Chapter 274- Chariot Circle Formation
Translator: TeamTWO
Editor: Jun
The vast plains were filled with escaping Wei army soldiers. They threw down their gear and weapons. Some even took off their armor, so as to run faster than their comrades.
Ying Bao was a bloodthirsty person, so how could he miss such a good chance? He ordered the troops to be ruthless and not accept any surrender. Wherever the iron cavalry passed, they only left behind lifeless bodies.
Huan He also wasn't any saint, and was also simmering with some anger, so he was just as ruthless.
Such a good chance was also what Ouyang Shuo wouldn't miss. The player force was claiming their enemy's lives, making Ouyang Shuo feel like his battle contribution points were rising quickly.
A 100 thousand cavalrymen were like precise war harvesting machines, efficiently killing the front and central groups of the Wei army. As they passed by them on their horses, their knives shone and heads fell to the ground.
Compared to Huan He and Ying Bao's forces, the 20 thousand player force under Shi Wanshui, Er'Lai and Zhang Liao's lead were more efficient and had higher killing power.
Especially the Shanhai City cavalry, with their gear and great horses, they causally charged into the enemy, leaving a bloody trail in their wake.
After destroying the front and central groups, Huan He left 20 thousand troops to chase down the deserters. Then, he met up with Ying Bao and rushed toward the rear group of the Wei army.
When the Xinling lord returned to the back group, he noticed that things were bad. He ordered the troops to leave their heavy loads and rush for their lives back to their country.
Just as the Qin army was chasing the Wei army, the Xinling lord had already escaped. Unfortunately, as long as the Wei Army was within the Henei prefecture, they wouldn't be able to escape from the Qin army.
The Qin army cavalry followed their path and were like experienced hunters, killing them one by one. The infantry heavy Wei army definitely couldn't shake off the cavalry.
The chase lasted for a total of 3 days and 2 nights. The Qin army was like a pack of hungry wolves, and they bit down on the Wei army, refusing to let go. When the sky turned bright, the Wei army who spent the night in fear could see their demons who were charging toward them.
The grain that the Wei army threw down instead became a huge help for the Qin army. It totally solved the problem of resources. One had to say it was pretty ironic.
The Qin army chased them to the border of the Henei prefecture, and the 150 thousand Wei army was now in tatters. The Wei that was already having problems would probably not be able to stand up after that battle, and their destruction was just a matter of time.
Wei Wujin, under the protection of his guards, brought his remaining troops back into their country. He was immediately removed from his position and locked up. Whatever happened next, let's not talk about it now.
After completely destroying the Wei army, Huan He didn't dare to act slow and gathered the troops, rushing back toward Changping. Destroying the Wei army was only an appetizer, and the real battle would take place in Changping.
On the way back, Ouyang Shuo took a look at his battle contribution points and found that they had reached a terrifying 250 thousand. On average, in the two battles, the Shanhai City cavalry had killed each killed two and a half men.
Bai Hua and Feng Qiuhuang had both fought up to and overtaken Zhan Lang, taking the 2nd and 3rd spots on the rankings.
Of course, the battle contribution points leaderboard didn't factor in the final bonus points, so with Di Chen and Zhan Lang's performance, their bonus wouldn't be small too.
Hence, the fight for the top of the leaderboard wasn't set in stone.
The news of the Wei’s 150 thousand troops being destroyed was like a blizzard as it swept across all the countries, calming down their impulsive and rash hearts.
The Zhao were rejected out of many of the other countries, and the Han once again removed Feng Ting from his duties. The 5 countries of Shandong immediately brought gifts and sent their ambassadors to Xianyang to try and repair the relationship.
Just as Baiqi had said, the destruction of the Wei army would break up the alliance that was forming.
At this point, the army that the Qin king had gathered in Henei slowly left Taihang Mountain.
With the arrival of rain, the Changping battlefield once again became cloudy and mysterious.
Gu Pass, Di Chen tent.
When Ouyang Shuo and the others' battle contribution points started climbing, Di Chen had already felt that something was up. After a few days of observation, he didn't see any signs of Shanhai City’s cavalry amongst the Meng Ao forces.
Since they didn't join the battle, how would their battle contribution points still increase, unless there was a war somewhere else? Di Chen told his conjecture to Zhao Kuo, but he didn't place much attention or care to it.
As expected, in the beginning, even Baiqi didn't care when Ouyang Shuo told him military intelligence. Furthermore, Di Chen's conjecture was so preposterous that the young Zhao Kuo definitely wouldn't bother about it.
When the news of the Wei army losing spread, Zhao Kuo was naturally shocked while Di Chen and the others were bitter.
"Are we really going going to lose to Shanhai Alliance again?" Sha Pojun was really salty, seeing the good situation slowly overturned, how could he be happy, even more so when the enemy was Ouyang Shuo whom he hated to the bone.
Zhan Lang shook his head. "This time, we didn't lose to Qiyue Wuyi, but Baiqi."
"That's right! No matter what we predicted, we wouldn't foresee such an old move coming. Even in such a disadvantage, he dared to move his troops to kill the Wei army."
"Thinking back on it, isn't this his style? It looked dangerous, but in truth he calculated everything clearly and predicted that Zhao Kuo wouldn't dare to attack," Zhan Lang said emotionally.
"What should we do now? Our plan has been broken, so we need to think of a new one."
"That's right. Even without the reinforcements, the Qin are equally matched with us, so we need a detailed plan. If not, they might really beat us."
Zhao Army Tent
After hearing that the Wei army was intercepted and killed, Zhao Kuo locked himself in his tent and didn't see anyone. Even the Pingyuan lord Zhao Sheng was rejected at the door.
Based on Zhao Kuo's character, after gaining the advantage, he wanted to chase it and not give the Qin army any chance to rest. In the end, the prudence of the Zhao king spoiled his plan.
Now, the Wei army was destroyed and there wouldn't be any more reinforcements coming to Changping.
With the current situation, the Zhao army had no choice but to defend. They could only use Lianpo's plan to standoff against the Qin army and see who couldn't last.
Comparatively, the Zhao army definitely held the advantage.
The problem was, the current situation was much different from the time when Lianpo and Wang He had their standoff.
During Lianpo's time, both armies held half of Changping, and they each formed three defensive lines. As for Zhao Kuo's Defence, it was just a single line, comparing the strength, it was obvious.
And with Meng Ao's forces in front of Wang Ling Camp, them wanting to change formations was impossible. The only plan was to fortify the defense.
Zhao Kuo was well-read in military books, and his knowledge was very vast. If one talked about defending and not attacking, he immediately thought of an idea. He suddenly stood up. "Immediately send for general Zhao Zhuang!"
Zhao Zhuang hurried over and seeing Zhao Kuo sitting solemnly behind the general’s table, he immediately bowed.
Zhao Kuo invited Zhao Zhuang to sit down on the floor opposite him and smiled. "How's the Meng Ao force's attack?"
"After intercepting and killing the Wei army and returning to Changping, their attacks hadn't decreased but increased instead If one said that they were faking their attack before, now it looks like they really want to take down the Wang Ling Camp and crush our defensive line." Zhao Zhuang said solemnly.
Hearing Zhao Zhuang mention the Wei army, Zhao Kuo's face cramped. It slowly returned back to normal as he said, “Since that's so, can you all handle it? The moment the Wang Ling camp is taken over, the army under Gu Pass would immediately face their threat." Zhao Kuo didn't reveal what he was thinking. Instead, he tested Zhao Zhuang.
"General don't worry, we definitely won't let the Qin army get away. However, what I'm worried about is that if they increase their forces once again, the troops defending would face immense pressure. General, shouldn't you organize more soldiers from Gu Pass to reinforce them just in case?"
Zhao Kuo shook his head. "If we increase troops, we will fall into their trap. They will take the chance to start a war and deplete our main force and prevent a long drawn out war."
"So, what should we do?"
"I have a formation that we can set up under Gu Pass which ensures that the Qin army wouldn't be able to attack an inch." Zhao Kuo was very confident.
"What formation is general referring to that will have such great effect?"
"Chariot circle formation!"
"Chariot circle formation?"
"Yes!"
"I heard that it was a long lost formation from Sun Bin. How did general learn of it?"
Zhao Kuo laughed but didn't say anything.
Zhao Zhuang knew that the general had a lot of confidence in it working and said happily, "As long as General remembers how to lay the formation and how it works, then it will definitely work!"
Zhao Kuo nodded. "Sun Bin mentioned that this formation was so amazing that one didn't need to make changes and adaptations to it. As for how to arrange the men, it's also very simple. Look!" He took a piece of sheepskin and started drawing. With his intelligence and quick thinking, in less than an hour, he had described the formation.
"Sun Bin is a war genius! This formation is so useful!" Zhao Zhuang exclaimed.
"It's okay if the Qin army increases their troops to attack. If they really do, we can only add a little more troops to defend Wang Ling camp. To fight head on isn't a smart strategy. The main force will set up the formation under Gu Pass to welcome them. I want to see how Baiqi breaks it."
"Yes, general!" Zhao Zhuang went away to prepare the formation so that they could set it up at the foot of Gu Pass. Apart from that, he also gave the responsibility of the formation to the advisor in the army for him to drill the soldiers such that they were well versed in it.