Chapter 1100 Pursuit and Fierce Fighting
After a day of fierce fighting, not only Qi leader Gao Yang was dissatisfied with the results achieved, Li Tai was also a little disappointed after taking stock of the day's results.
After a series of battles today, the Western Wei Dynasty has gained and lost. According to statistics, nearly 5,000 enemies were killed, injured and captured on several battlefields. The actual number may be more, but we also lost more than 3,000 troops. In terms of defending and attacking positions, there are also gains and losses for each other.
The upper reaches of the Tongtan River are relatively narrow and shallow, and the cavalry can gallop directly through some sections of the river with less silt and gravel paved rivers. This is undoubtedly an excellent main attack direction for the Northern Qi Dynasty, which has a large number of cavalry. Therefore, Li Tai equipped the right army with nearly half of the current cavalry force, including chariots used to block cavalry attacks.
He Ruodun of the Right Army and other officers also lived up to their expectations. Not only did they successfully block the enemy's cavalry brigade's attack, but they also directly captured an enemy general, Qi Lianmeng, and many other generals, which greatly demonstrated the power of the army. , which also allowed Li Tai to learn more about the enemy's confidential military information.
Of course, knowing more about the military situation may not be a good thing. According to Qi Lianmeng and others, the number of Qi Army soldiers participating in the battle this time was more than Li Tai expected.
Originally, he thought that Yang Zhong's troops would be able to contain some of the enemy's troops to stay behind since Jianzhou went north to approach the Shangdang area. As a result, it was not known how many enemy forces remained behind, but when the two armies joined forces here, it was enough. One hundred and fifty or sixty thousand men and horses were involved in the battle here, which was three times the number of Wei soldiers participating in the war!
In addition to being amazed at Northern Qi's strong military strength, Li Tai also had a headache. Although war is not a simple comparison of panel data, panel data can still explain some problems after all, especially panel data with such a huge gap. For some people who are not determined, just listening to the difference in strength between each other, it is estimated that I'll be scared to death.
Li Tai was not frightened by this, but he was not very happy anyway. Although you can comfort yourself, the more enemy troops come this time, the more likely they will be killed. Try to kill the main force of Northern Qi in one battle.
But judging from the situation of today's battle, it is still difficult to realize this idea. Even if Gao Yang followed Yu Wentai's example and directly pulled the plug on the battlefield, it would probably be difficult to achieve it.
Although it seems that the Western Wei has the advantage in terms of battle losses between the two sides, the Western Wei is originally a defensive side, and the consumption of troops should be less than that of the attacking side to have a reasonable record. Based on this alone, it is difficult to argue that the Western Wei army was more capable and brave than the Northern Qi army.
Moreover, due to the huge disparity in military strength between the two sides, once the situation on the battlefield turns into a tough battle with each other, defeat is basically certain for the Western Wei Dynasty.
After all, Northern Qi's strong body and thick blood could withstand consumption more easily, and once the casualties in the army reached a certain proportion, every additional injury might become the straw that broke the camel's back. No matter how brave and powerful the Guanzhong soldiers are, they can't really fight to the last drop of blood here, because that is meaningless.
Li Tai's original idea was, of course, not to engage in a positional battle with the enemy honestly, but to prepare to fight and retreat after actual combat contact with the enemy's main force, thereby gradually attracting the enemy's main force to the rear. , relying on the advantageous locations previously occupied such as Wusu City, Jiashi Ridge and Qinshui River Valley to defend and counterattack, allowing the enemy to be immersed in the excitement of gradually regaining their lost ground and unable to extricate themselves.
The Western Wei Dynasty could rely on these terrains to move the battlefield back and shrink the battle lines, lengthen the enemy's supply line and weaken its effective strength in the tug-of-war battles. After narrowing the strength comparison between the two sides to an acceptable ratio, Complete another counterattack!
Therefore, he did not lead too many troops south to fight, and deployed a certain number of troops at strongholds along the way. For example, the city of Wusu no longer belongs to the front line, but there are still more than 10,000 troops left in order to provide support. Transfer of frontline divisions and brigades.
For the Wei army, in order to achieve this goal, the enemy's powerful cavalry power was a big obstacle. The focus of the battle here was also to attack and weaken the enemy's cavalry power.
After today's day of fighting, this goal has been achieved fairly well. The enemy's cavalry has never been able to perform amazingly on the battlefield, but at the same time, the losses are not too great. They still retain frontal impact, roundabout outflanking, etc. Various combat capabilities.
Relatively speaking, the method of restraint prepared by the Wei army was not flexible enough and difficult to adjust quickly as the battlefield situation changed. In particular, the blood of the Qi army is thicker than expected. According to the character of Qi leader Gao Yang, it is expected that more extreme consumption tactics will be adopted in the future. Therefore, there are still considerable obstacles in realizing the transfer of the battlefield in the next step.
Of course, these risks are also within the planning before the war begins. War is inherently full of variables and risks, and if you want to obtain enough benefits before your strength is not strong enough to form a crushing force, the risk itself is part of the cost. As long as the tactics are not centered around taking risks, there will be twists and turns in the execution process. Corresponding solution.
For example, right now, after learning that the enemy's health bar was longer, Li Tai began to consider shortening the process of positional battles. In short, he still had to try his best to avoid a situation where each other was losing blood.
Effective control has been established over the Right Army position that currently poses the greatest threat, making it difficult for the enemy cavalry to swarm upstream along the Tongtan River.
However, on the frontal battlefield, the enemy successfully established an advance position on the north bank after a series of attacks. If nothing else happens, they will definitely launch a fierce attack in this direction in the future, making it not only a bleeding point for the Wei army, but also a bleeding point for the Wei army. It can be used as a hitching post to limit the transfer of the main force of the Wei army.
There are ways to maintain limited exposure to enemies and successfully escape from the war, but what is more embarrassing at the moment is how to achieve a balance between risk and reward. If you insist on stability, you will lose the original intention of going to war. If you insist on fighting, you may fall into greater danger.
While Li Tai was still contemplating what to choose, the soldiers outside the tent came inside and reported: "Your Majesty, there is an envoy from Wusu City coming to the camp with a talisman to ask for an audience."
When Li Tai heard this, he frowned slightly. When he summoned the envoy, he found out that the envoy was Liu Daiwei who was staying in Pingyang, Jinzhou. He suddenly understood, looked at the other party and said with a smile: "filial piety" Now that Sun is here, can you tell me any good news?"
After Liu Daiwei heard this, he also saluted and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the Western Division has lived up to expectations and has captured Baima City a few days ago. General Liang has followed the Lord and ordered his troops to march north to join Jianzhong. The Guild Division has entered Queshu Valley. Tianshui Gongze has led a 5,000 division brigade to escort a group of enemy generals captured from Jinzhou to the east. They have already arrived at Wusu City and sent the troops to report to the camp and ask for advice. "
Although Li Tai had expected it, he couldn't help but clapped his hands after hearing this and said in admiration: "This skill is finally achieved. You and I are all meritorious!"
Although the series of military operations of the Western Wei Dynasty were not greatly affected due to the inability of Jinzhou's chief general Wei Can to retreat, a city as big as Jinzhou is still within the occupied area, which is more or less for the The deployment of military power in the Western Wei Dynasty caused certain obstacles.
Now that this unsightly nail has finally been removed, it naturally gives people a refreshing feeling of sudden enlightenment. Especially at such a critical moment, it will undoubtedly bring some wonderful changes to the current war situation. Although Jinzhou has been besieged before, the siege and the fall are different after all, and the feelings they bring to people are also very different.
As for the 5,000 divisions and brigades led by Li Yunxin at this time, although it is still not enough to reverse the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves, but as an unplanned new force, if used properly, it can also exert considerable effects!
Li Tai first asked Liu Daiwei quickly about the personnel gains after the capture of Jinzhou and the military progress in Wei Xiaokuan's direction, and then asked people to take him down to rest, and sent others to rush to Wusu City to convey his information about the follow-up war. He ordered Wei Can and several other important enemy prisoners to be sent here at night.
At the same time, he arranged for his soldiers to dig ditches, traps, vehicle formations and other obstacles overnight in and around the Piyuan where the Chinese army camp was located, giving the illusion that they would not be able to escape.
While the soldiers were working overnight to dig out fortifications, Li Taize summoned General Gao Le, the leader of the left army guarding the west bank of the Zhuozhang River, and led him to launch a night attack on the Qi army's right division.
The current dilemma facing the Wei Army is that the Qi Army's troops are too large. Even if it bites the hook, it will be difficult to get rid of it. On the contrary, it may drag itself into the water. The way to solve this problem is also very simple, that is to directly cut and dismember the opponent!
Qi leader Gao Yang did not leave directly after the tour, but discussed the rhythm of tomorrow's attack with Xue Guyan and several other forward generals. Just as he was about to leave, the Wei army began to build fortifications on the slope.
Seeing this scene through the firelight outside the camp, Xue Guyan's face suddenly sank, and he sighed: "In the daytime battle, the thieves were afraid of our large numbers. Now we are building a lot of fortifications, thinking that we will not be able to get out, and we will attack in the future." More difficult."
Gao Yang had a different view on this: "What's the benefit to the thieves based here? We need to prevent them from retreating before the battle, tempting me to attack, and using Wusu and other cities as obstacles. In the future battle, you and others must not relax. Chase and attack fiercely, and do not allow the enemy's main force to retreat and escape the battle!"
After explaining Xue Guyan and others, Gao Yang felt a little uneasy. The enemy had strong control over Wusu and its surrounding areas, and even he was forced to go south to join forces with Duan Shao for a battle. Once the enemy's main force retreated there, the situation would be completely different. Now that they have finally got the opportunity to form a decisive battle with the enemy's main force, it is of course more beneficial to Northern Qi to resolve it in one battle.
With this in mind, he hurriedly sent troops to notify He Baren of the Right Route Army, asking him to pay close attention to the enemy's movements. Once he noticed that the enemy's situation was different, he would immediately cross the river to intercept the enemy's retreat, making sure that they could not evacuate here!