Chapter 1272: Out of the Stopper

With Wokotai leading 30,000 remnants of the army back to the Ningxia Army, Murong Ke's plan to inflict heavy losses on the 100,000 Jin troops on the Eastern Front can be said to have ended in complete failure.

When he set out on the expedition, he had less than 30,000 of the 70,000 Mongolian iron cavalry left, and there were 40,000 casualties, and he also lost Murong Jun, Meng Libai, and Meng Liyuan, but only 40,000 infantry and 4,000 Han cavalry of the Han army were killed.

In general, Yuanmeng's battle can be said to be a big loss.

Of course, this is just the beginning.

Wokotai's trip was extremely unsmooth, and Murong Ke's side was the same.

Murong Ke made sufficient preparations before the battle, whether the Han army sent reinforcements or not, he had a plan to deal with it, but when the 30,000 Han cavalry went east, he found that he still thought too simply.

Bai Qi, Wang Meng, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bowen, and Xi Zhicai, the cooperation between the five of them was seamless, and Murong Ke's plan was seen through by Zhuge Ke from the beginning, while Bai Qi and Wang Meng paralyzed and confused Murong Ke.

If it weren't for Murong Ke's extreme caution, I am afraid that he would have already fallen into the calculations of the Han army and paid heavy casualties.

The plan was miserably stuck at the beginning, which also made Murong Ke realize that he couldn't compare to the other party in terms of strategy, and since the soft one couldn't do it, then he could only come to the hard one.

Murong Ke dispatched a full 200,000 troops this time, and in just a few days, all the ten cities of Ningxia were reduced to battlefields, and more than 20 large and small battles broke out between the two sides.

There were even fifteen of them, and Murong Ke personally led the army against Bai Qi and Wang Meng respectively.

Facing Wang Meng, Murong Ke only felt that he had hit a seamless egg, and he couldn't find any flaws even if he exhausted his means.

In the face of Bai Qi, Murong Ke was beaten all the way, and the art of war, battles, and command all fell behind, and he was also convinced.

In more than 20 battles in a few days, more than 10,000 people were killed and wounded on both sides, but you must know that Yuan Meng died of cavalry, and most of the Han army died of infantry, so naturally Yuan Meng's casualties were heavy.

After the failure of the two battle plans, Murong Ke took back his forces to the five cities of Ningxia, and he did not dare to test the Han army easily, but was ready to wait for Murong Chui to take Yinshan City, and after the Yinshan army went south, he would concentrate all his forces and directly push the Han army.

Murong Ke shrank the army back into the city, which also facilitated Qin Hao's opportunity to implement his next plan.

As soon as the Ningxia War ended, Qin Hao was ready to return to Ningxia with Qin Liangyu, and in this way he handed over the command of the Eastern Front to Meng Tian, but Qin Liangyu was unwilling to leave like this.

Through the previous battles, Qin Liangyu also realized her lack of ability, if she continued to stay, she would inevitably be targeted by Yuanmeng.

But if she left like this, Qin Liangyu was unwilling, she still wanted to atone for her sins, so she took the initiative to give up the position of the main general to Meng Tian, and personally stayed to assist Meng Tian in controlling the army.

Seeing this, Qin Hao nodded and agreed, after all, with the assistance of Qin Liangyu, the former chief general, Meng Tian could control the entire army in the shortest possible time.

Qin Hao asked Huo Quai, Zhao Yun, and the cavalry troops to stay, while he himself returned to Ningxia City with Jiang Song and Gao Chong, and a military and political meeting was held shortly thereafter.

There is only one theme for this meeting, and that is to counterattack the steppe, that is: to get out of the fortress.

"Although our army has a large number of troops now, the vast majority of them are infantry, and only cavalry can come in handy for counterattacking the steppe."

Qin Hao put down the report in his hand, looked at the strategists below, and asked, "Let's talk about it, this time to counterattack the grassland and force Temujin to send troops back to help, how many cavalry should be dispatched?" ”

Bai Qi stood up and said: "My lord, the cavalry of the Qin and Jin coalition forces added up to only 120,000 cavalry, and if the number of cavalry is too large, it is likely to cause the entire battle situation in Hetao to collapse, so the general thinks that it should not exceed 40,000." ”

"Governor Bai's words are wrong."

Xi Zhicai stood up and retorted: "Once our army counterattacks the grassland, it will definitely attract some of the main forces of Yuanmeng to come back to help, and then Yuanmeng's forces in Hetao will naturally be reduced." ”

"Yes, Yuanmeng has implemented all the soldiers, and is still recruiting a large number of new soldiers, now it can be said that there is no shortage of troops in the country, and if our army only dispatches 40,000 cavalry, I am afraid it will be difficult for Yuanmeng to feel threatened, and if Temujin does not transfer troops back, then the plan behind it will not be able to be implemented." Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice.

Qin Hao also nodded when he heard this.

The counterattack on the grassland was only the first step in the plan, and when the expeditionary army that entered the grassland caused a certain degree of damage to Yuanmeng and forced Temujin to transfer his army back, the Han army would have to implement the second step of the plan: send troops to support Yinshan City.

Only after the successful implementation of these two steps of the plan can the Han army's Jedi counterattack be successful, so this first step can be said to be the most important, and no mistakes are allowed.

After discussing with the strategists for most of the day, Qin Hao finally decided to dispatch 60,000 cavalry, which is already the limit of what can be dispatched, and no more will really work, after all, the later plan also requires cavalry to contribute.

As for the candidate to lead the army this time, Qin Hao once again chose Huo Quai.

Bai Qi has another important task, and Huo Quzhi's cavalry combat ability is one of the best among the Qin and Jin armies, and has been recognized in the previous battles, so the main general this time must be Huo Quai.

As for the candidates for the deputy general, Qin Hao chose Long Ji and Ran Min. The other generals who accompanied the army were: Yuwen Chengdu, Luo Cheng, Luo Yi, Ding Yanping......

It is worth mentioning that after Xiang Yu learned that Long He would participate in this outing, he took the initiative to ask Qin Hao to also participate in this outing.

Although Qin Hao didn't understand why Xiang Yu was not afraid of being exposed, he naturally would not refuse this request, so he incorporated Xiang Yu into Huo Quai's escort team and let Xiang Yu go out with the army.

There were already 26,000 cavalry on the Eastern Front, so this time the cavalry that secretly gathered in Ningxia and dispatched the Eastern Front to join it was only 34,000 cavalry.

When the two armies converged, Huo Qubing would lead 60,000 cavalry to go through Yanmen Pass and kill in the grassland, and then divide the troops into two routes, killing in the direction of Longcheng, and implement the scorched earth strategy all the way, forcing Temujin to transfer troops back to Longcheng.

Late at night, 34,000 horsemen gathered at the east gate of Ningxia City, led by two generals: Long Ji and Ran Min.

After the army was assembled, Ran Min and Long Ju glanced at each other, and Ran Min raised his weapon and shouted: "Let's go." ”

Thirty-four thousand horsemen headed east, and they were about to embark on a glorious road out of the fortress.

On the city wall, Qin Hao watched the army gradually move away, and couldn't help but chant: "Qin Shimingyue and Han Shiguan, the Long March has not yet returned." But to make the dragon city fly will not teach Humadu Yin Mountain. ”