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Volume 2 Hu Qixi Liuzhe Chapter 103 Decisive Battle with the Shangdang (18)

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    ps: Thanks to Lost Tiger for the reward.  On the first day of September, Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei arrived at Shiyu. Accompanying them were the Zheng Army and the main force of the Jin Army, totaling more than 40,000 horse infantry troops.  At this point, the armies of Zheng, Jin, and Han had concentrated their full strength on Shiyu, with a total strength of more than 55,000 men. The Shiyu camp, which had been in decline for more than half a month, regained its momentum!  At this moment, Li Siyuan had already realized that there might have been some changes in the surprise attack planned by An Zhonggui before, because a month and a half had passed and he should have reached Li City by any calculation, but the enemy army had not undergone any expected changes so far.  This made Li Siyuan feel uneasy.  What Li Siyuan hoped for most was of course that An Zhongjie secretly stationed troops outside Licheng and was looking for a good opportunity for a sneak attack. Perhaps the guards in Licheng were relatively tight, so An Zhongjie never found the opportunity.  "However, it is not ruled out that An Chongjie did not arrive in Licheng. Considering the several rainfalls in the past month or so, it is normal for the Zhuozhang Valley Road to be impassable in a short time.  What worries Li Siyuan the most is that An Zhongjie has been defeated at Li City, or he has simply been noticed by the Yan army and made dumplings in the Zhuozhang Valley. If this is the case, Li Siyuan's strength will be greatly reduced. In the Three Kings  The coalition forces are completely weak.  But in a conversation with Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei, he heard that An Chongjie had returned to Licheng to ask for food, so he felt a little more at ease again. If this was the case, it meant that An Chongjie had not failed, and he was very confident.  The delay may have been due to the difficulty of walking along the valley road.  Therefore, Li Siyuan's expectations were rekindled. He was waiting for An Zhongjiao's cavalry raid to succeed, but he shied away from Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei's request to send troops immediately.  Only if he wins Luzhou can Luzhou really belong to him. In order not to look at the faces of Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei in the future, Li Siyuan hopes to rely on himself.  Li Siyuan's pushback and resistance made Li Sizhao very unhappy, and a fierce quarrel broke out between the two. Li Siyuan accused Li Siyuan of being timid and fearful of fighting, but the Yan army broke his courage; Li Siyuan argued with each other.  Criticizing Li Sizhao for being adventurous and radical, it is easy for him to underestimate the enemy and cause trouble.  Zhou Dewei tried to mediate with each other for a long time, and then the two returned to the table to discuss the next battle strategy.  According to Zhou Dewei's suggestion, no matter what, the three kings' coalition should first try to attack the Yan army's camp and break the Yan army's obstruction to Shiyu.  Open the road south to Xiangyuan.  Li Siyuan couldn't shirk this anymore, so he nodded in agreement, but he was already pondering the idea of ??being passive and sabotaging work.  After Li Siyuan left, Zhou Dewei had a conversation with Li Sizhao alone, and Li Sizhao complained loudly.  Zhou Dewei is also funny when he thinks about it.  At first, he and Li Sizhao were opposed to going south. Li Siyuan strongly advocated attacking Xiangyuan. But now, it was he and Li Sizhao who advocated actively sending troops. Instead, Li Siyuan often kept the word "safe" on his lips. When he really thought about it,  They all find it incredible.  Zhou Dewei said that although Li Siyuan agreed to take the initiative.  But he didn't seem very active and had some resistance in his heart, so his troops were probably not of much use. The main force in attacking the Yan army's camp was his own and Li Sizhao's troops.  Li Sizhao said that if it were not for the relationship between the three families, he would have withdrawn his troops long ago. Who would have the time to help Li Siyuan build territory?  Zhou Dewei comforted and said, you are right to think so, and the three of us should still focus on the overall situation.  Only by holding tightly together can we compete with the princes of the world.  Helping Li Siyuan is helping ourselves. This must be understood.  Li Sizhao said bitterly, there is no problem on his side, and I will listen to you on how to fight. You are famous for your strategy among our old Hedong Army, and your considerations are more sophisticated than me, a grown-up from a peasant family.  Just rest assured.  Zhou Dewei said that as long as you understand, Li Siyuan is not unwilling to fight. I guess he was deeply affected by Shi Deng's defeat in Shanxi, which is indeed what you said.  He is a little afraid of the enemy. After all, there has been no news from Li Congke so far. It may have been a heavier blow to Li Siyuan.  Li Sizhao said, okay, I understand, and everything will be up to you.  Zhou Dewei said that we should stick to the original strategy. As long as the Yan army's camp is broken, Li Siyuan will surely regain his confidence. When we attack Xiangyuan and Luzhou, he should be much more active. After all, it is to help him regain his lost territory.  In addition, you have to send people to Wuxiang to urge for food. We all know the combat power of the Yan Army, which is no less than that of the old Hedong Army. I estimate that it will take at least a month to fight this time to see the outcome. It will not be possible if there is a shortage of food.  Li Sizhao agreed to go down and arrange the food reminder. Zhou Dewei once again reviewed the battle strategy in his mind, and then decided to start the war in three days.  The Shiyu Camp of the Three Kings Alliance and the Pingqiu Camp of the Yan Army are to the east and west, less than three miles apart, and they can almost see each other at a glance.  Among them, Shiyu Camp occupies a convenient location and is located on several highlands. Pingqiu Camp relies only onIt is a gentle hill with Nangou River behind it.  About five miles to the south of the Pingqiu camp, there is Xijiayan Village where the Yan Army cavalry is stationed. The open area from Xijiayan Village to the north to Pingqiu is the Nangou River channel from Shiyu to Xiangyuan.  Zhou Dewei knew that if he wanted to attack Xiangyuan, he must completely seize the Nangou River channel, which means that he must break the defensive barriers built by the Yan army in Pingqiu and Xijiayan Village.  Through his own personal investigation, combined with the military situation of the Yan Army observed by Li Siyuan during this period, Zhou Dewei judged that the Yan Army garrison in Pingqiu Camp had between 10,000 and 15,000 people, and the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village  Then there are about four thousand.  Of course, this number is only a preliminary judgment. Whether this is the case requires actual testing.  It is a pity that Li Siyuan has not sent troops to find out the details of the Yan army since he retreated to the Shiyu camp. He wasted more than half a month in vain, which made Zhou Dewei very angry and helpless.  Zhou Dewei's actual military test was divided into two parts. The first was to send a small number of troops to attack in turns from the north, west and south of the Yan Army's Pingqiu camp to find the weak points of the Yan Army's defense and at the same time pass through the Yan Army's defense.  To estimate the strength of the opponent's troops.  The second is to send cavalry to contain Xijiayan Village to cover their exploratory attack on the Yan Army's Pingqiu Camp.  After he and Li Sizhao led troops to Shiyu, the cavalry of the Three Kings Alliance reached more than 5,000 cavalry, half of which were the elite cavalry of the Black Army from the old Hedong Army.  With this cavalry force, Zhou Dewei was confident that he could completely suppress the Yan army's cavalry.  On September 4th, the Shiyu Camp was opened. The Three Kings Allied Forces dispatched 6,000 infantry and launched a probing attack on the Pingqiu Camp from three directions.  Li Sizhao was in the north, Li Siyuan was in the south, and Zhou Dewei himself was responsible for the due west direction. At the same time, he also assumed the responsibility of central dispatch.  The force density required for the exploratory attack is not high, but the frequency of delivery is high, so Zhou Dewei divided the soldiers into small teams, attacked in waves of 100 people, and headed towards the Pingqiu camp.  Because they are familiar with the Yan army, the old Hedong soldiers all know that the enemy on the opposite side is equipped with luxurious equipment, especially arrows with strong attack power. In addition to arrows, the old Hedong soldiers have also probably heard that the Yan army's catapults and ballistae are very powerful.  Sharp.  Therefore, when attacking, the formations were very scattered, and the hundreds of soldiers were divided into more than ten groups, spaced apart from each other.  Attacking in this way, the Yan army did not use a covering arrow formation, nor did it use catapults and ballistae. No matter how luxurious the Yan army's equipment was, it could not afford such a loss-making business.  Therefore, the Allied Forces of the Three Kings quickly arrived outside the main camp of Pingqiu. While using shields to prevent cold arrows, they destroyed and dismantled the antlers, wooden posts, trip wires, pits and other blocking facilities in front of the camp fence.  The Yan army organized archers to board the archery tower to snipe and interfere at close range, and occasionally dropped one or two oil cans and ignited them with rockets to act as a deterrent.  Both the offensive and defensive sides are engaged in a leisurely confrontation. The attacker's damage to the defensive facilities is quite limited, and the defender's damage to the attacking soldiers is not obvious.  An exploratory battle cannot be concluded within three to five days. This kind of battle is relatively boring and tests the patience of both sides.  Zhou Dewei and Li Sizhao's probing efforts in the west and north directions were quite appropriate, but the south commanded by Li Siyuan was obviously much more sloppy.  The Korean army often beat the gongs and drums loudly, shouting and rushed to a hundred steps away from the camp fence before turning around and turning back. The momentum was amazing, but it had no real meaning.  Because in Li Siyuan's heart, as long as An Zhongjiao's cavalry succeeded in raiding Licheng, everything in front of him was meaningless. Whether or not the camp was attacked was a trivial matter.  Zhou Dewei did not delve into Li Siyuan's actions and thoughts. Anyway, it was a tentative attack, as long as it could help him estimate the enemy's garrison strength and defensive focus.  What Zhou Dewei is really concerned about these days is the containment and operations against the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village.  Zhou Dewei openly sent 600 cavalry, which were placed outside Xijiayan Village in a grand manner, blocking the way for the Yan army's cavalry to go north.  Regardless of whether Li Siyuan was really afraid of the enemy, Zhou Dewei believed that at least one of Li Siyuan's considerations was correct. It was very dangerous to forcefully attack the Yan army's Pingqiu camp without cavalry cover.  Because the Yan army's cavalry headed north from Xijiayan Village, it only took a stick of incense to rush directly to Pingqiu, blocking the way of the army attacking Pingqiu.  Zhou Dewei used 600 cavalry to block Xijiayan Village, which was just a bait. In fact, he hid 3,000 Black Crow Army elite cavalry behind a high ground in Shiyu.  He very much hoped that the Yan Army cavalry in Xijiayan Village would come out to bite the bait. When the Black Crow Army came out unexpectedly, there would be a 90% chance of achieving greater results.  It is a pity that Zhou Dewei did not wait for the Yan Army cavalry for three consecutive days. It seems that the Yan Army cavalry commander in Xijiayan Village has great confidence in Pingqiu Camp.  So Zhou Dewei could only temporarily give up the plan to ambush the Yan Army cavalry. He planned to postpone the plan until the full attack on the Pingqiu camp. While storming Pingqiu, he waited for the Yan Army cavalry to take the bait.?Let¡¯s see if that guy named Zhao Zaili can still hold it in!  (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users please go to m. to read.)
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