cheers from the Qin army also spread to the Zhao army camp. Although Zhao Jun didn't know why Qin Jun cheered, cheering by his opponents was always not a good thing for him, and everyone was worried.
