Chapter 1101: Flanking First
At dawn, Gao Yang was still asleep when a personal soldier suddenly called out outside the tent, saying that the right-wing army had encountered an enemy attack. After learning about this, Gao Yang immediately lost all his sleepiness, got up, and asked about the details of the military situation.
The Qi army was strong and had camps set up along the river. The camps of the central and left-wing armies were all set up west of the Zhuozhang River and south of the Tongdi River. The right-wing army led by Heba Ren set up camp east of the Zhuozhang River, relying on the plateau wall.
Although the right-wing army was outside the main battlefield, it was able to bypass the enemy's main position and continue to advance northward. At the same time, it deliberately observed the enemy's deployment and movements more intuitively, and when necessary, it could cooperate with the offensive on the main battlefield to harass and outflank the enemy's flanks.
Since the right-wing army did not undertake the frontal offensive mission and was only an auxiliary on the flank, the number of troops allocated was not large, with only more than 10,000 combat personnel.
Gao Yang saw the Wei army repairing fortifications in his camp last night, and he suspected that the Wei army might withdraw from the battlefield to lure the enemy deeper. He sent people to remind Heba Ren to be vigilant and sent another 5,000 infantry and cavalry to strengthen his troops' combat effectiveness.
Now the night has not yet ended, and the enemy has indeed made unusual movements, but it is not the withdrawal Gao Yang guessed, but an active attack.
As it is still dark, it is unknown how many Wei troops crossed the river to attack the camp, but because Heba Ren himself has rich combat experience and has been reminded by His Majesty the Emperor, he successfully detected the enemy's attack and counterattacked, and did not let the enemy's evil plan succeed. At present, the two sides are still fighting. While Heba Ren commanded his troops to resist the enemy, he sent people to the central army camp to report the news.
After listening to the report from his subordinates, Gao Yang frowned slightly. For him, the highest decision-maker on the battlefield, the temporary initiative and passivity in the war is nothing, but if the trend judgment of the enemy's movement is lost, it will be more serious, which will directly affect the choice of subsequent response strategies.
Last night, the enemy built fortifications in its position and looked like it was going to hold the camp, so it was more reasonable to hold on or retreat. But now it took the initiative to attack the flank battlefield, which is undoubtedly contradictory to the previous behavior.
And even if the enemy wants to take advantage of the results of the day yesterday to continue to expand its advantage, then the attack on the left wing of the Qi army where Duan Shao was located, which had been suppressed before, or the offensive position established by Xue Guyan on the north bank of Tongdi River, is enough to show the enemy's fighting spirit and enterprising spirit.
But now it took the risk of launching a night attack, and the choice was a separate unit of the Qi army deployed outside the main battlefield. Even if it was lucky enough to win and seize the position on the east bank of Zhuozhang River, it would not have much impact on the front battlefield. It was nothing more than making the Qi army lose a side view to monitor the opponent's actions and disturb the enemy. Could it be that the Wei army, with its far inferior strength, still wanted to outflank from the flank?
After thinking about it, Gao Yang still insisted on his previous judgment, believing that the enemy still wanted to leave, and everything he did was just to facilitate this goal. In this way of thinking, looking at the actions of the Wei army, there was an answer. The existence of the Qi army's right division brigade posed a great threat to the withdrawal of the main force of the Wei army, so they had to launch a night attack.
With this in mind, Gao Yang immediately sent a message to Heba Ren, asking him to hold his position and not be driven back by the enemy. As long as he held on until dawn, reinforcements would naturally come to support him.
At the same time, he sent a message to Xue Guyan in the front position, asking him to immediately gather his troops and prepare to attack the enemy from the front battlefield. As for Duan Shao of the left army, he did not give any more instructions.
The main value of the left-wing army is that it can quickly deploy a large number of cavalry troops to attack the enemy in the shallow Tongdi River. However, the chariot formation of the Wei army yesterday greatly restricted the performance of the Qi army's cavalry, and the front line was pushed to the south bank of the Tongdi River by the enemy. Moreover, with the interception of the downstream, the water level of the Tongdi River upstream rose again, which was even more unsuitable for the cavalry to advance and retreat.
This is also one of the reasons why Gao Yang reduced the troop allocation of the left-wing army. It was not simply because of the previous failure of the attack that he was angry with Duan Shao.
Although it was still a while before dawn, Gao Yang was completely sleepy. He ate a little in the big tent and then changed into military uniforms and began to summon the divisions and brigades of the central army to assemble for battle. With the sound of drums and horns summoning the divisions and brigades in the camp, he walked in the rapidly awakening camp, and secretly had a premonition in his heart that there would be a major change on the battlefield today.
At dawn, the soldiers in the front camp of the Qi army had already finished their gear and were ready to attack the enemy. After Gao Yang's intimidation and encouragement yesterday, Xue Guyan today also learned from his mistakes. His mental state was completely different from yesterday. After reorganizing his troops, he sent his men to the rear army to ask for instructions on when to attack.
At this time, the divisions and brigades of the central army had not yet assembled. Only the 20,000 imperial guards around the big tent had completed their assembly. After receiving Xue Guyan's request, he ordered a tentative attack first, and then sent more troops and strengthened the offensive as appropriate based on the enemy's counterattack strength.
He had just given the order when the right army received a victory report. Heba Ren's troops not only repelled the Wei army that attacked the camp, but also took advantage of the Wei army's retreat to advance and counterattack to the west bank of the Zhuozhang River. As long as they could seize control of several pontoon bridges from the enemy, they could deploy combat personnel to the opposite bank in batches, thus launching a fierce attack on the enemy's flank.
"Heba Yan Guoer is really old and strong, and he actually made contributions to my Zhongjun Division Brigade first!"
After hearing this news, Gao Yang immediately showed joy on his face and couldn't help clapping his hands in praise.
At this time, the Qi army had not made a major breakthrough on the front battlefield. Although Xue Guyan established a position yesterday, the enemy army immediately built many offensives on the slope. In addition, the Qi army needed to take an unfavorable posture of attacking from the top to advance forward, so it was still very difficult to break through on the front.
But now Heba Ren actually opened up the situation from the flank and attacked the enemy's flank first, which was naturally a pleasant surprise. In order to avoid losing this hard-earned breakthrough, Gao Yang immediately ordered his confidant Zhao Daode to lead 5,000 elite soldiers of the imperial army to the battlefield on the right wing, and asked Zhao Daode to tell Heba Ren that he would continue to reinforce them in the future, and he must consolidate and expand this advantage.
The breakthrough on the right battlefield immediately greatly increased the tactical options of the Qi army. It can not only turn around and switch the main attack direction to the right army, but also allow the right army to fully play the role of disturbing the enemy, and launch a fierce attack on the front while the enemy is busy responding, so that it will lose sight of the other.
Gao Yang does not plan to switch the direction of the main attack for the time being. First, the breakthrough of the right army has not been consolidated. Second, although he is the supreme, he also has a desire for military merit. This is his main way to establish prestige and increase control in the country. In particular, Heba Ren, as a founding hero, has a deep experience. If he is awarded the honor of defeating Li Boshan, it will make him and the Jinyang nobles even more out of control.
Therefore, after sending Zhao Daode to reinforce, he immediately led other imperial guards to the south bank of Tongdi River, personally supervised the battle, and launched a frontal attack on the Wei army.
As the Qi army gathered in place, the front brigade attacked the enemy formation in the rumbling sound of war drums.
From the north bank of Tongdi River to the top of the plateau where the Wei army's central army flag was located, it was about three miles away. The terrain of the southernmost mile was relatively flat, and the front position close to the Qi army was not dared to build any offensive, but only built some earth mounds to cover the archers and crossbowmen to shoot and block the enemy.
However, this level of obstruction was not a big restriction on the well-equipped Qi army. Although many arrows fell into the battle formation, most of them were blocked by armor and shields, causing minimal casualties, and the advancement speed of the Qi army battle formation was not greatly affected.
What really hindered the Qi army's offensive was the light cavalry troops that rushed out from both wings of the enemy formation. These enemy soldiers swooped down and came fiercely, causing considerable casualties to the Qi army every time.
Because the scale of the front road formation built by the Qi army before was too small, it was difficult to allocate a large number of cavalry in the limited space, so the cavalry did not appear in the starting lineup. It was just that the heavy armored infantry first sent the infantry soldiers to the area where the Wei army's traps and chariots were set up, and the attack removed these obstacles, clearing the route for the cavalry brigade in the rear to rush forward.
This process was inevitably accompanied by a large number of casualties. In addition to the harassment of the enemy's light cavalry, as the troops advanced to the vicinity of the enemy formation, arrows, stone bullets and other objects were constantly thrown out of the enemy formation, causing great damage to the Qi army's battle formation.
However, as the attacking party, these casualties and losses must be borne. As long as the enemy's solid outer shell is torn open, the inside is full of fresh and delicious military exploits, which can be taken at will.
The Wei army did not stop building the position all day yesterday, and they repaired a lot of positions after nightfall last night. Today, they are showing their fangs, which makes the offensive of the Qi army not smooth. A large group of troops were stopped in front of the battle line, and suffered heavy casualties, but the damage caused to the enemy's fortifications was very limited.
This naturally made Gao Yang quite dissatisfied, especially when he saw that the side and rear of the enemy's position were already billowing with smoke, he could imagine how fierce the battle there was. The enemy army is now in a state of being attacked from both sides, but the offensive on the front battlefield is still not urgent, so that the enemy army does not feel too much pressure and can still calmly deal with the battles on the two battlefields.
So he ordered again, letting all the front troops advance towards the enemy line, and at the same time sent more troops to the north through the dam to supplement the front line to continue the attack, so as not to give the enemy a chance to breathe.