The one-hundred-thousand-thousand-strong Central Army led by Li Jing had a large number of troops. In addition, they came from Sizhou, which was the farthest away, so their speed was naturally the slowest.
Li Jing's troops had just passed Hangu Pass when they received news that Li Shimin from Chang'an had divided his troops to support Ba Ling.
Although Yang Jian only had 5,000 troops this time, if the number continued to increase, it would undoubtedly make it more difficult for the Qin army to conquer Ba Ling.
So Li Jing wrote a handwritten letter, ordering the three armies of the West Route to meet at Wuzhangyuan to attack Chang'an.
With the three armies of the West Route watching outside the city of Chang'an, the Tang army naturally did not dare to leave the city, because once they left the city, it would mean a field battle with the Qin army.
Although the Tang army in Chang'an City was more numerous, if it was a field battle, even if the Tang army had a small defeat of the Qin army in two formations and its morale had recovered somewhat, it would never be the opponent of the Qin army's three armies on the west route.
Li Jing transferred the three armies of Wang Jian, Gongsun Xuanyuan, and Gongsun Yan to Chang'an, directly blocking the entrance of the Tang Army in Chang'an. Now the Baling Tang Army would be fighting alone again.
Although Gongsun Xuanyuan and Gongsun Yan both wanted to go to Ba Ling and find Jiang Shang to regain the ground, and it was a shame to lose before the first blood, but they belonged to the West Route Army after all, and Ba Ling was on the attack route of the East Route Army.
When Wuji's troops were still on the border of the West Road, Gongsun Xuanyuan could naturally lead a thousand cavalry and drive straight into the enemy's territory to pursue Wuji.
But now Buji's troops have retreated into Baling and are no longer within the attack range of the Western Route Army.
If the West Route Army goes to the East Route Army's base to eliminate the opponents of the East Route Army without consent, it will be a clear grab for credit in the eyes of the East Route Army generals, and it will obviously easily cause internal disharmony.
Although Xuanyuan and Gongsun Yan both knew this, they were a little reluctant to give up. After all, they both suffered losses at the hands of Jiang Shang. Wang Jian, who had not suffered any losses, naturally could not understand their feelings.
Now the Grand Governor Li Jing directly ordered the West Route Army to attack Chang'an, which also cut off the last stubbornness of the two men, and they could only go to Chang'an honestly.
Li Jing's guess was correct. In addition to Yang Jian, Li Shimin was indeed planning to send another reinforcement army to Baling. However, after receiving the news that three groups from Daqin West Road were heading towards Chang'an, he had no choice but to give up this idea.
After all, although the number of Daqin's West Third Route Army is not large, only 30,000, its combat strength is stronger than that of the East Third Route Army except Li Jing's headquarters.
For no other reason than the Qin cavalry troops in Yongzhou were basically concentrated on the West Road.
In order to complete the strategy of surprise attack on Chencang and seize Sanguan, Li Jing handed over all the Yongzhou cavalry to Gongsun Xuanyuan.
After Gongsun Xuanyuan succeeded, he divided the cavalry under his command into three, and most of them stayed under his own command, but he also divided two cavalry and gave them to Wang Jian and Gongsun Yan to command, so the third western route army all had cavalry.
Li Jing transferred all the cavalry from Yongzhou to the western front, which resulted in the three armies on the eastern front. Wu Qi, Sima Cuo, and Fu Cunshen all had no cavalry under their command.
This is also the main reason why Wu Qi watched Li Mu leave the city and go to meet Wu Ji's troops.
Li Mu had just led the cavalry out of Baling, and Wu Qi received the news. However, he had no cavalry at all, and the infantry could not catch up with the cavalry. Naturally, there was no way to stop Li Mu.
In addition, Li Mu's response speed for this rescue operation was also very fast. From leaving the city to returning to the city, it only took half a day in total.
Before Wu Qi's troops arrived at Baling, Li Mu had already fled back to the city.
It is precisely because the East Third Route Army is all infantry that the marching speed and the progress of the strategy are so slow.
Although the West Route Army suffered two small defeats, their attack speed was much faster than that of the East Route Army. They had already leveled all the Tang Army's cities on the western front and headed straight for Chang'an.
On the other hand, the Eastern Route Army, in addition to the big problem of Ba Ling, also had two cities that had not yet been defeated, and the overall results were not as good as the West Route Army, which had lost two battles.
"Well, life without cavalry is really hard."
"Who says otherwise? If we also have cavalry, we can definitely beat the West Route Army to Chang'an."
"That's right, two of the three armies on the Western Front were defeated by the Tang Army. It's a total embarrassment to our Qin Army."
"You can't say that. It's just a small defeat. The loss is not big."
"That's embarrassing. When did our Qin army lose to a national army twice?"
"Shut up, everyone, the governor is here."
The arrival of Wu Qi interrupted the communication among the Qin generals.
Yang Hu stood up and said: "Master Governor, the number of the Tang army's cavalry in Baling City will not be less than two thousand. Once they come out of the city, they will pose a great threat to our army."
Wu Qi smiled calmly and said: "I am not worried about Li Mu leaving the city. I am worried that he will not dare to leave the city and will defend it wholeheartedly."
Even though Wu Qi's men were all infantry, they had strong crossbows, swords and other sharp weapons, and the infantry under his command were well-trained and elite, even if they were fighting on foot or on cavalry, they were still sure of victory.
But if Li Mu insists on defending, unless the main force arrives, the weak Qin army will really have to pay a lot of casualties if they want to forcefully break the city.
"Grand Governor Li Jing has ordered the cavalry troops in the rear to come ahead of the Seventh Route Army to support the three armies on the Eastern Front. Therefore, in just two days at most, the three armies on the Eastern Front will also have cavalry."
Wu Qixiao told everyone the good news, and the generals all looked happy after learning about it.
They felt that they were limited by the lack of cavalry, so they were restricted everywhere and could not quickly bulldoze the Western Front armies like the three armies on the Western Front.
Now that we have cavalry support, it is only a matter of time before we can completely advance the Eastern Front.
Wu Qi was not as optimistic as the generals. Even with the support of cavalry, it could only ensure that the Qin army was invincible on the plains and its mobility was greatly increased. It was not very useful in siege.
If you want to defeat Baling, it is not enough to rely on his army alone. You must join forces with the three armies on the eastern front.
"Where are Sima Cuo and Fu Cunjian's subordinates now?" Wu Qi asked.
"Reporting to the governor, there is still one city on General Fu Cunshen's route that has not yet been conquered. General Sima Cuo has conquered all the cities on the route. He will arrive at Baling in a few days and join our army to attack Baling City." Zhang
Embroidery report.
"So, among the three armies on the eastern front, I am the one who is lagging behind."
Wu Qi burst out laughing. After all, strictly speaking, Ba Ling was the city he had to conquer on this line.
In addition to Ba Ling, there is another city on Wu Qi's route, which is Quyou City not far northeast of Ba Ling, which is at an angle to Ba Ling.
Originally, Wu Qi planned to take Quyou first, after all, the magistrate of Baling County was already ready to surrender, but Li Mu rushed to Baling first, disrupting Wu Qi's plan.