activa-t Chapter 208: Back on defense again
Chapter 208: Back on defense again
"No need to say more." Duke Dingguo rejected the idea directly: "If we don't deal with the Beijing camp, the army will have no chance of survival."
"Only by getting rid of them can the army have food and continue to take Shanhu Pass."
Duke Dingguo was still extremely unwilling to give up Shanhu Pass. He had always felt that the rebels in Shanhu Pass were nothing to worry about. The rebels put up such a fierce resistance only because they had tens of thousands of Beijing troops behind them. He believed that once they had dealt with the Beijing troops, the rebels here would be scared, and then it would be easy to take over Shanhu Pass.
He didn't want to really go to King Huai for surrender. If he did, King Huai would not treat him well and might even use him as cannon fodder.
If you have soldiers, you have the right to speak. If you don’t have soldiers, no one will respect you.
Duke Dingguo snorted coldly, "I'll teach that brat a lesson: war relies on strength, not conspiracy and subterfuge."
He always felt that the immature Sixth Prince had caused such heavy losses to his troops through conspiracy and trickery.
On the second day, when the sky brightened, Duke Dingguo finally began to send troops.
He took out all the military rations, and even took a desperate measure this time, gathering his own 800 cavalry guards together with other cavalry.
He gathered more than 2,000 cavalrymen to deal with the 3,000 elite cavalrymen of the Imperial Guards.
The army of more than 30,000, all elite soldiers, marched directly to the Beijing camp in a mighty force.
Ning Yi was unexpectedly upset. He didn't expect that Duke Dingguo would dare to take the initiative to attack at this time.
But he soon laughed: "Old man, you can't bear it anymore. It's good this way. This prince will let him know what it means to defeat the strong with the weak."
"Pass the order down. Everyone, stay put and defend. No one should take the initiative to attack and force the rebels to attack."
Qin Haifeng was surprised: "Your Highness, at this time, more than half of Duke Dingguo's troops have been killed or wounded. Why don't you take the initiative to fight them head-on? That way, our chances of winning are very high."
Ning Yi shook his head slightly: "There is not much chance of winning, unless all the troops are our own."
"But if we rely on these Beijing troops who can only fight with favorable winds, they will be defeated in the first encounter, and Duke Dingguo will turn the defeat into victory."
Ning Yi saw clearly that the Beijing troops were just bluffing and were no match for the Fang army in the wild.
The Fang family army was really powerful, and they were evenly matched with the Imperial Guards.
What's more, the Fang family army of more than 30,000 could easily defeat the Beijing army, which was twice as large as theirs.
"Also, tell the guards at Hushan Pass to prepare for an attack. This prince will ensure that Duke Dingguo will not escape."
Qin Haifeng thought about it and decided to accept the order.
He had just sent out the message when the commanders of the Beijing Camp, who had just won the battle yesterday, thought that the Fang Army was nothing special and was easily defeated by them with tens of thousands of men.
Today, we are planning to have a head-on confrontation with Fang's army in the wild.
As a result, the Sixth Prince was not allowed to go into battle and was only allowed to defend in the military camp.
The generals were unhappy. How could this defense be as effective as the stormy attack?
Feng Zhong came over even more enthusiastically: "Your Highness, why don't you let us fight? The Fang family army is only so-so. We have so many soldiers and horses, more than enough to destroy them."
Ning Yi glanced at him indifferently. This reckless guy was stubborn and always wanted to start a war, but he didn't want to start a parallel war.
It's positive to encounter elite troops, but you don't consider the actual situation.
"Feng Jianjun, do you think the Imperial Guards can defeat the Fang family's 10,000-strong elite army head-on?"
Feng Zhong thought about this and nodded: "The Imperial Guards are strong enough to attack the Fang family army head-on."
"Then can the other Beijing troops be a match for the remaining 20,000-odd soldiers of the Fang family army?"
Bullshit, even a fool knows that the Beijing troops are just for show, especially those who are left behind, they don’t have much combat effectiveness.
The Fang family army had too few troops yesterday, otherwise they would not have won.
Feng Zhong still wanted to find an excuse.
Ning Yi said calmly, "To fight a war, one must find the right moment. There are countless examples of people turning defeat into victory. I believe Feng Jianjun, who has rich combat experience, understands this principle very well."
"This prince does not want to be overthrown by the traitor Duke Dingguo just when he is about to win. Go back and prepare for defense. This prince believes that Duke Dingguo's time is short."
Feng Zhong thought about it and didn't say anything more. He also knew that it would be difficult to defeat the Fang family army of more than 30,000 with only 10,000 imperial guards. As for the other Beijing camps, forget it. It would be difficult for them to defend the camps in place.
He did not complain to the emperor in the past two days because Ning Yi urged him to go to war last time, but he did not go to war, and he was too embarrassed to report to the emperor.
Now the decisive battle is about to begin, and we are going to report the good news to the emperor after the decisive battle.
The army of Duke Dingguo arrived in a mighty force and saw that the Beijing camp was once again on high alert inside the barracks.
He ordered his army to attack on the spot.
The deputy general advised, "Your Excellency, this is not the case. If we rush in with force, our army will suffer heavy losses. By then, we will be short of manpower and will not be able to capture Shanhu Pass."
But Duke Dingguo had his own considerations.
"Humph, if we don't take down the Jingying camp soon, my army will have nothing to eat."
"Besides, even if there are heavy casualties, all the prisoners captured by the Beijing camp are soldiers and can be used to attack the city."
The deputy general understood and looked at the Duke with admiration.
It turns out that this was the Duke's idea. No wonder he was determined to take down the Beijing Camp. It turned out that he was planning to defeat them, capture prisoners, and force these prisoners to attack Hushan Pass.
This is indeed a brilliant plan. I believe that even with much fewer troops, they will be able to defeat these Beijing camps.
The elite Fang family army launched a powerful attack. They were really strong. Even though it was very troublesome to attack the military camp built with wooden stakes, they still advanced bravely.
In each of the military camps of the Beijing Camp, the commanders kept shouting angrily: "Hold on, hold on! Anyone who dares to run will be killed!"
Even though the soldiers of the Beijing camp were not good at fighting in the field, they had to be forced to fight at this time because there was no way to retreat in the barracks.
The fight between the two sides through the wooden stakes was so brutal.
Moreover, arrows from both sides continued to fall on each other's camps like rain.
Looking from a high vantage point, large numbers of soldiers were killed or wounded every minute and every second. It is true that human lives are worthless in a war.
The hillside where Ning Yi was located was surrounded by the entire Royal Guards camp.
He also happened to be here watching the entire battlefield scene.
The front of the Imperial Guards became a defensive position, blocking a large number of the Fang family army's powerful attacking forces.
On both sides and behind, there were Beijing troops defending and guarding everywhere.
Watching the mighty Fang family army continuously attacking the military camp, fighting with the Imperial Guards and the Beijing Camp on both wings, they were beaten to a bloody pulp.
Arrows rained down from both sides, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.
The Royal Guards could still hold on, and both sides exchanged their lives to fill the gap.
However, the Beijing camps on both wings could no longer hold on. The Fang family army was simply too powerful, and they had a large number of manpower, which continuously rushed into the military camp.
But Ning Yi didn't care at all. He had to hold on and kept drawing troops from the two Beijing camps behind to replenish the two wings.