(Author's note: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!!!)
Out of nowhere, a circular formation of carriages became the key to the success or failure of the Battle of Changping.
Within ten days, the rations from Hanoi Commandery had been safely transported to Guang Lang City, alleviating the Qin army's rations crisis. Fan Ju used all his means in Xianyang City, ordering the people to live frugally to gather rations for the army.
It could be said that Qin had bet all of its fate on this battle.
Because the Zhao army had sufficient rations, they were determined to fight the Qin army.
After setting up the circular formation of carriages and stabilizing the situation in the south, the ambitious Zhao Kuo turned his attention to Ying Bao's army stationed north of the Hundred Mile Stone Wall. There were 170,000 soldiers stationed inside the Old Pass, in addition to the 50,000 soldiers defending Hu Pass, Zhao Kuo had the confidence to defeat Ying Bao's 100,000 soldiers.
A long battle was also a huge burden for the state of Zhao. After listening to Zhao Kuo's plan, Lord Pingyuan Zhao Sheng, who was in charge of supervising the army, did not object.
Although they successfully defeated the external reinforcements and took down the Royal Tomb, the situation was still disadvantageous to the Qin army. Just as Bai Qi said, to defeat the Zhao army, they must first defeat the circular formation of carriages.
However, this kind of peerless formation, as well as the support of the old pass, to break it was easier said than done.
The Lord of Martial Peace Bai Qi stood at the watchtower of Wolf Mountain, staring at the formation of the Zhao army. He would look at it for an entire day. He waited for the sun to set in the west before returning to the cave of the Shogunate in silence.
This continued for several days, but he still could not find a solution.
Seeing that Zhao Kuo was sharpening his knife, if he could not think of a solution, he would have to withdraw Ying Bao's army. Once Ying Bao's army withdrew, it would mean that Zhao Kuo's strategy had succeeded.
If this continued, Qin would not be able to support such a large army for a long period of time. The best outcome would be for the Qin army to return to the capital dejectedly and hand over Shangdang Commandery to Zhao. Bai Qi shuddered at the thought of the series of political consequences.
Giving up Shangdang Commandery would not only cut off Qin's path to the east. More importantly, Qin and Zhao would change positions, and the map of the feudal lords would be rewritten.
Thus, the State of Qin could not afford to lose, the Qin army could not afford to lose, and Bai Qi could not afford to lose!
From the start of the Battle of Changping until now, there had been several major battles. The mutant armies of the Qin and Zhao factions seemed to be playing supporting roles, faintly discernible, but in reality, they were constantly influencing the direction of the war.
Comparing the two, it was the Yan Huang Alliance's camp that was more eye-catching. The State of Qin, which was led by the Alliance of Mountains and Seas, basically just went with the flow. They didn't offer any constructive suggestions to Bai Qi, nor did they try to influence the course of the battle.
Compared to the dazzling performance of the Zhongshan Sea Alliance in the battle of Zhuolu and Muye, this battle was somewhat overshadowed.
It was precisely because of this that Ouyang Shuo had repeatedly gathered the members of the Alliance of Mountains and Seas to discuss how to break the circular formation. Unfortunately, even a military genius like Bai Qi was at his wit's end. What else could they do?
Ouyang Shuo was well aware that if he wanted to break the circular formation, he absolutely couldn't follow the ancient way of war. In this aspect, be it the Player Lords or historical figures like Ju Sheng, none could surpass Bai Qi.
On this day, Ouyang Shuo brought two of his personal guards and ascended the city tower of Guang Lang City. Right now, there was only the circular formation in his mind. He couldn't think of anything else.
In the morning light, a flock of geese flew across the sky, leaving behind a silhouette.
Ouyang Shuo was startled, and a thought flashed through his mind. He tried his best to calm his excited heart, closed his eyes, and connected the geese with the circular formation, capturing that flash of inspiration.
Seeing the Marquis like this, the personal guards knew that they couldn't be disturbed, so they immediately spread out and guarded the surroundings, lest anyone disturb the Marquis's thoughts.
The circular formation was interlinked and connected, coordinating with each other, causing the enemy to be at a loss as to what to do. Normally speaking, to break this formation, one could either ignore it, and the formation would collapse on its own, or gather the army to suppress the enemy and launch an all-out attack, causing the soldiers in the formation to be restricted and naturally unable to coordinate with each other.
Neither of these two methods would work.
The former required sufficient patience. The Zhao army in the formation had an endless supply of rations from the Old Pass Stronghold, and their endurance was astonishing. Before the enemy was exhausted, the Qin army would be finished first.
The latter required a large number of soldiers, and after a few tough battles, the Qin army had lost close to half of their soldiers, and they no longer had the strength to organize an army to break the circular formation.
The flying geese gave Ouyang Shuo a new train of thought.
Since the traditional method didn't work, then he had to innovate. Ouyang Shuo was thinking that if the Qin army could be like the modern army, they could use airborne troops to cross the first few layers of the formation and directly attack the core of the formation. As long as the core of the formation was in chaos, the army could launch an attack from the outside, and the formation would definitely be broken!
One had to say that the collaboration with the [Rattlesnake Mercenary Group] had further stimulated Ouyang Shuo's desire for change. His thinking became more and more unconstrained, and he no longer stuck to the distinction between ancient and modern.
The difficulty of this method was how to carry out airborne troops. In ancient times, there were no planes that could carry out fixed-point airborne drops.
Ouyang Shuo opened his eyes and looked at the Great Grain Mountain in front of him, and his eyes lit up.
The Great Grain Mountain lay between the Little Dong Cang River and the Great Dong Cang River, and it extended all the way to the foot of the Old Pass. It was very close to the circular formation that the Zhao army had set up.
If they could land from the top of the Great Grain Mountain, they might be able to dive down and land in the center of the circular formation without the help of any flying equipment.
Now, there was only one problem left before his idea could be turned into a feasible plan, and that was how to find a substitute for parachutes.
Ouyang Shuo immediately thought of the military tents that the Shanhai County army had brought. Wasn't this equipment that surpassed the level of ancient technology the best substitute for parachutes?
After thinking it through, Ouyang Shuo no longer hesitated, and he said excitedly, "Let's go to the Wolf Mountain and meet the Lord of Martial Peace!"
The personal guard saw the Lord of Martial Peace's happy face, and he was also happy, and he quickly followed him down.
When Ouyang Shuo arrived at the top of the Wolf Mountain, the Lord of Martial Peace was still standing on the watchtower, and he was staring at the circular formation in silence.
Bai Qi didn't react to Ouyang Shuo's arrival.
Helpless, Ouyang Shuo could only take the lead and say, "Lord of Martial Peace, I have thought of a way to break the formation, and I hope that the Lord of Martial Peace can take a look at it and see if it can be implemented."
"What?" Bai Qi, who was motionless, immediately turned around, and it scared Ouyang Shuo. Bai Qi stared at Ouyang Shuo with his triangular eyes that were unique to the Qin people, and he said excitedly, "There is no joking in the army. What method have you thought of to break the formation? Quickly tell me!"
As an old general who had been on the battlefield for many years, Bai Qi was not angry.
Ouyang Shuo's heart trembled, and he calmed his mind, and he told him everything that he had thought of.
After listening to Ouyang Shuo's method to break the formation, Bai Qi was speechless for a long time, and he murmured, "There is actually such a method to break the formation in this world. This old man is really ignorant and inexperienced."
"This is a method that I happened to think of, and I don't know if it will work."
Bai Qi was still Bai Qi, and as long as Ouyang Shuo explained a little, he would understand the crux of the matter, and he said confidently, "Although there are still some shortcomings, it is feasible on the whole, and we still need to plan in detail. Not to mention anything else, it's impossible to land accurately in the center of the formation without repeated training beforehand. "
"Other than that, how many soldiers to send in is also a problem. Too many won't work, and too few won't work either, and it won't be able to disrupt the central army. The timing of the landing is also very important, and if we are discovered by the Zhao army during the landing, we will become a live target, and the soldiers will be shot to death before they even land."
Ouyang Shuo knew that in terms of details, he could not compare to Bai Qi, and he obediently said, "I will listen to the Lord of Martial Peace's orders, and the mutant army will be at your disposal."
Bai Qi nodded, and said, "How can you say that you have no clothes? You are not bad. Since we have met, you have already brought this old man many surprises, and now you have even solved this ancient problem. If we win this battle, you will have the greatest contribution. "
Ouyang Shuo suppressed the excitement in his heart, "I do not deserve the Lord of Martial Peace's praise, this is what I should do."
Bai Qi waved his hand, and it was obvious that he did not want to pursue the matter, "You still have a few things to do."
"Please instruct me, Lord of Martial Peace!"
"Firstly, draw the parachute you mentioned into a blueprint, and teach the army craftsmen how to sew it. Secondly, gather all the tents. "
"Yes!" Ouyang Shuo nodded his head, but he hesitated.
Bai Qi's eyes were sharp, and he said, "What do you have to say? Why don't you say it directly? "
"I have a small request. Among the cavalry that I brought, there is an Imperial Brigade, and they are all experienced soldiers. Furthermore, they have received advanced military training. I hope that the Lord of Martial Peace will allow me to pick a group of soldiers from the Imperial Brigade to participate in this operation. "
Bai Qi nodded, and said, "This old man has also heard of your Imperial Brigade. Huan Qi, Ying Bao, and Wang He have all mentioned it to this old man on different occasions, saying that the Imperial Brigade is well-equipped, and their battle prowess is extraordinary. It seems that their words are not false. But they are cavalry, can they fight on foot as well? "
Ouyang Shuo's heart leaped with joy. After all, the Shanhai County army hadn't disgraced him, and had left a deep impression on the Qin generals. In fact, they even had Bai Qi's attention.
"The Imperial Guard Brigade is selected from the various divisions of the army. Every soldier is skilled in infantry and cavalry."
"Fine, this old man agrees!" Bai Qi's reply was very straightforward.
According to Bai Qi's plan, his personal bodyguards, the 300 Iron Eagle Swordsmen, were the best candidates for this airborne mission. However, three hundred people were a little too few. Since Ouyang Shuo had taken the initiative to volunteer, he naturally wouldn't refuse.
"Many thanks for the Calm Martial Ruler's trust!" Ouyang Shuo had no selfish motives in recommending the Imperial Guard Brigade to participate in the battle. It was purely to increase the success rate of the mission. No matter what, the Brigade of Praetorian Guards had received training in the recruit camp and had broadened their horizons. Coupled with their individual combat strength, it was only natural that they would not pass on the responsibility.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be willing to mobilize the Imperial Guards for such a dangerous mission. (To be continued.)
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