Warring States Odyssey

  Huan Zhuang stood on a high cart and looked at the defensive fortifications built by the Zhao army about a thousand paces (one pace is approximately 1.38 meters) away.

  I didn't have a city wall, the main camp of the Zhao army was built on the mountain and by the river. Outside the main camp, two defensive lines were established, each line about 500 steps apart. One side relied on the Hutuo River (i.e., the Hutuo River) and utilized the trees, terrain, rocks, hills, etc. along the Hutuo River to build a wooden fence, stone wall, earthwork, and water ditch. On each high hill, a solid wooden shooting tower was set up, with layer upon layer of fences and trenches outside, which could effectively defend against arrows and stones. Dozens of wooden strongholds echoed each other, from General Hu's decades of military experience, the Zhao army's defensive position was almost flawless.

  Among the many famous generals of the Warring States period, Li Mu was known for his skill in advancing and was unpredictable, beyond human expectation. When he didn't move, it was already a sign that when he did move, it would be with thunderous force, quickly defeating his opponents. In the words of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", it was like an invasion of fire. However, Huan Yi knew another side of Li Mu's military tactics, which was to remain still as a mountain. Whether in defending against the Xiongnu or three years ago when he faced off against his own troops, Li Mu actually adopted a defensive stance first, waiting for the enemy to reveal their weaknesses before launching a fierce attack. From the layout of the Zhao army's defensive positions, it can be seen that Li Mu's defensive capabilities were in no way inferior to his attacking abilities.

  However, Huán Yīng had already received clear news that the Zhao army defending the Bianwu formation had dispatched an army of about 80,000 to head south and rescue Handan. As a result, the Zhao army's strength in the Bianwu formation was reduced by half, and those who withdrew were definitely the main force, while those left behind were certainly old and weak soldiers.

  Huai Wang immediately ordered the mobilization of 170,000 troops to attack Zhao's army at Fanwu, leaving only 30,000 Qin troops to guard the main camp at Jingcheng.

  Although before the troops were dispatched, some generals suggested to Huan Yi that they should first pursue and attack the Zhao army, and after defeating the retreating Zhao army, return to attack Fanwu. In this way, they could thoroughly defeat Li Mu's Zhao army, and after Qin occupied Fanwu, they could take advantage of the momentum to advance southward, directly attacking Handan and destroying Zhao.

  However, Huan Yi was very clear that even if Li Mu was retreating, he would not give himself any chance to attack. He must have set up an ambush in the middle of the retreat to cover the withdrawal of the main force. It's possible that Li Mu was waiting for him to pursue and launch a surprise attack like the Battle of Maling. Therefore, it is still better to choose a more stable tactic, first capture Fanwu, and then form a pincer movement with Yang Duanhe's troops on the southern line against Handan, and then the Qin army will concentrate its forces to fight a decisive battle with Li Mu under the city of Handan.

  Moreover, Huan Yi was also well-versed in military strategy, and it's not impossible that Li Mu would take advantage of his all-out attack on Fanwu to suddenly turn back and launch a surprise counterattack, joining forces with the Zhao army stationed at Fanwu to catch the Qin army off guard. Therefore, he also deployed Qin troops to garrison the outer roads around Fanwu and sent out numerous scouts to prevent Li Mu from suddenly leading his army in a surprise attack.

  Although this reduced the total number of Qin troops attacking Fanwu to around 1.5 million, it was still about twice the number of Zhao troops left behind, and the Qin army could now attack with all its might, so Huan Yi was also full of confidence in this battle. After a while, Huan Yi immediately ordered an attack on the main camp of the Zhao army.

  Dividing line Dividing line

  But what Huan Yi didn't expect was that Li Mu had never actually left the Ban Wu camp, and he was now sitting on a temporary high platform behind the first line of defense of the Zhao army, watching the Qin army's attack.

  The plateau had only seen such a scene of tens of thousands of troops holding out in movies before, and at that time, he already felt very shocked. But after arriving on the scene, the plateau knew that this was completely different from the feeling of sitting in a movie theater. The Qin state was all black, so their clothes, armor, and flags were all black. From a distance, it looked like a dense black mass, as numerous as ants, with no edges or borders. Moreover, tens of thousands of troops advanced forward together, their footsteps trampling the earth, producing a sound like muffled thunder, also bringing out an atmosphere of heavy pressure. Although the plateau was not a timid person, he felt his heart racing and the pressure suddenly increasing at this time.

  It's not just the plateau, many Zhao soldiers are even worse off than the plateau. Although the old soldiers want to put on a show of disdain for the Qin army, whispering "what's so great", "trying to scare who", "three years ago we were still being beaten by us" and so on, but unfortunately the smile on their faces is stiff and heavy, which also greatly reduces the persuasive power.

  The new recruits, on the other hand, were unable to even pretend to be fierce, with many of them pale-faced and some even trembling. As a result, they suffered a barrage of scolding from the veteran soldiers, which reminded Gao Yuan of his own first mission, when he was not much better than these new recruits. After all, every veteran soldier had to go through this phase, but how many of these new recruits would survive to become veterans after this war?

  The plateau glanced sideways at Li Mu, who was still sitting calmly on the high platform, occasionally chatting with the charioteer beside him, seemingly not taking the Qin army seriously.

  Zhao Jun's tension is not unreasonable, because now the Zhao army in the big camp has only more than 700,000 people, including 50,000 elite soldiers, 5,000 cavalry, and 20,000 new recruits. The military strength is indeed only half that of the Qin army, and if it weren't for Li Mu's presence in the military camp, it would have been chaotic long ago.

  Because Zhao Jun is now fully defending, the cavalry did not participate in the battle and rested in the rear camp. Only Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong were in front of the formation, ready to listen to Li Mu's command at any time.

  "Wooooo... Wooooo..." With the sound of the horn, the Qin army's attack finally began.

  Only then did dozens of catapults emerge from the Qin army's formation, lined up in a row at the front of the array, about 300 meters away from the Zhao army's camp. As the catapults were launched, large stones weighing tens of kilograms flew out with a loud whistling sound, smashing into the Zhao army's camp.

  The Qin army first used catapults, not to kill the Zhao soldiers, but mainly to destroy the wooden fences surrounding the Zhao camp, so that infantry could launch a charge. Moreover, the killing range of catapults was over 300 meters, far exceeding that of ordinary bows and crossbows, only the bed crossbow's range could compare with catapults. A large stone weighing three or four hundred pounds falling from high altitude, as long as it hit the right spot, could completely destroy a row of wooden fences, and if it hit people, they would be crushed into meat patties. However, the weakness of catapults was that they were too cumbersome, difficult to move, and the stones used were heavy, so one catapult required eight horses and fifty or sixty men to operate, and the craftsmanship was complex and expensive, once a catapult was destroyed, the loss was also significant.

  However, the Zhao army also had catapults and, because they occupied most of the high ground in this area, they had a geographical advantage. They immediately launched their catapults and also activated their bed crossbows to counterattack the Qin army.

  But the Qin army's catapults were concentrated, while the Zhao army's catapults and bed crossbows on the first line had only a dozen or so vehicles, and they were scattered, so in comparison, the Qin army still had an advantage.

  Large stones and crossbow arrows flew back and forth in the air above both sides' camps, continuously pounding each other's camps for nearly two hours. However, the wooden palisades of the Zhao army camp were densely arranged, so the Qin army had a high hit rate. Many of the front row wooden palisades were hit by giant stones, smashed to pieces, and many soldiers were also hit by giant stones, with their heads cracked open, bleeding profusely, and their tendons and bones broken, leading to death.

  Of course, the Qin army did not gain any benefits either. Due to the fact that the shooting range of Zhao's catapults was slightly longer than that of the Qin army, seven or eight catapults in the Qin formation were destroyed by the Zhao army, and many soldiers operating the catapults were also injured. It had a flavor similar to artillery suppression in modern warfare.

  Although the two sides had not yet engaged in close combat, the atmosphere on the battlefield had already become intense and bloody.

  At this moment, in the Qin army's formation, hundreds of war chariots were pushed out again, and after passing by the catapults, they advanced forward for nearly a hundred meters before stopping. Each war chariot was over two meters long and wide. After stopping, the war chariots were connected together in groups of ten, with a passage about three to four meters wide between each group, forming a wall barrier that was nearly a thousand meters long and two rows deep. Behind each war chariot, Qin army's crossbowmen were stationed to prevent the Zhao army from counterattacking out of their camp. The entire process was very rapid and fully demonstrated that the Qin army had undergone strict training.

  The war chariots of the Qin army were more than 200 meters away from the defensive lines of the Zhao army. Except for the foot-operated crossbow, other bows and crossbows could not reach that distance. Moreover, the Qin army had war chariot cover, so even if they used the foot-operated crossbow, it would not cause much harm to the Qin army. Only the powerful shooting range of the bed crossbow could penetrate the walls of the war chariots, or the stones thrown by the catapults could destroy the war chariots.

  However, as the Qin army's chariots and shield walls advanced, many of Zhao's catapults and bed crossbows that had been placed or moved to the rear of the defensive lines were also able to come into play, and they too began to operate, momentarily increasing the Zhao army's striking power.

  Some Qin soldiers and chariots were pierced by crossbow bolts, while some Qin troops were smashed into a ball of flesh, but the Qin army guarding the chariot wall did not dare to retreat, still holding their ground in the array, which also made Gao Yuan greatly admire.

  At the same time, the highlands also understood the Qin army's tactics, which was to use this chariot wall layer by layer to advance step by step into the Zhao army's defense line, and then launch a short-range attack. In this way, the advantage of the Zhao army's defensive position would be greatly reduced. Therefore, the Qin army's tactics were indeed very clever, although they also had to pay a certain price, but it was much better than directly using soldiers' lives to fill up. Moreover, implementing this tactic not only required regular training, a commander who was well-versed in military strategy, and clear command, but also strong logistical support.

  Although the two sides have not yet formally clashed, from the characteristics shown by the Qin army now, the Qin army is indeed the strongest military force in this era.