After three defeats in three battles, Bitatu, the leader of the Jiejiao tribe, finally began to panic.
To be fair, Bitatu was quite satisfied with the battle on August 23rd. Even though he lost as many as 80,000 slave soldiers in that battle, he also succeeded in costing the Luocheng side about six thousand soldiers.
The casualties of one thousand people, a casualty ratio of one to thirteen, seemed a bit exaggerated, but from Bitatu's point of view, it was not unacceptable.
You know, the food of the Jiejiao Army is getting more and more scarce at this moment. Instead of leaving those Hu slaves to fight with the Jijiao people for food, it is better to pull them all out to fight the Wei army. If one slave dies, there will be one less need.
If the feeding mouth is lucky enough to kill a Wei soldier, it will be an unexpected gain.
What Bitatu never expected was that in the battle on the second day, August 24, the Hu slaves he had enslaved in Jiejiao would be unable to succeed.
On the other hand, looking at the Shang Shui soldiers on the west wall of Luocheng City, they gave Bitatu the impression that their morale was as high as a rainbow, and they were even more brave than during yesterday's fierce battle.
This is simply unbelievable!
Because it stands to reason that any army in the world will suffer a loss of morale after suffering heavy casualties. And the losses suffered by the merchant navy on August 23 were not insignificant. Bitatu estimated
There are at least three thousand or more.
As far as Bitatu knew, the total number of Shang Shui troops who set foot in the Sanchuan area was only 20,000, and 3,000 people were killed in one day's fighting. How could this not be a heavy casualty?
But the reality is that after the merchant navy suffered such heavy casualties, their morale did not fall but increased on the second day, and they were simply more courageous than the first day.
Could it be that this is what the Central Plains people say about a sad soldier who must win?
Bitatu was hesitant and saw that the situation was unfavorable to his side, so he quickly chose to withdraw his troops, only waiting for a comeback tomorrow.
Waiting for August 25, Bitatu once again led an army to besiege Luocheng.
What I didn't expect was that the battle situation on their Jiejiao side that day was actually worse than yesterday. Those slave soldiers, numbering more than 100,000, actually turned into a unilateral massacre by the Wei army.
On August 23, the Hu slaves who had brought great pressure to the merchant navy of Wei, today seemed to have rushed to the sword of the Wei people to die, no matter in terms of fighting spirit or bravery.
, let alone the day before yesterday, even comparing it to yesterday is very inferior.
Could it be that the Yi people in Luocheng fed the Wei people blood from the Yi sheep?
Bitatu was shocked and angry, and was filled with surprise.
Drinking the blood of ibex raw is a custom among the Sanchuan tribe. They believe that the blood of ibex can enhance the strength of warriors and make them stronger.
Of course, this is just a saying from the land of Sanchuan, but it is undeniable that the Sanchuan tribe still retains the custom of drinking raw ibex blood. For example, in the Jie tribe, tribal warriors must drink a bowl of ibex before going out to fight.
The meaning of sheep's blood is probably to bless them to defeat their enemies and return home in triumph.
This is the same as the soldiers of the Central Plains countries drinking a bowl of Zhuangxing wine when they take the oath of war before going on an expedition.
Why doesn’t the morale of the Wei people decrease?
After returning to the camp where the army was stationed, Bitatu couldn't figure it out.
He didn't know that the Shang Shui Army actually showed signs of a sharp decline in morale on the night of August 23. However, Zhao Hongrun happened to encounter the incident at that time, and cleverly used a grass flute song and some encouragement
The words of people's hearts only boosted the morale of the Shang Shui Army and the warriors of the Sheang tribe again.
As for Bitatu, after returning to the camp that day, he did not lead the slave soldiers who suffered even greater losses. Therefore, it is obvious that the morale of the slave soldiers plummeted due to the huge casualties.
In fact, maybe many slave soldiers no longer had any hope in this battle, and they fought purely with the belief that if I died on the battlefield, my family could survive.
On one side are the Shang Shui troops who, inspired by Zhao Hongrun, are trying to survive this battle tenaciously. On the other side are the slave soldiers who have little fighting spirit. Under such a disparity in morale, although the slave soldiers still number hundreds of thousands,
How could it pose another threat to the merchant navy?
There is no way to advance. The Luocheng side, which still has more than 20,000 troops, is firmly occupying the city and does not give Bitatu any opportunity to take advantage of it. Then it retreats... Where can it retreat to?
Yesterday, Bitatu and the chiefs of the small and medium-sized tribes under his tent received news from the rear again. As expected, the Dangshan army of Wei State attacked the Wutu tribe's camp and killed all the men and sheep of that tribe.
Although women and children were not slaughtered, the problem is that if a tribe loses the sheep that it relies on for survival, it is equivalent to losing everything.
You must know that autumn has already entered, and winter will usher in soon. The tribe that has lost its flocks will not be able to survive this winter safely unless it receives support from other tribes.
But the question is, which tribe will support it?
Nowadays, the tribes in the Bitatu tent, except for the Wubian tribe who came here specifically to ask for help and hope to jointly fight against Qin, are all targets of attacks by the Dangshan army. These tribes themselves cannot be protected, so how can they help other tribes?
"Grand Chief, this battle cannot continue."
As one of the core tribes that make up the Jiejiao Tribe, Guyi Gu, the leader of the Huijiao Tribe, couldn't help but persuade him: "If we continue to fight, even if we capture Luocheng, the gains will outweigh the losses. There are already two Wujiao and Wutu.
The tribe suffered vicious revenge from the Wei army, and all the men left behind and the sheep grazing were killed..."
Hearing this, the chiefs of the large, medium and small tribes in the tent couldn't help but glance at Gorgan, the chief of the Black Horn Tribe, and Lilhaqi, the chief of the Black Hoof Tribe.
The two patriarchs were seen with expressions of silence, drinking wine in their tents, as if they didn't care about the meeting.
That's right, because their tribe is finished and it doesn't matter to them whether they can go back or not.
If Bitatu wants to continue attacking Luocheng, then he should continue to fight. Anyway, even if he does not die on the battlefield today, once winter comes, the remaining warriors of their tribe will still have to seek refuge with other tribes in order to obtain food for the winter.
For example, like the Jie tribe in the south, I heard that the Jie tribe is at war with the Ba Kingdom and should need more warriors.
And black horns, black hooves?
Waiting for those tribal warriors to defect to the Jie tribe for food, what's the use of their two clan leaders holding the title of a tribe for nothing?
The Black Horn Tribe and the Black Hoof Tribe are all finished.
Of course, the two chiefs of the Wujiao Tribe and the Wuti Tribe have taken a dim view of life and death, as well as victory and defeat. This does not mean that the other tribes are willing to give up their homes and are willing to watch the iron hoofs of the Wei army flatten their tribes.
Kill their flocks.
Therefore, when Guyi Gu, the leader of the Gray Horn Tribe, made a request to disband the army and return to aid the tribe, he immediately received the support of the other tribal chiefs in the tent. They were so angry that Tatu turned livid, and angrily shouted at these people.
Kicked out.
"A plate of loose sand! A plate of loose sand!"
After driving away the clan leaders, Bitatu became furious in the felt tent and kicked over everything that could be done.
"Don't those people understand that if we don't unite to contain the Wei people at this time, the Wei people will invade Sanchuan in a big way?!"
Just when Bitatu was furious, the young Jiejiao warrior Bosile walked into the felt tent and saw Bitatu getting angry, so he waited quietly aside.
After a long time, Bitatu finally vented his anger, glanced at Bosile, and asked in a low tone: "How do you say that?"
Bosile shook his head and whispered: "Both of the leader of the Yi tribe, Erdemo, and the commander of the Flame Horn Army, Ulu Batu, refused to participate in the war."
"Refuse? Why refuse?!" Bitatu roared angrily: "Don't he understand that Wei will be our close enemy in Sanchuan?"
Bosile hesitated for a moment and said: "Oldmer also had an explanation for this matter. He said that the Wei State attacked and destroyed the Song State to the east of them more than ten years ago and occupied its territory. The Wei people had no control over the land.
The need is not urgent, and there is no reason to send troops to retake Sanchuan. The Yi tribe will not be an enemy of a powerful country that has no conflict of interests."
"Fart!" Bitatu scolded after hearing this: "Is it possible that he still supports being a harmonious neighbor with Wei? In that case, why didn't their Yi tribe send people to participate in the joint hunting supported by Wei..." At this point,
Bitatu was suddenly stunned, and then he seemed to understand something, and cursed tremblingly: "Okay, okay, these guys want me, Jie Jiao, to test Wei Guo's reaction for them... Hehehehe, he is really good at hitting the ground."
What an idea!”
After saying that, Bitatu spat and asked: "The Flame Horn Army also refuses?"
"Yes." Bosile nodded and said: "Ulu Batu, the commander of the Yanjiao Army, said that the Wei people in Luocheng have the tribes of the Yi tribe to support them. Since there are Yi tribes, their Yanjiao army will not
Get involved in this war."
Bitatu opened his mouth but was speechless.
It’s no wonder, after all, the Yanjiao Army never aims their weapons at the Xiang and Jie tribes. They are only responsible for protecting the Wusu Royal Court. This time the Yanjiao Army sent Ulu Batu, the commander of a thousand men, just to get up close.
Observe the intentions of the Wei people to see if they will pose a threat to Wuxu Royal Court.
And now that Zhao Hongrun has established the Luoshui Alliance and has successfully won over many Xiang and Xiang tribes, it is obvious that the Yanjiao Army will not participate in this war.
"It seems that we can only ask for help from the Jie tribe..." After thinking for a moment, Bitatu said melancholy.
However, it turns out that the Jie tribe at this moment cannot help Bitatu at all, because Zhu Hai, the general of the Chenggao Army of Wei State, established a military camp in Yishan. Although he did not send troops to the hinterland of Sanchuan, he made threats
The posture of the Jie tribe and the Ling tribe frightened these two tribes into hastily withdrawing troops from the front line to return to support the tribe, causing them to suffer several defeats in the war against the Ba people in recent days.
What's even more terrible is that even though they all heard that Wei was at war with the Jiejiao tribe, they did not dare to attack the Chenggao army. After all, they were fighting fiercely with the Ba people at the moment, and it was said that the Wei people and the Ba people
Therefore, the Jie and Ling tribes still maintained restraint despite being coerced by the Chenggao army.
It seems that all these circumstances are becoming more and more unfavorable to Bi Tatu.
"It seems... almost done."
On August 26, when the soldiers of the Lun tribe of the Yi ethnic group who left the city to spy on the situation in the Jiejiao camp reported what they saw and heard to Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Hongrun touched his chin and murmured thoughtfully.
There are only four days left before the end of the month.