Chapter 104: Zhao Qin's First Battle (3)
Under Zhao's tactics, the Qin army's chariots were simply no match, and although the two sides had only been engaged for a short time, the Qin army's chariots were overturned one after another by the Zhao army's cavalry, losing nearly half in no time. Although the situation on the battlefield was still temporarily at a stalemate, the longer it lasted, the less likely the Qin army would be able to hold out, and soon the chariots of the left and right wings of the Zhao army also moved into action, clearly hoping to take advantage of the momentum and defeat the Qin army's left and right wings in one fell swoop.
If both the left and right armies fail, then there is no need to fight on the central route, and this battle will undoubtedly end in defeat for the Qin army. Wang Jian was not a hesitant person, so he immediately ordered the other infantry of the left and right armies to prepare for battle, and also dispatched 100 of the 200 war chariots from the central army, and sent out the 2,000 cavalry on the central route, divided into two teams, to reinforce the left and right armies, hoping to use the Qin army's absolute numerical advantage to win.
Because Wang Jian also saw clearly, Zhao Jun's central route did not have cavalry, only 100 war chariots. Therefore, it was enough to reserve 100 war chariots in his own central army to resist the Zhao army. The cavalry and chariots can be transferred to support both wings.
At the same time, Wang Jian also ordered the central route of the Qin army to start moving and launch an attack on the central route of the Zhao army. However, this time Wang Jian did not deploy war chariots, but instead deployed infantry. Because after deploying war chariots and cavalry to support the left and right armies, the war chariots in the central route of the Qin army were no longer advantageous against the Zhao army, and the number of infantrymen in the central route of the Qin army was 7,000, while the Zhao army had only around 4,000. Therefore, if both sides engaged in an infantry battle, the chances of the Qin army winning were still very high.
However, Zhao Jun's central army also placed the war chariots after the infantry, apparently intending to engage in an infantry battle with the Qin army. This shows that the Zhao army also had sufficient confidence in its own infantry. But at this time, Wang Jian didn't have many other options and could only hope that the Qin army would be able to rely on its superior military strength to defeat the Zhao army.
The three armies of the Qin army moved together and forced their way towards the Zhao army.
But because the battlefield was still close to the Zhao army at this time, the Qin army needed some time to reach the battlefield, especially to reinforce the chariots on both sides. At this time, they did not dare to abandon the infantry and advance alone, but could only slow down the pace of advancement, allowing the infantry to keep up.
At this time, on the battlefields to the left and right, Zhao's chariots had already joined the battlefield. Therefore, Gao Yuan immediately ordered both armies to withdraw their cavalry from the battlefield, return to their original units, reorganize, and hand over the current battlefield to the chariots.
As the horn sounded, Zhao's cavalry retreated from the battlefield and returned to the rear array, leaving the battlefield to the chariots. In terms of mobility, the cavalry was far superior to the chariots, advancing and retreating at will. However, after the cavalry's attack, more than half of the 200 Qin chariots that had come out to fight were damaged, and the remaining chariots were also thrown into chaos by the Zhao army. As a result, when the Zhao army's chariots joined the battlefield, the remaining Qin chariots were still no match, and they were defeated by the Zhao army's chariots. Fortunately, reinforcements from the Qin army arrived at this time, and the 50 chariots that joined the battlefield managed to stabilize the situation. The chariots of both sides galloped back and forth on the battlefield, and for a time, it was difficult to distinguish between them. The cavalry temporarily stopped, waiting for an opportunity.
But Wang Jian knew that this was only achieved after the cavalry of the Zhao army had left the battlefield, and it was clear that the cavalry of the Zhao army was now regrouping and waiting to return to the battlefield. Although both wings of the Qin army also had a thousand cavalrymen each, the Qin army's cavalry was far inferior to that of the Zhao army in terms of numbers and combat effectiveness. Therefore, as soon as the Zhao army's cavalry returned to the battlefield, they could immediately change the situation, while the only advantages of the Qin army were its numerical superiority and the greater breakthrough it had achieved on the central battlefield.
At this time, the infantry of the Qin army's central route had also approached the Zhao army, and the distance between the two sides was less than 100 meters. The infantry of the Zhao army also adjusted its formation to meet them head-on.
Zhao Jun's middle road had four thousand infantrymen, who were actually plateau-trained infantrymen. At this time, they also formed small groups of fifteen people each, arranged in a Mandarin duck formation, and lined up three rows deep. Each row consisted of eighty teams, with about three meters between the left and right sides of each team, and the entire formation stretched out for over 300 meters. Since each row was staggered, after the formation opened up, it looked roughly the same scale as the Qin army's.
After the distance between the two sides narrowed to thirty meters, the crossbowmen behind Zhao's formation shot arrows at the Qin army, and the halberdiers also threw javelins at the Qin army, immediately killing and wounding a large number of them.
Actually, the crossbow had always been a strong point of the Qin army, because the cost of producing crossbows was very high, and only a powerful country like Qin could afford to equip its troops with large numbers of crossbows. However, the Qin army, like other armies, basically had separate crossbow units, which could only be effective in long-range battles, but once close combat began, the crossbows became ineffective. Therefore, when the Qin army launched an attack, there was not much room for the crossbowmen to play a role. After all, at this time, there were no tactics for mixed troops warfare.
But the Mandarin Duck Formation tactics used by Zhao Jun is a flexible and mobile mixed troops combat tactic. Although it looks simple on the surface, with just over a dozen people using different weapons to engage in mixed combat, this is actually a tactic created by Qi Jiguang after summarizing China's ancient warfare methods for nearly two thousand years. Qi Jiguang himself was also a military genius of his time. Therefore, the power of the Mandarin Duck Formation he created is extremely great, and it can fully exert the power of various weapons in coordinated combat.
The Qin army was caught off guard by a barrage of arrows from the Zhao army, but retreating was not an option now. They could only press on with renewed vigor, as the distance between the two sides had narrowed to less than thirty meters. As long as they could engage the enemy in close combat, the enemy's bows and arrows would be rendered useless. Moreover, every Qin soldier thought that archers were incapable of close combat, and since the Zhao army was already outnumbered by the Qin army, with a large number of archers among them, there were even fewer soldiers who could fight at close range. Therefore, if the Qin army could just charge through this short distance and engage the Zhao army in close combat, they would be able to defeat them in one fell swoop.
It was with this idea that the Qin army, braving the arrows of the Zhao army, advanced bravely. Fortunately, at this time the distance between the two sides was not far, so although the Qin army lost some soldiers, they quickly pushed forward to the front of the Zhao army.
But the Qin army at the forefront soon discovered that in front of the Zhao army, there was a row of shield-bearing soldiers standing in pairs, and slightly behind them on both sides were long-halberd-wielding soldiers. The two halberds stretched out from either side of the shields, blocking the Qin army, which also stopped in its tracks and engaged in fierce combat with the Zhao army. Just then, in the third and fourth rows of the Zhao army, there were two long-spear-wielding soldiers who thrust their spears from behind the front-row soldiers towards the Qin army, inflicting heavy casualties on the Qin soldiers who were unable to defend themselves in time.
Behind Zhao's army, four crossbowmen shot arrows at the Qin army one after another. Although the distance between the two sides was only over ten meters, if it were under normal circumstances, the Qin soldiers could have rushed up and killed Zhao's crossbowmen with just a couple of steps. However, due to the presence of Zhao's shield-bearing soldiers and long halberd-wielding soldiers in front, as well as the attacks from four long spear-wielding soldiers, the Qin soldiers were unable to break through Zhao's defenses for the time being and could only watch helplessly as Zhao's crossbowmen shot arrow after arrow at them. Additionally, two double-bladed axe-wielding soldiers occasionally threw out javelins.
At such a close distance, the arrows and crossbow bolts were almost always on target, while the Qin soldiers could only listen to their fate, hoping that the archers' targets were not themselves. Because just as the Qin soldiers were dodging the arrows, there were four long spear soldiers who also killed mercilessly, while the Qin army's counterattack was blocked by two shield-bearing soldiers and two long halberd soldiers in front of the Zhao army, unable to attack the long spear soldiers.
The result was that at the beginning of the war, it was almost a one-sided situation. Under the attack of the Zhao army, the Qin soldiers fell down one after another, either being stabbed to death by the long spearmen or shot by the crossbowmen, and were either dead or injured, while the Zhao army was almost unscathed.
In fact, this is not because the Qin army did not fight hard or that their soldiers were inferior to those of Zhao. In these aspects, the Qin army was not inferior to the Zhao army. It's just that the Zhao army now has a system of warfare, with 15 people forming a complete combat system, conducting coordinated operations. Although the Qin army cannot be said to be fighting individually, they have not formed a cohesive combat unit either. Moreover, this is also the first time the Qin army has encountered such a style of warfare, so in the face of the Zhao army's overall combat, the Qin army, which was once invincible, suddenly appears vulnerable.
The battle had been going on for about ten minutes, and the Qin army was already at a disadvantage. However, so far, only the first row of the Zhao army's Mandarin duck formation squad had engaged with the Qin army, and they were mostly stationary, without advancing forward.
Just then, in the rear of Zhao's army, the horn sounded and the second row of the Mandarin Duck Formation squadrons advanced from the gaps between the first-row squadrons, joining the battle array and gradually advancing forward, crossing over the first row to become the main force fighting fiercely against the Qin army.
The first row of the Mandarin duck formation team that fell to the back immediately swapped positions with the third row, giving up the second position to the third row and retreating to the last row. The third row of the Mandarin duck formation team repeated what the second row had done, bursting through the gap in the front row, jumping over the front row, and engaging in battle with the Qin army. After a brief adjustment, the first row that retreated immediately followed up again.
In this way, the three rows of Zhao troops alternated in a steady advance, not at all chaotic, fully demonstrating that the Zhao soldiers had undergone rigorous training. The Qin army was killed repeatedly and retreated, unable to withstand the Zhao army's charge. Although the Zhao army did not move quickly, they advanced step by step, steadily and surely, for over ten minutes of fierce battle, pushing forward a distance of more than twenty meters. Almost all the bodies left on the ground were those of Qin soldiers, with only a small number being Zhao soldiers.
