However, something unexpected happened. When they were charging forward according to the predetermined script, an ambush rushed out of the mountain col. More than a hundred halberdiers rushed directly to the archers and stabbed down dozens of the stunned archers. The rest dispersed in a rush, but many more were shot down by the archers behind the halberdiers.
The appearance of the ambush caught Zhao Meng off guard, and he immediately ordered his troops to retreat.
Although he was under pressure, he had not suffered any losses. Zhao Bing seemed not to have expected such a good thing, and immediately ran down the mountain under the cover of his shield. But they never expected that bows and arrows would be fired from behind. They were so frightened that they ran down the mountain regardless of their formation. They were shot down by many archers on the mountain. After firing two arrows, the ambush archers immediately hid behind their shields and attacked the defeated Zhao army from the side. When Zhao Meng regrouped his troops and rushed out to drive them away, they turned back to the back of the mountain col.
Meng Ao's harassment posed a problem for Zhao Meng: Does he need to allocate troops to deal with the Qin army behind the mountain col? Although they only appeared for a short time, Zhao Meng still felt that there were nearly a battalion of troops, at least no less than a battalion of archers. He thought for a while and sent an envoy to give orders to each camp. If the Qin army did not stop them, they must rush into the Qin army camp and not cower! If the Qin army has an ambush, its strength should be about the same, and it is allowed to break through with all its strength.
After Zhao Meng issued the order, each battalion attacked according to the order. This time, several Qin camps took the initiative to retreat because Zhao Jun had reached fifty steps every time. Instead, they became lax. When Zhao Jun pounced on them, they were caught off guard, and some battalions were actually attacked. In the camp, it took a lot of effort to drive them out. ——Not only did he have no military exploits, but he also suffered losses. Some battalions responded better and defeated Zhao Jun in front of the camp in time. Only the fifth battalion, which had not been "deceived" for long, adjusted its formation according to Meng Ao's request and loaded Zhao Jun into the camp. However, the hundred men under the command of Zhao Jun were more cautious and did not rush to devote all their troops. The first platoon entered the camp and found that something was wrong. They loudly informed those behind: "We've fallen into a trap!" They immediately opened the camp door and rushed out of the camp. In this way, the outflanking troops could not completely cut off their retreat. Most of the Zhao troops withdrew safely. Only a few people were stabbed down by spears and killed. Some others were wounded by arrows, but they also withdrew with the help of their companions.
Zhao Meng had been observing which battalion the supporting troops came from, and he had a good camera to move the main attack direction. Therefore, when other battalions attacked, our own troops stood still. But the result of the attack disappointed him. All offensive operations ended in failure, and each battalion reported that the enemy's strength in front of them had not been reduced.
Zhao Meng was disappointed: it seemed that this army was mobilized from the rear. If the Qin army stubbornly sticks to this place, it will really be difficult for them to capture it.
After hesitating for a while, Zhao Meng decided to increase the bet. The two battalions attacked simultaneously, fifty steps apart. This not only ensured that the attack would not be interfered by the Qin army, but also enhanced the continuity of the attack.
The temporary pause on the battlefield caught Meng Ao's attention. He immediately ran up the mountain and saw the troops gathering at the bottom of the mountain. Due to the lack of space, the troops without combat missions were squeezed into a corner, and the combat troops were clearly highlighted. After a little observation of the configuration and sequence of Zhao's army, Meng Ao already understood Zhao Meng's battle plan. He shook his head secretly, disapproving of Zhao Meng's desperate approach. Without any adjustments to the route or strategy, just relying on a simple accumulation of troops and trying to win simply and crudely, how can it be such a good thing! Repeating what you did before will only get the same results.
Meng Ao sent a doctor to uniformly direct the actions of the armies below, and negotiated with him about the order's banner. Then, he raised a red flag on the big flag of the military camp and informed Li Bing to transfer a battalion to the foot of the sixth camp. Since Zhao Jun's camp did not have enough spacious space to organize two battalions at a time to attack, the gap between attacks must be very long. Meng Ao prepared to try to switch to a counterattack after repelling Zhao Jun's two attacks. At this time, it makes sense to invest a new battalion of fresh troops.
Ready to support the troops, Meng Ao and the officials visited the soldiers of each team together. As they bear the main offensive pressure of Zhao Jun, the soldiers suffered many injuries, especially the archers. Even if arrows rained down, they could only take one step without retreating. Although other soldiers could crouch down to avoid the arrows, due to the dense density of arrows, crouching down was not enough to fully avoid the arrows. Even the officials were injured.
Meng Ao praised everyone for their courage in fighting. Tell everyone that Zhao Jun will launch a battle of unprecedented scale. We need everyone to continue to fight. Meng Ao asked an injured archer for a bow and a bag of arrows, and stood in front of the barrier. The official also asked a wounded soldier for a bow and arrows, and prepared to go into battle. The doctors also followed their example and stood on the front line and became archers. When the soldiers saw all the doctors standing in front of the barrier, their whole bodies felt warm. After a few words, the archer struggled to stand up and join the battle, but was stopped by Meng Ao: "Every bow must be useful. Your injury is because its strength has weakened and it has not been used. You should rest in peace and rest, and it will be effective." In the future!" Then his other soldiers said: "Is there anyone who is good at shooting?"
Several soldiers immediately stood up. Meng Ao said: "You can fight with your bow." He divided the bows and arrows of the injured archers.
Archery was an aristocratic sport at the time. In Xiangxu, archery is a compulsory course, so it can also be accessed in the countryside. Although crossbows have been widely used, ordinary families cannot afford to equip them. They are usually made by royal craftsmen and can only be supplied to a small number of armies. Among these soldiers who were temporarily summoned from the fields, those who could shoot arrows were already the elite. When archers are injured, it is generally difficult to replace them. By the way, in addition to archers, shield soldiers and spear soldiers are also not very replaceable units. The main reason is that they are heavy and it is impossible to use them without repeated training. The most replaceable unit is the halberd/armor, which can be used to poke or smash. It doesn't take much effort to wield no matter how tall a person is.
Zhao Jun finally reorganized his formation and launched an attack amidst the sound of drums. Meng Ao made a gesture and the whole army was silent. He quietly came to the official's side, and the two of them observed carefully together.
The distance between the two sides was not far, and the Qin army still had the advantage of being at a commanding height. The distance between the two formations was fifty steps, which was quickly noticed by the two of them.
The front line came a hundred steps away from the Qin camp and carried out the final formation. Meng Ao said: "I'll shoot it for you to make you smile!" He drew his bow and arrow, not quite aiming, and shot the arrow. One person in the enemy formation fell to the ground! There was a burst of cheers in the Qin army camp!
The official said: "He who joins the army and is good at shooting is not as good as any of us."
Meng Ao said: "I heard that there are swordsmen who are good at shooting, maybe they can do this." He opened his bow and fired another arrow, and another person fell down.
The Zhao army became a little angry and ordered the archers to retaliate against the Qin army. The two hundred bows and arrows of Zhao Jun's first battalion pulled the bow strings together. Meng Ao waved his hand and said: "Down!" All the soldiers knelt on the ground with one leg. Only Meng Ao and the officials were still looking out through the gaps between the barriers.
Two hundred bows and arrows whizzed in with a frightening sound of breaking through the air, covering half of the sky. However, they were really weak and almost all of them fell outside the wall. Those who could hit the wall were considered to have strong arms. There were about ten or twenty people.
The commander of the Zhao army also seemed to be dissatisfied with this result. He asked the archers to take five steps forward, cross the Zhao formation, spread out in front of the formation, and shoot arrows again. This time not only Meng Ao, but also the officials and officials had itchy hands. They each shot an arrow and hit two archers. The commander of the Zhao army ordered to focus on shooting in the direction of the arrow!
Meng Ao, who was on the mountain, could see clearly that the archers were all aiming in his direction. He was so frightened that he pulled the officials to kneel down and pressed his body tightly against the camp wall.
There was a sharp sound of breaking through the air, and a large number of arrows hit the wooden stakes on the rampart, even cutting off a few wooden stakes; the camp wall shook violently, and earth fell down. As soon as the wave of arrows stopped, Meng Ao immediately pulled the official to the side and a second wave of arrows followed. Then came the third wave. Six hundred arrows were concentrated and fired at a distance of less than ten steps, making everything here hung with arrows. Most of the arrows only hit the bottom of the rampart, and only a few could hit the wooden stakes sticking out of the earth wall. There were also arrows shot from between the wooden piles and landed in the open space in front of the combat soldiers. Some of them bounced up and hit the Qin army's shield before finally landing.
Meng Ao asked in a low voice: "Is there anyone who is good at shooting?"
A dozen people raised their bows. Meng Ao ran over, asked them to stand up, pointed at the Zhao Jun archers in front and asked: "If you shoot, you will hit it?" Only a few people dared to answer.
Meng Ao said: "After shooting, they all scattered to both sides! He opened his bow and shot another arrow, seeming to humiliate Zhao Jun: I am still alive! Following that, others also shot an arrow each. Meng Ao immediately asked them to go Dodge on both sides of the camp wall.
Several more Zhao soldiers were struck by arrows and fell. The commander of the Zhao army once again ordered to advance five steps and shoot three more arrows.
This time, Meng Ao guessed that Zhao Jun would focus on the location where he had just shot arrows, and he was outside the shooting range. He boldly looked out from the gap in the barrier, hoping to find those who could shoot farther. After Zhao Jun finished shooting three arrows, he ran back to his original position, shot an arrow at a target he had chosen, leaned down and ran away again. The commander of the Zhao army seemed to realize that Meng Ao was tempting him to shoot ineffectively, wasting arrows and delaying time. After the man fell, he ordered the fighting soldiers behind to follow him.
Meng Ao saw that Zhao Jun was no longer fooled, so he called those people together and each shot three arrows in a row. Only Meng Ao's three arrows hit Zhao Jun, and the others were hit by one or two arrows. Meng Ao asked them to run to both sides. One of the men did not bend down and was discovered by Zhao Jun. He shot a bow and arrow at him. The man immediately fell into a pool of blood and was hit by three arrows! Fortunately, they were all arrows blocked by barriers, so they were not very powerful and only penetrated the flesh. Two people rushed out from the fighting soldiers, dragged him to the back camp, pulled out the arrows for him, and bandaged him to stop the bleeding.
