Chapter 180 What's the use of your brain in fighting? Let's fight!
Chapter 180 What's the use of your brain in fighting? Let's fight!
Liu Yu reacted quickly this time. After receiving the news, he immediately sent his attendant Hu Wu Fu to Shao's camp on fast horses to urge him to advance quickly and defeat the enemy in front of him, "support Ji Sang from behind" and attack the enemy army from both the south and the north with Gou Xi.
After Hu Wu Fuzhi delivered the order, he had to continue supervising the battle and could not leave, so he had a sad face and sighed constantly.
No one cared about his feelings. Tens of thousands of troops marched non-stop eastward, looking for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle.
……
July 18th was a cloudy day with a slight drizzle.
This rainy weather will not hinder the cavalry's movements, nor affect the use of bows and crossbows. It is also very cool. It is truly a good day for fighting.
Li Le climbed up a tree, stood on a trembling branch, and looked out for the enemy.
On the distant horizon, the houses are scattered around and the fields are golden.
A little closer, there was a not-too-high earthen slope, and on both sides of the slope were large expanses of barren grassland.
Suddenly, a large flag was planted on the slope, fluttering in the south wind.
Li Le was startled and subconsciously looked behind the slope, his face suddenly became serious.
A silver torrent appeared between the gray houses and the golden fields.
There were dozens of people in the front, wearing heavy armor and holding long-handled axes.
The hundred or so men behind him held bows in their hands and had long swords on their backs.
Behind them, the silver torrent became more and more turbulent, covering the sky and the earth, and a forest of spears stretched as far as the eye could see, as if they had suddenly grown out of the fields.
The sound of drums continued, and a strong murderous intent was carried in the wind.
Li Le twisted his body, and the branches seemed to be unable to bear the weight and were about to break.
"Clang, clang..." Suddenly, the sound of dense horse hooves came from the weeds closest to him.
Before he could react, the weeds that were as tall as a person were all destroyed, and a tall horse appeared in his sight.
One, two... ten, a hundred...
As if by magic, groups of cavalrymen rushed out from the weeds.
They did not carry long-pole weapons, but were wearing armor, with crossbows hanging from their waists and long swords on their backs. Without any hesitation, they rushed straight towards the more than a thousand rebel infantrymen who were forming a battle formation in front of them.
Before Li Le could react, the earth tremors came from the northwest and southwest directions again.
He stood on tiptoe and looked, only to see hundreds of light cavalry coming from both sides, some holding halberds, some holding horn bows, in a dense formation, with a relaxed demeanor, as if they had long been familiar with cavalry combat.
"Blow the horn and advance." Li Le was anxious. Just as he said this, he heard a "swish" sound and the branch broke completely. Li Le fell on his butt and was dizzy.
"Get on the horses and fight, quickly!" Li Le didn't even bother to rub his butt and gave the order loudly.
Someone fights faster than them!
Three hundred soldiers dismounted from their horses a hundred steps in front of the enemy's formation, and then twenty of them were assigned to collect the horses. The remaining two hundred and seventy soldiers quickly formed a neat line, holding crossbows and shooting forward.
The crossbow arrow flew through the air and directly created a huge gap in the enemy's not very strict formation.
There was an uproar and commotion in the enemy camp.
Chang Can put the crossbow back under the saddle, then drew out his heavy sword and shouted, "Charge!"
Two hundred and seventy men drew their swords in unison, formed a tight formation again, and ran forward in small steps to meet the enemy.
There was no noise in the formation, only heavy breathing and the clinking sound of armor plates colliding. Occasionally, one or two commands were heard, which were also officers reminding the soldiers to pay attention to the formation.
Chang Can led the troops personally and was unstoppable in his bravery.
People in front, behind, and on both sides of him kept speeding up, trying to overtake him.
Although there were less than three hundred people, they were imposing and full of murderous intent.
The formation of more than a thousand rebels was first hit by crossbow arrows and had not yet recovered. When they saw the government troops on the opposite side abandoning their crossbows and holding swords and charging towards them, they were a little panicked.
"Swoosh!" A sparse number of arrows were shot out from the formation.
The charging soldiers lowered their heads slightly, allowing the arrows to fly past them.
They were within fifty paces.
The enemy fired another wave of arrows.
Chang Can rushed to the front, and heard the sound of arrows breaking through the air continuously, but not a single arrow hit him. Behind him, muffled groans were heard one after another.
If heaven doesn't take me away, what else should I fear?
Chang Can had a ferocious smile on his face. He quickened his pace and his breathing became heavier.
The enemy's face could even be vaguely seen.
They are panicking, they are afraid, and they are vulnerable.
Twenty steps, ten steps...
Chang Can's face became increasingly red. With two or three arrows stuck in his body, he roared, chopped left and right, deflected two spears that were stabbing at him, and rushed forward, crashing directly into the crowd of enemy soldiers.
"Crack!" The pleasant sound of a neck breaking was heard, and blood spurted into the sky, covering Chang Can's head and face.
But that didn't stop him.
The stinking blood was like an accelerant, instantly igniting all the murderous intent in his heart. The long sword slashed mercilessly, and the broken limbs and arms flew wildly.
The following soldiers rushed forward, wielding their heavy swords and slashing with all their might, breaking through the rebel army's blockade like a torrent of wind and rain.
After only one round of fighting, more than a thousand people could not endure such fierce fighting and were directly dispersed.
Li Le was riding with about a thousand cavalrymen, fighting repeatedly with the Cavalry Army. Suddenly, he heard that the infantry of the rebel army was defeated. He immediately lost his will to fight and ordered his men to wave flags and retreat.
The skirmish began and ended so hastily, as if it had never happened.
But the corpses and blood on the ground could not be faked. A short and fierce battle had indeed taken place here, with no less than a thousand deaths, and it is now over.
But this so-called end may just be the beginning of a larger-scale battle.
******
Li Le hurriedly withdrew to the base, without taking time to count the number of people, and said directly to Lu Ping: "Hurry, they are chasing us."
Lu Ping was surprised at first, then delighted, and asked, "They came so quickly. I thought they would dig deep trenches and build high fortifications to lure me in."
Li Le looked at Lu Ping's delighted expression and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"What's wrong? Something is wrong?" Lu Ping stopped smiling and asked.
"The government troops are a bit difficult to deal with." Li Le said truthfully: "They have 500 cavalrymen, good riding skills, excellent equipment, and are brave and willing to fight."
"What?" Lu Ping was a little surprised: "Can the official army's riding skills be better than yours?"
"Not as good as us, but not easy to deal with either." Li Le took a deep breath and said without hiding, disguising or exaggerating, "Our men are born on horses, and their skills are far beyond the reach of the government troops. If we spend some time and distance ourselves, I am confident that we can severely damage this government cavalry or even annihilate them. But they are good at frontal attacks and are very brave. If we don't have the advantage of terrain, it will be difficult to defeat them, so we withdrew."
One is good at frontal charge, the other is good at guerrilla horse riding and shooting. They each have their strengths. Li Le did not lie.
If the area was wide enough, without any ditches, woods or houses obstructing him, and he could create sufficient distance and circle around, he would be able to kill these imperial cavalrymen.
But in reality, there is no such ideal venue. When charging, one will always encounter obstacles and be forced to turn, losing speed. Then, one will be caught by cavalry who are good at hand-to-hand combat and be defeated in one blow.
To put it bluntly, the horse bandits are good at fighting slippery battles and like to play horseback archery like the grassland people. After all, a head-on confrontation between cavalrymen tests courage and organization too much.
"Where are the infantry?" Lu Ping asked subconsciously.
In fact, he already had the answer in his mind, but he just wanted to confirm it again.
"I'm afraid I can't come back." Li Le said.
Lu Ping was stunned at first, then he laughed and said, "It doesn't matter, it's just a bait, so I'll die. I want to see who will suffer and who will gain when Shao Xun leads his army to attack while I wait for them to tire themselves out."
After saying this, he looked at Li Le and said, "So, the government troops will arrive this afternoon. I will let the men eat some water, conserve their energy, and wait for Shao to arrive, and then we can capture and kill him in one battle."
"General Lu." Li Le thought for a moment and suggested, "When arranging the troops, I am a little worried about putting the old brothers in the front."
"Hmm?" Lu Ping was a little surprised and asked, "The government troops are very brave?"
Li Le directly told the government army's fighting style that he saw in a quick glance.
After hearing this, Lu Ping frowned and thought for a long time, muttering: "Infantrymen carry crossbows and swords, and ride horses to hurry on the road..."
A few hundred people are not a large number, but when the fighting is fierce, they can maneuver on horseback much faster than infantry on foot.
Lu Ping had fought in many battles, and he knew very well that during a battle in a field formation, opportunities for battle were fleeting. If you were targeted by a group of mounted infantry, they would suddenly attack you and sneak through the gap before you had time to adjust, which could cause serious consequences!
"Can we disperse this group of people?" He raised his head, looked at Li Le and asked.
"I'll try my best." Li Le knew very well that this was not the time to conserve his strength, and said generously: "When the battle comes, if the government troops use this trick again, I will help you disperse them even if it costs a lot of money."
"Okay!" Lu Ping slapped his thigh and said, "It's settled. I will personally lead my brothers to fight. Win is win, lose is lose. Damn it, the general insisted that I learn from Shi Le. What kind of brain should I use to fight? Now it seems that it is not so useful. I might as well fight them."
If you can fight hard, everything will be fine.
They have long been accustomed to not being able to win the fight, so they just run away, leaving the mess to the general to worry about.
After the two of them had made their plan, they began to work on their own.
Li Le led the cavalry to feed and wash the horses and find a place for ambush.
Lu Ping went to talk to the officers one by one and readjusted the deployment.
After fighting so many battles, everyone is no longer a novice. They have gradually summed up a set of methods that suit them and improved them step by step.
People will always make progress.
We suffered heavy losses when we attacked Yecheng last year.
This year's performance in attacking Yecheng was much better.
Shi Le always said that what they lacked most now was time to reorganize the troops.
As long as they are properly trained for a year or two, and the experience they have accumulated from fighting in various places is thoroughly studied and transformed into combat effectiveness, the entire army will undergo a complete transformation.
Damn, Shi Le really has some skills, but what he lacks now is time. The government troops are advancing step by step, not giving them a chance to breathe, what can they do?
At 3 p.m. in the afternoon, the big flag appeared again in the fields to the west, like a death warrant, stuck on a small mound of earth.
Under the huge "Shao" flag fluttering in the wind, dense groups of silver warriors emerged, one team after another, filling the post roads, villages and fields.
The big flag on the mound began to move slowly, and more than a hundred riders came down the slope, first turning sideways, as if observing the terrain and the enemy's situation.
Soon, they rushed over here, led by a golden-armored general holding a thick lance, looking majestic and heroic.
(End of this chapter)