1884: Battle of Guangyang City (4)
At noon, Tuobayan led his personal guards to attack the Ming army's logistics supplies.
The result was no suspense. There were only a hundred soldiers who had escort logistics supplies left behind, and the rest were civilians responsible for leading mules and horses. When the attack began smoothly, the result was already destined.
Tuobayan ignored the people who had fled, and drove the mules and horses carrying grain together, unloaded the grain, and then burned them all with a fire.
In less than an hour, Tuobayan, who had completed the attack, disappeared into the dense jungle with his personal guards.
Of course, Tuobayan chose to launch an attack at noon, not only because his opponent would be very lazy at this time, but because he had made extremely meticulous calculations.
After being attacked, it took about half a day for He Weiping to get the news, and at this time, it was already dark. When He Weiping notified the news to Murong Hai, it would take another half a day or even a day. With this time buffer, it would be enough for Tuobayan to make the next step of making arrangements.
Of course, this attack was not just about burning the Ming army's food and forcing the enemy to retreat. From the beginning, Tuobayan targeted Murong Hai's mountain cavalry.
For Tuobayan, in the mountains of Hengduan Mountains, the thousands of mountain cavalry in Murong Hai were always the ones who were lit up in the back. As long as they were defeated, He Weiping would fall into trouble again just like he had been a few years ago. He could do his best to force the Ming army back again.
Murong Hai came out with a light cavalry and did not carry much military ration. He Weiping's infantry was more dependent on logistics. Without supplementary food, they would not have any other choice except retreat. If they wanted to retreat smoothly, they would inevitably be cut off by Murong Hai's mountain cavalry.
That's what he needs.
It is not easy to get in Hengduan Mountains, and of course it is not easy to withdraw.
By damaging Murong Hai, he achieved Tuobayan's goal. As for He Weiping's brigade of infantry, Tuobayan would not provoke them until the other party was exhausted.
However, they couldn't move in front of the mountains. They couldn't do it in less than ten days or half a month to withdraw from Paomaping. If they could smoothly remove Murong Hai and turn around, they wouldn't have the chance to find a way to move He Weiping.
As Tuobayan expected, when the back team's supplies were attacked and all the military rations were burned was sent to He Weiping's army, the battle-prone general was shocked.
It was only half a day between me and the logistics supplies, but the enemy successfully attacked. Before, the spy did not find any enemy team lurking near.
Nearly 10,000 infantry stopped moving forward, and without military rations, he naturally could not launch an attack. Apart from retreating, he could hardly think of any other way.
He suddenly understood why the Qi army opposite Murong Hai still fought to the death after suffering a significant loss. They just wanted to transfer the cavalry around Murong Hai and lure He Weiping to speed up.
Guangyang City is a tempting piece of fat. When the main force of the Five Thousand Qi Army is entangled with Murong Hai, it also means that Guangyang City's defense is extremely empty. And he happened to be trapped in this temptation. The Qi army also has mountain cavalry. They can also come and go in the forest like the wind, but they think they are in the hands of the victory, and ignore this point, and self-righteously judge the enemy's mountain cavalry must be in a fierce battle with Murong Hai.
If you are not careful with one move, you will lose all the game.
Nearly 10,000 troops have no supplies in the mountains, which is no joke.
He could not think of any other way except retreating. This time, the attack could only be a failure.
He gave a dejected order to stop moving forward, sent a messenger to inform Murong Hai of the news, ordering Murong Hai to quickly get rid of the enemy and move closer to him.
"Station on the spot and make preparations for all the defenses and sneak attacks." He Weiping said.
"General He, won't we retreat immediately?" A general whispered: "The team behind was attacked, and some people in the team were already in panic."
"Would it be so easy to retreat?" He Weiping sighed: "Without the protection of mountain cavalry, how could it be peaceful along the way? This time the rear team was attacked by Tuobayan, but he didn't expect that this person would actually arrive in Guangyang City in person. If he had known that he was in Guangyang, I should have been more cautious. This person was elusive in his use of troops. It would take more than ten days for us to withdraw back to Paomaping. In these ten days, he could have launched an attack on us at any time."
"Are we waiting here?"
"Of course not, retreat during the day and camp at night." He Weiping said: "When Murong Hai learns the news, he will naturally be able to catch up with us soon."
“Our food?”
"Tell all soldiers directly that we need to save food, eat a meal every day!" He Weiping said.
"Affect the order."
The general of Qi army, Sun Yang, finally endured another difficult day. Every day, his soldiers were decreasing. When the night came again, Murong Hai's attack finally came to an abrupt end. In the jungle, the smell of blood gradually dissipated with the mountain wind, and everything seemed to have returned to peace.
Sun Yang's three thousand infantrymen are now only more than a thousand, and they are scattered in the jungle. However, the remnants of the Qi cavalry that Murong Hai has been searching for have never appeared these days. Now, they have all gathered in a mountain depression.
There are more than 800 people left when we set out.
It was time to make an agreement with the general. Sun Yang decided to act according to Tuobayan's arrangement. Although he did not know whether General Tuoba's plan had succeeded, as a subordinate, all he could do was to obey orders. With such a huge price, he could only take a risk so that the sacrifice he had made before would not be in vain.
Their goal was to attack the Ming cavalry who came to reinforce with Tuobayan. In this battle, if they wanted to achieve the ultimate goal, they had to completely defeat Murong Hai. As long as Murong Hai's mountain cavalry battalion collapsed, they could regain their advantage in the Hengduan Mountains.
More than 800 riders were riding in the night and quietly left to the distance.
The moonlight passed through the woods and landed on the ground in the forest, casting bright marks, round, square or long. Between the mottled light and shadows, war horses stepped on the thick leaves and moved silently in the forest. People held their heads and horses held their mouths, and quietly leaned forward towards a unit marching in the night in the distance.
Tuobayan, who was walking in the top, stared at his target like a wolf. The number of opponents was more than him and his combat power was no weaker than him. The team behind him who had been trained for many years was only said to be no worse than the level of fighting horses in the forest. The only chance to win was to launch a sudden attack, succeed with one blow, quickly escape, and then look for a second chance.
This is the eternal law of combat for mountain cavalry.
He had to seize the opportunity. If He Weiping conveyed the news to these people, the raid would become a strong attack. This was also a part of his calculations. The news of the attack of the back team reached He Weiping. It was already evening. At this time, He Weiping could not send Harrier Eagle to deliver the message. At night, Harrier Eagle could not find his target. He could only send people to report the message quickly, and what he fought for was this time difference. In terms of familiarity with this mountain, he could be stronger than the other party, and at least two small paths were unknown to the Ming army.
Tuobayan's calculation this time cannot make any mistakes in time. So far, everything is still in control.
At this time, he couldn't help but think of Emperor Cao Yun's insightful opinion on combat. If any war requires extremely exquisite strategies, it is because it is at an absolute disadvantage. Because the strong side does not need any strategies, it just needs to push over. The reason why the strange plan is strange is that the possibility of failure accounts for more than 80% of the possibility of defeating the strong with weak points is that the legendary situation is too low, but the possibility of success is too low. Therefore, it is written in a big book on history books.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Isn't this what I am now? I have to use such a series of strategies to win a war. If any of them is wrong, I will lose. The only thing that makes him feel lucky is that everything is still under control.
The sound of horse hooves came from afar, which seemed particularly clear in the quiet night. The knight on the horse held a torch high, and although in the dark, he still rode wildly in the horse regardless of danger.
Tuobayan took a deep breath and touched the sweaty war horse under his crotch. He finally arrived a little bit in advance.
The knight holding the torch quickly caught up with the target in his sight. When he stopped, Tuobayan decisively issued an order to attack.
More than a thousand cavalrymen rode their horses in the night and rushed towards the target not far away.
It was dawn, and Murong Hai turned over and climbed down from the hammock. Flashes of war horns sounded in the forest. The cavalry quickly gathered together. When a new day came, they would start a new journey. The Qi army on the opposite side had already given up launching a sneak attack on them at night. They were also exhausted and needed to rest.
After simply having breakfast, they began to advance towards Guangyang City. The battle was still everywhere, but compared with the previous few days, the resistance of Qi army was obviously weakened a lot, and the mountain camp advanced extremely quickly towards Guangyang. From the map, Murong Hai felt that maybe tomorrow, he could see the walls of Guangyang City.
Chapter completed!