In fact, as early as mid-September, Sima Shang, the newly promoted top ten magnates of Beiyuan and acting governor of the county, led his 50,000 heavy cavalry from Beiyan to Handan and Wu'an. They were originally preparing to rush to the Hanoi frontline battlefield, but because of When Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, learned that Wei Gongzi Run intended to sneak attack on the hinterland of his country in Korea, and planned to encircle and kill the future hero of Wei, he ordered Sima Shang to garrison troops in the Wu'an area.
At that time, Li Hou Han Wu had a good idea. When Wei Gongzi Run led 100,000 Wei troops to attack Guantao, he sent three armies, Yuyang, Shanggu, and Beiyan, to cut off the Wei army's return route, and then released Sima Shang's 50,000 troops on the front battlefield. Heavy cavalry, he believed that in this situation, even the 100,000 Wei troops led by Wei Gongzi Run would follow in the footsteps of the hundreds of thousands Donghu cavalry and die tragically under the iron hoofs of his 50,000 heavy cavalry.
Unexpectedly, Wei Gongzi Run deceived and attacked Julu, which completely disrupted the original tactics of Han Wu, the Marquis of Li.
Fortunately, the cooked fat duck of Wei Gongzi Run has not completely escaped his Korean control. He still has a chance to save the situation, severely inflict heavy damage on the Wei army under Wei Gongzi Run, and capture him alive.
Having said that, the marching speed of heavy cavalry is indeed a problem.
Regardless of the fact that cavalry still has the word "cavalry" attached to it, the normal marching speed of this unit is actually not much faster than that of infantry.
After all, the basic equipment of every heavy cavalry is a set of human armor, a set of horse armor, as well as long weapons, short weapons and long-range weapons for combat, plus dry food and so on, the burden is more than a few hundred kilograms, even if It is a heavy cavalry equipped with two war horses, and the burden of carrying heavy objects is also very heavy on the war horses.
Therefore, the best configuration of the heavy cavalry is actually three mounts and one attendant. The three mounts of the former can rotate the load, ensuring that there is always one horse in an energetic state to cope with unexpected changes. As for the latter, it is purely Help the heavy cavalry, help put on armor, look after the horses, etc. when the heavy cavalry goes into battle.
But unfortunately, South Korea barely managed to collect 70,000 to 80,000 war horses. It was difficult to even achieve the goal of one cavalryman with two warhorses. The retinues who assisted the heavy cavalry could only follow on foot. There was really no spare capacity to achieve the goal of one cavalryman with three mounts. The level of luxury - how luxurious is this?
It is no exaggeration to say that the 50,000 heavy cavalry under Sima Shang's command are actually not up to the optimal configuration standard. The cost can be used to build 78,000 or 80,000 light cavalry, plus at least 100,000 infantry, plus In order to ensure the physical strength of the war horses, the horse feed uses high-quality soybeans (soybeans), which eat more land than people of this era. All in all, all these messy expenses are calculated to build and feed such a heavy army of 50,000 people. As for the cavalry, South Korea can fully arm an army of more than 200,000 people.
It cannot be denied that heavy cavalry is the king of the plains, but equally, this is an army that needs to be fed with gold. When Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, was ambitious and wanted to build 50,000 heavy cavalry, he never thought that this army would actually be Such a bottomless pit.
If it weren't for Wei's Shangshui Youma heavy cavalry who repeatedly became famous in the Central Plains, and if it weren't for the 50,000 heavy cavalry from South Korea who wiped out more than 100,000 Donghu cavalry in the first battle, Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, couldn't help but want to give up.
Because even if South Korea could build such an army, it would not be able to support it.
However, the brilliant record of 50,000 heavy cavalry wiping out more than 100,000 Donghu cavalry in the first battle made Li Hou Han Wu strengthen his confidence: even if it was to sell iron, he still had to support this army with astonishing combat effectiveness.
And this time, whether it was declaring war on Wei or currently encircling and suppressing Wei Gongzi Run's 100,000 Wei troops, Lihou Han Wu regarded Sima Shang's 50,000 heavy cavalry as his biggest trump card.
He even couldn't help but imagine what the expression of Wei Gongzi Run, who was the first to create heavy cavalry, would be like when he saw that South Korea had ten times the heavy cavalry of Wei Kingdom's Shangshui Youma Heavy Cavalry.
Shocked? Or frightened?
At the end of September, acting county governor Sima Shang led 50,000 heavy cavalry to Julu County and set up camp about five miles south of the Yuyang Army camp.
At the same time, in the Yuyang army's commanding camp, Lihou Hanwu, Dangyinhou Hanyang, as well as Yuyang guard Qin Kai, Shanggu guard Mashe, and Beiyan guard Leyi, were focusing on "how to lure Wei Gongzi Run out of the city." "Outside" was discussed.
At first, Li Hou Han Wu thought that the Yuyang army failed to attack the city in the past few days and lost a brave general in addition to the loss of troops. This might make Wei Gongzi Run change his tactics and choose to take the initiative. After all, there were rumors in the Central Plains that Wei Gongzi Run was an offensive A commander with strong desires will never be passive and defensive unless he has to.
Unexpectedly, after several days, the Shang Shui Army stationed in Julu City still stood still. It was not so much that they surrounded Wei Gongzi Run in the Julu area, but that they were in turn restrained by the other party.
After all, it is said that the latest news is that Sun Shuke, the deputy general of the Yanling Army who was stationed in the Juluze area a few days ago, also attacked "Baixian" two days ago, and the Yanling Army generals Qu Cheng and Yan who occupied "Xingtai" and "Sand Dunes" There are also signs of sending troops to radiate surrounding counties.
The purpose of the Yanling Army is very clear: first, to harvest grain and grass, and second, to disrupt this area.
Thanks to his blessing, tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to leave their hometown and seek refuge in Handan. If this continues, the food reserves in Handan will definitely become a problem, which will directly affect the army on the Hanoi battlefield on the front line.
However, Li Hou Han Wu did not dare to let go of the 50,000 merchant navy army led by Wei Gongzi Run, and turned to block the Yanling army because the threat of this army was too great.
Therefore, in this case, Lihou Hanwu had no choice but to order the county towns within Handan County and Julu County to have the county soldiers stationed there to be on strict guard. Although he did not think that those county soldiers could stop the Yanling Army, he could not say that. It can cause some obstacles to the Yanling Army.
On his side, he gathered strength to annihilate the merchant navy army in one fell swoop.
In his view, this is the only strategy that South Korea can use to restore the situation and lay the foundation for victory.
About half an hour later, before Li Hou Han Wu and others could come to a conclusion, Sima Shang, the newly promoted Beiyuan Ten Heroes and Acting County Governor, came to the Yuyang Army's military camp and came to the commander's tent to meet everyone.
When he learned about the difficulties faced by Li Hou Han Wu and others, Sima Shang thought for a while and suggested: "How about spreading rumors and falsely claiming that the Wei army has been defeated on the battlefield in Hanoi, so as to force Wei Gongzi Run?"
Hearing this, Qin Kai and Ma She's eyes lit up, but then they smiled bitterly and shook their heads.
The reason is very simple, because the Wei army has expelled the Korean people in Julu City, how can they possibly release any rumors? To say the least, even if the Wei army has not expelled the local people, they have no way to contact the people in Julu City at this time. , to shake the Wei army with rumors.
At this time, after thinking for a moment, Li Hou Han Wu nodded and said: "What General Sima said, I think it is a good idea. We can write a letter and send it to Wei Gongzi Run, telling him that the Wei army is on the Hanoi battlefield. The news that the battle has been defeated..."
"Wei Gongzi Run may not believe it." Beiyan Shou Leyi said calmly.
After taking a look at Le Yi, Li Hou Han Wu said firmly: "Even if he doesn't believe it, this move will increase his doubts... I don't believe that Mr. Wei, who lives in Julu, can still clearly grasp the Hanoi battlefield."
Hearing this, Qin Kai, Ma She, Sima Shang and others nodded slightly. Anyway, it is a method and it is not impossible to try it.
Seeing this, Le Yi simply said nothing more.
As a result, Lihou Hanwu specially asked someone to forge a battle report, and wrote a letter in his own hand that night, which he sent to Julu the next day.
At midnight the next day, when Wei Crown Prince Zhao Hongrun came out of his bedroom yawning, an East Palace guard delivered a letter from Lihou Hanwu to the former's hands.
"Han Lihou Han Wu?"
Reading the signature on the envelope, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but be a little surprised. After all, he had not seen Lihou Hanwu in the Korean army formations in recent days, and he did not expect that the latter would actually write to him.
While his concubine Zhao Que was making tea, Zhao Hongrun sat in the lobby of the city guard's mansion, opened the letter, and took out a battle report and a handwritten letter from Marquis Han Wu.
That battle report was forged by Li Hou Han Wu from the perspective of Han General Bao Yuan. It clearly listed the situation on the battlefield in Hanoi in recent times. The content in it was half true and half false - everything before September was facts. But after September, I started making things up.
Of course, even if he made it up randomly, Han Wu, the Marquis of Li, did not dare to make it too outrageous and write something completely impossible like "the Korean army had broken through the beams." He only dared to write that Wei was at a slight disadvantage on the Hanoi battlefield. Moreover, this disadvantage continues to expand.
Unfortunately, Zhao Hongrun just glanced at this battle report that Li Hou Han Wu spent a lot of effort to forge and threw it aside as waste paper.
Are you kidding me? Can a general like Bao Yuan or Jin Bo defeat the Southern Liang King Zhao Yuanzuo?
It's not that he despises Bao Yuan and Jin Mao. In fact, in Zhao Hongrun's view, Bao Yuan and Jin Mao are capable generals on their own. The problem is that their opponent, Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, is the leading commander-in-chief of Wei State. In addition to Zhao Hongrun himself and Zhao Yuanji, the King of Yu, looking at the entire Wei State, those who have the ability to deal with Zhao Yuanzuo, the King of Nanliang, simply don't think about it as a third party.
It is precisely for this reason that even though Zhao Hongrun was very disgusted with this third uncle, he still endured his disgust and reused the latter.
But now this battle report says that Bao Yuan, Jin Yao and other Korean generals defeated the Southern Liang King Zhao Yuanzuo. How could Zhao Hongrun believe it?
Not to mention that he didn't believe it, not even Lu Mu, the chief of the clan's defense who was standing by, believed it at all.
Immediately, Zhao Hongrun opened the letter written by Lihou Hanwu, and after a cursory glance, he frowned and read it again carefully.
Li Hou Han Wu stated in the letter that now that Wei's defeat in the Hanoi battlefield has been exposed, as long as Zhao Run recognizes South Korea's dominance and returns Julu, South Korea and Wei can still maintain the previous peace and are willing to let Zhao Run be safe and sound. Return to Wei State and so on.
In Zhao Hongrun's view, this is completely nutritious nonsense: Unless both sides suffer losses and neither side is able to continue, how can it be possible for the war between Wei and South Korea to end easily?
And the reason why Zhao Hongrun read this nonsense over and over carefully is just to judge the purpose of Li Hou Han Wu. After all, the latter couldn't be so full that he could forge a battle report and send someone to deliver it to him, right?
"...His purpose for forging this battle report is probably to make me anxious, so that I will not dare to delay here because I am worried about the Hanoi battlefield, and force me to take the initiative to attack. In other words, he hopes to induce me to attack... Hey, It seems that Korea’s 50,000 heavy cavalry have arrived in this area.』
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun put down the letter in his hand, touched his chin, and showed a faint smile on his face.
As the army currently lacks some necessary equipment and props, of course he can't severely damage the 50,000 Korean heavy cavalry, but this does not mean that he can't make the heavy cavalry lose some numbers.