Hu Lie was also interested in letting his younger generation show up. After explaining the situation, he glanced around and called Little John's name: "Little John, tell me, which direction will these Assyrian troops retreat to?"
Little John stood up with a smile on his face. "Respected General Hu Lie, I think the Assyrian army has come from afar and they definitely don't want to withdraw just like that. If they retreat to Samedaya, it would be like they are on the road to retreat. We just need to spend some time to block them and wear them out. But the Assyrian army is not stupid, so they will not retreat to Samedaya, but to Tuban."
"Why are you so sure?" Hu Lie asked with a smile. He was in a good mood now. First, the reinforcements arrived, and second, the Assyrian army withdrew. Especially the second point, why did the Assyrian army withdraw? Naturally, they felt the pressure of Baidun Pass. According to the division of military affairs, Hu Lie only needed to drive the Assyrian army across the scope of Hulite City to complete the task. Once this was done, a great credit would be in hand. Who wouldn't be happy?
"General Hu Lie, you know that the Assyrian army has made plans for the Hurricane Province this time. They are attacking the Canyon Pass, the Tuban are harassing us, and they are playing a blocking war with us here. There is naturally a purpose for using troops in three places at the same time. I guess the Assyrians took the initiative to attack, firstly to vent the anger of their lords, and secondly, to disrupt the Hurricane Province and consume our forces. They have been fighting with our Tianjuan for a long time and have taken a lot of advantage. They can also calculate that we are now short of troops. Sending troops to harass us can not only hinder our army's recovery and growth, but also disrupt the order of the empire, and they can also choose an opportunity to attack the Canyon Pass. Of course, the possibility of the last point is not very high, but it is not impossible." Little John replied.
"General Hu Lie, General Little John, I have a question." A deputy general raised his hand.
"Ask." Hu Lie nodded.
"Thank you, General Hu Lie." After the deputy general thanked him, his eyes turned and fell on Little John's face. "General Little John, I agree with what you said just now, but there is one thing I don't understand, that is, why would this Assyrian army station troops a hundred miles in front of the pass to fight us? If they want to attack Baidun Pass and cross Baidun Mountain to march straight in, it would be a bit exaggerated. After all, their troops are few and they are not approaching the front of the pass. But if they are not going to attack Baidun Pass, then what is the purpose of them being here?"
"It's nothing more than a test." Little John gave the answer without hesitation. "I thought about this on the way here. The Assyrian army's attack this time is to attack the Canyon Pass and harass Tuban. They complement each other. Attacking the Canyon Pass will prevent the Canyon Pass from easily sending troops to reinforce. Harassing Tuban, in addition to increasing the pressure on the Canyon Pass, also plays a role in disrupting the production and trade of the Hurriyet Province..."
"...I am sure they will not attack White Shield Pass, because even if they go all out and spare no effort to achieve this goal, they cannot cross White Shield Mountain, because they cannot control such a large piece of land without sufficient troops, and this is precisely the weakness of Assyria. Now they are stationed here to fight us head-on, just to show off their military strength, to prove to us that they have the power to attack the pass, and to hint to us at White Shield Pass not to act rashly. I won't say the rest."
"Thank you, General Little John. Now I understand everything you said." The deputy general nodded.
"Little John is right." Hu Lie laughed and gave Little John an admiring look. "However, for the sake of caution, we have to believe their hints even if we don't believe them. It's always right to be cautious."
"General Hu Lie is right." The generals quickly agreed.
"After so many years in the army, I, Hu Lie, haven't gained much merit, but I have learned one thing: steady and cautious progress. If you guys learn this..." Before Hu Lie finished his words, a report from a deputy general came from outside the tent.
"Report to General Hu Lie, there is new military intelligence!" the messenger general said loudly.
"Come in and talk!" Hu Lie shouted.
"Yes!" After the general lifted the curtain and entered, he quickly walked to the high desk and bowed, then reported in a hurry, "Just now, the enemy really retreated. The left and right wings suddenly accelerated at the same time and retreated very quickly."
"General Hu Lie, they are trying to escape!" A deputy general stood up and said cheerfully, "General, quickly give the order to pursue them. The moonlight is so good. We can cut off some heads and get some spoils to show to the generals in Tianjuan Province."
"Yes, General Hu Lie, this opportunity is rare. A quick retreat will certainly cause chaos. This Assyrian army is very fierce in fighting. If we don't take this opportunity to beat them up, it will be a pity when they run away." Another deputy general echoed.
"Don't worry." Hu Lie waved his hand and asked the general who was delivering the message, "The left and right wings are moving, has the center moved?"
"General, the one in the middle didn't move." The deputy general replied.
Hu Lie nodded: "That means they really have to retreat. The ones left behind are probably the strongest. Little John, do you dare to lead the army to attack them?"
"How can I disobey General Hu Lie's order? Generals, just chase the fleeing enemy, and leave the rest to me." Little John was delighted and said with his chest puffed out. Although the task given by Hu Lie seemed disadvantageous on the surface, the reward for merit in the future would definitely be higher than that of the deputy generals who were chasing. After all, one was a head-on fight, and the other was chasing after others, so the difference was not small.
"Okay, but you have to remember one thing. If the two wings retreat, the rear guard will certainly be unstable. If you fight too hastily, it will only arouse their morale. Slow down the fight, press step by step, and force them to give up resistance and retreat. Once they retreat, you can attack with all your strength, because behind them there are the pincer troops sent by Hulit City. If they are surrounded from both sides, they will surely be defeated." Hu Lie waved his hand, "After you disperse them, you will lead the troops directly to Samedaya and wait for my next order. Do you understand clearly?"
"I heard it clearly! General Hu Lie." Little John responded loudly.
Hu Lie nodded and glanced at the other generals: "Your pursuit must be swift and fierce. I allow you to charge faster, even rushing in front of the enemy to intercept them. As I said before, we don't seek to annihilate them completely, but to disperse and disrupt them first. This is God's favor. Once their troops are scattered, they will only be left to our slaughter."
"Yes!" The generals stood up and agreed...
…
In the moonlight, the four regiments on the left and right wings of the Oddo Army were running fast, because they knew that the faster they retreated, the faster the enemy would pursue them, and the pressure on Division Commander Oddo and the Fourth Regiment would be greatly reduced.
After running for more than ten miles, the pursuers appeared. Although neither side had torches, the moonlight tonight was as bright as daylight, allowing both sides to see each other from a long distance, which was obviously a great advantage to the pursuing Baidun Pass Army.
Haig also received the report from the scout. After listening to the report, he ordered the whole army to stand by without hesitation. However, he became worried after the whole army was assembled. He had been asked to cooperate in the battle and attack the Assyrian army from both sides. But now there were enemy troops coming from both the left and right directions. Should he stop them? If he wanted to stop them, which side should he stop? And the most important point was whether he could stop them. These questions made Haig very entangled, so the whole South Camp fell into a particularly long and anxious wait, waiting for their commander to give the order.
While they were waiting, a large number of people and horses came running from the right side of the South Camp. The noise of their running even reached the camp, which made all the soldiers in the South Camp nervous. Hagrid immediately ordered the entire army to gather on the right side of the camp to prepare for the enemy. Then, they watched in fear as the long line of people and horses rushed past without paying any attention to them at all...
After watching the group of soldiers go further and further away, Hagrid heaved a long sigh of relief and wiped his sweaty hands with his pants. Before he finished wiping, the sentry on the left came running over: "Report to General Hagrid! Enemy troops have appeared on the left!"
"All troops move, and the left camp is on guard!" Hagrid's voice was much calmer than before, because he could see that the Assyrian army was retreating in a hurry, so hurriedly that they didn't even bother to look at him.
Don't pay any attention to me, and I won't bother you, let's go our separate ways. Hagrid thought to himself as he rode his horse to the left side of the camp.
After another round of noise, Hagrid's heart was finally at ease, but he did not relax. Instead, he ordered his subordinates to make the formation more orderly, at least to make it look like that.
Sure enough, after a while, noise came from both sides of the camp - the pursuers of the Baidun Pass Army had arrived.
After Heger waited patiently for a while, a pursuing lieutenant led four guards and rode their horses towards the camp gate holding torches...
"General Haig, General Hu Lie orders your troops to move out immediately to cooperate with General Little John to attack the enemy's rear guard. Here is the token." The deputy general handed over the token. "This enemy army is thirty miles ahead of your troops. They should be fighting with General Little John at this time, so you must hurry up."
Hagrid glanced at the token in the light of the fire and nodded immediately...
…
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Covering the rear does not necessarily mean defense or holding out, at least not for Oddo.
When the artillery of Little John's army 800 steps away fired the first burst of fire, Oddo, who was standing in the first row of trenches, drew his sword, pointed at the enemy's position and shouted the order: "Dense formation! Charge!"
"Charge! Charge!" The roaring shouts of the soldiers of the Fourth Regiment instantly drowned out the sound of artillery. They quickly ran out from behind the trenches and fences, formed an infantry platoon formation, and strode towards the position of Little John's army.
"Lord, they are actually charging towards us? Are they crazy? Or am I seeing things?" Such exclamations echoed among Little John's army...
They were certainly right, the Fourth Regiment was charging. At this moment, if they wanted to insist on not retreating, charging was the best option, because the enemy had artillery, catapults, and large crossbows with great range and power. If they continued to stay in the trenches behind the fence, the enemy would be able to calmly suppress the Fourth Regiment, slowly approach, and then eat it up in one bite - this was Little John's idea.
But Little John did not expect that the opponent would charge forward braving artillery fire, crossbows, and rain of arrows, but he figured it out in a flash.
"This opponent is not bad." Little John praised with a smile, and waved to call a messenger, "Notify them immediately, adjust the position of the artillery, cover 500 steps, the catapults and crossbows 300 steps, and the bow and crossbow formations on guard 100 steps. Once the enemy enters the range, there is no need to wait for orders, just shoot!"
"Yes!" the deputy general answered loudly.
"Go." Little John waved his hand, a sneer appearing on the corner of his mouth again.
Go ahead, just charge towards your death, you are so well-organized for a charge, then let’s die together, he thought.
After running two hundred steps, Odo suddenly stopped and raised his sword: "All troops, stop." The fourth regiment commander who was following him was stunned, and hurriedly stopped and shouted: "Stop! The division commander has ordered! All troops, stop!"
The order spread to the four regiments in an instant, and all the soldiers stopped. Although they didn't understand why they were ordered to stop at this time, the training they had experienced had already made them develop the habit of obeying orders.
"What's going on? Have the enemy stopped?" Little John raised the telescope and looked at it again, then frowned.
"General, the enemy has stopped." The deputy general beside him also frowned, thinking, how could they suddenly stop when they were charging so well? "Division Commander..." The fourth regiment commander was about to speak, but Oddo stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"Pass the order, keep silent and wait for orders!" Odo said while looking ahead through a telescope...
After hesitating for a while, Little John waved his hand and ordered: "Adjust the artillery position!"
"Yes, sir!" The deputy general on the side responded and ran quickly to pass the order.
After a moment, the muzzles of all the cannons slowly raised again. Seeing this scene, Odo smiled and slowly raised the sword in his right hand...