Chapter 203 Battle
Chapter 203 Battle
Yushanwu cast a bronze bell, which is probably one of the most valuable treasures among the more than 3,000 military and civilian households in the entire village.
The bronze bell was installed in a small courtyard halfway up a mountain. Several pear trees were planted around it. The fruits were crispy and delicious, and brave children often came to steal some.
The guard guarding the bell bumped into it but pretended not to see it.
There is also a small pond in the courtyard, which is filled with spring water from the mountains. It is clear and sweet. Drinking it in the summer can make you feel refreshed.
Many fruits, vegetables and melons are planted on the flat land and even the gentle slope outside the courtyard.
There is moss hidden in the corners of the wall, telling the traces of time.
An old cat was curled up on the roof, lazily basking in the sunshine and enjoying the rare tranquility.
"Bang..." The bronze bell suddenly rang, startling the whole courtyard.
The old cat opened his eyes and all the fur stood up.
"Bang..." The second bell sounded.
The guard who was watering the vegetables and applying fertilizer outside the courtyard entered the courtyard first to check, then scattered and shouted as they ran: "The bell is ringing! There are thieves!"
"Bang..." The bell rang three times.
The fort's suspension bridge dropped down with a bang, and the gate opened.
Under the leadership of Lixian, the young men who were working or training outside went up the mountain in an organized manner and retreated to the fort.
The bell rang repeatedly, echoing throughout the mountains.
There were people who believed in gods and Buddhas, kneeling in front of the shrine with solemn expressions, muttering something.
A craftsman who was making tools sighed after hearing this, and his hands unconsciously speeded up their work.
"Creaky." The door of the warehouse was opened. After the first batch of withdrawn guards lined up in the yard, they were taken over to receive their weapons.
Everyone looked solemn, and when they took over the weapons, it was as if they were taking over their fate.
"If a man wants to be strong, he doesn't need many companions..." The 600 soldiers of the seventh battalion of the Silver Spear Army have assembled, dressed neatly, and are marching quickly while shouting slogans.
One third of them had been training for a year and a half, and the remaining two thirds were new recruits who had only been in the army for half a year. Encouraged by the student soldiers' officers, their morale was quite good, but they were positioned as a reserve force for rotation.
The real main force was the two thousand Yamen soldiers led by Li Chong.
At this moment, they had already climbed up the corner towers and city walls, with their bows and crossbows strung and their swords unsheathed.
They even sent a group of people to station in a small building outside the fort to communicate with the fort from afar.
"Boom!" As the last batch of guards withdrew, the drawbridge was pulled up.
The wind blew and there was silence outside the fortress.
The once bustling mulberry forest is now deserted.
The well where laughter once filled the air is now in a mess.
In the vegetable plots where people once worked hard and sweated profusely, there are now scattered shoulder poles and dung buckets.
As if by magic, the surroundings were completely silent. Not even a single animal could be seen. The only sounds were the rustling of pine trees in the woods and the sound of leaves dancing in the wind.
Suddenly, several figures appeared on the mountainside.
They held sharp swords in their hands and were covered in armor.
They hesitated and looked confused.
We had clearly discovered that this was a wealthy fortress with thousands of households farming, but after rushing here, how come we couldn't see a single household? This retreat was too smooth, how experienced were they?
"Swoosh!" An arrow shot from the wall and landed a few steps in front of the thief.
This is a warning.
If we go any further, they won't hold back and it will be bad for everyone.
The leading thief stopped, and before he could react, a large group of people came up from behind and pushed him forward.
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Dense arrows flew out, and battle was inevitable.
Li Zhong climbed to the highest point and looked down at the whole situation.
The owner of the building, Zheng Dong, followed him and pointed, "The bandits are spread out at the foot of the mountain, about four to five thousand people. There are fewer people at the front and more at the back of the mountain road, about two thousand people. There seem to be no less than ten thousand people in the distance. I wonder if they will come over."
"Have you sent people to guard the back mountain?" Li Chong asked.
"We have sent people to guard it, and will report back as soon as there is any news."
Li nodded and continued to observe the enemy's situation.
Zheng Dong looked at this person silently.
As a former general, he had great respect for Marquis Luyang. When drinking with his colleagues in the army, he rarely saw Li Zhong, and always felt that he was a weird person who isolated himself.
Some people even mentioned mysteriously that Li Chong was not the same kind of person as them.
Zheng Dong was skeptical, because most of the people who said this were old people who had followed Luyang Hou six years ago. He joined halfway and didn't know much about it.
But Marquis Luyang trusted Li Chong more. After all, leading an army alone was not a task that he would give to an old man, but to Li Chong, whom the old man said was "not of the same kind", which was enough to reveal a lot of things.
And Li Chong is indeed very capable.
He led the battles in a methodical and unhurried manner. What was even more valuable was that he was meticulous and considered every aspect, rarely revealing any flaws. The only thing he lacked was probably a fierceness, a fighting spirit to fight to the death.
He thinks too much.
People who think too much often don't have the courage to risk it all.
"Ah!" A heart-wrenching scream rang out.
The two of them looked over quickly and saw that it was a bandit who was shot in the face and fell to the ground.
The first person to die today appeared!
Li Zhong looked intently at the thieves who were swarming in, repeatedly evaluating their true strength.
If that doesn't work, don't blame me for herding the sheep...
******
The flag with the character "Shao" on it has been planted on the top of Xiangcheng City.
Almost on the same day that Wang Yan inspected Huanyuan Pass, Shao Xun arrived in Xiangcheng County.
After a while, Chen Yougen came over with several heads in his hand and said, "My Lord, these are the heads of Wang Chong, the Magistrate of Xiangcheng County, Shan Liu, the Chief Clerk, Shi Zenggui, the Imperial Officer, and Zheng Longzhi, the Supervisor. I caught them in the wild, and I am executing them on the spot by your order."
Chen Tong, the left military officer of Xiangcheng County, stood aside trembling with fear and swallowing his saliva.
After the prefect fled, all the county officials followed him. He happened to be sick at home and had difficulty walking - to be honest, if he had not been sick, he would have died by now.
After hearing that Marquis Luyang had ordered the execution of the fleeing officials, he was so frightened that he broke out in a sweat and his illness was cured immediately. When Marquis Luyang entered the city, he led all the elders of the city out of the city to welcome him.
Marquis Luyang praised his spirit of persevering despite his illness, which made him feel at ease and he actively worked on various affairs with great diligence.
After seeing the four officers being executed today, I was filled with fear and my vest was soaked.
"Hang their heads in various places to serve as a warning to others." After Shao Xun gave the order, he went straight down from the city wall.
Soon, a large group of troops filed out of the city and lined up in the wild.
Shao Xun rode his horse past every flag, and cheers continued wherever he passed.
Chen Yougen brought 800 soldiers with him and waited in another place on horseback.
The bandits have already attacked Xiangcheng, which is somewhat unexpected, but if you think about it carefully, it is reasonable.
Wang Mi had been badly defeated twice in Qingzhou. Even if he regained his power, how many people would he have? About a thousand veterans, even if he counted more, there would probably be only three or four thousand people.
With these three or four thousand veteran backbones, they formed a team and fought several battles in Qingzhou. Although they said they had wins and losses on both sides, in fact they lost most of the battles and were finally driven away by Gou Xi.
After leaving Qingzhou, they made rapid progress and in less than two months, the team expanded rapidly.
But Wang Mi didn't stop to make order, which shows that he has no political acumen and only knows how to rush forward and kill.
In such a situation, it would be a miracle if Wang Mi could effectively control the entire army. God knows whether the people who attacked Xiangcheng were ordered by Wang Mi or they came on their own initiative.
But it doesn’t matter, just try your hand at surgery on them.
"Chen Yougen!" Shao Xun rode up on horseback, pointed his whip at the enemy troops assembling in front of him, and said, "The battle has already started in Yushanwu. The enemy's fighting power is limited. Do you dare to give them a try?"
"Why not!" Chen Yougen said loudly.
Damn it, you all want to rebel, but you rebelled before me and caused so much suffering to the people. If I don’t smash your heads today, I’m not named Chen.
"Do you know how to fight?" Shao Xun asked.
"I will follow your orders, my lord." Chen Yougen replied.
"Okay!" Shao Xun said with a smile, "Just follow my instructions, take these 800 cavalrymen and march forward!"
"Yes." Chen Yougen jumped on his horse and shouted, "Kill!"
"Kill!" Eight hundred soldiers mounted their horses, took over long swords, crossbows, horn bows, ring-handled swords and other weapons from their subordinates, and rushed out wildly.
They first ran to the enemy's right side.
This is a large formation of more than 10,000 people, composed of four or five small square formations.
Some formations were spaced ten steps apart, some twenty steps apart, and some thirty steps apart...
Some phalanxes have already formed up and started marching.
Some of the squares were still noisy and chaotic.
There were no crossbows set up outside the formation to hinder the enemy cavalry. Perhaps there was no such awareness, or perhaps there was no such thing at all.
The number of cavalry was small.
According to the rules, if it is an offensive formation, the cavalry is best deployed to the left and right rear of the wedge-shaped front army.
If it is a formation capable of both offense and defense, it should be placed in the center or rear, but sufficient space should be left between the infantry phalanxes for the cavalry to attack.
The enemy army had indeed deployed a formation that was both offensive and defensive, with only three to five hundred cavalrymen under the central army banner, but there was room for them to enter and exit...
This is the difference between a makeshift group, bandit troops and a well-trained regular army.
Without learning a few lessons and carrying out regularized construction, their combat effectiveness will not be improved.
On the other hand, the Silver Spear Army on the opposite side, although only had 3,000 people, all of them were wearing armor and had excellent equipment.
After the square formation was formed, the soldiers stood at attention with weapons in hand, in complete silence.
The difference is too big.
The sound of horse hooves rang out, and the eight hundred soldiers quickly maneuvered to their positions. After dismounting, a horn sounded, and all the soldiers gathered together and fired a volley of shots.
If you look down from the air, you can immediately notice the spectacular scene on the enemy's right wing: large numbers of soldiers fall to the ground and noise is heard everywhere.
The enemy immediately adjusted its position.
Some crossbows were brought over and fired continuously.
Some archers with excellent archery skills were also sent to this side, aiming at the dismounted soldiers and drawing their bows and shooting arrows.
"Retreat!" Seeing the enemy's spearmen rushing over in a disorderly manner, Chen Yougen immediately ordered the gongs to be struck.
The eight hundred soldiers left behind more than a dozen corpses, retreated hastily, mounted their horses and left.
They circled the enemy's line and this time came to the left wing.
The same tactics were used again.
Under the banner of the enemy's central army, people shouted and horses neighed.
Hundreds of cavalry were sent out by the frustrated commander, but there were not enough passages for them to enter and exit, and the enemy's formation was somewhat chaotic, so their movements were extremely slow.
Some cavalrymen were waving whips and scabbards, trying to open up a path.
Some cavalrymen simply rushed forward, knocking the unfortunate infantrymen to the ground and trampling them.
The screams continued one after another, which shook the morale of the army.
"Retreat!" Chen Yougen ordered again to mount their horses, leave the battlefield, and turn to the enemy's rear.
He has already tested the enemy's strength. They don't even know how to withdraw their troops, so how can they fight a formation battle in the field?
After going around to the rear, just charge them directly with heavy armor.
But maybe it doesn't need to be so troublesome anymore.
Looking down from the air, the enemy's originally relatively "cohesive" formation was seriously "bulged" to the left and right after being repeatedly harassed by them. At this time, the front army was still moving forward, preparing to fight the Silver Spear Army in the field, and coupled with the noise made by their own cavalry, the entire formation could be described as seriously scattered.
The commander seemed to realize something was wrong and prepared to start rectification.
But no one would give him a chance.
"Boom boom boom..." Three thousand heavily armored warriors of the Silver Spear Army marched in unison, moving forward courageously.
Seventy steps later, a rain of arrows came from the air, destroying all the enemy general's efforts to reorganize the formation.
Fifty steps later, the rain of arrows came again.
At this time, eight hundred soldiers had dismounted behind the enemy army. They drew their heavy swords and rushed towards the enemy fiercely.
The two small square formations behind the enemy army hastily withdrew and turned around, ending up in chaos.
The heavily armored long swordsmen, holding the sparse spears, slashed left and right, and rushed into the crowd of enemy soldiers like a brave soldier.
On the front battlefield, people in the Silver Spear Army continued to fall. The officers shouted to encourage them, and then everyone faced the enemy's crossbows and completed the last volley.
The enemy's front-row soldiers fell down in a rush, and some even turned around and fled.
"Boom boom boom..." The rhythm of the drum suddenly changed.
"Kill!" The Silver Spear Army quickened their pace and rushed forward with spears in hand.
Together with the eight hundred palace soldiers, they were like two giant hammers, one in front and one behind, smashing the tens of thousands of enemy troops who were already out of touch and severely deformed into pieces.
Shao Xun asked someone to bring him a lance, as he was ready to use his unparalleled skill.
Tang Jian hurriedly led his men to stop them, saying, "Sir, the victory is already certain, why do you have to take risks yourself? On the battlefield, swords and spears are blind, even a stray arrow can take a life. Sir, you are the one who carries the expectations of the people, you must not fail."
Shao Xun pulled the reins, but it didn't move.
Tang Jian looked at him stubbornly and refused to let go.
"Forget it." Shao Xun looked forward and sighed.
The three thousand Silver Spear Army had already severely damaged the enemy's formation, and countless of them were defeated.
Behind the enemy lines, the noise was growing louder and louder, and a large number of soldiers were already leaving the battlefield, fleeing for their lives.
This battle is definitely won.
And he also tested the strength of the bandits - the standard level of bandits.
"Give a message to Wang Chan to lead the auxiliary troops to pursue. Remember, chase in a line, and the limit is 300 steps. You can chase again after the team is in formation." Shao Xun dismounted and gave the order.
"Yes." Soon a messenger came to deliver the message.
Shao Xun was leading his horse and wandering behind the formation.
The battlefield now is like a fog.
There may be more than 100,000 bandits, advancing along various routes like headless flies.
He had to urgently find out where Wang Mi was. He couldn't let these small fish on the periphery block his vision and let go of the big fish.
It's ironic that Wang Mi is unable to effectively control so many troops, but this also gives him natural cover.
(End of this chapter)