When Quan Cong heard the news, his blood boiled. He clenched his right hand that was holding the whip tightly. His eyes opened wide and he stared blankly at the soldier who had delivered the order. He did not speak for a while.
"How many people from the Wei army have come?" Quan Cong paused for a few moments before asking.
"Judging from the width, there are at least 6,000 people." The messenger gave a somewhat vague answer. Most of the time, those who can come up with such a vague answer are already the best in the army.
Those who could serve as messengers in the army were almost all the commander's personal guards or subordinates, and they had to be experienced in the battlefield. Take the two men in front of Quan Cong for example, they were both Quan Cong's trusted subordinates, and Quan Cong could call out their names.
Seeing that the Wei army's east and west wings were already at a disadvantage, it was still unknown what the sudden arrival of this Wei army on the battlefield meant, but it would definitely have an important impact on the situation on the battlefield.
The two messengers had already anticipated something from Quan Cong's expression.
Quan Cong's chest rose and fell. This was a battlefield, a battlefield where two armies were fighting and tens of thousands of troops were fighting. He was the commander-in-chief entrusted with an important task by Sun Quan, the King of Wu, north of the Han River. At this moment, he could not afford to be entangled for a moment.
"Zhang Tong! Take my token and go tell Wu Shuo to move north from behind me and cover the gap in the west for me! His troops changed their formation later, and I was already engaged in a battle here, so there was no time to change. If we win this battle, Wu Shuo will be the first to make the contribution, and I will personally ask King Wu to give him the title of general!"
"Go quickly, you two go together!" Quan Cong took out a small, shiny copper token from his arms and threw it towards the messenger named Zhang Tong, which drew a bright arc in the air.
"Follow the order!"
Two messengers with red flags on their backs received the military order, held the tokens, and rode their horses quickly along the gaps between the army formations towards Wu Shuo in the south.
Quan Cong himself no longer hesitated and continued to urge his troops to attack from west to east.
On the eastern battlefield where Quan Cong was, the 8,000 foreign troops of Wen Dai, Wei Xian, and Zhao Gu were trapped. Pan Jun's 10,000 Wu central troops and Quan Cong's 6,000 soldiers, a total of 16,000, pressed towards the Wei army from the southwest, south, and southeast.
If we evaluate it objectively, Quan Cong's decision at this moment was not wrong at all, and it was a standard and orthodox approach.
The battlefields on both the east and west sides were in a stalemate. Quan Cong bet on the east side with the intention of defeating the Wei army first, and then returning to the east after victory. It was reasonable to let Wu Shuo's 5,000 people hold the middle, even if the Wei army had as many as 10,000, they should be able to hold out for a while.
However, the difference between victory and defeat often lies in the different perceptions of the generals on both sides.
If the reinforcements from the north were equal in strength to the Wei troops on the eastern and western battlefields, the Wu army would have a better chance of winning. However, they were not ordinary troops, but the most elite infantry of the Wei Central Army.
A quarter of an hour, three miles.
This was the interval between Xu Shu's change of formation to the west and Quan Cong's advance on Wei Xian's flank. During this period of time, General Zhenxi Qian Zhao led 10,000 men from the Wuwei Battalion, getting closer and closer to the battlefield until they were several hundred steps away.
At this time, the outermost soldiers in the front of Quan Cong's army, near the gap in the battlefield, were already a little agitated. However, under the strict military discipline of Quan Cong, the soldiers still suppressed their inner anxiety and restlessness, and under the command of their respective dubo and shichang, they maintained their formation and inertia and continued to attack the Wei army.
Xu Shu, who was in the western battle group, certainly had full confidence in Qian Zhao and the Wuwei Battalion he led. But after all, it was not Xu Shu himself who issued tactical orders for the Wuwei Battalion. At this moment, Xu Shu's heart was hanging in his throat, and his eyes stared at the direction of the Wuwei Army through the gaps in the battlefield.
It was as if Xu Shu could see Qian Zhao's face clearly from a distance of a mile and a half.
Qian Zhao sat on the white horse bestowed by the emperor, looking towards the battlefield in the south with a slightly indifferent expression.
"Come here, pass the order." Qian Zhao said calmly in a slightly hoarse voice: "Order Lieutenant General Dian Man and Lieutenant General Li Ji to lead their troops to the south to meet the Wu army! Dian Man's 3,000 men will go first, and Li Ji's 2,000 men will follow, forming Dian Man's rear wing."
"Yes, sir!" The two guards took the order and galloped away.
"Order Lieutenant General Zou Gui to lead 3,000 men to support the east side from the flank and hold off the Wu army coming diagonally in front. There must be no mistakes!" "Yes!" Another messenger took the order and left.
Qian Zhao sighed and looked at a young general beside him. The man was about thirty-five years old, with a thin face, but his eyes under the helmet were full of determination. He was vaguely similar to Qian Zhao.
This man was named Wang Qi, with the courtesy name Kong Shuo, and was from Donglai, Qingzhou. In the 20th year of Jian'an, when Qian Zhao followed the military orders of Emperor Wu Cao Cao and led the Qing and Xu armies to attack the bandits in Donglai, Wang Qi was valued by Qian Zhao because of his outstanding military achievements. After the second year of Taihe, this man was transferred from the position of captain to the central army and stayed in Luozhong with Qian Zhao.
"Kong Shuo, I will follow you in the army." Qian Zhao's eyes were slightly tired, and he pointed forward: "Dian Man and Li Ji went south, and Zou Gui went to meet the Wu army in the east. Your two thousand men are the only soldiers I can use."
"Where should we go? Do you have any plan?"
Wang Qi thought for a few moments before answering, "Sir, on the west side, Lord Xu is leading his troops and they are in a stalemate with the Wu army. On the east side, General Zou has gone and can hold out for a while. General Dian's troops are the most elite, and with the help of General Li, they should be able to withstand the Wu army in the south."
"At this time, I think we should quickly defeat the Wu army in the south, so that Generals Dian and Li can withdraw and either go west to help Xu Gong or go east to help. Both are good."
Qian Zhao nodded and said, "Kong Shuo is right. This is the correct way to use troops. But I want to ask you, where do you think the commander of the Wu army should be now?"
"This..." Wang Qi didn't know how to respond for a moment.
On the Wei army side, the commander Xu Shu had already led his troops to the western battle group. They were not at the end of the battlefield, but in the most central position. Instead, they had to listen to Xu Shu's orders.
As for the Wu army, the commander seems to be at the back?
Wang Qi finally bowed and said, "Sir, as for the commander of the Wu army, I think he might be in the Wu army in the south. Even if the commander of the Wu army is not here, once the Wu army here is defeated, the situation on the entire battlefield will be improved."
"Then follow your plan." Qian Zhao didn't say much, but picked up the helmet hanging on the saddle, held it with both hands and put it on his head carefully. Seeing this, Wang Qi stopped talking to Qian Zhao, but rode his horse in the army and gave orders to the two Simas under his command.
At this moment, the battlefield north of Fancheng was completely in chaos. Under the command of the commander, the armies of Wei and Wu were thrown into the battle. Before the results of the battles were known, any action to change their formation or withdraw from the battlefield would be futile. Unless they were exhausted after fighting for a long time, or reinforcements arrived.
Either you defeat the enemy or you are defeated by the enemy. There is no other option in a short period of time. This is the biggest difference between infantry and cavalry.
When cavalry retreated, they were often just scattered, with little loss of manpower. But when infantry was defeated, the enemy would charge back with their own frightened soldiers, pushing the battle to a point where it could not be reversed.
The most elite unit in the Wuwei Camp was the 3,000 heavily armored infantry led by Lieutenant General Dian Man. Perhaps because of his father Dian Wei's loyalty and bravery, in the second year of Taihe, Dian Man was promoted from a lieutenant to a Lieutenant General, and was highly valued by His Majesty.
The army led by Wu Shuo on the opposite side was also the central army of Wu, but the gap between the central army of Wu rebuilt after the first year of Taihe and the elite troops of Wuwei Camp was still too big, to the point of being incomparable.
"Wu Jun? Wu Gou! Today, your heads will be used to make your contribution!"
When the two armies were about to engage in battle, Dian Man spat, and then he and his personal guards stood with the military flag in the center of the formation, as unshakable as a rock washed by running water.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
In front of Dian Man, the soldiers of the Wuwei Camp, under the command of their respective Quchang, Dubo, and Shichang, roared, waved their weapons, and shouted to kill, and began to fight in unison. The soldiers at the front of the army, holding nearly two-meter-long spears, rushed forward according to the formation and fought with the Wu army spearmen on the opposite side. After the offensive was slightly blocked, the heavy-armored infantry holding long halberds behind them rushed forward, and the bright halberd blades glowed silver, constantly flashing in the formation.
"General, General! The front has collapsed, what should we do?" A Wu army officer asked the lieutenant general Wu Shuo anxiously.
"They collapsed so quickly, they are useless. Where is Qu Sima? I will personally cut off his head!" Wu Shuo shouted loudly. (End of this chapter)
