The Red Mansions

Chapter 1095: The morale of the army is fluctuating, and the camp is about to be robbed!
Time flies, and six or seven days pass in the blink of an eye.

The Han army led by Wen Chun and Xie Zaiyi continued to attack and defend Shazhou Guard, and the battle situation was tense.

However, with the warm spring adjustment of the Junggar tribe, the Junggar tribe was the main response force. Although Xie Zaiyi once again led [-] cavalry and the entire army attacked once, there was no advantage. The battle loss exchange ratio between the two sides was almost one to one.

The Han army injured more than [-] men, and the Dzungars, who were the main force in the battle, were also about the same. Neither side gained a big advantage.

At this point, the two sides once again entered into a stalemate in the offensive and defensive battle. Wen Chun saw that there were too many casualties before and after, and he still could not take the Shazhou Acropolis, but he had already decided to leave.

As the Han army was short of food, they no longer took the initiative to attack, but pretended to be waiting for reinforcements.

On this day, the setting sun in the evening was like blood, and the sunset glow covered the white yurts with a layer of red, just like the tragic battlefield where blood has flowed in the past few days, the red is dazzling.

In the large tent of the Chinese army, Wen Chun sat on a chair, facing Dorji and Galdan beside him, and said with a slumped expression: "This battle cannot go on any longer."

They have been attacking for more than ten days, but except for nearly [-] casualties, almost nothing has been achieved.

First, they attacked the city fiercely for several days and suffered two thousand casualties. Then they were counterattacked by the Han army and suffered three or four thousand casualties. Not long ago, they faced off against two thousand Han soldiers. Then they attacked the city again and suffered one or two thousand casualties. , before and after, nearly [-] casualties.

Especially the first charge of the Han army was very painful and it was also the one with the heaviest casualties.

Wen Chun also felt that it was not worthwhile to continue fighting like this.

Dorji said anxiously: "My good brother, the Han army is almost out of food. It's only a day or two."

Wen Chun said: "Our army is not good at attacking cities in the first place. Many soldiers were killed and wounded in the early siege, which made us passive. When the Han army counterattacked the day before yesterday, our army was even more unprepared, resulting in serious casualties of soldiers and horses. We cannot continue If the delay continues, Hami needs to be withdrawn.”

Dorji advised: "This is the only thing missing. If we withdraw to Hami and the Han army takes advantage of the situation, it will be difficult for us to leave. It is better to capture Shazhou City. If Uncle Batur asks, we can have an explanation. Otherwise, so many soldiers would have been lost.”

Wen Chun asked: "Brother Dorji, have the scouts who asked about the main force of the Han army come back? The main force of the Han army should be arriving soon. Even if I go back and be blamed by my father Khan, I can't continue to fight."

At this moment, I regretted endlessly, why did I continue to delay the decision when four thousand soldiers and horses were injured the day before?

Dorji said: "In the past few days, I haven't seen any scouts coming to report. The Han army is still on the way. We still have time. It doesn't matter if we fight for two more days."

Wen Chun shook his head and said, "This battle can't go on any longer. Morale has been very low these days. If we continue the fight, we won't get any benefits."

Such heavy casualties, even if they were shared between the Mongolians, Heshuote and Junggar, made many soldiers start to feel timid, especially since the Heshuote Mongols were originally a group of defeated soldiers.

"It's time to retreat." Wen Chun said with a firm face and blazing eyes like burning flames: "Early tomorrow morning, I will lead the army to break up the rear, and Heshuote and the Mongolian tribes will leave first."

At this moment, Wen Chun, who felt a strong sense of uneasiness, planned to evacuate the entire army.

If the delay continues, there will be a danger of the entire Han army being annihilated once the main force of the Han army arrives.

In fact, the current main force of Junggar troops has not been lost, there are still about 7000 people, and they can completely retreat.

During this period, the Mongolian Fan tribe suffered the most casualties, followed by Heshuote, and the Junggar suffered relatively few casualties.

Dorji said anxiously: "Brother Wen Chun, you can't retreat. This time the Mongolian tribe suffered a lot of casualties and they haven't taken Shazhou yet. How about this? Tomorrow I and Shuote will take the whole army, and you can also mobilize 6000 people. Charge towards Shazhou City for the last time and seize the Shazhou Acropolis in one fell swoop. This charge will not affect our return to Hami. We will attack again tomorrow!"

Judging from the madness of the Han army in the past few days, it is already a precursor to food shortage. In the past few days, if Wen Chun had not held the warriors of the Junggar tribe and not let go, they would have captured Shazhou City long ago.

Well, these are actually the details of the siege during this period.

That is to say, Wen Chun was not willing to invest a large number of tribal troops to attack the city and let his men die in vain. Instead, he drove the Fan tribe and Heshuote people to attack the city and consume the Han people.

Of course, when the warriors of the Junggar tribe faced the Beijing Cavalry led by Xie Zaiyi twice, they both took the lead and suffered many casualties.

But even so, when the various tribes saw that Junggar had preserved its strength, their minds began to waver. When they attacked the city with the Heshuote people, they already had a tendency to be passive and lazy.

In Dorji's eyes, Wen Chun's performance was that he was afraid of casualties and was conserving his strength, which led to the war being delayed again and again, but not being open enough.

How can we accomplish great things if we are so afraid of casualties?

In order to lure the Han army, he threw out thousands of elites at once, and then slaughtered the Han army of [-]. The Junggar tribe seemed stingy.

Wen Chun frowned and said, "One more day or one less day will not make any difference."

Dorji persuaded: "The Han army is already short of food. Brother Wen Chun, you don't know. The last time the Han army was cut off from its food route in Haiyan, the entire army of [-] was wiped out. It's just the right time for us to leave." In line with the wishes of the Han people, even if they send troops to block reinforcements, they will eat this Han army!"

Wen Chun was silent for a moment and said: "Even if the Han army is short of food, if it relies on killing horses, it can survive for another half month. We have to fight for another half month, and the main force of the Han army will arrive."

Dorzi took Wen Chun's arm and persuaded: "Now, my good brother, do we still have a way out? We have already suffered so many casualties. If we don't take Shazhou City and annihilate this Han army, How did you say it?"

Galdan stood aside, his expression changed, and he persuaded: "Brother, the Han people have a saying that once you make a big effort, it will weaken again, and it will be exhausted three times. Now is the critical moment, we can't go back like this."

Galdan has also seen in the past few days that Wen Chun has been preserving Junggar's main force, and feels that this approach is really... stupid.

Because there is a similar principle on the grassland. A lion fights a rabbit with all his strength.

If the warriors of the Junggar tribe are not pressed at the beginning, their morale will be low until now, and the effect of the pressure at the beginning may not be good at this moment.

Wen Chun thought for a while, then faced Dorji's expectant eyes and said: "We will attack the city with all our strength tomorrow. If there is no progress, withdraw immediately!"

This day is not far behind. Since there is no news about the main force of the Han army, it will take at least three days to reach Shazhou.

But in Galdan's eyes, this scene made him sigh secretly.

If the brother insists, it can also prove that retreating is correct, but after this kind of hesitation, I am afraid that the result may not be satisfactory.

Hearing this, Dorji patted his chest and promised, "Brother Wenchun, we will definitely capture the Shazhou Guard tomorrow!"

If the Shazhou Guards cannot be taken, Junggar is in Hami, and if the Han people do not go to Hami, the battle will eventually come to nothing, and only he and Shuote will lose Qinghai.

……

……

Shazhou City

In the city, with the fierce fighting in the past few days, there is also a gloomy and gloomy atmosphere.

Although the casualties of the Han army were not that large, as the consumption increased, there was indeed a shortage of food.

And among the official offices

Xie Zaiyi was also explaining Jia Heng's movements to the generals, saying: "Commander Ji has led his troops to attack the Hami Guards for a long distance. The army from the Beijing camp should arrive in the next two days. Save some of the food in the city and collect some." The cattle and sheep can almost support the arrival of the commander-in-chief."

"Jie Shuai went to Hami at this time?" Ni Biao, the governor of Guyong Camp, asked after hearing this.

Others such as Jia Fang, Jia Chang and others also had surprised looks on their faces.

At this time, why should we take a detour to Hami?
Xie Zaiyi said: "This time Junggar has sent a lot of troops. Ten thousand troops should be left in Hami City. Commander Ji took advantage of the opportunity to attack Hami. We will once again hold back the main force of Junggar. When the Beijing army arrives, we can surround it on all sides." , defeated Junggar in one fell swoop."

Wang Xundao: "The Junggars may not continue to fight here, and they may withdraw their troops from Hami. What should we do over there, Commander-in-Chief?"

Xie Zaiyi said coldly: "Then we will bite them hard and prevent them from returning to Hami calmly."

When that time comes, even if they chase into the desert, they will still bite the Junggar tribe.

Jia Fang's eyes were glaring and he said: "If we estimate based on time, Jieshuai's troops will arrive in Hami later, so we need to entangle them."

Xie Zaiyi said: "What Jia Fang said is that we must be careful to prevent them from escaping again tomorrow. No matter how heavy the casualties are, we must keep them."

In these days of fighting, all armies can feel the bravery of the Junggar tribe.

……

……

But on the other side, the Jingying army led by Chen Xiao and the Jingying generals joined Jin Xuan's cavalry and rushed towards Shazhou in a mighty manner.

At this moment, the army was already [-] miles away from the Shazhou Acropolis, a place where the scouts sent by Dorji had never set foot.

It is worth mentioning that the reason why Wen Chun asked Dorji to send scouts before was that Qinghai Mongolia was more familiar with the area, and because they had fought against the Han army, they had a better understanding of the movements and characteristics of the main force of the Han army, so they would not Misjudgment.

In the military tent, a group of generals from the Beijing camp, such as Shan Ming and Shao Chao, were discussing matters with General Fuyuan and Chen Xiao.Jin Xuan pointed to the terrain around Shazhou on the map and said: "Miss Xiao, to the west of Shazhou is the desert, with the Yumen Pass, and to the north is the Gobi. The soldiers and horses led by Wen Chun came from the Gobi. If they lose, they may Will flee to the northwest."

In fact, after such a long time, Jin Xuan had already somewhat recognized who the girl in front of him was, but he didn't know what the court meant, and it was hard to tell.

Chen Xiaoqing said: "General Jin, you first take a detour from the pass of Mingsha Mountain to Yumen Pass, and then go north to cut off Wenchun's escape route to Hami. It is best to force them into the desert and circle back to Hami."

Jin Xuan said: "This is not difficult. Once the army is defeated, they can easily escape the pursuit by fleeing to the desert. But how will the main army of the Beijing camp be dispatched?"

The Junggar Mongolians' ability to survive in the desert is undoubtedly better than that of the Han army. After escaping into the desert, the Han army's pursuit will not last for a few days.

Chen Xiao's clear eyes flashed and he said: "The main force was divided into two groups and quickly moved all the way to the east of Guazhou to surround the deserters from the Junggar tribe. They continued along the original road. In addition, the army was marching in a hurry, and Shazhou City could not hold out for long. ”

With that said, he dispatched troops and horses.

Jin Xuan, on the other hand, led the army quickly towards Yangguan, intending to intercept and kill the soldiers and horses of the Junggar tribe.

The next day, early in the morning.

The offensive and defensive battle of Shazhou City started again. Compared with the previous times, the Junggar tribe did not invest a large number of warriors from the tribe to participate in the brutal siege of the city. This time, Wen Chun personally led the battle and selected [-] warriors from the tribe to abandon their horses and attack the city. , immediately put pressure on Xie Zaiyi.

The Junggar troops rushed to the top of the city several times, and the fighting was fierce. The Han army showed great resilience here. Under the protection of a large number of Beijing camp generals, they defeated the Junggar attacks more than ten times a morning.

This scene undoubtedly inspired the Heshuote Mongolian Shazhou tribe, and their offensive was even faster.

Wen Chun saw many soldiers standing on the city wall below, their faces filled with joy.

Dorji next to him said: "Brother Wen Chun, if we had started from the beginning, we would not have delayed it until now."

Wen Chun's eyes were blazing, and he felt greatly encouraged in his heart, but he still said: "If we put in troops from the beginning, we won't have such an effect."

If it had not been for the sharpening of the Han army, it would not have been possible to attack so quickly. The Junggar warriors did not know how many more casualties they would suffer.

Xie Zaiyi was holding a steel knife at this moment, leading his soldiers like firefighters to kill the soldiers who were rushing to the top of the city.

"Thorn!"

The two sides were in a stalemate in attack and defense, and the situation gradually became critical. Fortunately, the Han army had more than [-] troops, and the reserve team originally set aside quickly came forward, and the stalemate ended.

After Xie Zaiyi drew his bow and shot several people to death, he said: "Jia Chang, thunder from the sky, let go!"

Jia Chang led a large number of soldiers and took out the thunderbolts that had been prepared for many days from the turret. After lighting the fuse, the smoking black thunderbolts were thrown towards the densely packed Mongolian soldiers below.

At the critical moment, more than half of the last batch of more than 2000 thunderbolts, which were among the few in the expedition to the west, were thrown out and exploded towards Junggar like locusts below.

"Boom!"

Broken iron nails and sawdust flew randomly along with the smoke. Countless Junggar soldiers holding curved sabers screamed repeatedly, and the originally steady stream of water suddenly stagnated.

This kind of explosive weapon is undoubtedly the best way to restrain ant possession tactics, and it clears an entire area in one fell swoop.

It's not that many soldiers died in battle, but that the tragic situation went straight to their faces, causing many soldiers to lose their combat effectiveness in a short period of time.

At this moment, Wen Chun, who was standing behind, suddenly changed his expression and said, "Is this a Han Chinese cannon?"

"It's a thunderbolt. After it explodes, it is extremely powerful." Dorji's eyes dodge a little, and his voice dropped a little unconsciously as he said.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Wen Chun said angrily with veins twitching on his forehead, his face changed drastically.

Dorji couldn't help but yelled at Qu and said: "Brother Wen Chun has forgotten that when I arrived in Hami, I told you that the Han people's cannons are very powerful."

At that time, Dorji led the defeated army to Hami for help and complained to Wen Chun about the sharpness of the Han army's firearms. Wen Chun did not take it seriously at that time.

At this moment, the banging thunder was thrown and destroyed the subsequent forces in one fell swoop. As Chen Han's army quickly surged up, the soldiers of the Junggar clan were driven away from the city, and then the archers fired in unison.

Junggar, Heshuote and others retreated like the tide in the afternoon after losing nearly two thousand corpses.

This time was more brutal than the previous sieges, especially the killings of Hongtianlei and the supplementary fire of the Han army, which caused huge casualties to the Junggar headquarters.

Around the city wall for more than ten miles, in the trenches, corpses were piled on top of each other, and the blood even dyed the Dang River red.

Wen Chun closed his eyes slightly, looked at the distant city wall covered with arrow holes and knife marks, and sighed: "This Shazhou City is completely unbeatable."

This time, the all-out attack on the city has completely tested the strength and weakness of the Han people. It is like a hard bone that cannot be chewed at all.

The troops have continued to attack each other for more than ten days, and their work has been in vain.

Dorji said: "Brother Wenchun, if we continue to attack with this momentum, we will be able to break through the city in just two days at most."

However, Wen Chun didn't want to hear a word this time. He waved his hand and said loudly: "Ming Jin, go back to camp!"

"Clang!!!!"

Before the sun set in the west, Wen Chun ordered to return to the camp. A large number of Junggar warriors receded like a tide and retreated towards the camp several miles away.

Up to this moment, Wen Chun had nearly 3 soldiers and horses coming this time. The main force was not lost, but morale was low and he was already thinking of leaving.

When it was getting late, the lights were lit in the military tent, and the generals gathered together.

Wen Chun said: "The army will evacuate early tomorrow morning. Brother Dorji, needless to say, even if we attack for another half month, we will not be able to capture Shazhou City, and we will waste our troops here in vain."

Dorzi couldn't say anything at the moment, so he just sighed.

Just a little bit, why can't Wen Chun survive with just a few casualties?

In fact, Wen Chun is not to blame, because the Junggar tribe is not large to begin with, and they need to guard against enemies from several directions. If one dies, one will be lost, so the damage to the troops that can be accepted is very low.

There were 5000 casualties before and after this siege. For Wen Chun, the sky was about to fall.

Wen Chun was used to deter the Seven Guards of Guanxi, to the east to guard against the Han Dynasty's [-]-strong army of Hami, and to the west to deter the tribes of the Tianshan Mountains. It only had [-] soldiers and horses. If you lose [-] at once, even if you take Xiashazhou Acropolis will also become quite uneconomical.

Now I want to return to Hami wholeheartedly.

At this moment, the Shazhou Acropolis was brightly lit, and a battle during the day made the city become densely covered with war clouds.

In the official office, Xie Zaiyi was convening a group of military generals to discuss matters and said: "Today, the Junggar tribe has lost its vigor and clearly intends to retreat. We need to beware of their escape!"

Jia Chang said: "Captain, they have the upper hand today, so they probably won't withdraw their troops."

"In the past few days, I could tell that Wen Chun, the leader of Junggar, was worried about the casualties of his tribesmen. He only urged his soldiers to storm the city today, just to take a risk." Xie Zaiyi's eyes were sharp under his thick eyebrows, and his voice was laced. With some determination.

Jia Fang thought for a moment and said, "Master, if I guess correctly, Junggar is planning to withdraw its troops."

"That's how grassland people are. If they encounter difficulties, they won't fight hard. During this period, today's casualties should be unacceptable to the leader of the Junggar tribe." Xie Zaiyi nodded.

Without waiting for the generals to think about it, Xie Zaiyi said: "Tonight, wake up the soldiers and rob the camp before the troops withdraw!"

"Robbery of the camp?" Dong Qian's eyes flickered and he said in surprise.

Lieutenant General Wang Xun looked thoughtful.

Xie Zaiyi said in a deep voice: "The structure of their camp is not as regular as our Han army. They have long wanted to rob them. But the Junggar tribe was too vigilant before. Now that they want to withdraw, they must be lax, especially the Fan soldiers of the Shazhou Guard." , the camp they set up is just to the west of Junggar. Once they collapse, they will flee in all directions, as long as they are allowed to cause chaos. In addition, the Heshuote Mongolian military camp is not as well-trained as the Junggar tribe, and they can also send troops to hijack them."

When the generals heard this, they suddenly realized and said: "This is to take advantage of the morale of the troops before withdrawing to rob the camp."

"The Commander-in-Chief has a good plan." Wang Xun praised with admiration in his eyes.

Other generals and commanders also expressed their praise.

Xie Zaiyi smiled and said: "This plan is recorded in the Three Kingdoms Classics written by Jie Shuai. It will be of great benefit to you to read more."

Jia Heng's Three Kingdoms version does have strategies similar to hijacking camps and attacking cities, but Jia Heng himself rarely uses them because most of the time there is no application scenario.

(End of this chapter)