Chapter 738: Battle in the Wind
Chapter 738: Battle in the Wind (Part )
To fight or not to fight, that is the question.
Up to now, Liu Cong has only received one reinforcement, which was not sent by Liu Jing and Bu Tai, but two thousand cavalrymen who crossed the river from the northern border of Xiayang County, Fengyi Commandery.
This ferry is located in the northwest of Pi County, Pingyang County.
The Pi family lived in Hejin County in later generations.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the county was renamed "Longmen County" because of the Longmen Mountain to the west of the county.
In history, the Longmen Wang family became quite famous because the descendants of the Wang family of Taiyuan migrated to this county.
There is Longmen Ferry, one of the ferry crossings on the Yellow River, more than 20 miles northwest of the county seat. This group of cavalry crossed the river from here.
The level of Longmen Ferry is still a bit poor.
It's OK for caravans to pass through, but it's a bit useless for a large army to pass through. The reason is very simple: the Yellow River has just left the Shanxi-Shaanxi Grand Canyon, the water is flowing rapidly, and it is quite dangerous.
The places with truly good hydrological conditions are Pubanjin and Fenglingdu, but the latter is located in the south of Zhongtiao Mountain, and the other side of the ferry is a narrow river beach east of Tongguan. The army cannot be deployed and can easily be trapped in unfavorable terrain, leading to annihilation of the entire army.
Generally speaking, Pubanjin is really the only place suitable for the passage of a large army.
After replenishing supplies at Wang's Manor, the two thousand cavalrymen planned to quietly move south. However, the Hedong area was full of Jin army's spies. Once discovered by the fort, it would be easy for them to tip off the enemy, and the march would lose its surprise. So they could only move south obediently to Liu Cong's camp in Wenxi County.
Liu Cong had a good impression of this army. He vaguely saw the style of the cavalry unit that followed him and charged straight into the Jin army's formation during the Battle of Changping.
He knew the reason: they had won a victory in Guanzhong, which had boosted their confidence, and their equipment was also good, so their morale was high.
But apart from this troop, no other troops arrived.
At present, he only has 6,000 imperial infantry and cavalry, more than 15,000 able-bodied men, plus 2,000 new cavalry, totaling more than 23,000 people. This is all the troops Liu Cong can gather in a short period of time.
If he was willing to wait a little longer, perhaps another 20,000 people would be able to come back to help.
But the problem is that the Jin army on the opposite side will also wait for reinforcements.
After two or three days of observation, spying, capturing prisoners and torturing them, it was discovered that the enemy general Hou Feihu had brought with him about 10,000 people.
More than 6,000 troops came from the direction of Anyi, with a total force of 22,000 to 23,000.
But this was not all of his forces.
Liu Cong was absolutely certain that if he waited any longer, the other side would gather more troops, just like him.
If the other party wants to fight, then fight. Don't dither and haggle like a woman.
On November 29th, both sides tacitly chose a relatively open field and set up their battle array on the east and west sides respectively.
******
The north wind is howling, and all the grass is withering.
The sun struggled to climb up into the sky, dark red, without a trace of heat, as if it was also forced to go to battle.
Liu Cong withdrew his gaze, feeling a little depressed.
The Han army deployed a large formation in the shape of a Chinese character "品".
The protruding part in the center was composed of 6,000 infantrymen, of which the front 2,000 were relatively elite, being iron-armored warriors, while the back 4,000 were of uneven quality and not very elite.
There are two wings on the sides and rear of the central formation, similar to the central army formation, with a thousand elite soldiers in front of each and three thousand miscellaneous soldiers in the back.
There were crossbow carts distributed in front of the two wings and in the gaps between the small formations in the center, and they were being pushed forward at this moment.
Archers are mostly distributed on the two wings, with fewer on the front, and are replaced by a large number of shieldmen.
This formation is very obvious. The central army is used to attract the main force of the Jin army, because they attack the most fiercely and have the strongest combat effectiveness. Then the secondary troops move forward quickly to attack from both wings.
An ancient and classic battle formation.
The drums have already started, and they sound a little dull.
Liu Cong did not find the passionate feeling he had when the war drums sounded in the past. He just felt a little cold today, especially cold, cold to the bone.
The battle flags were fluttering.
If the wind direction changes slightly, the flag seems to be about to break free from the flagpole and fly backwards.
As the army advanced, some young men on the left and right wings raised their hands and put them in front of their eyes to block the wind and sand.
Liu Cong's eyes twitched, but he said nothing.
After blowing westward for a while, the wind direction suddenly changed and blew toward the southeast.
Some of the old men in the formation immediately hunched over, as if to block the biting cold wind that was blowing through their necks.
Liu Cong subconsciously turned his sight to the Jin army formation opposite, his eyes wandering around, as if looking for their flaws and ugly behavior...
After seeing the large formation set up by the Huns, Hou Feihu thought about it and decided to "pay tribute" to Master Shao by using his favorite military formation: the偃月阵.
This formation has both offensive and defensive capabilities, and its core is also to attack the enemy's flank - mainly the left wing.
He could see that Liu Cong was also helpless. He had very few elite soldiers and a weak military force. No matter what formation he set up, it would be useless. He could only fight to the death.
In fact, Liu Cong’s best tactic is still the same as before, defending in stages and resisting step by step.
But maybe it didn't work in the end, or he got tired of it, and the huge strategic disadvantage forced him to desperately seize the only opportunity, trying to reverse the disadvantage in one battle.
This situation usually happens to gamblers who are desperate to lose money and invest their last bit of money in the hope of making up for their losses, or at least making up for a large part of their losses.
"Deploy the crescent-shaped formation, and appoint Yu An, commander of the Xia Lou army, as commander of the right wing. Move forward fifty steps and form a square formation."
"The Black Jade Army will be the center of the army, and I will lead it myself."
"Use General Yang Quan as the left wing, and lag fifty steps behind to deploy the battle array."
A standard oblique attack formation.
There were more than 3,000 soldiers on the right wing.
The central army consisted of more than 5,000 black soldiers.
There were more than 4,000 Yang family soldiers on the left wing.
Both sides also had thousands of cavalry deployed on the wings or in the rear, but they had not yet been deployed.
After the drums sounded, flags were waving continuously on the battlefield, which was dazzling to the eyes.
The wind direction kept changing, blowing here and there.
The command vehicle moved forward slowly. In the strong wind, the edge of a flag brushed against his face. Hou Feihu pushed it away and looked forward with a calm, even indifferent look.
The soldiers marched in a line, and sometimes dead branches and leaves swept over and hit the armor leaves head-on, making a slight sound.
The officers looked at the soldiers with malicious eyes.
The soldiers held their heads high and continued to march forward, without any noise or commotion, as if they were a statue.
There's no way. The beatings with military sticks and horse whips have developed a conditioned reflex for me. If anyone dares to move, I'll beat you to death!
Hou Feihu stroked his chin gently, his calm eyes scanning every corner of the enemy's formation.
Master Shao once commented on him: he is good at calculating and likes to fight clever battles. Wang Que'er once commented on him: he lacks the means to boost morale in battle.
Jin San said he felt like a dead person and his blood was cold.
Shouldn't a normal person feel a rush of blood when hearing the beating of war drums?
Shouldn't a normal person feel overwhelmed with heroic spirit when seeing the densely packed military formations and flags?
Shouldn't a normal person scream and shout when seeing blood splattering and flesh flying?
Hou Feihu didn’t.
He felt that he would not be excited, touched, angry, sad, or cry. Even in the midst of thousands of troops, he did not feel the blood boiling. He just kept calculating: Where is the enemy's weakness? Where is the enemy showing signs of weakness? How to exploit this loophole?
Zhang Daniu once patted him on the shoulder and said that one must be passionate on the battlefield. When one day one encounters an enemy who is obviously weaker than you in strength, equipment, and training, and suddenly his blood boils and he breaks through your formation unreasonably, then you will know that all those calculations are useless.
Hou Feihu was skeptical about this. He had never encountered it before and did not dare to say arbitrarily that it was impossible.
Will such a person appear in the Huns' ranks today?
The sun gradually rose higher and Hou Feihu felt a warmth.
He looked up and saw the sun was as red as blood, perfect for killing people.
******
The sound of horse hooves came from the Huns' formation.
Liu Cong finally couldn't bear it anymore and ordered the cavalry to shake the opponent's position.
Having fought in many battles, he knew that the enemy was aggressive and in high spirits, and it was clear that they were a powerful force.
Before they set off, their formation was not at all disordered and there was not a trace of noise.
This silent oppression has already produced subtle effects on our side.
The opposing cavalry also moved out, and they appeared to be Jie people.
The cavalry of both sides fought resolutely on the left and right wings of the battlefield. Before the infantry engaged, the cavalry of both sides were already lying on the ground.
Half of the two thousand imperial cavalry were dispatched and outflanked from the right rear.
These people were clad in iron armor, holding spears and halberds, and marched forward bravely.
The other side also dispatched cavalry, and judging by the flags they were undoubtedly an army to capture the dead, there were more than a thousand of them in total.
Both sides slowly increased their horse speed and then charged towards each other.
Sure enough, just as Liu Cong expected, the opposing capture army was directly dispersed.
The Imperial Guards cavalry continued to move forward, and hundreds of brave cavalrymen rushed up again, and were once again crushed to pieces.
Then hundreds of brave cavalry were defeated again.
Breaking through three formations in a row! Liu Cong's face finally showed some color.
There was finally some noise on the enemy side, which made Liu Cong very satisfied. He thought that you were all made of iron, but it turns out that you are just like Tuoba Xianbei. If you rush forward, you will die and there will be chaos.
The smoke and dust from the rear of the Jin army was even thicker.
Many cavalrymen who were still resting and had no plans to go out mounted their horses.
Liu Quan, the general of Heqing Town, armed with wooden clubs, led more than 3,000 cavalrymen to surround the Han cavalry, shooting arrows left and right, trying to rely on the advantage in numbers to repel the Han cavalry.
The previously dispersed Zhuosheng Army and Xiaoqi Army gradually gathered together and launched a counterattack again.
The imperial cavalry made a circle and slowly returned to their main camp.
Liu Cong's face looked unhappy again.
"Dong dong dong..."
"Woo——"
The sound of drums and horns on the front battlefield soon attracted Liu Cong's attention.
"Hua La La!" The infantry in the center of the opposite army stopped, put their spears at their feet, then drew their strong bows and raised them diagonally upwards.
"Woo——" The sound of the cow horn sounded again like a death-threatening sound.
"Buzz--" Liu Cong looked up at the sky and saw arrows flying towards him like locusts.
"Dang!" A feather arrow fell on the large shield, making a crisp yet dull sound.
"Ding!" The feather arrow fell on the iron armor, failed to penetrate, and trembled.
"Puff!" Arrows landed on the unarmored peasant soldiers, and their screams continued, causing some commotion in the formation.
"Buzz--" The left and right wings of the Han army quickened their pace. Archers stood out from the crowd and also launched a round of projectiles.
Dense arrows fell into the Jin army's formation, splashing small water splashes, but soon the situation returned to calm.
Liu Cong frowned.
I have heard that the Silver Spear and Black Jade armies are Shao's personal troops. All of their members can draw bows and shoot arrows, all of them can fight in close combat, and all of them are wearing armor. Now it seems that this kind of projectile at a distance of a hundred steps is just a tickle to them.
On the other hand, even with the projectiles, there were still many unlucky people who suffered casualties.
"Boom boom boom..." The sound of drums attracted Liu Cong's attention.
As the infantry of both sides approached each other, their formations changed again.
Because the left and right wings moved forward quickly, the T-shaped formation slowly turned into a horizontal formation, and then tended to turn into an inverted T-shaped formation.
The Jin army on the opposite side still maintained its diagonal formation.
More than 3,000 soldiers were on the right wing, running the fastest and almost connecting with their own left wing.
More than 5,000 armored soldiers were stationed in the center; they were the Black Legion Army.
Thousands more were on the left, at the rear.
Liu Cong has studied this formation.
Generally speaking, the Black Shadow Army is the "end of the month" and the left and right wings are the "crescent moons".
When fighting, they would use the end of the month as their base, rotate the crescent, and attack the enemy from the side, hence the name "偃月阵".
There are actually not so many tricks on the battlefield. The core is "flank attack", "circle behind" and so on.
It would be too stupid for the two sides to line up and fight each other head-on. It would be far less likely to cause the enemy to collapse than a flank attack.
"Whoosh——" Another gust of wind came, making it impossible to open one's eyes.
The strong wind passed by and soon returned to calm.
Liu Cong opened his eyes and found that the soldiers on the opposite side had quickened their pace and rushed towards their left wing.
The battle officially begins.
(End of this chapter)