"Send an order to collect the wounded soldiers, treat them first and then transfer them to the old pass." Zhao Kuo put down the casualty report in his hand and ordered: "Order General Tian Dan to ask a doctor to take good care of him. He does not need to return to the team after he recovers. He will be reorganized on the spot to join the defense line of the old pass. , obey Tian Dan’s command.”
"Yes!" The ordering soldier on the side immediately took the order.
After some operations, the generals seemed to have a new understanding of Zhao Kuo - an excellent general who cared about his soldiers and had the style of a general.
However, what Zhao Kuo said next made the generals somewhat puzzled.
"Send the order to Sun Gu: Keep the distance between the armies and slow down the crossing of the river!" Zhao Kuo then ordered.
"What?" The generals present almost couldn't believe their ears: The situation on the front was excellent, but the general ordered the follow-up army to postpone?
Suspended for what?
Waiting for the Qin army to drive off the Danshui army that finally landed on the west bank?
Even if there is a general who is not happy.
"General! Our army has tens of thousands of troops who have crossed the Danshui River. We only need to establish defenses and continue to transport the siege equipment to the Danshui River. Then the Qin army's Danshui barrier will be lowered soon." One of the assistant generals did not understand. asked
Zhao Kuo didn't speak. It's not that he couldn't bear to attack the generals, but I can't tell you that there will be another barrier after the barrier, and it is a deeper and higher barrier!
"Once the barrier is broken and our army takes advantage of the victory, Guanglang City, Kongcang Ling, even Jiepai Ling and the entire Shangdang area will be under our control. Why do we delay the advance of troops despite occupying all the troops?! "The general is still thinking about the impossible.
However, the generals present seemed to think that what he said was reasonable, which made Zhao Kuo very impatient.
"Don't you think something's wrong?" Zhao Kuo interrupted General Pi's plea helplessly.
"What's wrong?" General Pi said disdainfully. Obviously in his eyes, the Qin army that was caught off guard now was the best opportunity to break through.
Seeing that everyone was about to be led astray, Zhao Kuo immediately asked: "Where is the Qin Army's big killer weapon-the bed crossbow? The battle has only been half an hour. The Qin Army has seen a lot of hard-attack hard crossbows, but the bed crossbow is The big killer weapon never appeared, what’s the reason?”
All the generals present, including General Pi who just spoke, fell into deep thought after hearing this.
"What's more, even if the bed crossbow is limited by distance, what about the Qin army's cavalry? What about the chariots? If it were you to defend, wouldn't you only use archers to defend? Although the Qin army is not good at cavalry, But after many years of fighting against the Huns, there are still tens of thousands of cavalry, and even if there are no cavalry, there are still chariots." Zhao Kuo continued to ask.
"If I come to defend and send a group of cavalry or infantry to attack the archer phalanx on the east bank, and the longbowmen continue to suppress Danshui, I won't say more, causing at least more than 20,000 casualties." A general whispered. Di agreed with Zhao Kuo's conclusion.
"There were still cavalry in my team crossing the river. Perhaps I was afraid of our cavalry's counterattack, so I didn't send any troops to attack our army!" A captain thought for a moment and argued reluctantly.
"The number of cavalry that our army has crossed Danshui is only a few thousand, and the distance between Danshui and the barrier is not too long. Such a distance is simply not enough for the cavalry to increase their speed, let alone enough for the cavalry to move around. This way, Qin's advantage is completely The infantry of the army.”
Zhao Kuo pointed to the west bank of Danshui not far away and said, "As long as we send thousands of infantry to surround the cavalry and use the speed of the cavalry to attack the archers, how can our army defend it?"
"So?" General Pi said in disbelief: "Did the Qin army deliberately let our army cross the Dan River?"
"Nonsense, of course he deliberately let our army cross the river!" Zhao Kuo roared in his heart, but Zhao Kuo couldn't tell the generals the truth of the matter. Otherwise, how could the generals know that he was going to die? Focus on having a good fight.
It's acting, so let's continue acting! Bai Qi, Bai Qi, I hope you won’t disappoint me.
"That's not necessarily true. There was still mist just now, and our army's attack was sudden. The Qin army may have been caught off guard!" Zhao Kuo shook his head and denied: "But if there is no movement from the Qin army next, then..."
After hearing this, all the generals understood what Zhao Kuo meant: If the Qin army continues to be so powerless, then something must be wrong. While the main force of the army has not yet crossed the Dan River, it is the best choice to withdraw to the east bank; and if the Qin army intensifies Defense would be just a false alarm. It would not be too late to speed up the crossing of the river, which would only result in the loss of tens of thousands more soldiers and horses.
The safety of the army comes first.
The generals no longer hesitated and followed the orders one after another. As Zhao Kuo conveyed his orders, the Zhao army on Danshui became much thinner.
The Zhao army's delay in crossing the river was naturally noticed by the Qin army generals. Since the Zhao army crossed the river, a group of Qin army generals had hurried to the tent.
"How many troops does Zhao Jun have to cross the river?" Bai Qi asked.
"Report to the General: The total strength of the Zhao army that crossed Danshui is about 50,000 to 60,000. There are about 20,000 cavalry and more than 30,000 infantry, including 10,000 longbowmen." Marching Sima Yibai replied.
"Well, how much are the enemy's losses expected? What are our losses?" Bai Qi asked again.
"Both the enemy and ourselves were killed by archers. The Zhao army's losses should be around 10,000 people, and our army's losses should be around 5,000 people. The ratio of casualties between the enemy and ourselves should be between three to one and two to one."
"The Zhao army deserves to be the strongest among the six kingdoms of Shandong. In the battle across the river, it was able to achieve a battle loss ratio of three to one with the defenders." A Qin general said with emotion.
"Hey, aren't we letting the water go? Let me take a cavalry army out for a try!" Another Qin general said unconvinced.
Bai Qi frowned slightly and ignored the two slapped Qin generals. It shouldn't be possible. Even the elite Qin army under his command could not achieve such a battle loss ratio, let alone the Zhao army. Does General Zhao not have the slightest suspicion? Is Zhao Kuo so bad? Even if Zhao Kuo didn't find out, where were his generals? Where is the captain?
So Bai Qi continued to ask: "How is Zhao Jun doing now?"
"Zhao Jun has set up a defensive formation on the east bank and has not attacked yet. The speed of crossing the river on the west bank has slowed down and seems to be turning around!" Marching Sima replied.
That's right, you should be suspicious. This is what a general who is familiar with military art should look like.
Bai Qi said: Very satisfied.
"It seems that the general of the Zhao army opposite is also suspicious?"
"The general on the opposite side is also the son of Mr. Ma Fu, so he has passed down the art of war from his family."
"It's also because we look down on others so much that we don't even use the bed crossbow. It's strange that they don't suspect it."
"But the level on the battlefield is just that. It took so long to realize that there might be a problem."
A group of Qin Army generals teased Zhao Jun and Zhao Kuo, the leader of Zhao Jun, but what they didn't know was: Those who look at the scenery, there will always be someone watching you upstairs.
