Chapter 230 An unknown place
Chapter 230 An unknown place
Shi Le finally made up his mind.
So, a large group of cavalry gathered in the wilderness, divided into several groups, and rushed towards the chariot formation.
Chen Yougen was assigned to the front chariot formation. Seeing the enemy cavalry attacking, he gave an order and five hundred auxiliary soldiers, armed with crossbows, stood behind the horizontal baggage wagons.
The soldiers held large shields and stood in front of the "masters" of each family to protect them from arrows.
There were another five hundred auxiliary soldiers sitting on the ground, holding spears, ring-handled swords and other weapons.
Some of them were quite panicked. After all, they had never fought in a war or killed anyone. Seeing the overwhelming cavalry rushing towards them, would you be afraid?
Another group of people were only slightly nervous, most of them were surrendered soldiers from Hebei.
They have fought in battles, killed people, won battles, and suffered defeats. They know what a real battlefield is like.
But no matter what they think, this is the cruel and real battlefield. Everyone who goes to the battlefield has no choice, it's either you die or I die.
In the side carriage, archers from the Yamen Army and the Yicong Army had already boarded and were standing in front of the shooting windows, drawing their bows and arrows, with serious faces, waiting for orders.
The melee warriors also took up their weapons, ready to fight at any time, although they did not believe that any cavalry would be stupid enough to charge directly at the cart.
"Woo——" the horn sounded.
The Long Sword Army's individual crossbows fired first.
The sharp crossbow arrow flew through the air and landed among the rushing enemy cavalry, causing a cry of surprise.
The archers also drew their bows and shot out long arrows, causing another flurry of chaos.
There were sporadic "thump thump" sounds coming from the side carriage; those were arrows falling on it.
Some arrows also fell on the large shields of the auxiliary troops, but they were weak and did not cause much harm.
Compared with the "tickling" cavalry bow, the damage of the infantry bow and individual crossbow is considerable.
Among the hundreds of enemy cavalry that rushed over, dozens fell off their horses and their screams were endless.
In this round of shooting alone, the enemy cavalry suffered a great loss.
So, after a hasty journey, they retreated back to their starting point in embarrassment.
After a while, they seemed to be unwilling to give up, so they changed direction and attacked again. The result was as expected, leaving dozens of bodies behind before retreating into the distance.
The central and rear armies were also harassed by enemy cavalry.
Li Chong commanded the palace soldiers and the Yamen troops in the rear army chariot formation and calmly repelled the enemy.
Shao Xun was in the central army and did not even take part in the command.
The Silver Spear soldiers, all of whom were skilled in archery, drew their strong bows and called out names one by one, leaving a deep impression on the enemy.
After watching for a while, he ordered to cook and there was no need to panic.
The last ray of light in the sky was swallowed up by the darkness. Braziers and torches were lit, illuminating the camp.
The soldiers ate in batches to restore their strength.
The wounded and dead horses left outside the chariot formation were dragged back. The auxiliary soldiers were quick and skillful in cutting them up on the spot, and boiled a lot of broth to distribute to the soldiers in various camps.
"Shi Le is treating us, and the horse meat is very delicious." Shao Xun took a bowl of broth, drank it up with a gulp, and said with a smile.
Everyone laughed and the tense atmosphere dissipated.
After everyone finished laughing, Shao Xun put down the wooden bowl and said, "I think Shi Le is determined not to give up. After nightfall, he may send people to attack us. We must not take it lightly."
"promise."
"It's still the same old rules. Each building has its own defense zone. Anyone running around without orders will be killed, regardless of friend or foe."
"promise."
"Go to bed after eating and decide on the rotation of night watchmen."
******
Under the quiet night sky, Shi Le climbed a high slope and looked at the brightly lit camp.
There was a convoy of cars outside the camp.
After repelling the first attack, the Jin soldiers took the time to set up chevaux de frise, deer horns, and even dug simple horse traps.
If the cavalry charges straight ahead, they will have no chance of winning and will only be shot into hedgehogs.
So what about sending infantry to attack?
To be honest, Shi Le had this impulse, but was a little hesitant, so he asked his advisers.
"Your Majesty, you can't do that." Diao Ying tried to dissuade him. He only heard him say, "If it were soldiers who had fought for many years, they might give it a try. However, most of our infantry are rookies. It is very likely that a night attack will fail and we will mess up our formation instead."
Shi Le frowned and looked at Zhang Jing again.
"If your Majesty really wants to launch a night attack, you can send a few elite soldiers to give it a try. If that fails, we can make plans after dawn," Zhang Jing replied.
Shi Le nodded slightly, already having a plan in mind.
He subconsciously looked at Zhang Bin, who nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I have a clear understanding."
The three counselors agreed, so Shi Le gave up the plan of a night attack and only ordered his cavalry to harass the Jin army continuously, so as to make them panic, unable to sleep well, and greatly deplete their physical strength. The outcome could be decided after daybreak.
Nothing happened that night - if you ignored the creepy screams that occasionally rang out in the darkness.
When the sun rose on the 25th, dinner had already started in the Jin army camp.
As usual, the enemy cavalry came to harass us.
However, after experiencing what happened yesterday, the Jin army soldiers in the chariot formation were able to treat it with a normal attitude.
A charge of more than a thousand cavalrymen was ineffective, so who are you trying to scare with just a few hundred cavalrymen? You don't even dare to get close to the range of the bows, so stop wasting your energy.
After breakfast, the entire army rested for half an hour and then continued on their journey.
At this time, their marching method was different from yesterday.
Simply put, the traffic jam is shorter and wider.
The carts on both sides even drove into the fields. They didn't care about trampling the seedlings at all - if they were planting winter wheat - and when they encountered places that were difficult to cross, they would even fill in the ditches and shovel away the ridges.
This is how military conflict is.
When two armies met on the road, it was impossible for them to fight only on the post road. Once they had deployed their troops, they would go directly to the fields. Sometimes they would even demolish civilian houses to avoid hindering their advance.
The convoy rumbled forward, with the sound of drums and horns heard all the way.
The cavalry that had been driven back by the enemy yesterday were scattered again and far away.
Their main task was to gather information so as to avoid being pounced upon by the enemy without knowing it.
As expected, the enemy cavalry began to hunt again, targeting the Jin cavalry.
They took advantage of their large numbers to continuously compress their range of activities, and finally forced them into the protection range of their chariot formations and powerful crossbows.
Sometimes the chariot formation would stop, build a simple platform, and look far into the distance to observe the enemy situation - mainly to find out whether there were any enemy infantry battalions.
The infantry moves slowly and it is impossible for them to get close to the vehicle formation in a short time, so they just need to keep watch at regular intervals.
Near noon, the entire army stopped and then quickly began to deploy their troops.
Shao Xun climbed onto the platform.
On the distant horizon, rows of enemy infantry appeared, with flags flying and drums beating.
He smiled and asked the name of the place.
"Yemagang." Tang Jian replied, "It's still seven miles away from Yecheng."
"Shi Le dare not let me go forward any further." Shao Xun said, "This battle is inevitable, for everyone."
"Your Excellency has been waiting for a long time, right?" Tang Jian said with a smile.
"Shi Le and I have been waiting for a long time." Shao Xun said, "Pass my order..."
******
Yemagang, a little-known place.
The so-called hill is nothing more than a small earthen ridge, not majestic or towering at all.
At noon on October 308th, the second year of Yongjia in the Jin Dynasty (), soldiers from the Jin and Han sides gathered here to decide the outcome, as well as their lives.
The Jin army had nearly 20,000 soldiers, who formed a circle around their chariots, with three formations in the shape of a V-shape, supporting each other.
The Han army, with more than 60,000 infantry and cavalry, lined up in the wilderness and pressed forward with overwhelming force.
At three quarters after noon, both sides had finished their meal and rest.
Suddenly, a strong wind blew and the military flags fluttered, which made people feel astonished.
The wind soon died down, and a large Han army formation of 10,000 people took advantage of the situation and rushed over. Without any hesitation, they chose to attack the chariot formation of the central army with the strongest forces, trying to crush the Jin army in one fell swoop.
"Woo--" The horn players took a deep breath, puffed up their cheeks, and started playing with all their might.
Dense crossbow arrows were fired first.
This is not a single-person crossbow in the hands of the palace soldiers, but a powerful crossbow mounted on a baggage cart.
A crossbow arrow as thick as a spear shot out, carrying a scream of death, and landed directly into the Han army's infantry formation.
The large shields and iron armor were no match for the attack, and the advancing infantrymen fell to the ground in a mess.
The enemy cavalry came out, but they did not attack the chariot formation. Instead, they acted more like a supervisory team.
There is another formation behind the infantry formation, and bows and crossbows have been set up in the front row. Anyone who looks back will be killed instantly.
Those who are at the front have no choice but to charge forward.
The crossbow arrows were fired non-stop, causing more than 300 casualties.
The enemy quickened their pace, not caring about the disordered formation, and instantly rushed to a distance of sixty or seventy steps.
Individual crossbows and infantry bows were used together, and arrows fell like raindrops.
If the casualties caused by a powerful crossbow can only be considered child's play, and a single crossbow can only tickle the enemy, then the lethality of an infantry bow is extremely terrifying, because the number of archers is simply too large, and the density of projection is not comparable to that of a crossbow.
The shieldmen in the front row had experienced three rounds of attacks and were basically killed or injured.
When the heavy infantrymen in iron armor rushed to the direct shooting distance of thirty steps, they fell to the ground in the face of dense arrows.
But they had no way out.
The front row is pushed by the back row, and the front row is threatened by the back row, so there is only one way to go.
"Kill!" After shooting the last round of arrows, most of the Silver Spear Army warriors hung their bows around their waists, picked up their weapons, and fought with the enemy.
The swordsman stood on the carriage, using a large shield as tall as a person to cover his entire body, pushing away the enemy's spears.
The warriors holding wooden clubs and long axes waved the blunt weapons in their hands with all their might.
"Bang!" The heavy long axe hit the chest of an enemy soldier, and the place of collision immediately sank visibly to the naked eye.
The enemy soldier who tried to climb onto the carriage fell down with a bang, knocking down several people behind him and causing chaos. "Bang!" The wooden club hit the helmet, and the person who was hit fell down without a sound, his face covered in blood.
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" An archer came over and used the gaps between the vehicles to shoot arrows almost with his eyes closed.
The enemy soldiers who were rushing forward were unprotected and fell down in large numbers.
But they were still rushing forward, charging into one carriage after another with ferocious looks on their faces.
A shieldman had already been stabbed and fell to the ground screaming.
The enemy soldiers were overjoyed and climbed up through the gap.
Long-handled axes and wooden clubs came together, knocking down one enemy soldier after another who tried to climb up.
But there were too many of them. Another shieldman fell to the ground. After a Silver Spear Army spearman stabbed seven or eight enemies to death in succession, he was stabbed in the gap between the armor plates. He screamed and fell under the car, and was instantly submerged in the crowd.
Several enemy soldiers climbed onto the baggage cart, but before they could rejoice, dense crossbow arrows were fired at them. The blood spurting out of their chests appeared a gorgeous golden red under the sunlight.
Several strong men from Sizhou mustered up their courage, carried large shields and rushed into the carriage to fill the gap.
They shouted and screamed, venting the boundless fear in their hearts, and at the same time used all their strength to push out the weapons extended by the enemy.
The spear tip pierced the big shield, and the scraping sound made people feel creepy.
The ring-handled sword chopped on the shield, and each sound seemed to be a death-threatening blow.
Long-handled axes and wooden clubs were swung non-stop.
On a crowded battlefield, nothing is more effective than blunt weapons.
There was even a powerful soldier from the Yamen Army who was waving the flagpole with all his might.
Wherever the flagpole went, the enemy soldiers were all destroyed like withered grass in the strong wind.
One volunteer soldier was so excited and blood-thirsty that he even jumped out of the carriage and rushed towards the crowd of enemy soldiers, swinging his wooden club repeatedly, breaking several ribs and smashing several heads, until he was completely submerged by the crowd.
The first wave of fierce attack lasted for half an hour.
The enemy soldiers rushed towards the chariot formation like waves.
The convoy of vehicles was like a solid embankment, crushing all the surging waves.
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" The archers were probably the safest. They kept shooting arrows into the dense crowd, causing the greatest casualties since the war began, until the enemy could no longer hold on and retreated.
"Boom boom..." The drumbeats suddenly became more intense.
The 1,200 Silver Spear Army warriors who were sitting on the ground and gathering their strength suddenly stood up.
The auxiliary soldiers struggled to pull away several cars and opened a gap.
Twelve hundred Silver Spear Soldiers rushed out through the gap, chasing after the retreating enemy troops and killing them wantonly.
The enemy soldiers were even more defeated and fled in all directions. Their actions blocked the charge of their own cavalry, allowing the pursuing Silver Spear soldiers to kill the enemy more calmly.
"Ding ding..." The sound of gongs rang out, and the Silver Spear Army warriors who had been chasing for more than a hundred steps slowly retreated.
The auxiliary troops pulled back the baggage carts and side carriages, and the battle was restored to its original state.
The fleeing enemy troops rushed to the rear formation, and the rear formation fired thousands of arrows, mowing down the fleeing enemy soldiers in large numbers.
The deserters cried for their parents and fled to both sides, where they were taken in by the officers and old thieves.
The battlefield fell silent for a moment.
Shi Le stood on a high slope and watched all this in amazement.
Tens of thousands of people rushed towards the convoy, but within less than half an hour, more than half of them were killed or wounded.
This battle was really too brutal.
After years of fighting, this was the first time he encountered an enemy like Shao Xun.
He had too many archers, and the armored soldiers who fought in close combat were also skilled and brave. The entire chariot formation was like a hedgehog, staring at all those who rushed towards him and devouring their lives.
Wang Mi and Wang Sang, who were standing beside him, looked pale.
How many lives will be lost if the Jin army faces this kind of situation?
Liu Ling's face also looked very bad.
On that snowy night, he had already experienced how difficult the Silver Spear Army warriors were to deal with. Today's offensive and defensive battle once again confirmed his point of view. If the cavalry couldn't take them down, the infantry would have even less chance.
Shi Chao watched silently, as if it had nothing to do with him, with no expression on his face.
Shi Le quickly recovered and after hesitating for a moment, he ordered the second formation to launch an attack.
The sound of rustling footsteps soon sounded.
The silent infantry formation once again rushed towards the chariot formation.
The timid recruits even started crying.
The brave ones also secretly prayed that the bows and crossbows of the Jin army would not fall on them.
Even though he was a veteran thief, he still couldn't help swallowing his saliva when he saw the heavily armored infantry inside and outside the chariot formation who were well-armored and ready to fight.
But this is the battlefield, also called a corpse field.
To face the sharp blade with flesh and blood is the fate of all warriors, whether you like it or not.
"Buzz——" The sunlight seemed to be blocked, and arrows fell from the sky like a blanket.
The brave, the cowardly, the skilled, the unskilled... the tall, the short, the fat, the thin... those who volunteered to join the army, those who were forced to join the army... and so on, at this moment, nothing matters, everyone is fairly judged by the strong bows and crossbows.
The only ones who survived were those who were lucky.
The Han army was driven like cattle to launch a second attack.
The surging waves came back, hit the cliff formed by countless large carts, and then were smashed to pieces.
Wave after wave of attacks resulted in countless corpses.
By the end of the battle, the corpses were piled up layer by layer, almost as high as the chariots. The warriors of both sides stood on the corpses and fought to the death.
Someone broke the spear shaft.
Someone's shield was chopped into pieces.
Someone broke the bowstring.
Someone's knife has a bent blade.
After three consecutive impacts, the gray wave ran out of momentum and collapsed backwards.
The chariot formation was opened again, and this time 1,500 Yamen Army soldiers gave chase.
The enemy was in disarray and ran backwards numbly, allowing the swords and spears of the Jin army to fall on their backs without daring to resist at all.
The enemy cavalry moved out.
The scale of this operation was not small, and the route had been selected in advance, with a total of two thousand cavalrymen dispatched.
"I've finally waited for you!" Shao Xun patted the railing of the platform and gave the order on the spot.
A moment later, the "Youzhou Cavalry Commander", who had never taken action since the war began, appeared.
A total of one hundred cavalrymen, all wearing heavy armor and holding heavy halberds and horse spears, filed out through the gap in the chariot formation and assembled outside the chariot formation.
More than 300 cavalrymen of the "Mingzhong Hu Ben Du" and less than 200 cavalrymen of the Yicong Army followed closely behind. Even the palace soldiers sent out 300 people who were good at cavalry warfare.
The 900 cavalry, with the armored cavalry as the vanguard, took advantage of the chaotic battlefield to attack the enemy cavalry that was charging straight at them.
The mission of the Jie light cavalry was to attack the Jin army that was pursuing them. When they were near their destination, they suddenly saw armored cavalry rushing towards them, and they were immediately frightened to death.
But the chaotic and narrow battlefield did not allow them to make any maneuvers.
The armored cavalry rushed forward and cut them in two. Wherever they passed, the Jie light cavalry fell off their horses one after another, and screams were heard everywhere.
The Huben Du, Yicongjun and Fubing followed closely behind, hacking and killing indiscriminately, easily taking the lives of the enemy cavalry.
When the Jie cavalry saw that something was wrong, they turned their horses around and fled backwards.
The armored cavalry came back from a distance and followed closely behind.
The Huben Du, Yicongjun, and Fubing also adjusted their direction and followed behind the armored cavalry, sweeping away the defeated cavalry, charging more and more fiercely, with morale bursting.
The direction in which the Jie cavalry fled was exactly where the central army's flag was located, because Shi Le had all the cavalry in his hands and did not release them to anyone.
Seeing more than a thousand cavalrymen fleeing towards this side, he was immediately furious.
He had his men waving flags again and again, but it had no effect; the people who were fleeing would not hear anything.
"Xilulu!" A large unit of soldiers and cavalry were already retreating.
"You bastard!" Shi Le cursed angrily.
But no one feels ashamed. If you can't win, just run away. We are here to reap the benefits, not to die with you.
More military leaders led their men to retreat.
Tao Bao, Zhi Quliu and others rushed over and advised: "My king, please retreat first and come back to clean up the mess later."
"You guys!" Shi Le's eyes turned red.
Sixty thousand troops, there are sixty thousand troops here!
How many people can return if he retreats?
"Help the king onto the horse quickly!" Tao Bao winked, and several personal soldiers stepped forward and helped Shi Le onto the horse.
Seeing that the battle was going against their will, Zhang Jing and other counselors no longer cared about anything else and they all pulled over their horses and rode on them.
The sound of chaotic horse hooves seemed to reflect Shi Le's mood.
While fleeing, he could not help but look back, only to see chaos where the flag was set up.
Someone rolled up the flag and walked away.
Someone was making a loud noise.
Some people ran as fast as they could.
Some people dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground.
A moment later, the armored cavalry broke through numerous obstacles with an unstoppable momentum, knocked away countless defeated soldiers, and arrived under the banner.
Cavalry Commander Duan Liang reined in his horse and dismounted with difficulty into the midst of the fleeing crowd. Then he drew out an axe and chopped fiercely at the banner.
Shi Le's flag fell to the ground reluctantly.
(End of this chapter)