Chapter 173: Short-sighted
Wang Shichong's ominous premonition became a reality. The next morning, the Du Li coalition did not dispatch a thousand-man army to attack the official army camp as early as the previous few days ago, and delayed and destroyed the speed of the fortifications of the official army camp. However, just as Wang Shichong and his family breathed a sigh of relief, and just when the exhausted Jiangdu Sui army was glad that they could finally have a good rest, the bad news suddenly came, and Du Fuwei and Li Zitong's coalition forces actually went out together, joined forces to go south and directly rushed to the Jiangdu army camp.
Hearing this news, Wang Shichong, who was riding a horse patrol and urging soldiers to repair fortifications, fell to the ground with a whip in his hand, his face pale as paper, and he had not said a word for half a cup of tea. The members of the Wang family next to him were all gloomy. Wang Shiyun had a bad temper and kicked over the unlucky soldier who accidentally sprinkled the soil on his shoes. His forehead was brisk and his face turned terrible.
As for the same sentence, although Wang Shichong was not afraid of fighting a head-on decisive battle with the rioters, he was unwilling to fight such a head-on decisive battle that had to pay a heavy price, especially when there was a friendly army hiding beside him and watching Dandan was ready to grab credit at any time, the treacherous Wang Shichong didn't want to fight such a head-on decisive battle.
After all, he was a hero in troubled times who was very famous in the late Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty. After the shock of the first bad news, Wang Shichong quickly calmed down and immediately arranged for himself to think about the tactics used to prevent the situation. He ordered loudly: "I'll order the entire army to prepare for the battle immediately. All the troops strictly guard their posts and rely on the battalion fortifications to resist the attack of the bandit army. In this battle, we focused on defending, defending the camp, and withstand the fierce attack of the main force of the bandit army. Victory is ours."
The Sui generals sang their promises in unison, and then several generals quickly said: "Mr. Magistrate, our camp fortifications have not been built yet, and there are still some flaws. What should the thieves do if they attack our fortifications incomplete defense areas?"
"What should I do?" Wang Shichong replied lightly: "Then let's fill in your life. Do you want the thieves to kill into the camp and take down your head?"
The Sui army generals were shocked and then ran down to pass the order. Then Wang Shichong immediately ordered Wang Shiyun: "Send a fast horse to contact Wang Shiwei and ask him to lead the 10,000 troops I had drawn from the southern line to speed up the advance. You must rush to the Huai River battlefield within three days to prevent any incidents."
"Within three days, I'm afraid my third brother won't be there." Wang Shiyun replied: "My brother forgot? I just sent someone to contact us this morning, saying that autumn rain fell in Jiangdu and Gaoyou areas, the road was slippery, and the speed of the march was greatly affected. I asked you to give him a grace date, and you agreed to give him a grace."
After Wang Shiyun reminded him, Wang Shichong remembered that there was indeed something, but he suddenly forgot about it when he was nervous. After a little calculation, Wang Shichong changed his words: "Then let the third brother go north as soon as possible and tell him that the situation is urgent, the faster the better. In addition, send a quick horse to contact Xuan Ying and ask him to tell Chen Yingliang the situation. No matter what method is used, he must immediately send troops south to meet us."
Wang Shiyun also knew that the situation was urgent and did not dare to waste time asking Wang Xuanying whether he was sure to ask Chen Yingliang for the question of going south. He just ran down to arrange the messenger to send an order. It was at this time that Wang Shichong took the ground-to-ground whip handed over by his personal soldiers. He had no expression on his face and suddenly waved the whip hard and cursed: "Children Du Fuwei, I have no grudges with you, are you fucking the wrong medicine? Why do you have to fight with me to the death?"
The horns kept sounding, and the well-trained Jiangdu army soldiers returned to the team according to their organization, and then rushed to the area where the army was responsible for defending. Given that the bandit army was full of energy, they must launch a main attack from the front of the broad camp. Wang Shichong not only concentrated the main team to the front, but also personally took charge of the front battlefield to command the battle. The left and right wings of the camp were arranged by Wang Shichong to Wang Shiyun and Song Hao to lead the guards. Wang Shichong's most trusted nephew, Wang Ren, was responsible for leading the reserve team. At the same time, Wang Shichong, who was quite strategic, knew that this battle would be of great significance, and ordered the auxiliary soldiers to rush to control food torches to prevent night battles.
As soon as these arrangements were arranged, the main force of the rioters' coalition had already appeared in the sight of the Jiangdu Army. What made every Jiangdu Army soldier feel a little nervous was that the momentum of the rioters' coalition this time was very amazing. The dense flag soldiers were everywhere in the mountains and fields, and there was no end at a glance. The front team had already arrived outside the Jiangdu Army's camp, and the back team was still moving in endlessly, slowly spreading to the two wings, like a torrent of tide, gradually surrounding and submerging the Jiangdu Army camp.
Wang Shichong was also a little scared, because he was condescending on the commander's stage. Wang Shichong had already seen that the thief army gathered under Du Fuwei's commander's flag was definitely not comparable to the rebel army he had seen before. He was tall and tall, obviously a little taller than the soldiers in Jiangnan. He was wearing iron armor or leather armor. Many school groups were equipped with powerful and powerful swords that were ten feet long, and the team was neat and disciplined. It was obvious that they were the elite team at Du Fuwei's bottom box. This once again made Wang Shichong break his head and couldn't figure out how could Du Fuwei be willing to use such elites to fight him?
Wang Shichong did not guess that the thief army gathered under Du Fuwei's command was indeed the most elite recruiting soldiers under Du Fuwei. At the beginning of the year, Chen Yingliang won with less than a few defeats, Du Fuwei learned his lesson and finally understood the truth that soldiers are more important than elites. He selected strong soldiers from each battalion and army to form elite soldiers, and formed the recruiting soldiers whom he relied on to become famous in history for some time. However, in order to preserve his strength, he had never been willing to use them, so Wang Shichong saw them for the first time.
A moment later, the rioters and thieves set their ground. As agreed in advance, Du Fuwei, who had a lot of money in the army, was responsible for attacking the front of the official army camp, and Li Zitong was responsible for the battlefield on both wings. At the same time, Du Fuwei was a little puzzled and dissatisfied that he did not see the most elite iron armored soldiers under Li Zitong. Du Fuwei was not polite about this and asked Li Zitong directly: "Brother Li, where is your iron armored soldiers? After we agreed, we will no longer hide our own personalities, why don't you bring the iron armored soldiers?"
"Brother Du, don't worry, brother, I'm not a person who is untrustworthy." Li Zitong replied with a smile: "If you can't see your brother's armored soldiers today, you will slap me with your big ears at night, and I will never complain."
"King Du, the soldiers are indefinitely powerful, and the water is indefinitely powerful." Mao Wenshen also said calmly: "The sudden killer weapon is the killer weapon that can kill the enemy. Wang Shichong is a treacherous person, so we have to beware that he will prepare early."
Seeing that Li Zitong and Mao Wenshen were confident, Du Fuwei chose to believe it, and nodded and said, "Please, the old thief Wang Shichong will definitely focus the main force on the front. If you can open a gap from the flank, we will definitely win this decisive battle. Okay, it's not too late, Brother Li, please return to the team and take care of it."
Li Zitong bowed and returned the greeting, and said to Du Fuwei to take care of each other, then led Mao Wenshen back to his flag formation. Then Du Fuwei was not polite and directly ordered: "Beat the drum, attack."
Amid the sound of war drums, the extremely cruel decisive battle began. Du Fuwei, who had a lot of troops, invested 3,000 infantry to attack the front of the official army camp for the first time, and ordered his confidant Ximen Junyi to lead 500 swords and axes to serve as the supervisor. He fiercely claimed that those who took the lead in attacking the enemy camp would immediately kill, and those who took the lead in attacking the enemy camp rewarded 300 gold, three beauties, three officials were promoted to three levels and rewarded with heavy rewards. Under the threat, the three thousand thieves, destined to become cannon fodder, rushed to the front of the official army camp with an indomitable posture. The Jiangdu Army relied on the simple and imperfect trenches and earthen trenches to fight against the thieves' army.
The battle began to heat up from the beginning. Although the Jiangdu Army used long-range weapons to kill and injured many thieves soldiers, a supervisory team in the rear monitored the thieves who had no way to retreat, rushed to the front of the official army camp very tenaciously, threw straw bags full of soil into the trenches that the official army had worked hard to dig, chopped down deer antlers and destroyed horses, opened the way forward to death, and then rushed to the next wall to fight with the official army in close combat.
The Jiangdu Army paid a heavy price for the incomplete battalion defense fortifications. The walls in many locations were not high or thick enough. The condescending advantages that were not high enough to bring to the Jiangdu Army were quite limited. The earth walls that were not thick enough would easily be pushed down and destroyed. Just a moment later, the Jiangdu Army's battalion defense fortifications were broken through several small holes, forcing the Jiangdu Army to have their lives and blood to resist the attack of the thief army at the gap, and the number of casualties began to gradually expand.
It was also at this time that Du Fuwei truly believed in Mao Wenshen's speculation and analysis. If he did not start a decisive battle quickly, he would probably have no chance to fight to the death. Because the Jiangdu Army camp was perfected with the fortifications centered on the camp gate, no matter how fierce the offensive was, the thief army had no way to rush up to the wall, and was always suppressed by the government army. Only when the camp was in short supply of fortifications could the thief army achieve a limited breakthrough. He secretly thanked that he was doing good, Du Fuwei was not polite, and immediately ordered the front army to concentrate its forces to attack the weak areas of the official army camp, and make every effort to expand the gap that had been opened, and open the way for the elite troops of the rear army to advance.
Du Fuwei's correct tactics hurt Wang Shichong's brains. If he didn't defend the weak part, he would die together. If he had to defend with all his strength, he would be destined to suffer heavy casualties. Without any choice, Wang Shichong came up with a very genius idea and ordered the soldiers to fight while pile up mud bags to repair the gap. After Du Fuwei discovered Wang Shichong's attempt, he immediately invested two thousand new forces to join the battle. He fought with Wang Shichong with his life to consume his troops and fight Wang Shichong's most feared war of attrition.
Blood flowers splashed inside and outside the Jiangdu Army camp, shouting, screaming, and cries echoing on the battlefield. One after another, the soldiers of the two armies fell in a pool of blood, their heads and limbs rolled on the ground, and blood flowed along the low-lying areas. Although the casualties of the Jiangdu Army were obviously less than those of the thief army, Wang Shichong was still bleeding and tears. He still didn't understand why Du Fuwei launched a decisive battle at this deadly moment? He didn't understand why Du Fuwei didn't go to Suyu to find trouble for his friendly troops, but he insisted on coming to Huaishui to find his own troubles?
The two wing battlefields of the Jiangdu Army camp were also in full swing, but Li Zitong's team's offensive on the left wing of the Jiangdu Army camp was obviously greater than that of the right wing. Just like the front battlefield where Du Fuwei was responsible, he invested a large number of troops to attack the weak areas of the Jiangdu Army's left wing. Not only did the right wing not have many troops, but the offensive was also loud and small, with symbolic attacks as if they were going through a formality, and there was almost no threat to the right wing of the official army.
It is strange that although the right-wing battlefield is relatively calm, Du Fuwei never asked Li Zitong to strengthen the attack on the right-wing army. At the same time, Wang Shichong also strangely attached great importance to the right-wing battlefield. He repeatedly asked Wang Shiyun, who was responsible for the right-wing, to be cautious, and ordered Wang Renze, who led the reserve team, to be wary of the change of the right-wing. Because Du Fuwei and Wang Shichong also discovered that Li Zitong was arranged in the right-wing battlefield, and there were only two thousand troops taking turns to attack the official camp. The other two thousand troops hid in a long distance and rested on the ground, always staying still and ready to go.
The tragic battle lasted from morning until less than half of the afternoon. More than half of the five thousand cannon fodder sent by Du Fuwei in two waves were killed and half of them were killed and killed by the thief army commander. The bodies were piled up in front of the Jiangdu military camp. The soldiers of the thief army could already step on the corpse mountain and rushed directly across the earthen roof and rushed into the official military camp. At the same time, the weakness of the thief camp had been opened, and two big holes more than ten feet long were opened, forcing Wang Shichong to give up the genius tactic of fighting while repairing fortifications. So far, only the genius general Zhu Wenzheng was able to play with this tactic and was forced to fight with all his might and prevent the thief army from entering the camp.
When the war reached this point, the time to invest in elite combat was actually ripe, but Du Fuwei hesitated at this moment, because so far, he and Wang Shichong and Li Zitong fought wars of cannon fodder attrition, and neither of the three parties had invested in the real core elite combat. If Du Fuwei first put the elite recruits on the battlefield, not only would the casualties be destined to be relatively large, but he would also be forced to fight the elite forces of the official army alone, and the team of the friendly Li Zitong was spared.
While hesitating, Mao Wenshen came to Du Fuwei's face and suggested: "King Du, it's time to join the elite troops to fight. Once the elite team has the upper hand on the battlefield, we can launch a comprehensive general attack and use the advantage of the troops to capture the official army camp in one fell swoop."
Du Fuwei hesitated for a moment, then pointed to the right-wing battlefield, pointing to Li Zitong's two thousand infantry that has not been moved to this day and said, "If you let those two thousand troops attack, I will immediately recruit elite troops."
"Then please give the order, King Du." Mao Wenshen said relaxedly: "To be honest, the students not only come to suggest that you dispatch elite troops, but also command the attack of the two thousand troops for King Li."
After saying that, Mao Wenshen really rushed towards the two thousand infantry without hesitation. He shouted loudly on the horse and ordered the thief soldiers sitting on the ground, and lined up while checking their weapons. Seeing this, Du Fuwei was of course overjoyed and said happily: "Brother Li is so good. He is really worthy of being a brother who came out of Changbai Mountain (Changbai Mountain, Shandong) together, and he has faith in his words."
In a very happy mood, Du Fuwei also immediately ordered the recruiting elite troops to prepare for attack. As the recruiting army was just finished, the right wing battlefield was already filled with war drums, and the two sides were concerned about the two thousand Li Zitong infantry in an orderly formation, advancing in a densely unique to the heavy infantry. His steps were unfast but extremely steady, like a series of iron walls, slowly and firmly pushing towards the right wing of the official army camp.
Seeing this scene, Du Fuwei laughed three times and immediately shouted: "Go up and attack."
The most core recruiter in Du Fuwei's team was led by Wang Xiongxian, the chief general under Du Fuwei, and the same intensive strides forward, and the leader was the Modao team with very strong combat power. Seeing these Modao teams and seeing the two thousand infantry of Li Zitong, Wang Shichong had the urge to cry. He didn't understand how the two thousand infantrymen of Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, which were both in a good and harmonious manner, worked so together, and was willing to join the heavy infantry team to attack him at the same time? Why didn't anyone think about preserving their strength?
In the face of tears, Wang Shichong had no choice but to order to meet the enemy and shouted: "Heavy infantry attack. Replace the light infantry at the gap, stop me at any cost of the rioters and heavy infantry to send orders to Wang Renze, and divide half of the reserve team to reinforce the right wing."
Wang Shichong's order was immediately executed. The most core heavy infantry in the Jiangdu Army immediately attacked, replacing the light infantry at the gap, and blocking the most elite recruiting troops under Du Fuwei. However, Wang Shichong did not give the order carefully in desperation, so that his nephew Wang Renze took advantage of a loophole. After learning that Li Zitong had already invested in heavy infantry attacking the right wing, Wang Renze, who was worried about his father's safety, personally led half of the reserve team to the right wing reinforcements, and took away all the heavy infantry in the reserve team, leaving only the reserve team full of light infantry to lead the Hou's order to his deputy Wang Xingben...
Wang Shichong started his career in Huainan, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong started his career in Shandong. Both areas did not produce horses, so heavy infantry naturally became everyone's core force. Basically, the victory or defeat of heavy infantry determines the outcome of the entire battle, and the importance is naturally self-evident. Therefore, when everyone was involved in the decisive battle of heavy infantry at the same time, Wang Shichong and Du Fuwei's hearts were inevitably raised to their throats together...
In order to facilitate command, Du Fuwei's flag formation was close to the battlefield, and the recruits gathered under the flag formation were naturally close to the battlefield. After attacking, he first fought with the heavy infantry of the Jiangdu Army, and took the lead in the collision between steel and steel, and the life-and-death battle between iron and blood. Although Li Zitong's heavy infantry was far away, he quickly rushed to the right-wing battlefield and fought with the teams of Wang Shiyun and Wang Renze and his son. However, after a period of fierce fighting on the right wing, Wang Shiyun and his son were only two feet tall to find that although the heavy infantry clothes of the thief army on the opposite side seemed to be bloated and heavy, they were stuffed with straw and reeds after they were cut or cut open.
While Wang Shiyun and his son discovered this mystery, Mao Wenshen had quietly returned to Li Zitong's flag formation and smiled at Li Zitong and said, "King, it's time for the heavy infantry of the official army to be entangled by Du Fuwei's recruitment, or we were deceived into the right-wing battlefield."
"Sir, it's a clever plan." Li Zitong smiled happily and said in a low voice: "Would you do it now, or wait a little longer, and wait for Du Fuwei and the official army to consume more?"
"Master, you can't wait." Mao Wenshen quickly replied: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defeat the enemy. We must immediately invest our elite forces and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. Otherwise, once the official army finds a trap and turns it over in time, we may be wasted all our efforts and turn the surprise attack into a war of attrition."
The time to decide the outcome has arrived, but Li Zitong, who has mastered the outcome, hesitated at this critical moment. After hesitating for a while, Li Zitong actually said: "Wait a minute, wait until Du Fuwei and Wang Shichong consume more, and then we will do it again."
"Master, you can't wait." Mao Wenshen's face changed and he quickly said, "Master, you must take action immediately, you must take action immediately. Once the official army reacts, all the students' previous arrangements will be wasted."
"It's okay, wait a little longer." Li Zitong shook his head firmly and said slowly: "Wen Shen, you joined my team later. I don't know the difficulties when I started my business, nor do I know how much effort and money I put into forming these two thousand iron armored troops. They are my lifeblood and must be used well."
Mao Wenshen was dumbfounded, and after a while, he lowered his head weakly and said to himself: "Our only short-sighted opportunity to win quickly has been ruined by you, the idiot. If we missed this opportunity, we can only continue to fight with Wang Shichong."
At the same time, Wang Shichong finally learned that the heavy infantry of the thief army on the right wing battlefield were all fake. After hearing this report, Wang Shichong, who had run out of heavy infantry reserves, almost fainted, and immediately shouted hysterically, "Send an order to Wang Renze immediately, let this idiot take the heavy infantry back to the left wing and return to the left wing quickly and quickly——————”
Huo Xiaoliao brought the heavy infantry team back from the right wing to the left wing battlefield and Wang Renze's team was almost blocked. Li Zitong suddenly joined the heavy infantry team on the left wing battlefield. Mao Wenshen's chain of tricks to move the tiger away from the mountain and the real ones was immediately declared bankrupt. The situation on the battlefield was back to balance. While Li Zitong screamed regretfully, Wang Shichong wiped his cold sweat. If Li Zitong had let the heavy infantry join the battlefield in advance, then Wang Shichong's left wing battlefield would probably have completely collapsed. At that time, it would definitely cause a chain reaction, leading to a complete collapse of the front battlefield. The Huaishui camp where the Jiangdu army relies on would no longer exist. Whether Wang Shichong could escape the Huaihe River alive would be a big problem at that time.
I was secretly glad that my luck was pretty good. When I met the enemy commander's head suddenly, Wang Shichong shook his inner clothes, who had been soaked in cold sweat, and said in his heart: "It seems that the war of attrition is inevitable. The third brother will not be able to reach the battlefield for a while. How much can I keep in my 20,000 direct lineages depends on when the little thief Chen Yingliang will send troops. I hope God will continue to bless me, so that Chen Yingliang's little thief Chen Yingliang's conscience will discover, and hurry up and come down to pick me up."
Chapter completed!