Chapter 1222 The two armies are determined to fight first
Yudi has led his troops to advance into Beijun County, and the vanguard army has reached the outskirts of Matu City. Can we not use a forbidden magician at this time?
Ding Kui wanted to discuss with Ruan Xingzhu and teach her how to hide her strength, but Li Fei lost her temper and dragged her away.
"That's fine, I'll talk to Xingzhu privately." He was helpless.
After thinking alone in the room for a while, he seemed to have made a decision, "Zeng Jian, forget it, I'll go by myself." After saying that, he walked out of the room.
There are three towns to the east of Matu City, which are in the shape of "" on the map. From a military perspective, they are suitable for defense and early warning.
Before the main force of our army arrived, some scouts came to explore the way, but they did not escape the Shaodian Army's patrol post.
Yudi personally came to the forward army and inquired about the information obtained by the scouts.
"There are a large number of sentry towers between the three towns. Even a large group of scouts were sent back but they were beaten back. How many soldiers and horses are guarding Matu City?" He did not hear the most critical information.
"Explore again! Go to the five brigades and try to attack Matu City. If there is strong resistance, pull back. The 25th Division will follow up. I will at least camp in the town tonight."
There were only a few hours left before dark, and he did not expect that the 30,000 troops of the forward army could break the city today. Anyway, Dai Ku's order was to attack slowly. As long as he could capture the city of Matu, he didn't care if he took it one day early.
Calculating the time, the First and Second North Army Corps have not yet reached Tongze City and Kuaihe City, and the two flanks of the Third North Army Corps are not safe.
Unfortunately, he didn't know that the Shaodian army that had previously driven away the scouts was quietly moving away, leaving only one squadron in each of the three towns to stand guard.
Five thousand men and horses cannot be considered as scouts for a city. They are more than the average city defense army. They can be said to be the main offensive force.
"Brother Li, the enemy is here again." A young man in red military uniform ran back to the town to report.
The "Brother Li" he refers to is quite tall and slightly chubby. His clothing is that of a platoon leader in the Red Army, which is equivalent to a squadron leader.
The person responsible for guarding Matu City is the Mixed 1st Division, which is the reinforced division of the Red Army that protects the country. The 3rd Qiannu Regiment is on guard at the periphery. The official title of "Brother Li" is the platoon leader of the 1315th Platoon. The meaning of the serial number is
"How many people are there? Is there a flag?" Brother Li has a sharp eye, and he is a master who is good at using bows and crossbows.
"There are many, densely packed, and there are not many of them. They seem to be from the Third Army of the North." The young man was not experienced enough and could not judge the number of enemies.
"Beijing San Corps? Humph, we are old enemies." Brother Li's eyes shone brightly and he patted his right chest. There was a scar under his clothes, which was an arrow sore.
He was Li Hao, an archer of the 201st Division, the son of Li Qin, Ding Kui's comrade in Tianmen Town. Ding Kui personally went to the recruit camp to select him to join the 201st Division.
When the Northern Third Army Corps invaded Nanqiu County, Li Hao was accidentally wounded by an arrow and almost died, but fortunately he was rescued. Later, the 201st Division had to be transferred, but he did not have time to recover, so he stayed in Nanqiu County.
As his hometown fell under the control of rebels, his father Li Qin and his family fled to Wangwang Prefecture. Unexpectedly, Wangwang Prefecture was not safe either. The Li family moved all the way to the southeast and learned that Li Hao was stationed in Nanmao Prefecture.
The Li family simply moved to Nanqiu County.
Li Hao reunited with his family in Nanqiu County, and Xue Chong came to recruit him, so he retired and joined the Red Army to protect the country.
He was already a late-stage wind archer and was not too fond of strong crossbows, but it did not prevent him from quickly mastering this new weapon. Coupled with his military experience, it was logical for him to become the platoon leader of the strong crossbow battalion.
"Go and tell everyone to gather in the woods behind the town and bring more kerosene and hay. I'll go to the front and have a look." Li Hao decided to investigate.
Even though he was a bit fat, he was very agile and quickly ran to the highest place in the town, where there was a viewing point.
"Wow, there are thousands of people. The 24th North Division, once the elite force of our country, was completely wiped out by our Lord Ding." He is a veteran. When he sees a large army, he first counts the military flags instead of counting the heads one by one.
In about ten minutes, the entire 1315th Platoon gathered in the woods behind the town, including Li Hao, who had discovered the enemy's situation.
"Platoon commander, we are ready to fight at any time." These crossbowmen were fearless and did not care how many enemy troops came.
If you think about it, you will know that the 1st Division has had a smooth journey since entering our country. It will defeat every enemy. It has not encountered a serious enemy army. It only used five successes to expel enemy scouts before. They did not take our own army seriously.
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Li Hao said seriously: "No, the enemy has four to five thousand troops. We must evacuate." Even if they kill one person with one arrow, each person has to shoot fifty arrows, which is equivalent to shooting all the crossbows they carry.
The crossbowmen on sentry duty can only carry fifty arrows. Any more will affect their mobility. A professional army has professional standards.
Earlier, the young crossbowman said: "Then we can't leave without firing an arrow. My subordinates didn't gain anything today." He was a novice with no military exploits, which meant that he had never seen blood on his hands.
"You first stack the hay in the middle of the forest, pour it with kerosene, and then go to the back of the forest to ambush. Class One and Class Two will follow me to lure the enemy's scouts into the forest." Of course Li Hao would not leave like this.
The 24th Division of Jiguo North had fought against the 201st Division, and they were Li Hao's old enemies. He had to trick them no matter what.
Our army entered the town unexpectedly and smoothly, and the expected fierce battle did not occur. The cautious commander of the 24th Division sent troops to search the entire town. The original residents of the town were driven away and rushed to Bingjiangzhou.
The enemy's troops blocked the road and delayed their march.
No enemies! The commander of the 24th Division breathed a sigh of relief. At least he had fulfilled Yudi's minimum requirements and could welcome the large troops to camp in the town.
"The first group went west, the second group went north, and the third group went south. Search the nearby areas to see if there are any enemies ambushing." He still did not dare to be careless.
There were obviously over a thousand enemy troops here in the morning, and there were stoves in the town that were still warm, indicating that someone had cooked at noon, so how could it become empty?
A thousand soldiers walked out of the town and came to the west. A winding road bypassed the woods and then went straight to Matu City.
They formed a battle formation to deal with enemies that might appear at any time.
Because of this, the sudden crossbow arrows hit a group of our own troops, and the silhouettes of people in the woods were clear, and it was clear that there was an enemy ambush.
The normal method is to send a team of scouts to check the woods first, and then most of them go onto the road after confirming that it is safe. However, this team of soldiers was worried about encountering a large number of enemies and decided to move forward together, making a serious tactical mistake.
It has to be said that the commander of the Shaodian Army was very clever. He made the three towns appear to be tightly guarded, then vigorously blocked his own scouts, and then quietly withdrew, leaving only a small group of troops.
Link by link, each link is used to understand the psychology of one's own troops, creating a strong psychological hint of "I want to fight with you here."
Li Hao directed his men to shoot two waves of arrows and then retreated deep into the woods.
Our army panicked for a while, but soon stabilized. There were a lot of crossbows and there were not many enemies in the woods.
"The heavy armored infantry and shield bearers came forward, followed by the archers, and rushed into the woods." After speaking, the first captain took the lead and walked ahead.
"Come on, come on, shoot another wave of arrows!"
Li Hao stopped and hid behind a big tree, replacing the crossbow on his back with a short bow.
There were too many obstacles in the woods, so it was difficult to use the crossbow. His subordinates did not have such good shooting skills, so they could only use the crossbow to target the enemy.
"Shoot!" He saw the opportunity and ordered, stretched his bow and shot at the leading officer, released his finger and quickly moved to the back of the big tree.
This is the experience of archers. If you can shoot at others, others can shoot at you. When attacking on the battlefield, you must not forget to defend.
Our own army was preparing to enter the woods, but this wave of arrows did not achieve much results and was counterattacked.
"Humph!" The squad leader couldn't avoid it.
"What's wrong?" Li Hao asked eagerly.
"It's okay, my face is broken." A squad leader had a half-finger-deep wound on his face.
The crossbowmen of the Red Army who protect the country all have fine armor, but they don't have full helmets on their heads. After all, they have to aim with their eyes, and full helmets affect their vision.
"Go quickly!" Li Hao ordered to retreat.
Their own army was not willing to let them go. They chased closely behind them and wished they could eat the twenty or so of them alive.
The captain of the first team was running when he found hay under his feet and smelled the smell of kerosene. He suddenly became alert and shouted: "Stop! Don't chase me yet, everyone disperses!"
There are many new recruits in the Northern Third Army, but the middle and senior officers are veterans. With such a simple ambush, you can tell at a glance that the enemy is going to attack with fire!
Whoosh, whoosh, rockets were flying from all directions, and they were specially made crossbow arrows. One of them accurately hit the oil tank hanging on the tree.
Bang, the oil tank broke open and a ball of flame ignited.
The first captain could not stop it. The rocket's route was no longer within his interception range. He could only watch the fire fall to the ground.
"Run! Run out of the woods!"
Before he finished speaking, countless flames burst out from the ground and spread rapidly to areas where there was dry grass and kerosene.
Li Hao put away his short bow, hung it on his waist, turned around and said, "Let's go back to the city."
There were war horses outside the woods. Platoon 1315 ran out of the woods and rode away without any sloppiness.
The enemy's combat effectiveness is beyond their imagination. The injury of the squad leader proves this, as well as the enemy's reaction in the woods. If they want to gain more military exploits, they may not be able to return.
Soon a battle report was sent back to the main force, "What? The enemies have all left, leaving only a small group of troops to harass." Yudi did not expect this.
"Order the 25th Division to divide its troops and occupy the other two towns. The other troops will follow me to the town ahead and build a military town there tonight."
He felt that Shaodian's army was deceitful, but he was unwilling to take risks and decided to attack the city at his own pace.
Li Hao led his team back to Matu City. He first arranged for his men to go to the military camp to rest, and then rushed to the city lord's mansion to report the news. The fire in the woods was equivalent to a beacon fire, which was equivalent to informing the other two towns of their evacuation.
An old man met him and asked about the entire battle in detail.
"It's still the same as before. The North Route Army's Earth-turning Dragon has not changed much and didn't surprise me. Well, Zhong Wei, it's up to you next." The old man's status is still above that of the division commander.