Chapter 259 Possessed by Evil

Chapter 259 Possessed by Evil

Chapter 259 Possessed by Evil
Duan Xiong recalled the surprised looks of the two Yamen Army leaders when he was making plans before the war.

Haha, a group of young chicks!
Apart from the pitiful experience he gained from the war, he had never been exposed to orthodox military traditions.

It is true that some people have never read military books or learned military tactics, but they have explored their own set of effective methods in the long-term wars, and their actions are "secretly in line with military tactics."

But such people are only a minority after all.

At that time, he deliberately asked: "In the deep and secluded plains, if a thief sees an ambush, what will he do?"

Zhang Gu believed that the enemy army would retreat.

Yu An believed that those who had entered the narrow passage could not retreat, which would cause great chaos, so they could only speed up and rush forward, which would still give them a glimmer of hope. Only those who had not yet entered the narrow passage had the possibility of retreating, but the enemy army would be cut in two and their defeat would be inevitable.

Duan Xiong admired Yu An's brain, so he gave him some advice: "At this time, if we can place auxiliary soldiers and young men in the south, and wait for the enemy to pass, then beat drums and blow horns, shout and advance, most of the bandits will not dare to retreat, but will move forward with all their strength."

Zhang Gu thought it made sense and asked, "Why not stop them in front? The bandits are coming from the south, and the bows and crossbows from the east and west plateaus can be fired at the same time. Ambush auxiliary soldiers in the south, shout and make noise. If the northern pass can be blocked, the bandits can be completely wiped out."

Why? You'll find out in a moment.

One hundred and fifty armored cavalrymen rushed directly towards the Huns who were still gathering their troops at lightning speed.

Some people scattered in panic, circling the perimeter and trying to shoot arrows.

Some people just ran away without even paying attention to Liu Ling's call.

Some people were hit head on.

Under the iron cavalry, there were screams and cries of pain.

They were also cavalry, but their horses were like donkeys compared to the armored cavalry.

They are also cavalry, but their equipment is simply beggarly compared to that of armored cavalry.

Under the double attack - no, in fact only one side was attacking and the other was being attacked - the light cavalry was directly dispersed, and countless of them fell off their horses.

After one round of charge, the armored cavalry circled back and launched a second round of charge.

For a moment, Liu Ling was extremely conflicted.

He had seen clearly that this armored cavalry had no light cavalry to protect them. Although they were powerful, their movements were clumsy and slow. The terrain nearby was relatively open. Theoretically, there was a chance that they could use their speed to defeat these tin men.

The armored cavalry could not catch up with the light cavalry, which was their Achilles' heel.

But he gave up in the end.

Having just experienced an ambush and being intercepted by armored cavalry when rushing out of the pass, he was really a little scared.

If we stay entangled with them for too long, we might be entangled by Shao's infantry or light cavalry, and then we'll be doomed - who knows if there are any ambushes lying in wait nearby!
After hesitating for a while, the armored cavalry rushed forward again.

Liu Ling sighed, performed the trick of changing horses in mid-air, jumped onto the back of another empty horse, and shouted, "Go!"

"Boom!" The armored cavalry rushed into the light cavalry formation, and dozens of people fell off their horses wherever they passed.

The Xiongnu cavalry shouted and fled together.

After making a circle, Duan Xiong did not pursue, but ordered his troops to return to the starting point, dismounted and recovered their strength with the help of auxiliary soldiers.

However, not long after, another three or four hundred Hun cavalry rushed out of the narrow pass, looking panic-stricken and in a state of disarray.

The armored cavalry mounted their horses, rushed down the hillside, and charged into the Xiongnu light cavalry head-on.

The Huns were scattered.

After leaving behind seventy or eighty corpses, they dispersed.

******
The southern entrance of the pass, just as Duan Xiong had suggested before.

Three thousand auxiliary soldiers held up banners, beat drums on all sides, and rushed forward shouting.

The Hun cavalry in the rear team already knew that there was an ambush ahead and were already panicking.

When they saw a large number of infantrymen charging towards them, and the whole mountain and plain were filled with flags and the sound of war drums, they became even more panicked.

This must be at least 20,000 infantrymen, right?
With such a huge momentum, it is obvious that they want to encircle and annihilate them.

As a result, some of the cavalry who had not yet entered the pass made a prompt decision, turned their horses around, and rushed into the wilderness in the distance.

Hundreds of others who had already entered the pass but not deep enough also turned back and retreated.

The bows and crossbows on the hills on both sides kept firing, and rocks fell from time to time, causing heavy losses to the Xiongnu cavalry.

When he returned to the south entrance in a panic, he saw a large group of infantrymen and did not even dare to charge, but instead fled.

The auxiliary soldiers were originally worried that they would be overwhelmed by the Hun cavalry, but when they saw that they were only thinking about escaping and did not dare to fight back, their courage suddenly increased, and they quickened their pace and tried to stop them.

They stabbed with long spears, hit people with wooden clubs, and hooked the horses' legs with sickle spears, killing the Huns and making them fall off their horses.

War is a test of courage and will.

The combat effectiveness of these auxiliary soldiers is actually very average. In normal field battles, they would probably be killed by the Hun cavalry.

But at this moment, their morale was high, they advanced with a clamor, and were unstoppable.

On the other hand, the Huns had only one thought in their minds: escape. Very few of them dared to stop and organize a counterattack, and they were quickly overwhelmed by the surging tide of infantry.

The auxiliary soldiers ignored the fleeing Hun cavalry and let them go. Then they reorganized their formation and attacked from south to north along the pass.

There were still a few remaining Xiongnu cavalry in the pass. When they saw the Jin troops coming from behind, they were terrified and urged their horses to flee northward at the top of their lungs.

See, this is the magic of deploying troops.

If the three thousand auxiliary soldiers were deployed at the northern entrance of the pass, they would face the Xiongnu cavalry who were trying to escape. It was hard to predict what would happen at this time. There was a high possibility that these people would be overwhelmed. Even if they were not overwhelmed, they would suffer unimaginable heavy losses. After all, they were poorly equipped, had low combat effectiveness, and had little combat experience.

But if you put them behind the enemy, when the enemy has no intention of fighting, they can perform beyond their normal level.

Only someone experienced in battle could pull off such a trick.

After the auxiliary soldiers Ding Zhuang rushed in, the Yamen army soldiers on the east and west plateaus also came down the mountain and joined them.

The pass was full of dead bodies of men and horses, and the bloody smell rose to the sky. But the men were very excited and rushed north with all their might, shouting loudly.

When he encountered a wounded Hun soldier on the road, he would mercifully stab him with a knife. When he encountered a lone bandit, he would shoot him with arrows from a distance or stab him with a spear from close up, killing him with great pleasure.

At this time, at the northern entrance of the pass, the armored cavalry led by Duan Xiong charged three or four times, but finally could not move forward.

Their results were also astonishing: they directly killed more than 300 Hun cavalrymen and directly broke up their organization, making them frightened, panic-stricken, and lose their fighting spirit.

Zhang Gu and Yu An quickly came up with a plan in the narrow passage and killed more than a thousand bandits.

More than 400 bandits were also killed at the southern entrance of the pass.

Their ambush achieved the effect of beheading 1,800 people at the cost of minor casualties, which was a brilliant victory.

Moreover, according to the captured prisoners, a relative of the emperor named Hu Yanhong was shot to death by arrows...

******
The battle is not entirely over.

When Liu Ling rushed to a place several miles away from Shan County, he met more than 700 cavalrymen returning.

These people were either light cavalry exploring the way ahead, or the front team that was let go by Zhang Gu and Yu An. After hearing that there was an ambush in the rear, they immediately turned back to provide assistance, but ended up running into Liu Ling who was running in a panic halfway.

Liu Ling only had about two hundred riders around him.

They stopped to rest their horses, drink some water, and sent people to take in the scattered soldiers.

By noon, another three or four hundred cavalrymen came to surrender.

Looking at the growing army, Liu Ling calmed down a little, sighed, and said to everyone: "It is impossible to go back along the original route. Why don't we go east and find a ferry to return to the north bank?"

The crowd no longer had much energy and responded in unison.

Before going on the expedition, they were an imposing group of 5,000 cavalrymen, as if the world was so big that they could go anywhere, and no one could stop them or catch up with them.

If the main force of Shao's bandits is still in Dayang, then they will make use of the excellent mobility of their cavalry, rush hundreds of miles, occupy the pontoon bridge, or even destroy the pontoon bridge, and block the main force of Shao's bandits on the north bank.

At that time, he had no choice but to retreat eastward in a hurry, cross Wangwu Mountain, go out of Chenguanxing, and enter Henei.

This retreat was hasty and chaotic, and they had to abandon all unnecessary baggage and face pursuit by the Han infantry and cavalry, so the losses were bound to be considerable.

If he stayed in Dayang, it would be even better. Tens of thousands of cavalry would come and he would have no choice but to retreat to the city. Then 100,000 infantrymen would dig three layers of trenches and besiege Dayang.

There was nothing wrong with the plan formulated by His Royal Highness the King of Chu, and the actions were very decisive. Starting from outside the city of Hongnong, they marched quickly all the way and attacked by surprise.

However, Shao was cunning and had predicted their plan in advance. He set an ambush at Qiliai and killed them miserably.

It's too late to say anything now. If you lose, you have to admit it and find a chance to withdraw.

The troops led by the King of Chu are only the vanguard. The main force of the Han Dynasty, 150,000 infantry and cavalry, has not yet set out. They will come back to take revenge after a while.

After resting, Liu Ling led everyone on horseback and headed northwest.

When they were approaching Shan County, hundreds of riders suddenly appeared in front of them.

The other party seemed surprised as well. They didn't expect to encounter the Huns in the suburbs of Shan County.

But they reacted quickly, dismounted and assembled immediately, occupying both sides of the post road, skillfully taking out crossbows and shooting at the Hun cavalry.

"Charge forward, don't fight to the end!" Liu Ling roared, and under the protection of his personal soldiers, he spurred his horse and charged forward at a very fast speed.

The Huns - well, most of them were not Huns - bent over their horses as much as possible to avoid the crossbow arrows.

Some people even tried to hide themselves while galloping at high speeds, sometimes hanging on one side of the horse and sometimes on the other side, trying to avoid the dense crossbow arrows.

But if we meet head on, how could it be so easy to escape?
Crossbow arrows shot crosswise from both sides of the road, and more than a thousand Hun cavalrymen once again performed a spectacular drama of people falling down on their horses.

Some people were directly pierced by the crossbow arrows and fell to the ground.

Someone was shot at his mount and was thrown out.

Others were blocked by the corpses in front of them and had no time to turn around, so they fell to the ground with their horses.

The scene was tragic.

But the Huns had no intention of stopping to resist. They pushed their horses almost to the limit, running for their lives without any fighting spirit.

They ran like this for more than ten miles. When they saw that the horses could no longer bear the weight, they heard the sound of hurried horse hooves from behind.

Liu Ling turned his head and saw hundreds of cavalrymen holding lances and halberds, shouting and chasing after them.

He closed his eyes in despair, a wave of regret welling up in his heart.

If we had known we would be chased like this, we should have taken in as many defeated soldiers as possible outside the pass and fought to the death.

But he was scared at the time and ran away out of habit.

When we encounter the group of mounted infantrymen with crossbows just now, we can fight to the death.

But he was in a hurry to escape and had no fighting spirit.

What we are facing now should be the Jin State Cavalry. These people are professional cavalrymen and they probably have plenty of horsepower. How can we escape?
One step wrong, step by step wrong.

Looking back now, today was like being possessed by an evil spirit. From the moment I was ambushed, every step was calculated against me by others. I kept missing opportunities and not only lost my fighting spirit, but also ended up in a dead end.

"Shhhh" the horse suddenly knelt down with its front hooves and fell to the ground.

Liu Ling was not paying attention and was thrown out. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and rolled over when he landed, so he was not injured.

Just as he stood up, more than ten riders rushed up to him.

Someone shouted in surprise: "There's a thief here, catch him alive!"

Liu Ling was about to resist when he was surrounded.

He sighed, lowered his head, dropped his weapon and knelt on the ground.

At his side, a large group of cavalry passed by like lightning, and the pursuit continued.

(End of this chapter)