The war was not only in the military camp of Longwu Army, but also in the camp of King Zhao Army.
No one expected that Xu Wentao, a general who was a captain of the second-line garrison, would have such courage that after abandoning his own camp, he would lead an all-out assault on the camp of King Zhao's army with his capable infantry. Qiu Fu could not imagine it, and neither could Zhao Tianlin.
The moonless night became Xu Wentao's best cover. He led more than 8,000 infantry soldiers to cautiously march towards the camp of King Zhao's army.
Along the way, King Zhao's rangers passed by them twice, but the sky was too dark, and King Zhao's rangers did not patrol seriously.
After all, the Longwu Army is currently being suppressed by its own main force. All of them are unable to get out of the camp. All patrols are just a formality. There are no other troops from the imperial court nearby.
Another time, the Longwu Army's men ran straight into a group of five patrols. But just when these patrols were wondering why their army suddenly turned back, they were shot by hundreds of feather arrows from the Longwu Army.
hedgehog.
Until the last moment, these five people were unable to make a sound.
In this way, intentionally and unintentionally, Xu Wentao led 8,000 troops to the camp of King Zhao's army without being discovered.
This is also related to Qiu Fu's lax military management. Although the soldiers and horses under Qiu Fu's command were brave and capable, they were not as good as the soldiers and horses under Zhang Shimei and Zhu Shihong in terms of military discipline.
That's why Xu Wentao seized this opportunity.
When the eight thousand soldiers approached 300 steps in front of the camp, no one noticed.
In the current camp of King Zhao's army, no one thinks that the camp will be attacked. Compared with those brothers who are bleeding desperately in front, they are not too happy.
As long as you can hold on to the camp without losing it, it is a credit. The key is that there is no danger.
The forward battalion is the easiest to win military honors, but it is also the most dangerous. According to incomplete statistics, the combat mortality rate of soldiers in the forward battalion of King Zhao's army is more than 30%.
You must know that King Zhao's army has been fighting Houjin before, and it was basically a superior battle situation, but the death rate of the forward battalion was still high.
If you only get a little military pay every month, what are you trying to do with your life?
The soldiers who were originally responsible for guarding and patrolling the camp gate were now leaning loosely in front of the camp gate, chatting without saying a word.
The spear was also leaning on the shoulder, and some people even leaned directly on the camp door without any warning at all.
"Old Xu, you have been fighting with General Qiu for almost twenty years. Tell me, how long will this battle last?!" The young commander asked the captain.
"How long have you been serving as a soldier and eating royal food?!"
Lao Xu is the leader of this team. He is considered a low-level officer and has a hundred people under his command.
"I was in April of the first year of Linde. At that time, General Zhang came to the village to recruit troops."
"The first year of Linde...it has been two and a half years now."
The chief said proudly, "If I become a soldier, my family will be able to pay 30% less tax on food. We won't have to eat our own food. My family will have a surplus at the end of the year!"
For the people, having enough food to eat is the most important thing. The Great Zhou Dynasty is considered to be the rule of the world, and the people live with a certain surplus. But the people of Youzhou and Jizhou are different. King Zhao has obtained the actual control of this place.
, in order to raise such a large number of soldiers and horses, his tax rate cannot be lower.
The people under the rule of Prince Zhao's Mansion could barely avoid being hungry, and the word "full" was not even remotely close to the word.
After joining the army, the family had a surplus of food, which naturally made the chief very happy. As the saying goes, if you have food in your hands, you will not panic.
Lao Xu on the side couldn't see the young man being so proud, "You have been a soldier for so long, how come you are still so good!?"
The young commander heard this and muttered in a low voice, "You have been a soldier for twenty years, aren't you still a captain?!"
"What did you say?!"
"Um, it's nothing. You'd better tell me quickly when this battle will be over!" Shi Chang didn't dare to complain too much in front of Lao Xu and immediately changed the subject.
Hearing this incident, Lao Xu became very excited. He talked about politics and the situation. Who wouldn't like it?
"Do you still remember our prince's slogan for raising troops this time?!"
"Follow Heaven to appease the troubled, clear the emperor's side, and punish the treacherous ministers."
Lao Xu nodded, "These are the ones who deceive you young people. Who is the traitor?! Mr. Yang?!"
Shi Chang was puzzled, "Isn't Marquis Yang a traitor?!"
"Haha, if Marquis Yang is considered a treacherous minister, then there will not be many loyal ministers left in the world. This is just an excuse for the prince and his old man to raise an army. What his old man is interested in is the throne in the Daming Palace in the capital of the gods."
"You mean the prince is going to rebel?!"
"Otherwise, what do you think?! The little emperor and the cabinet have managed the world in an orderly manner, so there is no need for peace from heaven!" Although Lao Xu was greedy for life and afraid of death during the war, his vision was still vicious.
"So, kid, this battle still has to be fought. It won't stop until one of the little emperors or princes can't fight anymore!"
Not only Shi Chang, but also listening to Lao Xu's words while patrolling around, did not notice that an elite team had already touched a hundred steps in front of them.
With the sound of arrows, hundreds of arrows were suddenly shot out from the darkness. The guards at the gate of the camp were listening to Old Xu talking about the mountains. They were completely unprepared. Dozens of soldiers of King Zhao's army were hit by arrows and fell to the ground.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" Lao Xu reacted immediately, and then took the remaining brothers and hid in the camp.
"Commander, what should we do with those brothers?!" Another commander looked unbearably at the soldiers who fell to the ground and were wailing after being hit by an arrow.
Lao Xu was unexpectedly decisive, "We can't protect ourselves now, so how can we care about others? We should close the gate of the camp immediately and call the brothers in the camp."
As the commander climbed up the guard tower and was about to sound the alarm, he was hit by several arrows in the darkness.
But then a second soldier climbed up the guard tower, and four people in a row finally sounded the alarm.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The rich sound of the alarm bell rang through the entire army in the night sky.
But at this moment, the 8,000 soldiers and horses led by Xu Wentao were already approaching the gate of the camp. The Longwu soldiers were already prepared, holding high their swords and axes, and broke down the gate of the camp with almost no effort.
"kill!"
As the gate of the camp fell down, eight thousand soldiers and horses of the Longwu Army rushed into the camp of King Zhao's army.
At this time, the camp of King Zhao's army was empty. Qiu Fu and Li Yuan led 40,000 elite cavalry to sneak around and attack the right camp of Longwu army. The remaining troops were commanded by the infantry commander Wang Cong and besieged them from the front.
The remaining troops and horses in the right camp of Longwu Army and the main camp of King Zhao Army totaled less than 4,000 people.
Moreover, these four thousand soldiers and horses were scattered throughout the camp. At night, there was no way to gather them in a short period of time, making it difficult to form an effective resistance force.
No one would have expected that the camp of King Zhao's army would be attacked by surprise, not Qiu Fu, not Li Yuan, not Wang Cong, not even Chen Zhaojie, the general guarding the camp at the moment.
Although there were some scattered resistance forces in the camp of King Zhao's army, they were all defeated by Xu Wentao's troops in a very short period of time.
Immediately, Xu Wentao's troops divided into multiple groups and went all the way to the stables of King Zhao's army to see if there were any extra war horses. If there were any war horses, it meant that they even had a way out after the sneak attack was completed.
The second route went to the ordnance camp of King Zhao's army and destroyed all the siege equipment. Qiu Fu's troops wanted to go south from Yanmen and encircle Jinyang, so they must have brought a large number of siege equipment. After destroying these,
The city wall of Yanmen was enough to hit Qiu Fu with a bloody head.
The third route went to the grain and grass camp of King Zhao's army. After leaving some rations for himself, he burned all the remaining food and grass. Even if King Zhao's army could win today's battle, they would not be able to continue the attack.
The fourth way...
While Xu Wentao was making arrangements in an orderly manner, the leader of the team, Lao Xu, had already withdrawn to the vicinity of the Grain and Grass Camp with his remaining dozens of brothers.
"Commander, how should we fight?!" The young commander tightened his grip on the spear, and then hit Lao Xu on the head.
"What are you going to fight for!? The Confederate army is overwhelming, and there are only a few dozen of us, are we going to die?!"
Lao Xu glanced at the young man with disdain. The young man just had no experience.
"Then let's surrender to the Confederate army!?" Another soldier holding a sword and shield suggested. He would definitely be invincible, so just surrender and be done with it.
Then he also got a slap in the face from Lao Xu, "What are you thinking?! The Southern Army is just a sneak attack. When General Qiu and the others come back to support, the Southern Army's strength will definitely not be their opponent. Surrender now, and they will be liquidated by then. Won't they?
Is this equivalent to giving away the heads of us brothers?!"
"That……"
I can't beat and can't shoot, but I can't shoot. What should I do?
But seeing that Old Xu was calm in the face of danger, he said calmly, "Brother, please fill up the food and grass immediately, and then run with me through the back door. When General Qiu comes back, we will retreat. Then we will fight against the Zhou army."
The time was broken up!”
At this time, the advantage of having a general at the top comes to light. Someone must be responsible for the surprise attack on the camp, but they are just ordinary soldiers. Lao Xu is just a team leader. Whoever is responsible is not their turn.
Be responsible and continue to dawdle when the time comes.
Lao Xu's men were not warlike in the first place, nor did they desire military glory, otherwise they would not have been included in the remaining troops.
Everyone just serves as a soldier and eats food.
If they were fighting against foreigners, these people might still have more courage and courage, but in the final analysis, the current war is about uncles and nephews fighting for the throne, and people are even less willing to fight for family affairs.
This situation is never unique, and it is also evident after 46 years of Blue Star.
The most typical ones are Song Xilian and Song Yinguo.
When this big boss was stationed in the southwest, he was swept away by Liu and Deng's armies within a month. He was almost defeated at the first touch. He looked very incompetent, but when the Japanese pirates invaded, he was also a passionate young man!
During the Battle of Songhu, he led his troops to defeat Japanese attacks several times along Nanjing Road. When he ran out of ammunition and food, he even shouted the slogan "I will die to defend the motherland"!
Then he moved to the "Battle of Wuhan". Jin Fushan, who led his troops stationed on the outskirts of Wuhan, had a fierce battle with the 13th Japanese Division. This battle lasted for ten days and ten nights. The 71st Army under Song Xilian remained unmoved! With his own
He lost more than 12,000 people and killed and wounded 11,000 Japanese troops! He completely destroyed a brigade of the 13th Japanese Division. After this battle, he was known as the "Eagle Dog General"!
This battle was a rare and evenly matched battle in the early days. The others were almost defeated when faced with the Japanese pirates. Only Song Xilian was able to fight back and forth, and the battle damage was close to 1:1.
It is difficult for you to connect Song Xilian four or six years later with that heroic general in the War of Resistance. Even if he did not paddle, he was definitely not as fearless and heroic as he was during the War of Resistance.
There are also people like Wei Lihuang, Luo Zhuoying, Chen Shaokuan, etc., who all have the same mentality. I am brave and good at fighting against Japan, and the civil war... It's hard to describe in one sentence.
There are many generals and soldiers in King Zhao's army now who have this mentality. Although they have merit for winning, fighting will result in death.
Fighting against foreigners is to protect the country, but if you lose now, it is rebellion! What are you trying to do?!
The soldiers under Lao Xu's command had a similar mentality to him. Uncles and nephews were fighting for the family property. How could we fight for our lives? After listening to Lao Xu's words, they immediately stepped forward and carried a big bag of corn on their backs.
"What are you still doing with that broken shield of yours? Go get a pot, otherwise what are we going to cook with?!" Lao Xu saw a soldier still holding up his shield and immediately kicked his butt.
Dozens of people put down their weapons and took only a few swords, and fled out of the camp carrying corn on their backs.
By the time dozens of them slipped out from the rear, the camp of King Zhao's army was already in flames, and all the supplies and supplies were burned to the ground.
In the Longwu Army camp, the officers and soldiers of the Longwu Army have become accustomed to this fighting rhythm. The soldiers and horses in the camp were divided into two groups by Zhao Tianlin, taking turns to rest and defend.
Although it went through a long offensive and defensive battle, due to Zhao Tianlin's proper command, the Longwu Army lost more than 4,000 soldiers. Compared to this size and this time, this loss was already very small.
There are still more than 25,000 capable soldiers in the right camp of the Longwu Army. Zhao Tianlin left 5,000 people as a reserve team, and the remaining 20,000 people were divided into two groups to take turns facing the enemy.
In this camp offensive and defensive battle, 10,000 people are enough to defend the camp. Such rotation can allow the soldiers to rest and maintain better condition. In Zhao Tianlin's view, this is a protracted battle.
Outside the main camp, Wang Cong was sitting on a chariot, looking at the right camp of the Longwu Army who kept shouting and killing, his expression as usual.
"Left Pioneer!"
"The last general is here!" A broad-shouldered general, holding a three-pronged fork, stood up and responded.
"You lead three thousand men who dare to fight and force their way in from the southeast corner of the Longwu Army's right camp. I have observed for a long time that this is the weak defense area of the Longwu Army. As long as you act quickly and resolutely enough, you will definitely be able to catch them by surprise and attack them unprepared."
Wang Cong has been watching for so long, but still has gained nothing. There is no obvious weakness in Zhao Tianlin's troop layout. The so-called "defensive weak area" is just what Wang Cong said casually, in order to increase the left vanguard's self-confidence.
This is a kind of psychological suggestion. Under this suggestion of weak defense, the original 100% combat power may be able to exert 110% effect.
Even if it fails, it doesn't matter. For Wang Cong, he has enough soldiers and horses. Even if he loses three thousand people, what does it matter?!
