warring states careerist

Chapter 904 Withered Bones in the Tomb
The Mohists chose to build a fortress against the Chu State in the Zhucheng area to the north of Echeng, also because of the special terrain here.

If the lords of Huaibei Central Plains in Chu State want to support them, it is impossible to cross Dabie Mountain, even if there are not too many people.

If they don't cross the Dabie Mountains, they have to take down the Huaihe River town occupied by the Mohists as a hub. The affairs over there are not under the control of Liuzhi and these people. I believe that the troops left in Sishang Jianghuai will take care of their rear flanks.

The support army of Duke Shen and Jiuzi State should be the last support army that the main force of Chu State can rely on in the short term.

Now the strict defense of the Sixth Division, coupled with the astonishing number of artillery guards on the sandbank by the Chu State, and the behavior of the Mohists to break through Daye, Echeng within a few days, all made the Chu State believe that the Mohists had shifted their main force to the south bank of the river.

In fact, only the Sixth Division was stationed on the sandbar, and even the combat engineering brigade that was stationed together only left two companies and was later built in Jiangbei.

In this way, the positions of Shen Gong and Jiuzi Kingdom are no longer important. It is better to gather the troops covering the flanks towards the main force and defend them here.

Since the scouts of the Jiexuan Army had controlled the battlefield east of Bashui, they naturally knew the hydrological situation in the upper reaches of Bashui.

Six Fingers left a total of two divisions and some recruits, militia, logistics, etc. for follow-up support, stationed in the camp to guard against the south bank.

After deceiving the Chu people, the main force immediately assembled and headed north.

He personally brought the only formed cavalry division, two infantry divisions, and a battle artillery brigade to the north first, and the main force behind gathered and approached, crossing the river in batches.

The upstream of Bashui had its own rapids. After Six Fingers ordered the engineers to tie up the pontoon bridge, the cavalry immediately crossed Bashui and went straight to the place where Duke Shen was marching.

He ordered that if Shen Gong was negligent in guarding, the troops would be swift, and when Shen Gong's troops were not deployed, they would defeat the enemy with one blow.

A cavalry division has more than 7000 cavalry. If Shen Gong's troops do not deploy, it is very likely that a single attack will completely defeat Shen Gong's troops.

But if Duke Shen was prepared, the cavalry would patrol nearby, forcing Duke Shen to turn to defense on the spot, and the infantry and artillery led by him would follow up to surround and wipe out the soldiers of Duke Shen and Jiuzi.

The follow-up main force must fight steadily, build a formal pontoon bridge, and occupy the hilltops to set up camps and camps, so as to prepare for the movement of the Chu army.

At the same time, an elite first boarding company was dispatched, and after crossing the river, they rode horses and maneuvered to attack the direction of Zhucheng.

If you encounter a Chu people's heavy transport team along the way, you will attack and kill if there are few people, and retreat if there are too many people. This will scare the Chu army and intimidate the grain logistics and the only way to retreat.

Fifty miles away from the camp of the Chu State, the troops of Duke Shen and the State of Jiuzi were advancing.

This is not the Wang Shixin army of Chu State, but a local county soldier, peasant soldier, with obvious remnants of the old era.

Chariots, baggage carts, and chariots formed an array. The baggage carts were filled with grain and grass, and the disciples followed slowly.

The only difference from before is that some apprentices are equipped with arquebus guns. Compared with the number of archers before, arquebus guns and crossbows are the same as the demand for projectile arms after the collapse of the well field system. best option below.

Duke Shen only had so many troops at his disposal. After the Mohist captured several cities in Huainan, Duke Shen immediately sent troops to rescue them, but they were caught in a trap and wiped out, making the ruler of Huaibei no longer dare to use thousands of troops. rescue.

If they dare not use thousands of troops to rescue them, they can only wait for the various lords to gather their troops to organize an army, and it takes time to organize an army. The Mo family's visit bought Sishang the most needed time.

Although only a few thousand people were eliminated, its strategic significance was extremely important, making Feng Jun think that the mobility of the Mohists was so good that the rapid support of thousands of people would be throwing meat to beat dogs, and he dared not move lightly.

Now Commander Shen’s army has passed through the three passes and arrived in Edi, stationed in Jiuzi, plus the [-] soldiers of Jiuzi who were conscripted, this is all the strength he can put out.

Including the soldiers of the two divisions of his headquarters, there are only 8000 people, of which the number of brave soldiers is no more than [-], and the rest are conscripted farmers and soldiers.

Shen Di is an important land of Chu State, and Shen Gong can be regarded as a veteran hereditary aristocrat of Chu State, and he still has some experience in fighting.

The raid by the cavalry division of the Jiexuan Army was unsuccessful. After being discovered by the scouts, Duke Shen threw away about a thousand men with the courage of a strong man, and formed a formation around the chariots to defend himself. The cavalry division of the Jiexuan Army was difficult to break through. Surveillance nearby.

But Shen Gong's support army could not move.

With such a cavalry nearby, they would die if they moved. The only way to stand is to form an array and wait for the main force of Chu to rescue them.

He set up an array near the water, so that the sergeant would not be cut off from the water source and died of thirst; there was also food on the baggage cart, so the army should be able to hold on for ten days without any problem.

In the barracks, Shen Gong did not panic, stroked his long beard lightly, and said to the generals: "A general must not know the formation. Those who know the formation must not know how to form an formation, and must not know how to break an formation. Only when you know how to attack can you know how to defend. "

"Our army is marching, and the enemy will attack quickly, and we must form a circular formation."

"A circular formation is called a regiment. The chariots form the city, the poles form the walls, and distribute them in all directions. Distribute elite soldiers in the gaps of the eight directions, and the disciples surround the chariot formation. Bows, crossbows and firearms are lined up in front of the formation."

"If the enemy attacks, it will be the head everywhere and the tail everywhere."

In the past, these were the secrets of the nobility. If you can grasp these principles, you can worship the general.

All the generals and soldiers did not immediately bow their heads to listen, and saw that after the formation, the Mohist cavalry could not break the formation, so they were amazed.

Shen Gong said again: "The defenders must not know the way to break the formation."

"If it is a circular formation and the food is evenly sufficient, I will use the circular formation as a base, because I think it is solid, and if the enemy wants to attack it, the three armies will be divided into four or five, or they will pretend to be north to show their fear. If I see If the enemy is afraid, they will divide and ignore it, because they will destroy the solidity of our formation with chaos, and the formation will be in danger. The enemy's drums and drums are raised together, and the five teams are ready, and the three armies have the same benefit, and they can break the round formation."

"That's why the method of defending the circular formation must be solid and wait for the enemy to get tired. You must not pursue lightly, and you must not let go of the formation."

He said so much, in fact, summed up in one sentence.

Once encountering an enemy suddenly, it is safest to form a circle formation. If the enemy wants to break the formation, there is only one way, and that is to disperse the troops, attack from all sides, and then pretend to retreat.Once the round formation feels that this is an opportunity to pursue and turn the attack into the lead, causing the formation of the entire circle to disperse, then the attacking side takes advantage of the chaotic period of the formation to attack again suddenly, and the circle formation will be breached.

Therefore, if you want to defend the circular formation, you should not take the initiative to attack, and do not chase after seeing the enemy retreating. Instead, you must stick to it for a few days, and after confirming that the enemy is really tired, change formations and counterattack.

For peasants and soldiers with extremely poor discipline, the only way to guarantee combat is the formation. Once the formation is broken, it is easy to kill a hundred with one unparalleled move.

Judging from Shen Gong's experience, the soldiers and generals around him are all capable of defeating a hundred.

…………

Outside the circle, the cavalry divisions that did not take advantage of Shen Gong's marching state to attack were resting, but let several companies continue to harass in front.

The commander of the cavalry division looked at the round formation announced by Shen from a high place, shook his head and laughed, and said to the representatives of the teachers and inkmen beside him: "The giants often say that most of the nobles of blood are now dead bones in the grave, and they have no ability to fight. , they really don’t need to exist anymore.”

"Bones in the tomb, old and rotten, can be broken in one blow, and they don't know how to change them, so they will be captured by the younger generations."

The representative of Shi Mo Zhe looked at the round formation announced by Shen and said with a smile: "Yes, the dead bones in the tomb. When we were in Gaoliu, we went deep into the grassland, and we often borrowed cars to set up the round formation. But we used the what?"

"With our brass cannons and muskets, and our cavalry ready to strike and tear the enemy apart if we get the chance."

"This old nobleman wants to have cannons and cavalry but not cavalry. He has set up a circular formation. Is he waiting to die here?"

He pointed to the distance and said, "Eight miles to the west of this place, there is a water swamp. If I were him, I would use all my strength to form an formation and retreat slowly, and retreat eight miles to the water swamp to change formation."

The commander of the cavalry division smiled and said, "Mr. Shen's troops are not our first division. Surrounded by the cavalry, they formed a formation and fought back for eight miles? If these soldiers with bones in the graves are really so good at fighting, can they be pushed all the way from Hongze by us?" Can't even meet any decent resistance here?"

"He shouldn't be in a round formation. It's a dead end. The era they are familiar with has passed."

After laughing at the opponent's stupidity, the commander of the cavalry division went around a few more times to let the soldiers rest on the spot, and each brigade took turns to guard, to test the attack, and to lure the opponent to see if the opponent would rush out.

After teasing like this for half a day, in the afternoon, Liuzhi arrived with two brigades of infantry and one artillery brigade, rested on the spot and chose to fight tomorrow morning.

Liuzhi's opinion was similar to that of the commander of the cavalry division, and they came to the same conclusion that they were facing a group of dead bones.

The enemy is expected to be wide, which is a bit too wide.

In this kind of place, I have no artillery, no advantage in projecting force, and no elite cavalry. The moment I formed a circle, I declared defeat.

According to what Liuzhi thought, if he encountered such a situation, it seemed that there was no better way.

But the problem is...the Mohist set of things is there, but the nobles dare not learn, refuse to learn, have no way to learn, and refuse to give up their feudal rights, then these people should be eliminated, really If you can't even keep up with the times for fighting, then it really has no use other than catching Sishang to sing and dance.

The next morning.

Six Fingers didn't use all kinds of strategies, but put on what might be the simplest formation he had fought in these battles.

The two infantry divisions left three brigades in reserve, and the rest of the infantry echelons were deployed.

The artillery brigade built artillery positions on both wings of the front to form cross-flank firepower. The cavalry division divided two brigades to detour to the rear, and the rest were deployed on the two wings.

He didn't even want to command this boring, massacre-like battle. He waved his hand and said, "The artillery bombarded for an hour first. After the bombardment broke up, the infantry salvoed forward, and the cavalry pursued. All ministries should follow the rules of the daily training. "

(End of this chapter)