Chapter 1272: Leaving the Fortress
As Wokuotai led the 30,000 remnant troops back to the Ningxia Army, Murong Ke's plan to severely damage the 100,000 Jin troops on the eastern front could be said to have ended in complete failure.
The 70,000 Yuan Mongolian cavalry left during the expedition came back with less than 30,000, and a full 40,000 Mongolian cavalry were killed or injured. In addition, three generals, Murong Jun, Meng Libai, and Meng Liyuan, were lost, but only the Han troops were defeated. The army has 40,000 infantry and 4,000 Han cavalry.
Overall, this battle between Yuan Meng can be said to be a huge loss.
Of course, this is just the beginning.
Wo Kuotai's trip was extremely unsatisfactory, and the same was true for Murong Ke.
Murong Ke made sufficient preparations before the war. No matter whether the Han army sent reinforcements or not, he had a plan to deal with it. However, after 30,000 Han soldiers rode eastward, he found that his thinking was too simple.
Bai Qi, Wang Meng, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bowen, and Xi Zhicai, the five of them cooperated perfectly. Murong Ke's plan was seen through by Zhuge Ke from the beginning, while Bai Qi and Wang Meng paralyzed and confused Murong Ke.
If Murong Ke had not been extremely cautious, he might have fallen into the Han army's plan and suffered heavy casualties.
The plan was blocked at the beginning, which also made Murong Ke realize that he could not match the opponent's strategy. Since he could not be soft, he had to be hard.
Murong Ke dispatched a total of 200,000 troops this time. Within a few days, all ten cities in Ningxia were reduced to battlefields, and more than 20 large and small battles broke out between the two sides.
There were even fifteen times where Murong Ke personally led the army against Bai Qi and Wang Meng respectively.
Facing Wang Meng, Murong Ke only felt that he was facing a seamless egg, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not find any flaws.
Facing Bai Qi, Murong Ke was beaten throughout the whole process. His tactics, formations, and command were all at a disadvantage, and he was convinced of his defeat.
There were more than 20 battles in several days, and both sides suffered tens of thousands of casualties. However, you must know that Yuanmeng's casualties were cavalry, and most of the Han army's casualties were infantry, so naturally Yuanmeng suffered the most casualties.
After both battle plans failed, Murong Ke took his troops back to the five cities of Ningxia. He did not dare to test the Han army easily. Instead, he prepared to wait for Murong Chui to take Yinshan City and wait for Yinshan's army to move south to concentrate all the troops. The force directly pushed the Han army horizontally.
Murong Ke retracted his army back into the city, which also facilitated Qin Hao's opportunity to implement his next plan.
As soon as the Ningxia War ended, Qin Hao prepared to take Qin Liangyu back to Ningxia. In this way, he handed over the command of the eastern front to Meng Tian, but Qin Liangyu was not willing to leave like this.
Through the previous battles, Qin Liangyu also realized her shortcomings in ability. If she continued to stay, it was inevitable that Yuan Meng would continue to target her.
But Qin Liangyu was unwilling to leave just like that. She also wanted to atone for her sins, so she took the initiative to give up the position of commander-in-chief to Meng Tian and stayed in person to assist Meng Tian in controlling the army.
Seeing this, Qin Hao nodded and agreed. After all, with the assistance of Qin Liangyu, the former general, Meng Tian could control the entire army in the shortest time.
Qin Hao asked Huo Qubing, Zhao Yun and the cavalry troops to stay, while he took Jiang Song and Gao Chong back to Ningxia City, and a military and political meeting was held shortly afterwards.
The theme of this meeting has only one theme, and that is to counterattack the grassland, that is: to get out of the fortress.
"Although our army has many troops now, most of them are infantry. However, in the counterattack on the grassland, only cavalry can be used."
Qin Hao put down the report in his hand, looked at the counselors below, and asked: "Tell me, this time to counterattack the grassland and force Temujin to send troops back for reinforcements, how many cavalry should be dispatched optimally?"
Bai Qi stood up and said: "My lord, the total cavalry of the Qin and Jin coalitions is only 120,000. If the number of cavalry is too large, it is likely to cause the entire battle situation in Hetao to collapse, so the general thinks it is not appropriate Over forty thousand.”
"What Governor Bai said is wrong."
Xi Zhicai stood up and retorted: "Once our army counterattacks the grassland, it will definitely attract some of Yuan Meng's main forces to return for reinforcements. By then, Yuan Meng's troops in Hetao will naturally be reduced."
"Yes, Yuanmeng has implemented a military strategy for all the people, and is still recruiting a large number of new soldiers. It can be said that there is no shortage of troops in the country now. If our army only dispatches 40,000 cavalry, I am afraid it will be difficult for Yuanmeng to feel threatened. And then If Temujin does not send troops back, then the subsequent plan will not be implemented." Zhuge Liang said solemnly.
Qin Hao also nodded when he heard this.
Counterattacking the grasslands is only the first step of the plan. When the expeditionary army that enters the grasslands causes a certain degree of damage to Yuan and Meng and forces Temujin to send troops back, the Han army will implement the second step of the plan. : Send troops to support Yinshan City.
Only after these two steps of the plan are successfully implemented can the Han army's Jedi counterattack be successful. Therefore, this first step is the most important and absolutely no mistakes are allowed.
After discussing with the counselors for a long time, Qin Hao finally decided to dispatch 60,000 cavalry. This was already the limit that could be dispatched. No more would be enough. After all, the subsequent plan also required cavalry.
As for the candidate to lead the army this time, Qin Hao once again chose Huo Qubing.
Bai Qi has other important responsibilities, and Huo Qubing's cavalry combat ability is one of the best among the Qin and Jin armies, and has been recognized in several previous battles, so the choice of the leader this time must be Huo Qubing.
As for the candidates for deputy generals, Qin Hao chose Long Qie and Ran Min. Other generals accompanying the army include: Yuwen Chengdu, Luo Cheng, Luo Yi, Ding Yanping...
It is worth mentioning that after Xiang Yu learned that Long Qie would participate in this expedition, he actually asked Qin Hao to participate in this expedition.
Although Qin Hao didn't understand why Xiang Yu was not afraid of his identity being exposed, he naturally would not refuse this request, so he incorporated Xiang Yu into Huo Qubing's escort team and asked Xiang Yu to go out with the army.
There are already 26,000 cavalry on the Eastern Front, so this time the cavalry secretly gathered in Ningxia and dispatched to join them on the Eastern Front, there were only 34,000 cavalry.
When the two armies join together, Huo Qubing will lead 60,000 cavalry through Yanmen Pass and attack into the grassland. Then he divides his troops into two groups and kills in the direction of Dragon City. He will implement a scorched earth strategy along the way, forcing Temujin to send troops back to aid Dragon City. .
Late at night, 34,000 horsemen gathered at the east gate of Ningxia City, led by two generals: Long Qie and Ran Min.
After the army was assembled, Ran Min and Long Qie looked at each other. Ran Min raised his weapon and shouted: "Let's go."
Thirty-four thousand riders are heading east, and they are about to embark on a glorious journey out of the fortress.
On the city wall, Qin Hao watched the army gradually go away, and couldn't help but recite: "The bright moon of Qin is at the pass of Han, and the people who have marched thousands of miles have not returned. But the flying generals of Dragon City are here, and I don't teach Hu Ma to cross the Yin Mountain."
