The previous two tests had allowed Qin Hao to touch Temujin's bottom line. He was 100% sure that Temujin would never leave the city, so he dared to ignore Temujin's main army and directly led an army of 150,000 to attack.
Guyuan County.
Guyuan County has a full 50,000 defenders. Temujin believed that Qin Hao could not capture it in a short time, so he thought that Qin Hao attacked Guyuan County just to beat him out of the city. However, Qin Hao took advantage of Temujin's
Psychologically, they took advantage of the situation and attacked Guyuan County.
The troops in Guyuan County are well equipped, and Murong Ke will arrive at Zhenbeiguan in ten days. Qin Hao wants to forcefully attack Guyuan County within ten days, which is theoretically almost impossible.
But there are exceptions to everything, and Temujin also had his moments of negligence.
Temujin actually ignored an extremely important thing, that is, although Guyuan County had a large number of defenders, the soldiers responsible for defending the city were all cavalry.
The advantage of cavalry lies in field battles, not in city defense. Now that Temujin uses cavalry to defend the city, it would be good if he could use 50% of his original combat power.
Among the 150,000 Han troops, 115,000 were infantry. The advantage of infantry lay in attacking and defending the city. In addition, the Han army had various siege equipment.
Therefore, at first glance, Temujin's arrangement does not seem to be a big problem, but in fact, it is to use his own shortcomings to attack the enemy's strong points, and this is also the confidence that Qin Hao dared to attack Guyuan County.
Looking at the city occupied by the enemy not far away, Qin Hao slowly took out the Tianwen Sword on his waist and ordered: "Send the order, execute the strategy of "encircle three and lack one", surround the three gates in the south, west and north, and concentrate the troops to attack the south gate.
The gate must be destroyed by me within three days."
"No." All the generals shouted in unison.
The 150,000-strong army was divided into three groups, surrounded by three and missing one, but the elite soldiers and generals under the leadership of Qin Hao stormed the south gate.
One hundred catapults focused on the south gate, releasing flying stones that could be said to cover the sky and the sun, and the defenders in the city were unable to lift their heads at all.
Three thousand archers on thirty well fences continuously fired arrows at the city wall to suppress the archers behind the city wall and create opportunities for the soldiers charging below the city.
"Kill..."
Xue Rengui, Zhao Yun, Jia Fu and other generals personally attacked the city and relied on their own bravery to avoid rocks and rolling logs and quickly climbed onto the tower. Then they tried their best to clear the surrounding enemy soldiers and create opportunities for the soldiers behind them to ascend.
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"Report...to report to Your Majesty that something bad has happened. Guyuan County has been lost."
"What?"
Temujin's eyes widened, and the Yuanmeng generals also looked shocked. They all thought that Qin Hao was just showing off, and his real purpose was to lead the main army out of the city for a decisive battle. However, they did not expect that Qin Hao actually attacked by force.
Guyuan County, and it only took two days.
"what happened?"
Temujin's face became extremely ugly. The 50,000 defenders couldn't even defend for two days. Are they all pigs?
"Your Majesty, the Han army's offensive was really too fierce. Although their army adopted an siege of three and one missing, they concentrated their forces to attack the south gate. Hundreds of catapults continued to bombard, and thirty wells suppressed the archers. In addition, there were
Many fierce generals personally committed suicide on the tower.
Most of the brothers were not used to fighting on foot. Although they tried their best to resist, they finally allowed the Han army to enter the city after fighting for a day and a half. However, in order to reduce casualties, the general had no choice but to abandon the city and withdraw his troops."
Temujin's face was as dark as water. He finally understood why Guyuan County, which had 50,000 troops, could not defend it for two days. It turned out to be because the cavalry was not good at infantry fighting and defending the city.
Previously, Yuanmeng was on the offensive side and had always taken the initiative and had never fought a defensive battle. Therefore, Temujin did not realize this, and as a result, he suffered such a big loss now.
"How many people were lost?" Temujin asked.
"Due to the timely withdrawal, only nearly 10,000 soldiers were injured or killed, and the remaining 40,000 troops will soon return."
After hearing this, Temujin breathed a sigh of relief. Although he lost the food and grass in Guyuan County and the city, fortunately the casualties were not too large. Yuan Meng still had 240,000 troops in Ningxia County.
"The main responsibility for the loss of Guyuan County this time lies with me. Our Dayuan cavalry is good at attacking but not good at defending. We should not use our own shortcomings to attack the enemy's strong points."
Temujin knew that the fall of Guyuan County was a non-war crime, so he did not hold anyone responsible for the fall of Guyuan County, and took the initiative to take all the responsibility on himself.
The talents of a wise king are fully displayed.
Zhebie stood up and said: "Your Majesty, should we continue to delay time, or take the initiative?"
After Temujin thought for a while, he was about to say something, but someone came to report him again.
"Report...to report to Your Majesty, the latest intelligence came from the frontline reconnaissance. After the Han army captured Guyuan County, they immediately burned down the grain depot, and then went straight to Zhongwei County with all their troops."
"What?"
Temujin looked shocked. He thought Qin Hao would defend the city, but he didn't think so decisively and abandoned the city. He also burned all the food and grass he had obtained. This was simply a harm to himself and others!
"Zhongwei County?"
Temujin looked at the location of Wei County and was immediately shocked. He quickly said: "Qin Hao's target is not Zhongwei County, but Pingluo County, which is right next to Zhongwei County."
Pingluo County, like Guyuan County, also has a grain depot in the city, and it is also one of the only two grain storage areas left by the Yuan army in Ningxia.
Now Yuanmeng has lost the grain depot in Guyuan County. If he loses the grain depot in Pingluo County, even if Murong Ke can successfully recapture Zhenbeiguan, Yuanmeng will have to withdraw from the Hetao due to lack of food.
"Report...to report to your majesty, the latest battle situation in Yinshan. Bai Qi sent Li Jing to lead the army to march towards Zhenbeiguan. General Murong Chui was afraid of being attacked from both sides, so he had to retreat temporarily..."
Another bad news came, and this news also showed that even if Murong Ke arrived on time, it would still be difficult to recapture Zhenbeiguan in a short time, because Li Jing outside the pass would definitely hold Murong Chui back for a while.
At this thought, Temujin couldn't help but become more and more irritable. He found that he was being led by the nose again, and every step Qin Hao took exceeded his expectations.
Temujin found that he had entered a misunderstanding and was timid because of the fear of the unknown. The final result was that he was restricted in everything.
We must break Qin Hao's rhythm. Temujin thought secretly.
After pondering for a while, Temujin ordered: "Immediately pass on the order and the entire army will gather in Pingluo County, where I will fight Qin Hao to the death."
Hearing what Temujin said, Ogedei quickly stood up to dissuade him and said: "Your Majesty, no, our army only needs to wait until Murong Ke recaptures Zhenbeiguan, and then we can regain the initiative. Why risk going out of the city and Qin Hao?"
What about the decisive battle?"
"Qin Hao took advantage of our mentality and dared to ignore my main force of hundreds of thousands and attack Guyuan County with all his strength.
Now Qin Hao is also eyeing Pingluo County. He wants to burn our army's food and grass little by little, leaving our army with no food available.
Our army is good at attacking but not good at defending, and Qin Hao can easily capture Guyuan County, and he can also capture Pingluo County. If we continue to be indifferent, by the time Murong Ke recaptures Zhenbeiguan, we may have run out of food, so Ping Luo County
Luo County must be saved."
As soon as Temujin said this, Ogedai could not find anything to refute, but he still advised: "But the Fire Ox Formation..."
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Temujin.
"Don't worry, I have figured out a way to break the Fire Ox Formation. It's okay if Qin Hao doesn't use it. If he does, he will definitely suffer a big loss." Temujin said solemnly.