met free Chapter 358 A mistake
Chapter 358 A mistake
After learning the news, Zhang Heng immediately stopped the team and quickly issued an order to turn the rear team into the front team, preparing to evacuate in the direction they came from.
At this moment, a person came running hurriedly from behind.
"Report, there are cavalry attacking from behind. It's hard to tell exactly how many there are, but we estimate it to be around 40,000 to 50,000."
When everyone heard this, a chill suddenly ran down their spines.
The enemy obviously outnumbered their own, and they were highly mobile cavalry. It was not easy for them, the infantry, to resist.
Since they are cavalry, they must be moving very fast and arrive in a flash.
How can this be good?
Zhang Heng's heart was instantly in a panic.
"General, under the current circumstances, we can no longer take the main road." An officer beside Zhang Heng said anxiously.
"What you mean is..." Zhang Heng frowned and looked at the assistant officer anxiously.
"Look," the lieutenant pointed to the modest mountain range beside them. "If we follow this mountain range, we can find another route that might allow us to avoid the enemy."
To deal with cavalry, hiding in the woods is undoubtedly the best strategy, as this way you can maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.
There was no time for hesitation. Zhang Heng dismounted and shouted, "All troops, listen up! Move up the mountain!"
After saying this, he threw the horse to the groom and ran into the woods first.
Tens of thousands of people poured into the woods, instantly crushing a large area of small trees and weeds on the roadside.
However, after everyone disappeared into the jungle, it didn't seem so abrupt.
Some carriages and supplies were helplessly abandoned on the roadside, while important supplies such as food were all taken away.
When the team led by Mou Lihei arrived, they saw a lot of supplies abandoned on the roadside and the ground was full of trampled traces, so they easily knew where they were going.
"Chief, should we continue the pursuit?" A Qiang cavalryman looked at Moulihei and asked.
"This terrain is extremely unfavorable for our cavalry. Even if we dismount and give chase, it will be difficult to catch up. Let's turn back."
Moulihei was full of helplessness. He never expected that the army of the Great Zhou was so cowardly that they didn't even have the courage to fight. He could only lead the team back the same way with regret.
......
On the other side, Dai Gongshan led his men and arrived early on Qin Xiangqian's return road, and carefully set up ambushes on both sides of the road.
Qin Xiangqian led his troops forward, but his speed was quite slow, and he was swaying along the way, while also waiting for Zhang Heng's army to retreat from the rear.
At noon, we rested for more than an hour, and when we headed back, it was already the end of the afternoon.
It was not until he encountered an ambush at Daigong Mountain that Qin Xiangqian realized that something was wrong.
Qin Xiangqian at least had more than 20,000 men under his command. Although the enemy ambushed him with more than 80,000 men, it was difficult for them to exert their full strength in the fight on this narrow mountain road.
At this time, the baggage carts became a kind of defensive fortification. Although the enemy came with great force, they did not have the same tenacious attack power as the formation in close combat.
Qin Xiangqian knew that it was difficult to compete with them, so he could only command his troops to retreat while fighting.
In the valley, the sound of killing shook the sky and echoed endlessly.
However, the Qiang army could only launch attacks on the narrow official roads.
Fighting and retreating at the same time, it is really difficult to annihilate all 20,000 people in this complex terrain.
The casualties on both sides were almost equal.
No one has an easy time.
Ten thousand of the enemy fell, and about twelve thousand of our own men were also killed.
In the end, Qin Xiangqian, like Zhang Heng, also led everyone to retreat to the mountain.
The food and other supplies left on the battlefield could only become a mess and cold corpses after the war.
The two sides just exchanged positions, and the originally empty city, although guarded by more than 2,000 Qiang soldiers, was instantly occupied by the troops brought by Qin Xiangqian.
After cleaning up the battlefield in Daigongshan, he remembered the whereabouts of the numerous supplies, so he led his men to return to the empty city.
......
"General, we have spotted a large number of people three miles outside the city gate, at least over 30,000."
"Over 30,000?" Qin Xiangqian stood up suddenly. He was obviously very sensitive to this number. If it was really his team, there would be no way he had no prior knowledge of it.
"Everyone prepare to fight, and then find out who it is."
"Yes, I will take your orders."
The man saluted Qin Xiangqian and hurried away.
The city wall is not very high, and this place is not a major transportation route. The wall is about two zhang high and twelve zhang thick, which is enough to simply defend against attacks from mountain bandits.
Facing the Qiang soldiers who were good at attacking cities, they were simply vulnerable.
Qin Xiangqian walked to the top of the city wall and ordered the flags to be lowered. Everyone had to take off their armor. There were only a few soldiers on guard, and they all squatted under the parapets.
A team of 30,000 people came slowly, carrying some food and other supplies, but they had no intention of attacking the city.
This is the vanguard team that arrived with the supplies seized from Daigong Mountain.
They looked at the empty city and saw the guards with disheveled hair, which they found very strange.
"Are they hot? Why aren't they even wearing a felt hat?"
"Is it hot?"
"yeah%……"
The people who came were laughing and joking with each other, teasing the people on the city wall.
Qin Xiangqian knew very well that there were only more than 10,000 people who had just escaped. Facing an enemy force several times larger than his own, he had no choice but to take the enemy by surprise and attack them when they were unprepared.
As he was thinking about it, he saw these teams starting to panic, shouting something at them.
"General, it seems another army is coming up behind them, and they are quite large."
Hearing the shout from the soldier on the city wall, Qin Xiangqian quietly peeked outside and indeed saw a figure.
Their flags turned out to be the troops of King Qin of the Great Zhou.
Could it be...
Qin Xiangqian suddenly thought that these were most likely Zhang Heng's men.
The troops under the city were obviously not elite troops. Not only were they in a panic, they had even begun to abandon their transport vehicles and rushed towards the county town.
Seeing that he had entered the attack range.
Qin Xiangqian leaped up, holding a bow and arrow, muttering to himself: "I will send you to the west first."
The first arrow he shot was a whistle arrow, which was the arrow that gave the troops the order to attack.
Seeing this, the others also stood up, drew their bows and arrows, and shot at the enemy troops under the city.
A rain of arrows fell into the enemy group, and countless enemy soldiers fell to the ground after being shot.
Now let's talk about Zhang Heng.
They discovered that someone was transporting supplies towards the county town and thought that the Qiang soldiers had taken the wrong road, so they wanted to take the opportunity to rob them.
I never thought it would be a blessing in disguise.
Seeing that the defense had been deployed on the city wall, he continued to lead his men to charge towards the Qiang soldiers without hesitation.
The Qiang soldiers were attacked from both sides and were instantly thrown into disarray.
The Qiang soldiers, who were not very strong to begin with, became disorganized and fled in all directions, soon leaving behind more than a thousand corpses. The battle ended there.
After understanding the situation clearly.
Qin Xiangqian and Zhang Heng discussed it and felt that it was not advisable to stay here for long.
So the two armies joined forces, left the empty city again, and hurried towards the east.