"Reinforcements are coming?" Chu Junzhang heard the movement and ran out of the camp with hope.
Due to the forest blocking his view, he couldn't really see anything, but his ears could hear the sound of fighting coming from afar.
The coalition camp had been besieged for nearly two months and eleven days. Everyone who heard the movement ran out. Although they could not see what was happening in the distance, the movement that came from the camp gave them great hope.
Bai Gongsheng asked: "Do you want to support me?"
Reinforcements are coming? They should make some noise, at least contain some of the original army's strength.
Chu Junzhang said: "Calculate the time, it is time to come."
The monarch is under siege? It’s okay if he doesn’t know the news. When the ministers at home get the news, how dare they not launch a rescue operation?
Therefore, even if the rebels in Chu State became active again, Dou Huai and other ministers in charge of the country did not hesitate to immediately assemble a large army. They gathered about 60,000 people at the border of Song State and set off immediately. The Chu army that was assembled later would follow and go north.
Hearing that reinforcements were coming from the coalition forces, their morale was boosted by the news. Their eagerness to escape from this hell made them ignore Paoze, who would be injured or killed by arrows from time to time, and assemble as quickly as possible.
Bai Gongsheng personally led the assembled Chu army of about 10,000 people, with the clear goal of making a breakthrough attack to the south.
"The reinforcements attracted a large number of enemy troops? Why did the enemy troops come so few?" Although Bai Gongsheng felt something was wrong, he led his troops out of the camp.
They were blocked, but the number of original troops was really small, and even the arrows fired were much less than before.
The soldiers of the Chu army were only happy, thinking that there was hope for a breakthrough.
Bai Gong led his army to run out of the camp about a mile away, and suddenly shouted: "No!"
Something is obviously wrong!
If there are fewer infantrymen and arrows from the original army, then why are there no cavalry from the original army?
It may be that the Chu army that came out was far enough away from the camp.
It could also be that the Chu army suddenly stopped where they were, as if they were about to turn around and return to the camp.
In short, a large number of arrows suddenly appeared, and at the same time, the original troops emerged from the bushes and some slopes.
"You fell into the trap!" Bai Gongsheng felt something was wrong, and it suddenly came true!
What's going on?
Of course it was Zhiyao who created the illusion of the arrival of reinforcements from the Chu State in order to trick the coalition forces into leaving the camp.
The cavalry of the original army, who had not even shown their shadow before, appeared. They rushed out of the woods, and as soon as they appeared, they took the posture of charging, and went straight into the middle area between the Chu army and the camp. It was clear that they wanted to block the Chu army from leaving the camp. the way back.
So, have Chu's reinforcements arrived? They are still on the road, about a hundred miles away from the battlefield.
The Chu reinforcements led by Ye Gong were about 60,000 strong. When they entered the Song Dynasty, they were repeatedly harassed by the original cavalry, and their speed was greatly slowed down.
Moreover, Zhiyao divided his troops. About 20,000 original troops went south and would wait for Ye Gong's troops near Danshui.
Why is it near Danshui? It’s obvious that I want to attack in a half-crossed wave!
At that time, it will depend on whether Ye Gong's subordinates will give him face. If Cheng Shuo really seizes the opportunity, Chu Junzhang will have to wait a little longer to wait for reinforcements.
Bai Gongsheng brought more than ten thousand soldiers out of the camp, including Bai Gongsheng. Only more than a thousand soldiers of the Chu army fled back, which suddenly made the allied forces even worse.
After that, it could be two or three days, or it could be three or five days, and there were repeated sounds of reinforcements arriving. However, the coalition forces, which had suffered a huge loss, gritted their teeth and decided not to leave the camp unless they saw the shadow of reinforcements.
So, the coalition forces were only played once by Zhiyao, and they seemed to be a little bit spoiled?
It was not until half a month later that Ye Gongzhen led about 50,000 Chu troops to get within 20 miles of the besieged coalition camp.
At this stage, Zhiyao took more powerful blockade actions.
The former cavalry patrolled everywhere, and if they found suspicious persons, they would kill them if they could not be caught. If they could not be killed, they would chase them. They tried their best to cut off the trapped coalition forces from the outside world.
Since Ye Gong successfully approached the battlefield about twenty miles away, does it mean that they did not follow the Danshui line?
Ye Gong really did not cross Danshui. He first went to "Shangqiu" for supplies, and then continued north to "Mao" for a short rest.
Cheng Shuo, who was responsible for blocking the attack, considered that it was too late to block the attack from near Danshui and that his own side had less than 20,000 troops, so he gave up the blocking plan and rushed to recover.
Because Chu's reinforcements were really coming, Zhiyao frequently created the illusion that Chu's reinforcements were coming. This was not to induce the coalition forces to leave the camp, but to play a "crying wolf" strategy.
"The captain of the state led his army south and stopped the enemy ten miles away." Zhiyao ordered.
Sun Wu immediately took the order and set off with 5,000 standing troops and 6,000 cavalry.
The trapped coalition forces were almost spoiled. Of course they could see the movements of the original army. However, the original army had been mobilized too frequently recently. They were deceived. They suffered a small loss but made up their minds to stop quietly.
In fact, the coalition forces couldn't move even if they wanted to. They had been besieged for three months and could not relax for a day. People died every day under the long-range attacks of the original army, and the wounded also died one by one. They were unable to eat hot food for a long time.
More people are getting sick, and fewer and fewer soldiers are able to maintain combat effectiveness.
The first batch of Chu State's reinforcements originally numbered more than 60,000. After leaving "Shangqiu", they were constantly harassed by the original army's cavalry. The marching speed was really slow. They were killed or injured along the way, and even fell behind. The remaining troops of the original army were left behind.
More than 50,000 people.
Of course, it was not that the Song Dynasty provided the Chu army with baggage for no reason, it was entirely because Ye Gong brought enough money to buy it from the merchants.
This kind of operation is very common. Many troops arrive at a certain place and buy supplies from local nobles or merchants to maintain supplies for the army.
In the past, even if two countries were at war, they would still continue to do business.
Until now, the country cannot stop merchants from selling supplies to a certain country's army. The reason is that it can stop merchants from its own country, but not merchants from other countries.
"How dare the trapped soldiers leave the camp so easily?" Zhiyao burst into laughter after saying this.
At this stage, the original army is actually capable of annihilating the besieged coalition forces. The reason why they have not done so is to attract more enemy forces.
No, reinforcements from the Chu State arrived, and they were blocked about ten miles away.
The five thousand standing army and six thousand cavalry of the Yuan Kingdom relied on the favorable terrain to block the Chu reinforcements coming from afar. The battle was very fierce from the beginning.
"All the members of the original army are wearing armor, and the bows and arrows can't be penetrated!" Mr. Ye looked very solemn.
The Chu army rarely had hard bows, and the arrows they shot were either bamboo arrows or reed arrows. Their lethality against unarmored enemies was a bit unsatisfactory. Shooting on armor... even if it was just wooden armor, bamboo armor or rattan armor, there was almost no threat.
, let alone the shot on the cloth armor.
On the other hand, if the Chu army is facing the arrows fired by the original army, they will fall down if they are hit without piercing the armor. And as the distance between the two sides gets closer, the Chu army soldiers who have pierced the armor will also be injured, and even
He died on the spot.
Ye Gong came to a soldier who was wearing leather armor and was shot to death. He squatted down to check the situation and found that the original army used a three-winged arrowhead. Its length was about nine centimeters and its diameter was about
1.5 centimeters, the length of the arrow shaft is about 80 centimeters, and the arrow feathers at the tail are also longer than ordinary arrows.
The so-called three-winged arrowhead is actually a three-sided arrowhead with a relatively high armor-piercing ability. The arrow shaft is lengthened, and the arrow feathers are also lengthened, which increases the armor-piercing effect.
In the original country, there were not only this kind of armor-piercing arrows, but also another type of shovel-shaped armor-piercing arrows. Different arrows would be used at their most powerful distances.
The closer the Chu army was to the original army, the more Chu soldiers fell under the rain of arrows, and they no longer distinguished whether they had armor or not.
That scene made Ye Gong's right eyelid twitch, and he began to understand why the princes were trapped where they were.
Although the distance is a bit close, about thirty meters, you can be shot to death even if you are wearing three layers of armor. It is very scary!
"A three-stone or four-stone bow, or a powerful crossbow!" Ye Gong held a crossbow with a relatively short shaft in his hand, looking very fearful.
Dou Huai said in annoyance: "The crossbow was originally invented by Chu State, why not make it useful?"
Was the crossbow first invented by the Chu people? Actually, that’s right. It was originally intended to be used for assassination, but its popularity was not high.
History has not changed. The Chu army was the first to install crossbows. Strangely, it was carried forward by the Han army and later became a weapon for the Qin army to attack cities and plunder territory.
Of course, the crossbow invented by the Chu people, the crossbow improved by the Korean people, and the crossbow used by the Qin people may be similar in appearance, but the material selection and parts structure have been repeatedly improved.
Another thing is that the Wu people made the crossbow smaller and specifically used it for assassination, which allowed the original intention of the crossbow to be realized. However, with the demise of the Wu Kingdom, the manufacturing technology of small crossbows was lost.
Ye Gong did not dare to get too close to the original army, because he was afraid that the opponent would use precision strikes.
Because the distance was a bit far away, Mr. Ye couldn't see anything clearly. He could vaguely see that the infantrymen of the original army opposite had a long weapon, a sword (actually a knife) and a quiver on their waist.
, with a shield on its back and a bow on its back.
When soldiers of the original army used long weapons, their shields and bows were placed behind their backs; when they switched to using knives, they would hold the shield with the other hand; when using bows, their long weapons were inserted at their feet, and their shields were also placed on their backs.
On the ground.
There were only about 5,000 original troops, who could switch between close combat or long-range attack at any time, and actually blocked the 50,000 Chu army.
Ye Gong did not forget that there were still cavalry from the original army cruising around. It was precisely because there were cavalry from the original army around that they could not concentrate on breaking through.
"Does my king know that the reinforcements are coming?" Ye Gong did not see much movement in the coalition camp.
Ye Gongzai suspected that the coalition forces, which had been besieged for nearly three months, were exhausted. This guess was actually very reasonable and would be the same for anyone who had similar experiences.
Do you know how the besieged coalition forces lasted for three months? They were greeted by the former army with long-range attacks every day. They had to get used to the fact that the people around them were fine one moment, but were shot to death by arrows or stoned the next moment.
The long-range attacks of the original army brought death and psychological pressure to the coalition forces, and the occasional attacks on the camps made the coalition forces suspect that they would be wiped out in the next second. Under the double psychological pressure, many people went crazy and were later killed.
He killed them all, leaving most people physically and mentally exhausted and numb.
Guild Ye has that kind of doubt, mainly because something is wrong with the movement in the coalition camp. He wonders that even if they are too far away to see each other, making such a loud noise should not be ignored.
He just didn't know how the original army was playing tricks on the coalition forces recently, otherwise he would know the answer.
"The enemy's army is elite. The more elite they are, the more critical our king will be!" Dou Huai was dissatisfied with Ye Gong's caution.
They came to rescue, but they couldn't figure out the situation of the trapped friendly forces, so they pushed closer at any cost, and they wanted to see with their own eyes how the trapped friendly forces were doing.
"The people who were sent out came back and reported that my king's great banner is still standing." Ye Gong was very dissatisfied with the news, mainly because no one could successfully infiltrate, enter the camp and return safely.
The large banner of the Chu army is still standing, which can only mean that the besieged Chu monarchs and ministers are still persisting, and no more information can be revealed.
Dou Huai cursed softly, glared at Mr. Ye fiercely, and decided to personally lead his headquarters to fight against the Yuan army that blocked the attack.
Later, when Ye Gong noticed what Dou Huai was doing, he was furious to death.
Of course Ye Gong knew that the attack should be strengthened, but the problem was that the original army's cavalry should be on guard!
You see, Dou Huai acted recklessly without communication, disrupting the attack sequence arranged by Ye Gong before, and also caused a gap in the battle formation. The original cavalry, which was just cruising in the distance, began to approach and shoot on horseback.
Sun Wu, who was good at seizing fighter opportunities, admired Cheng Wu's actions and ordered: "The array moves forward."
They were just in a defensive posture before, not to be completely immobile, but simply because they didn't have a good chance.
Now? The Chu army not only messed up their attack sequence, but also gave the original cavalry an opportunity to attack the rear. How could Sun Wu let his troops stay where they were?
Why do military commanders always emphasize formations? Because formations are really useful!
After receiving the battle report, Zhiyao sent Yurang to the front of the coalition camp to shout, asking the Marquis of Chu to come out and answer.
Maybe he realized that times have changed? None of the princes showed up, but some ministers were sent.
Zhiyao really wouldn't use any dark means now, such as asking the princes to come out and then arrange for archers to kill them.
When the princes didn't show up, Yu Rang shouted on behalf of Zhiyao: "Reinforcements from Chu are coming!"
Bai Gongsheng's face looked relatively pale. It wasn't because he was hungry or injured, but simply because he was too haggard and couldn't control his emotions. He cursed: "If you have any tricks, use them to your heart's content!"
So? They just don’t believe it.
That was the success of Zhiyao's "Wolf Crying" strategy. After repeated "fakes", the Chu State's reinforcements really arrived and fought a bloody battle with the original army. The coalition forces believed that it was the original army who wanted to lure them out of the camp.
Yurang didn't know whether he should laugh or not, so he repeated: "The reinforcements from Chu State are really coming!"
Bai Gongsheng shouted: "Nothing else, see you on the battlefield!" After speaking, he took the lead and turned around to leave.
Yurang went back and reported to Zhiyao.
But Zhiyao said: "Order all ministries to prepare for battle, and the coalition forces will come out."
Yu Rang was not someone else. Without too many questions, he accepted the "promise" and hurried down to deliver the order.
A more curious person would definitely ask why the coalition forces, which originally did not want to be dispatched, decided to do so again.
So..., what's the point?
……………………
Sorry, I took the high-speed train all afternoon today and stayed in bed very late, so the update is a bit slow.
We are dealing with fraud, please consider it, thank you!
