Chapter 1097 Throwing a whip to cut off the flow

Chapter 1097 Throwing a whip to cut off the flow

The intensity of the fighting in the upper reaches of the Tongtan River suddenly increased so much that the troops on both sides were caught off guard. As a result, at the most intense moment of the battle, no one could provide timely and effective support. When they gathered their troops and rushed to the battlefield, The outcome of the war is already evident.

Although the cooperation between the two sides is somewhat disconnected, their respective situations are still somewhat different.

The Western Wei Dynasty was simply too late, because its troops were already limited, and this area was not a mature battlefield. The terrain had to be rectified to allow large groups of troops and various war equipment to move forward and retreat easily. Therefore, the right route army was in Tongtan. While the upper reaches of the water were resisting the enemy, the Chinese army was still busy digging trenches, shoveling the ground, and building fortifications.

When Li Tai received the news that the enemy had launched a large-scale attack, he did not dare to throw the Chinese troops into it immediately. He first lined up the Chinese army to wait for the enemy, making sure that the enemy was only attacking from the side. Dispatch a group of divisions and brigades close to the Right Army's positions to provide certain reinforcements and support.

As for the Qi army, they just felt it was unnecessary. As the party that takes the initiative to launch the attack, the strength of the attack itself is very considerable. Unless the Chinese army has a clear order to launch a full-line attack, the troops attacking alone are definitely enough to cope with this local war on the flanks. The difference It just depends on the size of the profit.

If the attacking troops can successfully break through the enemy's side battle formation and lock in the advantage, it will not be too late for the troops behind to pursue them. Otherwise, if we pursue blindly, we may cause the left-wing front to be disconnected from the central army, thus giving the enemy a chance to defeat them separately.

Therefore, when the Qi army in the rear saw that the situation was not good and gathered troops again, it was difficult to directly affect the progress of the battle on the front line.

When the supporting divisions and brigades were assembled on the south bank of the Tongda River, the defeat of the troops in the north was revealed, and groups of troops retreated. If they wanted to advance forward, there would inevitably be conflicts. Therefore, these divisions and brigades that were later assembled could only stop on the south bank to meet the withdrawal of the frontline troops, and it was difficult to directly cross the river to the north to reverse the situation of the war.

Although the Wei army's chariot formation was fixed, the cavalry formation could move flexibly. In addition to the thousand-man elite cavalry led by He Ruodun, the troops led by Gao Lin that fought with the enemy before withdrew for a while and took advantage of the enemy's chaos to march along the Tongtan River. The North Bank fought back from the flank to intercept and encircle the enemy formation.

Even though there were still a considerable number of soldiers in the Qi army who did not rush into the car formation when they saw that the situation was not good, they were still at a loss due to the arrest of the general. At this time, if they were attacked by the Wei army again, they would inevitably be in chaos and flee in panic. Some soldiers returned the same way, and some waded directly to retreat. The scene was chaotic for a while.

At this time, He Ruodun took advantage of this victory, gathered all the troops of the right route army, and launched a counterattack southward using the vehicle formation as the starting point. The enemy soldiers who fled in panic seemed to have transformed into the vanguard of the Wei army. They crossed the river directly and rushed for a long distance before stopping under the interception of their own troops. The position behind them was already occupied by the Wei army. income.

After the Wei army advanced to the south bank of the Tongda River, the infantry formed a formation along the river and piled earth to form a weir to build a more convenient advance and retreat channel in the upper reaches of the river. The cavalry continued to advance forward, taking advantage of the fact that the enemy's camp line had not yet been solidly established. And interspersed destruction among the enemy formations. Many tent materials and supplies for people and horses piled in the camp were set on fire, and the scene became a mess for a while.

It was not until Duan Shao and his troops hurriedly joined the battle that the chaotic situation was somewhat controlled. The Wei knights who rushed into the camp and wreaked havoc were expelled, and the camp was recaptured. However, it was difficult to recover the burned and damaged materials, and the enemy's front line was pushed to the south of the Tongda River in one fell swoop. It becomes particularly difficult to build a solid front under the enemy's nose, and you need to be constantly harassed by the enemy.

"Where are you generals?"

As soon as the war started, the battlefield area he was responsible for suffered such a setback. Duan Shao's face turned pale for a while. After driving back the enemy troops in the camp, he summoned some of the soldiers who had fought before and looked around. Qi Lianmeng was not seen, so Duan Shao asked angrily.

"The general, the general rushed into the enemy's formation and killed the enemy bravely. Either, or the country was already dead..."

The soldiers were still in shock. They looked at each other and didn't know the real news about the general, so they answered cautiously.

When Duan Shao heard this, his face suddenly became even more ugly: "Absurd! In a battle, you can't even know the whereabouts of the general. How can you win in such chaos!"

Before he had time to investigate further, the envoy from the Chinese army had already arrived on horseback, asking about the battle damage and asking for accountability.

Duan Shao gathered all the troops who had retreated and took stock. He found that nearly three thousand troops had been lost in a single attack. In particular, even the left-wing forward general Qi Lianmeng had disappeared, and his life and death were unknown. He could definitely be called a soldier. A disastrous defeat.

Duan Shao knew that this defeat was really serious, not only due to the casualties of the soldiers, but also the impact that the defeat in the first battle had on the morale of the entire army. Since Qi Lianmeng, who made the decision without permission, was nowhere to be seen, he had no choice but to go to the Chinese army to plead guilty.

However, when he arrived at the Chinese army camp, the leader of Qi, Gao Yang, did not summon him directly. Instead, he sent a message to his subordinates: "The king was not to blame for the defeat of the former division. Please return to the battle and defend yourself, so as not to be taken advantage of by the enemy." ”

After Duan Shao heard this, he had no choice but to retreat to the formation. In addition to asking for forgiveness, he also wanted to ask the Chinese army to allocate some of the materials that had been damaged and lost by the enemy. But now he can't even see the emperor, so naturally he can't. I dare to ask for trouble.

However, he did not have to worry about lack of supplies, because not long after he returned, another messenger from the Chinese army arrived, directly conveying the emperor's order, and transferred a large number of soldiers who originally belonged to the left route army's battle order, so that Duan Shao could The commanding army was reduced by more than half.

After Duan Shao received this military order, he was stunned for a moment, and then immediately ordered his cronies to cooperate with the messenger to enter the camp and gather the troops who needed to be transferred to make the delivery. He himself led a group of soldiers on a patrol and readjusted the defense based on the current situation between the enemy and ourselves.

When Gao Yang learned that the losses in the battle on the left were so heavy, he felt extremely angry. The reason why he refused to meet Duan Shao was because he did not want to break up with him face to face at this critical moment.

The offensive launched by Qi Lianmeng had lost so many men and horses, but it was not without gain. At least it revealed a major killer move hidden by the enemy.

As the enemy's tactics were exposed, Gao Yang also discussed with the generals what tactics should be used to restrain and break this battle formation. Combining the personal experiences recounted by some defeated soldiers, they all realized that this formation was very specific to the cavalry formation. It was indeed difficult to crack the cavalry tactics, and the cavalry should not be used in this battlefield environment at all.

However, if cavalry is not used in battle, then this formation will have almost no restrictions on other arms. It is difficult to form a complete and solid defense line with these chaotically arranged chariots alone, which can be penetrated by infantry soldiers. If heavy armored infantry is sent to join the battle, it will not be difficult to destroy those chariot obstacles.

In addition, there is a more effective way. That is, since the car formation is a bit tricky, you can directly bypass this place and attack from another direction!

Duan Shao's left army did not have many heavy infantry formations. If he wanted to break the enemy's formation, he would need to mobilize a group of combatants from the Chinese army. After some consideration, Gao Yang chose a more convenient approach, temporarily giving up the battle for positions on the upper reaches of the Tongtan River and investing his troops in battles in other directions.

This decision, of course, means weakening the combat functions of the Left Army, but with such an ugly defeat in the first battle, this treatment is really very merciful and lenient to Gao Yang. If someone else were to serve as the commander-in-chief of the left army, it would be basically impossible not to be implicated and punished.

As part of the left military division brigade was recruited into the Chinese army, the number of Chinese troops and horses directly reached 100,000. Of course, it is impossible for such a large number of troops to be put into the battlefield at once. Not only is the battlefield environment restricted, but it is also difficult for various command methods to flexibly dispatch and command such a large combat force in a timely and effective manner.

Gao Yang first dispatched 20,000 infantry and cavalry to be led by the Chinese forward Xue Guyan, and gave him an important task, which was to attack the north bank of the Tongda River before dark in the evening and establish an army on the other bank. A stable offensive position in preparation for the Japanese army's northward march to directly attack the main force of the Wei army's central army.

At the same time, he ordered the right commander He Baren to pay close attention to the war progress in the middle direction. When the main force of the enemy army was attracted to the line of Tongda River, He Baren could lead the right division along the Zhuo River. Zhangshui marched north and launched an attack from the enemy's left flank, causing them to lose sight of one thing.

After some tactical adjustments by Gao Yang, the Qi army launched an attack again in the afternoon. Although it no longer had the majestic momentum of thousands of cavalry galloping before, the dark army formation advanced straight towards the Tongtan River, which also gave people With great pressure.

Fu Jian of the former Qin Dynasty once confidently said that throwing a whip could cut off the flow to show his strong military strength. Now, the scene of cutting off the flow with a whip has actually been staged on the Tongda River.

The soldiers of the Qi army did not throw horse whips into the river. Instead, they carried earth and wood and threw them into the river. With the push of thousands of people, the Tongtan River narrowed rapidly and became extremely short. Within a short period of time, a dam appeared on the river for people and horses to gallop northward!

As the embankment was built, Xue Guyan took the lead and rushed north. At the same time, he shouted to the soldiers in the rear: "The Qiang thieves are like grass waiting to be cut. My sons, please quickly follow me to kill the enemy and perform meritorious service!"