The Zhao army has the advantage in terms of strength and physical strength. Although its training is not as good as that of the Qin army, these two points can be overcome. With these two points, the Qin army has an advantage almost across the board today. This may be because Zhao Kuo's sustained high-intensity offensive strategy came into play: Since the Zhao army has a superior number, different troops can be rotated in each battle to maintain and restore physical strength; while the Qin army has a smaller number and must fight continuously. Problems with physical recovery. It's not obvious for a short period of time, but it becomes apparent over time.
By noon, the situation had become more obvious. The Qin army fighting everywhere was in a weakened situation and gradually retreated towards its own barrier, hoping to rely on the firepower of the barrier to balance the Zhao army's offensive. Zhao Kuo was overjoyed when he heard the military reports from various armies and felt that the development of the situation was just as he expected. He sent an envoy to Danzhu Ridge to inquire about the situation of the Qin army. The envoy reported that the Qin army did not launch an attack in Danzhu Ridge today. Zhao Kuo's heart moved, and he vaguely felt something was wrong, but he didn't have time to think clearly: the situation in front of him still needs his full strength to deal with it! He asked the military envoy to notify the tens of thousands of generals in Danzhu Ridge, trying to find out the Qin army's movements.
Soon after the envoy left, the sound of Ming Jin came from the Qin army. Zhao Kuo was overjoyed and ordered the pursuit. The drums were beating loudly in the Zhao army camp, and the Zhao army rushed towards the Qin army's position like a tide.
Looking at the empty camp in front of him, Zhao Kuo immediately transferred troops from the surrounding camps and formed the team here to prepare them for battle. He climbed up and watched the Zhao army's offensive from a distance, and found that the Zhao army was completely close to the Qin army's camp fence. The sound of arrows in the Qin army's camp could also be heard here. Zhao Kuo believed that fresh troops must be put into battle as soon as possible, so he sent military envoys to urge them again.
Zhao Jun, who was on standby, arrived an hour later. At this time, Zhao Jun arrived as reinforcements from Shicheng. Zhao Kuo had two armies in hand and thought that the strength was sufficient anyway. He ordered the army that arrived first to form a formation outside the camp, and the army that arrived later to form a formation inside the camp and obey the order to reinforce the troops in front.
After both armies were in formation, Zhao Kuo ordered the front army to move forward three miles to provide backup for attacking the Qin army's barracks. At this moment, Zhao Kuo heard a loud cry from the hill. Immediately, warning drums were heard ringing from the stone city. The faces of the two ten thousand generals around him changed greatly, and they said anxiously: "There is a change in the rear army!"
Zhao Kuo said: "Don't be afraid! Let's just sit back and watch what happens!" He ordered a military envoy to go to Shicheng to inquire about the news. At the same time, he beat the drum and sounded the horn, so that the entire army would line up and prepare for battle.
After issuing the order, Zhao Kuo turned his mind to the battle in front of him. He thought like lightning in his heart, if the Qin army turned to attack Shicheng, Shicheng had 50,000 troops, which was enough to defend it; if there was a change, he still had many reserves to move forward; if the Qin army went deep alone, should he turn back? Direction, first deal with the Qin army in the direction of Shicheng? The Qin army went deep alone to assist frontal defense. If the front was lost, it would be defeated alone!
Thinking of this, Zhao Kuo ordered the reinforced Zhao army to go into battle and replace the Zhao army that had been fighting fiercely for a day. Then Zhao Jun, who was arrayed in the camp, was asked to go out of the camp and prepare to strengthen the attack. At the same time, he ordered tens of thousands of generals everywhere to deploy fresh troops and attack with all their strength whoever reached the Qin camp.
There was a brief silence on the battlefield. Zhao Jun's new force entered the battlefield, but Zhao Jun, who had fought hard for a day, retreated. The staggered Zhao troops encouraged each other, indicating that the Qin army was exhausted and the Zhao army must capture the camp gate.
At this moment, a military envoy sent from the direction of Shicheng arrived at Zhao Kuo's command post and reported that tens of thousands of Qin's elite troops suddenly launched an attack on the mountain garrison camp. Because the garrison battalions had no combat missions, their defenses were lax; quite a few camps were actually filled with old, weak, women and children from the Shangdang, and had no actual combat effectiveness; and because the battalions were very close to each other, there was almost no buffer room. The Qin army only charged once and completely defeated them. All the troops stationed behind the mountain were defeated. When the tens of thousands of people defending Shicheng were sounding drums to warn, the Qin army had already advanced to the foot of the mountain.
Zhao Kuo was shocked in his heart, but his expression was calm. He pointed to the battle ahead and said to the envoy: "Our army will break the Qin wall, and you should hold on to the stone city. The hanging army is not a threat. I will break the Qin wall. He collapsed on his own."
Not long after this military envoy left, another military envoy arrived and reported a similar situation. Since Zhao Kuo also revoked Lian Po's division of war zones after persuading those old ten thousand generals to retreat, the five thousand generals currently guarding Shicheng fought independently without unified command and were all directly responsible to Zhao Kuo. Each sent a military envoy to report. Zhao Kuo had no choice but to convey the previous orders to other military envoys one by one.
After the five military envoys left, Zhao Kuo forced himself to calm down. While watching the Qin army's offensive battle in front of the barrier, he thought about the entire battle situation. If the Qin army breaks through Shicheng and comes from behind, he will put the reserve troops in the front mountain into battle one by one. Even if he is exhausted, he can still kill the Qin army.
He also sent military envoys and issued an order to several tens of thousands of generals: "Qin attacks Shicheng and if it breaks through the city and goes down, you should welcome it yourself. There is no need to discuss it!"
Just after sending these envoys, another envoy from Shicheng came down and reported that after the Qin people broke through the camps at the foot of the mountain, they did not attack immediately. Instead, they gathered the scattered remnant soldiers, old and weak women and children together, and ordered them to Drive uphill ahead. At present, Zhao Jun's army is shaken. Zhao Kuo ordered that you must stick to it. For those old and weak who are leading the charge, you can shout for them to run for their lives; if they don't run away, they will be killed!
After the envoys left, Zhao Kuo was afraid that the Qin army would drive the old and weak to attack the back, so he ordered the envoys to convey the decision to all the troops. Those who put the old and the weak first should shout first and order them to flee; those who could not escape. , all killed.
Then, Zhao Kuo saw with his own eyes the Zhao army on the stone city opened the city gate and ran out. Zhao Kuo's expression changed drastically, and he subconsciously looked towards the Zhao army attacking the Qin camp in the south: If the Zhao army can capture the Qin wall, there is still something to be done. But the chaotic situation on Shicheng cannot escape the eyes of others. Shicheng is the highest peak here, only more than thirty miles away from Qinbi. The Zhao army did not collapse in a small group, but fled in a large area. The mountains and plains were full of Zhao soldiers. . Seeing all this, the uneasiness of the frontline soldiers could even be felt by Zhao Kuo.
Before he could react, the sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded in the mountains further south. Zhao Kuo was shocked and immediately sent an envoy to convey the order to the 10,000-strong generals on the Danshui defense line, and immediately ordered the troops to retreat. At the same time, he rushed out of the city and personally commanded the Zhao army gathered outside the city to immediately advance up the mountain. At the same time, let all the archers who are not defending the city leave the city and rush up the mountain.
Zhao Kuo led the first formation and rushed up the mountain; the second and third formations formed on both sides of the mountain. Before the archers mobilized in the city were in place, Zhao Kuo saw the cavalry lined up neatly on the other side of the Xun River, everyone holding a bow and arrow. When the Zhao army attacking Qinbi saw that Shicheng was under attack, the bell rang again to withdraw troops, and they were lining up, preparing to retreat. Then, everyone saw the Qin army’s cavalry ten miles away.
Before the Zhao army could finish their formation, the Qin cavalry immediately began to attack. The horse's pace increased from slow to fast, rushing over like a strong wind, almost reaching a place ten or twenty steps in front of Zhao Jun, and fired arrows one after another. Screams continued to sound in the Zhao army formation. Finally, Zhao Jun could not bear this one-sided massacre and dispersed.
When the soldiers in the Qin army's barrier saw the Qin cavalry charging towards them, they also shouted and rushed out of the barrier, frantically harvesting the lives of the defeated Zhao army.
After the cavalry dispersed a Zhao army, they immediately rushed towards the Zhao army whose formation was still intact. They cleverly interspersed along the gap between the barrier and the attacking Zhao army, not only avoiding the bows and arrows on the Zhao army's barrier, but also forcing the Zhao army to shoot. At the same time, the Qin army in the barrier also poured out in large numbers to attack the Zhao army. The entire Danshui defense line was thirty miles away, and the 20,000 to 30,000 Zhao troops who came out to attack were completely scattered by this cavalry, and were killed by the Qin army that rushed out of the barrier.
It only took half an hour for the cavalry to charge through these thirty miles, but it was a desperate half hour. The Shicheng defense line in the north was broken through, the Danshui offensive in the west was defeated, and the attacking army fell into complete chaos.
Zhao Kuo set up a big flag on the mountain and beat the drum to gather troops. The sound of the drum was like a light in the darkness, attracting the Zhao troops to run in the direction they were running. Then, everyone saw Zhao Jun arrayed in the mountains.
Being able to find such a well-prepared place in the midst of a tragic defeat and massacre is nothing less than heaven for the defeated troops! Everyone stopped behind the formation. Zhao Kuo's three thousand supervising troops were there, indicating the direction of their formation. If there were not enough big flags, spears would be used as flags. Behind each spear were shield soldiers, halberdiers, spearmen, archers, and soldiers who had discarded their weapons. Each team of one hundred people would be brought to the wall. sit down.
The Qin army's cavalry chased them from behind and also attempted to charge this army. But when they were fifty steps away, Zhao Jun fired arrows from the mountain, and arrows were also fired from behind the position.
Because the cavalry is riding on a horse, its legs are weak, and the bows used are softer than the infantry bows, and the range is shorter; the cavalry has no shield to cover, and is directly exposed to the attack of arrows; and horses are targets with a larger range than people. Zhao Kuo took advantage of this and counterattacked the Qin army with bows and arrows. The Qin army's horses fell down one after another after being hit by arrows, or were frightened and ran away. Upon seeing this, the Qin cavalry commander did not dare to attack this unit and evacuated on his own initiative. The Qin infantry did not want to bite this hard nut, but hunted Zhao soldiers in front of thirty miles. That's certainly a more attractive target. Zhao Kuo watched Zhao soldiers being stabbed and their heads cut off one after another, and his heart was as sharp as a knife. But he has not forgotten the entire battle situation: How is it going in Shicheng? Is Danzhu Ridge still in your hands? Standing on the hill, he could clearly see that a large number of soldiers were pouring out from Gaodu, apparently heading north towards Shicheng; and the cavalry followed them around the foot of the mountain and headed north.
Zhao Kuo looked back at Shicheng. The Zhao army there had completely ran down the mountain. What appeared on the mountain now were groups of old, weak, women and children. The Zhao army approaching them shouted desperately: "Go east, go east!" This group of old and weak people really obeyed and went down the mountain from the east, and did not forcefully charge into the Zhao army's camp!
