As soon as Shen Bing walked into the handsome tent, he heard Yang Duanhe say:
"Mengwu retreated, and the Chu army used cavalry to attack the rear of the Mengwu army and cut off its food routes."
"Our army's supply team has been robbed, and the Mongolian army is retreating to Ruyin."
Shen Bing asked in surprise:
"Why is this so?"
Yang Duanhe replied:
"Mengwu rushed forward to attack the city father in a hurry. The city behind did not send troops to garrison, and divided his troops to attack Rushui."
"Yesterday, the Mongolian army suffered a major defeat at Ru River, and then the Chu army took advantage of the situation to counterattack."
"It was only then that Meng Wu discovered the food and grass. The arrows were almost exhausted and the food road behind him was cut off..."
There is no need to say more about what follows.
Cutting off food routes is a big deal. Without food, people will be so hungry that their hands and feet become weak and unable to fight in just one day.
But of course a hundred thousand troops would not be like this.
The reason is that the army usually has food in stock. Once there is a food crisis, the supply will be limited. The food that can supply the entire army for one day is enough for two or even three days. However, the entire army is half hungry and half full, which will naturally affect morale. .
Shen Bing didn't think much and said:
"We should immediately reinforce the Mongolian military."
Yang Duanhe immediately turned his attention to Shen Bing.
Shen Bing immediately understood what Yang Duanhe meant:
"The General is saying that the Liang Army will be used to reinforce the Mongolian Army?"
"My subordinates are not disobeying orders. It's just that the Daliang Army is marching slowly. I'm afraid..."
Yang Duanhe replied:
"That's why we still need the Black Armored Army."
At this point, Shen Bing was speechless.
If you want to rush for reinforcements, you must have cavalry. However, most of the Qin army is infantry and there are fewer cavalry.
For example, Yang Duan and his 100,000-strong army had less than 10,000 cavalry.
These ten thousand people are mainly used for reconnaissance and emergency use. For example, if the Qin army is suddenly attacked by enemy troops in the rear, and the infantry will not be able to reach it for a while, the cavalry will be sent to reinforce it.
Yang Duanhe explained:
"I'm worried that this is the Chu army's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain, so the main cavalry force will not move for the time being."
"If we only use infantry reinforcements, I'm afraid it won't be enough."
"So the Black Armor Army was used to rescue them first, and then 30,000 Liang Army troops followed up."
Although Shen Bing was not very happy, he had to admit that this was the best plan.
The reason is that if Yang Duanhe's cavalry and infantry are sent for reinforcements while the Black Armor Army and the Daliang Army stay in Ruyin, there will be problems of coordination and poor command.
This problem was particularly prominent in ancient times. For example, the Black Armor Army and Yang Duanhe's Hanoi Army belonged to two separate command systems. Not to mention the different command styles, intelligence sharing and order issuance were troublesome.
But both the Heijia Army and the Liang Army were commanded by Shen Bing to reinforce Cheng Fu, which saved a lot of trouble.
Shen Bing could only reply:
"My subordinates, go get ready now and set off in an hour."
What the Daliang Army and the Heijia Army need to prepare is actually just food and grass, the food and grass they need plus the food and grass supplied to the Mongolian Army.
If there is no food and grass, going to reinforce is an empty talk, because what the Mongolian army lacks is not people but food.
So the 30,000 Liang troops carried with them carts of grain.
It is conceivable that this can easily become an attack target for the Chu army.
Before leaving, Shen Bing summoned Wei Yao, Chen Duan and others for a meeting to discuss how to march.
Wei Wei and Chen Duan had a tacit understanding. You said to me:
"Combined cloth and cavalry march together."
"One thousand black-armored troops are in front, with one thousand escorts on each side."
"And send spies everywhere. Once we detect the enemy's situation, we will gather our troops to fight!"
This is a traditional way of marching, and is done in all countries, using cavalry as the eyes and ears of the infantry and as an emergency force.
But Shen Bing didn't speak.
Wei Wei couldn't help but asked in confusion:
"What do you think is wrong, Lieutenant General?"
Shen Bing replied:
"Xiang Yan is an unusual person. He will definitely guess that our army will go to Chengfu for reinforcements."
"And the Ru River is controlled by the Chu army. The Chu army can cross the Ru River at any time to contain our army."
Chen Duan said:
"But Lieutenant General, if the Chu army crosses Ru River, won't they be under attack from our army and the Mengwu army?"
Shen Bing replied:
"That's why it's a containment."
"They can withdraw to the east bank from Ru River at any time."
Wei Wei nodded:
"By doing this, the Chu army can do its best to consume our army's strength and morale, and prevent the Mongolian army from regaining its strength to counterattack the city father."
Shen Bing continued:
"And it's not hard to guess that the Chu army sent cavalry to Ru River."
"And the number may be quite a lot."
Wei Wei and Chen Duan nodded in succession.
Shen Bing's guesses are reasonable.
Only faster cavalry can play a diversionary role, such as maneuvering to a certain place to set up a battle, and then suddenly disappearing when the enemy is ready to form a formation, or setting up an ambush somewhere in front...
It is difficult for infantry to do this.
The reason why Shen Bing also believed that there were a lot of cavalry was because if the number of cavalry was small, for example, only two thousand were sent, it would be enough for the Black Armored Army to go and fight, and the Liang Army could continue marching on their own, so they started It doesn't have much effect.
Therefore, in order for these cavalry troops of the Chu Army to be able to play a "containing" role, they must first be able to suppress the Black Armored Army.
With the strength of the Chu army against the Qin army, to be sure of suppression, double or even triple the number of troops would be needed.
Shen Bing asked:
"Can the Chu cavalry know how to ride and shoot?"
Wei Wei and Chen Duan shook their heads in unison.
Chen Duan said with certainty:
"Wei and Chu have conflicts from time to time, so we are very familiar with the Chu cavalry."
"They are also like us. Most of their riding and shooting are carried out with crossbows."
This is the characteristic of the Warring States Period.
Regardless of the fact that when Qin attacked Wei, the Chu State came to the rescue. In fact, there were many times when the two countries were at odds and even had large-scale wars.
Shen Bing said:
"So good."
"We are wearing black armor and are not afraid of Chuqi's crossbows, but our bows and arrows can hurt the enemy."
"So why don't we use riding to control riding?"
Wei Wei couldn't help but be stunned:
"The deputy general means..."
Shen Bing nodded:
"Use the black armored army to engage the enemy first, so that the enemy cannot restrain our infantry troops from transporting food."
Chen Duan looked at Shen Bing in confusion and said:
"The black-armored cavalry can ride and shoot. If they fight against enemy cavalry, they may be able to defeat more with less."
"But the Ru River stretches for hundreds of miles. We don't know where the enemy will cross the river, so how can we be the first to engage the enemy?"
Shen Bing shook his head and said:
"We don't need to know where the enemy is crossing the river, they will find it themselves."
When Wei Wei and Chen Duan heard this, they couldn't help but cast puzzled looks at Shen Bing again. How could an enemy come to their door on their own?
Shen Bing smiled and said:
"The Chu army hoped that the grain and grass would not fall into the hands of the Mengwu army, so they tried their best to intercept and kill the grain transport team."
"But what if the black-armored cavalry marches north first with hundreds of carriages filled with grain and grass?"
Wei Wei and Chen Duan couldn't help but say "oh".
Obviously, the Chu army would not let this batch of food and grass fall into the hands of the Mengwu army, so they would definitely send cavalry to intercept and kill them.
What these Chu cavalry soldiers didn't know was that they were the ones being intercepted and killed.