It was a sunny day on the Tibetan Plateau.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, a life and death battle was taking place. It had been two hours since Wang Ben attacked Amdo City. Both sides had suffered heavy casualties and blood dyed the ground red.
In the highland climate, two hours of continuous fighting was a severe test of one's stamina.
Wang Ben looked up at the sky. Seeing that it was getting late and Amdo City was still standing, his expression turned ugly. "Pass down the order. Leave no reserve troops behind. Everyone, follow me and kill our way up."
"Yes!"
With the order, the twenty thousand reserve troops charged forward.
Wang Ben's decision was right. In fact, the Ashoka Dynasty's army was on the verge of collapse. The twenty thousand fresh troops charged forward and immediately dealt a fatal blow.
With Wang Ben leading the way, the Qin army's morale was high and they were unstoppable.
In just half an hour, a gap was opened on the city wall. Wang Ben led the troops up the city wall and fought with the enemy. Corpses fell from the city wall like dumplings, piling up a thick layer.
The Ashoka Dynasty's army was also powerful. They would rather die than retreat.
Both sides surrounded the city wall and started a tug-of-war. Every inch of land was covered with life and death. No one gave way, and the number of casualties increased at a visible rate.
The city wall was already filled with corpses, and the soldiers could only fight by stepping on them.
Seeing this, Wang Ben felt some admiration for the enemy. At the same time, he was furious. If they still couldn't take down Amdo City, it would be too embarrassing for him.
"Kill!"
Perhaps because of the Calm Martial Lord's influence, the Qin army mainly used heavy swordsmen instead of saber and shield soldiers.
Heavy swordsmen focused on offense and light on defense. Once they attacked, they were invincible. One had to fall. Under Wang Ben's encouragement, the Qin soldiers threw caution to the wind and fought with their lives on the line.
This time, the Ashoka Dynasty's army was finally scared. Seeing their comrades falling like wheat and losing their positions, the army lost the will to fight.
"Retreat!"
The officer guarding the city gave the order to retreat into the city to fight.
Seeing this, Wang Ben shouted, "Everyone, chase after them. Don't give the enemy any chance to set up their formation in the city."
Just like that, the Qin army was like maggots on a bone. They chased after the enemy from the top of the city wall to the bottom of the city, from one street to the next. They were like ghosts in Yama's palace.
Even when night fell and the lights were lit, sporadic sounds of fighting could still be heard from various parts of the city.
At this point in the war, both armies were scattered. Battalions and even squads were fighting in the streets, houses, and other places, turning the whole of Amdo City upside down.
The natives could only tremble in fear.
At night, Wang Ben, surrounded by his personal guards, walked into the City Lord's Mansion. He no longer personally went into battle. Instead, he commanded the entire army to carry out a planned massacre of the remaining enemy forces.
This was a battle with no prisoners of war. The loser would die.
Seeing that the battles in the city had gradually calmed down, Wang Ben immediately dialed his father's communication compass and reported the results of the battle in Amdo City without taking a break.
In the video, Wang Jian didn't have any words of praise. He only nodded and ordered, "Tomorrow morning, send out troops to clear out the surrounding villages and prepare for the arrival of the main army."
"Yes, sir!"
Wang Ben was used to it.
In the eyes of the father and son, taking down Amdo City wasn't something to be proud of.
Even so, through this battle, Wang Ben had a clear understanding of the enemy's strength. In this battle, nearly 30,000 of the 70,000 Qin soldiers had died, almost equal to the enemy's casualties.
This result was actually very unsightly.
Other than the fact that the Ashoka army was stronger, the more important reason was that the five hundred thousand Qin soldiers lacked battle experience. Strictly speaking, this was their first battle.
"Those who haven't seen blood are ultimately useless." Wang Ben was very dissatisfied.
… …
The next day, the news that the Right Wing Army had taken down Amdo City in just half a day quickly spread to all four armies.
This time, the other three armies were so embarrassed that they prostrated themselves on the ground. With great tacit understanding, the vanguard officers of the three armies gave the same military order. "Take down the target city as soon as possible at all costs."
The Qin army had won, and they couldn't be last.
The secret competition between the four armies finally reached its peak at this moment.
Unexpectedly, the second army to take down the city was the Left Wing Army, which was the Zhou army led by Tian Dan. It was for no other reason than that the Zhou army had the most actual combat experience among the four armies.
Next was the Song army, which also had a certain amount of actual combat experience. The Tang army, which was the Middle Army, was at the bottom of the group. It was only on the 5th of September that they took down the target city.
When the news came out, the Tang army was humiliated.
It was reported that the commander of the Middle Army, Li Ji, who was a calm old general, was so angry that he directly demoted the vanguard officer in charge of attacking the city to the lowest rank as a warning to others.
"I can't even beat the Song army. I'm so ashamed!" Li Ji almost cursed.
The two fierce generals, Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Jingde, also complained in their hearts. They complained that Li Ji did not send them to fight. Otherwise, the Qin army would definitely not be able to win.
… …
Chengdu, Northwest War Zone Command Headquarters, Chengdu.
The Tang army was at the bottom. Even Li Jing felt embarrassed. When he had arranged for the Tang army to be the main force of the Middle Army, Li Jing had also cared about their old friendship. He did not expect such an outcome.
"Really …"
Li Jing shook his head, not knowing what to say.
At this moment, the military advisor Xun Yu walked in. "Marshal, the losses of the four armies in the first battle have been calculated. Please take a look."
Li Jing collected his emotions and took a closer look. After a long time, he said, "Unexpected, but not unexpected!"
The Qin army attacked Amdo City and lost nearly thirty thousand men. It was considered a good loss among the four armies. The Song army suffered the most. It was unknown whether they were angry or something else, but they lost nearly fifty thousand men, which was more than the enemy.
Li Jing, who had fought with the army of the Ashoka Dynasty, naturally knew how powerful the enemy was, especially the garrison troops that the Ashoka Dynasty had stationed at the border. They were all elite troops with rich combat experience.
Li Jing was already satisfied that they could fight like this.
Xun Yu suggested, "Marshal, the first battle is already so difficult. Should we change our tactics?"
In the beginning, the four armies cooperated with each other to form a long battle line from the east to the west. They would push forward until the Ashoka Dynasty army was driven out of the Tubo territory.
However, with the current losses, they would probably suffer heavy losses if they fought head-on.
"Do you have a good plan, Military Advisor?" Li Jing asked calmly.
Xun Yu replied, "I suggest that we order the Right Wing Army to send a cavalry unit to the Ogedei Khaganate to attack the rear of the Tubo army and harass the enemy's food supply line to reduce the pressure on the front army."
Li Jing heard this and said, "We'll discuss this later!"
"Marshal!" Xun Yu was anxious.
"Military Advisor, the heavy casualties are all because the army lacks actual combat experience. This is the best time to train the troops. As long as we fight a few more battles, the situation will definitely improve. It won't be too late to follow the Military Advisor's plan when that time comes. "
Xun Yu heard this and looked at Li Jing in confusion. In the end, he did not refute and turned to leave.
Li Jing saw this and secretly sighed in his heart. Not only did the four armies not know about Jia Xu's "Meat Grinder Plan," but even Xun Yu did not know about it. Li Jing was the only one who had the right to know.
Xun Yu's plan was naturally good if one considered it from the perspective of a conventional war. Unfortunately, this unprecedented war was destined to be an unconventional one from the very beginning.
With different goals, the methods would naturally be different.
If they sent troops to harass the enemy's food supply line at this time, it was very likely that the Ashoka Dynasty would retreat and give up on the Tubo army. In that case, it would be completely opposite to the imperial court's strategy.
Perhaps some people would ask that even if the Ashoka Dynasty retreated, Great Xia could take advantage of the victory to pursue and directly attack the Ashoka Dynasty's territory, which could also achieve the goal of exhausting the enemy.
Of course, things were not that simple.
The Ashoka Dynasty's war with Great Xia in Tubo was an external war. The Peacock Dynasty and the Mando Dynasty could naturally watch from the sidelines, and no one could blame them.
However, once the Great Xia army attacked the Ashoka Dynasty's territory, it would be a civil war. The two dynasties, as well as tens of millions of adventurers in India, would swarm forward and fight to the death with Great Xia.
At that time, what could a mere two million troops do to the enemy?
Moreover, before taking over the Tubo army and restoring normal production, if they wanted to go on an expedition to the Ashoka Dynasty, the food supply line would be more than doubled. The difficulty and consumption of the road would increase exponentially.
Even if Great Xia had a strong foundation, it could not withstand such consumption. Perhaps in just one battle, Great Xia could lose all the resources that they had painstakingly accumulated.
How could Her Majesty do such a stupid thing?
Therefore, fighting with the Ashoka Dynasty in Tubo was the most ideal situation.
"Wen Ruo, I'm sorry!" Li Jing shook his head.
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