Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

In Lord Qin's perspective, the strategy for this battle was as follows:

First, he had sent a batch of warhorses across the Yellow River to be pastured on the northern bank's sandbar.

He deliberately let out through spies the information that "Liang Army's warhorses will soon run out of grass and will need to pasture north of the Yellow River," to make Dou Jiande think that the Qin Army temporarily could not mobilize cavalry to come and confront him in a decisive battle.

But at the opportune moment, he would secretly transport this batch of warhorses back and launch a fierce attack.

Second, he would still hold his position firmly to blunt their sharpness.

Once Dou Jiande's army, arrayed beyond the Si River, began to lose morale, he would send a general to probe from north to south, sweeping past the forces of Lors Xia's army.

If Lors Xia's army remained steady as an old dog, without moving, then the troops would pull back.

If Lors Xia's army became restless, then they would directly start attacking from the east, turning a small commotion into a large one.

In the end, once the first cavalry unit charged in, Lord Qin would lead the elite cavalry to charge fiercely, breaking through Lors Xia's front line directly to Dou Jiande's central army, to conduct a decapitation strike.

Once the central army collapsed, Dou Jiande's tens of thousands of troops would become leaderless dragons, and naturally would all turn into lambs to the slaughter.

This was a rather perfect plan, and from the current situation, the chances of success were extremely high.

Of course, compared to the factual historical conditions of that time, carrying out this strategy now still held high risks.

Because historically, Dou Jiande had lined up his hundred thousand troops in a long serpent formation, while now, he had only arrayed a little over twenty thousand men.

That is to say, Dou Jiande still had at least about fifty thousand troops in reserve.

If the first charge failed to breakthrough, and both sides became locked in fierce battle, it would be greatly disadvantageous for Liang Army.

But, Lord Qin still decided to take this risk.

Because the situation in River East could no longer afford him to continue holding Hulaoguan Pass and wait for another opportunity.

If River East was safe and sound, then Lord Qin would have persisted in a deadlock until he found a perfect opportunity to strike.

But the current situation in River East was deteriorating; dragging it out, even if Dou Jiande was repelled, losing River East meant slowing down the national unification process for several more years, which was unacceptable.

The young Lord Qin, gazing at Lors Xia's forces arrayed across the Si River, felt an unusually rare hesitation in his heart.

...

Subsequently, events indeed unfolded just as Lord Qin had anticipated.

It was now May in the lunar calendar, and the weather was scorching hot.

Lors Xia's front line had formed a long serpent formation in front of the Si River. Although they were well arrayed, seeing the Liang Army not making any moves, most of Lors Xia's soldiers mistakenly thought that, as before, the battle would not commence.

Thus, these soldiers relaxed their vigilance, sitting down wherever they wished and even competed eagerly for water, displaying extreme laxity in military discipline.

Seeing this scene from above Hulaoguan Pass, Lord Qin knew the time for the decisive battle had come.

He immediately called for Yuwen Shiji and reiterated his instructions.

"You lead three hundred cavalry from north to south across Lors Xia's army's formation! If the enemy forces remain unmoved, pull back; if they become restless, then immediately strike eastward into the enemy ranks, stirring Lors Xia's formation!

"By then, I will lead the Black Armor Army's elites in full force for a battle that will settle the outcome!"

Yuwen Shiji took the order, leading the three hundred cavalry out to attack.

However, he hadn't gone far when someone came to report.

"Report! Our forces pasturing warhorses on the north bank of the Yellow River were ambushed by Lors Xia's general Wang Wan. Fortunately, after a fierce battle, they managed to escape, but... we lost over a hundred of our pastured warhorses!"

An astounded expression finally emerged on Lord Qin's composed face.

"How could this be? How would Lors Xia's forces know the location where we are pasturing our warhorses?

"No, rather, how did Lors Xia's forces learn of the timing at which we are pasturing our warhorses?"

In Lord Qin's view, this obviously was a rather puzzling matter.

The sandbar north of the Yellow River is widespread; normally, without prior knowledge of the specific time and place, it seemed highly unlikely that Lors Xia's forces would send cavalry out on a whim.

Or to put it another way, the location could be vague, allowing a cavalry leader to search on his own, but it would be hard to pinpoint the timing so precisely.

"Someone leaked the information? Impossible, right?"

Lord Qin frowned deeply, utterly baffled.

Because with the pasturing of the warhorses, he had indeed intentionally leaked some information, but the specific individuals tasked with pasturing were selected from those absolutely trusted.

Which means, Dou Jiande could have known that he was going to pasture warhorses north of the Yellow River, but the precise timing should have been impossible to ascertain.

Could there also be a mole among his confidantes?

Lord Qin naturally didn't quite believe it, but it still planted a small thorn in his heart.

The loss of over a hundred war horses wasn't too severe, but Lord Qin had, after all, just a total of three thousand five hundred elite soldiers of the Black Armor Army under his command, so it would hurt a bit.

In reality, Li Hongyun didn't know the details.

But he knew that before he led a large army to launch an attack, Lord Qin would definitely learn of this and send someone to secretly transport the war horses grazing north of the Yellow River back in preparation for the decisive battle.

If that was the case, wouldn't monitoring the movements at Hulaoguan Pass with Wang Wan leading the Cavalry reveal the approximate location of the grazing war horses before the battle began?

In actual history, Dou Jiande assumed that Lord Qin wouldn't have enough time to use these horses in the decisive battle, so he simply overlooked this piece of information.

But since Li Hongyun knew that Lord Qin would certainly call back this batch of war horses before the battle, he could make arrangements ahead of time.

Although Wang Wan was no match for Yuchi Jingde, he was more than capable of taking on ordinary generals.

The balance of the battlefield tilted slightly once more in favor of Lors Xia's forces.

However, in the eyes of Lord Qin, the Liang Army still had a great chance of victory.

The loss of over a hundred war horses was unfortunate, but it wasn't enough to fundamentally affect the battle situation.

And at this moment, Yuwen Shiji's three hundred Cavalry had already crossed the Si River and arrived in front of Lors Xia's vanguard.

With the pounding of hooves, three hundred Cavalry swept southward from the north like a whirlwind across the front of Lors Xia's formation.

Sure enough, these soldiers from Lors Xia's army immediately panicked, causing disorder.

And just as Lord Qin had said, Yuwen Shiji led his three hundred Cavalry straight into the middle of their formation, charging fiercely!

The tightly closed gates of Hulaoguan Pass opened at this moment as well.

Lord Qin, fully armed, led three thousand elite soldiers of the Black Armor Army, striking straight at Lors Xia's forces!

His target, of course, was to charge into the central army and carry out a decapitation strike on Dou Jiande.

Lors Xia's forces' long serpentine formation was almost instantly broken by the Liang Army's charge, ripping a huge hole in the center and triggering widespread chaos.

Upon charging into the enemy camp, Lord Qin immediately discovered that he seemed to have hit the jackpot.

For the central army where Dou Jiande was positioned seemed surprisingly poorly defended!

Opportunity was fleeting, and Lord Qin immediately led several fierce generals in a charge toward the central army of Lors Xia's forces.

However, after hacking through the enemy's ranks like cutting through melons and vegetables, they encountered a situation they had not anticipated.

Many large carts that had been used to transport supplies and baggage were now neatly arranged in a circle, forming a solid defensive line that encased Dou Jiande's central position layer by layer!

These carts rose like defensive fortifications from the ground, and while there were gaps, only one or two Cavalry could charge through at the same time.

Clearly, such an assault would be too dangerous.

Not only that, but many soldiers from Lors Xia's army used these carts as cover, setting up spears and crossbow bolts behind them, aiming at the oncoming Qin Army.

Lord Qin was stunned.

Because these carts had only been brought in to form the formation by Su Dingfang before today's battle started. Before this, no one in Lors Xia's army knew that the carts were to be used this way, aside from Li Hongyun.

And after the battle began, it was too late for the spies Lord Qin had planted to send any intelligence.

At the center of the cart formation, the grand flag of Lors Xia, Dou Jiande, stood high and fluttered in the wind.

In the original history, Dou Jiande actually was still in the midst of holding a court meeting at this time.

When Lord Qin charged in, he wanted to deploy Cavalry from both wings to meet the enemy, but he didn't expect that the civil officials who were fleeing from the court meeting would block the Cavalry's advance, resulting in a breach.

But now, Li Hongyun, who had already gotten a hold of the script in advance, naturally canceled today's court meeting right away.

He deliberately hid an ambush within his own army's formation.

Su Dingfang, with elite infantry relying on the cart formation, staunchly defended, and at the same time, Lors Xia's Cavalry had already flanked from both wings, reorganizing the fleeing forces upfront, and moved to attack the rear of the Liang Army!

To Lors Xia's army, the commander Dou Jiande's strategy seemed mad.

Seventy thousand against three thousand five hundred, and he still set up an ambush? Moreover, the ambush was placed within their own central camp?

Who would lead three thousand five hundred men to charge the central army of seventy thousand?

Yet, Lord Qin did precisely that...