Chapter 3644
Everything went too smoothly
...
How many enemies are annihilated or killed is always secondary for Kusroy.
The main strategic task was to buy time while threatening the flanks of the Han army's main force, thus putting the enemy on guard and preventing them from pouring all their main forces directly into the frontal battlefield.
Based on this strategic goal, other requirements and indicators are just supplementary; if they can be achieved, that's great, and even if they can't, it won't have a significant impact.
In the current battle situation, being able to gain a local advantage on the battlefield, and even suppress the enemy's morale and the stronger Han army, is already quite satisfactory.
This shift in morale is reflected in all aspects of the army, especially for an offensive force, where the impact is quite significant.
"They've launched an attack! Excellent!" Seeing the Kushan army launch their attack, and the sheer force of their army directly suppressing the momentum of the Han army, Zhang Fei was not afraid at all; instead, he became even more excited.
When the tide is going, well-trained new recruits can display combat effectiveness that is not much less than that of veterans, and their morale is just as high.
However, this does not mean that the gap between new recruits and veterans is small; on the contrary, the gap between them is enormous.
"When pursuing the enemy, the new recruits' fighting power and courage are in no way inferior to those of the veterans, but when it comes to actually pursuing them, they are often the least obedient to orders..." Having seen and trained many new recruits, Zhang Fei was quite familiar with the characteristics of new recruits.
The most obvious difference between new recruits and veterans on the battlefield is in their obedience to orders.
Veteran soldiers know that even in the most critical situations, they must still obey orders, while new recruits are more often blinded by the immediate situation, leading to irrational behavior.
The impact is even more profound when the entire legion consists of new recruits.
Some battlefield experience can only be significantly improved after suffering losses on the battlefield.
If the intensity is not high, new recruits can survive such losses, but if the intensity is too high, once they start to suffer losses, they are basically not far from death.
This is why the intensity of basic training, even on the battlefield, must be controlled.
The battlefield is not training; once you take the wrong step or go down the wrong path, there will be no more chances.
As Zhang Fei gave the order, Sun Guan, who was on the front line, maintained his speed and steadily carried out alternating cover during the retreat.
Meanwhile, the Kushan recruits, riding high on their excitement and feeling victory was within reach, charged forward from both flanks at a speed far exceeding that of Sun Guan's slow retreat.
The Kushan army, which was already positioned on high ground, especially the commanders of the various legions, could easily see the general situation of the war.
Although the Han army's vanguard retreated steadily and with almost no flaws, it was too slow. The Kushan army, attacking from both flanks, would most likely be able to penetrate the gap between the Han army's vanguard and central forces. At that point, they would be able to cut the Han army in two, completely encircling the Han vanguard.
As long as an absolute encirclement can be formed, even if the Han Empire's vanguard defenses are as tough as an iron turtle, they can still wear the enemy down.
As for the Han army's central cavalry, the Kushan legion commanders present didn't take them seriously. Once the Han army's vanguard was surrounded, the Han army's central cavalry would only have a few options.
One approach was to directly attack the outer perimeter of the encirclement, gradually eroding the Kushan army and putting immense pressure on them, forcing them to abandon the encirclement.
But as long as they can withstand this pressure, then such attacks and encroachment will be essentially useless.
If there were a real chance to annihilate the elite Han army in an organized manner, or to be gradually devoured by the Han cavalry, would that be a problem?
In addition, there is an even more effective and faster method, which is to forcefully break through the encirclement and directly attack the location of the Han Empire's vanguard troops.
If they really did that, the Kushan army would be able to annihilate even more Han Empire troops.
The Han Empire's cavalry, lacking mobility, wouldn't be much stronger than the Kushan infantry, especially when they surrounded the enemy; in fact, their casualties wouldn't be significantly different.
As for the most likely scenario of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" or "feinting to the east while attacking the west," which would involve the Han Empire's central cavalry directly attacking the Kushan's central camp and forcing the Kushan army to abandon the siege, there is absolutely no need to worry about that.
With its location on a mountain ridge, the Gars Legion had no difficulty stopping the Han Empire's cavalry, thanks to the terrain advantage.
Any Kushan legion commander with a modicum of knowledge could recognize this, and Kusroy was naturally able to assess this condition as well.
It has the advantage from every angle, but for Kusroy, something just doesn't feel right!
However, this intuitive misjudgment did not affect Kusroy's command on the battlefield.
"Sure enough, everything went too smoothly, to the point that we were underestimated." Watching the Kushan army's flanks charge directly towards the junction of his central and vanguard forces, Zhang Fei calmed down considerably, and his eyes gradually became serious.
"Retreat!" Seeing the approaching Kushan army, Zhang Fei immediately turned his horse around and led the central cavalry unit towards the rear, making it seem as if he had abandoned Sun Guan's vanguard army.
Upon noticing this scene, Sun Guan felt no fear; instead, he laughed.
As the force that held the line for the entire army, it was not just Sun Guan's legion, but a total of three Shield Guard legions.
However, among them, only the shield guard legion under Sun Guan's command can truly be called a super elite. The other two shield guard legions have little combat power and are mainly defensive.
However, with Sun Guan's army as the core, the defensive capabilities of ordinary shield guard armies are not much worse than those of regular dual-talent defensive units.
The only troublesome thing is the Dawn Legion, which is currently serving as the core backbone and continuously attacking them.
However, the Dawn Legion's pride in its will was not very effective when facing Sun Guan's Legion.
After all, the Shield Guard Legion under Sun Guan's command originated from soldiers of the Jingling Guard and had served as soldiers of a regional military spirit legion for a period of time. Their willpower was equally brilliant, and their willpower defense was naturally terrifyingly high. (End of this chapter)