You have to admit when you are wrong. War has its iron laws.
Wang Hao had already engraved this into his bones in every battle. Because failure is not terrible. What is terrible is knowing that you have failed but refusing to face failure. This will inevitably lead to more serious consequences.
It is not too late to remedy the situation, but if the illness is concealed and medical treatment is avoided, Qin will surely fall into a deeper desperate situation.
Whether it was the fall of Hangu or the Zhao army in Luocheng gaining a foothold and beginning to extend its defense, it would lead to more serious consequences. Wang Hao knew that he must act decisively.
In the flash of lightning, Zhou Wangji's map flew through Wang Lu's mind.
Soon, a place struck Wang Lu's heart like lightning.
"Yiyang!" Wang Hao muttered the name silently in his heart: "As long as we can occupy Yiyang, this eastward expedition will not be completely fruitless."
Yes, Yiyang is a small city located in the southwest corner of Zhou Wangji.
If Luo City hadn't been lost, Wang Lu would have looked down on such a small city at all.
Although it is only a small city, it is also located on the plain washed out by the Luoshui River. It is also a city that can be slightly defended after coming out of the Weihan Passage.
As long as this city is captured, Qin will drive a nail in the land of Zhou Wangji. It can be used as a gathering place for troops and grain, and it can also guard the Weihan Passage to protect Qin's way out to the east. .
In the coming year, as long as you go east along the Luoshui River from the Hedong area, you can reach Yiyang in less than a day, and you can counterattack the Zhou Wangji area at any time. In this way, the Qin army no longer has to worry about taking the Weihan Passage.
The only question is whether this small Yiyang City can withstand it!
Thinking of this, Wang Hao couldn't help but raise his head, and his eyes immediately wandered among the generals of the Qin army - who to send to garrison Yiyang was definitely a problem.
If you want to hold on to the final spoils of this expedition, you must leave a shrewd and capable general behind to hold Yiyang.
For example, Meng Ao, whom he is optimistic about.
However, it is impossible for him to leave too many troops to Yiyang, and even the small city of Yiyang cannot accommodate too many troops at all. Fifty thousand may already be the limit.
However, it is self-evident that with only 50,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Yiyang, the risks are great.
If this puts Meng Ao in danger, this is obviously not a situation Wang Lu wants to see.
Perhaps seeing the hesitation in General Wang Hao's eyes, General Meng Ao stood up immediately, gave Wang Hao a slight salute, and said: "General, the situation is urgent, please make a quick decision."
Sometimes, when you are making the most difficult decision, what you need most is the unconditional trust of your companions.
At this moment, Wang Hao also sighed softly after hearing this.
Looking at Meng Ao, who was leaving thousands of people, Wang Hao seemed to see himself commanding the army to fight under Yan City. Who has not experienced this battle of blood and fire?
"The young eagle will eventually be released one day. Only after experiencing the danger of jumping off the cliff can it truly fly high." Wang Hao kept telling himself in his heart.
Standing up, Wang Hao finally made up his mind.
"The matter has come to this, I have made up my mind." Wang Lu finally said, "Generals."
"Here." Everyone immediately stood up.
"The entire army will be prepared, camp will be pulled out overnight, and we will return to Hangu to aid." Wang Lu immediately ordered.
"Yes." All the generals agreed.
"Meng Ao." After confirming the general formation for returning reinforcements, Wang Hao immediately began to order generals.
"The general will be here at the end." Meng Ao immediately left the class and replied.
"With your 50,000 cavalry, clear the way for my army." Wang Lu then waved his hand, flattened the map on the table again, and said, "Quickly seize this place."
"Yiyang?" Meng Ao asked.
"Of course." Wang Hao nodded, and then continued: "The follow-up army is coming, and you and your 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry will be stationed in it to defend Yiyang with me. Are you sure?"
Hearing this,
Meng Ao was a little confused, didn't he want the whole army to come back for reinforcements? Why do you want to take a break in Yiyang?
Wang Hao obviously also understood Meng Ao's doubts, and immediately said: "Hangu and Luo City were lost, and our army was forced to return for reinforcements. If we turn around like this, the results of the battle in Luo City will be completely lost."
As he spoke, Wang Lu pointed to Yiyang City on the map and said: "As long as we hold Yiyang, I will have all the four cities southwest of Wangji this week, and our army can march east along the Luoshui River at any time. We just need to reshape it. By defending the east and west of the river, we can easily go eastward and reach Luocheng in the coming year."
Hearing this, Meng Ao immediately understood the importance of Yiyang City, which was so small that it was almost inconspicuous, and immediately accepted the order: "General, I understand that I will swear to my life to defend Yiyang City for our Great Qin and protect Luo City in the battle. Result."
Listening to Meng Ao's answer, Wang Hao felt half relieved and half helpless.
Fortunately, he didn't see the wrong person.
Even though he knew that Yiyang City was not easy to defend and left him with a high possibility of being surrounded by Zhao troops, Meng Ao still took over this important task without hesitation.
As the future general of the Qin Army, Wang Hao is naturally quite pleased to have this responsibility and responsibility.
Unfortunately, this silly boy obviously didn't understand his intention in arranging his troops.
The 50,000 army and 40,000 infantry are used to defend the city, and the 10,000 cavalry are used to protect him when he returns to Qin in case of emergency.
If you just want him to defend Yiyang, wouldn't it be better to simply arrange 50,000 infantry?
Obviously, this kid didn't realize this problem at all. However, Wang Hao definitely couldn't give Meng Ao instructions in front of the public, so he could only nod and signal Meng Ao to retreat.
"Zhou Xiong." After arranging the most crucial part, Wang Hao then continued to point out the future.
"The general is here." Another tall man immediately stood up and responded.
"Command 20,000 cavalry to serve as the rear of our army." Wang Lu immediately ordered again: "If the Zhao army in Zhi City dares to attack, give a resolute counterattack."
This task is obviously not a good one. Although Wang Hao judged that the Zhao army in Zhi City may not have the courage to go out of the city to fight, at least they would not dare to send troops until the Zhao army in Luo City established a firm foothold.
But just in case, if Lian Po in the city is so confident, or has received information from Luo City, it is not completely impossible to send troops to attack.
Faced with such a situation, only a strong enough counterattack can stop the Zhao army in Zicheng. Of course, in the final result, I am afraid that the 20,000 troops at the rear will most likely be entangled by Zhao Jun.
As a general of the Qin army, how could he not know the danger behind the palace, but the general immediately agreed without saying a word: "Yes."
Just like being confused just now. Perhaps it is precisely because of such soldiers who are willing to shoulder their responsibilities in times of crisis that the Qin Army can continue to grow despite repeated setbacks and failures.
"Sima of the Central Army." Wang Hao nodded and continued to point out the general.
"Yes." Another person replied.
"Immediately organize supplies and follow the Chinese army." Wang Lu seemed to be uneasy, and then emphasized again: "Luo City has been lost, and the army only has enough food for more than ten days. It will take some time to return to Hangu, and the food and fodder are important. The most important thing is not to be careless.”
"Yes, don't worry, General, I will take care of you with my own soldiers." Sima of the Central Army immediately agreed.
"The rest of the army will pack up their bags. After an hour, they will set off to return reinforcements, cross Bishui, circle Luocheng, arrive at Yiyang, and then make repairs." Wang Lu finally finished the arrangement and said.
"Yes." All the generals also responded in unison.
An hour passed almost in an instant, and Meng Ao took the lead in rushing out of the camp with his 50,000 cavalry.
In order to hide as much as possible from the eyes and ears of the people, it took two hundred people to set out before a torch could illuminate the army. But even so, the Qin army's queue was still so neat.
Even the most uncontrollable cavalry formation maintained a fairly orderly pace.
The Qin army's combat qualities were once again fully demonstrated at this time.
It's a pity that even though the Qin army tried their best to hide their mobilization, such a large-scale transfer was still detected by the Zhao army.
In fact, Lian Po in Zhi City had long expected that there must be a problem with the Qin army. The most likely possibility was that Li Mu's troops had arrived at the designated location.
The reason is very simple. The Qin army, which was attacking day and night, suddenly retreated, and all its troops shrank back to the camp. If there were no problems in the rear, the Qin army would definitely not let themselves have a chance to breathe given their bellicosity.
After receiving the report from the scouts, Lian Po confirmed his judgment.
However, even so, Lian Po did not send troops to pursue the Qin army.
It's not that Lian Po couldn't send out troops. In fact, there were a full 120,000 troops in Zhi City. The only ones who appeared in the consecutive days of defensive battles were infantry. The tens of thousands of cavalry were almost useless on the battlefield. Fighting.
Released at this time, the suffocated cavalry was bound to tear the retreating Qin army into pieces.
It is precisely because of this that Lian Po cannot let these brats out. The reason is very simple. The purpose of Zhao Wangkuo's plan and Li Mu's thousands-mile attack was not to fight the Qin army, but to force the Qin army to retreat.
At this time, if we take out these little brats who are almost going crazy, it would be fine if we just attack them piecemeal, but if we cannot hold on to our strength and beat up the retreating Qin army, it is very likely that Qin and Zhao will form a decisive battle situation.
This is a result that all Zhao Jun senior officials, including Lian Po, do not want to see.
Since they want to escape, let them escape! The further away the better!
Of course, in order to prevent the Qin army from turning around and being cautious, Lian Po still sent out a large number of scout cavalry to monitor the Qin army's movements.
At the same time, Li Mu's troops, who had already captured Luo City and were reinforcing the city's defenses, soon received news that the Qin army was coming from the west.
Because he didn't know how the Qin army chose, Li Mu was obviously more nervous than Lian Po. After all, Luo City had just fallen into the hands of Zhao Jun for a few hours.
If the Qin State leaves something behind, Luo City may not be easy to defend.
Fortunately, Li Mu had an army of 130,000 men, and most of them were elite troops of the Zhao army. Li Mu obviously also knew the importance of defending Luo City, and immediately deployed all 130,000 troops.
In addition to the defense of the four gates in the east, west, north and south, a large number of sergeants are also arranged to conduct continuous patrols in the city.
In short, even if you don't sleep, you must defend Luo City.
However, it is obvious that Li Mu's worries are somewhat unnecessary.
As mentioned above, Wang Hao did not dare to gamble and could not gamble. Compared with Li Mu who was worried about the Qin army counterattacking Luocheng, Wang Hao was actually more worried about being entangled by the Zhao army.
In this way, under mutual vigilance, the two armies looked almost across the city, but they seemed like two parallel lines that never intersected...
