Chapter 112: Ambush Tactics (1)

  The first to launch a strike against the Qin army was a rain of arrows. At this time, the Zhao army's line of battle was stretched extremely wide, almost along the entire length of the Qin army's formation, and was arrayed in a long line on both sides of the mountain path. As a result, every single soldier could shoot his bow and arrow, and for a moment the arrows flew like rain, all shooting out at the Qin army's supply troops on the mountain path.

  The Qin army's grain transport team did not expect to encounter an ambush by the Zhao army halfway, and the 5,000 Qin soldiers who accompanied them were more like supervisors urging the grain transport team than protectors. They were completely unprepared, and when arrows flew out from the woods on both sides of the mountain path, the Qin soldiers were stunned. It wasn't until the first wave of arrow fire fell that hundreds of Qin soldiers and civilians were shot down, dead or wounded. Only then did the others come to their senses and hastily take cover.

  Fortunately, the Qin army's grain carts were divided into two or three columns on the march, so there was still room to hide.

  At this time, Gao Yuan drew his sword and let out a loud roar, charging out of the forest on horseback. The sword flashed in the light, and two Qin soldiers had already been cut down to the ground. Behind him, Li Yinghong, Wu Hongxian, Zhong Sunqi, Wu Zhanpeng and others also followed suit, killing their way out. For a time, guns and knives clashed, and the Qin soldiers fell to the ground one after another. Of course, at this moment, the Zhao soldiers didn't care about anything else, not only killing the Qin soldiers but also stabbing and killing many of the civilian laborers who were following them.

  Although the Qin army fought hard against the Zhao army at this time, due to the fact that the Qin army was too scattered and lacked unified command, and the infantry could not compete with the cavalry, and the Zhao army also launched a surprise attack from ten directions, the Qin soldiers and civilians did not know how many troops the Zhao army had arrived, and they were indeed uncertain, as a result, the Qin army's resistance did not last long, and immediately collapsed and fled in all directions.

  However, after the Qin army fled, the Zhao army did not pursue them and continued to attack other Qin soldiers. At this time, another 800 cavalrymen also emerged from the forest and killed their way to the grain carts that had been scattered by the Qin army's defeat, starting to burn the grain.

  Each of the Zhao soldiers brought a jar of oil with them when they set out. The Zhao soldiers would first pour the oil on the grain carts, then ignite it, quickly setting the grain carts ablaze. Whether it was food or fodder, both were highly flammable, so once the fire started, it was difficult to extinguish. At first, it was just one or two carts, but as the Zhao army's advantage grew, more and more grain carts were set on fire, and soon the entire situation was under the control of the Zhao army.

  But the Qin army's grain carts were too numerous, with more than 7,000 vehicles, almost three times the number of Zhao troops. It took them over two hours to set all the grain carts on fire. By then, some of the earliest ignited carts had been completely burned out, forming a long dragon of fire that stretched for tens of miles. The horses and donkeys pulling the carts were not spared either; the Zhao army only kept 3,000 horses and slaughtered all the rest.

  The grain carts on the highlands were all set on fire, and the Qin soldiers and civilians had almost all run away. The mules and horses were also slaughtered. Even if they tried to rescue them, it was already too late. This grain transport team was basically finished. Therefore, Gao Yuan ordered the army to assemble and quickly withdraw from the battlefield.

  When the Qin army received the news and sent troops to rush to the scene, almost all the grain and grass carts were burned to ashes, and the Qin army and civilians who followed also ran away. However, this was already five days later.

  After returning to Zhao Jun's hiding place, Gao Yuan checked the troops and found that only 17 people had died in this battle, and another 33 were injured. This action can be said to have achieved perfect success. And Gao Yuan did not dare to stay in the original place, immediately leading the Zhao army to withdraw from the garrison.

  Because of Zhao's speed, by dusk they had already traversed a mountain ridge, retreated more than fifty li, and found a new place to camp. After resting for one night, the Zhao army immediately began searching again for a new target to attack.

  From Gaoyu to Jinyong, there is not only one road. The plateau raided the Qin army, which is one of them and also the largest one. There are several small roads, and the Qin army uses every road to transport supplies to the Jinyong camp. Of course, the plateau will not worry about finding a target.

  In the following three days, the highlands continued to attack two logistics teams of the Qin army. Although these two logistics teams were much smaller than the grain transport team, they transported military materials such as armor, ironware, leather, cloth, wood and so on. Especially tens of millions of arrows for bows and crossbows were also transported. Of course, all of them were eventually burned by the Zhao soldiers together with the carts. The donkeys and horses that pulled the carts were also slaughtered.

  The Qin army had always been skilled in the use of bows and crossbows, but this also created a huge demand for arrows and crossbow bolts. As a result, attacking these two supply convoys would deal a significant blow to the Qin army as well.

  At this time, the Qin army's Jingyang camp also received the news. Wang Jian was shocked when he learned about it. The Zhao army's move was too ruthless. If the Qin army didn't take action, within two or three months, they would be forced to retreat. Therefore, Wang Jian immediately mobilized 30,000 cavalrymen and divided them into six routes, with 5,000 men on each route, to search for this Zhao army.

  But from Juyue to Jingxing, it stretches for over 150 miles, and the width is also over 100 miles. The terrain is complex with many mountains and forests. The Zhao army was very familiar with this area, and now they had one man per three horses, so their speed was extremely fast. As a result, the Qin army searched for three days but couldn't find the Zhao army. On the contrary, the Zhao army took advantage of the opportunity to launch two surprise attacks on the Qin army, both of which ended in great victories, killing over 3,000 Qin soldiers.

  By the time other Qin troops reacted and rushed to surround the Zhao army, the Zhao army had already withdrawn from the battlefield and fled without a trace. This fully demonstrated the flexible movement of the cavalry, coming and going like flying, and thoroughly displaying its merits.

  At this time, the Plateau saw that this trip had already achieved a perfect victory, and the grain carried by the Zhao army was almost eaten up. It was decided to return to the Jinyong camp. Now the soldiers of the Zhao army are equipped with three horses per person, so the speed is extremely fast. After a day and night of rapid march, they bypassed the Qin army's camp again and returned to the Zhao army's camp.

  However, although Zhao Jun returned, Qin Jun still did not dare to be careless and continued to search the battlefield for several more days before withdrawing his troops back to camp.

  Zhao Jun's attack this time intercepted three logistics teams of the Qin army, ambushed two teams of the Qin army, burned a large amount of grain, fodder and military supplies of the Qin army, killing nearly 6,000 soldiers and civilians of the Qin army, killing more than 15,000 horses, mules and livestock, with a total value that can exceed 4,000 taels of gold. This indeed dealt a heavy blow to the Qin army and the State of Qin.

  Zhao Jun's raid on Qin's supply line also brought lasting aftereffects to the State of Qin that continued until the end of this war.

  Because according to the laws of Qin, the transportation team was robbed, and the Qin soldiers who protected the transportation team, as well as the civilians who escorted it, were all to be punished. However, this time the scope of the incident was too broad, involving tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians. Whether or not to punish these people posed a huge problem for Qin, which had a lasting impact on the country for many years.

  Of course, these are all things that happened later. As for the current situation, Qin's national strength is strong, and this loss can be completely afforded. Moreover, there were not many grain and material reserves in the large camp of the Qin army, and there would be no shortage of materials for the time being. However, Zhao Jun's attack this time still set off an alarm clock for the Qin army. After all, if Zhao Jun could launch a first attack, he could also launch a second attack. If he really came several more times, the Qin army would indeed not be able to bear it. But Wang Jian also knew that Zhao Jun would never give up such actions. This time, retreating back to the Zhao army's large camp was just to go back and reorganize.

  King Jian first ordered the troops to retreat to their camp, and then immediately transported supplies to the Qin army's camp at Jinyong, trying to accumulate as many supplies as possible in the camp. At the same time, King Jian also gathered his generals for an emergency meeting to discuss how to respond if the Zhao army attacked the Qin army's supply lines again.

  But the Qin generals discussed for two days in a row and still couldn't come up with a good plan, because Zhao was one of the first countries to establish a cavalry among the vassal states, and its strong cavalry was unmatched by other countries. In fact, after these battles, the Qin army also captured several new horse armor from the Zhao army, but the Qin army didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just a special decoration for the Zhao army's cavalry.

  However, there was one thing that the Qin army realized, which was that the tactics used by the Zhao army were completely different from before, but they fully utilized the characteristics and advantages of the cavalry, bringing out the speed, mobility, flexibility and variability of the cavalry to the fullest extent, making it impossible for them to defend against. And thinking back to before the war began, the Zhao army had marched 150 miles to launch a surprise attack on the Qin army, and also continuously attacked the Qin army along the way, which made the Qin generals thoroughly understand that cavalry could be used in this way too.

  But understanding Zhao Jun's tactics is one thing, and how to deal with this tactic is another matter. Although the Qin army's generals have their own opinions and offer strategies, they are not good methods. Although the Qin army used some strategies during the advance, which were very effective in dealing with the Zhao army's ambushes, these strategies were clearly useless for the logistics transport team, so even Wang Jian was at a loss this time.

  Of course, Zhao Jun would not let Qin Jun off just because he had no way to respond, and soon launched a second attack on Qin Jun.