Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 628: Hammer Explosion
In November of the ninth year of the Chu calendar, the decisive battle between Chu and Wei took place in the Liyang area, north of the Yellow River.
The total number of troops mobilized by both sides reached one million, 70% of which belonged to the State of Wei, and the battle line stretched for hundreds of miles.
Cao Cao originally regarded the "advantage" brought by this winter as the last chance to turn defeat into victory, but unexpectedly... the advantage did not exist!
Not only did he beat the opponent, but he was also beaten to death!
During this period, the famous ministers and generals of the Wei State had countless brilliant strategies and clever formations, including surprise attacks on food supply routes and defeating the enemy with clever formations. As for the strategies that came into play because the front line was too long, such as besieging a point and attacking reinforcements, making a feint to the east and attacking in the west... there were even more of them.
However, in terms of firepower, Chu not only has the Qi-powered crossbow that Wei does not have, but also has artillery with a total caliber that is more than ten times that of Wei...
Even if Wei State developed and manufactured a lot of artillery as a surprise attack, how could it compare to the strong foundation of Chu State?
Not to mention that with the same caliber, the power of Wei's artillery was far inferior to that of Chu's artillery.
In terms of logistics, the Chu State even built a simple railway all the way to Guandu, and the country's granaries were almost blood-connected to the front line...
Wei's strategies were indeed very successful, and the generals and commanders of Chu only needed to do one thing - to maintain the overall stability.
Even Bai Tu could imagine that the only possible reason for Chu's defeat was "blowing up the camp without reason", which was a collective psychological collapse.
Sometimes the camp bombing was caused by a battlefield collapse, and sometimes... there was no reason at all, it was just that the whole army was too nervous and the collapse was caused by a few individuals.
There have even been cases in history where a battle was won but the army ended up blowing up its own camp, leading to defeat.
However, the Chu army actually has a natural advantage in this regard. Firstly, since the Jiangdong period, Bai Tu has been advocating to break the concept of "ancient army" and transform the military ideology to that of modern army. He always emphasizes "why to fight" and his training methods are also very different from those of ancient army.
Secondly, the Chu army not only has a medical team, but also includes psychological medical equipment...
After ensuring that they would not lose "without reason", the Chu army's hard power was enough to ensure that the balance of victory would tip in their favor.
On several major battlefields along the long front, the generals of the Chu Army often felt that their victories were inexplicable - they were clearly only trying to ensure that they would not be defeated, but as the battle went on, the enemy would either collapse or flee!
The reason is very simple. In the constant battles, the Chu army's hard power ensured that they were making a lot of money most of the time...
If this was a dice game, Wei had the dice of "1-6" and Chu had the dice of "5-30", so their capital was several times that of the other side, and the rule was that they were not allowed to leave the table until they lost all their money.
Therefore, the State of Chu did not need any advanced gambling skills. As long as it learned to never go all in, it could guarantee that it would be the winner!
Zhuge Liang, as a guest advisor, also followed Bai Tu and shared information from the headquarters. In the beginning, Zhuge Liang lived up to his "guest position" and was indeed checking for deficiencies and filling in the gaps to prevent the State of Chu from suffering a setback and causing the world to fall into war again - since the Han Dynasty could not be revived, Zhuge Liang still hoped to end it as soon as possible.
However, Zhuge Liang's several immature suggestions were not adopted, and they were indeed not a big deal , so Zhuge Liang did not insist on them.
And as time went by, Zhuge Liang also understood why his suggestions were not adopted - the State of Chu was more stable than himself and was truly unwilling to take any risk!
The strategy he came up with was at least somewhat risky Even if the benefits were extremely high, the Chu army would not choose it...
Two months later, when it was the tenth year of the Chuli period, Zhuge Liang had often fallen into deep thought - since he had nothing to do anyway, Zhuge Liang began to think about how the Wei State could break the impasse.
You have to know that Zhuge Liang had no advantage over the Wei State. He was at the headquarters of the Chu State and knew the dispatch, logistics and other situations of the Chu army very well.
However, it was precisely because of this that Zhuge Liang did not see any chance of victory!
In Zhuge Liang's view, even if Wei State unexpectedly defeated the main force of the Chu Army once, with strong logistical support, the Chu Army could fight and replenish troops without stopping the battle on the front line...
Especially in the dead of winter, the State of Wei still wants to gain an advantage?
Even the Wei army, which drew its soldiers from the north, had its combat effectiveness reduced by more than 50%, and logistics, transportation and marching became even more difficult.
However, even during the coldest days of December, the Chu State maintained 70% of its combat effectiveness, and its march was only delayed by the accumulated snow!
Before entering the twelfth lunar month, Wei State had been defeated one after another on many small battlefields on the front line...
None of them were defeated due to mistakes, but were crushed by absolute strength - after all, the side that suffered too many casualties in daily battles will naturally be defeated sooner or later.
This battle is destined to be the pinnacle of cold weapon tactics application...
Firstly, Wei already had many wise counselors and generals, and now that it was on the verge of extinction, naturally everyone's potential was tapped. Secondly... Chu really accepted the challenge without blushing or beating its heart, which was naturally unprecedented.
Thirdly, after this battle, cold weapon warfare should disappear forever in the mainstream of large-scale battles. Even if the Chu State continues to conquer the east and the west in the next ten or dozens of years, the natives of all parties will not have the strength to "fight a big war". Naturally, there will be no "cold weapon warfare"...
In November of the ninth year of the Chu calendar, the main force of the Chu army gradually crossed the Yellow River, and the fighting did not cease even in the middle of winter. The tenth year of the Chu calendar was also the first time that Bai Tu... did not hold a New Year's meeting at all!
In March of the tenth year, the weather finally warmed up as Cao Cao had hoped, but the defeat of the Wei army could no longer be stopped.
Moreover, there was no chance to gather the remaining troops and fight back - the entire front line, almost all the battlefields, were eaten alive by the Chu State, without any tricks, and naturally there was no chance to gather the remaining troops...
In April, Cao Cao was defeated in Ye City and suffered a headache, falling against the inner wall - the outer wall had been demolished.
On that day, Xun Yu offered surrender on behalf of the Chu army and the Chu army entered Yecheng.
In May, Bai Tu entered Yecheng and presented Wei with a letter of surrender, ordering Beidi and Youzhou to surrender...
