Morale has the most direct relationship with the combat effectiveness of the army when marching and fighting.
It's like two people fighting, one is a life-threatening madman, and the other is a timid and hesitant coward. There is no doubt that even if the coward is physically stronger, the final result is basically that the life-threatening madman can stand. to the end.
The same principle applies to fighting. When an army's morale is high, it can exert 120% or even 200% of its usual combat effectiveness. But if morale is low, even an elite army may not be as effective as some motley crew with high morale.
At this moment, the Qin army's originally high morale changed due to rumors everywhere. If the rumors are true, once tens of thousands of enemy troops block Handan City, tens of thousands of Qin troops will become turtles in the urn, unable to escape.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Everyone with a brain knows one thing? As the saying goes, only when you have food and clothing can you think about lust. If you can't even fill your stomach, how can you have an erection No, how can you have physical strength?
But from here we can see the difference between the Qin army and other armies. When the rumors appeared, they were not greatly shaken. Under the command of some low-level generals, the Qin army still attacked fiercely, and even severely punished or even killed some elements who spread rumors on the spot.
¡° However, the Qin Army¡¯s elite Tiger Guards are not the only ones in the city! As someone said, among the 50,000 troops Zhang Han led this time, nearly 30,000 were temporary generals from several counties who he led as generals of the Qin Dynasty. A miscellaneous army composed of some local troops and hard laborers recruited for special wartime reasons.
Although this group of people was partially consumed in the siege battles in the past few days, they still numbered nearly 20,000 people. This group of people is not very effective in fighting, and they are not arranged to attack the palace now, but are scattered in Handan City.
And those rumors happened to cause great panic among this group of people!
This group of miscellaneous troops is different from the Tiger Guards. They are all temporarily gathered together. It has not undergone rigorous training. In the past, relying on Zhang Han's huge army commanding charisma and methods, and the encouragement of more than 20,000 Tiger Guards, he was safe and sound. Even disregarding life and death, the Korean army in Handan City continued to consume more than ten days.
But at this moment, when most of the Tiger Guards are engaged in the battle for the palace, this group of miscellaneous troops are under rumors. There was immediate wavering.
At first it was only a small number, and then as some people wearing Qin army uniforms began to flee, more and more people followed.
"Escape! Head towards the north gate!"
I don't know who shouted it, and countless people began to flee towards the north of Handan City. Although this group of miscellaneous soldiers was weak in fighting, they were scrambling to escape, fearing that they would be run slower by others, and then Die here.
And the gate to the north of Handan City, for some reason, was actually wide open. Seeing this scene, these miscellaneous soldiers who wanted to escape from Handan City were immediately overjoyed. They didn't bother to think about the strange opportunities that this matter had from beginning to end, and ran out of Handan City from the north gate one by one.
"Everyone, don't gather together and run away! Otherwise, when General Zhang Han finds out, we won't have any good fruits to eat!"
There was another shouting, and when some people heard it, they immediately felt that it was right! They can now be said to have become deserters. They escaped without permission before being ordered to evacuate. This was a capital offense in the Qin Dynasty! It may even hurt your family!
But now I can¡¯t think about anything else. After escaping Handan City, this group of people immediately dispersed in all directions, as if there were terrifying monsters chasing behind them.
No one noticed that some people wearing Qin army uniforms shouted loudly from time to time among the crowd. At the same time, some people shouted that countless enemy reinforcements had arrived and that they were going to be blocked in Handan City. The group of people ran and ran. , they can no longer be seen.
Of course, some people may have noticed it, but they were in the minority after all, and they didn¡¯t pay any attention to it. Some people who vaguely felt that something was wrong finally started to act together under the general trend of people around them fleeing crazily.
If the rumors could not have an impact on the elite Tiger Guards in the Qin Army at first, more and more miscellaneous troops fled without permission, which also began to affect the mood of this group of Tiger Guards.
After killing some of the miscellaneous troops who wanted to escape on the spot, they found helplessly that the defeat was unstoppable. Even those miscellaneous troops who did not dare to resist at first started fighting against the Tiger Guards in order to survive.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Han made a quick decision and ordered the route to be opened, allowing the motley crew that had completely lost the idea of ??fighting to leave. Fortunately, this is the case, otherwise a fratricidal war would break out.
?OriginalFor many days, this group of miscellaneous soldiers were treated as cannon fodder and sent to death. They were quite resentful and did not dare to express themselves before. Who can care about so much at this moment! As the saying goes, whoever tries to save me will die!
"General, what should we do?"
Although the combat effectiveness of the miscellaneous army was not high, they still numbered nearly 20,000 people. Most of them escaped at once, which was a serious blow to the overall morale and strength of the Qin army. Especially now, looking at the appearance of those Tiger Guards, although they are pretty good and have not been affected too much by rumors, their morale has also been reduced a lot. There was even a hint of retreat in some people's eyes.
Seeing this, some generals immediately looked at Zhang Han. As the coach, he must give a clear instruction at this time. Should they continue to besiege the palace, or evacuate like the rebels?
A trace of struggle flashed in Zhang Han's eyes. He had been planning for Handan City for a long time. Before that, everything had been going step by step according to his plan, and he was about to succeed, but he didn't expect that a roadblock appeared at the end!
No! It's a shit stirrer! He was 80% sure that those rumors were caused by those young people who attacked him secretly. And the reason why those people did that must be because they didn't have enough troops to confront him head-on!
This method is not bad, but it also has a serious flaw!
"Order, the whole army"
¡°Report!!!¡±
Suddenly a horseman appeared, and a Qin army soldier dressed as a scout panted and came to Zhang Han, "General, the spies just came to report that thirty miles to the north, a large group of enemy troops were slowly approaching!"
This news made Zhang Han look ugly, North!
"General, could it be"
"It must be the Wei-Zhao coalition. Unexpectedly, it arrived one day faster than expected."
To the north, the only two forces that can send troops there at this time are Zhao and Wei, and only they have a reason to appear at this moment!
"Do you want to take advantage of our army's exhaustion and attack it unprepared?"
Zhang Han pondered for a moment, then turned to look at the palace that was about to be captured. Finally, he gritted his teeth and turned to look at the generals around him who were waiting for his order. His tone was somewhat cold, "The entire army obeys the order and evacuates Handan City!"
"General!"
After hearing Zhang Han¡¯s order, several Qin army generals shouted in disbelief. They spent so much time and energy, and when they saw that they were about to wipe out King Han, one of the more powerful rebel groups, could they just give up?
"Give me the order. Let's evacuate from the north city gate. Remember, even if you encounter obstacles along the way, don't get entangled too much."
Zhang Han, who seemed to have aged several years suddenly, looked a little tired. After all, it was very painful for him to make this determination. Although most of those killed during this period were miscellaneous troops, the elite Tiger Guards in his hands also lost nearly two thousand people in the final battle!
And even after paying such a heavy price, they still haven't completely occupied Handan City and completely eliminated the King of Han and his rebel forces. Not to mention what kind of accountability and impeachment he will suffer if the news returns to Xianyang. Even those soldiers who died on the battlefield will die with their eyes open.
But he knew better that if he continued to struggle here, as long as the King of Han's army tried their best to delay, once the enemy troops that sneaked into the camp joined the Wei and Zhao coalition forces, it would not be so easy for him to escape safely. . By then, not only will Handan City be lost, but there will even be greater losses.
As expected of the Tiger Guards, they quickly took action after the military order was issued. As the Qin army withdrew, the Han army in the palace, who had been dying with their arms in their hands, also noticed it. After a brief period of shock, they immediately erupted into a shocking shout.
"The Qin army has withdrawn! The Qin army has withdrawn!"
Far away from the west gate of Handan City, they heard the loud shouts coming from the distance. Liu Bang and others, who had been paying attention to the situation, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After it was finally determined that most of the Qin army had withdrawn towards the North City Gate, they also knew that this battle should have come to an end. Liu Bang did not order the pursuit, he was not a fool. Although Zhang Han lost nearly 20,000 people, the loss to the miscellaneous army with little combat effectiveness was not a big loss at all. Zhang Han still had a lot of strength in his hands. According to his guess, he still has at least 20,000 Tiger Guards at his disposal. Even if he encounters enemies two or three times his size, he may not be able to keep him safe and sound.
¡°Besides, he is not from King Han, so there is no need for King Han to inconvenience himself. Now forcing the Qin army away is already the end of benevolence and justice.
After it was finally confirmed that all the Qin troops had withdrawn, Liu Bang's people also quickly took control of many important locations in Handan City, not as good as the Sifang City Gate. And Liu Bang also brought some troops to the center of Handan City.The palace was built on the original site of the Zhao Palace. At this moment, the outside of the palace looked in tatters, with countless corpses piled up there, exuding a strong smell of blood.
Seeing the large group of people approaching, the group of Korean soldiers in the palace immediately became nervous.
"Who is coming?!" A senior general of the Korean army shouted loudly, and at the same time, the group of Korean soldiers also picked up their weapons.
"Liu Bang!" A young man appeared from a group of people on horseback, raising his head and chest, and his eyes were bright. (To be continued)
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