As the saying goes, all is fair in war, so no matter what agreement the two thugs who were arguing in front reached, the bosses of both sides will not take it seriously.
But originally the Chen Dynasty army was going to attack, and the Qinghe army was going to defend, so it didn't affect anything.
As the commander-in-chief, Chen Yu listened to the report from the front. As expected, his expression did not change. How could it be called a battle curse without using swear words? You can't just go up to the enemy and say, "I wish you happiness as vast as the East Sea and a life as long as the Southern Mountains."
As for what the Qinghe people said about a decisive battle, Chen Yu nodded, indicating that he knew it, but whether what the Qinghe people said was true or not, he just had to wait and try it out.
With a wave of Chen Yu's hand, the thirty-six marching drums lined up in a row of the Chen Dynasty army were struck, and the soldiers began to advance forward to the rhythm of the drums.
A shrill whistle sounded from Qinghe's position. It was the forward observation post reporting the approaching enemy.
After attacking for more than a month, even though the Chen Dynasty army had the two major buffs of "defending the country" and "recovering the homeland", the soldiers were already exhausted.
Fortunately, the Chen Dynasty had a large number of troops, and they took turns to fight and rest. Therefore, until now, the Chen Dynasty army can still barely continue to exert pressure on Qinghe's defensive positions on the front line.
But to be honest, in the era of cold weapons, it was too difficult to break through the defense line consisting of barbed wire, bunkers and trenches relying solely on the cover of bows and arrows or catapults.
Even if this bunker is equipped with bed crossbows and rapid-fire crossbows.
As for the Qinghe Army, they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. Despite the help of fortifications, the fatigue of the soldiers was visible to the naked eye. Moreover, Lin Hai had always disagreed with abandoning Zhaoyang and retreating to the fortress, nor did he agree to use advanced weapons. This led to great physical and mental pressure on both soldiers and commanders on the front line.
"We must give Chen Yu hope. If we retreat to the fortress, then as long as he still has some sense, he will definitely withdraw his troops, or at least change the direction of attack. This will interfere with our upcoming pincer attack.
So we can only defend here. Besides, we have the advantage of being able to fight the enemy in a preset battlefield. What else do we have to complain about?
But Chen Yu should have realized something was wrong by now, so we must confront them head-on today, using our advanced weapons to make Chen Yu think he has a chance, and that it's only the weapons that have caused his offensive to fail today. This way, we should be able to hold off for a few more days."
Lin Hai said this at the pre-war mobilization meeting.
"Principal, how much longer do we need to delay?"
"If we delay until October 15th, even if Chen Yu receives the news and rushes back with only his cavalry, it will be too late."
"So today?"
"Today, if the frontline positions can no longer be defended, we must abandon them. However, we must defend the second-line positions to the death. Once the enemy's offensive power is exhausted, we can counterattack!"
"Students/subjects obey your orders."
A huge shout broke the dark clouds over the battlefield: "For Dachen, attack!"
The Chen Dynasty army had entered the attack range of the Qinghe crossbows, and the attack began.
As usual, under the cover of crossbows and catapults, the Chen Dynasty light infantry on the left wing launched an attack on the Qinghe right wing position.
Although everyone knew that a charge by light infantry would cause heavy casualties on their side, as the Chen Dynasty army had abundant manpower, no one from top to bottom cared much about this.
The archers, who had almost no protection, ran forward with all their might under the cover of the sword and shield soldiers. They had to rush through the attack area of the Qinghe crossbow as quickly as possible, get into their own shooting range, and then use the feather arrows in their hands to cover the sword and shield soldiers' continued attack.
Behind the sword and shield soldiers were not the spearmen who were supposed to follow closely, but the combat laborers that Chen Yu had ordered to be recruited from various cities in the southwest.
They are called combat laborers to distinguish them from other laborers who follow the army.
Most of the civilian laborers accompanying the army were used to transport food and build camps, which were mostly physical work, so when recruiting, young and middle-aged men would be selected as much as possible.
But the combat laborers were different. Their duties were simple: they would carry wooden boards or sand bags and follow the sword and shield soldiers to charge. When the sword and shield soldiers reached the first barbed wire fence in Qinghe, the combat laborers in the rear would use wooden boards to open a passage for the army and use sand bags to fill the trenches in Qinghe.
Simply put, combat civilians really have to participate in fighting.
After several rounds of conscription, there were very few civilians who could be recruited in a short period of time. In order to quickly complete the formation of the combat civilian team, Zhou Shangwen, the Grand Tutor in charge of this matter, made a suggestion to the Crown Prince Chen Yu:
“Your Highness.
If all the young and strong people in various places are wiped out, even if our Chen Dynasty wins this battle, it will probably take decades to recover.
Besides, there are really not so many young and strong people in various places to serve as a warning.
"I suggest expanding the scope of recruitment. Anyone who can run and carry anything will meet our requirements. There's no need to exhaust all the fish. Besides, whether young or old, they'll all die in front of the Qinghe army with a single arrow. The difference isn't significant."
"you mean?"
"We can recruit the elderly, children, and women. They all meet the requirements, and we can gather enough people in a short time."
"If we recruit these people, and the men in their families rebel, won't that cause a civil uprising in the rear?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. We have already recruited a considerable number of men. Now we can recruit their families. This way, there will be no men left to resist when the conscription comes."
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