The moment Wang Hao received the intelligence from Qi, he almost collapsed on the ground.
Needless to say, as the first-class commander in the world, he certainly understood the huge impact that the Qi army's 140,000 troops were wiped out by the Zhao army in one fell swoop, which would have a huge impact on the entire Warring States period.
He also knew that from now on, even if the three countries of Qin, Chu, and Qi worked together, they would still not be Zhao's opponent.
A deep sense of powerlessness hit my heart, and at the same time, feelings of self-blame and guilt also surged into my heart.
Zhao's main army is right in front of them. If they want to annihilate Qi's army, the Zhao army in Xinzheng City in front of them must have carried out large-scale mobilization. It's a pity that he couldn't see it at all. This is how Wang Hao could not blame himself.
However, after a brief period of self-blame, Wang Hao quickly reacted.
You have to withdraw quickly!
The crisis in Zhao Guohuaisi has been resolved, and his troops must have returned. Although it is not clear what the battle damage was, it is unlikely to be too great. If Zhao Jun came out in full force at this time, his army would be held back in Yingchuan County. , when the follow-up army moves in, our army of more than 300,000 people will be really in danger.
And the more than 300,000 troops in his hands are already Qin's last bargaining chip.
No matter what method is used, he must do everything possible to preserve these troops. Only with enough troops can we defend Hangu and the two fortresses of Yan and Ying. Only by guarding these two fortresses can Qin continue to survive.
Only by surviving can there be a chance - a chance for problems to arise within the Zhao State.
Yes, although Wang Hao didn't want to admit it, he had to admit: Nowadays, external forces alone are unable to destroy the behemoth of Zhao State.
"Withdraw." Wang Hao made up his mind almost instantly.
Meng Ao on the side was obviously stunned when he heard this, but he soon understood what Wang Lu was thinking. Although he was very unwilling to do so, it was clear that their troops still had the advantage in Yingchuan County.
But Meng Ao also understood that General Wang Lu's judgment and decision were correct.
As the news of the annihilation of the Qi army spread, the morale of his own army was bound to drop to freezing point. The two armies, which were originally equally powerful, will reverse course with the arrival of Zhao Jun's reinforcements. If we go now and if we go then, the difference in outcome may be more than just tens of thousands of troops.
Immediately, Meng Ao, who wanted to understand all this, clasped his hands and agreed, "Yes."
With Wang Lu's order, the Qin army that was still pretending to retreat instantly turned into a real retreat. The target of its retreat was not Chendu, which was supported by the Chu army directly behind, but Yingdu, which was almost twice as far away as Chendu. .z.
Yes, Wang Lu didn't dare to let the army stay in Chendu.
Without him, Wang Lu was convinced that Chen Du would be lost. In this case, why should the Qin army defend the city for the Chu army.
Fortunately, because of the poor performance of the Qin army in the past few days, the real retreat was able to escape the Zhao army's scouts and careful operations.
When Zhao Jun's scouts finally realized something was wrong and reported the situation to Zhao Kuo's ears, it was already the next day.
The Qin army camp outside the city was basically an empty shell.
Zhao Kuo, who was somewhat furious, immediately threw out Zhao Wei's 3,000 heavy cavalry, and with the 20,000 cavalry in the city and the 30,000 infantry under Zhou Qi as the vanguard, they attacked the Qin army's air force in a mighty manner. Camp.
With almost no bloodshed, Zhou Qi had already controlled the entire Qin camp in less than two quarters of an hour.
It's a pity that apart from the Qin troops who captured more than a thousand people who were preparing to burn down the camp, they only had a bunch of siege equipment that was of little use.
Oh, there is also a batch of food, which is enough for Zhao Kuo's army to last for several days. Although there is not much food, it is still a big harvest.
Of course, Zhao Kuo was not deterred by this petty profit, and immediately ordered Li Mu to lead his army to continue pursuing south.
However, unlike the Qin army which simply withdrew to the land of Yanying, the Zhao army's goal was Chendu, which was now occupied by the Chu army.
Although Chendu is not important to the Qin army, it is crucial to the Zhao army.
The back route of the capital, that is, the safety of the grain road, naturally Zhao Jun cannot let go of this key city.
This will be a disaster for the Chu army.
You know, the main force of the Chu army is still in Huaisi County!
As soon as he learned that Zhao Jun was heading south, the King of Chu ordered the army from Huaisi County to immediately return to defend Chendu.
Obviously, in the King of Chu's mind, he still wanted to keep the former capital, no matter what methods and methods were used and what the price was.
It's a pity that in the face of the Zhao army's offensive of more than 300,000 troops, even if all the Chu army returns, how long can they last?
What's more, Tian Dan, who now holds an army of 140,000, will not let the frightened Chu army return to Chendu safely.
Without any suspense, Tian Dan began to harass the Chu army from the second day.
After the Chu army finally received the order to retreat, Tian Dan mobilized his troops to pursue and intercept the Chu army all the way.
Unfortunately, Zhao Kuo did not inform Tian Dan that the Qin army had retreated and that the army had moved south. Tian Dan, who was in pursuit, naturally did not expect that the Zhao army in Yingchuan could intercept one for him, so he naturally did not respond. The sudden retreat of the Chu army was reported.
This also led to the fact that although Li Mu's army had moved south, it was not able to intercept the Chu army that had hurriedly retreated from Huaisi outside Chendu City.
But despite this, the Chu army that withdrew from Huaisi County was still scarred.
150,000 troops left the city, but only 100,000 troops returned successfully.
There was no way, if at the last moment, the Chu army's general had not sacrificed nearly 20,000 troops to stop Tian Dan, perhaps no Chu army would have even thought of returning to Chendu at this time.
But as a result, there were only a mere 130,000 troops left in Chendu City.
The 130,000 people, not to mention the main force of the Zhao army facing Yingchuan, even the 140,000 people of Tian Dan's Huaisi front army, are enough for the Chu army to drink a pot.
If the failure and losses of Huaisi County's attack had frightened the King of Chu, then the Qin army's main force of more than 300,000 people left without saying goodbye and evacuated towards the Yanying area, which completely made the King of Chu lose his mind. Continue to hold on to Chen Du’s confidence.
Just as Li Mu began to deploy his troops to encircle Chendu, the King of Chu decisively ordered: abandon the city and head south, returning to Shouchun.
So, in desperation, an encirclement and annihilation battle was forced to turn into a pursuit battle again.
Only this time, Li Mu's troops were much more numerous than Tian Dan's, especially the cavalry who were good at chasing.
Well, it should be said that the entire Zhao army's main cavalry force is concentrated in Li Mu's hands. For such a pursuit battle, it is naturally easy to capture them.
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Mu immediately attacked the 250,000 troops under his command (Zhao Kuo still had 60,000 troops stationed at Yingchuan and was still on his way south), as well as the 100,000 troops under Tian Dan who followed the Chu army ( Forty thousand people stationed in Huaisi) made the following arrangements:
Taking Tian Dan's troops and 50,000 new soldiers, a total of 150,000 were formed as the middle route army, and quickly occupied Chendu to guard the grain road in case of unexpected events;
With an elite force of 100,000 as the West Route Army: move quickly towards Xincai, take the opportunity to recover Xincai, Zengcheng and other places, pursue the Qin army, and at the same time defend the Qin army's counterattack to the south. And completely cut off the connection between Qin and Chu.
With one hundred thousand cavalry as the east route army, they quickly pursued the Chu army southward and waited for an opportunity to attack Shouchun.
Because both the Qin and Chu armies were focused on escaping, even though the Zhao army had divided their forces, they had no intention of counterattack and simply let the Zhao army pursue them all the way.
The Central Army regained the important town of Chendu almost without a single blow;
As for the West Route Army, Xincai and Zengcheng surrendered almost without a fight, and the army once advanced near the capital of Ying.
After the Qin army arrived in Yingdu, they clearly showed a strong will to defend the city, so the West Route Army retreated to Zengcheng, forming a confrontation with the Qin army.
As for the Eastern Route Army, although the cavalry tried their best to move forward, they could not outpace the Chu army's vanguard, and their goal of attacking Shouchun was not achieved.
But then the cavalry attacked and surrounded the Chu army that was still on the road, but it caused heavy losses to the Chu army. The 130,000 Chu army
Among them, the army that returned to Shouchun was less than 70,000. Nearly half were either killed or captured. .
At the same time that the Zhao army, led by Li Mu, was conducting a devastating pursuit of the Qin and Chu coalition forces, news finally came from Sun Gu's headquarters in Hedong: the army had occupied the two counties of Hedong and Hexi, except for those stationed there. In addition to the 30,000 troops in Anyi and Quyang, the remaining 70,000 troops can return to support at any time.
Of course, in today's frontal battlefield, there is no need for back-up support at all.
At the end of the year, as Zhao Jun's pursuit came to a halt, this unprecedented battle that spread throughout China finally came to an end with Zhao's overall victory.
It can be said that as long as Zhao Guo himself does not seek death, no force in this world will be able to stop Zhao Guo from dominating the world. Although, the Qin army still had Weihan, the fortified city of Yingdu, and the old Qin people and more than 300,000 regular troops;
Although Chu State still has Yunmengze thousands of miles away and millions of subjects;
Although, Qi State is still lingering.
But these are obviously unable to stop Zhao Jun.
However, the more it got to this point, the more cautious Zhao Kuo became.
This can also be seen from Li Mu's pursuit arrangements - the one with the largest number of troops was neither to face the more powerful Qin army nor to pursue the Chu army that might gain more, but to steadily win Chen Du ensures that he is invincible.
As the war ended and a new pattern was formed, Zhao Kuo faced a dilemma as to what to do next.
Well, it should be said that there were many options before Zhao Kuo, so many that even Zhao Kuo was a little confused.
The safest plan is, of course, to withdraw the troops.
There are three reasons:
First, since the troops were sent out in early autumn, this battle has lasted for half a year, and most of the soldiers are exhausted and in urgent need of repairs. At the same time, the soldiers captured from Wei, Qi, and Chu are also in urgent need of reorganization. Once the reorganization is completed, Zhao Guo will The military strength will reach another level;
Secondly, with the arrival of spring, spring plowing will also be put on the schedule. If we continue to maintain the current size of the army, it will inevitably have an adverse impact on the spring plowing in the coming year;
Thirdly, and most importantly, Zhao State, which has occupied nearly two-thirds of China's territory, does not have to worry about anything as long as it can safely manage the newly acquired lands of Hexi, Hedong, Wei and Chendu. There is no need to pursue quick victory if there is an accident.
Of course, since it is an insurance plan, it must also be the one with the least gain.
By withdrawing its troops at this time, Zhao will naturally be able to recuperate, but the problem is that Qin, Qi, and Chu will also survive.
If they fight again next year, they will not only regain their strength, but also their morale.
In the plan to continue fighting, there are three different directions: destroy Qi, destroy Chu, or attack Qin?
To destroy Qi, needless to say, its main army has been wiped out in Huaisi County. To destroy Qi, you don't even need a main army to complete it. Moreover, Zhao State also has a powerful weapon like Tian Dan, so it is not impossible to surrender without a fight.
Of course, precisely because it was too simple, it was also the plan that Zhao Kuo put down first.
The reason is very simple. Qi State is already in ruins. It will not develop even if it is given another ten years. It doesn't matter whether it is defeated or not. There is no need to worry about it at all.
Of course, there is a reason to destroy Chu. The two pursuit battles have caused heavy losses to the Chu State, and it is the best time to destroy Chu.
But obviously, with the vast land of Chu State and the terrain of Yunmengze, it is still difficult for Zhao State to completely conquer Chu State, and it will definitely take a lot of time.
With this time, Zhao Kuo would rather put it on Qin.
After all, as far as the system is concerned, Qin is the only one in danger.
Naturally, the last choice was also the one that Zhao Kuo was most troubled with - attacking Qin.
Yes, just now Qi and Chu were "destroying the country", but when it came to Qin, Zhao Kuo only dared to use the word "attack".
After all, he is the leader of the Six Nations, and the army that has withdrawn now has more than 300,000 people.
No one has absolute confidence that they can destroy it all in one fell swoop. Not to mention, how many people have been stopped at Hangu Pass...
But if we don't attack now and attack later, the situation will only get worse. ..
Hangu is still standing there, but the number of the Qin army will be increasing, especially the morale of the Qin army. I am afraid that it will roar again in less than a year and a half.
What?
Waiting for the internal collapse of Qin?
This may be difficult!
The more difficult the moment, the more it inspires the centripetal force and strong will of the Lao Qin people.
Really desperate, it is not impossible for the old Qin people to launch another reform and fully learn from their own Zhao country. Then it will really be difficult to control.
Looking at the map in front of him, faced with the dilemma of choice, Zhao Kuo actually laughed a little when he thought about his own dilemma - he clearly held four second belts and two kings in his hand, but he wanted to be afraid of the other four. three?
In the Battle of Changping, when Zhao's national power was obviously weaker than Qin's, he was still confident. But now that the unification trend has become clear, he has no confidence?
This is not good, very bad!
After hesitating for a while, Zhao Kuo finally made a decision in his heart...
