The big banner fell suddenly, and the coalition of princes guarding Yingze collapsed completely. No soldiers gathered in formation anymore. Each and every one of them only hated their parents for losing two legs and fled frantically.
Wang Sheng did not care about the soldiers who escaped, but took the time to burn the food and grass. The food and grass for the 300,000-strong army piled up like mountains. Wang Sheng even used the householder's ring to secretly collect some food.
After setting the grain and grass on fire, Wang Sheng did not arrest the prisoners, but instead drove them back. The food and grass of the coalition of princes were burned. Even if there was still food and grass in the coalition camp, the quantity would not be too much. Are you going to capture prisoners at this time? Help the coalition of princes save food and grass?
Wang Sheng directly drove these remaining defeated generals and people towards the coalition forces of the princes. After running out of food and grass, the failure of the coalition of Qi princes is inevitable. When the time comes, he can completely swallow these prisoners in one gulp. .
After driving away these defeated generals and the strong people, Wang Sheng left without stopping and returned directly with his army. An hour later, Marquis Lu came belatedly with his army. The Yingze camp that appeared in front of him had also turned into a sea of fire, and the mountains of grain, grass and supplies were swallowed up by the fire.
Seeing countless grains and grass turned to ashes and a large number of defeated troops, Marquis Lu also had a serious look on his face. We can only send out a large army to fetch water to put out the fire and see if we can salvage some food and grass.
Wang Sheng led the army back all the way around.
At the same time, the fighting between Surabaya and Yishui continued. Wang Chengfu led an army of 50,000 to fight against an army of 20,000 led by Xu Mao.
Xu Mao occupied the land about five miles wide between the two rivers, and while Wang Cheng's father was crossing the river, he directly ordered the destruction of the water storage dam.
The surging river water surged down instantly, and the coalition of princes who were crossing the river had no time to dodge, and hundreds of people were swept away at once. The army had to give up the idea of attacking from the river to the flanks, and had to face the Huai army head-on.
However, the Huai army led by Xu Mao are all elites who have fought in hundreds of battles. This kind of terrain is very suitable for Queyue Formation. I saw the Huai army putting up this weird formation. Wang Cheng's father, who already knew the power of this formation from Zheng Hou's defeat, did not dare to attack forcefully.
After sending out a group of people to test the attack, these people were shot to death without getting close to the line.
After seeing this situation, Wang Cheng's father immediately ordered people to fetch the big shield and asked the soldiers to raise the shield and lead the attack with Chang Ge. The army's progress was indeed smooth at first, but as soon as they met the enemy, they discovered that the enemy used chariots as their bones, shielded them with large shields, and then used long swords and big sticks to beat them. The coalition of princes was no match at all.
The Huai army commander's sword was so sharp that it was as long as one foot long. With both men's strength, even the shields could be penetrated. Even people and shields were penetrated directly. The remaining ones who escaped the sword were beaten with big sticks and copper hammers. Coupled with the continuous rain of arrows, the army's attack resulted in heavy casualties.
After losing twice in a row, I became furious and wanted to use my chariot to break the formation, but I didn't realize it until the chariot rushed over. The chariot collided with the formation, only slightly shaking the formation. The large array of chariots are connected to each other, and it is impossible for the impact of dozens of chariots to break away.
For a time, Wang Cheng's father was unable to break through the battle formation. Continuing to fight would be completely suicidal. The army had failed several attacks in a row, its morale was low, and it would not be good if it continued to fight. In addition, the embankment had been destroyed, so Wang Cheng's father ordered the army to retreat. As his army was retreating, Xu Mao understood his thoughts and took the opportunity to launch an attack.
Hundreds of chariots attacked instantly, and it was like a landslide and the earth was shattering. Although Wang Cheng's father was also a famous general, the morale of the army was low. The coalition forces were unable to respond because they belonged to different vassal states and there was no tacit understanding. After Wang Cheng's father issued the order, the coalition forces were unable to effectively implement it due to confusion. They wanted to re-establish their military formation, but it was already too late.
Hundreds of chariots rushed out and crashed into these guards in an instant. The rumble of the chariots broke through the general formation in an instant. Then the chariots rolled over these soldiers, and the army behind them instantly overwhelmed the allied forces of the princes. The formation was completely torn apart.
The morale of the coalition forces was already low, so Xu Mao took the opportunity to attack and caught the coalition forces by surprise. The army advanced rapidly, and the chariot was like a wedge, driving hard into the army.
Morale was already low, and the army was withdrawing again. However, under a sudden attack, the rear line collapsed completely.
Collapse.
The coalition of vassals was originally formed by multiple vassal states, and they did not cooperate with each other tacitly. This became even more obvious after the defeat. These coalition forces of vassals fled one after another, hoping that the other party would stop them and take the opportunity to escape. It is a pity. The other party had the same plan.
For a time, the allied forces of the princes were defeated, and soldiers from all sides fled. These soldiers fled like dominoes, causing other soldiers to flee with them. Seeing this scene, even Wang Chengfu, a veteran on the battlefield, was helpless.
After all, there are less than ten thousand people in this army directly controlled by him. Countless defeated troops fled, and Wang Cheng's father did not dare to stay. At this time, the morale of the army was shaken, and if he stayed, he would only be surrounded and killed by the Huai army.
He immediately ignored the troops of other vassal states in the coalition and retreated directly with Qi's army. And Wang Chengfu, as the main general, retreated, completely collapsing the coalition forces, and there was no longer any possibility of victory.
The Huai army chased the army for more than ten miles. When they saw the allied forces of the princes coming to meet them, they paid gold to withdraw their troops and retreated.
In this battle, the casualties of the coalition forces were not too serious, but the blow to morale was very serious. The entire coalition camp became extremely depressed.
Xu Mao was not greedy for credit and led the army back to the Huai Army camp. The Huai Army won a complete victory. The camp was filled with joy. Everyone who had been worried about the coalition's flooding strategy was completely relieved.
Wang Sheng also led the army back safely. After learning that the coalition's food and grass had been burned, everyone was energized and gearing up to deal with the Hou coalition.
Opposite is the Qi army camp. Marquis Lu sent a messenger to the camp. After learning that Yingze's camp had been burned down and 90% of the food and grass had been burned, the atmosphere in the camp became particularly solemn.
By this time, the princes all understood the seriousness of the matter. With more than 200,000 troops and a lack of food and grass, they could not last for more than a few days. However, it would be very difficult to evacuate.
Guan Zhong stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, for our current plan, there are only two ways. One is to retreat with the army, and the other is to send people back to the country to deploy troops to escort the grain and grass. The other is to continue the attack."
"Our army has been defeated in consecutive battles and its morale is low. I'm afraid it will be difficult to win if we fight again. It's better to leave early!"
"The army is short of food and grass, and the enemy is eyeing them. How could they let us retreat so easily?" Qi Hou looked unhappy.
