Chapter 114: Ambush Tactics (Three)

  Although the Zhao army's attack on Jiyuan's large camp greatly distracted the Qin army, Wang Jian did not weaken the Qin army's investment in the supply line. The ten branches of the Qin army's patrol troops continued to patrol back and forth along the supply line. Of course, the Qin army also had enough troops to protect its own supply line, and the transport teams accelerated their long-distance delivery. After all, during the first two months of attacks, the Qin army had lost a lot of supplies, so they needed to seize the time to replenish them.

  Of course, during this period of time, Wang Jian was not without thinking that such a passive response to the Zhao army's attack would be very unfavorable for the Qin army. The Qin army must find an opportunity to take the initiative to launch a counterattack in order to regain the initiative on the battlefield, and at least not allow the Zhao army to completely grasp the initiative on the battlefield.

  But Zhao Jun can attack the Qin army's supply line, while the Qin army cannot do the same. The reason lies in the fact that the Zhao army occupies an absolute geographical advantage, with the continuous Taihang Mountains blocking the Qin army's detour route, making it impossible for the Qin army to circle around to the rear of the Zhao army like the Zhao cavalry did, and destroy the Zhao army's supply line. This is also the inherent advantage of the Zhao army.

  Of course, the Qin army was not completely without opportunities, but another important factor was the concept of the Qin army. Because in ancient China, until the Han Wu Emperor period, the Han Dynasty and Xiongnu wars, cavalry officially became the main force of the army on the Chinese battlefield, and the concept of large-scale, long-distance cavalry movement warfare appeared. If the commander-in-chief of the Qin army was Bai Qi or Li Mu at that time, he might have dared to try boldly, but Wang Jian was not a famous general who could create new tactics, and he was known for being cautious in using troops. Therefore, it would be difficult for him to adopt the tactics of the Zhao army without sufficient confidence, which is indeed a bit too much to ask.

  In this case, Wang Jian is also very hard to find a way for the Qin army to get rid of the passive situation and take the initiative. Therefore, Wang Jian can only respond to the actions of the Zhao army step by step. However, under each blow from the Zhao army, the Qin army was able to find a way to counterattack, on the one hand due to Wang Jian's ability, and on the other hand also thanks to the strong national strength of Qin.

  But Zhao Jun's fourth attack gave the Qin army a new problem.

  Zhao Jun's fourth strike, the military strength suddenly expanded four times, in theory, can simultaneously attack four Qin army transport teams, although the Qin army has ten patrol cavalry, but also can not win, sometimes to rescue a transport team, there will be several Qin armies rushing over, but sometimes one transport team will be attacked by two Zhao armies.

  Moreover, this time Zhao Jun also changed his strategy and no longer aimed to annihilate an entire grain transport team. As long as he could annihilate a part of it, that was enough. Although in terms of tactics, injuring ten fingers is not as good as cutting off one finger, but in terms of striking logistics, being able to strike ten logistics teams is far more effective than just annihilating one logistics team. Later, Zhao Jun even invented a new tactic, which was to first attack a transport team, attract the surrounding Qin army patrol troops to come and rescue, and then quickly withdraw, immediately looking for the next target to attack, creating a time difference. During Zhao Jun's fourth attack, this trick also worked repeatedly and later became Zhao Jun's main tactic.

  There is also the most important point, Zhao Jun's previous three attacks, each time there was a certain time limit, because Zhao Jun was lightly equipped and could not carry too much dry food, so the attack time of Zhao Jun was generally between seven days to ten days. After one attack ended, there would be a period of about five days of stability, plus two or three days before and after, Zhao Jun's activities would not be too many, and the Qin army could often use this time to intensify the transportation of a batch of materials. Therefore, when Zhao Jun launched his third attack, the Qin army once stopped sending out transport teams.

  But this time it was different, because Zhao's army was divided into two batches, taking turns to attack, with at least two cavalry units on the battlefield at all times, and the time was basically unlimited. This caused great trouble for the Qin army. At first, the Qin army also stopped sending out transport teams, but after waiting for several days, they found that Zhao's army did not stop. After ten days, Zhao's army was still there, and after twenty days, Zhao's army still did not leave. At this time, the Qin army finally confirmed that this time Zhao's army was indeed different.

  As a result, this attack lasted for more than a month, and the number of transport teams dispatched to the front line by the Qin army decreased by nearly 40%. Among the dispatched transport teams, 80% were ambushed by the Zhao army, and some suffered losses in materials. Calculated in gold, it has already exceeded 5,000 liang, while the materials transported to the front line are less than 30% of the usual amount.

  During this period, Zhao Jun continued to launch attacks on the Qin army on the front battlefield, so the Qin army also consumed a large amount of military supplies. The three large camps of the Qin army stationed in Jinyong had insufficient supplies to last for one month at this time.

  If the previous attacks by Zhao Jun posed a potential threat to the Qin army, this time the threat is real. If the Qin army does not adopt new strategies, they can only hold on for another month at most, and when that time comes, even if the Zhao army does not attack, the Qin army will have to retreat voluntarily.

  But now the Qin army really didn't have a good way to respond, and Wang Jian had no choice but to increase his troops. First, he expanded the size of the patrol teams, increasing their number to twenty, and also set up twenty-seven camps along the way from Qiuyou to Jixing, where they were stationed on the spot. Only in this way could the Qin army's supply line be barely maintained. Of course, as a result, the troops invested by the Qin army in protecting the supply line also increased sharply, with a total of 150,000 troops eventually being deployed. The supply line was finally reopened, but at that time, the Qin army's supplies were only enough for five days. Many supplies had already been used up.

  Fortunately, the Qin army had stored a large amount of grain in each camp, which kept them from starving. However, at this time, the Qin army's food was only enough for half a month. If the supply line was not restored, the soldiers would have to take measures to reduce their rations.

  However, this also resulted in a significant reduction of the Qin army's forces on the main battlefield, with only over 200,000 troops remaining, and dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Qin army.

  At this time, the Zhao army completed another rotation of troops. Li Mu mobilized an army of 100,000 soldiers, with the main force being the 60,000 fresh troops that had just arrived at the Jinyong camp, and launched a fierce attack on the Qin army's large camp. This was also the first time in more than four months that the Zhao army formally took the initiative to launch an attack on the Qin army.

  Although all the generals of the Qin army believed that it was not suitable to engage in a decisive battle with the Zhao army at this time, after all, the current situation is not the best for the Qin army, and the Zhao army still has two branches of extremely strong cavalry and infantry, so they should hold their ground and not fight, relying on the stable camp established in the previous period to resist the attack of the Zhao army. After all, the number of troops that the Zhao army can mobilize now is only over a million, which is completely defendable by the Qin army. However, at this time, Wang Jian strongly opposed the majority opinion and firmly believed that the Qin army must come out of the camp to fight against the Zhao army.

  Because in the previous stage, Zhao's army struck Qin's supply line, which had a significant impact on the morale of the Qin army. If at this time, the Qin army closed the door and did not fight, it would further hit the morale of the Qin army. Although the Zhao army could only mobilize more than 100,000 troops in the Great Camp of Jinyang, within three days at most, the Zhao army could gather another 100,000 troops from Quyang and Fanwu to join the battle, making the force expand by more than double in a short period. Moreover, they had all been rested for some time, with high morale. At that time, would the Qin army still be able to withstand the attack of the Zhao army?

  At this time, the Qin army must come out of the camp to fight against the Zhao army and have a fierce battle with the Zhao army. Let the Zhao army and Li Mu understand that the Qin army still has the power to fight one more battle and is not easily defeated. Although the Zhao army indeed has two branches of extremely strong cavalry and infantry, from the current situation, the number of these two armies is not many, in the battle of 30,000 to 50,000 people, they may play a great role. However, in the battle of 100,000 troops, the role that can be played will also be much smaller.

  Moreover, in Zhao Jun's several attacks on the Qin army's supply line, he used cavalry as the main force, although he achieved good results, this cavalry must have suffered some losses and was also very tired. In this battle, it may not play a big role, so there is no need to be afraid.

  After listening to Wang Jian's analysis, the other generals were also convinced and agreed with Wang Jian's decision to fight against the Zhao army. They all asked Wang Jian to go to battle together, to let the Zhao army know that the Qin army was not to be trifled with.

  Then Wang Jian also mobilized 150,000 Qin troops to come out of the camp and fight against the Zhao army. As a result, both sides fought three large-scale battles in seven days, and at this time, the Qin army finally showed its reputation as the strongest military power in the Warring States period, which was not a vain name. Even under the circumstances of low morale, it was still not easy to deal with. Li Xin, Xin Sheng, Qiang Wei and other main generals of the Qin army personally put on armor and went into battle to boost the morale of the Qin army. Therefore, although the Qin army was slightly at a disadvantage in terms of appearance, and the number of soldiers killed was more than that of the Zhao army, they were never defeated by the Zhao army. Of course, the advantage of the Qin army in terms of troops was also an important factor.

  As a result, after these three battles, the Qin army had lost more than 30,000 soldiers and nearly 20,000 were injured, with over 500 chariots destroyed. The Zhao army was not much better off, having lost more than 17,000 soldiers and nearly 15,000 were injured, with almost 400 chariots destroyed.

  In this case, Li Mu did not dare to continue consuming like this with the Qin army, and had to withdraw his troops back to the camp and stop this battle. At the same time, he also sighed that the Qin army was indeed difficult to deal with, and Wang Jian was indeed worthy of being the first general of Qin State, a strong opponent.