"How's it going?" Zhao Chen hadn't looked so handsome in a long time: he turned a little left and right in front of the mirror, and the White Blade Medal on his chest looked so comfortable.
The adjutant wanted to remind his commander that the White Blade Medal was divided into three levels. Later, some higher "accessories" were added. Zhao Chen's medal was still far from the highest level.
But he did not dare to say that. Instead, he said: "The general is in good condition and looks very energetic."
Today, Zhao Chen is going to meet with the commanders of the six divisions who have returned from the front line, as well as all the commanders of the group army. This is an important meeting of the group army, and what is being discussed is how to continue the offensive after the siege of Nanshan Port is truly relieved.
The instructions of the General Staff were: to hold on to the Qin army, not to easily allow the Qin army to withdraw from the Chu area, to consume the Qin army and create opportunities for subsequent battles.
Zhao Chen understood the meaning of this policy. To put it simply, it was to contain the Qin army and prevent Zhang Xuan from running away!
The actual operation is much more complicated, because whether the Qin army can run, whether they want to run, and whether they run in the end are not decided by the Tang army.
The highest strategy of the Tang army was to contain Zhang Xuan's army in Chu as much as possible, prevent them from returning to Shu, and strengthen the defense of Shu.
Of course, there are many side tasks: it is best to eliminate a large number of Qin troops, let the Qin army continue to bleed, and constantly reinforce Chu.
The theme of Zhao Chen's meeting is also very clear: he needs to let his troops attack, but he cannot attack too hard and cannot drive Zhang Xuan's troops away.
…
Zhang Xuan has actually moved his headquarters out of Yecheng. On the one hand, he is afraid that the special forces of the Tang Army will actually enter the city and capture him. On the other hand, Yecheng is indeed not safe.
Today's senior generals of the Qin State, especially those fighting in the Chu region, are actually very conflicted: Set up a headquarters in the city, fearing being attacked by missiles, being bombed, and being directly killed by the Tang Army's special forces.
But if the headquarters is placed in the wild, they are even more afraid: small units of the Tang Army are everywhere. If one day they bump into their headquarters, wouldn't they be killed by the other party in vain?
The security level inside the city is higher, but it is easy to be attacked intensively; outside the city, it is more hidden and easy to disperse, but there is a worry about being harassed and attacked.
In short, Qin's commanders no longer want to continue on such a day, they hope to retreat, or at least resolve the current crisis.
Zhang Xuanke does not have the ability to solve the current crisis. If he had this ability, he would have used it long ago: in fact, it is difficult for him to even command all the troops now. The Tang Army's electromagnetic interference operations are simply crushing the Qin Army's communication equipment.
.
If there weren't some telephone lines, Zhang Xuan wouldn't even be able to find his troops. Even if there were telephones, it would still be very difficult for him to mobilize all his troops.
"Another deduction...deduction...Chen Li will always target me." In the Qin Army headquarters, compared to Zhao Chen's comfort, Zhang Xuan seemed a little irritable. He suddenly threw away the report in his hand.
He fell to the ground and cursed angrily.
He hoped to get reinforcements from 100,000 troops, but now they only have 30,000. Such a state of replenishment made it impossible for him to organize a decent counterattack.
The Tang army's attack was so smooth that Zhang Xuan urgently needed a counterattack to stabilize his position, but he couldn't do it...
His troops have been shrinking and retreating. Although the speed is very slow, the losses are indeed huge, and the situation seems to be getting worse.
Judging from the map, there are actually only a few "lines" left in his actual control area. Except for a few railway lines and highway lines, the Qin army no longer dares to enter mountainous areas easily.
As long as the Tang army attacks, it is very easy to cut off the communication lines. The Qin army may be divided and surrounded at any time. Zhang Xuan has been working hard to avoid such a situation.
But his troops are always insufficient. Even though he has hundreds of thousands of troops, there are too many places to defend. These troops cannot be assembled, and they cannot mount a decent counterattack.
Most of the time, the Qin army could only incompetently bombard those uninhabited hills and forests to vent their pent-up emotions.
"Your Majesty has tried his best, but I heard that some ministers do not agree to continue mobilizing the troops..." the adjutant explained in a low voice.
"What the hell do they know? They can only confuse His Majesty! It's because of idiots like them that the front line has become so corrupt!" Zhang Xuan interrupted the adjutant and gave his own evaluation of those civil servants.
"The Tang Army had established a defense line around Nanshan Port the day before yesterday. Our troops withdrew from the area without any large-scale exchange of fire." The adjutant saw Zhang Xuan's ugly face and immediately found a more favorable topic: "We
The retreat was successful, ammunition and supplies were preserved, and there was almost no loss."
This is good news. Because they were well prepared, the Qin army was not determined at all to besiege Nanshan Port. In fact, the encirclement had long existed in name only.
If the standard was only the circulation of personnel or a small amount of materials, then the Nanshan Port encirclement would have been broken through long ago. However, now, the Qin army outside Nanshan Port has retreated, and the battle of Nanshan Port is completely over.
"This is good news..." Zhang Xuan's expression actually improved a bit. His troops were already doing well. After all, it all depends on the support of his peers.
The northern front was routed from Xiajuan to Wangdu in one fell swoop, the middle line of Ruishu was about to be lost, and Zhang Xuan's southern line was still fighting in Chu. This was already a very good result.
But recently, he has also felt an inexplicable pressure: Shu will be lost in the next two days. If Shu is lost, there will be a Tang army behind him.
Once the Tang army entering Shu moves south, Shu will not be safe. Shu is Zhang Xuan's rear area. If Shu is lost, Zhang Xuan's troops will actually be surrounded.
Therefore, Zhang Xuan has recently thought of withdrawing from Shu. Although the loss of Chu is a very passive thing in public opinion, Zhang Xuan can no longer care about it.
He and the security forces behind him who maintained the supply line totaled nearly one million. If the retreat went smoothly, these forces could also be used to defend Shu.
But if he was surrounded in the mountains and forests of Chudi, it would be equivalent to saying that hundreds of thousands of troops were wasted in vain. This is not a concept at all.
So Zhang Xuan sent a message to Qin Emperor Ying Duo, stating his interests and hopes that Ying Duo would approve his retreat. However, this news, which was related to the life and death of Zhang Xuan's nearly one million troops, fell into the dark.
