Chapter 523: Fierce Battle at Hongqing River
However, the Mongolian army suddenly retreated from Guanyanggou and their whereabouts were unknown.
This made Lao Cao confused.
What is the Mongolian army going to do?
Could it be that he thought he was no match for his opponent and was actively avoiding battle?
Zhao Yulin was not in a hurry and acted according to the original plan.
The next day they arrived at Ganyanggou, where there were two small paths intersecting from east to west. It was a rare transportation route on the grassland. He built a post station and a military station on the east side of the gully according to the terrain and established a permanent camp.
Lao Cao told him: If we go another hundred miles, we will be close to Linzhou. Are the Northern Barbarians going to have a decisive battle with us in Linzhou?
The deeper into the grassland, the flatter the terrain becomes. The geographical advantage of the Shenwei Army will disappear. Zhao Yulin will never let his brothers fight the Mongolian Army on flat ground without any support. Along the way, Lu Huacai, who was responsible for exploring the way ahead, walked along the hills. This was Zhao Yulin's basic requirement. The purpose of this march was to at least have a support after a sudden encounter .
He decided to take a gamble, betting that Guiyou and Kuoduan also wanted to fight him and would not let him take the risk without any support, because if he did, Kuoduan would think he was a fool.
The two of them made a plan in this way.
The next day, Cao Youwen led a large group of cavalry south to transport food and fodder.
Zhao Yulin continued to supervise the construction of Guanyanggou military station, or Guanyangzhai.
Guiyou and Kuoduan were a little depressed when they saw that Zhao Yulin didn't take the bait.
Especially this little Guizi, he complains about the expansion and retreats again and again and is about to withdraw from the territory of Linzhou. What kind of war is this?
It was agreed that we would march south to destroy the mighty New Song Dynasty, but now the Divine Power Army is winning victory after victory, while the Grassland Empire is losing ground.
Kuangduan was secretly delighted to see the Shenwei Army continuing to advance deeper into the grassland.
Zhao Yulin is almost two hundred miles away from Yulin. If he walks another two hundred miles, the Shenwei Army's long logistical supply line will become a fragile lifeline. Why won't he let his grassland men take advantage of it?
After discussion, the two brothers decided to retreat to Hongqing River since all the grass and fodder around had been eaten up anyway.
The next day, your friend moved camp and headed for Hongqing River. But he decided not to leave and had a decisive battle with the Shenwei Army there, wanting to show his power as the crown prince of the empire in one battle.
After his men had set up the big tent for him, he fell asleep half the night hugging Meiji. He heard the guards outside the tent shouting: The enemy is coming, the Shenwei Army is coming. Guiyou pushed Meiji away in panic and got up. The guards had already rushed into the tent and reported: The Shenwei Army cavalry is coming, and three of the front camps have been destroyed. Prince, hurry up.
Your friend was putting on his clothes while cursing, telling him to hold on, and that he wanted to go into battle himself. He didn't believe it. Could the Divine Might Army be a group of heavenly soldiers with three heads and six arms?
This guy certainly didn't expect that, after Zhao Yulin and Lao Cao had agreed, they would go south to guard the grain transportation according to the pattern of the past few days, but in fact they turned east and headed straight for Hongqing River. Because there was abundant water and grass here, they both judged that the Mongolian army would set up camp there.
As expected, after marching for two days and one night, Cao Youwen's cavalry discovered a series of ghost lights on the Hongqing River. He immediately summoned all the generals to discuss the attack.
He said righteously: Commander Zhao wants us to launch an attack in the afternoon, and after the surprise attack is successful, we will retreat thirty miles to attract the enemy's pursuit.
I think we should attack immediately, stun the enemy and then retreat and rest for a while.
What do you think brothers?
All the generals immediately responded and obeyed the order, following the lead of Lord Cao.
Cao Youwen immediately ordered an attack, and the Shenwei Army was unstoppable, breaking through five camps of the Mongolian Army in succession before Guiyou organized a decent resistance. Lao Cao decisively blew the assembly call, and the Shenwei Army cavalry quickly retreated to Nailong Mountain, 40 miles south.
The cavalry commanders Zhang Zhi and Baturu both exclaimed that it was a great pleasure and a great success.
Cao Youwen did not dare to be careless, and ordered 2,000 cavalrymen to dismount and go up the mountain to defend. The artillery immediately set up positions to prepare for the crazy attack of the Mongolian army. The position quickly set up pots to cook, and wisps of smoke rose.
When Guiyou came out of the tent and saw the messy camp, he was furious and immediately ordered his eldest son Hecha to lead three teams of 10,000 people to pursue the Shenwei Army.
The eldest son immediately took his second brother Naohe and third brother Hehu and set off, chasing all the way. The common people said that the second brother was stupid and the third brother was cunning. Your friend's third brother was also smart. He fell behind his team while running.
Hecha led his troops in pursuit to the front of Nailung Mountain. He saw the majestic cavalry of the Shenwei Army on guard outside the perimeter. Most of the mountain was filled with smoke from cooking fires. He immediately pulled the reins and took a breath of cold air.
The third brother He He was very sharp-eyed. He saw that there were at least 50,000 or 60,000 troops, so he immediately told his eldest brother He Cha: "Dad asked us to come out to monitor the battlefield. It would be like hitting a rock with an egg if we only have 30,000 soldiers to fight the Shenwei Army. It would be better for us to be like the Shenwei Army and set up a guard from a distance and report back to Dad."
The third brother means that if we start a war we will definitely lose, so why bother fighting?
The second brother refused to agree and said: My father told us when we came out to catch up with the enemy and take revenge, so why don't we fight?
The Shenwei Army is cooking. Let's charge at them and make sure they don't have any food to eat. Let's starve these bastards to death.
The eldest brother was not stupid at all. He immediately said: Fight, second brother will lead, third brother will be on the right, and the eldest brother will be in the middle to supervise the battle. Let's charge him.
Three 10,000-man Mongolian troops immediately formed a team and rushed towards the Shenwei Army's position in the northwest corner of Nailong Mountain. The sound of conch horns rang out one after another, and Hecha stood behind them, waving his sword and shouting, "Charge, kill!"
Cao Youwen saw through the telescope that Naoheyi was rushing in the front, and asked with a smile: Is the artillery ready?
Baturu said on the side: I have been waiting for them to come. Look, I will kill them so badly that they will flee in disarray and cry like ghosts.
Cao Youwen laughed and said that it was enough to defeat the enemy and there was no need to pursue them.
Baturu took the order and left.
Naohe led his troops running in front. When they were still a mile away from the front line of the Shenwei Army's position, they encountered concentrated mortar fire. The formation was immediately disrupted. The horses without the control of their riders ran rampant on the battlefield, quickly suppressing the Mongolian army's offensive momentum. The artillery immediately extended their fire.
Baturu raised his sword, the charge of the Shenwei Army sounded, and a large number of cavalry rushed out of their positions and killed the Mongolian army.
He saw that the revolving muskets of the Shenwei Army cavalry were constantly reaping the lives of his men, and shouted: Brother, please withdraw your troops quickly. Our troops are not enough to fill the gaps in the Shenwei Army's teeth.
As he spoke, he ordered his men to withdraw from the battlefield.
The eldest son looked silly, but he was actually very bright inside and immediately ordered a withdrawal.
Cao Youwen saw the fleeing Mongolian army on the mountain and shook his head, wondering how these barbarians had conquered such a large area of land in the Western Regions?
Could it be that the armies of the Western Regions are not as good as the group of people in front of us?
However, the cavalry commander Zhang Zhi reminded on the side: The king launched an early attack in order to reduce the pressure on the infantry, but this also exposed the problem of insufficient strength of our cavalry. We must hurry up to repair the fortifications.
Lao Cao nodded and said: It's okay as long as you know it. Just keep it in your mind and go quickly.
Cao Youwen's move was to destroy the enemy's manpower and also to hold back the Mongolian army so that they could not run away. After all, the infantry of the Shenwei Army had short legs. If the Mongolian army led them to run deep into the grassland, the risk would increase sharply.
Kuangduan had already arrived at Guiyou's tent, just in time to see his three nephews coming back in a panic. He felt amused. How could his eldest brother let his three sons lead tens of thousands of soldiers to chase after the cavalry of the Shenwei Army?
Hecha reported to his father: No one saw the battle clearly in the morning. There were at least 70,000 to 80,000 cavalrymen of the Shenwei Army. The whole Nailung Mountain was filled with smoke as people were making fires and cooking. Their artillery shells were powerful and all of them were shrapnel. He did not dare to be careless and led his troops back immediately.
Kuang Duan thought that this nephew was really good at talking, but exaggerating the number of the Shenwei Army's cavalry to 70,000 or 80,000, or even 100,000, was a bit too much. If the Shenwei Army's cavalry really reached 100,000, the eldest brother's troops would definitely be crushed by the Shenwei Army, and nothing would be left.
When your friend saw Naohe's injured arm and his teeth clenching, he wanted to send his troops to attack immediately.
Kuoduan agreed immediately and asked the eldest prince to lead his troops to hold the line. His own troops followed and obeyed the prince's orders.
Your friend didn't know it was a trick, and he was also dizzy with thoughts of the Khan position recently, so he immediately ordered the three armies to march south to Nailong Mountain, surround them and destroy this New Song army.
At this time, Zhao Yulin was still a hundred miles away.
Last night, the image of Cao Youwen leaving resolutely flashed through his mind, and he woke up in a cold sweat.
Zhao Yulin was worried that Cao Cao would discover the enemy situation and fear that the Mongolian army would escape, so he launched an attack in advance. Tens of thousands of cavalrymen were entangled by hundreds of thousands of Mongolian troops and a desperate fight was absolutely dangerous.
He immediately called Lu Huacai to discuss the matter. Both of them felt that according to the schedule, the cavalry should have reached Hongqing River. They unanimously decided to transfer a batch of idle grain carts and have Huacai lead them in a hasty march to Hongqing River.
When Lao Cao left, the Shenwei Army gathered all the mortars for him to take away. Now, the shells stored here were useless, so he asked them to take them all over and set off immediately with the light truck-mounted iron barrel cannon.
After Lu Huacai left, he only had less than 60,000 troops left.
Zhao Yulin urged all units to advance quickly and not to be too far away from the front army. Once they were divided and surrounded , the situation on the battlefield would be extremely dangerous.
He was anxious here, and Miao Gui's Western Route Army was even more anxious.
Miao Gui's Western Army got lost just a few dozen miles after passing Guanyanggou.
Miao Gui, who was marching as a guard on the left side of Zhao Yulin, unexpectedly went astray and got lost. They traveled for dozens of miles through the desert grassland and still couldn't find the right direction, so they were very anxious.
The guy had no choice but to order his troops to go east.
Because Zhao Yulin's army was on his right, the army of 100,000 people would always be able to create a path when moving in groups. If they moved eastward or northward, they would always be able to meet up with Zhao Yulin's central army.
On the banks of the Hongqing River, Cao Youwen's cavalry was fighting against Guiyou's Donggui cavalry. This time, Xiao Guizi mobilized a general force, and a hundred thousand troops rushed to Nailong Mountain to surround the Shenwei Legion.
The eldest son saw the sparse troops on the extremely long battle line and felt that it was not enough, so he reported to his father to continue to mobilize troops, otherwise the fat meat in his mouth might be lost.
