Warring States Odyssey

  Li Mu was directing the Zhao army to resist the Qin army's attack in the big camp, while also continuously observing the situation of the Qin army's big camp. Seeing the direction of the Qin army's big camp with flames soaring into the sky, Li Mu also knew that Gao Yuan's surprise attack had succeeded. Therefore, Li Mu immediately ordered his own flag to be raised and at the same time commanded the Zhao army to launch a counterattack.

  If it were at the beginning of the battle, even if Li Mu had his own flag raised, it would not have a great impact on the war situation. Huan Yi would be surprised at most, but he would not retreat because of this. On the contrary, it might stir up Huan Yi's fighting spirit and make the Qin army attack more fiercely.

  But now it's completely different, because at this time, many Qin soldiers also found that their own camp was on fire, so they were also a little nervous in their hearts. After all, the thinking angles of soldiers and Huan Gui are different. Seeing that their own camp is in trouble, they can't help but panic. Just then, Li Mu's big flag rose in the Zhao army's camp, and the Zhao army who was fighting with the Qin army also shouted loudly "Your camp has been lost" "Lao Di has already been occupied by us" and so on, which made the Qin soldiers even more flustered and confused. Some clever Qin soldiers also vaguely realized that this time they might have fallen into Li Mu's trap again, so their morale and fighting spirit plummeted.

  Seeing the direction of the Qin army's large camp on fire, the morale of the Zhao army was greatly increased. At the same time, Li Mu's big flag rose in the camp, which made the military heart of the Zhao army even more vigorous, and this was also a signal for the Zhao army to launch a counterattack against the Qin army. Therefore, the soldiers of the Zhao army rushed out of the defense line and launched an attack on the Qin army.

  Although the Qin army's forces were almost twice that of the Zhao army at this time, the morale of both sides had undergone a huge change. The Qin army's morale was low, while the Zhao army's momentum was high, so the Qin army could not withstand the counterattack of the Zhao army and was killed by the Zhao army in succession.

  At this time, Huan Yi also knew that the current situation was that the Qin army had already gone, and if he still wanted to hold on, he would only lose more miserably. Moreover, in his heart, he was indeed surprised and uncertain. With Huan Yi's experience, of course, he wouldn't just see a big flag and believe that Li Mu was in the Zhao army's camp, but he was also stirred up and couldn't calm down to consider the situation, so he had no choice but to order the whole army to retreat.

  Although the Qin army was greatly shaken at this time, the Qin army was after all a veteran of many battles and well-trained, and Huan Yi was not an ordinary general. He quickly adjusted his emotions and commanded the Qin army to retreat with all his might. As a result, except for some initial chaos, the Qin army quickly stabilized its footing, and each unit retreated in an orderly manner.

  Zhao Jun pursued out of the camp, then killed four or five miles away, also without any opportunity to take advantage of, and let Li Mu greatly admire, heard the surprise but not panic, although defeated but not chaotic. Huan Guan was indeed a difficult opponent to deal with. However, this battle was won by the Zhao army after all, so Li Mu immediately ordered to stop pursuing, gather troops and return to camp.

  Li Mu gathered his troops and returned to camp. Gao Yuan and Li Yinghong also led their cavalry back, with great fanfare.

  After seeing Li Mu, Li Yinghong also shouted with joy: "Father, this time our cavalry is really powerful, it will definitely scare you to death when I tell you, and you absolutely won't think that our cavalry is so fierce."

  Li Mu smiled and said, "Alright, alright. Looking at how happy you are, I know that this time you guys must have done a great job. But let Gao Yuan tell the details, I'm afraid you can't explain it clearly."

  Li Yinghong stuck out her tongue and then turned to Gao Yuan and said, "You say it."

  Gao Yuan walked over and gave Li Mu a detailed report of the raid on the Qin army's camp, as well as reporting their losses. Of the 5,000 cavalry they had taken out, only more than 200 were lost, while the new-style cavalry suffered only 54 deaths. However, due to the rapid retreat, there was no time to count the spoils of war, but it is estimated that the Qin army's losses will not be less than 5,000 people.

  After listening to Gao Yuan's report, Li Mu's face also flashed a look of surprise. Although Li Mu was aware that the new-style cavalry would greatly enhance their combat effectiveness, he had not expected the outcome of this battle to exceed his expectations. Originally, Li Mu had estimated that the five thousand cavalry led by Gao Yuan in the raid on the Qin army camp would suffer losses of no less than five hundred men, or even over a thousand. But now, the actual losses were far lower than he had anticipated. Therefore, Li Mu also needed to reassess the combat effectiveness of the new-style cavalry. Of course, it would be best if he could see it for himself.

  However, Li Mu was a very calm person after all. The look of surprise only flashed by, and then he nodded and said: "Gao Yuan, you have done well this time. Your cavalry is the first to achieve success. I will arrange for someone to host a banquet tonight, so be sure to celebrate properly."

  Just then, a soldier hastily came to Li Mu's front and said: "General, General Chen has military information to report." As he spoke, he held up a bamboo slip with both hands over his head and presented it to Li Mu.

  Li Mu took it over, opened it and nodded slightly, saying to Gao Yuan: "Gao Yuan, tonight's celebration banquet is cancelled. You all go back to the barracks to rest now. After dinner, set off. There will be a big battle tonight."

  Dividing line Dividing line

  Although the emergency rescue was carried out, after the big fire was extinguished, Qin Jun's temporary camp was left with only a piece of ruins, and seven or eight out of ten tents and vehicles were burned down. The supplies left in the camp by the Qin army were almost completely destroyed, and the bodies of the Qin soldiers were scattered all over the ground.

  Huai Yan collected the defeated army that stayed in the big camp, with about ** thousand people left. However, the wounded soldiers who stayed in the big camp were almost all buried in the sea of fire. In this attack on Zhao's camp, the Qin army also suffered a loss of more than 7,000 people. As a result of this battle, nearly 20,000 Qin soldiers died, which can be said to be a disastrous defeat indeed.

  Although it was not yet fully dark, Huan Xuan ordered the soldiers who were on guard duty to remain in place, while the others rested where they were, cooked their meals, tended to the wounded, and so on. He himself retreated into his tent and began to ponder deeply.

  At this time, Huan Yi also felt a little confused in his heart and didn't know what to do next. Although the total strength of the Qin army was still around 120,000 at present, after this defeat, the morale of the Qin army plummeted, while the Zhao army won and their momentum surged. Under this situation where one side was rising and the other falling, it would not be easy for him to attack and capture the main camp of the Zhao army again.

  In addition, Li Mu is now really still in the Zhao army's big camp, which also makes Huan Yi somewhat uncertain. Because he deeply believes that Li Mu led the army to rescue Handan, after all, Handan is now in a critical situation, and King Zhao Xie has repeatedly issued urgent edicts, calling back Li Mu's troops, who is dear or important, Li Mu cannot tell them apart, so emotionally and rationally, Li Mu should personally lead the army to return to Handan, there is no reason to send someone else to lead the army back to Handan while he remains in the Fanwu camp. At least Huan Yi thinks that if he were in Li Mu's position, he would definitely lead the army back to Handan personally.

  However, on today's battlefield, the strong will and tactics displayed by Zhao's army made Huan Yi doubt again, and Li Mu seemed to still be in the Fanwu camp. Because only with Li Mu sitting in the big camp could the performance of the Zhao army be explained.

  If Li Mu really stayed in the big camp of Fan Wu, what other tricks did he have? Did he think that there was no need for him to lead the army personally, and the Zhao army could also defend Handan, and he stayed in Fan Wu just to block himself, so that Handan would not fall into a two-pronged attack?

  Such an explanation is somewhat reasonable, but there are also some unconvincing points. Just as Huan Zhu was thinking about it, he heard someone outside the account shouting loudly: "General, there is an urgent report from the Jingying camp."

  Huan Yi was taken aback for a moment. The main camp of the Qin army was actually the Jinyong Great Camp, and this time Huan Yi led the troops out to battle, most of the grain and supplies were stored in the Jinyong Great Camp. Although the Qin army had been stationed in the Jinyong Great Camp for more than three months, they had also built solid defensive fortifications here, with strict guards, not at all inferior to the Zhao army's Fanwu Great Camp. The Zhao army could not possibly use a few thousand cavalry to launch a surprise attack on the Qin army's Jinyong Great Camp like they did here. Therefore, Huan Yi didn't think that anything unexpected would happen to the Jinyong Great Camp, and simply said: "Present it."

  A curtain was lifted and a soldier walked into the tent, presenting a bamboo slip to Huan Zhu.

  Huan Tan took the bamboo slip and opened it to take a look. Suddenly, he was struck as if by a heavy blow, and his whole body was stunned. The content written on the bamboo slip was: Zhao Jun's surprise attack on Qin Jun's Jingdian Dazhai, Qin Jun lost Jingdian, and now they have retreated to Chouyou (Hebei Xingxian) for garrison.

  This news was really shocking, and Huan Yi immediately understood Li Mu's true military strategy. It turned out that Li Mu had never returned to rescue Handan from the start. The troops sent from Banwu's large camp actually went around in a big circle and attacked Qin's Jingdian large camp, while Li Mu himself remained in Zhao's large camp, commanding the Zhao army to resist Qin's attack, also in order to hold back Qin's army. It seems that the abandonment of the outer defense line by the Zhao army in the past few days, as well as today's surprise attack on Qin's large camp, were actually all part of Li Mu's own battle plan.

  Although the Qin army built strong defensive fortifications at the Great Camp of Jinyong, there were only over 300,000 defenders, but the area to be defended was extremely wide, and there was no great general stationed there. The Zhao army's surprise attack on Jinyong had nearly 800,000 troops, so the fall of the Great Camp of Jinyong was also a matter of course. With the fall of the Great Camp of Jinyong, the Qin army's northern line would undoubtedly be defeated, and with the defeat of the northern line, the southern line of the Qin army would also be isolated and could only retreat. In this way, the military action of the State of Qin attacking Zhao was again resolved by Li Mu.

  After understanding Zhao Jun's entire battle plan, Huan Yi also sincerely admired Li Mu's military strategy, which was indeed like divine assistance. Originally, the State of Qin increased its troops on the southern front, increasing the pressure on Handan, the capital of Zhao, which was extremely unfavorable for Li Mu. However, Li Mu managed to find an opportunity to defeat the Qin army in this unfavorable situation. It seems that as long as Li Mu is around, the State of Qin will not be able to destroy the State of Zhao.