Chapter 103: Zhao Qin's First Battle (2)

  But the current situation does not allow Wang Jian to think too much, because the Qin army is the main challenging party, and the troops invested are far more than the Zhao army. Therefore, according to the usual practice, the Qin army should launch an attack first. Of course, the Qin army can also choose not to attack, waiting for the Zhao army to take the initiative to attack, but if the Zhao army does not move, both sides will be stuck in a stalemate, which is obviously unfavorable to the Qin army's morale, and it is also a significant blow to the soldiers' spirit.

  King Jianke was not a hesitant commander, he knew that the Zhao army would never take the initiative to attack, and the longer he dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be for the Qin army. Therefore, King Jianke also immediately ordered the 200 war chariots of the left and right armies to launch an attack on the Zhao army first.

  At this time, Meng Wu said: "General, if we send out all the war chariots of both wings at once, won't it be a bit too risky? Li Mu's deployment must have some other trickery. We can't be unprepared. Why not send 50 war chariots to launch a probing attack on the Zhao army and see how they react?"

  Wang Jian shook his head and said, "No need to, if Li Mu really has some tricks up his sleeve, we'll only send a small number of chariots into battle. Li Mu won't be able to bring them out at all. The left and right armies have 100 chariots each, it's very easy to defeat 50 chariots. Therefore, we can only mobilize the main force of the left and right armies, launch a full-scale attack, and force Li Mu to use all his tricks. And even if this battle is lost, it won't affect the overall situation. At least we'll be clear about what methods Li Mu has. To be honest, I'm also looking forward to seeing what tricks Li Mu has up his sleeve."

  Meng Wu also nodded in agreement, and he was very impressed with Wang Jian. Although Wang Jian was known for his steady and stable military tactics, when it came to the time of real action, Wang Jian would never be indecisive, otherwise he wouldn't have become the best general after Bai Qi of Qin State.

  As the horn in the Qin army formation sounded, the war chariots on both wings of the Qin army moved forward and pressed towards the Zhao army.

  At this time, the distance between the two sides was about 500-600 meters, exceeding the range of any long-range weapon in this era, and also conducive to the galloping of chariots. However, due to the relatively far distance, the chariots would not rush at full speed from the beginning, but instead move slowly and gradually accelerate to conserve horse power. Although a chariot was equipped with four war horses, the chariot itself was extremely heavy, and the burden on the war horses was no less than that of cavalry. If they rushed at full force from the start, by the time both sides engaged in battle, the horses' physical strength would have been consumed by nearly half.

  The soldiers in the chariot formation also closely followed the chariots, advancing with them. In the Zhao army's formation, the soldiers stood firmly in place, watching as the Qin army approached them. The contrast between the two sides' stillness and movement was very striking.

  As the two sides drew closer, the Qin army's chariots also began to gradually accelerate, and the soldiers started to jog alongside the advancing chariots. The formation of the chariots also began to spread out, increasing the distance between each chariot. Meanwhile, the Zhao army remained motionless.

  At this time, in the Zhao army's formation, Gao Yuan also stood on the chariot, closely observing the approaching Qin army. The deployment and plan of the Zhao army today were the result of Li Mu and Gao Yuan's joint discussion. At the same time, Li Mu decided to let Gao Yuan command this battle, while he himself only watched from the side. Of course, when necessary, Li Mu would also give Gao Yuan some advice, but the command of this battle was still mainly in Gao Yuan's hands. Moreover, in order to allow Gao Yuan to take charge freely, Li Mu also told Gao Yuan that even if he failed in this battle, it didn't matter, as long as he acted according to his own ideas.

  Gao Yuan did not expect that Li Mu would entrust him with the heavy responsibility of commanding the entire army from the very beginning. He had thought that he would have to follow Li Mu for a few battles before having the opportunity to command independently. However, since Li Mu had said so, Gao Yuan did not decline and instead felt eager to give it a try. After all, in his free time, Gao Yuan had often thought about how he would fight if he had the chance to command independently, and he already had a plan in mind. Moreover, with Li Mu by his side, he knew that Li Mu would offer guidance whenever needed. What was there to be afraid of with such a good opportunity?

  At this time, the Qin army's left and right wings advanced to within over a hundred meters of the Zhao army's formation. The war horses began to gallop and the chariots accelerated their speed, soon reaching top velocity. The soldiers following behind the chariots could not keep up with their speed and started to fall behind. This was also a common tactic in chariot warfare: when approaching the enemy, the chariots would outrun the infantry, fighting independently while the infantry followed afterwards.

  Although Gao Yuan was in the middle of the army, he was very concerned about the advancement of the Qin army's left and right wings. Moreover, before the battle began, the Zhao army had also set up distance markers on the battlefield, so Gao Yuan was also very clear about the distance of the Qin army's advance. Therefore, he immediately issued his first order in this battle.

  As the horn in Zhao's army sounded, the archers and crossbowmen on both sides of the front row opened their bows and shot arrows at the Qin army's chariots for the first round of attack.

  Zhaoyi had a thousand archers and crossbowmen in each of the two armies, and there were also six or seven hundred archers and crossbowmen among the soldiers equipped with war chariots. When they all launched an attack, their momentum was not small. For a time, arrows flew like flying snowflakes, shooting at the Qin army's war chariots.

  The Qin soldiers on the chariots could, of course, hold up their shields to block the arrows, and they also had the chariots as cover, so the arrows did not cause them much harm. However, the war horses were at the mercy of heaven. Although the vital parts of the Qin army's war horses were protected by leather armor, there were still many exposed areas, and the defensive power of the leather armor was far inferior to that of bronze armor. Moreover, the arrow shower from the Zhao army was too dense, so under the impact of the arrows, the war horses pulling more than twenty chariots at the front were shot and fell to the ground one after another, causing the chariots to overturn.

  However, due to the distance between the Qin army's chariots being quite large, although the front chariots overturned, the rear chariots still had enough time to change direction and avoid them, then proceed forward, of course at a slower speed.

  Up to this point, the development was also within Wang Jian's expectation. Because Zhao Jun put infantry in front of war chariots and waited for Qin army to launch the first attack, it was clear that they wanted to use bows and arrows to attack Qin army's war chariots first, and these losses were also the price that the attacking side had to pay. Of course, this price was also within the acceptable range. After all, Zhao Jun could not rely solely on bows and arrows to stop the charge of Qin army's war chariots, so Zhao Jun's next choice was either to fight back or wait for Qin army's war chariots to rush into Zhao Jun's formation.

  Just as the Qin army advanced to within fifty meters of the Zhao army, in the center of the Zhao army, the horn sounded again, and on both sides, the cavalry broke out of their formation and charged at the Qin chariots.

  In the rear ranks of the Qin army, Wang Jian and others also understood that the Zhao army was going to use cavalry to deal with the war chariots. However, their doubts in their hearts had not been resolved. Because in this era, horse breeding was not perfect, and the combat effectiveness of cavalry was not strong, so cavalry were generally only used for surprise attacks, and the weapons used were mainly bows and arrows, and truly used for close combat were not many. Compared with the combat power of war chariots, it is even more far apart. Generally speaking, in a head-on battle, one war chariot can easily defeat five or more, even ten cavalrymen.

  At this time, the losses of the Qin army on both sides were around 20 vehicles, which did not have a significant impact on the combat effectiveness of the Qin army. Therefore, in people's impression, cavalry could not resist chariots.

  However, Wang Jian and Meng Wu did not forget that just over a dozen days ago, Zhao Jun sent out a cavalry unit to raid Chou You, and had previously defeated a Qin army cavalry unit. It is said that this unit of Zhao army cavalry has extremely strong combat power, far surpassing the Qin army. At the time, Wang Jian also inferred that this should be an elite cavalry unit specially trained by Li Mu. So now the Zhao army sent out to fight against the war chariots should be this cavalry unit. In other words, Li Mu thought that this cavalry unit could withstand the war chariots, or he trained this cavalry unit specifically to deal with the Qin army's war chariots.

  Wang Jian and Meng Wu exchanged a glance, both seeing the other's thoughts. Now was the perfect opportunity to see for themselves just how strong this cavalry unit was, whether it could rival the war chariots.

  When Zhao's cavalry launched a surprise attack, they were less than 50 meters away from the Qin army's chariots. After breaking through, they quickly encountered the Qin army's chariots and both sides immediately engaged in fierce combat. However, as soon as the two armies clashed, the Qin army's chariots overturned one after another, seemingly no match for Zhao's cavalry.

  This also made Wang Jian and Meng Wu greatly surprised, but because the current battlefield is located on one side close to the Zhao army, about 400-500 meters away from the main formation of the Qin army. In addition, the chariots were galloping, the war horses were running wildly, and the dust raised also blocked part of the view, so Wang Jian and Meng Wu could not see the overall situation on the battlefield very clearly.

  But on the battlefield, the Qin army was very clear about how the Zhao army was fighting.

  In fact, in the two armies on Zhao Jun's left and right, there are three cavalry units with 500 cavalrymen each, including a new cavalry unit of 500 men. The standard personnel is 1,500 people, but because the new cavalry unit is not full at present, there are actually more than 1,400 people.

  After entering the battlefield, both new and old cavalry immediately deployed, with at least five people forming a team, attacking the Qin army's war chariots separately. Moreover, the five cavalrymen also divided their work, with two holding long spears to cover each other, while the other three used bows and arrows, mainly targeting the horses pulling the chariots.

  Because the distance between the two sides was too close, almost within ten meters, and each small team had three archers, not only was the hit rate extremely high, but the force of the arrows shot out was also extremely strong, with a strong penetration power against leather armor. Therefore, as soon as the two sides engaged in battle, the war horses pulling the Qin army's chariots immediately fell to the ground, struck by arrows.

  Four war horses, as long as one of them is shot and falls to the ground, even if the other three are intact, it will be difficult to move again. If lucky, the chariot can still stop and slowly drag on, but if unlucky, it will directly overturn. Later, Zhao's cavalry arrived and killed the Qin soldiers who fell from the overturned chariot.

  After the Qin army's chariots overturned, they were all stunned and could only wait for death. Although some of the chariots stopped, after losing the impact force of the chariot, the combat effectiveness of the Qin soldiers on the chariot was greatly reduced, and they were also at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. Five Zhao cavalrymen against three Qin soldiers who had stopped their chariots would certainly have a much higher chance of winning.