Chapter 30: The Battle of Handan

When Wang Di was about to invest his troops and launch a fatal blow to Zhao Jun, Zhao Jun suddenly retreated, making Wang Di's punch seem to be in the air, so he was not angry! Wang Di ordered the pursuit of the tail, constantly cutting off the defeated soldiers at the tail of the Zhao army, and at the same time making it impossible for the Zhao army to rescue the wounded. After chasing for several miles, bows and arrows were shot down on both sides of the city, although the distance was far away and could not constitute a threat, but the warning was very strong: stop chasing! Wang Ji could only withdraw his troops.

Although Wang Yi won this battle on the surface and won many heads, he was very aggrieved. Not to mention the rear area that was attacked by the Zhao army, how to conquer the four cities in front of him has become a real problem. As long as there were forty or fifty thousand people here, he would not have the room to attack the city; And his strength was not enough to deal a heavy blow to this Zhao army.

After collecting the troops and returning to the camp, Wang Yu inspected the equipment burned by the Zhao army. Of the forty instruments, except for five wells, which are relatively intact, the others are all damaged to varying degrees. Should Wu'an's troops be transferred to repair these equipment, or should the offensive be suspended and the existing troops should be allowed to rest and repair the equipment at the same time? With the former approach, the problem is that the area is not large enough to accommodate more camps, and the current 30,000 people are already somewhat crowded. Although the latter method is safe, it also gives Zhao Jun time to adjust, and maybe there will be bigger problems.

Wang Yi finally adopted a compromise approach, and transferred another 10,000 men from Wu'an to occupy the city between Wu'an and Handan. Those small cities that were burned down, although they were no longer strong fortresses, were much stronger than the barracks, and one or two battalions were enough to hold out. Those towns that have no cities use houses and houses as fortresses.

After finishing the march the next morning, after eating some fried millet, Wang Yi immediately ordered two public passengers, each with 5,000 men, to occupy the townships and cities in front of him from two directions. The rest of the troops repaired the damaged equipment and at the same time took over the troops in advance. He returned to Wu'an, adjusted the defensive line, and dispatched troops to fight in Wu'an.

The Qin army's move to occupy the proximity provoked a fierce backlash from the Zhao army. The Zhao army launched several attacks on the Qin army, fighting for it with the Qin army city by city. The five doctors in front had to ask for support from the rear; With the support of another five doctors, they finally completely repelled the attack of the Zhao army before dusk. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but did not leave the wounded to the other side either.

During the night, the Zhao army launched another night attack, disturbing the Qin army and staying awake all night.

During the day, the Zhao army launched another offensive, and many cities of the Qin army were broken through. Fortunately, the Qin army in the rear arrived and recaptured the position again.

Two days later, in the early morning, Wang led 10,000 Qin troops out of the valley. The five doctors who stayed behind reported to him the fierce fighting of the past two days. Wang Ji inspected the wounded. The number of seriously wounded who were evacuated to Taniguchi has reached nearly 1,000. Wang asked a medical officer to organize a wounded person who could walk to return to Wuji City for treatment; Those who are unable to walk can almost only wait in place to die!

After dealing with the wounded, the Zhao army also began to attack in formation. Wang Ji looked at the formation of the Zhao army and asked a public attendant to lead 5,000 people to line up in the fields between the villages. This is similar to the Zhao army's formation in the city, it makes the Zhao army dare not let go of the attack on the countryside, and must always be on guard against this Qin army's attack, fighting timidly; As a result, the Qin army held all its positions relatively easily.

At night, Wang Ji took the initiative to send out patrols, one side to capture the Zhao army who came to harass them, and the other side to harass the Zhao army. Several small units on both sides engaged in fierce skirmishes in the middle of the field, which was only a few miles apart, and suffered losses on each other. The battle continued until dawn.

With the Qin army in front of the breakthrough to contain the main force of the Zhao army, Wang Yi asked the 10,000 Qin army at the mouth of the Wu'an Valley to attack the farthest city with siege equipment that could still be used; Behind them, there were still 10,000 Qin troops to answer. Such a configuration made it difficult for the main force of the Zhao army, which was located in the middle of the city group, to rescue. The Zhao army reluctantly sent 10,000 men to the rescue, but it only slowed down the speed of the Qin army's attack, increased the tactical difficulty, and did not change the outcome of the battle. Under the cover of the Qin army, the besieging Qin army successfully captured the southernmost of the four cities at dusk of the same day, and deployed its forces in that direction, forming a flanking attack on the Zhao army in the middle.

In this way, the 40,000 Qin army was divided into two attack groups, the north and the south, and the Wu'an valley pass was controlled by the 5,000 men of the north group, who were responsible for repairing the damaged siege equipment in addition to supporting the operation.

Another night of fierce night raids and counter-night raids......

Early the next morning, the Zhao army relined and launched an attack on the cities occupied by the Qin army, but the battle was ineffective under the pin of Qin reinforcements.

On the third day, when the Zhao army lined up to fight again, under the city in the northeast, there was also a Zhao army moving towards this side. Zhao's new movements were reported to Wang Di. Wang Yi observed for a while, and could not figure out the tactical intentions of Zhao Jun; However, since the Zhao army had increased its forces to the north, in order to deal with the unforeseen, Wang Yi also transferred 5,000 men from the southern group and placed them on the fields between the valley mouth of Wu'an and the city. At the same time, it is prudent to refrain from action for the time being between the North and the South.

Seeing that there was no further movement on the Qin army's side, the Zhao army, which had set out from the northeast, stopped and formed a team after advancing for several miles, and did not continue to advance.

Seeing that Zhao Jun was acting cautiously, Wang Yi was also a little puzzled. He ordered the siege troops of the Southern Group to prepare for the siege. When the Southern Group lined up, Zhao's Central Group also began to move southward, intending to block the attack. Wang Di then ordered the Northern Group to also send out the array, and at this time, Wang Di found that the Zhao army in the north also began to make some moves after the Northern Group was dispatched.

After this troop movement, Wang Yi roughly understood the intention of the Zhao army: the Zhao army in the north would contain the northern group of the Qin army, and the Zhao army in the center would be used to assist in defending the city, so that the southern group would not be able to attack the city.

Wang Yi cautiously only lined up and did not attack, and waited to see the movements of the Zhao army, wanting to see which direction the Zhao army was ready to break through. But the Zhao army to the north advanced for a mile or two before coming to a halt.

Wang Di ordered the North and South groups to move forward at the same time. The Zhao army in the north also began to move forward after seeing that the Qin army had moved. This aroused Wang Di's curiosity: What does this Zhao army want to do? While he kept Qin Jun moving forward slowly, all his attention was completely focused on observing Zhao Jun's movements.

The Zhao army in the center did not come up to meet the battle, but the Zhao army in the north continued to move forward.

The Qin army to the south advanced at a normal pace, opening up some distance from the northern group. This vacancy was discovered by the Zhao army, and immediately sent troops to rush here. The 5,000 troops of the Southern Group immediately caught up and blocked the vacancy; The besieging forces immediately stopped their advance and sent troops to fight the assaulting Zhao army. Seeing this, Wang ordered 5,000 men of the Northern Group to penetrate diagonally into the rear of the Zhao army's assault force in an attempt to cut off their retreat.

The Zhao army in the center sent additional reinforcements and threw more forces into this place, and soon, this place came into contact, and the shouts of killing and crashing came one after another.

Wang Ji was still paying attention to the movements of the Zhao army to the north. Seeing that the Zhao army had already made contact over there, they quickened their pace and rushed towards the mouth of Wu'an Valley. Seeing that the direction of Zhao's action was not as expected, Wang Yi immediately ordered the 5,000 reinforcements from the Southern Group to enter the battle; At the same time, the Northern Group made an all-out effort to break through to the rear of the Zhao army.

At this time, there were still 5,000 people at the mouth of Wu'an Valley, plus the 5,000 Qin troops who had been reinforced, there were already 10,000 people. And all 15,000 people of the Northern Group were thrown into the encirclement of the Zhao army assault group. So on this battlefield, which was only a dozen miles apart, two battles raged. The goal of both sides is clear, which is to defeat each other before their decoy forces fail. The Qin army wanted to annihilate the Zhao army that had broken through the junction of the two groups before the Zhao army broke through the Wu'an Valley Pass; And the Zhao army wanted to break through the defenses of Wu'an before his own assault force was annihilated.

There was a sneer on the corner of Wang Di's mouth: No matter what, Qin Jun has earned it! His biggest headache at the moment is that he can't find Zhao Jun to fight. The Zhao army and the city covered each other, so that the Qin army could neither capture the city nor fight the Zhao army with all its strength, and the battle was very aggrieved. As long as you can find Zhao Jun and do a good job, no matter what, it's better than the current situation!

He looked east, and the Zhao army, which was wedged into the junction, would not retreat, and the Zhao army was still throwing troops here; Looking to the west, the Zhao army had already attacked a hundred paces away from the valley and was forming a team, preparing to charge, while the reinforced Qin army was only two or three miles away from there.

It would be nice to be able to catch two at the same time! Wang Di thought to himself, even if he only caught one! He comforted himself again.

The five doctors of the North Group rushed forward against the Zhao army that came with reinforcements, and the Zhao army retreated again and again, seeing that the Qin army was about to break into the rear of the Zhao army. On the other side, the five doctors guarding the valley mouth moved all the unrepaired equipment to the front of the camp and formed a barricade, and their own soldiers shot at the Zhao army who rushed to kill them in the rear. At the same time, a small part of the troops were divided to flank the Zhao army to increase the lethality of bows and arrows.

The distance of a hundred steps passed in an instant, and Zhao Jun rushed to the barricade, but had to break away from the protection of the shield and reach out to pull the barricade away. At the moment when the barricade was opened, an order was given, and arrows were fired in unison; After three arrows in a row, Zhao Jun fell, and the formation was chaotic. Then there was a shout, and the Qin army rushed out in unison. Before Zhao Jun could retreat behind the shield, he was stabbed down. The man behind screamed and stepped back. After pursuing for more than a dozen steps, the Qin army saw the second echelon with a neat lineup attacking, and immediately retreated to the camp to hold on.

Relying on the camp fence, the Qin army stubbornly resisted the superior Zhao army. The reinforcements of the Qin army, which were gradually pressing, gave them the courage to continue fighting. Under the pressure of the Zhao army, they had retreated to the back of the camp and relied on the second line of defense to fight. And they could also see that the Zhao army had divided a part of its forces to block the Qin army that had come over for reinforcements. When Zhao Jun saw the siege equipment lying on the road, he lit a fire and burned them all.