Chapter 1097: Throwing a Whip to Stop the Flow

The intensity of the battle in the upper reaches of Tongdi River suddenly increased so much that the troops in other places on both sides were caught off guard. As a result, at the most intense moment of the battle, none of them were able to provide timely and effective support. When they gathered their troops and rushed to the battlefield, the outcome of the battle was already clear.

Although the cooperation between the two sides was somewhat disconnected, their respective situations were still somewhat different.

The Western Wei side was simply too late, because the troops were limited, and this area was not a mature battlefield. The terrain had to be improved to facilitate the transportation of large groups of troops and various war equipment. Therefore, when the right-wing army resisted the enemy in the upper reaches of Tongdi River, the main force of the central army was still busy digging ditches and building camps.

When Li Tai received the news that the enemy launched a large-scale attack, he did not dare to put the central army into it immediately. He first lined up on the central army line to wait for the enemy, and confirmed that the enemy was only attacking from the side. Then he dispatched a group of divisions and brigades to approach the position of the right-wing army and provide certain support.

As for the Qi army, they just felt that it was unnecessary. As the party that took the initiative to launch the attack, the troops that went out to attack were very considerable. Unless the central army had a clear order to launch an all-out attack, the troops that went out to attack alone were absolutely enough to deal with this local battle on the flank. The only difference was the size of the profit.

If the troops that went out to attack could successfully break through the enemy's flank battle formation and lock in the advantage, it would not be too late for the troops from the rear to pursue. Otherwise, if they pursued blindly, it might cause the left wing to be disconnected from the central army, thus giving the enemy an opportunity to defeat them separately.

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

When the divisions and brigades that responded had assembled on the south bank of the Tongdi River, the troops in the north had already shown signs of defeat, and a group of troops had retreated back. If they wanted to advance forward again, conflicts would inevitably occur in the front and back. Therefore, these divisions and brigades that were assembled later could only stop at the south bank to support the withdrawal of the front-line troops, and it was difficult for them to directly cross the river to the north to reverse the situation.

Although the chariot formation of the Wei army 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 who had previously fought against the enemy took advantage of the chaos of the enemy team and rushed back from the flank along the north bank of Tongdi River to intercept and block the enemy formation.

Even though a considerable number of Qi army soldiers did not rush into the chariot formation because they saw the situation was not good, they were also at a loss because of the arrest of their commander. At this time, they were attacked by the Wei army again, and they could not avoid chaos in the formation and fled in panic. Some soldiers returned along the original route, while others waded back directly, and the scene was chaotic for a while.

At this time, He Ruo Dun took advantage of this victory and gathered troops from all parts of the right wing army, and launched a counterattack to the south with the chariot formation as the starting point. Those enemy soldiers who fled in panic seemed to have turned into the vanguard of the Wei army. They crossed the river and rushed a long distance before stopping under the support of their own troops. The positions behind them had been completely captured by the Wei army.

After the Wei army advanced to the south bank of the Tongdi River, the infantry formed a formation along the river, piled up earth to make a dam, and built a more convenient passage for advance and retreat in the upper reaches of the river, while the cavalry continued to advance, taking advantage of the fact that the enemy's camp line had not yet been firmly established and interspersed and destroyed the enemy's formation. Many felt tents, supplies, and food for men and horses piled in the camp were set on fire, and the scene was in chaos for a while.

It was not until Duan Shao led his troops to join the battle that the chaotic situation was slightly controlled. The Wei knights who rushed into the camp and wreaked havoc were expelled, and the camp was recaptured, but the burned and damaged supplies were difficult to pick up, and the front line was pushed to the south of Tongdi River by the enemy. It became particularly difficult to build a solid front under the enemy's nose, and it was necessary to constantly suffer harassment from the enemy.

"Where is your general?"

As soon as the war started, the battlefield area he was responsible for suffered such a setback. Duan Shao's face was livid for a while. After driving away the enemy in the camp, he immediately called some soldiers who had fought before to his front. Looking around, he did not see Qi Lianmeng, so Duan Shao shouted angrily.

"General, general, you rushed into the enemy camp before and killed the enemy bravely. Maybe, maybe you have died..."

The generals and soldiers were still in shock. They looked at each other and did not know the exact news about the general, so they answered carefully.

Duan Shao's face suddenly became even uglier after hearing this: "Ridiculous! After a battle, we don't even know the whereabouts of the commander. How can we win in such a mess!"

Before he had time to investigate further, the imperial envoy of the Central Army had already galloped here to inquire about the casualties and hold them accountable.

Duan Shao gathered all the soldiers who had retreated back and took inventory. He found that nearly 3,000 soldiers were lost in a single battle. In particular, even the commander of the left wing vanguard Qi Lianmeng disappeared and his life or death was unknown. It was definitely a disastrous defeat.

Duan Shao knew that this defeat was really serious, not only in terms of casualties of soldiers, but also in terms of the blow to the morale of the entire army caused by the defeat in the first battle. Since Qi Lianmeng, who made the decision without authorization, was nowhere to be found, he could only bite the bullet and go to the Central Army to apologize.

However, when he arrived at the central army camp, Qi Lord Gao Yang did not summon him directly, but sent a message: "The defeat of the previous division is not the fault of the king. The king should return to the camp and defend himself, and do not be taken advantage of by the enemy."

After hearing this, Duan Shao had no choice but to return to his camp. In addition to asking for forgiveness, he also wanted to ask the central army to allocate some of the materials that were previously damaged and lost by the enemy, but now he could not even see the emperor, so he naturally did not dare to ask for trouble.

However, he did not have to worry about the lack of supplies, because soon after he returned, another messenger from the central army arrived and directly conveyed the emperor's order to transfer a large number of troops originally belonging to the left army's battle sequence, which reduced the number of troops that Duan Shao could command by more than half.

After receiving this military order, Duan Shao was stunned for a moment, and then ordered his confidants to cooperate with the messenger to enter the camp to gather the troops that needed to be transferred and make a handover. He himself led a group of soldiers to patrol and readjust the defense based on the current enemy and our situation.

Gao Yang was furious when he learned that the losses in the battle on the left wing were so heavy. He refused to meet Duan Shao because he did not want to fall out with him at this critical moment.

Although Qi Lianmeng lost so many men and horses in this offensive, it was not without gain. At least he found out a big killer move hidden by the enemy.

As the enemy's tactics were exposed, Gao Yang also discussed with the generals what tactics could be used to restrain and break this battle formation. Combined with the personal experiences of some defeated soldiers, they also realized that this formation was targeted at cavalry battle formations. It was indeed difficult to break it with cavalry tactics, and cavalry should not be used in this battlefield environment.

However, if the cavalry was not used, then this formation would have almost no restrictions on other arms. It would be difficult to form a complete and solid defense line with these messy chariots alone, and the infantry soldiers could penetrate and kill. If heavy armored infantry were sent to participate in the battle, it would not be difficult to destroy those chariot obstacles.

In addition, there is a more effective way. That is, since the chariot formation is a bit tricky, you can bypass it and attack from other directions!

Duan Shao's left army does not have too many heavy infantry formations. If you want to break the enemy's army formation, you need to transfer a group of combat personnel from the central army. After considering it, Gao Yang chose a more convenient approach, temporarily giving up the battle for the position upstream of Tongdi River and investing troops in other directions.

This decision certainly means weakening the combat function of the left army, but in the case of such an ugly loss in the first battle, such a treatment is really a special favor and lenient punishment for Gao Yang. If someone else is replaced as the commander of the left army, it is basically impossible to avoid being implicated and punished.

With part of the left army brigade being recruited to the central army, the central army has directly reached 100,000 people. Of course, it is impossible for so many people to be put into the battlefield at one time. Not only is the battlefield environment restricted, but various means of communication are also difficult to flexibly dispatch and command such a large combat unit in a timely and effective manner.

Gao Yang first dispatched 20,000 infantry and cavalry to be led by Xue Guyan, the vanguard of the central army, and gave him an important task, which was to attack the north bank of Tongdi River before dark in the evening, and to establish a stable offensive position on the opposite bank, in preparation for the army to advance northward and directly attack the main force of the Wei army in the central army in the future.

At the same time, he also sent a message to Heba Ren, the commander of the right wing, to pay close attention to the progress of the war in the central direction. When the main force of the enemy was attracted to the Tongdi River, Heba Ren could lead the right wing brigade to advance northward along the Zhuozhang River and attack from the enemy's left flank, making it lose sight of the enemy.

After Gao Yang's tactical adjustment, the Qi army launched another attack in the afternoon. Although it no longer had the majestic momentum of thousands of cavalry, the dark army formation advancing directly towards the Tongdi River also gave people a great sense of oppression.

Fu Jian of the Former Qin Dynasty once confidently said that throwing a whip could stop the flow of the river to show the strength of his army. Now, the scene of throwing a whip to stop the flow of the river is actually happening on the Tongdi River.

The soldiers of the Qi army did not throw whips into the river, but each of them carried soil and wood and threw them into the river. With the advancement of thousands of people, the Tongdi River narrowed rapidly, and in a very short time, a river dam appeared on the river for people and horses to gallop northward!

As the dam was built, Xue Guyan rushed northward on his first horse, and at the same time shouted to the soldiers in the rear: "The Qiang bandits are like grass waiting to be cut, my men, quickly follow me to kill the enemy and make merit!"