The Qin army set out the next day after deciding on the strategy.
The first batch of troops consisted of 5,000 people, consisting of 3,000 soldiers and 2,000 cavalry. They were led by Lai and headed towards Jiuyuan.
At this time, Yan could stand alone. Although he had never learned the art of war, he was very familiar with the Huns' tactics and knew how to deal with the Huns' attack.
Shen Bing felt more at ease with him as the vanguard. As for him not understanding the formation of troops in the Central Plains... Shen Bing asked Li Jian to cooperate with him.
Shen Bing followed closely with a main force of 10,000, and also brought a large amount of supplies and baggage with the army, a considerable part of which were crossbow arrows... In fact, the most consumed ones were crossbow arrows, and there were thousands of them in one shot, "Thunderbolt" Of course you have to bring the "Fireball", but it's enough to bring a few carts of materials.
When the army set off, the people of Yunzhong County could really be called "seeing each other off for ten miles." They were provided with food and goods along the way, and many people were vying to join the army and go out with the army.
This was an unprecedented sight, and even Fusu was surprised.
Shen Bing believes there may be two reasons for this.
One is of course that many of the people are from Jiuyuan. Although there is room in Yunzhong County to accommodate them, it is of course better to return to their hometown.
The other is that Shen Bing's subsidy system for soldiers is more acceptable to them... If you are a soldier and you have no worries about food and clothing, you can also get subsidies. In addition, if you can perform meritorious service, you will get a title and rewards, so why not?
Of course, the same is true for the Qin army, so the Qin army always fights more bravely than other countries.
Shen Bing originally planned to let Fusu take command in Yunzhong County. After all, there are always many dangers when fighting outside without arrows.
But Fusu said:
"My father wants Fusu to train with the general. If Fusu even avoids this battle, how can it be called training?"
Shen Bing thought so too.
This was not only an opportunity to gain experience, but also an opportunity to establish prestige for Fusu... As a young master, he personally went into battle and led an army to defeat the Xiongnu. This was so majestic.
If Fusu was not present, even winning the battle would be meaningless. Ying Zheng might even think Fusu was cowardly and disappointed, which would affect the development of Yunzhong County.
So Shen Bing had no choice but to take Fusu with him, but he added personal guards to ensure his safety.
As soon as the Qin army moved out, the Huns immediately got the news.
In fact, Touman Shanyu and Maodun did not go far, but stationed in the Yinshan area to the north with 30,000 Huns cavalry.
They were worried that Shen Bing would send troops to block the Xiongnu's retreat route to plunder south, so they made preparations here.
As for Jiuyuan, they didn't think Shen Bing was capable of attacking at all.
So when the spies came to report that the Qin army was leaving the city, Touman Shanyu's first reaction was that the Qin army was finally going to seize the main road.
When I heard that the Qin army was heading west, I couldn't help but be stunned:
"Going west? Why does the Qin army want to go west?"
Mao Dun looked at the map and said:
"Chanyu, the Qin army should go west to capture Jiuyuan City."
Touman Shanyu is still puzzled:
"Why do they want to take Jiuyuan City? It's just an empty city!"
Touman Shanyu thought about the art of war in the Central Plains based on the thinking of the Huns.
The nomads focus on profits rather than cities, so they take it for granted that there is nothing in Jiuyuan, so why take it away?
He didn't know that the Central Plains army focused on defense and benefited from land... With land, there would be food, and then there would be people and soldiers.
Although Mao Dun knew this, he didn't know how to explain it for a moment, so he could only reply:
"The Qin army occupied Jiuyuan, maybe they hope to prevent me from recruiting warriors from behind to help!"
When Maodun said this, Touman Shanyu understood...
The geographical location of Jiuyuan is very important. To the north is Yinshan Mountain and to the south is the Yellow River. This forms a long and narrow corridor to the west that leads directly to Houtao.
If the Qin army occupied Jiuyuan, it would not only have a foothold to advance westwards, but also split the Xiongnu in the Hetao area into two parts, unable to communicate with each other.
To be precise, contact can be made without splitting in two, but the Xiongnu army located in Houtao needs to go around Yinshan Mountain. The road is several times farther and very difficult to travel.
Touman Shanyu, who had been fighting in the open areas of the grassland for a long time, did not have this habit of looking at the terrain at first, but when Mo Dun said this, he realized that it was true.
So he quickly asked:
"How to deal with this? Our army can't defend the city, and Jiuyuan is also unprepared!"
Mao Dun replied:
"Chan Yu, don't panic. The Qin army only has 20,000 troops, and the number of troops that can attack Jiuyuan is no more than 10,000!"
Touman Shanyu thought for a while and asked the spies:
"How did the Qin army march?"
The spy replied:
"Infantry and cavalry go together."
Touman Shanyu sighed and said:
"Infantry and cavalry go together...our army was defeated by this formation last time."
"The Qin army's infantry has powerful crossbows and rope arrows, and the cavalry is roaming around the outside, making it impossible for our army to get close."
"Three thousand of them are enough to defeat my more than ten thousand fine cavalry."
"Now Qin's army of ten thousand can defeat my army of thirty thousand?"
Mao Dun thought for a moment, then pointed at the map and replied:
"Chanyu, please see, Yunzhong County is more than four hundred miles away from Jiuyuan."
"At the same time, the Qin army is marching westward...how can we still ensure the supply of crossbow arrows?"
Touman Shanyu nodded and said:
"you mean……"
In fact, there is no need to think too much, it is the usual tactic of the Huns: harass them along the way to consume their supplies, and when the Qin army reaches the farthest point of supplies, they will win in a single battle.
Shen Bing quickly sensed this, because on the second day after leaving the city, there were many Huns cavalry passing through the area, and they even had several minor conflicts with the Qin army's cavalry.
The Xiongnu seemed very confident, at least against the Qin cavalry.
This may be because they already understood the capabilities of the Shenwu Army in the last battle and knew that the Qin Cavalry Army was not as good as them in cavalry and shooting, so they felt confident attacking when facing the cavalry army.
As for the Qin infantry, they stayed far away.
From the beginning, Shen Bing restrained the cavalry not to conflict with the Huns. Once they encountered the Huns, they would retreat to the range of the infantry's crossbows to defend.
So the two armies were at peace with each other.
It was not until evening that the Huns' cavalry swarmed in to attack the Qin army.
The Xiongnu cavalry is worthy of being the king of the grassland. They chose this time to attack because of the sunlight... The sun was setting, and the dazzling sunlight coupled with the slightly dim background made it impossible for the Qin army to detect the presence of the Xiongnu attacking from the front.
How many people only saw arrows flying out of the sun with whistling sounds.
Shen Bing didn't think much and immediately ordered his infantry to fight back with powerful crossbows.
After a few waves of crossbow arrows passed, the Huns retreated temporarily.
Soon returned to attack...
Then Shen Bing understood that the Xiongnu did this to consume the Qin army's crossbow arrows.
In other words, the Huns are trying to supply the Qin army... If the crossbow arrows continue to be consumed like this, they will be almost used up by the time the Qin army reaches Jiuyuan, and it will be time for the main force of the Huns to dispatch.
Then Shen Bing knew that the Huns had fallen into a trap.