Fu Hongzhi frowned: "But in the battle at the rear, we wiped out their four to five thousand attacking troops with less than half of the enemy's troops. How can we explain this?"
Tan Daoji laughed: "Because we are not attacking the enemy from one side, but attacking from both sides. The enemy is attacked from both sides. They are attacking my rear troops from the front, and you appear behind them, and the fence line is isolated. They had no contact with Xu Daofu's main force in the direction of the Chinese army, and our army arrived first with cavalry, followed by infantry. They didn't know how many of our troops were coming. They only knew that our troops were coming in a steady stream for reinforcements, or appeared from their rear. .”
Tan Zhi nodded with satisfaction: "Although the rear troops in the front were not large in number, they still firmly defended the strategic position. They attacked for a day and a night but could not capture it. At this time, a large number of enemy reinforcements appeared in the rear. Knowing the numbers, they must have suffered a psychological breakdown, so they made the wrong choice and divided their forces to fight."
Fu Hongzhi suddenly realized: "So it turns out that our army's defenders are in the front, reinforcements are in the rear, and there is a line of fence left for them to escape on the side. Therefore, Taoist Songfeng and Li Nanfeng divided their forces first to resist our army's reinforcements. At the same time, they expected the main force from the Chinese army to come to the rescue. As a result, after the troops were divided, the troops staying in the rear surrendered first. Then, there was no hope of reinforcements from the Chinese army, so they each had their own agenda, wanting to sacrifice their friendly forces to save themselves. Dividing our troops to break through again gave our army the opportunity to defeat them one by one and eat them separately. Finally, in front of the trap on the northern fence, their entire army was annihilated."
Tan Daoji nodded: "So, the victory of this battle was, firstly, because the enemy soldiers were not united. The thieves from the Tiandao Alliance and the demon thieves from the Tianshi Dao were two groups, each with their own agendas, and there were Qiang people inside the Tiandao Alliance. The Di people and the old Chu thieves are not united in their hearts. When they encounter difficulties, instead of working together to reverse the situation and hold the line of defense, they run away separately and let the other party stay and die. How can they be undefeated?"
Liu Daogui said sternly: "Yes, the victory in the rear direction can be said to be defeating more with less, but the first reason for victory is that the enemy troops are not united and have no command, and secondly, the enemy troops are attacked from both sides and are in a desperate situation in terms of military tactics. Even if they stick to the defense line, they will be destroyed by our army's front and rear attacks, because the cavalry has a huge advantage in mobility. Their infantry cannot stop the cavalry assault on flat ground with no danger to defend, but we The price the military has to pay will be relatively much higher."
Tan Zhi smiled and said: "We will kill hundreds more brothers, but we can also wipe them out, because these thieves have become tired soldiers after fighting all night and cannot bear to fight anymore. However, these conditions are not suitable for Xu Daofu here in the Chinese army. As far as the main force is concerned, it does not hold true.”
"First of all, they are not surrounded by enemies from both sides and are desperate. They can still leave from the east side. Secondly, after Xu Daofu has a strong army, these Lingnan barbarians have not participated in the battle and still have enough fighting power. In addition, Xu Daofu has set up a trap early. Damn it, if our army attacks with force, we will suffer heavy losses, and the situation may even be reversed."
Everyone nodded, and Tan Zhi took a breath, pointed at the retreating enemy troops in the distance, and said: "They are also retreating in an orderly manner. Even though they are defeated, they will not disperse. Each unit is covering up step by step. Withdraw, there are guard troops spread out on both wings to prevent our cavalry from outflanking us. Although the speed is not very fast, the formation is tight, and we can change from marching state to combat state at any time, and form formations to fight on the spot."
Zhu Chaoshi frowned deeply and said seriously: "It is indeed a tight turtle shell. It looks invulnerable. Although it is bulky due to the lack of cavalry, their infantry formation has spear teams and obstacles such as horse antlers. , there are also archers in the formation. Now the whole army knows that they are in a desperate situation, life or death. Only by surviving this journey and rushing to Wulindu, two hundred miles away, can there be a glimmer of hope. Before that, They will work hard and defend to the death. If our army attacks forcefully, even if they win, they will pay a heavy price."
Liu Daogui nodded: "Yes, although the enemy has withdrawn from the battlefield, they are not yet in a desperate situation. However, they have lost the initiative now. Our army has a large number of cavalry who can follow and harass them all the way. This is what they want. Withdrawing back is just a dream, and more than 20,000 people have to eat and drink. On the way back to Wulindu, there are only a few Handong villages. There are some small rivers flowing nearby and there are wells in the villages. However, as long as I
They rush to these villages to set up ambushes, leaving even a small number of suspects, and then poison the wells to make them undrinkable. The enemy troops will soon be in a desperate situation of water shortage. "
Everyone's eyes lit up and they all said in unison: "Wonderful. It's so wonderful. If the enemy's water source is cut off, even if there is dry food, it will be difficult to eat!"
Liu Daogui smiled slightly: "This is called self-inflicted evil, and you will not survive. Hongzhi, you and Zunkao set off immediately, bringing with you your deputies who are familiar with the terrain of Handong. Well, I remember that Hu Longshi, the eldest son of Brother Hu, is very familiar with this area, right? , Daoji."
Tan Daoji nodded: "Brother Longshi often patrols the villages in Handong. In yesterday's battle, many of the villagers he knew were killed by the Tiandao Alliance's thieves and turned into immortals. They almost captured us. At the rear army camp, now he is filled with hatred for the demon thief, and his desire for revenge is extremely strong. It would be best to let him lead the way."
Having said this, Tan Daoji paused: "It seems that we don't need to poison. The big devil Heipao has planted the powder of Changshengren Daliwan in the wells of these villages before, and then used the medicine in the pears to activate it. , which turned all these villagers into monsters."
Liu Daogui's expression changed: "Is this happening? These thieves are really heartless, but for the sake of safety, we still continue to poison, and then ambush a small number of suspects in the village, fearing that the enemy will not dare to do so easily When we enter the village, even if we drink the poisoned well water and die from the poison, we don't dare to stay for a long time. We will inevitably speed up and escape towards Wulin Ferry. We just need to continue to follow all the way to Wulin Ferry."
Tan Daoji laughed and gave a high-five: "It's wonderful. When we arrived at Wulindu, these monster thieves who had no food or water had already become unbearable. They were relying on one breath to support themselves. They were already on the verge of collapse. Look at this moment. If we have no hope of surviving and can escape on board the ship, then no matter how strict military discipline is, it will be useless. There will definitely be a scramble to get on the ship. If our army launches an all-out assault at this time!"
Everyone said in unison: "We will definitely annihilate all the demon thieves and capture Xu Daofu alive!"
