Chapter 356 The Great Encirclement and Suppression Begins
Liu Wu has been staying in Hutoushan for almost a month.
Although they were carrying enough compressed biscuits for three months, there were streams in Hutou Mountain, so they didn't have to worry about food and drink. But hiding in the mountains with their heads covered like this, he was really a little embarrassed.
He doesn't know anything now. He doesn't know where the Xixia people have reached, let alone whether he has stopped the Xixia people from going south. He doesn't even know how many military strongholds along the way are still in the hands of the imperial court.
in a hurry!
I met ordinary people many times in the mountains, and at first they exchanged some vegetables and so on. Later, I was always asked how long it would take to drive away the Western thieves, which made Liu Wu embarrassed to talk to his blind date.
He always emphasized that it was his mission to stay here, but the way the villagers looked at him clearly felt that he was hiding from the war in the mountains, just like the other people.
Every night, Liu Wu would find the tallest tree to climb up and keep looking into the distance.
He remembered what Gu Cheng told him to rush to Niujiaping at 10:00 the next day after seeing three fireworks.
He looks forward to it every day and night.
It was really uncomfortable to be stared at and despised by his father and fellow villagers. If he had known this, he might as well have stayed at Xiaoguan. Even dying in Xiaoguan was better than living like this.
Gu Cheng said at that time that Hu Laosan from Suining Fort had also withdrawn. If he had known that he should have contacted Hu Laosan, he would not have lost his sight now.
The brothers were restless and often went to the edge of the mountains and forests to inquire about the situation.
Several times, the brothers said that they saw the Xixia cavalry, and even when there were two or three hundred cavalry, he wanted to do it several times and kill as many as possible.
In the end, he held back and chose to believe Gu Cheng. After all, Gu Cheng was a soldier in the guard camp. He should not lie to himself and dare not falsely pass on military orders. That was the content of the Ten Kill Order, which required beheading.
Similarly, the reason why Liu Wu held back and did not take action was also because of the Ten Kill Order.
In Xiaoguan, when the fighting was fierce, he could still argue with Gu Cheng about whether to retreat. But now, once he fails to arrive at the designated place within the specified time, thus affecting the major events of the encirclement and suppression, Liu Wu will definitely not get any good results.
So, I just have to endure it.
Another day at dusk, although Liu Wu had no hope, he still went to climb a tree. This seemed to be his homework every night and he couldn't leave it behind.
He was not the only one, there were three soldiers accompanying him... He was worried that one person would not be able to take care of the four directions...
"Commander, those...are fireworks!"
Liu Wu was listless. He had just climbed halfway when he heard someone shouting.
It's true, just southeast of their lurking point, a bright light suddenly exploded in the dark night sky... It was a firework, really a signal firework.
Liu Wu suddenly accelerated and quickly climbed to the tree crown. After climbing for a while, he suddenly thought: There were signal fireworks, so I was still climbing.
"All assemble! All assemble! All assemble!"
Liu Wu was still halfway pulling the tree trunk when he already shouted.
Here we go, the order to set off has finally come, and we no longer have to stay in the forest in a daze.
I can finally fight against the Western thieves again, and I no longer have to look at the disdainful eyes of my fellow villagers.
In fact, the signal fireworks received by Liu Wu and others were almost the final combat signal of the entire encirclement and suppression campaign.
Within this area of several hundred miles, the Jinning Army, Yongxing Army, Suide Army, and Huichuan Army, including the Western Army and the New Army that had withdrawn from the villages along the road, were all lurking in the ravines, mountains, and ridges of this large area.
After receiving the signal, they all arrived at the designated location to encircle and suppress the Xixia people.
The interception battle on the main battlefield did not even last a day. Under siege from three sides by the Song army, the Xixia cavalry, which had originally planned to disperse and plunder, relied on the advantage of the cavalry to quickly disperse and retreat, or it would be more appropriate to flee.
The battlefield area is so big that even with arrangements and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, it is still impossible to close all the openings.
Whether it's this canyon or the mountains on both sides, there are too many paths suitable for cavalry to escape.
Faced with the Xixia cavalry's preoccupation with escaping, the imperial team, which was mainly infantry, had no choice.
All methods were used: following and chasing, intercepting and killing on the way, forward-firing gunpowder bombs, rows of crossbows to block, cavalry interleaving and harassing, etc.
Still not many Xixia cavalry were left.
They were all veterans, and they were all soldiers with rich experience in fighting against Xia, but the results were still not very significant.
Although the strategic goal was achieved, Zhao Xi was not very satisfied with the tactical arrangements.
Zhao Xi knew that he had overestimated the ferocity of the Xixia people, and also underestimated the effect of concentrated bombing.
If he had known that a confrontation would frighten the Xixia people, he would have arranged all the troops here to directly encircle and annihilate them.
Zhao Xi thought that the Xixia people, starting from Xiaoguan and attacking border villages all the way, should have adapted to the sharpness of gunpowder bullets and should know how to deal with gunpowder bullets.
The result... was not much different from Annan's, the same defeat.
only……
"Your Highness, due to the convenience of war horses, the Western Thieves always do not have a clear main force and two wings in combat. As long as a certain battle zone is fierce, the Xixia people can use war horses to send messages and quickly provide support."
"In addition... Your Highness, according to the information, Xixia King Li Liang deceived himself into the expedition, but the Xixia King's flag was not seen on the main battle line of Haoshuichuan, and the Xixia cavalry that entered the Haoshuichuan encirclement was less than 100,000, which is seriously inconsistent with Xixia's claim of an army of 500,000."
"Qing believes that Xixia's main force still needs to be confirmed."
After Di Qing reminded him, Zhao Xi also remembered it, and it seemed that he hadn't really seen Xixia King Qi.
Is it possible that Xixia's main force really didn't enter Haoshuichuan?
"Order the East Route Army to go east and the West Route Army to go west to launch pursuit, and gather the teams at the latent points along the way to help each dispersed encirclement and suppression point complete the encirclement and suppression mission."
"The center army continues to advance north. At the same time, bring 20% of the tanks and wheeled artillery to the east and west."
"The most important point is that the pursuit must be within the physical endurance of the soldiers, and they must not be greedy for merit and rush forward."
"In this battle, the victory is basically sealed. I don't want to cause a lot of casualties in the soldiers in the final battle, and I don't want any of the new army's equipment and weapons to fall into the hands of the Xixia people."
"If anyone's command errors lead to serious consequences, they will be killed without mercy!"
In a sense, this war against Xia has accomplished goals other than war.
The battle to avenge shame, the battle to gain courage.
The battle was fought in Haoshuichuan, and the Xixia people were defeated in just one confrontation. Han Qi avenged the shame of Haoshuichuan.
At the same time, from the situation of the interception battle, it can be clearly seen that the Xixia people no longer have the courage to face the bombardment of gunpowder bombs, but the soldiers of the state and the DPRK are now very courageous relying on the power of gunpowder bombs.
What is left is the real goal of the war and the real battle of encirclement and suppression.
Zhao Xi was worried that the gunpowder bombs had fattened the courage of the soldiers. They relied too much on the gunpowder bombs, blindly expanded the role of the gunpowder bombs, and ignored tactical arrangements and detailed considerations. They were greedy for merit and rashly advanced, and the results they had already achieved were lost because of the war goal. Buried.