After approaching Qiguan, Zhao Hongrun carefully looked at the terrain around Qiguan.
In fact, from the perspective of the overall situation in this area, the terrain is higher in the southwest and lower in the northeast, but Qiguan is somewhat special. It is built on a small hill, and the winding Qishui River flows around it to the north.
To the east, it then goes south to join the Wei River.
Therefore, after approaching Qiguan, the terrain on the side of King Su's army was lower.
The terrain is at a disadvantage, which means that the range of the Wei army's crossbowmen will inevitably be greatly reduced, and it is not as far as the Korean army's crossbowmen.
Of course, for the Wei army protected by Wugang chariots, these are just minor problems.
The only thing Zhao Hongrun was puzzled about was that the Korean army maintained a posture of defending Qiguan and did not take the initiative to fight. This seemed to him quite abnormal.
Because as far as he knew, in addition to the troops originally stationed in Qiguan, there should be troops from Dangyin Hou Han Yang and Han General Baoyuan. If the cavalry under these two Han generals were added together, they would never be less than 20,000.
this number.
So, where are the 20,000 cavalry?
At Qiguan? Use cavalry to guard the gate?
Of course, this is just a joke. After all, Zhao Hongrun would never think that Dangyin Hou Han Yang and Bao Yuan would use cavalry to guard Qishui.
Some people may think that General Han and Baoyuan, the Marquis of Dangyin, are likely to send their cavalry to reinforce Huaxian.
To be honest, this does make sense. The terrain in Huaxian County is indeed more suitable for Korean cavalry to display their strength than Qiguan. However, he does not believe that Han Yang and Baoyuan will send out all their cavalry, at least they will
Leave a cavalry force.
After all, cavalry has always been the easiest arm to come back and win on the battlefield. Even on a battlefield with 200,000 troops, 5,000 cavalry can still turn the tables on victory or defeat.
After taking a few glances at the surrounding terrain, Zhao Hongrun could roughly guess the tactics that the Korean army was likely to adopt—frontal confrontation and roundabout sneak attacks.
The reason why Zhao Hongrun guessed this is that the terrain in this area is somewhat special - the Qiguan area, surrounded by Qishui and Weihe rivers on three sides, resembles a small island in the middle of the river, and on this small island, there is only one that looks like a crescent moon.
The hills. And Qiguan is built on the crescent of the moon to the east.
Judging from this terrain, when King Su's army attacks Qiguan head-on, the Korean army is likely to attack the Wei army's flank in a roundabout way from the other side of the hill.
Zhao Hongrun even guessed that it was probably a sneak attack by the cavalry.
Of course, this was just his guess, and there was no sign yet that the Korean army would actually launch a sneak attack as he said, but having said that, it was always right to think carefully before the war.
"Yang Yi, Ding Heng."
Zhao Hongrun called in a deep voice.
Upon hearing this, Yang Yi, the leader of the black crows under Zhao Hongrun, and Ding Heng, the deputy leader, came to the former, cupped their hands and clasped their fists, waiting for their orders.
I saw Zhao Hongrun raising his hand and pointing to the unknown crescent-shaped hill - let's call it "Qishan", and said to Yang Yi and Ding Heng: "We don't need you to wait and assist us in attacking Qiguan.
After sneaking into this mountain forest and watching the wind and grass in the forest, I suspect that the Korean army may make a detour to attack our army."
"Yes!" Yang Yi and Ding Heng clasped their fists and accepted the order.
At this time, the Shangshui soldiers in the front team were still advancing towards Qishui pushing Wugang carts.
Since Zhao Hongrun always cared about the Qishui Mountain, the soldiers of the Shang Shui Army almost moved close to Qishui.
Even during the march, the sword and shield soldiers in the army were tense, ready to protect the crossbowmen with weak defense capabilities at any time.
But to Zhao Hongrun's surprise, until the Shang Shui Army advanced the team to more than a mile in front of Qishui Pass, they were not ambushed by the Korean army. This inevitably made Zhao Hongrun mutter to himself: The Korean army did not ambush in Qishan?
"Are Baoyuan and Dangyinhou Han Yang really so confident in Qiguan?"
Zhao Hongrun frowned, feeling a little hard to understand.
In fact, in his opinion, the steepness of Qiguan is actually the same thing. It is nothing more than that there is a Wei River that is difficult to cross with ordinary means. In addition, if the stretch of about four kilometers between Wei River and Qiguan is
Once the five miles or so of flat land becomes a battlefield, there will not be many soldiers on both sides that can accommodate it. This means that the Qiguan garrison will basically not be attacked by large-scale enemy forces - this is essentially the same as the situation at Pilao Pass.
Same.
Apart from this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't think of anything else that would make Qiguan known as a dangerous pass.
At least for the troops under his command, the terrain in this area did not pose much of a threat.
"His Royal Highness King Su."
Wu Ji and Zhai Huang, the generals of the Shang Shui Army, came to Zhao Hongrun and asked the latter for instructions.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun stared at Qiguan in the distance for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Today's battle may be on two battlefields, front and back." As he said, he told Wu Ji and Zhai Huang his judgment.
He concluded at the end: "Zhai Huang, command the attack on Qiguan from the front battlefield. Wu Ji, please pay attention to our army's rear and be alert to the Korean army bypassing our army's rear from that mountain and launching a sneak attack."
"Follow orders."
Wu Ji and Zhai Huang unanimously clasped their fists and accepted the order.
For these two generals, this is the best task arrangement: with Zhai Huang's ability, there is no problem in commanding the attack on Qiguan; as for Wu Ji, as long as he is not placed in the position of commander, then this
The general who was currently demoted by Zhao Hongrun and temporarily took over the affairs of the general was relatively more reliable.
After all, it is not something ordinary generals can do to kill the Korean general Xin Zan alone.
After receiving Zhao Hongrun's instructions, Wu Ji and Zhai Huang returned to the army respectively.
It didn't take long for the Shang Shui Army to blow the horn representing the attack.
Accompanied by the low and powerful sound of the horn, about 300 military chariots were dispatched first, slowly advancing towards Qiguan.
Behind the Wugang chariot team were the Wei army's Jinglan chariot team and crossbow troops.
"Bang bang bang——"
With several roars, the catapults of the Shang Shui Army launched the offensive first. Under the command of the two thousand general Gu Tao, more than a hundred catapults blasted towards Qiguan - this time attacking Qiguan, the catapult troops all
They did not carry many stone bombs, so the two thousand people sent Gu Tao to concentrate their firepower, hoping to knock down the gate or a certain section of the Qiguan Pass wall.
In short, as long as there is a breakthrough that allows the infantry to enter the pass, this is the only role of the catapult unit this time.
It has to be said that due to many actual battles, Gu Tao, the two thousand man general, has some experience in commanding catapults. No, the bombs thrown by his catapults are generally relatively accurate, and almost all of them fall on the ground.
In the Qiguan area, more than a dozen stone bullets hit the wall head-on, creating cracks on the originally relatively flat wall of Qiguan.
At this time, the Wugang chariot troops had entered the range of the Korean crossbowmen in Qiguan. Zhao Hongrun was somewhat surprised to see thousands of fire arrows fired from Qiguan and landed on the Wugang chariot.
On the body and fenders.
Especially the fenders of those Wugang vehicles. There are many Wugang vehicles whose fenders are now covered with blazing fire arrows.
"Fire arrow?"
Seeing this scene, Zhao Hongrun's face showed a bit of a smile.
To be honest, he was not worried about the Wugang vehicle being burned down at all, because the baffle of the Wugang vehicle was one finger thick. Even if the Korean army used fire arrows to ignite a piece of wood one finger thick, it would not be that easy.
Easy.
Not to mention, the Wugang vehicle's fender is specially designed to suppress fire arrows - a piece of wood that can be operated behind the fender to move a crossbar up and down on the outside of the fender.
No, for those Wugang chariots that were hit by many fire arrows, the Wei soldiers in the car pulled the wrench and pulled up and down a crossbar on the outside of the baffle. Suddenly, the fire that was originally nailed on the outside of the baffle was knocked down by the crossbar.
Fall into a rectangular groove directly below.
In that groove, there was about an inch of clear water. After the fire arrows fell into the water, they made a few chirping sounds and were immediately extinguished.
Of course, there were a few Wugang chariots that were unlucky and were hit directly by the fire arrows. However, the Wei soldiers on the vehicles were not panicked at all, because the crossbar was as thick as a fist when viewed from the side.
With just a few fire arrows, it can burn instantly.
To take a step back, it doesn't matter even if it does catch fire. When the fire gets bigger, just abandon the Wugang chariot - it's just a chariot made of wood, so it's not a big deal.
At least Zhao Hongrun didn't feel any distress at all.
It has to be said that Wei Jun's calmness in the face of the fire arrow made Dangyin Hou Han Yang, who was upstairs at Qiguan Pass, feel frustrated.
He originally thought that using fire arrows could stop those damn Wei army chariots, but he didn't expect that the Wei soldiers on the opposite side didn't take those chariots seriously at all. Instead, the Han army at Qiguan consumed a lot of kerosene.
"boom--"
A stone bullet crashed into the wall, killing two unlucky Korean soldiers, and making the eyelids of Dang Yin Hou Han Yang jump when he heard the news.
It must be said that after so many years of fighting, Dangyin Hou Han Yang has never felt so aggrieved.
Think about it, the Korean army has always taken the initiative to attack. How could it have ever been so embarrassed and passive?
When Han Yang, the Marquis of Dangyin, was distressed, Bao Yuan said in a deep voice beside him: "Master Dangyin Marquis, please allow me to lead the infantry to fight... The fire arrows are not enough to burn down the Wei army's chariots. We can only use the method you and I discussed yesterday.
.”
"..." Dangyin Hou Han Yang looked at Baoyuan and hesitated for a moment, then nodded heavily.
A moment later, the gate of Qiguan opened. Under Zhao Hongrun's surprised gaze, Han General Baoyuan led a group of Korean infantry out of the pass.
This Korean infantry is very interesting. When they set foot on this battlefield, they only held a cowhide shield in their left hand, and their right hand did not even hold a weapon, but held a rope about the length of an arm.
At the other end of the rope, there is an earthen pot tied.
I saw these Korean infantry holding shields and rushing in front of the slow-moving Wugang chariots. They did not get too close to the Wugang chariots, swinging the ropes in their hands and throwing the pots towards the Wugang chariots.
"Pah, pah, pah—"
There was a sound of earthen pots breaking, and the pots smashed against the fenders of the Wugang carts one after another, spilling the liquid inside.
There was no need to guess what the liquid was, because several Wugang vehicles among them immediately burst into flames due to the viscous liquid.
There is no doubt that it is kerosene.
"..."
Seeing this scene, Zhao Hongrun frowned and his expression became solemn.
At the same time, Bao Yuan was also examining the Wei army's formation on the battlefield.
"Sure enough, Wei Gongzi Run was wary of our army ambush on (Qi) Mountain, so he deployed most of the sword and shield soldiers on the northwest side and relaxed the defense on the other side... Maybe this is an opportunity?"