The battle in Taihang Official Way put Dai Ling into a dilemma.
Especially after Dai Ling once again sent a thousand cavalry to attack the Mengda camp along the official road, but in the end only less than 400 people were withdrawn, Dai Ling really became a little bit cautious.
The official road is indeed wide enough, but no matter how wide the official road is, it is not a plain. Its width is always limited.
In this section, both sides of the official road are basically rocky cliffs. The only hillsides are very steep, and there is no place to avoid arrows. Under this terrain, Dai Ling can only arrange a thousand cavalry assault at most.
No matter how many there are, it will not only affect the speed of the cavalry's attack, but also the density of arrows on the opposite side. The more people there are, the greater the result will be on the opposite side.
It's just a pure arrow target.
Under this situation, Dai Ling was really depressed. Who had the idea in the first place to let the cavalry and infantry move separately? !
As long as the leader now has thousands of infantry in his hands, why worry about not being able to capture this small pass? !
Let the cavalry dismount and use them as infantry? !
This is simply not feasible.
It is not that cavalry cannot dismount and fight on foot. It is understandable to do so in ordinary field situations, but it does not apply now.
The reason is very simple. Dai Ling led the cavalry on an expedition. The logistics supplies he carried were basically the ordnance needed for cavalry operations. There were no shields in the army.
Which cavalryman would carry a shield when going into battle? !
But in the current battlefield situation, without the protection of a shield, who can rush through? !
Dai Ling could dismount the cavalry and fight on foot, but without enough shields as cover, relying on the speed of the infantry, he might not even be able to withstand the attack of the three thousand crossbowmen on the rocky cliffs, let alone compete with the Guandao camp. The Shu thieves confronted each other head-on.
So, Dai Ling is really complaining now, which bastard came up with the bad idea to let the infantry act alone. Really, as long as Dai Ling is given three thousand shield soldiers and two thousand crossbowmen, he will definitely We can easily break through this pass and enter Hanoi County.
Unfortunately, there is no if in reality.
Dai Ling now had to think of a way to let the cavalry rush to the front of the Shu bandit's camp despite the fierce arrows from the Shu bandit.
As long as the cavalry can be attacked at close range, with the cavalry's impact speed and impact, the Shu thieves blocking the official road are not enough to pose a threat to the cavalry.
The actual geographical location limited the number of troops Dai Ling could put into battle. The antler formation also limited the impact speed of the cavalry. One of the two must be solved.
Obviously, Dai Ling couldn't solve the problem of geographical location, so the only thing that could be solved was those sparse antlers array.
Although to solve this antler array, I'm afraid I have to keep filling it with lives, but now Dai Ling has no choice.
Once again, a cavalry assault team of a thousand people was organized, formed into formation, and attacked towards the official road pass.
The goal this time was not to attack the Shu bandit camp, but to find a way to destroy the antlers in the antlers array and clear the obstacles for the cavalry to attack.
Deer antlers are made of wood after all, and the antlers made temporarily by Meng Da are not necessarily very strong. The number is small, so it is relatively easy for Cao Wei's cavalry to destroy them.
Especially the antler formations in the first and second rows are outside the range of the Zhuge Liannu No. 2 machine. Whether they are burned or dragged away, they are always easy to solve.
The trouble was that the last three rows of antlers had to be burned down despite a hail of arrows.
But fortunately, there are not many antler formations. Dai Ling believes that although it is difficult, it is not impossible to succeed.
Without the protection of the antlers formation, it would be easy to defeat the two thousand Shu thieves on the official road with the speed of the cavalry.
However, what Dai Ling could think of, Meng Da, an old fox, couldn't think of? !
Whether it was military strategy or ability to adapt to battle, there was still a big gap between Dai Ling and Meng Da.
This time, the thousand cavalry sent by Dai Ling, after passing through the arrow groups on the rocks, had just approached the area where the first row of antlers was located, and they were immediately attacked by a dense group of arrows.
Meng Da ordered the crossbowmen to press forward, leave the camp for protection, and take the initiative to attack, using the powerful firepower of the Zhuge Liannu No. 2 machine to protect the antlers.
At this time, if Dai Ling could react faster and more decisively, give up attacking the antlers formation, and directly attack the crossbow formation and leave the protection of the camp, the number of crossbowmen deployed in the wild would be more than 130. At a distance of one step, the threat of cavalry is still great.
It is not even necessary for the cavalry to attack at close range. It only needs to be shortened to seventy or eighty paces. The cavalry can still kill these unarmored crossbowmen by riding on horseback.
However, Dai Ling's response was to order the cavalry to retreat and reorganize their attack formation. He missed the best opportunity to break the situation.
Meng Da, on the other hand, was also greatly relieved that this adventurous attack had a good effect after all.
In fact, Meng Da did not expect that the Zhuge Liannu No. 2 machine was so powerful at first, so he set up the first line of defense two hundred steps away. Now it seems that the line of defense was actually set up at a distance of about 150 steps. Will suffice.
This risky attack was not only Mengda's prediction of Dai Ling's response, but also an opportunity for Mengda to readjust his tactical arrangements.
After repelling the third wave of attacking cavalry, Mengda immediately ordered his soldiers to move the antlers array back to a distance of 150 steps.
At the same time, Meng Da sent orders to the ordinary crossbowmen on the mountain, and then they concentrated their forces, narrowed the shooting range of the bows and arrows, and concentrated on attacking the area in front of the antler formation to make up for the lack of range of Zhuge Liannu No. 2 machine.
Anyway, Meng Da also saw that no matter how much the attack range of the three thousand crossbowmen on the rocks was extended, at the speed of the cavalry, it would only take a cup of tea to rush over, and the lethality was not high. Against the Wei army, It's not painful at all.
It would be better to use them together and guard this pass to supplement the range of Zhuge Liannu No. 2 machine.
Meng Da's adjustment made Dai Ling feel really uncomfortable.
The antlers array adjusted by Meng Da was within the shooting range of the Shu thieves' bows and arrows in all directions. The fourth wave of cavalry attacks sent by Dai Ling could only barely demolish seven or eight antlers on the first line of defense, and had to attack the Shu thieves. retreated under the attack of arrows.
What made Dai Ling even more helpless was that these Shu thieves still had enough time to observe their own camp and seize the time to repair and add new antlers.
Although there are not many additions, it at least proves that the Shu thieves have the ability to strengthen the antlers array.
This made Dai Ling very embarrassed.
Unless Dai Ling is sure that he can make a one-time attack and break through, otherwise, as long as the Shu thieves are given a chance, the Shu thieves will be able to continuously strengthen the defense line of the antlers formation and it will be a waste.
After four cavalry attacks, Dai Ling had already suffered casualties of more than 1,800 cavalry. If the attack continued like this, even if the Shu thieves were defeated, he would probably not have many cavalry left alive to enter Hanoi County.
Of course, the most important thing is that the four attacks were unable to effectively kill the enemy. It was our own side that was losing troops and generals. The morale of the army was extremely negative.
If the fight continues like this, the soldiers will definitely not be able to hold on, and no one wants to fight a battle where there is no hope of victory.
Dai Ling is not a decisive coach, he is just a general who is good at taking orders and charging into battle. Faced with such a situation, there are not many methods Dai Ling can take.
Dai Ling also thought about how to lure the enemy to attack and leave the pass.
He once pretended to withdraw his troops, and then suddenly turned back, trying to catch the pursuing Shu thieves off guard. But he found that no matter whether he was withdrawing or returning, the Shu thieves had no intention of moving at all, and they just stayed motionless at the pass.
As for detours, Dai Ling had also thought about it, but according to the march guide, there were mountain roads for detours, but the conditions for these mountain roads were that at most they would be difficult for people, and even war horses and baggage would not be able to pass.
It's quite normal. We already have official channels. Who still has nothing to do and walks on mountain trails? Do you think your life is too easy? !
Anyway, now Dai Ling really has no choice but to fight hard again, Dai Ling can't think of another way.
Now that Dai Ling's side is at a loss, Meng Da's side will be relaxed.
As long as there are no problems with the supply of food and grass, Mengda can continue to spend time with Dai Ling here.
Of course, the prerequisite is that there should be no problems with food and grass.
In other words, Zhang Xi must have enough capacity to continuously transport grain and grass to the northern part of Hanoi County.
This ability depends on whether Zhang Xi and Ma Dai can stop the 20,000 infantry led by Qin Lang.
After being stopped, even if the situation was completely stabilized, Meng Da had no worries.
If it can't be stopped, I'm afraid the situation over Zhang Xi will change.
Moreover, Meng Da is worried that Zhang Xi's prediction is wrong based on the current actual situation.
Zhang Xi did not predict that Qin Lang would divide his troops out of Wangwu Mountain Road. Therefore, Meng Da could not predict how Zhang Xi would respond in Wen County.
Although Meng Da made a rare effort and asked Ma Dai to quickly return to block Qin Lang's infantry. But if Ma Dai could not catch up, and Zhang Xi was unprepared for the arrival of Qin Lang's troops, trouble would be real. It's big.
Meng Da is really worried, but now he can only believe that Zhang Yuanchang's reputation over the years was not made by bragging.
There have been too many personal matters these past two days, and I have been running around outside. I really don’t have enough time to code and update a little bit.
By the way, this book is almost over, and I'm thinking about what to write next.
(End of chapter)
