Chapter 454: Take a Breath of Cold Air
Wang Gui chased him for ten miles and then reined in his horse. The Shenwei Army began to build fortifications on the spot.
Haha, in front, Wang Gui led his troops to chase Meng Gedu, and after beating him so hard that he had to abandon his armor and weapons and stop, he immediately pretended to be cleaning up the battlefield after a great victory. On one hand, he was really cleaning up the battlefield, while on the other hand, he sent out guards, disguised the scene, buried mines and prepared for an ambush, waiting for the Mongolian army's counterattack.
As expected, Meng Ge was so frustrated at his defeat that when he saw the reinforcements coming, he immediately drove his men and horses to charge in.
However, Wang Gui did not dare to rush forward even though he had won. He only had 10,000 cavalrymen, and they had suffered a lot of casualties after two consecutive battles. His brothers were also tired. If they launched a large-scale pursuit, it would be difficult to guarantee that they could retreat unscathed if they encountered a strong counterattack from the enemy.
The Shenwei Army's clean and neat victory in the battle of Yanzhou stunned Android.
This guy didn't expect that the combat effectiveness of the Shenwei Army would increase so quickly. Twenty thousand Mongolian troops and five thousand cavalry were eaten by the Shenwei Army and only a few rotten bones were left.
After realizing the seriousness of the problem, he sent a small group of troops to harass Gao Jin and decisively returned to Lingzhou to deploy defenses.
Gao Jin was dumbfounded again by Android's overreaction. He had advanced a hundred miles without encountering any decent resistance, and was about to reach Lingzhou without even fighting a single battle. What was the Mongolian army doing?
What about hundreds of thousands of soldiers?
Gao Jin was worried that Android was setting a trap for him and was going to ambush his men, so he became more and more cautious as he went forward. He would not move rashly without having fully scouted the surrounding situation. The guards he sent out were also at the level of a team of 100 people, and they did not stop until they were thirty miles away.
After receiving military reports from both sides, Zhao Yulin
He sent a letter to Gao Jin, asking them to be careful as the enemy might be trying to escape and that the Shuidonggou leading to the grassland would be a battleground.
He told Gao Jin that the smoke of fighting was everywhere on the east bank of the river, which must have attracted the attention of the enemy on the west bank. He could send a detachment to cross the river to take advantage of the situation, and if both sides advanced at the same time, they would definitely catch the enemy off guard.
After receiving Zhao Yulin's letter, Gao Jin suddenly realized what was going on. He blamed Lu Hua for beating him too hard, leaving him no chance to eat meat. Both sides quickly adjusted their troops and dispatched the 19th Column that had been prepared earlier, ordering Wanyan Hongliang to lead the troops across the river and head north.
Gao Jin's troops quickly moved northwards, and the logistics were not sloppy at all. Zhao Yulin personally supervised the situation. After Wu Yuqi arrived in Chang'an, the Guanzhong area fully activated the war mode, mobilized a large number of civilian workers to support the front, and the logistics envoy Tan Yousan was in charge of the dispatch. The recovered villages, forts, villages, and towns were firmly guarded, and relay delivery stations were established. Each military station deployed troops to strictly guard it according to the distance of the location and the difficulty of defense.
This is why Zhao Yulin was unwilling to advance alone and head north quickly.
It's more than 200 miles from Tiandu Village to Lingzhou. If a surprise attack from the Mongolian army is sent along the way to attack the food route, let alone completely blocking it, even making this transportation route unsafe would seriously weaken the combat effectiveness of the front line, and even lead to defeat due to lack of food and grass supplies.
Gao Jin quickly led his army to surround Lingzhou, and Android finally saw the real boss. He used the telescope that was standard equipment for the Shenwei Army to look at the camp of Gao Jin's troops. My god, it stretched for more than ten miles.
Moreover, there were a lot of brand new carts all around, no wonder the Shenwei Army was running so fast.
Android was a rough and sturdy man, known for his bravery in battle, but when he saw the Shenwei Army's camps and the neatly lined patrolling soldiers, he gasped. Damn, this is an army that has traveled a long way.
Meng Gedu who escaped back from Yanzhou pointed at the continuous military camps and said, "Don't be afraid of birds. Our Great Mongol Empire also has millions of soldiers."
Of course, Andro knew that the empire had a million soldiers, but at the moment, he could command and mobilize less than 50,000. When the Mongolian army went out, they brought their families with them, advancing in a nomadic way, with men, women, old and young all going together, and with the grazing cattle, sheep and horses, of course, the force was mighty, and the momentum was definitely 100,000 or 200,000.
But in war, you have to fight with all your might. The truly organized attacking and charging teams of 100, 1,000, and 10,000 men are the main force in combat.
Therefore, even though Lingzhou had hundreds of thousands of Mongolian troops, the number of those who could fight the Shenwei Army desperately would probably not exceed 80,000. Mengge Du had lost nearly 30,000 in just a few days, so he only had less than 50,000 so-called main forces.
The next day, the Shenwei Army set up catapults, mortars and red cannons to attack the city. In just a short while, they blew down a section of the south gate wall that was nearly 30 meters long.
This can only be blamed on the poor materials used by the Mongolian army to build the city.
When they captured Lingzhou, they hated the Xixia people for resisting too fiercely, so they destroyed the city walls and buildings in Lingzhou and killed all the people. When they wanted to defend the city, they repaired it again. Due to the lack of manpower, they were sloppy in construction. Without Zhao Yulin's earth and cement, the wall they built must have been sloppy. It collapsed dozens of feet long in less than half an hour.
Gao Jin immediately ordered a charge.
However, Andu'er personally supervised the battle and commanded the Mongolian army to fight desperately with the Shenwei army at the gap. After the two sides engaged in battle, the Shenwei army's artillery fire could not form a cover and could only bombard their reinforcements. However, the Mongolian army supported through the alleys and the tunnels dug earlier, and actually repelled the Shenwei army's three attacks in a row.
Gao Jin was depressed. Liu Honggen and Guo Chongma were so angry that they screamed and wanted to lead the troops to attack the city themselves.
But Android refused to fight with the Shenwei Army.
He stood on the top of the city for a day and found that the firepower of the Shenwei Army was too strong. More than 10,000 people were killed or injured in the day, and most of them were injured by artillery fire. Moreover, the Shenwei Army was as brave and fearless as the Mongolian Army.
At this time, he received a warning from Hexi that a team of Shenwei Army was heading north along the west bank of the river, equipped with rapid-fire crossbows and mortars. His remaining troops could not resist and were retreating.
Android's overall judgment is that they are definitely no match for the Shenwei Army and must leave.
Therefore, before daybreak, Andrus rushed out of the west gate and released two cavalry units to attack the flanks of the Shenwei Army from both sides, covering the escape of the large group of troops.
The two Mongolian cavalry units of 5,000 men actually caused chaos in the Shenwei Army's position. After daybreak, they defeated the two units and allowed Android to escape.
Gao Jin was furious and led his troops in pursuit.
Guo Chongma, who had been promoted to deputy commander of the Northern Group, immediately jumped on his horse and led the team out. After running for a distance, he suddenly pulled the reins and turned back. He came to Gao Jin and said that General Lu was leading less than 30,000 troops to attack Shuidonggou. If they were attacked from both sides by Android, the situation would be dangerous.
Gao Jin was awakened by this, as Lu Hua had already sent him the news: he was going to attack Shuidonggou. Calculating the time, this moment must be there.
Didn't Android just happen to make Huacai's dumplings as soon as he went there?
Gao Jin was so anxious that he had no idea what to do, so he ordered Guo Chongma to pursue the enemy at all costs.
Guo Chongma said that he, Guo Xiazi, would never hesitate when it came to charging, but no matter our cavalry or infantry, we had to break through the defenses set up by Anduo'er step by step before we could reach Shuidonggou. He was worried that during this process, Commander Lu would not be able to withstand the siege of Anduo'er's tens of thousands of troops.
Gao Jin was already anxious and confused, staring at him angrily and asking, "What other tricks do you have? Tell me quickly."
Guo Chongma pointed to Lingzhou City and said: We still have a squadron of hot air balloon air force that has not been moved. Why don’t you order the air force to go after the Mongolian army and support Shuidonggou?
Gao Jin was overjoyed. Oh, how could he have forgotten that he still had nine Kongming lanterns from a squadron that came with him that he hadn't used. He was so happy that he immediately ordered the air force to provide support.
However, the captain of the hot air balloon squadron was extremely nervous when he looked at the sky because the wind was strong and his squadron had never conducted long-distance flight training of dozens or hundreds of miles.
Gao Jin was at a loss. He said to the squadron leader and the military officer in charge: "Qin Zhidao's Commander Lu led his brothers to snipe the enemy in Shuidonggou. It must be dangerous. Will the air force go up to the sky? It's up to you to decide whether to go or not...
Android left Lingzhou and ran unimpeded on the official road to the north. He was secretly glad that he had used the strategy of sacrificing the car to save the general. He was so happy after successfully escaping that he could not express it in words. He urged his horse to hurry towards Shuidonggou. As long as he passed the valley, his people would block the mountain pass with all their might. Even if the Shenwei Army had thousands of troops, they would have to crawl slowly to pass.
When they were almost at the mountain pass, they heard the sound of cannonballs exploding from the direction of Shuidonggou, and Android was stunned. Soon the scouts came back to report that Lu Huacai's troops of the Shenwei Army were rushing to attack the mountain pass, and the Wanhu guarding there could not hold on any longer.
Android roared regardless of his identity, and was forced by Mag to run, run, rush up and kill all the little barbarians. Kill them all.
The Mongolian army had a strong desire to escape and ran quickly. The cavalry and infantry mixed together and rushed straight to Shuidonggou.
After occupying Yanzhou, Lu Huacai advanced steadily and, in accordance with Gao Jin's request, marched into Shuidonggou to close the door for the enemy to escape to the north.
After he arrived with his troops, he deployed his troops and attacked the enemy's camp at the mountain pass. The two sides were fighting fiercely when a scout came back to report to him: the Mongolian army from the direction of Lingzhou had arrived, and they were endless for more than ten miles.
Lu Huacai immediately realized that Android had retreated and they successfully blocked the Mongolian army in Lingzhou.
This guy happily ordered to form a battle array, and the Qinzhidao Army must stop Android. The Shenwei Army formed a large circular battle array in front of the mountain pass to meet the enemy. The artillery guard troops, who were just in the rear guard, immediately got busy, pushing out all the transport carts and dismantling them to make shelters, and dragging half of the catapults to the opposite side to form two groups of artillery, with the muzzles facing outward to resist the upcoming Mongolian army.
When Android arrived at Shuidonggou, Lu Huacai 's men were still desperately digging trenches and building bunkers for defense.
But where is the terrain to borrow from in the empty mountain pass?
It was all up to the Shenwei Army to dig bunkers and build fortifications.
Androuler thought this was a godsend opportunity and immediately ordered his cavalry to charge. He wanted to wipe out these tens of thousands of mighty troops in front of him in one swoop.
