Chapter 1070: Adapt to Changing Circumstances
When Han Zunian led his troops to withdraw from the battle and retreat to the city, he was a little depressed, but when he saw that the enemy did not follow him and directly attack the city, he couldn't help but feel lucky in his heart, so he quickly ordered the soldiers in the city to strengthen the city defense and block the city gate from the inside with wood and stone.
However, his good mood did not last too long. After less than two quarters of an hour, a team with a messy front and back formation appeared behind the Wei army in the valley outside the city. It was the team that went out of the city to rescue the ambush troops and the ambush troops that came back to respond.
Han Zunian, who had just climbed up to the top of the city to observe the enemy's situation, saw this scene, and his expression froze. Then he couldn't help but clenched his fist and hit it heavily on the city wall. He was full of resentment in his heart, and he wanted to curse at these soldiers who had completely missed the opportunity.
He had held out for such a long time before, with hundreds of soldiers killed and wounded, but he still couldn't wait for these soldiers to return. Now he had just retreated to the city under the pressure of the enemy, and these soldiers returned right after him. Faced with such a situation, I'm afraid no one can remain calm.
"Sir, the men have returned, hurry out of the city to welcome them..."
A general hadn't noticed Han Zunian's ugly face, but when he saw the division was blocked by the enemy outside the city, he couldn't help but remind him.
"Shut up!"
The commander hadn't finished speaking when Han Zunian interrupted him. Han Zunian drew his sword and shouted at the soldiers on the top of the city wall: "Who doesn't have elders, brothers, and sons? The soldiers fought fiercely outside, and hundreds of sons died on the battlefield. The purpose was to repel the enemy and give the soldiers in the south a chance to return to the city.
But these stubborn people had no plan. They fought outside for a long time and did not return, which led to the enemy's massive advance under the city. Now the strong enemy is in front of us. If we still open the city to the enemy, what will happen to the safety of the elders and sons in the city? We promised not to act arbitrarily. In this critical period, if anyone disrupts my military law again, I will kill him without mercy!"
When the soldiers on the top of the city heard Han Zunian's angry words, they were all silent for a while and dared not speak out for a fight again. After shocking everyone, Han Zunian cast his eyes toward the outside of the city, hoping that the returning soldiers would burst out with powerful fighting power under the urging of the desire to survive, causing certain collisions and damage to the enemy's formation, so that he could take the opportunity to lead his troops out of the city and defeat these opponents from both inside and outside.
But his idea was really unrealistic and wishful thinking. It should be noted that the team returning from the city was not out for a leisurely stroll. They had been advancing and retreating along the Qinshui River Valley and fighting with the enemy for 20 to 30 miles, and they were already exhausted.
Originally, these soldiers were still looking forward to getting support and entering the city smoothly to rest after arriving at the foot of the city, but they didn't expect that the city was full of enemy troops. Even the enemy troops on the opposite side had not launched an attack yet. Many exhausted Qi army soldiers couldn't help but let out a desperate cry just by seeing this formation!
Li Tai had been in the army for a long time, so he could see at a glance that the morale of the enemy army coming from the south was low, so he immediately ordered the thousand-man team in the south to attack the enemy on the opposite side, while he himself still led his troops to line up at the foot of the city.
Soon, the sound of fighting was heard again in the river valley, which had just been quiet for a short time. Although the Wei army soldiers also ran for a long time in the Black Water Ridge before arriving at the river valley battlefield, their morale was high after all. At the order of Lord Tang, they immediately rushed towards the enemy army in the south.
Although the morale and physical strength of the enemy army returning from the south had fallen to the bottom, they had arrived at the foot of Yining City after all. At this moment, there were enemy troops in front and behind. Only by trying to break through the interception in front could they get a glimmer of hope. So these Qi army soldiers gritted their teeth, summoned up their remaining courage, and fought with the enemies with knives.
It was already late, especially in this valley where there were dense forests and mountains that blocked out the sun. As the sun sank behind the mountains, the light quickly became dim, and the vision was greatly restricted.
Soon, the battle on the battlefield in the south could no longer be seen from the top of Yining City. Only the fierce fighting and roaring were still clear and heart-wrenching.
Han Zunian had been standing on the city wall, his eyes fixed on the enemy army arrayed a few miles outside the city, wanting to see the enemy array shaken by the impact, and then lead the crowd to fight.
But unfortunately, until his vision could no longer penetrate the dark void to see the enemy array, he did not wait for the right time to launch an attack.
"Sir, sir, the enemy came from afar, and there are no tents in the valley for accommodation. If we select men to attack at night, it is also a plan..."
One commander could not bear the torment caused by the fierce fighting, so he dared to speak in a low voice.
Han Zunian's eyes flashed when he heard this, and after a moment's silence, he slowly nodded and said, "First select 500 brave warriors, eat and wait."
Li Tai certainly would not ignore the problem that the enemy generals saw. When he led his troops eastward, he also arranged a convoy to transport baggage and set off later. Two thousand soldiers escorted nearly a hundred carriages. The mountain road was rugged, and the speed of the carriages was also quite limited. They fell behind the lightly armed troops in front, and it would take more than two hours to reach the valley.
As night fell, the battle in the valley came to an end. The Qi army soldiers who came from the south had already consumed a lot of physical strength, and they relied on their desire to survive to support the battle. However, they continued to fight until nightfall. Not only did they fail to break through the enemy's interception, but they also did not wait for the reinforcements from the city to come to rescue them. Many Qi army soldiers fell into despair.
As the encirclement of the Wei army became tighter, the survivors surrendered one after another, and finally captured more than 1,700 prisoners of war.
However, the Wei army did not even have its own camp, let alone arrange prisoners of war. So after the prisoners of war were confiscated, they were all driven into the Qinshui River and made to stand barefoot in the shallows to prevent them from escaping or continuing to resist.
Under the city of Yining, Li Tai still kept two thousand-man square formations assembled, and dug several fire pits more than ten feet wide in front of the square formations to warn and prevent the enemy in the city from attacking at night. The rest of the troops retreated to the river valley, some of them rested on the spot, and some of them felled trees and laid stones in the dark, and set up simple camps along the banks of Qinshui.
It was not until late at night that the rear convoy finally arrived in the river valley. After the felt tents, armor and other military supplies on the carriages were unloaded and distributed to the soldiers, the carriages were arranged in the river valley, and wood and stones were piled on them, and a camp defense line was immediately built. In addition to retaining hundreds of soldiers on night duty to warn, the other soldiers set up tents along the river in the valley behind and rested in the tents.
Such camping conditions were certainly very hard, but they could also ensure that the soldiers could maintain basic sleep and rest and recover some physical strength. On the contrary, in Yining City, Han Zunian and other generals had been staring and looking for and waiting for the opportunity to launch an attack. As a result, they watched the blazing fire pit all night on the top of the city, and the open space outside the city illuminated by the fire pit.
Early the next morning, the Wei army in the valley retreated several miles to the south and built a stove to eat in a relatively open area in the valley. While eating breakfast, Li Tai was also listening to the reports of the generals, and finally sorted out the current situation that even he was confused about.
Of course, the most clear thing was the strength of the enemy in Yining City and the situation in the city. Among the many situations explained by the prisoners of war, he keenly grasped three more important messages.
The first is that some of the defenders of Yining City were sent back from Hebei by Pingyuan King Duan Shao, which means that Hebei has been able to deploy some military forces here, so the main forces led by Duan Shao or other generals must be not far away.
The second is that Han Zunian, the defender of Yining City, was forced by public opinion to send a team out of the city to rescue the southern division brigade when he knew that it was better to defend, which triggered a series of battles yesterday.
The third is that the defense of the cities to the north of Yining City, including Guyuan City where the Yining County government is located, is relatively weak, and most of the Qi army forces in the upper reaches of Qinshui are concentrated in Yining City. However, due to the garrison general Han Zunian's own operations and several battles yesterday, the military forces originally possessed by Yining City were directly reduced by more than half.
Originally, Li Tai planned to build a city to the south of the Qinshui River Valley to confront the enemy city, but after a series of changes yesterday, it seems that there is no need for this now.
At present, the garrison in the enemy city was greatly weakened, so Li Tai ordered the soldiers to cut wood in the river valley to make siege equipment and prepare to attack Yining City directly. At the same time, he selected a group of elite troops to bypass Yining City and attack the enemy cities such as Guyuan City upstream.
He Ruobi had mentioned this strategy before, but because the enemy situation in the rear was not clear, He Ruobi was just keen on taking risks at that time, but now that the enemy situation is clear, it is a good strategy to know both oneself and the enemy.
When the young disciples in the army learned that they would select elite soldiers to attack the enemy's rear, they also signed up enthusiastically. In their young and vigorous concept, if they want to create extraordinary achievements, they must do extraordinary things. The battle in front of them, which is a clear battle and a frontal attack on the enemy city, is really a bit unexciting. On the contrary, going deep into the enemy's rear and attacking thousands of miles away makes people feel passionate.
After knowing that there was no great danger behind the enemy, Li Tai did not deliberately prohibit the young disciples from participating in the attack behind the enemy. After all, people need to go through things to grow up. You must know that when he was traveling around Shaanxi and attacking the Jiehu, he was also young and his conditions were no better than these young disciples.
So soon a team of more than 2,000 people was selected. Under the leadership of Li Yantou, who also had rich experience in fighting behind enemy lines, they continued to move northward from the mountains and forests of Heishuiling, bypassed Yining City, and then attacked Guyuan City in the rear.