Chapter 104: The decisive battle on the party (nineteen)
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After three consecutive days of tentative attacks on the Yan army's Pingqiu camp, Zhou Dewei discovered that there were not as many Yan troops in the Pingqiu camp as he had imagined. Zhou Dewei was not as calculating a staff officer as the Yan army, but he had extremely rich combat experience.
, judging from the strength of the opponent's defense, it seems that there are less than 10,000 people.
Zhou Dewei even guessed that the Yan army in the Pingqiu camp might not even have 7,000 people, because the number reported by Li Siyuan should be very accurate - even though he repeatedly emphasized that the Yan army's resistance was extremely fierce.
However, although the estimated enemy strength was nearly half less than originally expected, the defense facilities of this camp are very well built and very layered. It cannot be attacked easily. If it is attacked by force
If so, it is likely to cause huge casualties.
Therefore, Zhou Dewei quickly adjusted his plan and changed the main combat goal from conquering the Pingqiu camp to ambush the Yan army cavalry.
On September 7, the three armies of the Shiyu Camp came out to launch a feint attack towards the Yan Army's Pingqiu Camp. In this battle, Zhou Dewei mobilized 18,000 infantry and launched an attack from three directions. Li Siyuan, Li Sizhao and himself
One person is still responsible for one direction. Zhou Dewei's request is that the attack should be more fierce than in previous days, but the losses must be minimized as much as possible, and everything should be focused on creating momentum. He hopes that through the siege of the Pingqiu camp, the Yan Army cavalry will be defeated.
Move out of Xijiayan Village. Of course, if you can open a gap, don't give up the opportunity to break the stronghold.
Zhou Dewei's real main force set up an ambush next to the passage from Xijiayan Village to Pingqiu, preparing to annihilate the Yan Army cavalry. Beside this Nangou River passage, which is five miles long and two miles wide, there are several high ridges extending from Shiyu.
, Zhou Dewei hid 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry behind the high mountains. He sent 800 cavalry to the entrance of Xijiayan Village to act as bait.
The number of eight hundred cavalry was decided by Zhou Dewei after long consideration. If there were too few troops or no troops at all, the trap would be more obvious and it would be easy for others to see the flaw; if too many troops were sent, he would be afraid of Zhao Zaili from Xijiayan Village.
Not daring to come forward and continuing to sit back and watch the friendly troops at Pingqiu Camp being surrounded - this kind of behavior is too normal for a military leader. The bait of 800 Cavalry should be considered appropriate. It can not only reduce Zhao Zaili's doubts, but also happens to be Yan.
The limit that the military cavalry could barely swallow. Faced with such temptation, Zhou Dewei felt that Zhao Zaili might be tempted.
Once Zhao Zaili is dispatched, these 800 cavalry will retreat northward and lead the Yan army's cavalry into the Nangou River channel. When the time comes, this cavalry will turn around and rush forward to entangle them, which can cover the Gaoling where the 20,000 infantry are hiding from the side.
They came out to block the Yan army's return route. With the cooperation of five thousand fine cavalry, Zhou Dewei believed that Zhao Zaili would have to shed his skin even if he did not die.
One day passed, and another day passed, for two consecutive days, no matter how far the battle in Pingqiu Camp progressed, Zhou Dewei's attention was always fixed on the direction of Xijiayan Village. Tanqi kept feeding back the news to Zhou Dewei, all
The news all claimed that the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village did not make any movement.
But Zhou Dewei was not in a hurry. He had enough patience to continue waiting. In the second year of Qianning, Zhou Dewei accompanied Li Keyong to attack Wang Xingyu who was forcing the palace to Chang'an. Zhou Dewei spent twelve days setting up an ambush and defeated Wang Xingyu's main force in one fell swoop; in the first year of Tianfu.
When Zhu Youning and Shi Shucong besieged Jinyang, Zhou Dewei withstood Li Keyong's strict orders. After waiting patiently for more than a month, he finally found a good opportunity and sent out surprise troops from Jinyang to outflank Shi Shucong's flanks, forcing the 100,000 Xuanwu army to withdraw.
The siege of Jinyang.
Compared with these two classic battles of Zhou Dewei's fame, waiting for a few days is nothing.
Two more days passed, and there was still no change in the direction of Xijiayan Village. Zhou Dewei didn't mind and planned to continue waiting patiently, but the feint attack of Pingqiu Camp achieved unexpected results.
The Zheng Army under Li Sizhao and the Jin Army under Zhou Dewei made breakthroughs in the north and west of the Yan Army's Pingqiu camp respectively. Among them, the Zheng Army broke into the Yan Army's camp three times, and the Jin Army also broke into once yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately,
Because it was a feint attack and insufficient follow-up troops were deployed, all the Yan troops defending the camp were beaten out and failed to capture the Pingqiu camp.
Li Sizhao personally rushed to Zhou Dewei to discuss with him how to change his strategy and try his best to capture the Pingqiu camp. Li Sizhao said excitedly that the Yan army was not as strong as imagined. Although it had sophisticated equipment and orderly advance and retreat, it lacked the will to die.
, as long as our side can endure the casualties at the beginning and launch an offensive desperately, we can achieve great results in subsequent battles. Li Sizhao believes that as long as sufficient troops are invested to maintain the intensity of the attack, it is Gu Jianzhi's chance to capture Pingqiu Camp.
things.
Zhou Dewei was not distracted by Li Sizhao's excitement. He focused on the important information revealed in Li Sizhao's words - the Yan army was far less numerous than expected, let alone 7,000, perhaps not even 5,000. So Zhou Dewei
I asked someone to invite Li Siyuan to hear the battle situation at his end of the feint.
Although the Han army under Li Siyuan did not attack as fiercely as the Zheng army and the Jin army, after many days in a row, he had noticed something unusual in the Pingqiu camp. Li Siyuan had been south for almost two months, and he knew the true strength of the Yan army.
, knowing that there should be tens of thousands of Yan troops stationed in the Pingqiu camp, this number is likely to be more than 15,000. However, the defensive strength of the Yan army cannot match this number at all. You can see from just one point that there are so many
In the battle of Tian'an, the Yan army did not even organize a side attack from the camp!
Hearing that both the Zheng army and the Jin army had successfully broken into the Pingqiu camp several times, Li Siyuan's mind immediately became active. In fact, before the messenger sent by Zhou Dewei to him had even left the camp, Li Siyuan had already arrived.
The three of them got together to report the battle situation to each other, and came to the conclusion that the Yan army in the Pingqiu camp was weak and could fall with one blow!
Li Sizhao repeatedly incited to capture the Pingqiu camp immediately, but was stopped by Zhou Dewei. A general must not easily change the original deployment, which is a taboo for military strategists! And Zhou Dewei always believed that the key to the battle was not a Yan army camp, but a Yan army camp.
Only by annihilating the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village can we seize the initiative on the battlefield. This is the top priority. Therefore, he tried his best to persuade Li Sizhao not to act rashly. He must remain patient and continue to wait, using Pingqiu Camp as bait to lure Yan
The army cavalry were drawn into the ambush circle.
At the same time, Zhou Dewei also reminded Li Sizhao and Li Siyuan not to underestimate the enemy and to think carefully about how the enemy's troops stationed in Pingqiu were far lower than expected.
Just as Zhou Dewei was persuading him repeatedly, Li Siyuan suddenly burst out laughing, making Zhou Dewei look very ugly. Li Siyuan didn't mean to laugh at Zhou Dewei. He really couldn't help it, and an inexplicable ecstasy surged into his heart.
The depression he had been holding back for nearly two months suddenly rushed away. How could he hold back his laughter?
At this point, Li Siyuan felt that there was no need to hide it anymore. The great achievements had been firmly obtained. Maybe Licheng. No, maybe even Luzhou had been captured by An Zhongjiao's surprise troops. What he needed to do now was to mobilize himself as soon as possible. These two allies immediately sent their troops south to support An Zhongjiao.
Li Siyuan fully described his plan to send An Zhongjiao to surprise Licheng from the Zhuozhang Valley Trail, and finally said with an extremely certain tone. An Zhongjiao's surprise attack was almost certain to be effective, and he had even captured Luzhou and intercepted it. If the enemy's retreat is blocked, the enemy's main force must have been transferred back to the south. In short, this is the time to sweep forward, so you must not be hesitant!
Only then did Zhou Dewei understand Li Siyuan's strange behavior during this period. He couldn't help but sigh and ordered to change the original deployment. He requested that the Pingqiu camp be captured immediately and then march south.
Seeing Li Siyuan leave the tent in high spirits, Zhou Dewei suddenly felt very uncomfortable. It seemed that a great victory was coming, but why was he so uncomfortable? Looking at Li Sizhao, he saw Li Sizhao spitting heavily on the ground and said bitterly. : "Miao Jilie, you dare to do such an unethical thing, for your own selfish desires, even to conceal such a major military event, you will not die well in the future!"
Li Siyuan was originally a Shatuo slave, and "Miao Jilie" was his real name. After his rise to prominence, Li Siyuan changed his name and was very taboo about being called by his original name. At this time, Li Sizhao secretly called him "Miao Jilie", the Shatuo slave name. , obviously very hateful.
After a moment of silence, Zhou Dewei adjusted his guilty conscience and comforted Li Sizhao for a moment. Then Li Sizhao left angrily and went back to prepare for the attack on Pingqiu.
In Xijiayan Village, Zhao Zaili stood on a hill outside the village, staring anxiously in the direction of Pingqiu. It had been for many days, and he didn't know how well Zhou Kan was holding in Pingqiu, how many casualties there were, and whether the baggage consumption could still be sustained. live?
Li Xiaoxi's Youyan Security Army and Gao Xingzhou's Guizhou Army were transferred from the Pingqiu Camp to the left wing. There were only more than 4,000 Yan troops left in the Pingqiu Camp, including only four from the Guizhou Army's right wing. The infantry battalion is a fighting force, and the remaining more than 2,000 people are temporary supplementary battalions pulled up from Luzhou. With such a small number of troops to resist the attack of more than 50,000 elite troops from the Three Kings Alliance, one can imagine the pressure on Zhou Kan.
The communication between Pingqiu and Xijiayan Village has been blocked for seven days. The military report of Li Xiaoxi and Gao Xingzhou's surprise attack on Wuxiang has been sent, but Zhao Zaili cannot deliver it to Zhou Kan. In addition to this good news, His Highness King Yan Gaoping, where he was located, also sent a military order from the General Administration of Military Staff regarding major changes in the overall battlefield strategy. This military order was also placed in Zhao Zaili's hands, and Zhou Kan knew nothing about it.
According to the agreement between Zhao Zaili and Zhou Kan, Zhou Kan would try his best to hold off the three kings' coalition forces in Pingqiu to buy more time. When he could no longer hold on, he would use the agreed signal to summon Zhao Zaili to respond and help him withdraw. Pingqiu Camp. This is also the reason why Zhou Dewei's ambush strategy was never successful - Zhao Zaili did not receive Zhou Kan's signal and would not come out on his own!
What Zhao Zaili was worried about was that if Zhou Kan held on for a longer time, he might not be able to retreat under the fierce attack of the enemy.
Mao Zhang came over with a bowl of soup and some noodles and handed them to Zhao Zaili: "General Zhao, it's time to eat."
Zhao Zaili took it and ate it. While eating, his eyes were always looking in the direction of Pingqiu.
"The enemy is still provoking one mile outside the village entrance. Should we send troops to drive them away?" Mao Zhang asked.
Zhao Zaili replied nonchalantly: "Don't worry about it, it's probably a trick of the enemy to lure them. Let them make noise for now, and when the time comes, they will be defeated in one fell swoop."
At this moment, a puff of white smoke suddenly bloomed high in the sky in the direction of Pingqiu, and then the distant observation post shouted from the top of the big tree next to him: "Manager Zhou has sent a signal!"
Zhao Zaili's anxious expression changed instantly, and he said happily to Mao Zhang: "Go and pass the order quickly to coordinate the withdrawal of the troops from General Manager Zhou!"