Were what Wei General Li Lin and his soldiers saw really the reinforcements sent by Wei King Zhao Run?
In fact, it is true.
That was the "more than 10,000 cavalry" that General Feng Li, under the command of Zhangyang Jun Xiong Zheng, attacked Bolangsha River Port, and was also the vanguard of Wei King Zhao Run's army.
This cavalry gathered warriors from more than twenty tribes in the Sichuan-Luo Alliance, led by clan chiefs such as Lu Balong, Meng Liang, and Wu Wu. It was an overwhelming force. In addition, there were Lu Mu,
Mu Qing and other original Zongwei led about two thousand cavalry battalions belonging to the Luoyang Imperial Guard, with a total number of more than 20,000.
Of course, since it is a temporary patchwork of warriors from various tribes and cavalry of the Imperial Guard, the command system of this cavalry is very chaotic. Don't expect this cavalry to be able to complete any delicate tasks that require mutual cooperation - they are just like the Jiejiao cavalry.
Same, only general tasks can be completed.
But it is undeniable that the strength of these tribal warriors is considerable.
The chief general of this cavalry is Lu Mu, the deputy commander of the Luoyang Imperial Guard. As for the vanguard generals, the general Mu Qing and Wu Wu, the chief of the Qingyang tribe, serve as the vanguard generals.
What Li Lin saw at the west gate of Daliang City was the leading cavalry led by Mu Qing and Wu Wu, numbering about three thousand.
The mission of Mu Qing and Wu Wu was very simple. They also wanted to explore whether there were ambushes of allied troops from various countries in the area near Daliang City. After all, the main force of King Zhao Run of Wei was not marching very fast, and no one could guarantee that allied forces would be there.
After learning of the former's arrival, they would not ambush soldiers and horses in the hills or forests near Daliang, killing the Wei army by surprise.
Because of this, Mu Qing and Wu Wu were very cautious. After all, Zhao Run, the monarch of the Wei State, had sent all the soldiers and horses from Sanchuan County to aid Daliang. This was already the last force of the Wei State. If it was because of their own
Due to his negligence, he was ambushed by the coalition forces of various countries, resulting in a defeat. Mu Qing could not forgive himself until his death.
Therefore, when he could vaguely see the outline of Daliang City, he ordered his three thousand cavalry to disperse and search the nearby area, making sure to carefully search every inch of land.
He and Wu Wu were sitting on a high slope, looking cautiously in the direction of Daliang City.
"Why were the reinforcements dispersed?"
On the tower of the west city gate, a Wei soldier asked in confusion.
After hearing this, Wei General Li Lin explained: "Judging from the number of supporting troops, they should be His Majesty's vanguard army. Although I don't know which general is commanding it, it is obvious that this general is very careful. He probably suspects this
There may be an ambush of the coalition forces hiding nearby..." After that, he stood on the city wall and looked around outside the city.
However, the result was beyond Mu Qing, Wuwu and Li Lin's expectations. Only three thousand Qingyang and Aries tribesmen warriors spent more than half an hour searching the low hills on the western outskirts of Daliang City.
In the woods, no trace of the coalition forces was found.
"No?"
Mu Qing was a little surprised. After thinking for a moment, he ordered: "Expand the search scope."
The cavalrymen of the Yi tribe followed the orders, while Mu Qing and Wuwu, after confirming that the place was safe, slowly advanced towards Daliang until they arrived at a position about a few hundred feet away from the city.
At this time, Wu Wu, the young leader of the Qingyang tribe, had noticed the corpses scattered everywhere under Daliang City, and his face was full of shock.
He couldn't imagine that there would be so many corpses outside Daliang City - God, this was just the western suburbs of Daliang!
From the side, Mu Qing also looked at Daliang with a solemn expression, staring intently at the walls of Daliang City that were dyed dark red with countless blood.
Immediately, his eyes moved to the city wall, to the flags with the word "Wei" still fluttering in the wind, and he was speechless for a long time.
"Facing the attack of 1.5 million coalition forces from various countries, Daliang can actually hold on to this day?"
Mu Qing was shocked.
To be cautious, he rode his horse closer and shouted to the city: "I am Mu Qing, the former military captain of Luoyang Imperial Guard. I wonder who the guard general of the city is?"
After hearing this, Wei general Li Lin who was on the upper floor of the west city responded quickly: "General Mu Qing, the last general is Li Lin."
"Li Lin? Could it be that he is Zhao Hongli's brother-in-law?"
Mu Qing thought about it carefully.
In his impression, the only person named Li Lin who is also qualified to be the guard of the west gate of Daliang City is Zhao Hongli's elder brother Li Lin. Will such a person surrender?
Although Mu Qing felt that the possibility of Li Lin surrendering to Chu was extremely small, given the vital importance of this battle, there was no room for any negligence on his part.
So, he summoned some of the Guards cavalry behind him and told them: "You guys, go to the city and take a look at what's going on."
"Yes!" The few guards cavalry responded with clasped fists.
Seeing Mu Qing standing still on his horse, he sent several cavalrymen to approach the city wall. Li Lin on the city was slightly startled, and then he understood and waved his hand and ordered: "Open the city gate and release the friendly soldiers outside the city."
Come in!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a Wei soldier from the side whispered: "General, isn't the city gate blocked with mud and stones?"
Only then did Li Lin remember that there was another problem.
In the end, ropes were lowered on the west city wall and the Imperial Guard cavalry were hoisted up. After carefully checking the situation inside the city, they conveyed something like "safety" to Mu Qing and Wu Wu outside the city.
message.
After about half an hour, the Wei soldiers in the city finally dug out the mud and stones blocking the city gate, opened the city gate a little, and let Mu Qing, Wu Wu and others in.
When he saw Li Lin, Mu Qing was the first to clasp his fists and apologize: "General Li Lin, it's not that I don't trust you, it's really..."
Li Linhun waved his hand nonchalantly. Of course he understood why Mu Qing was so cautious.
Compared with this matter, he was more concerned about Wei Wang Zhao Run's reinforcements.
"Where is His Majesty's army now?"
"As far as I know, the army led by His Majesty was stationed near Bolangsha River Port last night, about a few hours away from our army..." As he spoke, Mu Qing looked around the city and saw many Wei soldiers standing near the west city wall.
, the armor is very mixed, some are wearing the armor of the Imperial Guard soldiers, some are wearing the armor of the Chu soldiers, and so on.
But it is not difficult to see from the solemn expressions of these people that these are good men of the Wei State who are determined to protect their family and country.
"A lot of people died in the city, right?"
Mu Qing asked in a low voice.
Hearing this, Li Lin nodded silently.
To be fair, Li Lin, who comes from a big family, is not a general who has been leading troops in wars for a long time. In the past, he could only maintain law and order and occasionally beat up the rangers in the city. He had not seen much cruel battlefields, but this time
The five-day battle of Daliang made him gradually numb to the matter of dead people.
I still remember that at the beginning, when Li Lin heard the report of thousands of casualties, he bared his teeth and stared with a look of horror. But later, the death of thousands of his own soldiers only made him frown slightly.
head.
It only takes five days to go from being filled with anger to being pessimistic about life and death.
A moment later, Chu Shuli, the head of the Daliang Mansion, came after hearing the news. He was surprised to meet Mu Qing and exchange greetings.
At this time, Mu Qing already understood the hardships of defending the city of Daliang City in the past few days. He was shocked by the bravery of the soldiers and civilians in the city, and was also shocked by the huge casualties of the soldiers and civilians in the city.
Chu Shuli also asked him where the army led by Wei monarch Zhao Run was currently. When he learned that it was about to arrive in Daliang, he breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, he also understood that the defense of Daliang City to this day was already at its limit. If the coalition forces of all countries attacked for one more day, the city wall would probably change hands - about this, he was still wondering why the coalition forces of all countries suddenly gave up.
In order to attack Daliang, now that I think about it, it is obvious that the coalition forces of the various countries knew that the Wei monarch was about to arrive with his army and actively prepared for the war.
Thinking of this, he reminded Mu Qing: "Today the coalition forces did not attack our Daliang. They must have learned that your Majesty's army was coming and were busy preparing for war... General Mu Qing, please send someone to report to your Majesty, so that your Majesty will not fall into the trap of the Chu people."
After hearing this, Mu Qing comforted him and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Chu. Your Majesty was considering that the Chu army might ambush our army after it arrived. Therefore, he did not order a rush march. Therefore, your Majesty's army is still full of energy."
, so that the Chu army will not be caught off guard, but..."
He took a look inside the city and sighed secretly.
The Art of War says, if you can make a profit at a hundred miles, you can overthrow the general; if you can make a profit at fifty miles, half the army has arrived.
Therefore, Wei King Zhao Run's decision to order the entire army to march slowly was correct, because only in this way can the Wei army retain most of its combat power and energy when arriving on the battlefield, and avoid being ambushed by the coalition forces of various countries - if they were to be ambushed at this time
Defeat by the coalition forces of various countries would be quite fatal.
But the cost of doing this was that Daliang City sacrificed many brave soldiers and civilians for this.
Although there is no way, it is really disappointing.
At the same time, Lu Mu, the deputy commander of the Luoyang Imperial Guard, had received news from Mu Qing, the former military captain who was serving as the vanguard. He learned that Daliang City was still in the hands of his Wei State, so he quickly sent Lu Balong and Meng Meng.
Liang and other clan leaders led 10,000 Sichuan Luo cavalry to Daliang.
These 10,000 cavalry, plus Mu Qing's 3,000 cavalry, did not enter the city. Instead, they expanded the search area and patrolled outside Daliang City to prevent the coalition forces from various countries from attacking the main force led by Wei King Zhao Run.
Around the end of the day, the main force led by Wei King Zhao Run finally appeared within Daliang's field of vision.
At that time, Chu Shuli, Li Lin, Zhou Ji and other generals and officials in the city, including Jin Ju, the commander of the Daliang Imperial Guard who was seriously injured, all appeared at the northwest corner of the city wall, looking at the monarch of Wei with excitement.
.
"The emperor guards the country's gates" is not a false statement. Zhao Run, the monarch of Wei State, indeed brought a large army to fight the allied forces of other countries.
Looking at the reinforcements that seemed to be coming from heaven and earth, Chu Shuli said excitedly: "This...there are at least 200,000 troops, right?"
"more than."
Zhou Ji shook his head and said with the same excitement: "My preliminary estimate is that it is at least 300,000!"
While the officials and generals in the city were discussing this, the royal chariot of Wei King Zhao Run slowly arrived outside Daliang City.
It must be said that Zhao Run was quite shocked when he learned from the cavalry sent by Lu Mu two hours ago that Daliang was still in the hands of his Wei state.
You know, in order to prevent the rangers and militiamen who had no combat experience in the team from falling behind, Zhao Run could only choose to march slowly - it was not that he ignored the safety of Daliang City, but that most of the soldiers in the army could not keep up with the Imperial Guards.
Given the speed, once a rush march is ordered, there may only be a handful of 10,000 to 20,000 confederate soldiers by the time the Imperial Guard reaches Daliang.
This small amount of troops is simply not enough to deter the coalition forces of various countries.
Therefore, when he decided to move the army forward slowly, Zhao Run was actually mentally prepared for the fall of Daliang. Therefore, when Lu Mu sent someone to tell him that Daliang was still in the hands of Wei, Zhao Run was pleasantly surprised.
However, besides being pleasantly surprised, he also had an ominous premonition: What kind of heavy price did Daliang pay to be able to hold on to the city in the hands of 1.5 million coalition forces from various countries?
The king's chariot moved forward slowly.
The king of Wei, Zhao Run, stood on the king's chariot with a sharp sword, looking up at the nearby Daliang City.
He looked at the Wei flag still flying on the city wall, at the city wall that was almost completely stained with red blood, and at the Chu soldiers lying dead outside the city. His initial surprise and excitement gradually turned cold.
The allied forces of various countries, which had an absolute superiority in military strength, left the bodies of tens of thousands of soldiers outside the west wall of Daliang. One can imagine the brutality of this battle and the casualties of soldiers and civilians in the city.
"Report!"
Several cavalrymen quickly came from the south and came to the king's chariot to report: "Your Majesty, in the south of Daliang City, the coalition forces of various countries have gathered hundreds of thousands of troops, and they are suspected of intending to attack our army."
"..."
Zhao Run's expression did not change when he heard this, obviously he had expected this.
He immediately ordered: "The whole army goes south!"
With an order, fifty thousand Luoyang Imperial Guards were used as the central army, and hundreds of thousands of Wei troops under his command marched straight to the south, as if they were going to fight a decisive battle with the allied forces of other countries today.
Seeing this scene, Li Lin, Zhou Ji, Jin Ju, Chu Shuli and others on the Daliang City Wall were all shocked.
"Why doesn't Your Majesty lead the army into the city?"
"Yes!...Looking at the movements of His Majesty's army, it seems that he is going to have a decisive battle with the coalition forces of various countries. This...this..."
They can't figure it out.
However, Zhao Run had his own thoughts.
He felt that since the coalition forces of various countries did not attack Daliang today, they were obviously actively preparing for war and waiting for his arrival.
Once he shows weakness at this time, he will inevitably be attacked by the coalition forces of all countries. On the contrary, if the Wei army takes the initiative to accept the battle, it may cause the coalition forces of all countries to hesitate. After all, the troops he brings this time will not
Not just two hundred thousand, but a full three hundred thousand.
What's more important is that among the 300,000 horses, there are more than 20,000 cavalry.
Regardless of the fact that 300,000 people are fighting against 1.5 million troops from the coalition forces of various countries, the chance of winning seems slim. But in fact, once the two armies start a decisive battle, neither Wei nor the coalition forces will be able to command their troops well.
Army - because there are too many troops, too many troops will inevitably lead to confusion in command.
And when both sides are in chaos, Wei's more than 20,000 cavalry can play a decisive role and even reverse the military disadvantage.
In a war, victory or defeat is never determined based on the number of people alone.
About half an hour later, the army led by Wei Wang Zhao Run turned around the southwest corner of Daliang City and arrived at the southern suburbs of Daliang, where they encountered the allied forces of various countries.
It has to be said that at this moment, the armies of both sides are so vast that they can't be seen to either side. At first glance, it is actually impossible to tell which side has more people.
"Gu..."
On the south wall of Daliang City, Chu Shuli, Li Lin, Zhou Ji, Jin Ju and others all looked nervous and looked worriedly outside the city, not even daring to breathe.
They were afraid that the coalition forces of various countries would suddenly launch an offensive. After all, in their opinion, the reinforcements led by the Wei monarch Zhao Run had just arrived in Daliang, and the morale and physical strength of the soldiers should have been reduced. In fact, they should not compete with the coalition forces of various countries who had the advantage.
relatively.
In fact, Lord Chu Shui also thinks so.
"He actually took the initiative to challenge..."
Chu Shuijun was filled with surprise when he saw hundreds of thousands of Wei troops gathering on the opposite side, waiting with seriousness.
In fact, Lord Shui of Chu discussed with the generals of other countries for a long time on the matter of dealing with King Zhao Run of Wei.
At first, someone suggested besieging the city for reinforcements, but it was rejected by Tian Dan of Qi State.
The reason is very simple, because even if the coalition forces of various countries have 1.5 million people and are divided into four armies to surround Daliang, each army will only have about 300,000 to 400,000 people. According to the news sent by Xiao Zuo, Wei Wang Zhao Run this time
The number of troops recruited is about 300,000. Therefore, once Wei King Zhao Run suddenly attacks the coalition forces of all countries in one direction, the coalition forces of all countries in that direction may not be able to stop him.
Unless the coalition forces of various countries can successfully ambush the army of Wei King Zhao Run, this is the essence of the real siege and reinforcement.
But the problem is that King Zhao Run of Wei went on an expedition at the age of fourteen and swept through the Central Plains without a single defeat for more than ten or twenty years. Would he not understand the strategy of "siege the city and mobilize reinforcements"? Or would he be ambushed by the coalition forces of various countries?
Therefore, Chu Shuijun finally decided to act according to the opportunity: if Zhao Run's army and its sergeants were exhausted and eager to enter the city, he would immediately attack with all his strength and take the opportunity to defeat Zhao Run; if the Wei army still had enough
Physical strength, then let's wait and see first.
For this reason, Chu Shuijun gathered an army and came to Daliang City, trying to put pressure on Zhao Run.
But what he didn't expect was that Wei Wang Zhao Run's reaction was more intense than he expected, and he actually took the initiative to greet him, as if he was going to have a decisive battle with the coalition forces of other countries today.
This made Chu Shuijun very puzzled: So what support does Zhao Run have?
For an entire incense stick, no one acted rashly among the 300,000 Wei troops and hundreds of thousands of allied troops from other countries.
"You said that Zhao Run took the initiative to accept the challenge. Is there any hidden meaning?"
At the main position of the allied forces of various countries, Chu Shuijun asked the generals of Tian Dan, Xiang Mo, Xiang Kuan, Ji Wu, Huan Hu and other countries who were nearby.
"This should be a deterrent."
Qi Jiangtian said solemnly: "He must have guessed that our army would take the opportunity to attack when he led his army into the city. Therefore, he refused to expose his flaws and let our army succeed..."
"Is he not worried about defeat at all?" Chu Shuijun frowned and asked, "Does he have some support to defeat our army?"
"I'm afraid that's not the case." Tian Dan shook his head and said: "Based on Tian's understanding of Zhao Run, he will only become more radical when he is weak. On the contrary, if he has any support in his hands, he will
Instead, he will choose to show weakness... At this moment, watching him compete with our army, you can guess that he is not very sure about this battle, but he knows very well that he cannot show weakness at this moment, so he takes the initiative to fight and forces our army to face difficulties.
Retreat and look for another opportunity..."
Chu Shuijun was stunned when he heard this, nodded and said: "General Tian, you mean that Zhao Run is just being mysterious?"
"Well..."
Tian Dan hesitated for a moment, frowned and said: "Before I have verified the strength of this Wei army, Tian does not dare to say the outcome. I can only say that our army has a greater chance of winning today, but... the battlefield is changing rapidly.
, I’m not completely sure either.”
Chu Shuijun nodded when he heard this, looked at the Wei army opposite and chuckled: "Then let's try the strength of this Wei army..."
After that, he ordered his troops to prepare for battle.
Seeing the changes in the formation of the coalition forces, King Zhao Run of Wei immediately ordered the entire army to prepare for battle.
Seeing the two armies setting up battle formations on the southern outskirts of Daliang City, as if a decisive battle was about to begin today, the generals on the Daliang City Wall subconsciously held their breath in shock.
Could it be that the final decisive battle, which is related to the future national destiny of all the countries in the Central Plains, is today?!