The word "flee" is no longer sufficient to describe the current Rongdi people.
King Rongdi became a frightened bird, and Sa Xuya followed closely behind him, taking the remaining defeated soldiers and fleeing toward the southwest. It was obvious that they wanted to seek asylum from the State of Qin.
Seeing that the victory was difficult to expand, Ji Jie ordered the pursuit to be stopped, and everyone returned to the camp, trying to repair the damaged areas in a short time. Everyone was very tired after this battle and needed to take a good rest.
While repairing the burned tent, the casualties were counted.
In this battle, the casualties of the Zhou Yan coalition reached 5,000, more than 10% of the total strength. Nearly half of them died in last night's sneak attack and today's hand-to-hand encounter. The results of the ambush were very significant, and they were very close to the enemy. The casualty ratio was one to five.
Coupled with last night's results, more than 15,000 Rongdi people were wiped out in this battle, reducing their number to about half. The worst among them was the Xirong tribe. They were chased by the three brothers of the Xiong family and had no way to escape. Only less than two thousand people escaped, and King Xirong almost died in the hands of Xiong Ben.
Nearly 7,000 people from the Red Di Tribe escaped, reducing their number by one-third, while the Baidi Tribe had six or seven thousand people left, reducing their number by more than half. Fortunately, King Rong Di retreated early, otherwise there would not have been so many people left.
In general, the Zhou Yan coalition won this battle, and it was a great victory. However, the failure of the previous sneak attack and the fact that the camp almost fell into the enemy's hands made Ji Jie unhappy.
Nearly half of the tents and facilities in the camp were burned and trampled, the warehouses storing grain and meat were looted, and not much was left. Moreover, the Rongdi people also set a fire when they left. Although they were rescued in time, they could not survive. What was looted was only enough to sustain the army for a few days.
The direct reason why the Rongdi people were robbing things was that the coalition forces bombed them indiscriminately last night, destroying their reserves of supplies.
After the camp repair work was completed, the soldiers of each battalion began to rest as required. Ji Jie sent someone to notify Zhaocheng immediately and asked them to send more food and grass.
The scouts reported that the remnants of the three armies of Rong and Di had gathered in the west near the border of Qin. King Rong and Di sent envoys to Qin for help, intending to regroup and fight the coalition again.
Ji Jian came to apologize, and Ji Jie said with a smile: "It's not your fault. I didn't expect this in advance, which caused the camp to be empty. Otherwise, how could they take advantage? However, we won in the end. King Rongdi paid a heavy price for this. You asked Tai Shiyong to return the aid in a timely manner, otherwise there would be no fault and merit!"
Ji Jian bowed deeply to him and said sincerely: "Your Majesty's magnanimity is unparalleled. It was obviously me who lost track of the enemy and caused the crisis in the camp. Not only did your Majesty not punish me, but he also said that I had meritorious service. I will never be the same in the future." Don’t worry if you don’t make this mistake again!”
Ji Jie patted Ji Jian on the shoulder and said: "You and I, brothers, can defeat any enemy if we work together! Let's go. Everyone should be here. This summary meeting needs to be a good one."
The generals sat firmly in the tent of the Chinese army. Ji Jie analyzed: "I think regrouping is just a statement made by King Rongdi. If he didn't say so, the people of Qin would definitely give up on them. A tribe that was frightened out of fear would naturally also There will be no use value!”
Zhao Ling nodded and said: "Your Majesty is right. After this battle, the Rongdi people are frightened to death, and it will be difficult for them to recover in a short period of time. What can they do to compete with us!"
Then, everyone focused on analyzing the subsequent strategy against the Rongdi people. The focus of the debate was whether to continue the pursuit or to give up temporarily and directly devote their energy to fighting the Huns.
Everyone expressed their opinions, but Ji Jie had to come up with the final idea.
After summarizing everyone's opinions, Ji Jie said: "Everyone has a certain truth. If we continue to pursue, the Rongdi people will definitely flee in all directions and avoid direct contact with us. In this way, we will be led by their noses." Let’s go. Being busy chasing each other every day can exhaust people to death, and it is very likely that there will be no results for several months. If we go to fight with the Huns, there is no guarantee that the Rongdi people will not be emboldened to sneak attack behind us!”
This is a very contradictory thing. Seeing that spring in the north is approaching day by day, if they cannot advance north as soon as possible, the Huns may go south. The battlefield will have to be on their own territory, and they will be extremely vulnerable to attacks by them and the Rongdi people. Attack from both sides.
Finally, Ji Jie decided to fight on two fronts, leaving 3,000 people under the command of Xiong Kui to continue fighting against the Rongdi people. The remaining 32,000 people went straight to the hinterland of the Huns.
The two groups of troops on the left and right were still controlled by Ji Jian and Zhao Ling, each leading 10,000 people. Ji Jie and Ji Lin were in charge of the central army, leading 12,000 troops. After the food and grass were replenished, the three groups of troops marched together towards the Xiongnu. Kill in the hinterland.
Some people would say that the Huns had hundreds of thousands of cavalry, but Ji Jie only had such a small number of cavalry, so how could he be their opponent?
The Xiongnu army is said to have 500,000 troops. Although this number is somewhat watery, in Ji Jie's opinion, even if it is less than 500,000, it is definitely not less than 400,000. However, like the Rongdi people, they are divided into more than a dozen large and small groups. Tribes, tribal leaders control their own troops.
Although the tribes often joined forces to fight together, in most cases they fought independently and defended their territory. This gave the coalition forces opportunities to defeat each other. In addition, the King of Baishan used mutiny to seize the throne. Shan Yu's throne is not monolithic internally.
The southernmost part of the Xiongnu belongs to the territory of King Nanyuan, and the entire southern grassland belongs to him. King Nanyuan was originally a follower of the King of Xiongnu. Now he and his two sons are detained in the city of Shanyu. The eldest son Kuo Lun is the acting chief of the clan. After receiving an order from King Baishan, his father and two younger brothers will be executed if they fail to stop the coalition forces.
At the same time, the King of Baishan made a generous promise. As long as he defeated Ji Jie, not only would his family be released, but he would also receive a bounty of thirty thousand taels, ten thousand cattle, sheep, and horses. He would also be named the Xiongnu Zuoxian King, and he would be worth ten thousand yuan. Above people.
Kuo Lun had no other choice but to lead 50,000 troops to set up a battle array on Ji Jie's path, intending to fight the coalition forces.
Rou Yue is very familiar with Kuo Lun. He is thirty-six years old this year. He is the eldest son of King Nan Yuan and the successor of King Nan Yuan. This man is good at riding and shooting but has average intelligence. He has served under the King of Huns many times and has established Got a lot of credit.
He has 50,000 troops, which far exceeds the more than 30,000 of the coalition forces. Logically speaking, he should take the initiative to attack, but now he is honestly laying down his position and waiting for the coalition forces to attack.
Rou Yue's analysis is: "Although Kuo Lun has average intelligence, he knows how much he weighs. He likes to think things over before doing things. He would rather miss an opportunity than do something he is not sure about!"
That's right. On the one hand, fighting against the coalition forces was not his original intention. Secondly, he must have heard of Ji Jie's many victories with less and defeated more, so he took a defensive stance and remained unchanged in the face of changes.
"Let's go call the formation tomorrow!" Ji Jie said with a smile: "Rou Yue, you have to have a good chat with this big brother Kuo Lun and try to win him over!"