Chapter 789 Weighing
Guo Mo has always been more than just a strong player. He is not lacking in agility and accurate grasp of the battle situation.
In fact, when he discovered that the two armies of Li Tong and Li Zheng on the opposite side had entered the battle one after another, he rushed to the ballista position where he was leading the attack.
At that time, the crossbow position had been restored. The bodies of Yuan Jun's cavalry and Jianghuai's cavalry had been piled aside, and the traces of their previous repeated killings had also been cleared away.
Only the two burned ballistae were abandoned aside in a charred state, telling the final dignity of the Jianghuai knights.
When Guo Mo arrived, he saw Qian Zhao talking to several military officials. After seeing Guo Mo coming, Qian Zhao waved his subordinates to retreat and came over.
The first thing Guo Mo said when he dismounted was:
"How many ballistas and stone-throwing machines are left today?"
Qianzhao didn’t understand what Guo Mo meant, so he told the truth:
"Two ballistae were burned, sixteen were lost, and there were four stone-throwing carts. Now there are only eighty-two ballistae and forty stone-throwing carts left."
Guo Mo nodded and immediately ordered Qian Zhao:
"You immediately move these ballistas and stone-fired carts to the eastern front, where the enemy troops are dispatched."
But who knows that Qianzhao is very difficult:
"Master Guo, this is a bit inconsistent with the regulations. You and I are not subordinate to each other, and we also belong to different systems. If I move my position to the east under your order, what should I do here? The task our army accepted before was to cooperate with The center army attacks the enemy's center."
Guo Mo was so anxious that his expression suddenly dropped, and he hummed:
"What two systems? Let me tell you, we only have one system, and that is the Taishan Army. My military rank is higher than yours, so I have the right to order you. Now I immediately order you to dispatch the crossbows and attack with me. The enemy to the east.”
But Qianzhao still shook his head stubbornly, really unwilling to obey.
At this time, Guo Mo was silent for a while, and then said seriously:
"It's not what I, Guo Mo, want, but our East Route Army can no longer withstand heavy casualties. In yesterday's battle, the six armies of our East Route Army were able to withstand twice the number of enemies and annihilate Zhang He's main force. The result is Although it is glorious, the casualties behind it make people cry.”
Having said this, Guo Mo took a deep breath and said emotionally to Qianzhao:
"Didn't I, Guo Mo, come to beg you when we get to this field? Those old brothers who have won hundreds of battles with our army are already about to win the final victory of the war. Do we want them to die here? They should be leading Go back with honor instead of burning into ashes and leaving them to your family.”
"So, Qianzhao, I beg you, please save the soldiers of the Sixth Army as they fight bloody battles on the battlefield."
At this time, Qianzhao couldn't say anything no matter how much he said. He was silent for a while, and then expressed a concern:
"There is one situation that must be made clear to Commander Guo, that is, although the torches thrown by the Jianghuai cavalry did not burn a few frames, the ordnance after being roasted by the fire must not be as durable as before. Therefore, I can’t guarantee how long these ballistas and stone-fired vehicles will last.”
When Guo Mo saw Qian Zhao saying these words, he knew that the matter was settled, so he patted his chest and said:
"Okay, let's pull the position over first, and fight as long as we can."
Seeing Guo Mo say this, Qianzhao sighed, and finally cupped his fists and said to Guo Mo:
"Master Guo, the military situation is urgent. You go back to the army to preside over the war first. I will pack up here and go over."
Guo Mo was suspicious for a moment, but he also knew not to push too hard, so he jumped on the horse and tapped the whip lightly:
"I believe in you!"
After saying that, he returned to the army on horseback without any delay.
After Guo Mo left, several generals of the Ballista Army couldn't help but said to Qian Zhao:
"General, do we really want to go east? We are disobeying military orders. When the time comes, we will be blamed and we will all be subject to military law."
Another general was even more suspicious and said:
"General, I think that Commander Guo is really unreliable. There has been no war on the eastern front, otherwise Marshal Zhang would not have sent all of us here to bombard the enemy's center. And now, Commander Guo can't speak clearly. He is going to ask us to move our positions. If something happens later, what punishment will he receive? And we are just disobeying military orders."
As for the price of disobeying military orders, everyone knows it and there is no need to say more.
All in all, everyone's intention is not to move the formation, after all, the risk to be taken is too great.
Listening to the descriptions of his subordinates, Qianzhao did not explain much, but replied lightly:
"If anything goes wrong in this battle, I will bear the responsibility. Now, go down immediately and pack up all the ordnance you can take away with me. Let's go to the east, where we are needed!"
Once the decision is made, there will be no more disputes.
……
Under the flag hunting, Guo Mo and Wei Zhou were already walking side by side. They looked at the two fronts of Guangwu Army and Xiongwu Army to the east with serious expressions on their faces.
Just now, the Xiongwu Army finally lost all their frontline positions and was retreating towards the rear under the cover of the crossbowmen at the rear.
Behind them, there are still four battalions of officers and soldiers standing guard there, but once this line of defense is broken through again, it will be really difficult for the eastern front coach Zhang Nan.
Zhang Nan's guards had already visited before, so Guo Mo and Wei Zhou jointly organized a sharp force composed of their own guards.
In the military system of the Taishan Army, the guards of generals at all levels are all armored tooth soldiers, all of whom were of the same level as Bai Bajala of the later Manchu and Qing dynasties.
At this moment, two hundred armored tooth soldiers stood silently behind Guo Mo and Wei Zhou. These people were all selected one by one from a hundred people. They all wore iron arms, wore three layers of armor, and held giant axes. , mace, like an iron man.
After gathering this group of tooth soldiers, Guo and Wei did not dispatch rashly, but waited patiently.
After a while, the wheels were turning, and the strategic force they were waiting for finally arrived.
……
When Qianzhao appeared, he was dressed in military uniform and wearing a bamboo hat to protect his head, and reported to Guo Mo:
"The Crossbow Corps brought seventy-eight crossbows, thirty-nine stone carts, three hundred boxes of crossbow arrows, and one hundred boxes of stone bullets. They came specially to participate in the battle."
The numbers reported were even lower than before. Just by moving the formation, they lost four more ballistas and one stone-firing cart.
It can be seen from this that the continuously fighting ballista corps is almost reaching its limit.
But I don’t know if Guo Mo didn’t care and understood or didn’t care. Anyway, he gave Qianzhao the order directly:
"Set up the ballista and the stone cart, and then hit me due east."
Guo Mo pointed his hand and saw the target, but his heart trembled and he didn't dare to say a word.
Wei Zhou, who was next to Guo Mo, was also startled. He quickly pressed Guo Mo's hand and shouted:
"No way, there are brothers in the Holy Army."
It turned out that what Guo Mo wanted to bomb was the front position of the Gongsheng Army. This place was densely packed with soldiers from both sides, criss-crossing each other.
Although there don't seem to be many flags of the Taishan Army there anymore, all you can see are the white military uniforms worn by Li's tribe.
But this does not mean that there are no Pao Ze who are still fighting there. And just like this, we can see how tenacious those robes left on the battlefield are.
Now if you listen to Guo Mo's military orders, you can certainly kill the enemy effectively, but those friendly troops who still resist tenaciously will definitely die.
If it was an ordinary army, calculated according to the principle of utilitarianism, it would be shot directly. One life would be exchanged for a hundred. This business would definitely make a lot of money.
But this kind of utilitarianism does not apply to the Taishan Army. The Taishan Army is about brothers and sisters. Now you, Guo Mo, ask Qianzhao to launch this crossbow. So what if he wins in the end? Qianzhao will definitely be in the army in the end. Thousands of people point it out.
Therefore, even if he had the courage to disobey military orders, he still remained silent. Here, Guo Mo saw Wei Zhou and Qian Zhao's behavior, and of course he understood what they meant by "survival". He was not upset, he jumped off his horse and ran to a crossbow.
At this moment, the crossbow gun was already on the string. Guo Mo only needed to hit the trigger with a hammer to fire the crossbow arrow. Without any hesitation, he pushed away the crossbow gunner next to him, grabbed the mallet in his hand, and struck it suddenly. Go up.
In an instant, a spear shot with dazzling light directly towards the chaotic battlefield to the east.
But without that, no matter how special the spear was, it was still a spear, and the damage it caused was simply not worth mentioning on the battlefield of Nuo Da.
But its value is that it was fired by Guo Mo himself, expressing his attitude.
At this moment, Guo Mo took out the Huanshou Sword in his hand, raised it and shouted at all the crossbow artillerymen present:
"This is a battlefield. My only goal is to destroy the enemy. Whoever stops me is the enemy! Now the whole army listens to my order and shoots rapidly towards the east!"
At this time, Wei Zhou also ran over and hugged Guo Mo.
At this time, Wei Zhou's expression was too complicated. He even felt ashamed in front of Guo Mo, but he still tried to persuade Guo Mo:
"Lao Guo, we can wait a little longer."
Wei Zhou's meaning was obvious, wait a minute, what are you waiting for? What they are waiting for is that all the warriors and soldiers who are holding on are killed in the battle, and then there will be no scruples in shooting again.
But Guo Mo pushed Wei Zhou away and said to everyone:
"I, Guo Mo, never weigh the pros and cons behind me, but at the point of sword and spear!"
After speaking, he shouted loudly:
"Fire with me!"
As Guo Mo shouted together, there was also Qianzhao. He looked ashamed, but still shouted firmly:
"Launch!"
In fact, it was the words "Qianzhao" that finally made the ballistas present move their hands. They all ran to the firing positions of the ballistas and stone-fired vehicles. After preliminary calibration, they started bombarding towards the east.
In the final analysis, the Taishan Army is an economical force, and everything has a system. You, Guo Mo, can't just rely on your personal charm or your righteousness and favor.
If there is no order to pull the move, even if Guo Mo shouts and changes his face, the knife in his hand will really kill people, and the crossbow will not fire a single one.
This is the system of Taishan Army, the law is like a melting pot.
At this moment, as nearly a hundred crossbows and stone bullets crossed the horizon, Guo Mo laughed loudly. He raised his sword and shouted at the hundreds of leopard, Tao, and iron armored soldiers waiting behind him:
"Charge! Kill all those bastards!"
Then, Wei Zhou on the side also drew out his knife and shouted:
"Rush!
So, these two hundred heavily armored tooth soldiers, led by their respective generals, rushed towards the chaotic and wailing crowd to the east.
……
At this moment, Li Taijun, who was attacking the Xiongwu Army, was stunned by the sudden ballistae and stone bullets. With the sound of huge bowstrings exploding, countless spears killed the armored soldiers here.
Some stone bullets hit the grass, and even the grass roots were shot to the sky, not to mention those Li Tai soldiers who did not have much armor.
At this moment, stone bullets like water splashed on Li Taijun's head, tearing the air and harvesting lives.
Among all animals, only humans have a particularly long maturity period, requiring more than ten years to grow up. But it only takes an instant to harvest a life, and it only takes a stone as big as a fist.
At this moment, on the front line of the Xiongwu Army, the officers and men of Li Taijun were being harvested like wheat, and countless lives were withering, as if these people had gone through countless hardships in life just to be harvested here.
For a moment, even the charging tooth soldiers of Bao Tao and Feng Xiang were stunned.
They looked at the purgatory-like scene, and looked at the screaming and frightened enemies. They were running around, but they still couldn't escape the blows of ballistas and stone bullets.
These people have never seen such efficient killing so intuitively. It seems that their kind of killing with one knife and one gun has become outdated.
In fact, until now, there is no need for these tooth soldiers to charge.
When the firepower originally used on a central group is used on a small army, the result is already doomed.
Perhaps the crossbow gunners also felt Guo Mo's anger and shame. These people continued to throw crossbow arrows and stone bullets at a frequency that had never been higher than before.
Also under such intensity, the loss of the ballistae was even greater. In just a moment, six ballistae could not withstand it, and their long wooden arms were completely broken and could no longer be repaired.
But the moves on the side continued, and while letting the stone cart continue to throw, he let the ballista continue to move forward, as if he wanted to hit the heads of those Li clan directly, and the ballistae was pushed until Xiongwu The outer line of the army.
The bombardment lasted for another half moment. During this process, the officials of Li Taijun also organized troops to seize the crossbow position here, but they were driven back by the crossbowmen who had been dispatched long ago.
After a while, after the ballistae corps fired out all the ammunition in reserve, there were very few ordnances that could still be used.
And what results did they achieve?
On the battlefield to the east, there is no intact place. The corpses are mixed with the grass, and the blood and mud are mixed together. You have me, and I have you, and they can no longer be separated.
It was only after the bombardment of the Ballista Army stopped completely that the soldiers of the Xiongwu Army came to their senses and began to gradually regain their positions.
It's not that they don't want to hurry up, it's just that the battlefield littered with corpses is just too slippery.
With the wealth and productivity level of the Taishan Army, they cannot afford a pair of cowhide boots for each of the Xiongwu Army officers. Most of them can only wear straw sandals.
At this moment, when these heroic military officers stepped on the bloody mud with their stumps, they stopped at a place. The corpses here were lying in the middle, as if they were trying to protect something.
There were some people nearby who were not dead yet, and they were wailing in pain. A few officers of the Xiongwu Army were "kind-hearted" and walked over to give them a happy life.
The officials who stayed in place found a flagpole in the center circle. It was a flagpole as thick as an arm, and its fracture point was broken off as if it had been directly hit by a crossbow arrow.
The officials pulled down the flag from the flagpole and spread it out. They saw the seven characters "Da Chen Right Guards the Front Army".
This is Li Tai's military flag.
At this point, Li Tai's army was completely destroyed.
This chapter mentions that the Taishan Army wore straw sandals, so don’t find it strange, because even in the early Republic of China, in the Haifeng area, barefooting was still common in the countryside.
Needless to say, at that time, in my memory, my grandfather never wore shoes all year round, and would only put them on when walking long distances.
In fact, for thousands of years, the lives of Chinese people have not changed much.