Chinese New Year

Chapter 463 Strategy and Tactics

In the early morning, in the thick fog, a large group of soldiers surged up like ghosts.

On the low wall, a young man stared forward with his eyes wide open.

Veterans in the army told each other that on foggy days, bandits were very likely to launch a surprise attack.

But knowing is one thing - the boy wiped his eyes and said, I really can’t see clearly.

There seemed to be a rustling sound of footsteps in the fog.

The young man swallowed hard, almost squeezing water out of the spear shaft.

The rustling sound became louder.

The young man looked forward with all his eyesight.

In the thick fog, it seemed as if there was a ferocious beast that wanted to eat people, and the rustling sound was like the beast chewing.

The boy was frightened by his own imagination.

After a moment, he finally made a decision, climbed down the wooden wall and entered the camp.

This village is very small and can only accommodate about ten people. It is usually set up outside the camp to serve as a warning.

Once the enemy attacks, there is no possibility for them to survive. Their only role is to send out a signal before death to give the camp time to prepare.

There are nine people in the village.

Someone was leaning against the wooden wall, dozing with his eyes closed.

Some people kept eating like starving ghosts.

Some people had a stern face, as if others owed him a lot of money.

Some people were cursing the weather, which made the firewood wet and unable to light.

The young man suddenly realized that these nine comrades were actually all very scared, but each one showed it in a different way.

Yes, the enemy has arrived and has set up camp in the north. The number of their cavalry is unknown, but there are a lot of them, at least more than them.

Who knows if they will attack suddenly?
I hope not. As long as they hold out until noon today, another team of brothers will come to replace them.

"Captain, I think I heard some noise." The young man said, "Should we raise the alarm?"

Upon hearing this, the team leader immediately opened his eyes, jumped up, and said, "Follow me."

The old man and the child quickly climbed up the village wall, and the scene to the north immediately stunned them.

Countless evil spirits seemed to emerge from the white mist and rushed towards them.

The boy began to tremble all over.

His eyes unconsciously fell on the enemy soldier, who seemed to look at him with malice.

The team leader rushed down silently and rang the bell directly.

A crisp "ding-ding" sound suddenly rang out, piercing through the thick fog and spreading far into the wilderness.

Almost at the same time, dense arrows were shot from the opposite side.

Screams came from the wall.

The young man fell to the ground with a thud and died with his eyes open.

There was a constant sound of "clicks" coming from the wooden walls. Occasionally, a few arrows were thrown into the village, heavily embedded in the mud, and the arrow feathers trembled continuously.

The surging crowd almost submerged their small camp.

The bandits climbed down one after another, and the sounds of weapons clashing and dying screams could be heard one after another.

The team owner persevered to the end.

The leather armor on his body was already tattered and he was forced into a corner by several spears.

"Ding ding..." Warning bells rang one after another in other places.

The team leader laughed and said, "You still want to take advantage of the fog to launch a sneak attack? Dream on!"

"Puff!" The spear pierced into the chest and abdomen, and the team leader screamed and fell to the ground.

The severe pain blurred his vision, and everything in front of him became vague and illusory.

"Bang!" He fell heavily to the ground. His last thought before he died was: after harvesting the beans in September, I must pick the fullest ones to keep for seeds and plant again next year.

******
After passing the outer security camp, the enemy army advanced all the way and rushed to the edge of the trench.

Sandbags rained down, and wooden boards were put down one by one.

Xuchang Shibing, who was standing behind the trench wall, looked pale and was spitting.

The officers went back and forth, shouting and yelling.

Soon, arrows flew out wave after wave, knocking down all the almost unarmored enemy cannon fodder.

But the enemy troops were too numerous and continued to surge forward.

The Xuchang hereditary soldiers were not all archers like the Silver Spear Army. The density of their bows and crossbows was not enough to effectively stop the enemy from charging over.

When the density of crossbow firing slowed down, some enemy soldiers broke through the wooden boards and rushed to the trench wall.

"kill!"

"Those who retreat will die!"

The supervisory team, holding machetes, stopped more than a dozen soldiers from Xuchang who turned to escape. With a wave of their swords, they slashed and their heads rolled to the ground.

The soldiers were frightened and had no choice but to fight. The two sides were separated by a trench wall, with spears stabbing and swords hacking at each other. In a short while, corpses piled up like mountains on both sides of the trench wall and blood flowed like a river.

"Swoosh! Whoosh!" The archers retreated behind the second trench wall, found high ground, and shot from above.

Arrows fell on the heads of the charging enemy troops, causing considerable casualties.

The Xuchang soldiers behind the trench gradually stabilized their position and, under the leadership of their officers, fought hard to resist the enemy's offensive.

Gradually, the enemy's offensive became weaker and weaker, and their numbers became fewer and fewer.

Finally, after passing a certain critical point, someone shouted and turned around to run away.

When the others saw this, they lost their courage, turned around and followed closely.

A wave of attacks was thus repelled.

"Attack!" The soldiers of Xuchang jumped out of the trench wall, stepped over the wooden boards, crossed the filled trench, chased after the retreating enemy troops, and killed them indiscriminately.

But they didn't dare to chase too far. After all, it was foggy and who knew what was ahead? What if it was cavalry waiting in battle array?
So, after rushing out for dozens of steps, they slowly retreated and hid behind the trench wall.

A group of people stayed behind and took away the wooden boards placed on the trench by the enemy, and used them to repair the trench walls that were destroyed by the enemy.

The battlefield calmed down for a while.

The soldiers of Xuchang stared blankly at the corpses lying in the fog, as if they were in a dream.

Not all of them had experience in war.

As a force rebuilt during the reign of Sima Que, King of Xincai, they had a lot to learn.

The cruel battlefield is the best place for training.

In the test of time, if you survive, you will become an emotionless killing machine; if you can’t, you will become a stepping stone or experience pack to help the enemy grow.

In today's battle, their men did not seem as experienced as Shi Le's troops. They had a hard time launching the first wave of attack even though they were well-rested.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that this is their first time serving as soldiers.

I had followed the army many times before, but was basically an auxiliary soldier. Now as a combat soldier, facing the sharp edge, I suddenly realized that being a combat soldier is not easy, and I also realized that it is not easy to get the food and salary for a combat soldier.

A group of young men from Sizhou came from the rear. They carried stretchers and took away the wounded soldiers who were unable to walk. Those who were seriously injured but could still walk were carried back to the rear. As for those who were only slightly injured, they were not allowed to retreat and were given some linen cloth to wrap their wounds.

Everyone stood behind the trench wall in silence. The atmosphere was so heavy that it seemed as if water could drip out of it.

"Boom, boom, boom..." A dull drum sound rang out in the fog.

This time, the enemy did not launch a surprise attack, but instead deployed their troops in a serious manner and launched a second wave of offensive.

******
"Keep calm." Shao Xun slapped Jin Zheng's shoulder heavily with his iron sand palm and said.

Jin Zheng smiled, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Are you going to send out the Silver Spear Army for such a small incident?" Shao Xun continued, "I wanted you to be in charge of the overall attack and defense. You are so impatient. You are really inferior to Wang Que'er."

Jin Zheng blushed when he heard this.

Shao Xun looked at him, and said in a slow tone, "Think about it carefully, don't be impulsive. In military struggles, it's all about who makes fewer mistakes and the ability to catch the enemy's mistakes. No one can avoid making mistakes. I also make mistakes when I fight, but we really have to try to avoid them."

"Yes." Jin Zheng replied sincerely.

"Shi Le has been here for almost ten days. Tell me what you think." Shao Xun found a Hu bed and sat down, saying.

"Shi Le's territory should still be busy with the autumn harvest, so he can't spare too many infantry for the time being." Jin Zheng said: "The number of infantry he has should not exceed 20,000, maybe only more than 10,000."

"It's great that you can think so much." Shao Xun nodded and said, "Shi Le arrived ten days ago and just launched the first attack. He is indeed short of infantry. This is our chance. But in war, we always have to be lenient with the enemy. What if Shi Le has transferred a large number of infantry to the Fangtou front? It's not impossible to rely on the elderly, the weak, women and children to harvest the autumn harvest. Besides, there is no need to transfer all the strong men. One man from three or five households will be enough."

"Thank you for your advice." Jin Zheng replied.

"If this battle were given to you to command, you would know what to do, right?" Shao Xun asked.

"To cope with all changes, one must remain constant. Successfully building the city is the first priority, and killing as many enemies as possible is secondary."

"Very good." Shao Xun smiled and said, "Building a city at Fangtou is what I call a 'tactic'. Mobilizing Shi Le, surrounding Wei to save Zhao, and protecting Wang Jun, I call it a 'strategy'. This battle is actually using the tactic of building a city at Fangtou to implement the strategy of surrounding Wei to save Zhao. In the future, when fighting, you should focus more on the strategic level and don't just focus on the small scenes."

"Yes." Jin Zheng seemed to understand something in his heart, but he seemed to feel that these things were too complicated, and it would be more satisfying to fight face to face.

Shao Xun looked at him for a long time, then sighed and said, "Think about it carefully. Master Shao has high expectations for you, higher than anyone else."

Jin Zheng was touched and ashamed, and said, "I have let Master Shao down."

"Not yet. You are still young and have plenty of opportunities." Shao Xun said, "Get wise sooner. In times of crisis in the future, Master Shao can only trust you."

After saying that, he stood up and went to the rear of the camp.

At the city construction site, the foundation has been laid and the city walls are being repeatedly reinforced.

Most of the auxiliary troops are here.

He had already ordered He Lun to lead his troops across the river and head north, so that on the one hand they could rotate to fight, and on the other hand they could increase the manpower for building the city.

The north and south cities of Fangtou were built to high specifications with the purpose of long-term use.

After the Qishui River and Qingshui River merged into the Baigou River, the latter has become an important waterway for water transport.

Even if there is no war in the future, Fangtou will become an important water and land port and commodity distribution center, bringing benefits to people all over the world.

In addition, he also wants to build his own base in Hebei.

Setting up a garrison is a very good way. This kind of local garrison force is not strong in combat, but it still has the ability to defend the city. With them, it is equivalent to diluting the influence of the nobles and powerful families and increasing the control of the court.

The gentry were not his base; the military farms, government soldiers, and self-cultivating farmers were.

(End of this chapter)