Although Zhao Jun's battalions on the mountain ridge have reserved formation sites, the direction is towards the southeast and down the mountain. After all, that is the direction from which the enemy troops will attack according to the tactical scenario. The camp occupied by Meng Ao? That is the unfavorable retreat direction of the planned battle, and it is the last hope to stabilize the entire war situation! How could it be possible to think of attacking in that direction? Zhao Jun's troops on the mountain ridge formed a column and pointed towards the top of the mountain. They could only attack upward battalion by battalion, and there was no way to take advantage of their strength advantage.
Zhao Kuo actually doesn't care about Shicheng's first-line offense and defense. His entire focus was to quickly defeat the Qin army facing him. If he can defeat the Qin army within ten days, the Zhao army can continue to exist in Changping; if not, any other result will be a disaster. What is really urgent is that we are running out of food! There is another point buried deep in Zhao Kuo's heart that he cannot tell anyone: if the disaster is really unavoidable, he will try his best to cripple the Qin army in front of him and cannot allow them to attack Handan!
So for four days, Zhao Kuo gathered as many troops as possible every day to attack the Qin army, hoping to find a fighter opportunity and defeat the Qin army in one fell swoop. But it just couldn't happen. To fight with a large army, sufficient battlefield is a prerequisite. Currently, the largest battlefield in Changping is around that hill. It can usually accommodate 10,000 to 20,000 people for combat, and more than 13,000 to 40,000 people.
For four consecutive days, Zhao Kuo gathered more than 30,000 people every day and sent out about 20,000 people to attack, but the effect was not great and the casualties were high. The troops commanded by Zhao Kuo were different every day, and they also had the intention of rotating training, hoping to select brave and capable troops and use them intensively in the decisive battle to win in one fell swoop. In the past four days, 120,000 more combat troops have participated in the battle, two-thirds of which have been engaged in combat. Together with the previous smaller-scale training rotation, basically all 250,000 combat troops have participated in the battle. Zhao Kuo was thinking about how to organize and deploy his men's forces to give the Qin army a fatal blow.
The direction of Shicheng was not the main combat direction in Zhao Kuo's mind. So what if Shicheng is completely opened? That just means that the battle is back to the starting stage. Moreover, Shicheng has been repeatedly reinforced by the Zhao army, and it is no less difficult to capture than attacking the Qin wall. More importantly, the Qin army captured Shicheng with a large number of forces, which inevitably dispersed the forces fighting in the south, which was actually a situation that was beneficial to Zhao Kuo. Repulse the Qin army in Shicheng, let them return to the front, and then attack southward. Wouldn't that be causing trouble for yourself? As long as Shicheng can hold off the Qin army for seven or eight days and the Zhao army can break out a new world, everything will change; if they can't break out a new world? It doesn't matter whether we can recapture Stone City or not!
Therefore, after Zhao Kuo issued the order to the ten thousand generals to seize the lost positions, he still turned his energy to today's attack.
Today is the fifth day, and the food crisis is approaching day by day, giving Zhao Kuo a deep sense of urgency. We must act quickly!
Today's attack troops were decided yesterday, and they were all concentrated on the south attack position. After receiving ten days of rations, there was no reward for winning the battle and there were more casualties when fighting with real swords and guns. Zhao Jun's morale was somewhat frustrated. However, the concentration of troops this time broke the restrictions of the original organizational structure. On the basis of some capable generals of 10,000 people, some other troops of 10,000 generals were supplemented and strengthened. This gave Zhao Kuo the courage and decided to touch Baiqi's tiger's butt!
After breakfast, we left the camp. The direction of the array was the same as before, pointing towards the Qin wall, as if today's attack target was the Qin army's fortress. Before the Zhao army left the camp, the two Qin armies in Gaodu had already left the camp and formed formation, but Wang Lu's troops did not come out.
After many days of preparation, the trench-filling troops have also appeared in front of the position (correspondingly, the damage to the trench in front of the Qin wall has been completely repaired). Zhao Kuo assumed a posture of attacking the Qin wall.
Five formations of soldiers marched towards Qinbi in order under the sound of drums. Four or five trench-filling soldiers carried a basket of soil and advanced between the first and second formations. This time, 15,000 trench-filling soldiers were dispatched, forming ten rows of horizontal formations behind the first formation, leaving a huge gap between the first and second formations. The huge square formation stopped a hundred steps away from the Qin wall, and the four formations behind it also lined up a hundred steps away from it.
Different from the first trench filling battle, this time the Zhao army sent shield soldiers to cover the trench filling. One hundred baskets of soil at a time were carried by four to five hundred trench-filling soldiers, and they rushed forward quickly behind the three hundred shield soldiers. The shield soldiers tried their best to withstand the impact of the arrows and kept their speed. However, this virtually reduced the protection of the trench-filling soldiers behind them. Many trench-filling soldiers fell, but the remaining ones still carried the basket and ran away. . The distance of a hundred paces is not long, nor is it short. Holding the shield and the basket, I can only run until I am out of breath and my legs are weak and exhausted. However, under the urging of the God of Death, everyone still ran to the trench as hard as they could. The shield soldiers stepped aside and the trench fillers quickly pushed the earth basket into the trench, then turned around and ran away. The shield soldiers also retreated behind.
With the cover of the shield soldiers, the casualties of the trench fillers have dropped a lot. The trouble is that the shield soldiers are exhausted and have to rest for a long time before starting the second wave.
Just when Zhao Jun launched its first trench-filling operation, Bai Qi's West Route Army began to take action. A phalanx of five thousand people formed three formations and advanced towards the Zhao army's siege troops.
Zhao Kuo saw the West Route Army starting to move on the hilltop and issued an order for Zhao Army to turn. Zhao Jun seemed to be well prepared. Flags were waving, and three of the four formations behind the trench-filling troops turned left, changing from columns to horizontal formations. Only the second formation still maintained its original front.
While the front army turned from vertical to horizontal, the rear army also completed its formation in front of the camp. Amid the flags, they headed diagonally towards the rear of the Western Route Army.
After the Zhao army's formation change was completed, a drum sounded in the Qin wall, the north wall door opened, the suspension bridge was lowered, and two flags rushed out from the wall door, quickly occupying two positions. Behind the two flags, groups of soldiers rushed out in two columns, each arrayed according to the flags. Just when everyone was still dazzled, a thousand people were already in formation. At the sound of the command, the ranks quickly aligned front, back, left, and right, looking like knives.
This kind of momentum is most impressive when viewed from a high place in the distance. Zhao Kuo stood at the best viewing position and fully appreciated the Qin army's formation, and couldn't help but praise him in his heart. This army only had a thousand people, but it made Zhao Kuo feel that they were the center of gravity of the battlefield. And these one thousand people, who could influence the situation of the battle, appeared on the side of the Zhao army's attacking troops. Their appearance immediately stopped the work of filling the trench, because the shield soldiers did not dare to rush out to cover the trench filling. After the formation of the thousand men was completed, they almost didn't stop and charged towards the front line of the attacking troops. The siege troops were already only a hundred steps away from the Qin wall, but the Qin army's formation directly shortened the distance by twenty or thirty steps. Under normal circumstances, when Zhao Jun encountered this situation, he could shoot first and interfere with the enemy's formation. But the Qin army formed the formation too fast. When the Zhao army reacted and took measures, they had already completed the formation and moved forward.
Zhao Jun's situation was very unfavorable. His flanks were exposed to Qin Jun's attacks. Only a few bows and arrows on one wing could shoot; most of the troops on the front were completely useless. The sporadic arrows hit the shield, sounding weak! After advancing twenty steps, the Qin army gave an order and the sound of bowstrings sounded. The hundred generals of the Zhao army immediately gave the order to "raise their shields." Zhao Jun's shield blocked the arrows from the front, but could not block the arrows from the side. A dozen people fell down immediately. The trench-filling troops sandwiched between the two formations suffered even greater casualties. There were screams, screams and curses. Zhao Jun's second wave of arrows made even less movement, while Qin Jun's second wave of arrows came directly from the side. The shield soldiers in the front row turned around to block the arrows fired from the side, but the gap between them was blocked again. The arrows fired from the front took advantage of the opportunity and caused even greater casualties. Then shoot the third arrow. At this time, Zhao Jun's flanks had been completely disrupted. Not only did twenty or thirty people fall down after being hit by arrows, but there was also a large gap in their shields. This wave of arrow rain almost wiped out all the Zhao troops approaching the Qin army: under the three waves of arrow rain, there were more than fifty casualties in the first wave, and the casualties of the trench fillers were not included.
Due to the obstruction of the trench-filling soldiers and earthen baskets, the second group of soldiers could not come up to respond. They could only watch the first group being eaten up by a hail of arrows. Finally, the Qin army shouted and rushed forward. The first group was no longer interested in fighting and dispersed. When the trench-filling soldiers saw that the first formation had been scattered, they also shouted and fled in all directions.
Zhao Jun's second formation was still in strict formation. Although some broken soldiers were running and seemed to be disrupting the formation, Zhao Jun stretched out spears and halberds from behind their shields to remind the broken soldiers not to rush through the formation. The soldiers had to find their own way out, bumping into each other, and finally ran towards the front of the two army positions. The Qin army temporarily stopped advancing and first cleared away the fallen Zhao army. Then they faced Zhao Jun's second formation and waited for each other.
Another drum sounded from the Qin wall, and five thousand Qin troops rushed out and formed a formation in the open space. This time the Qin army's formation took some time and was not as fast as the soldiers just now. This further strengthened Zhao Kuo's judgment: those thousand Qin troops are the key to determining the outcome of the battlefield.
Since the first formation had been dispersed, the second formation was separated from the first formation by trench-filling troops, about two to three hundred steps apart. Under the cover of a thousand Qin troops who left the camp first, the Qin army's formation was completed quickly without any interference. Then, the five thousand people crossed the one thousand people and rushed towards the Zhao army, which was the only one facing them. The Zhao army was defeated in just a moment.
When the Qin army defeated the Zhao army twice, the Zhao army, which changed its direction, was already in contact with the Qinxi Route Army. The Zhao army fired a hail of arrows from its broad front. The Chu people only had very few shields, which were not enough to withstand them, so they turned around and retreated. Because Zhao Jun's front was too wide, the two-wing outflanking that the Chu people were good at could not be completed, and they were completely passive in being beaten. At this time, Zhao Jun, who was rushing over from an oblique thrust, also arrived. They attacked from two sides, and the West Route Army's formation shrank even more. The situation was not good.
