Even Shen Yi clearly felt that something was not right with these Qi people today.
Not only is the personal force much weaker than last time, but also the execution ability and military quality in all aspects seem to be much worse than last time.
In an instant, many thoughts and speculations flashed through Shen Yi's mind.
He was wondering whether the Qi people in front of him were a "cover" sent by the enemy to confuse him, whether they were the cannon fodder army of the Qi people, and whether the real Qi people were at Xue Wei's place further east?
He was even wondering, how was the battle at Xue Wei? Did it fall?
But now, there is no use thinking about these things. We must win the battle here in Gaozhuang before we can think about other things.
Thinking of this, Shen Yi glanced at Su Ding and said in a deep voice: "Compared to those Qi people from the past two days, they are much weaker."
"But there are much more people than last time."
The last time the Qi people were at most only a little over 2,000 people, but this time the people who came to attack Gaozhuang were estimated to be around 4,000 to 5,000 people.
Su Ding glanced at the battlefield and said with a smile: "Mr. Shen, there are many of them, but they are not organized. So far they have not been able to land in formation and form a formation. According to this method of fighting, they will fight until noon at most, and these people will not be able to hold on. Living."
He said firmly: "They won't last long."
The night before yesterday, the Qi troops that Shen Yi saw were all extremely ferocious. In an extremely unfavorable situation and even being ambushed from all sides, they forced the soldiers of Dusi to die in battle between three and four hundred people!
With that kind of fighting power, if both sides had equal conditions and met in the wild, the coastal capital would basically have no chance at all and would be crushed by the Qi army.
It is precisely because of this disparity in combat power that Shen Yi becomes a little depressed and even feels a little hopeless in his heart.
However, the combat effectiveness shown by the Qi army today was comparable to that of Dusi's soldiers. Compared with the Qi army the night before yesterday, there was a huge gap.
This gap is not only reflected in combat effectiveness, but also in combat will.
As long as the front line suffers losses and too many people die, their military morale will soon be shattered and they will flee.
Comparatively speaking, the coastal capital built by Shen Yi may not be much stronger in combat effectiveness than these Qi people, but its will to fight must be stronger than them.
After listening to Su Ding's analysis, Shen Yi took another look at the battlefield. He nodded first, then frowned and said, "I'm thinking now that the Qi people in Gaozhuang today are definitely not the Qi people from the night before yesterday. So the day before yesterday? Where did those Qi people go at night?"
Shen Yi looked to the east with a worried look.
"If it's at Xue Wei's place..."
Su Ding quickly lowered his head and said: "Mr. Shen, although there are many enemies, we occupy a favorable location and my subordinates are 100% sure that we can defend Gaozhuang!"
"If you are worried, you can take someone to General Xue's place to have a look."
Shen Yi frowned and said in a deep voice: "To defend is to defend, but we must cherish our troops. Give me a number."
Su Ding looked back at the battlefield, and then gritted his teeth and said: "Mr. Shen, the number of enemies is really too great. If they don't take the initiative to retreat, but fight us to the end, I can't give you any number..."
He said solemnly: "But my subordinates promise to defend Gaozhuang!"
What he meant was that if the enemy rushed forward without thinking about retreating, then the remaining two thousand Dusi soldiers in Gaozhuang would most likely be wiped out.
Having said this, Su Ding paused, lowered his head and said, "But I estimate that Qi people will not be so forceful."
Shen Yi's frown deepened. He glanced at the battlefield in Gaozhuang and gritted his teeth.
"Well, you stay here for now. I'm really worried. I'll go to the east and have a look."
Having said this, Shen Yi paused and said in a deep voice: "If Xue Wei has been lost, I will send you a message as quickly as possible. When the time comes, you will retreat immediately, and we will retreat to Huai'an!"
Su Ding bowed his head respectfully.
Shen Yi called three thousand households from Gaozhuang, and after instructing them to listen to Su Ding's command before the battle, he left Gaozhuang on horseback and went straight to the battlefield in the east.
……………………
At the same time, in the camp of the Zhengnan Army along the north bank of Huaihei, a burly man in iron armor was sitting on the main seat of the commander's tent. In the commander's tent, Major General Zhou Yuanhu and Qianhu Tong Sheng were deeply moved. He lowered his head and said nothing.
A messenger hurried over, knelt down on the ground, lowered his head and said: "General!"
"There are battle reports coming from the Gaozhuang area on the south bank!"
"The southerners resisted very resolutely, and they also had a large number of artillery and crossbows!"
"Our troops are landing, but they are suffering heavy casualties."
The Han Dynasty known as the "Great General", whose surname was Zhou Shizhong, was the son of Zhou Jin'an, the former Northern Qi general, and the current commander-in-chief of the Northern Qi's Southern Army.
This man practiced martial arts since childhood and grew up in the army. He had the ability to capture tigers and leopards alive and was nicknamed "Sanlang" by bandits in Yandu.
After Zhou Jinan's death, the Northern Qi court valued the general Zhou family very much, so they still handed over the Southern Army to his son Zhou Shizhong.
At this time, General Zhou did not speak directly after hearing the report from his subordinates. Instead, he glanced at his son Zhou Yuanhu and Tong Sheng, and then waved to the ordering soldiers, saying calmly Said: "I understand, pass the order, let the frontline commander take command on the spot and make his own decision."
To say that the frontline commanders are allowed to make their own decisions is basically equivalent to letting the army retreat.
It's just that the responsibility for the retreat needs to be borne by the frontline commanders themselves.
He paused and continued.
"Gaozhuang cannot be attacked, and the east and west fronts cannot be stopped. Break through the defense line along the Huaihe River as soon as possible!"
The messenger nodded quickly, turned around and retreated.
After the messenger pushed him down, Zhou Shizhong took a hard look at his son.
"say!"
Zhou Yuanhu was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Dad!"
"There is no your father here!"
General Zhou said angrily: "You are called a great general!"
Zhou Yuanhu swallowed, lowered his head cautiously and said: "General, we are pretending to attack the two wings of Gaozhuang. According to the art of war, the southerners will definitely rescue them. Who knows..."
"The soldiers and horses in Gaozhuang are motionless!"
Zhou Yuanhu raised his head, looked at his father, gritted his teeth and said, "That Southern Dynasty civil servant from Huai'an is obviously a fool who doesn't understand the art of war at all!"
"The general was negligent for a moment and didn't notice it..."
"Please punish me, General!"
"Fool?"
Zhou Shizhong stood up, walked to his son, glared at the latter fiercely, and said in a low voice: "I will give you two of the most elite thousand-household battalions of the Southern Conquest Army, and let you fight as the forward.
Take the credit!"
Having said this, Zhou Shizhong looked up at Tong Sheng again. Tong Sheng was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head without saying a word.
"But what's the result?"
General Zhou said angrily: "With two thousand elites, not only did you fail to break through Gaozhuang, but you also lost half of them there!"
"Your two thousand-household camps, in the 28th year of Yongping, besieged and killed more than 3,000 imperial troops of the Southern Dynasty, and only lost less than 300 people themselves!"
The twenty-eighth year of Yongping in the Northern Dynasty was the seventh year of Hongde in the Southern Dynasty.
This year is the thirty-second year of Yongping in the Northern Dynasty. The emperor of the Northern Dynasty has been in power for more than thirty years.
"In your hands, more than half of it was lost in just one night!"
He was scolded by his father, but Zhou Yuanhu was not convinced. He lowered his head and said, "General, that's because the intelligence is inaccurate. You heard it from nowhere, saying that Gaozhuang's defense is weak!"
"The results of it?"
Zhou Yuanhu Qi said: "As a result, before my subordinates even got ashore, thousands of people from the Southern Dynasty were already waiting on the shore!"
"How many are there in total?"
Zhou Yuanhu said: "Didn't you say that the civil servant in the Southern Dynasty only had 20,000 people under his command? At least 40% of the 20,000 people were arranged by him to live in Gaozhuang!"
Zhou Yuanhu opened his mouth and wanted to say something. General Zhou snorted and waved his hand impatiently: "Okay, don't say any more."
"Go wherever you need to go."
Zhou Yuanhu then limped and took Tong Sheng with him to leave the headquarters of the Conquering Southern Army.
After the two people walked out of the commander's tent, General Zhou took down a letter from his desk, and then looked to the south thoughtfully.
"This civil servant Shen Yi of the Southern Dynasties..."