Volume 2 Clouds Chapter 17 Fatal Mistake
When Luo Youdu learned that Li Tinggui was heading towards Fengzhou, he let out a long breath and looked at Generals Han Tong and Shen Shan behind him. While he was in a good mood, he also experienced the feeling of competing with each other on the battlefield, changing their thinking and tactics according to the situation, and constantly seeking opportunities to fight.
The military has no constant position, and water has no constant shape.
The Art of War may be profound and difficult to understand, but the great wisdom contained in it can be reflected in war anytime and anywhere.
"General Han, you must lead two thousand soldiers from the south gate to Maling Village immediately and prepare for battle."
Han Tong clasped his hands together and loudly accepted the order.
It turned out that Luo Youdu had been engaged in business for many years and understood human nature and the basic principle of profit distribution. The opportunity to lead the army this time was given by Wang Jing and Han Lingkun. If he defeated the Shu army under Fengzhou City, all the credit would be attributed to him. Although he became famous in one battle, he monopolized the benefits as the third military supervisor.
Even brothers need to settle accounts clearly, otherwise they will not be able to withstand repeated tests.
What's more, their friendship was newly established and untested.
At the beginning, Luo Youdu was not sure about the true situation of Shu Kingdom, and it was difficult for him to use his memory to prove his judgment.
But in Fengzhou, after combining the economic taxes and population growth of Fengzhou City to prove the economy of Shu Kingdom, Luo Youdu immediately wrote a letter to Wang Jing and Han Lingkun who were going to attack Chengzhou and Jiezhou, detailing his analysis word by word.
It didn't matter whether they believed it or sent troops, but he had to write this letter.
Wang Jing and Han Lingkun were both well versed in military strategy and agreed with Luo Youdu's judgment.
Since Chengzhou and Jizhou are very likely not to receive reinforcements from Shu troops, there is no need for them to lead so many soldiers. At the same time, the opponent's target is Fengzhou, and the pressure on Fengzhou will increase exponentially.
Therefore, the two men again allocated 2,000 troops each to reinforce Fengzhou, on the one hand to consolidate the food supply route, and on the other hand to get a share of the pie.
Luo Youdu did not let these 4,000 soldiers enter the city directly, but hid them on the way to Chengzhou and Jiezhou to prevent Li Tinggui from falling into the trap because Fengzhou had 4,000 more soldiers and he had the power to compete with him.
He dared to mobilize all the troops in Fengzhou, which meant that he had taken the 4,000 soldiers led by Han Tong and Shen Shan into account.
Luo Youdu did not know the details of the battle on Chencang Road.
But Zhang Jianxiong was lying in ambush in front, and Zhao Yan was attacking from behind.
Even though it's three thousand versus five thousand, there's no reason to lose.
As for the 3,000 support troops of Shu soldiers, they were no match for Yang Yuan's 2,000.
Moreover, after Zhang Jianxiong and Zhao Yan collected 5,000 Shu soldiers, the three armies would be combined, and this support force would be completely inadequate.
Luo Youdu originally thought that if Li Tinggui dared to enter Chencang Road to rescue, he would let Han Tong and Shen Shan block the entrance and annihilate all the Shu soldiers.
Obviously, Li Tinggui was an excellent opponent. He gave up sending troops to rescue and instead attacked Fengzhou.
Luo Youdu responded to the situation and sent Han Tong to seize Maling Village.
Since Han Tong and Shen Shan took over the defense of Fengzhou City, Li Tinggui's defeat was already doomed.
Li Tinggui led his troops to Fengzhou City. Looking at the Zhou soldiers and generals who were ready for battle on the city wall, his brows furrowed.
It is impossible to attack without siege engines at hand.
There are soldiers in Fengzhou City, and there must be more than three thousand on the Chencang Road.
Otherwise it wouldn’t have turned out like this!
The other side has increased its troops?
This is the only explanation.
"General Meng, lead your troops to Maling Village immediately!"
To be on the safe side, Li Tinggui decided to prepare a retreat for himself first. Malingzhai was the only retreat route from Fengzhou to Xingyuan Prefecture. As long as he controlled Malingzhai, at least his retreat would be safe.
Xingyuan Prefecture is the ancient Hanzhong.
"General Wu, go support Zhao Yanpu and have him withdraw from Chencang Road. I'll be waiting for him at Fenghuang Slope."
"The rest of you, follow me to Phoenix Slope!"
Li Tinggui issued three orders in a row impatiently.
On the tower, Luo Youdu watched the Shu army split up and changed their formations. He slammed his hands on the battlements and said happily, "Finally, we made a mistake."
Li Tinggui made a fatal mistake at the last moment of this game.
If he were to abandon everything at this moment and lead the remaining soldiers to break out to Xingyuan Prefecture, he would not be able to stop them.
But now he couldn't bear to abandon his troops and wanted to help them and retreat together.
This loses the best time to retreat.
"General Shen! Go and harass them, and don't let them find a favorable terrain. Now they must be going to defend the high ground such as Fenghuangpo or Xipo, where they can advance or retreat, to prevent us and the victorious soldiers in Chencang Road from attacking them from both sides and not giving them a chance to form a battle line." Luo Youdu saw through the other party's intentions and issued orders for response.
Luo Youdu looked at Cao Bin and said, "Do you want to go and gain some experience?"
Cao Bin shook his head and said, "I'll just protect you, sir!"
Luo Youdu said to Zhang Qiong, "Then go ahead and ask General Shen for two or three du, and perform well."
Zhang Qiong was already itching to do something, so he shouted, "Yes, sir!"
According to the Zhou Dynasty military organization, during combat training, there was a command unit of 500 people, called a commander. Under the command, there were five du, each with about 100 people, and the chief was a military envoy or dutou; under the du, there were four teams, each with more than 20 people, and the chief was called ten generals.
Two or three cities have about two or three hundred people, which is just right for a warrior like Zhang Qiong who has combat experience but is not yet qualified to be a general to accumulate experience.
In response to Zhang Qiong's request, Shen Shan generously gave him an order.
Zhang Qiong's plump figure shows that he is a rare and powerful general without any test.
"kill!"
Hearing the shouting and killing behind him, Li Tinggui looked carefully and saw a group of soldiers rushing out and rushing straight towards him.
"Damn it!" Li Tinggui yelled and ordered the soldiers from the rear team to become the front team and prepare to meet the enemy.
If we let the other side keep chasing us, our morale will be gone by the time we reach Phoenix Slope.
It is better to fight head-on and defeat the opponent.
The soldiers led by Li Tinggui were obviously stronger than ordinary Shu soldiers. They reacted very quickly and formed their battle formations calmly.
"shoot!"
The archers can also fire a volley before the enemy arrives.
The Shu Kingdom was in economic deficit and did not have the extra money to train archers.
They are all infantrymen, equipped with a short bow and a few arrows.
In terms of power, it is far inferior to that of real archers, but the parabolic arrows still have a certain lethality, which is better than nothing.
The Zhou army infantrymen in the front row had done similar training, holding their shields high and at an angle to block their faces.
As long as it doesn't hit the face, this arrow will not cause fatal damage.
Sure enough, most of the arrows hit the shields, and the unlucky soldiers were only hit by arrows that penetrated the leather armor and flesh a few centimeters, which did not affect the battle. Unless they were unlucky and hit the knee...
The arrows only caused more than fifty minor injuries to the Zhou soldiers and did not hinder the Zhou army's offensive.
The two armies came into close combat in an instant.
The iron plates of armor on Zhang Qiong's body made a funny sound as he moved, but combined with his body size, he was like a hammer, ramming into the enemy's formation.
