July, Liangcheng.
The sun sets and dusk grows late.
"kill!"
The remaining bonfires were burning with black smoke, and countless soldiers screamed and fought desperately under the sunset.
Blood splattered, gold and iron roared, war drums thundered, and flags were rolled back.
The most tragic scenes for mankind in the world are constantly being staged on this battlefield.
Countless lives quickly disappeared while killing each other.
Dang, Dang, Dang!
There was a rapid sound of gongs.
The soldiers on both sides who were fighting on the battlefield suddenly relaxed when they heard this voice.
Then they looked at each other, no matter whether the other person was an enemy just a moment ago, they felt like they were being pardoned.
Wary of each other, they retreated and waited.
After some distance, he and his three or five comrades joined together and ran quickly towards the rear camp.
Today has been a day of killing.
From the first day of dawn and the first light of dawn, Chu and Zhao both set up their battle formations, and continuously pulled out soldiers and horses to fight in the wilderness between the two camps.
This killing lasted from morning to night.
The bodies of both sides were strewn with blood, and everyone was exhausted.
At this moment, no one from Chu, Zhao or Wei wanted to kill anymore.
If it wasn't forced by military orders, who would be willing to go to that battlefield?
On the high tower, Huang Lin looked at his own soldiers who had withdrawn. He looked at the tired, sparse and no longer full-scale troops with a calm expression.
Just watch the soldiers go through the count, and then return to the city under the leadership of the commander, or go to the camp near the city to start eating.
The aroma of the food was now wafting inside and outside the city.
The soldiers who had been killing for a day were severely exhausted physically and mentally. The best way at this time was to give them a full meal and enough oil and water pipes.
The feeling of being full when your stomach is full is the most primitive instinctive desire of human beings.
When this desire is satisfied, it is enough to cover up most negative emotions and provide people with new energy and a good mood.
So even if providing a large amount of meat to the soldiers would put great pressure on logistics, both Chu and Zhao still did it.
Anyway, these soldiers who have eaten will be wasted on this cruel battlefield in a few days. They can only eat for ten and a half months.
People have sold their lives to you, so it is only right that they eat well before they die.
After such calculations, the logistical pressure is actually not that great.
"Go back to the manager, today's battle losses have been calculated."
While he was deep in thought, the deputy general came over, saluted Huang Lin, and then reported: "There are fifty-eight battalions of men and horses going into battle today, both in the descending camp and the headquarters battalion. The average number of casualties per battalion is about two hundred to three hundred. , nearly half of them were killed or injured.
According to statistics, the casualties of the surrendered soldiers were approximately 8,000, and the casualties of our Chu army were about 3,000, for a total loss of about 11,000.
As for the Zhao people, there is no detailed number, but the number of casualties should be more than 8,000. "
When Huang Lin heard the number, he nodded slightly, then waved his hand and said, "I know, let's get down."
"yes."
The lieutenant retired.
After he left, Huang Lincai said to himself: "Eight thousand people have been killed for a month, and the number of soldiers and horses used by Zhao people every day has not decreased.
It seems that it is true that two million troops were used this time. "
Ever since he occupied Liangcheng and took the lifeline of the Zhao people.
In an instant, the West Route Army was like poking a hornet's nest, provoking the Zhao people to devote all their resources to revenge.
The Chu army occupied Liangcheng at the end of May.
However, in early June, Huang Lin had just defeated the Zhao army in Baima County. Within a few days, the main force of the Zhao army from Diqiu came in force.
The Zhao people claimed that they had two million soldiers, the strength of the entire country, and vowed to recapture Liangcheng.
At first, Huang Lin didn't take Zhao Guo's claims seriously.
After all, with the intensity of the war nowadays, the troops and horses used by various countries are becoming larger and larger.
When going on an expedition, they will even exaggerate their numbers to intimidate the enemy.
For example, in the first Northern Expedition of the Chu army, they raised the banner of raising 30 million troops to intimidate the heroes in Jiangbei.
This is almost 60% more than the original number of the Chu army.
However, it is difficult to say whether this intimidation effect is successful or not.
You have to say it is true. The nine states in the north of the Yangtze River were indeed frightened by the Chu army, and they were all terrified.
But if you want to say that it failed, those countries were obviously frightened, but in the end they still tried their best to oppose the Chu army.
Even Xu and Jin, who were out of reach of Chu, came to interfere and stood on the opposite side of Chu.
Therefore, it is difficult for Lu Yuan to estimate whether the publicity effect is good or bad.
To judge others by oneself, the Chu army's actions must be exaggerated, but the Zhao army's actions should not be bad at all.
What two million people, probably only one million people can hold up to the sky.
After all, whether there are one million people or two million people, it is so vast that it covers the sky and the sun, and the army can stretch for hundreds of miles.
With such a huge army, even if you send out scouts to investigate, the final number you get is still a very vague quantifier.
The crowd is endless and the flags are like a forest.
There are Zhao soldiers for dozens of miles, Zhao camps are all the surrounding prefectures and counties, etc.
You want to say, how many people are there specifically?
Feel sorry.
There are tens of millions of people. No matter how powerful the scout is, they will never be able to count them until they are exhausted.
Therefore, when the number of soldiers and horses exceeds one million, it is difficult to make an accurate guess as to the specific number of the army. At most, a rough estimate can be made.
The difference between two million people and one million people is really hard to tell.
This also gives countries a basis for a certain degree of artistic processing when conducting propaganda.
The brave ones dare to double the number of soldiers and horses they use.
Even those who are timid dare to turn it in half or double.
Anyway, now, as long as any country is fighting a national war, there will never be less than one million soldiers and horses.
With this foundation, they can publicize whatever they want without fear of being exposed.
Only by meeting each other head-on and weighing each other's details can we know how wet the other person is.
At this time, Huang Lin had been fighting with Zhao Ren in Liangcheng for a month. He estimated the losses of both sides every day, and Huang Lin had almost figured out the opponent's strength.
Zhao Jun's two million men should have no water.
The two armies fought for a month, and Zhao's average daily casualties were around eight or nine thousand people.
This adds up to 256,000 people a month.
As for the Chu army, because there were more surrendered soldiers in the army, the morale of the army was low, and those surrendered soldiers were not very willing to fight for Chu.
So after going to the battlefield, they were either working as foreigners, or looking for opportunities to escape back to Zhao State, and many even rebelled on the spot.
Various factors have resulted in a large number of temporarily recruited civilians in the Zhao Kingdom.
But on the Chu army's side, the number of daily casualties was still much higher than that of the Zhao army.
After a month, the Chu army had lost about 250,000 surrendered soldiers and about 80,000 headquarters troops.
The total loss has exceeded 300,000.
It can be said that both sides suffered heavy casualties due to this war.
The only difference is that those who died in the Chu army were not very heart-wrenching soldiers.
And those who died in Zhao Jun were their own people.
Both sides lost 20,000 to 300,000 people. If one side had only one million troops, this would almost equal to more than 20 to 30% battle losses.
For an army, this has long been exhausted and the soldiers and horses are unable to fight anymore.
The Chu army was able to persist because there were a large number of prisoners to supplement the consumption. The main casualties of the main force were not serious, so they were not affected too much.
But Zhao Jun does not have this convenience.
So the only reasonable explanation is that the other party really has two million.
In this case, the death of 250,000 to 60,000 people would only be equivalent to about 10% of the opponent's strength.
One person was killed or wounded, which was still a lot for a large army.
However, soldiers and horses from various countries who have undergone formal training can often accept the loss of 30 to 40% of their troops, and they will eventually be unable to hold on and be defeated.
Although Zhao Jun has mostly new soldiers and civilians, the martial arts of various countries are fierce nowadays, and civilian men and women practice boxing, kicking and archery, which already has a certain foundation.
Coupled with Zhao's hegemonic mentality and the belief in protecting the country, and supplemented by a certain number of veterans, it can't be said that the opponent's strength is inferior.
With so many stacked states, it is not unusual for Zhao Jun in front to survive with a mortality rate of 20 to 30%.
But in this case, the situation is not very good for Huang Lin.
Although he now occupies Liangcheng, due to the depth of his lone army, he can only capture such a big city.
Around Liangcheng, before they had time to establish a solid defense line, Zhao Jun came over one after another.
The Zhao army on both sides of Baima and Diqiu, almost like a relay, completed the containment of the Chu army.
Since arriving in Liangcheng, Huang Lin's troops have been fighting almost every day.
The daily war involved so much energy that he had no time to build forts and dig defense lines.
Therefore, although he has hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, except for some soldiers and horses who can hide in the city and rely on city defenses for defense.
Most of the remaining soldiers and horses could only be scattered outside the city, relying on a thin layer of camp to confront Zhao Jun.
However, a simply built fortress like this basically cannot provide any effective protection.
This is not the defense line that has been built for several months and half a year. It has built tall walls and even city walls with various city defense facilities. The fortress has been carefully planned and built like a copper wall and an iron wall, which is difficult to break.
A line of defense like this needs to be filled with human lives.
The Baima Defense Line that Chu State is attacking and the Daliang Defense Line in Liang County are of this type.
For a defense line like this, even a small fortress will cost two or three times, or even more lives.
As for Liangcheng, most of the Chu army's camps only built a short fence, dug a few trenches, and provided a simple early warning.
This kind of small protection could be passed by Zhao Ren with just one step, and it would not have any blocking effect at all.
It was obviously overthinking to rely on such a crude fortress to defend against Zhao's attack.
That's why.
Although I have Liangcheng as a stronghold here, no matter how big this important city is, it cannot accommodate hundreds of thousands of Chu troops.
Just like Daliang only placed 300,000 people in the city, and the remaining 400,000 troops were scattered outside the city.
In Liangcheng, Huang Lin only left 150,000 people in the city.
The remaining 1.6 million soldiers and horses mobilized were shared by him around the outside of the city, and even from Liangcheng to Wating County, and were located in cities at various transportation points.
It is impossible for nearly two million soldiers and horses to gather together and must be scattered.
As for these large armies assigned outside the city, they had no protection and were naturally unable to defend the city in the face of the oncoming Zhao army.
We can only bite the bullet, open up the battle, and fight them hard on the battlefield.
And after working for a month, the results are very clear.
The two armies were evenly matched, or in other words, the Zhao army had a slight upper hand and the Chu army was at a slight disadvantage.
However, this disadvantage is not big, and the Chu army has a strong foundation.
Even if 330,000 troops and horses were lost at this time, the remaining troops of the Chu army at the front line of Liangcheng were still more than 1.4 million, which was enough to continue to consume Zhao.
"Just like this, the war has become a pure exchange of human lives. The results of my original raid on Liangcheng are not that important."
Huang Lin couldn't help but frown as he considered the current situation.
Although he had pinched Zhao Guo's lifeline, Zhao Guo's counterattack was not so easy to bear before this lifeline was cut off by him.
Not to mention the two million Zhao troops coming from Diqiu.
Although the opponent had a large number of people, after occupying Liangcheng, he continued to mobilize troops and horses from the rear to come for support.
Although there are slight differences between the two sides here, they are still at the same level of military strength on the whole, and there will be no flaws.
Over there at the White Horse Front.
The original main force of the Chu army was transferred to Liangcheng, where the number of the Chu army dropped to less than one million.
It completely changed from the main force to a partial army.
Fortunately, the Zhao army on the Baima front line had been greatly reduced by the exhaustion of Zhao Cheng's previous attack on Liangcheng, with less than a million men and horses left.
Therefore, after all the losses on both sides, the strength is still almost the same.
However, after Zhao Cheng returned, he also knew that given his situation, he would not be able to lead his army for a long time when there was a shortage of food and grass.
If you want the army to survive, you must either lead troops and horses to break through the blockade, or continuously reduce the number of people in the army to reduce the consumption of food and grass and maintain it for a longer period of time.
Therefore, after understanding his situation, Zhao Cheng returned to the Baima front line and immediately mobilized his troops to attack the Chu army in front of him.
He didn't think about attacking Liangcheng again. With the strength of the city and the number of Chu troops, he was afraid that even if all the white horse defenders were killed, they wouldn't be able to conquer the city.
On the contrary, it is the Chu army's defense line in front of the white horse. Because the Chu army has always had the advantage of taking the initiative to attack, the camp was not built according to the standards of a fortress and only had an average level of defense.
A breakthrough from this direction is even more likely.
Especially after the Chu army continued to draw troops and horses from the White Horse front line, this possibility became even greater, so much so that it became the only hope for the survival of the White Horse Zhao army.
Therefore, after understanding their own situation, the Zhao army led by Zhao Cheng became more and more crazy about the attack on the Chu army's camp there.
In just over a month, the Baima Zhao Army launched hundreds of breakout attacks.
The number of soldiers and horses killed and injured as a result has exceeded 500,000, and more than half of them have been lost.
Although the Chu army facing them had a defensive advantage, the camp was not as good as the city. The number of people lost was more than 300,000, and the casualties were also heavy.
Now, on the White Horse Front, the Chu Army has about 600,000 troops left, while the Zhao Army only has about 400,000 troops left. There is a certain gap in the strength comparison between the two sides.
However, it was precisely because of the previous crazy attack that Zhao Jun consumed a large number of troops and horses, and there were many fewer people eating food in the camp.
So at this time, their camp's food reserves could actually last for another half month, which was much longer than the original time when the food was exhausted.
At the same time, because of the reduction of troops and horses, the demand for food and grass logistics has also become much smaller.
In addition, Jizhou mainland in the north also started emergency rescue after learning about the current situation of Zhao Jun on the Baima front line.
Many ships were collected from the north and began to use the small ferry in Baima County to transport various materials and grains here. At the same time, they also began to evacuate the Zhao army here on a small scale.
Although these transported materials and grains are very small, even if they are fully arranged every day, they can basically only sustain the needs of 50,000 to 60,000 people for a month.
But no matter how small the mosquito is, it is still meat, not to mention that it is already considered a chicken leg.
Moreover, the Zhao army was constantly withdrawing troops. Every time the ship carrying food was empty, it could take away three to five thousand Zhao troops when it returned.
In this way, while constantly transporting supplies, they are also constantly withdrawing the consumed men and horses. Between the increase and decrease, the White Horse Zhao Army can maintain it like this.
After Zhao Cheng also discovered this, he confirmed that the number of Zhao troops had reached an equilibrium state, and he stopped attacking the Chu army's defense line, completely giving up the idea of breaking out.
Without a breakout, the Zhao people's only retreat was to cross the river and retreat north.
Therefore, after the breakout was terminated, Zhao Chenggong led the remaining troops and continued to defend the White Horse Defense Line.
This White Horse Defense Line is a defense area that Zhao State has built for more than a year. It is lined with various solid fortresses and a large number of city defense facilities.
Defending in such a place would give the defenders a huge advantage in battle.
The Chu army on the opposite side tried to attack one or two fortresses, but soon stopped due to huge losses.
no way.
The previous batch of Wei army prisoners sent had been exhausted in the previous war.
Without these cheap cannon fodder, the Chu army would not be willing to risk their precious lives to fill those deep ditches and high fortresses.
So the situation here has once again reached a stalemate.
Unless a new batch of prisoners arrives, they can be used as a sharp edge to attack the city and bring new impetus.
Otherwise, the Chu army could only watch Zhao Jun and slowly sail away by boat to escape from this dead land.
Although after the Zhao army left, the Chu army was able to successfully take over the Baima defense line and rush to assist the main force of Liangcheng.
In the current battle for Dongjun, the Chu army still has the upper hand.
And there is a great possibility to capture the entire East County in the future.
But it is not possible to overcome all the difficulties, which makes people a little unwilling after all.
And if Zhao Jun can escape back to the main force of 400,000, with this as the core, he can reorganize a powerful army after returning to Jizhou.
Even if the Chu State occupies Dongjun by then, I am afraid that it will still be harassed by it, and it will be difficult to find peace all day long.
"So, if possible, we should keep the white-horse Zhao army as much as possible. Also, I heard that in Jizhou itself, Emperor Zhao is forming another large army, preparing to personally march south to support the front line.
If this new force arrives, the situation in Dongjun will be a bit ugly. Huang Lin frowned.
Dongjun is the lifeblood of Zhao State. Without Dongjun, Zhao State will have no future.
In order to protect this territory, Zhao Guo almost tried his best, as if he was crazy.
Not only in the land of Dongjun, they are recruiting troops desperately.
Even in the mainland of Hebei, they are frantically expanding their troops and preparing to make a desperate move.
The population of Hebei, Zhao State, is almost 8 million. If we work hard, we can get more than 1.5 million soldiers and horses.
If this new force reaches Dongjun and joins the Zhao army in Dongjun here, the Zhao army will number almost 3.5 million people.
This has exceeded the number of Chu troops.
Facing this crazy country, even if he only had an advantage, Huang Lin still had lingering fears and fears.
"So for now, I can only say hello to the main body and continue to shake people."
When in doubt, summon the true body.
As a clone, Huang Lin faced difficulties and did not bear them to death.
Instead, contact the main body immediately and call for support.
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