Chapter 103: The decisive battle on the party (18)
ps: Thanks to Lost Tiger for the reward.
On the first day of September, Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei arrived at Shiyu. Accompanying them were the main forces of the Zheng Army and the Jin Army, with a total of more than 40,000 horse infantry. At this point, the three armies of Zheng, Jin, and Han had concentrated their full strength on Shiyu, and the total strength reached five
With more than 5,000 people, Shiyu Camp, which had been in decline for more than half a month, has regained its momentum!
At this moment, Li Siyuan had already realized that there might have been some changes in the surprise attack planned by An Zhonggui before, because a month and a half had passed and he should have reached Li City by any calculation, but the enemy army had not undergone any expected changes so far.
This made Li Siyuan feel uneasy.
Of course, what Li Siyuan hoped for most was that An Zhongjie secretly stationed troops outside Licheng and was looking for a good opportunity for a sneak attack. Perhaps the guards in Licheng were relatively tight, so An Zhongjie never found the opportunity.
However, it is not ruled out that An Chongjie did not arrive in Licheng. Considering the several rainfalls in the past month or so, it is normal for the Zhuozhang Valley Road to be impassable in a short time.
What worries Li Siyuan the most is that An Zhongjie has been defeated by Li City, or has simply been noticed by the Yan army and made dumplings in the Zhuozhang River Valley. If this is the case, Li Siyuan's strength will be greatly reduced. In the Three Kings
The coalition forces are completely weak.
But in a conversation with Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei, he heard that An Chongjie had returned to Licheng to ask for food, so he felt a little more at ease again. If this was the case, it meant that An Chongjie had not failed.
Maybe it was delayed because of the difficulty of walking along the valley road.
Therefore, Li Siyuan's expectations were rekindled. He was waiting for the success of An Zhong's cavalry raid, but instead shied away from Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei's request to send troops immediately. Only if he captured Luzhou would Luzhou really be successful.
It belongs to him. In order not to look at the faces of Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei in the future, Li Siyuan hopes to rely on himself.
Li Siyuan's pushback and obstruction made Li Sizhao very unhappy, and a fierce quarrel broke out between the two. Li Siyuan accused Li Siyuan of being timid and afraid of fighting, and his courage was broken by the Yan army;
Zhou Dewei tried to mediate with each other for a long time, and then the two returned to the table to discuss the next battle strategy.
According to Zhou Dewei's proposal, in any case, the three kings' coalition should first try to attack the Yan army's camp, break the Yan army's obstruction to Shiyu, and open up the road south to Xiangyuan. In this regard, Li Siyuan could not shirk anymore, so he nodded in agreement.
But I was already thinking about being passive and slacking off at work.
After Li Siyuan left, Zhou Dewei had a conversation with Li Sizhao alone, and Li Sizhao complained loudly. It was funny to Zhou Dewei when he thought about it. At first, he and Li Sizhao were opposed to going south. Li Siyuan strongly advocated attacking Xiangyuan, but now he advocates actively sending troops.
It became him and Li Sizhao, and Li Siyuan often put the word "safe" on his lips, which was incredible when he thought about it.
Zhou Dewei said that although Li Siyuan agreed to take the initiative to attack, he seemed to be not very active and had some resistance in his heart. Therefore, his troops were probably not of much use. The main force in attacking the Yan army's camp was his own and Li Sizhao's troops.
Li Sizhao said that if it were not for the relationship between the three families, he would have withdrawn his troops long ago. Who would have the time to help Li Siyuan build territory?
Zhou Dewei comforted and said, you are right to think so. The three of us should still focus on the overall situation. Only by holding tightly together can we compete with the princes of the world. Helping Li Siyuan is helping ourselves. We must understand this.
Li Sizhao said angrily, "There is no problem on my side. I will listen to you on how to inquire. You are famous for your strategy among our old Hedong Army, and your considerations are more sophisticated than me, a farmer's son. Don't worry."
Bar.
Zhou Dewei said, as long as you understand, Li Siyuan is not unwilling to fight. I guess he was deeply affected by the defeat of Shi Deng in Shanxi. It is indeed as you said. He is a little afraid of the enemy. After all, there has been no news about Li Congke so far. Maybe he is
Li Siyuan was hit harder.
Li Sizhao said, OK, I understand, and everything will be at your discretion.
Zhou Dewei said that he should follow the original strategy. As long as the Yan army's camp is broken, Li Siyuan will surely regain his confidence. When we attack Xiangyuan and Luzhou, he should be more active. After all, it is to help him regain the lost territory. In addition,
You still have to send people to Wuxiang to urge for food. We all know the fighting strength of the Yan army, which is no less than that of the old Hedong army. I estimate that it will take at least a month to fight this time to see the result. It will not be possible if there is a shortage of food.
Li Sizhao agreed to go down and arrange the food reminder. Zhou Dewei once again went over the battle strategy in his mind, and then decided to start the war in three days.
The Shiyu Camp of the Three Kings Alliance and the Pingqiu Camp of the Yan Army are less than three miles apart in the east and west. They can almost see each other at a glance. Among them, the Shiyu Camp occupies a convenient location and is located on several highlands.
, Pingqiu Camp relies only on a gentle low hill, with the Nangou River behind it.
About five miles south of the Pingqiu camp is Xijiayan Village, where the Yan Army cavalry is stationed. The open area from Xijiayan Village to the north to Pingqiu is the Nangou River channel from Shiyu to Xiangyuan.
Zhou Dewei knew that if he wanted to attack Xiangyuan, he must completely seize the Nangou River channel, which means that he must break the defensive barriers built by the Yan army in Pingqiu and Xijiayan Village. Through his own personal investigation, combined with Li Siyuan's experience during this period,
Observing the military situation of the Yan Army, Zhou Dewei judged that the Yan Army garrison in Pingqiu Camp had between 10,000 and 15,000 people, and the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village had about 4,000 people.
Of course, this number is only a preliminary judgment. Whether this is the case still needs to be tested with actual troops. Unfortunately, Li Siyuan has not sent troops to find out the details of the Yan army since he retreated to the Shiyu camp, and he wasted more than half a month.
Zhou Dewei was also very annoyed and helpless.
Zhou Dewei's actual military test was divided into two parts. The first was to send a small number of troops to attack in turns from the north, west and south of the Yan Army's Pingqiu camp to find the weak points of the Yan Army's defense and at the same time pass through the Yan Army's defense.
To estimate the strength of the opponent's troops.
The second was to send cavalry to contain Xijiayan Village to cover his tentative attack on the Yan Army's Pingqiu Camp. After he and Li Sizhao led their troops to Shiyu, the cavalry of the three kings' coalition reached more than 5,000, including
Half of them were the elite cavalry of the Black Army from the old Hedong Army. With this cavalry force, Zhou Dewei was confident that he could completely suppress the Yan Army cavalry.
On September 4th, the Shiyu Camp was opened. The Three Kings Allied Forces dispatched 6,000 infantry and launched a probing attack on the Pingqiu Camp from three directions. Li Sizhao was in the north, Li Siyuan was in the south, and Zhou Dewei himself was responsible for the due west direction.
, and at the same time, he also assumes the responsibility of central scheduling.
The force density required for the exploratory attack was not high, but the frequency of delivery was high, so Zhou Dewei divided the soldiers into small teams and attacked in waves of a hundred people, heading towards the Pingqiu camp. Because he was familiar with the Yan army, The old Hedong soldiers all knew that the enemy on the opposite side was equipped with luxurious equipment, especially arrows with strong attack power. In addition to arrows, the old Hedong soldiers also probably heard that the Yan army's catapults and ballistae were very sharp. Therefore, when attacking, the team The shapes are all scattered, and the hundreds of soldiers are divided into more than ten groups, spaced apart from each other.
Attacking in this way, the Yan army did not use a covering arrow formation, nor did it use catapults or ballistae. No matter how luxurious the Yan army's equipment was, it could not afford such a loss-making business. Therefore, the three kings' coalition soon arrived. Outside the Pingqiu camp, while using shields to prevent cold arrows, they also destroyed and dismantled the antlers, wooden posts, trip wires, traps and other blocking facilities in front of the camp fence.
The Yan army organized archers to board the archery tower to shoot at close range and interfere, and occasionally dropped one or two oil cans and lit them with rockets to act as a deterrent.
Both the offensive and defensive sides are engaging in a leisurely battle. The attacker's damage to the defensive facilities is quite limited, and the defender's damage to the attacking soldiers is not obvious. The exploratory battle will not end in three to five days. This kind of battle is relatively It's boring and tests the patience of both parties.
Zhou Dewei and Li Sizhao's probing force in the west and north directions was quite appropriate, but the south commanded by Li Siyuan was obviously much more sloppy. The Korean army often rushed to a hundred steps away from the camp fence with loud gongs and drums, and shouted. Turning around and turning back, the momentum was astonishing, but it had no real meaning. Because in Li Siyuan's heart, as long as An Zhongjiao's cavalry succeeded in raiding Li City, everything in front of him was meaningless, and whether or not the camp could be attacked was a trivial matter.
Zhou Dewei did not delve into Li Siyuan's actions and thoughts. Anyway, it was a tentative attack. As long as it could help him estimate the enemy's garrison strength and defensive focus. What Zhou Dewei was really worried about these days was the attack on the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village. Containment and war.
Zhou Dewei openly sent 600 cavalry, which were displayed outside Xijiayan Village, blocking the Yan army's cavalry heading north. Regardless of whether Li Siyuan was really afraid of the enemy, Zhou Dewei believed that at least Li Siyuan was right in one consideration. It is very dangerous to forcefully attack the Yan Army's Pingqiu camp without cavalry cover. Because the Yan Army's cavalry can rush directly to Pingqiu in just one stick of incense from Xijiayan Village to the north, giving the enemy troops who are attacking Pingqiu a chance. The army blocked the way and struck him.
Zhou Dewei used 600 cavalry to block Xijiayan Village, which was just a bait. In fact, he hid 3,000 Black Crow Army elite cavalry behind a high ground in Shiyu. He very much hoped that the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village would come out to take the bait. When the Black Crow Army comes out unexpectedly, there is a 90% chance of achieving greater results.
Unfortunately, for three consecutive days, Zhou Dewei did not wait for the Yan Army cavalry. It seemed that the Yan Army cavalry commander in Xijiayan Village was very confident in the Pingqiu camp. So Zhou Dewei could only temporarily give up the plan to ambush the Yan Army cavalry, and he prepared to use this The plan is to postpone the attack until the full-scale attack on the Pingqiu camp. While storming Pingqiu, wait for the Yan army cavalry to take the bait. Then we will see if the guy named Zhao Zaili can still hold it in! (To be continued. If you like this work , you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users please go to m. to read.)