In the morning, Yang Yuanqing was convening a dozen major generals to discuss military affairs in the Chinese army's tent. At this time, a personal guard reported at the door, "Report to the general manager, the scouts have urgent information. The enemy has a cavalry force of 30,000 people early in the morning."
Leave the camp gate and head south."
This news immediately caused a murmur in the big tent, and Yang Yuanqing's brows furrowed. At this important moment when the war is about to begin, any deployment of both sides is very sensitive. Thirty thousand cavalry heading south?
Yang Yuanqing knew that Dou Jiande did not have many cavalry, not all of the 30,000 cavalry, but at least most of them. Dou Jiande actually sent out 30,000 cavalry. This was definitely not an ordinary transfer, it should be an extremely important strategic deployment.
Could it be that they were going to deal with Xu Shiji's army, but it was impossible to think about it. Xu Shiji's fleet was still three or four days away from Zhangnan County. Even if troops were sent to support them, there was no need to send out the few cavalry.
"General manager, are they going to go around to the north and attack our rear?" Li Jing whispered to the side to remind Yang Yuanqing. He walked quickly to the sand table. The sand table map in front of him gave him a more intuitive idea.
Feeling, whether his rear is Yixian, Youzhou, Feihuxing or Jing
There are troops guarding Xingxing, but there are not many troops. If the enemy launches a sneak attack... Qin Qiong next to him also said: "I also agree with Li Sima's idea. Dou Jiande is most likely to sneak attack our rear, but the cavalry attack
The city is unfavorable, so I think their target may be Hedong."
Yang Yuanqing nodded. Attacking Hedong, which is currently empty of troops, can be said to be Dou Jiande's best choice at the moment. Regardless of whether Dou Jiande really attacked his rear, he must take precautions before it happens.
Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered: "Quickly pass the Eagle Order to Niu Jinda of Shanggu County and Li Haihan of Hengshan County, instructing them to defend against sneak attacks and not to be careless in the slightest."
But this was not enough. Yang Yuanqing took another command arrow and gave it to the general Gao Zikai, "General Gao can lead 10,000 cavalry and rush back to Shanggu County immediately to assist General Niu in defending against the enemy's sneak attack."
Yang Yuanqing is not worried about Jingxing. There are three thousand troops guarding Tumen Pass there, which is enough to defend tens of thousands of enemy troops. The key is Shanggu County. It is not only his logistics center, but also the Feihuxing important road. If he is
Dou Jiande will definitely choose to attack Shanggu County secretly.
"The general will obey your orders!"
Gao Zikai took the order arrow and hurried away. Yang Yuanqing then said to the generals: "In the past battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's army was defeated by Cao's army who sneak attacked the Wuchao army supply area. We cannot repeat the same mistake again. In addition, I am prepared to
Change the plan and start attacking the enemy stronghold from today!"...
According to Yang Yuanqing's plan, he should wait for Xu Shiji to capture Zhangnan County first and break the enemy's military morale before attacking the enemy camp. Now that Dou Jiande has used up all his cavalry, he will seize this opportunity to use military means to attack the enemy.
Military spirit.
War does not mean just fighting. A big war requires interaction between the two sides. Both sides invest heavily in troops, open the battlefield, and fight in the wilderness. That is a fierce battle between the two sides.
If one side actively responds to the war, while the other side is passively defensive and plays the no-war card, then the war will not start. The two sides can only be in a state of confrontation, and the war will not break out until both sides lose their composure.
This is why a battle often takes several months. One side challenges, but the other side refuses to accept the challenge. The two sides spend most of the time in a confrontation.
Dou Jiande's tactics were obvious, which was to take defense, refuse to fight, and then send troops to harass the Sui army's rear.
Faced with this passive defense, the Sui army's countermeasure was to let Xu Shiji lead his army to capture Zhangnan County, Dou Jiande's home base, and exert pressure to disintegrate the opponent's military morale, forcing Dou Jiande to accept the fight.
Of course, there are many ways to undermine the morale of Xia's army, and it's not all about waiting for Xu Shiji's battle report.
At noon, the main force of nearly 100,000 Sui troops crossed Qili Slope and set up camp with its back against Qili Slope. The camp was five miles long and two miles wide. The tents in the camp were neatly arranged, the soldiers were stationed in the camp area, the military supplies area, the supplies camp, and the sheep.
The horse camp, medical camp, and various functional areas are clearly organized.
The flags are displayed clearly, with three large flags in the middle, one is the red flag of the Sui Dynasty, the other is the red eagle military flag, and in the middle is the king's flag with a gold edge, with a big "Yang" printed on it.
A ten-foot-high barracks was erected on three sides of the camp. A circle of military vehicles was surrounded within the barracks. Six sentry towers were erected around it. Standing on the sentry towers, one could clearly see the enemy camp four miles away.
Four miles away, Dou Jiande's camp was located outside the north city of Leshou County, stretching for more than ten miles. Different from the Sui army's camp fence, the Xia army camped in a fortress style, using huge trees and stones to build dense board walls, which were extremely strong.
, the board wall is two feet high, and there are steps behind the wall for soldiers to defend at the top of the wall.
This is a typical defensive camp that needs to be attacked like a city. There are 300,000 Xia troops. In addition to the 30,000 troops defending the capital Leshou County, the other 200,000 troops are stationed in the camp.
The arrival of the Sui army made the Xia army soldiers extremely nervous. Tens of thousands of defensive soldiers stood on the wall, and the dense crowds of people watched the Sui army camp in the middle distance.
Generally speaking, as long as the two armies are within ten miles of each other, it means that a war is about to break out. It took the Sui army two full hours to set up camp until dusk, when a huge military camp appeared in front of the Xia army soldiers.
in front of.
The length of the Sui Army's camp was less than half that of the Xia Army's camp. It was not as tall as the Xia Army's camp, and the edges could not be seen at a glance, but it was compact and strong, like a clenched iron fist, with concentrated power and murderous intent.
Awe-inspiring, it makes people feel an inexplicable pressure.
It was dark, and just when the soldiers of the Xia army were breathing a sigh of relief, a loud drum sound suddenly sounded in the Sui army camp, 'Boom--dong--dong!'
The sound of the drums was low and slow, shocking, and then the door of the Sui army camp opened wide, and groups of cavalry lined up from the camp, with two hundred cavalry in each group. Among the two groups of cavalry was a huge slinger.
It was pulled by fifty oxen and followed by three hundred infantry.
Six thousand cavalry cavalry, thirty giant trebuchets, and ten thousand infantry were lined up in sequence. Hundreds of steps away, another thirty thousand cavalry pressed the formation. The Sui army was neatly dressed, with bright helmets and spears like a forest. They followed their steps.
With the sound of drums, a loud shout broke out from time to time in the legion, "Kill!"
The murderous momentum was so shocking that it made the Xia soldiers inside the wall panic. Even Dou Jiande, who was watching the battle from the high platform, couldn't help but change his expression. Over the years, he had fought in the north and south and defeated countless forces, including many Sui troops.
.
But the Sui armies he defeated were all in one state and county, with thousands of people and tens of thousands of people, and most of them were defensive cities. As for the large-scale Sui army formation, he was the first to see it. Even in Zhuoxian, he did not
Such a clear and intuitive face.
With such a powerful Sui army formation, he felt his mouth was dry and his legs were trembling. At this time, General Fan Yuan stepped forward and advised: "The observation tower is within the killing range of the Sui army's trebuchets. Please retreat to the center."
Camp to watch the battle."
Dou Jiande nodded, "General Fan will direct the counterattack."
"Your Majesty, please rest assured, we will fight with crossbows and we will not be afraid of the Sui army's attack!"
Dou Jiande quickly descended from the observation tower and moved to the middle camp one mile away. When he walked away, General Fan Yuan ordered: "Prepare the crossbow to attack!"
Five hundred crossbows were lifted onto the pedals, and shooting holes were cut into the walls. The Xia army soldiers put iron arrows as thick as a thumb and three feet long into the firing slots, and aimed them at the trebuchet hundreds of steps away.
.
As night fell slowly, the trebuchet was pushed three hundred steps away from the wall. The trebuchet was launched using a winch. Dozens of soldiers pushed the winch handle. As the windlass rotated, the arm that was three feet long was gradually lifted.
Pull and push down.
Several Sui soldiers put a fire cloth ball weighing dozens of kilograms into the launch bucket. It was a large ball made of tied fire oil cloth with an iron core in the middle and weighed about forty kilograms.
With a muffled drum sound of "Boom!", thirty soldiers holding torches lit the fire ball at the same time, and the fire ball burned quickly.
Another sound of muffled drums sounded, thirty trebuchets were launched at the same time, and thirty fireballs rose into the sky. The bright red firelight flashed across the dark night, like meteors falling from the sky and smashing into the enemy camp.
, the huge fireball bounced up after landing and rushed straight towards the dense group of soldiers.
The soldiers yelled in panic and ran away for cover. Many soldiers were knocked over by the ball, and more than a dozen fireballs rushed out more than a hundred steps and rushed into the tent. The tent was quickly ignited, and there was chaos around the tent.
, the five hundred bed crossbows on the wall also launched a counterattack. As General Fan Yuan gave an order, the sound of bangs sounded, and the five hundred bed crossbows were fired at the same time. The bed crossbows had a range of up to four hundred steps, and the powerful arrow power was enough
Open gold and crack stone.
Five hundred iron crossbow arrows roared towards the Sui army's trebuchets. At this time, the cavalry and infantry retreated five hundred steps away. Their task was only to frighten the enemy and not to engage in battle. There were only about fifty people in front of a trebuchet.
An operational soldier.
A powerful iron crossbow arrow was fired, and more than a dozen soldiers were hit. The iron arrows passed through their chests, and they fell to the ground screaming. Most of the iron arrows were missed, but there were more than a hundred iron arrows that hit the trebuchet and were nailed to the thick body.
On the wooden frame, the belt of a trebuchet was shot, and several belts broke at the same time, causing the long arm tied to the wooden frame to fall off and roll down.
The crossbows could not stop the Sui army's attack. The second round of fireballs rose into the sky again and fell into the enemy camp. The burning tents in the camp had been extinguished by the Xia army with sand. They had begun to gain some defensive experience.
When the fireball rushed over, hundreds of soldiers beside the camp raised their shields to block the fireball from the tent. Several soldiers used steel forks to quickly push the fireball into the dug pit and fill it with soil.
The soldiers of the Sui Army also pushed up hundreds of iron chariots. They hid behind the chariots to defend themselves against the crossbow iron arrows. After five rounds of the night offensive and defensive battle, the Sui Army discovered that there were no more fires burning in the enemy camp, so they changed their approach.
, the sealed wine jar was filled with kerosene, and a layer of oil was painted on the outside. When the jar was ignited, the trebuchet dropped the burning jars of kerosene into the enemy camp.
The Xia Army camp suddenly turned into a sea of fire.