On March 20, the 23rd year of Hongde, King Yu of Wei State Zhao Yuanke led an army of nearly 200,000, and Chu State Shouling Jun Jingshe led hundreds of thousands of Chu troops in Yongqiu. This was the largest war between Chu and Wei. of a battle.
Due to factors such as mistakes in decision-making and the disunity of the Chu soldiers, although the Wei army did not defeat the Chu army in the end, it also caused a heavy blow to the morale of the Chu soldiers - the Chu army of as many as six to seven million people actually Unable to defeat less than 200,000 Wei troops, how could the Chu soldiers have confidence in this war to destroy Wei?
After the sun went down that day, the king of Yu, Zhao Yuanke, stopped as soon as he saw the opportunity. He did not expect to defeat the Chu army in one go, but ordered the entire army to retreat and fight again the next day.
Facing the retreat of the Wei army, although Shouling Junjingshe was unwilling to do so, he could only watch the Wei army retreat.
There is no way, because this battle has been a mess so far: the grain soldiers have been defeated and fled in all directions. Even sending out a supervising team cannot prevent the deserters from escaping the battlefield; and among the main army of the Chu State, the Juyang Army and the Zhangyang Army , the Liyang Army, including the Shouling Army led by Jingshe's deputy general Yang You, were all defeated by Wei's Beiyi Army and Youma Army, with losses ranging from 30% to 70%. This made millions of Chu soldiers At the core of the army, the morale of the "main army of Chu" dropped greatly.
But having said that, the Wei army also suffered heavy losses, especially the Northern Army, which was one of the core of this battle and served as a decoy. Although it was almost surrounded by Chu armies from three sides, it fought tenaciously and its 60,000 troops were reduced to Thirty thousand people, which made King Huan heartbroken when he learned about this.
In addition to the Northern First Army, the armies led by generals such as Shao Hu, Long Ji, Yi Gu, Zhao Bao, and Baili Ba suffered 30% casualties even as a feint attack force. One can imagine how brutal this battle was.
It is no exaggeration to say that in the "Battle of Yongqiu", both the Wei army and the Chu army suffered losses - thanks to the strategizing of King Yu Zhao Yuanqi, if he had not calculated Shouling Junjingshe, the latter made a wrong judgment , the Wei army faced the Chu army that was three times the size of its own. Not only would its losses be far greater than the current situation, but it would also be difficult to gain a morale advantage.
That night, when the Chu army was about to clean up the mess, Shouling Jun Jingshe sat alone in the commander's tent and thought deeply.
I don’t know how much time passed, but Lieutenant General Yang You brought Guling Lord Xiong Wu and Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng to return. After seeing Lord Shouling Jingshe, Yang You cupped his hands and called out softly: "Master Jingshe?"
Shouling Jun Jingshe came to his senses after hearing this, nodded, and asked: "Yangyou, how is the morale of the soldiers in the army? There is no need to hide it, tell the truth."
Yang You hesitated to speak and opened his mouth. After a while, he carefully replied: "The general dare not hide it. At this time, the soldiers in the military camp are generally in a low mood..."
"That's it." Shouling Junjingshe sighed sadly.
He also understood that the 600,000-700,000 Chu army was at a disadvantage in the face of Wei's offensive of nearly 200,000 troops. Such a blow would indeed weaken the army's sergeants.
After a long time, Shouling Junjingshe asked again: "How many "civilians" have fled?"
The "civilian militia" he refers to refers to the soldiers recruited by the army, who accounted for at least 60% of the "millions of Chu troops".
Yang You lowered his head and said in a heavy tone: "Eighty percent of them have been defeated. So far, only about 3,000 people have returned to the camp..." At this point, he paused and tentatively asked Shouling Jun Jingshe how to do it. : "Lord Jingshe, I wonder what to do with these deserters?"
Shouling Junjingshe frowned and said nothing.
If we follow the iron law of the Chu army, deserters will be killed and even their families will be implicated. However, in this war, there were too many deserted soldiers. According to Shouling Jun Jingshe’s knowledge, when the Wei army launched a general offensive at the last moment, At that time, there were at least 100,000 soldiers who had raised provisions and fled in disarray, fleeing the battlefield. If we wanted to kill them all, I really don't know how many people would be killed.
Thinking of this, Shouling Jun Jingshe sighed and said: "This crime is not his fault, let's pardon him for now... There is no need to send people to chase them. If they want to escape back home, let them escape."
After hearing this, Yang You opened his eyes wide and said hesitantly: "Master Jingshe, is this... inappropriate? Because of the deserters in this battle, the "main army" also wavered, and was defeated by the Wei army. The ride will eventually be thought..."
However, before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Shouling Jun Jingshe raising his hand: "Today's battle is all my fault. It was my wrong decision. You don't need to say more."
Yang You opened his mouth, speechless.
Yes, he just wanted to put the "fault in this battle" on the soldiers and reduce the culpability of the Shouling Lord in front of him. However, the upright Lord Shouling Jingshe did not bother to shirk the responsibility - as The commander-in-chief of the Chu army, how could he pass the blame for the defeat on his soldiers?
After realizing this, Yang You, Gu Lingjun Xiong Wu, Liyang Jun Xiong Sheng and others all sincerely admired Shouling Jun Jingshe's high righteousness.
"That's right." As if he thought of something, Yang You said again: "Master Jingshe, after the Wei army retreated, Nangong Yao led his Suiyang army ten miles away from the camp, and the general sent someone to summon him. If you shirk it, this person may have two minds."
Shouling Jun Jingshe thought for a moment after hearing this, and said calmly: "Nangong Yao has rebelled against the Wei State this time. How can the Wei State tolerate him? If he betrays our great Chu at this time, this is a way to die... Seeing the defeat of our army, he probably felt panic in his heart, fearing that we would blame him for the defeat, so he kept a distance from our army in order to protect himself." At this point, he frowned and continued: " In today's battle, our army failed to defeat the Wei army. The conquest of Wei this time will probably be difficult to complete. In this case, we might as well make friends with Nangong Yao, grant him benefits, and win him to our side. Yang You, turn back. You send people to transport some food to the other army, and give good words to appease him. Since Nangong Yao has rebelled against Wei, he will no longer be tolerated by Wei. As long as our great Chu shows goodwill, he will definitely defect to our country."
Hearing this, Yang You showed a bit of embarrassment on his face and said hesitantly: "Master Jingshe, there is not much food and grass in the army. Do you really want to give some to Nangong Yao? Is it worth it?"
Shouling Jun Jingshe heard this and said seriously: "After all, 'Suiyang' is still in Nangong Yao's hands. If this person is found to be dealing with Wei in Song Dynasty, why not do it?"
"Understood." Yang You nodded, and then asked: "Master Jingshe, in addition, Nangong Yao has two generals named "Huan Hu" and "Chen Shou" who led an army on the battlefield today. When blocking the Wei army, they deliberately allowed the Wei army to cross the border, causing undue casualties to our Shouling army..."
"Is this true?" Shouling Junjingshe asked with a frown.
As soon as he finished speaking, Lord Guling Xiong Wu said indignantly: "Master Jingshe, it is absolutely true that the thief Chen Shou also killed Zuo Qiuji, the general under my master's command. His crime is unforgivable!"
Shouling Jun Jingshe pondered for a moment and asked repeatedly: "Where are Huan Hu and Chen Shou? What was Nangong Yao's reaction to this?"
Gulingjun Xiong Wu said angrily: "Those two dog thieves led about seven or eight thousand people under their command and fled the battlefield while taking advantage of the chaos. When I sent someone to question Nangong Yao, he pretended to evade it and said he didn't know about it.
If it weren't for Lord Jingshe's sake, I would have wished..."
Listening to Gulingjun Xiong Wu's indignant complaints, Shoulingjun Jingshe only felt upset.
Although it is said that the failure of today's battle was mainly due to his misjudgment in Jingshe, the discord and selfishness within the Chu army were not unrelated to the defeat.
Just like Xiong Wu, Lord of Guling. When he saw his own advantage, he urged his troops to go and seize the glory. But when Wei's Youma Army defeated the Diyang Army and the Chu Army's advantage was lost, this person hurriedly sent his troops to
Withdrew, and pretended to be serving the public good for private purposes, ordering other regular troops and grain soldiers to come forward to fight - a similar example is by no means the only one in today's war.
On the other hand, the Wei army on the opposite side was united and united, fighting on the battlefield one after another. Facing such a Wei army, how could the Chu army, which had its own evil intentions, be invincible?
"Everyone, please step aside and let me be quiet." Shouling Jun Jingshe said with a tired look.
Seeing this, Yang You, Guling Lord Xiong Wu, Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng and others left wisely, leaving only Shouling Lord Jingshe sitting alone in the commander's tent, looking at the portion placed in front of him.
He drew the "Map of Yongqiu Area" by hand, and painstakingly thought about the strategy to defeat the Wei army.
It has to be said that today's battle not only destroyed the morale of the Chu army, but also severely damaged Shouling Jun Jingshe's self-confidence, making him realize that the commander-in-chief of the Wei army opposite, King Yu Zhao Yuande, was not a simple man at all.
character.
I originally thought that the opponent was just retreating blindly and shrinking the defense line. Unexpectedly, while retreating, the opponent also adopted sneak attack tactics such as ambushes, decoys, side attacks, tail attacks, and interception of food routes, gradually consuming the strength and morale of the Chu army.
Shouling Junjingshe had never heard of this "retreating and decisive battle" method of using troops, so he accidentally suffered a big loss.
"How can a man like this, who is so skilled in military skills, remain unknown in the past?"
Lord Shouling Jingshe secretly wondered that he had fought against Prince Run of Wei State before, and he felt that King Yu Zhao Yuandai was even more difficult to deal with than Prince Run of Wei State. At least in terms of discerning opportunities, King Yu
Zhao Yuanji was more outstanding than Wei Gongzi Run. After all, Yu Wang Zhao Yuanji had seen through all his tactics and used one move to get the best of him. He was more afraid of Wei Gongzi's "tricks at first sight".
"If my prediction is correct, the Wei army finally gained power, and he will never let our army regroup..."
Shouling Junjingshe had a premonition that in the coming days, the Wei army would definitely attack again, further damaging the morale of their Chu army.
Sure enough, the next day, the Wei army took action again. They repeated their old tricks and asked Wei generals Shao Hu, Long Ji, Yi Gu, Zhao Bao, Baili Ba and others to attack the Chu army in sections that stretched for dozens of miles.
The camp and the Chu camps on several nearby hills seemed to have the intention of defeating them one by one.
Faced with this seemingly endless harassing attack, the Chu army, which had just lost the battle, could only refuse to fight and took the defensive as much as possible, so that an incredible scene appeared on the Yongqiu battlefield: hundreds of thousands of Chu troops
, was suppressed by tens of thousands of Wei troops and did not dare to leave the camp easily.
This in disguise aggravated the loss of morale of the Chu army.
By the end of March, King Su Zhao Hongrun led the Qin and Wei coalition forces to Chenliu.
He was very surprised to find that at this time, the Wei army had already established an initial advantage on the Yongqiu battlefield, and this advantage was growing bigger and bigger like a snowball.