Chapter 113: Ambush Tactics (2)

  After returning to Zhao Jun's large camp, Gao Yuan also reported the results of this attack to Li Mu. After learning about it, Li Mu was overjoyed, and since the war between Zhao and Qin began, Li Mu had truly seen the opportunity to defeat the Qin army for the first time.

  Although the highlands this time out, the number of Qin troops eliminated is still less than 5,000 people, and the results obtained do not seem to be great. However, a large amount of grain and grass materials were burned, which is the most important thing. Li Mu is a person who is well-versed in military law, of course, he knows the importance of logistics supply to war. Without grain and grass, without military supplies, the number of Qin troops is still useless, no matter how strong the combat power is.

  Although Li Mu had already formulated a tactic of defending the front and attacking the Qin army's logistics supply line based on Gao Yuan's suggestion before the war, Li Mu still had some doubts about the effectiveness of this tactic. After all, since the Warring States period, various countries have been fighting continuously, but no one has used the tactic of attacking the enemy's logistics supply line, and the main reason is that the cavalry's ability in this era is not sufficient to undertake such a task.

  But the arrival of the plateau accelerated the development of this era's cavalry, and the key was not that he brought new-style horse equipment to enhance the combat effectiveness of the cavalry, but rather brought a new concept of how to use the cavalry, truly allowing the cavalry to fully exert its combat effectiveness. Through the results of this attack, the Zhao army finally found a way to defeat the Qin army.

  Of course, relying on a single attack is far from enough. After all, this one blow cannot cause fundamental damage to the Qin army. We must continue to launch attacks, continuously attacking the Qin army's supply lines, constantly striking at the Qin army's logistics supplies. If we can persist in this way for three or four months, it will make the Qin army feel that they cannot continue. By then, the Qin army may have no choice but to retreat.

  Kōgen spent three days in the large camp, where his soldiers and warhorses recovered their strength. He then immediately led his army out again to attack. Three days later, Kōgen's army launched another surprise attack on a Qin supply convoy, burning over 2,000 carts of military supplies.

  However, this time the Qin army was also on high alert and, upon learning of the Zhao army's attack, immediately temporarily suspended transportation. Wang Jian mobilized 50,000 cavalrymen, dividing them into five routes to launch a counterattack, determined to annihilate this branch of the Zhao army.

  The highlands also led the Zhao army, and the five branches of the Qin army launched a pursuit war. The two sides chased each other in the vast mountainous area between Jiuyuan and Jinyong, but under the command of Gao Yuan, the Zhao army turned and dodged, and after six days, the two sides fought four battles. The Zhao army won three and drew one, killing more than 3,000 Qin soldiers. Although the Qin army had prepared to surround the Zhao army three times, they all allowed the Zhao army to escape. Especially in the last time, it was very dangerous. At that time, the Qin army had concentrated four cavalry armies and surrounded the Zhao army from all sides. Gao Yuan commanded the Zhao army to take advantage of the darkness and inserted into the gap between two Qin armies, escaping from the encirclement of the Qin army. On the contrary, they launched a surprise attack on one branch of the Qin army from behind, killing more than 1,500 Qin soldiers. Then, before other branches of the Qin army arrived, they withdrew from the battle and returned to the Zhao army's main camp.

  Although this branch of Zhao's army only attacked a logistics team, it caused the Qin army to dare not transport supplies to the front line for more than ten days in a row. This had a great impact on the Qin army, after all, with nearly 400,000 troops, the amount of supplies consumed every day was staggering. Although a large amount of supplies were stored in the military camp, the space was limited and could only support about a month at most. Therefore, almost every four or five days, a batch of supplies had to be replenished, and for more than ten days without any supply, everyone's heart was a little panicked.

  Fortunately, this time it only stopped for twelve days. With the arrival of a new batch of supplies at Qin Jun's camp, everyone also breathed a sigh of relief. However, several main generals of the Qin army knew that Zhao Jun would not give up and would definitely come again.

  However, through this campaign, Wang Jian also found a temporary solution to deal with the situation. He dispatched 30,000 cavalrymen, divided into ten teams, to patrol back and forth on the roads between Ai and Jiuyong, while strengthening protection for the transport troops. The regulations were as follows: reduce the scale of transportation, adopt multiple transportation methods, limit each transport team's vehicles to no more than 2,000, ensure that the protecting Qin army reached a ratio of two soldiers per vehicle, arm the civilian laborers and have them use the same tactics as the Qin army when advancing. If they encountered an ambush by the Zhao army, they would immediately defend their position and wait for other Qin troops to arrive for reinforcement, and were strictly forbidden from fleeing on their own.

  The measures taken by Wang Jian, although they increased the burden on the Qin army, were quite effective. The third attack of the Zhao army encountered more trouble, and the highlands' continuous attacks on the Qin army's transportation team were met with strong resistance from the Qin army. Even civilians took up arms to resist the Zhao army's attacks, making it difficult for the Zhao army to defeat the Qin army guarding the transportation materials in a short period of time. As time dragged on, the Qin army's reinforcements arrived one after another, and the Zhao army had no choice but to abandon its attack and retreat. These two attacks only burned down dozens of vehicles.

  Just as the third attack on the transport team was about to succeed, Zhao's anxiety grew, and he failed to grasp the opportunity to retreat. He also hoped to destroy this transport team, but before he could break through the Qin army's defense, he encountered a siege by four branches of the Qin cavalry. Fortunately, the combat strength of the 2,000 new cavalry in the rear was extremely strong, and they broke out of the Qin army's encirclement, escaping with their lives, but suffering heavy losses of nearly 500 men, including over 150 deaths among the new cavalry. This was also the greatest loss suffered by the Zhao army since its attack began.

  Zhao Jun's third attack also did not yield much results, and this outcome made Wang Jian feel greatly relieved, thinking that he had already found a way to counter Zhao Jun's surprise attacks.

  After returning to the Zhao army's large camp, Gao Yuan and Li Mu also conducted a detailed discussion on the results of this attack. Although the third attack by the Zhao army was basically considered a failure, the tactic of surprise attack itself was not wrong, and it is still the main tactic that the Zhao army should use at present. However, in terms of overall application, some changes should be made, after all, the Qin army has already found a countermeasure.

  After the discussion, Zhao Jun also found a way to deal with it, which was to launch a single route attack. Attacking the Qin army's transportation team was not feasible, and multiple routes had to be launched simultaneously, making it difficult for the Qin army to cope. After three attacks, this branch of the Zhao army's cavalry gained rich experience in attacking and became familiar with the terrain. With these cavalry as the main force, they were divided into four branches of the Zhao army, each with 3,000 cavalrymen, taking turns to launch attacks again against the Qin army.

  Although the two thousand new cavalry were divided into four teams of five hundred each, weakening their combat effectiveness, they still retained the flexible and fast-changing tactical characteristics of the cavalry. At the same time, after the first three battles, Gao Yuan also discovered that concentrating all two thousand cavalry together was a waste in some ways. Therefore, dispersing them to use separately turned out to be better.

  Moreover, in terms of the tactics of surprise attacks on the Jurchen-led Jin army, Gao Zong formulated three rules based on the first three battles: Firstly, the Zhao army's surprise attack troops were to be divided into two branches as a group, taking turns to launch attacks. The interval between each group was five days, and the time limit for each attack was ten days. Within ten days, they had to return to the Zhao army's main camp for rest and replenishment, and then launch another attack after five days.

  Second, Zhao Jun's ambush on the transport team is best done at night. If a nighttime attack is not possible, then an ambush must be set up along the route of the transport team to strike from the side or rear after they have passed by. Under no circumstances should a direct assault be launched against the transport team. The objective of each attack is primarily to destroy supplies rather than kill Qin soldiers and laborers. It is not necessary to destroy an entire transport team's supplies in one go; destroying part of it counts as a victory. Then, look for other opportunities or launch multiple attacks on this transport team, or find another target to attack.

  Three is but to discover the Qin army's patrol cavalry, no matter how the battle results are, must immediately retreat and avoid the Qin army, not allowed to fight a prolonged battle. It is forbidden to engage in combat with the Qin army's patrol cavalry unless two or more Zhao army units have been concentrated. However, it is only permitted to use ambush tactics, and absolutely prohibited from engaging in frontal battles with the Qin army's patrol cavalry.

  Fourth, Zhao Jun's Jingying camp also sent a small force to attack the Qin army's main camp, drawing their attention and combining the front and side battlefields to support the raiding troops.

  Li Mu highly approved of the four-point plan formulated by Gao Yuan, especially the fourth point proposed by Gao Yuan, which he praised even more. This showed that Gao Yuan did not regard the attack on the Qin army's transportation team as a single tactic, but rather considered it from the overall perspective of the entire campaign, particularly with regards to Gao Yuan's phrase "combining front and side battlefields". Li Mu thought this was extremely ingenious and grasped the essence of using troops. As long as they adhered to these four points, the fourth attack by the Zhao army would be able to succeed.

  The highlands then launched another attack, raiding the Qin army's transport teams. Li Mu also ordered the Zhao army at Jiexiu to launch an attack on the Qin army. Although the number of Zhao soldiers in each battle was not large, the frequency of battles was high, and the Qin army had no choice but to fight back. As a result, within four or five days, both sides fought more than ten battles, with roughly equal victories and defeats, neither side gaining much advantage.

  But just at this time, Zhao Jun had already launched the fourth military operation to attack Qin's supply line, and this action was much larger than the previous three in both time and intensity.