Chapter 1630 Decisive Battle in the Valley of Leaving Homes Twelve
That night, the rebels did not launch another large-scale attack, but only engaged in small-scale harassment throughout the night.
Dou Xiaoqi let the battalion's direct brigade switch to defense for the night, and withdrew the three main battle battalions to rest, while he still guarded the earth platform.
The first special operations regiment has a full strength of 2,000 men, and the battalion directly under the battalion also has 500 men. In terms of night fighting, it is the king in Lixiang Valley. Neither army can produce a unit that they take seriously.
The 4th Division of the Central Plains had just witnessed a textbook counterattack by its own side. Its military morale was stable, its fighting spirit was full, and it had a decent posture on the defensive position.
The imperial army had troops rotating, and so did the rebels. After Yang Kuo found out that there were no enemies to cut off the retreat, he mobilized a group of reserve troops.
He also set up a large camp outside the entrance of the valley, and all troops without combat missions retreated to the camp to rest.
No camps could be built in the valley. This had been decided during the battle, but at that time he really didn't expect that the other side would build a blocking tower.
Defensive positions can have trenches, earthen walls and the like.
It's just that the rebels did not have troops suitable for night fighting, and Yang Kuo did not expect that the war would last so long.
The large-scale attack was not launched again until daybreak.
The defenders once again fell into a hard fight. The 4th Division of the Central Plains failed to match the level of friendly forces and had to pay relatively heavy casualties to repel the enemy's saturation attack.
"Two thousand for ten thousand, one to five, the local army is at a loss for new recruits." Ding Kui was not satisfied with the results of the war.
"It's good that the local army can fight like this." Quan Sihai gave a very fair evaluation. "Although it was a defensive battle, after all, we fought more with less, and the enemy command was more experienced. My subordinates believed that they had completed their mission.
"
"Well, that's alright. Let's transfer them back to Qingda City and replace them with the 5th Zhongdi Division."
The 218th Division re-entered the defensive position and took over from the 4th Zhongdi Division, while the 3rd An Division was preparing for battle under the command platform, and a new cycle began.
"Hey! I'm really worried about what will happen." Ding Kui discovered new changes in the enemy's position.
Outside the range of the powerful crossbows, the rebels began to build earthen platforms on both sides of the mountain walls, preparing to extend towards the imperial army.
"Why are they piled up on both sides?" Ao Yu didn't understand.
Next to him, Quan Sihai answered: "We can disperse our army's attack and take advantage of their large numbers."
Liu Yu added: "Well, moving to the side can reduce the defense on one side, and pushing both sides together can increase the area of attack on our army, doubling the actual number of troops deployed in the attack."
"Hehe." Ding Kui suddenly sneered, "The enemy was not idle last night. I saw the shadow of the trebuchet."
The earth mound requires a lot of soil, and making the trebuchet requires a lot of craftsmen, and it takes a long time.
The rebels should be unprepared before the test attack is over, and they will start preparing after nightfall yesterday at the earliest.
Digging soil overnight, mobilizing craftsmen, and transporting materials can increase efficiency by sending additional manpower. Compared with the imperial army and the rebels, they have the least shortage of manpower.
"Let the trebuchets prepare, and we must slow down the advancement of their earth platform." Quansihai has countermeasures.
"Don't worry, wait until they put the trebuchet on the earth platform." Ding Kui was confident.
Quan Sihai was stunned for a moment, then gave Liu Yu a questioning look.
Liu Yu raised the telescope and took a closer look.
"The construction speed of the earth platform will slow down after entering the range of the crossbow. The enemy will probably have a wave of saturation attacks before establishing the trebuchet position. The lord may want to take it by surprise." He said in an uncertain tone.
"A saturation attack may not be possible, but archers will definitely fight. It is not a wise choice to prevent the earth platform from advancing." Ding Kui unexpectedly rejected Liu Yu's idea.
"Oh! You want to attack the enemy's trebuchet, but the manufacture of trebuchets is more time-consuming." Liu Yu seemed to understand.
"Trebuchet attack? Our army has little advantage." Quan Sihai also considered destroying the enemy's trebuchet.
The proficiency in operating trebuchets was obviously higher than that of the Imperial Army, but this had little impact on battle losses.
In a narrow valley, when dozens of kilograms of rocks fall down, it is difficult to avoid casualties of our own troops.
"Leave this bag of tips to the trebuchet commander." Ding Kui took out a cloth bag and said, "When I give an order, act according to the plan, just do it."
Liu Yu took the cloth bag and held it up. Ding Kui smiled and said, "You can take a look first."
Quan Sihai immediately came to Liu Yu's side and opened the bag together to read. After reading it, the two of them seemed to understand.
"I prepared a small gift. I wasn't sure if it would come in handy. Now that level six combatants can't participate in the battle, there's nothing to worry about."
After hearing what Ding Kui said, Liu Yu seemed to understand and glanced at Ao Yu.
Ao Yu looked a little uncomfortable and quietly moved a few steps away from Ding Kui.
"My subordinates will make arrangements now." Liu Yu put the tips in his bag and walked quickly down the podium.
There was new movement from the rebels, and the soldiers slowly walked out of their formation holding their shields high.
They no longer used a square formation, but instead adopted a double-row strip formation, that is, two rows in front and back, holding up shields to protect the front and top, across the valley.
One queue after another walked out of the military formation, about ten meters apart. The soldiers did not carry long weapons.
"As expected, we don't intend to attack by force. Such a formation has no offensive power."
Quan Sihai was right, the rebel formation had no offensive power, but had extremely strong defensive power.
Without a dense formation, the covering attack of the crossbow projectile failed, most of the arrows missed, and those that hit the target were intercepted by the shield.
If the crossbows are concentrated and fired, they can only knock down a few people, and they will be quickly replaced by others. Even if a queue is disrupted, they can stop and adjust, rearrange the queue, and then advance.
Yang Kuo seemed to have figured it out, and mobilized a group of relatively powerful infantry who could withstand the crossbows of the special battle group at a longer distance.
Since the attacking soldiers moved slower and the shields were closer together, there were not too many gaps, so the sharpshooters of the special operations group were unable to make a move.
Seeing the enemy approaching and stopping about 300 meters in front of the defense line, Ding Kui sighed: "Well, we know that the enemy is using archers to contain us, but we can't ignore them."
Before he finished speaking, the rebel archers jumped out from behind the shields, opened their bows and fired arrows neatly under the officer's orders, and then quickly hid behind the shields after shooting.
Long-range attacks require volleys to be effective, and sporadic attacks are easy to dodge or intercept. Such attacks did not cause much damage to the defenders, but both Xu Bin and Dou Xiaoqi had to adjust their attacks to suppress the opposing archers.
Delaying tactics have advantages and disadvantages. The attack and defense can unilaterally arrange the attack rhythm. If Ding Kui wants to break this situation, he must attack, but if he attacks, he will fall into a melee. The price of the melee is increased casualties.
No matter how hard the defenders try, there will always be gaps in the blockade of the earth platform, and the rebels use this gap to steadily build the earth platform forward.
"The enemy's earth platform will be completed before noon." Quan Sihai visually measured the speed of the opponent.
"They need to install at least thirty trebuchets. If they are in a hurry, they may have to finish it before noon. Try to delay it as long as possible. Reinforcements are coming soon."