Chapter Forty-Six: The Scout War

As mentioned last time, after Liu Hou and Guo Youzhi took turns to explain, Zhang Bao and Guan Xing finally figured out what the two meant, yes, now their eyes are black, and they can't even figure out where the other party is camping, let alone a sneak attack, even if you want to find someone to fight, where to find it? Don't plunge headlong into someone else's pocket, there will be enemies on all sides, even if you have another 5,000 muskets, you will be embattled.

As a result, the military council soon reached a resolution, that is, to intensify the scouts' reconnaissance. Unfortunately, there were only so many horses, in addition to the 500 scouts, the scouts who fought with the enemy just now also captured 6 war horses, two of which were wounded. But what does 6 more horses do?

After discussing with everyone, Liu Hou decided to work these scouts and changed the three-shift shift to two shifts. As a result, 250 scouts are out and about every now to spy on the enemy. It's just that these scouts are really hard work, working 12 hours a day at a high intensity, falling asleep one by one when they come back, waking up and setting off again.

They even eat and drink on horseback. Liu Hou prepared pancakes, dried meat and other dry food for them to eat, so that they could bite and eat while riding horses, and a few sips of water after eating and drinking were considered a meal. Therefore, after this battle, most of the scouts had gastrointestinal diseases, and it took Zhang Zhongjing to recuperate for 1 or 2 months before they recovered.

In other words, Liu Hou has strengthened the scout's reconnaissance, and here in the Wei army, Xu Huang's reaction is almost the same, he has fought all his life, has rich experience, and the last thing he lacks is caution. Therefore, he also ordered to intensify the scout's reconnaissance, intending to find out the enemy's situation first.

The heroes of the two commanders saw the same thing and caused a strange phenomenon, the armies of both sides almost stopped advancing, and it could not be said that they had stopped completely, and from time to time they still had to move their nests, so as not to be detected by the enemy out of the camp and be attacked by surprise; However, the scouts on both sides kept penetrating, encountering, and fighting each other in a narrow area of 40 to 70 miles. The battle quickly turned into a scout war.

Every day, 5 or 6 teams of scouts encountered enemy scouts, and bloody battles took place every day. Both sides suffered losses from each other, and the Shu army had an advantage in equipment, with much fewer losses than the Wei army. In the beginning, the battle loss ratio between the Shu army and the Wei army was about 1:10 to 1:5 exchange rate.

Later, the Wei army gradually adapted to the Shu army's style of play, and was also equipped with a shield to enhance the protection ability, so that the short gun strike effect of the Shu army was greatly reduced, in addition, the Wei army's war horses were also like the Shu army's war horses, gradually adapted to the sound of the firecracker, no longer panicked in the sound of the firecracker and scurried around, the exchange rate of the two armies was sharply shortened, once reached between 1 to 3 to 1 to 2.

Looking at the steady stream of casualties and scouts who were carried back, Liu Hou's heart was so painful that he could die, the Wei army could afford to lose, but he couldn't afford to lose. These are the elite of the army, and one less one dies. There were also a large number of wounded soldiers. Fortunately, I came out this time and brought enough ambulances and first-aid medicine, otherwise the casualty rate would have doubled.

"We have to find a way to change the situation." Guo Youzhi, a new round of military meetings has begun again.

"Then we rush up and crush them with thunder?" Zhang Bao, as always, made this heroic construction.

"You can't just rush forward like that. Although we have strengthened the strength of the scouts these days, however, there seem to be a lot of enemy scouts, and our scouts cannot get close to the opponent's camp at all. Liu Houdao.

"The scouts have lost 107 men in recent days, but the losses of the opposing side are even greater, and it is estimated that they have lost at least 400 to 500 men." Guan Xing reported that the affairs of the scout team were in his charge.

"Clean up the captured horses, use everything you can use, find those who can ride horses from the battalions, and fill the scouts." Since the Shu army won almost every battle, the heavy responsibility of cleaning up the battlefield naturally fell on the Shu army, so they were able to capture something almost every time they engaged.

"No." Guan Xing replied. At least 2 or 3 hundred of the war horses captured during this period are intact, so the number of scouts will be more than the original, but among the new recruits, it is unknown whether the riding skills and combat power are as strong as the original scouts. Now it's wartime, and there's no way to care about it so much, so they can only exercise and grow in action and in battle.

"It's just that there aren't so many short guns, and after this period of battle damage, it is estimated that only half of the scouts can still be equipped with short guns." Guan Xing said worriedly, "Without a short gun, our long-range strike advantage will no longer exist, and I am afraid that we will suffer losses in future battles, and the casualty rate may be even greater." ”

"They were given the standard guns of the army without a short gun, which was a little bulky and inconvenient on horseback, but it was better to shoot at a greater distance, and they could shoot from a greater distance. You can shoot in 50 or even 100 steps, and maybe two shots. Tell them not to necessarily aim at people, and don't you understand such a simple truth as se-people first? Liu Houdao.

"I would rather capture fewer war horses, the key is to ensure the safety of my brothers. Let them practice using their muskets on their horses first, and try to make them as proficient as possible before going into battle. After thinking about it, Liu Hou said again:

"Yes, killing a horse is the same as killing a scout, if not better. Without people, they can be drawn out of the army at any time, and without horses, they can't send scouts. I just don't believe that there is no end to the horses in his army. ”

"That's right, if there were no horses, their scouts would not have been able to come out, and their range of movement would have been greatly reduced. Our goal is not to kill as many people as possible, but to reduce the range of their scouts. As long as the range of their activities is gradually reduced, we will soon be able to detect where their army is and what the situation is. Guo Youzhi answered.

"Is there a way for Mr. Guo?" Liu Hou asked.

"We give each scout team two thunderbolts, and after the long-range means are exhausted, throwing them when the two sides are about to get to the ground will definitely achieve unexpected results." Guo Youzhi has made up for the knowledge of various firearms during this time, and at this time he can put forward targeted opinions.

That's right, why did you forget this mass killing weapon, although the shrapnel splashed by the thunderbolt may not be able to kill the war horse, but if it is hit by shrapnel, the war horse will definitely suffer. Horses are creatures and not machines, and they will run around when they are in pain, and at this time, if they are in close combat with the Wei army on a crazy horse, our scouts will definitely have the advantage.

Before, Liu Hou thought that thunderbolts were conducive to the defense of positional warfare, so he didn't allocate much to the scout team, and only one team was allocated two or three, but at this time, he couldn't care so much, so he could take them out and try them to see if he could achieve unexpected results.

"Also, our infantry can also be used as scouts, and at close range, such as within 5 or 10 miles, we can scatter the infantry and let them work in a team of 20 people, so that even if they encounter enemy cavalry scouts leaking from the front, they will have the strength to fight. In order to make up for their lack of mobility and small reconnaissance area, more such detachments can be dispatched, and each detachment is responsible for a small area.

In this way, cavalry scouts can be concentrated at a distance of 10 miles, where their density will increase, and the pressure on the enemy will increase. Guo Youzhi added.

"Brilliant plan, brilliant plan!" Liu Hou appreciated.

Guo Youzhi's arrangement is equivalent to dividing the reconnaissance range of the scouts into two concentric circles, one large and one small, with a small circle completed by the infantry, and the infantry themselves are more. In this way, the cavalry could be liberated and concentrated in a circular area outside, which was the main area for fighting the enemy, so that the strength of our army in this area would be greatly increased, which was equivalent to obtaining a local military superiority. Coupled with the large number of applications of thunderbolts, this time it was enough for the Wei army scouts to drink a pot.

And during this time, the infantry did not move, and it was the time when they were in a panic, so they just found something to do for them and let them exercise. So, Liu Hou arranged it according to Guo Youzhi's strategy. Among them, there are three infantry regiments, just three shifts, one regiment at a time, 1,500 large soldiers, divided into 750 small detachments, densely scattered in the area within 10 miles, if there is a cavalry of the Wei army to break into this area, I believe it will be a dead end.

At a distance of 30 miles from the Wei army's camp, a group of cavalrymen in yellow armor was galloping across the field, this was a Wei army scout. Huang Xiaohu was in this team of scouts, dozing off while riding a horse, he was so tired, he was woken up after just 3 hours of sleep after returning from the last expedition, and he ate some unpalatable military food and went out again.

Days have been spent in this state of sleep deprivation, so much so that now he is half-asleep on horseback, anyway he ties himself to the horse with a rope, and is not afraid of falling asleep and falling off the horse. Alas, I don't know when such a hard life will be a head.

In fact, it's nothing to be tired, Huang Xiaohu was born poor, he has endured hardships since he was a child, and he has survived many tired and bitter days, the key is that he is always facing the threat of death, which makes him very uneasy.

He knew that the losses of the scout team during this period were very strict, and he didn't know how much, but he knew that it would not be less than 500. This is a very strict loss, sometimes a battle can only lose so many people, and now, this loss figure appears on the scout team that can be called the elite of the army, you can imagine how terrible the Shu army is.

The general's * army is in a very bad mood during this time, he has sent all the cavalry in the * army as a scout team, but the whole army is only 1,000 cavalry, plus the original 200 scouts, but 1,200 people, and now almost half of the losses are now, and the Shu army seems to have increased its troops in the past two days, I really don't understand, how can their scouts fight more and more?

If it goes on like this, I don't know what will happen to the battle situation in the future, and I don't know if I have the life to go back to see my mother, I haven't gotten married yet, and I don't know what kind of family thing my mother will tell me, alas......

"Beep!" A loud chirp sounded, accompanied by a roar from the team, which woke Huang Xiaohu from a half-asleep state, and his hands subconsciously pulled the reins, and the horse was stopped.

"Wound the bolts, quick!" The team yelled.

Huang Xiaohu immediately realized that he had encountered the enemy, and the people were completely awakened, and they hurriedly made preparations before the battle. The crossbow arrows are wound in three or two, the saber is pulled to the position where it is most easily drawn, the shield is propped up in front of you, the crossbow arrows are placed on the shield, and the crossbow arrows are aimed at the enemy, ready to fire.

At this time, he saw clearly that the enemy in green armor on the opposite side had already stopped advancing, and he was also fiddling with something in his hands. Since the distance between the two sides was almost 100 paces, it was not clear what the enemy was fiddling with, it seemed to be a swarthy iron pipe. It's not like a crossbow arrow, but it's a terrifying hidden weapon?

He once heard a fellow scout who escaped by luck say that the Shu army had an iron pipe that could make loud noises and spew fire, and those who hit it would die. But according to the description of the comrade, the iron pipe was less than two feet long, so what were these guys who were at least half a foot long? Huang Xiaohu couldn't help but sweat in his palms when he looked at the black pipe, and his heart was pounding. Involuntarily, he leaned down a little, letting the shield cover his body as much as possible.