Chapter 901 Narrow Road

Chapter 901 Narrow Road

Chapter 901 Narrow Road
The central army was half a day's journey away from the front army. When Jin Zheng rode his horse galloping over, the enemy had just arrived. After a short rest, they immediately launched an attack.

Some of them galloped along the relatively gentle slope, trying to capture the high ground on both sides of the valley, and then rushed down from the heights to the rear of the Jin army.

The main force of the vanguard army was composed of 2,400 soldiers from the two Longxiang Prefectures of Jiafu and Xialou and their followers, as well as several hundred Jie cavalry, totaling more than 5,000 people.

Shi Xian, who had been promoted to the rank of general of Xia Lou, stood on the mountainside with 600 men. When he saw the enemy cavalry approaching from afar, he immediately blew a bone whistle.

The two teams of sword and shield men immediately stepped forward and looked down at the attacking enemy cavalry from below.

Although the slope was gentle, attacking from the bottom up still resulted in a considerable loss of speed, so that the enemy cavalry was as slow as a traveler struggling in the mud.

When the second bone whistle sounded, two hundred men with mediocre archery skills rushed behind the shieldman, drew their bows and arrows, and waited for orders.

There were also dozens of people with outstanding archery skills who spread out and looked for locations that were good for shooting.

No one directs them, they just play freely.

Shi Xian brought with him a total of 250 armored soldiers, armed with a variety of weapons such as spears, long axes, wooden clubs, and heavy swords, ready to attack at any time.

It can be seen from the deployment of troops that he had no intention of defending to the death.

"Woo!" The horn sounded and the first wave of arrows flew out.

The dozen or so enemy knights in the front were startled. They kept waving their spears to deflect arrows and lay on their horses to reduce the possibility of being hit by arrows.

"Bang!" Someone's horse was shot. When he landed, he rolled over to relieve the force. Then he crouched in the grass, turned his head to look behind him, gritted his teeth, and rushed forward.

There was still a steady stream of knights rushing up from the rear.

They shouted loudly and urged their horses hard, wishing they could fly in front of the Jin soldiers and trample them with their hooves.

"Swoosh! Whoosh!" More arrows flew out from high above.

Horse after horse was shot down, and knight after knight fell to the ground.

After shooting several rounds of arrows, the archers still had some strength left, but the enemy cavalry did not dare to charge head-on. After leaving behind nearly a hundred corpses, they began to move to the sides.

Shi Xian looked down from his high place and saw green grass and wild flowers everywhere on the undulating hills.

The corpses of men and horses were lying in all directions on the road. There were most of them within fifty to seventy steps in front of the formation, but they were sparse beyond seventy steps, and there were almost no corpses beyond a hundred steps, with only a few unlucky ones.

The distance of just a few dozen steps was like a chasm to the hundreds of enemy cavalrymen who were charging. They just couldn't cross it. And after the corpses of the men and horses gathered, it became even more difficult to cross.

"Brave men from Weilin Defense, follow me." Seeing that no one from the bottom of the mountain was rushing up again, Shi Xian immediately selected three hundred men and charged towards the enemy cavalry in the distance.

The mountains are rugged and not all places are suitable for riding horses. Most of the enemy cavalry that have come around have dismounted and are forming up into formations.

Shi Xian snorted coldly and led his men to charge forward...

Compared with the hillsides on both sides, there was almost no particularly fierce fighting on the front.

Occasionally, the cavalry would gallop over and shoot a few arrows. The archers fought back vigorously. Because they were outnumbered, they often launched covering attacks. The thieves who came to show off their riding skills and arrows would fall off their horses from time to time and struggle on the ground, until they became silent.

"What are you waiting for? The bandits don't dare to charge, and you don't dare to attack either? Chen Jingen!" Jin Zheng looked at them for a while and said, "When two brave men meet in a narrow road, the brave will win. If you don't dare to charge in this kind of terrain, how can you be called the Flying Dragon Guard? There are more than a thousand bandits in front of us. If you attack them, it will count as joining the battle."

Chen Jingen blushed and clasped his fists, saying, "As you command."

After saying this, he immediately ordered 1,200 soldiers from the Jiafu and Dongmin Longxiang Prefectures to attack.

The moment the order was issued, the Sima of each defense department immediately began to select soldiers for their tents.

Some people abandoned their spears, replaced them with swords and shields, and ran in front with small steps.

Some people abandoned their spears, drew their strung bows, and dispersed to both sides.

Most of them were armed with long-handled weapons such as spears, lances, wooden clubs, halberds, and long-axes, forming five thick columns.

When Suotou, who was wandering in the valley, saw this, he immediately became nervous.

"Boom boom..." The drums sounded.

The soldiers of the government pulled aside the baggage carts that were blocking the road, and the first row of five swordsmen and shieldmen stood out from the crowd.

The traditional old soldiers of the Yamen Army held their shields in front of them, their swords slightly raised, and looked over with sharp eyes.

Next come the second, third and fourth rows.

The two rows at the back spread out slightly and went to both sides, soon forming a horizontal formation of fifteen people with swords and shields.

The spearmen passed the archers and formed up behind them.

The archers took out a handful of arrows according to their own habits. Some of them grabbed a handful of arrows and held them in their hands. Some of them who were good at using heavy arrows and armor-piercing arrows put an arrow in their mouths and put another arrow on the string.

"Go into battle!" Chen Jingen roared.

"Go to battle!" Twelve hundred soldiers shouted in unison, their morale high.

The Xianbei people stood there in a daze. What does "going into battle" mean?
No one could answer them because the other side had quickened its pace. Twelve hundred infantrymen filled the mountain road and charged towards them.

Suo Tou was furious, and he knew he couldn't retreat at this time.

They are the forwards, and the main forwards will retreat without even fighting a battle. What use are you?
The dull sound of horse hooves was heard, and more than a hundred riders kicked their horses' bellies and galloped out, holding spears and lances tightly, rushing straight forward.

The two groups of people collided on the mountain road. Jin Zheng watched intently.

The dozen or so riders at the front were extremely ferocious. They leaped into the crowd on horseback, charging left and right, trying to disrupt the infantry formation.

This alone makes Kim Jong-un look at him differently.

Nowadays, most cavalrymen dare not charge directly into the infantry formation, but instead ride around and shoot, trying to eliminate the enemy in the most labor-saving and minimally casualty way.

But head-on battles must always be fought, as factors such as the enemy's quality, battlefield terrain, and the morale of both sides are unpredictable. Sometimes when you are caught in a head-on battle, you need the courage to charge and fight hard even in the face of heavy casualties.

The soldiers of Dongping Prefecture were also very brave. After the dozen or so cavalrymen who rushed in first broke into the formation, the following troops did not disperse in a hurry, but shouted and fought fiercely, and everyone rushed forward.

Chen Jingen raised his hand and shot an arrow, knocking the most aggressive enemy cavalryman off his horse.

This man was not dead yet. Just as he tried to stand up, he was trampled by countless pairs of military boots. The old soldiers of the Yamen Army roared and walked over his broken body, bravely moving forward, forward, and forward again.

"Crash!" Another group of enemy cavalry rushed over, and the sword and shield soldiers and spearmen in front lost their balance and fell down in large numbers.

Some never got up again, while others stumbled to their feet and were knocked away by the galloping enemy cavalry.

More people lost their balance and were pushed backwards, but as they staggered backwards, they still subconsciously thrust their spears forward, knocking the enemy riders off their horses one by one.

The troops who were squeezed by them became extremely anxious and cursed loudly. Some of them became impatient and pushed away their comrades who were blocking the way in front of them. They stepped out of the crowd and faced the rushing enemy cavalry, gritting their teeth and thrusting out their lances.

The enemy cavalry was charging forward, and was caught off guard, and was stabbed in the chest. The sharp spear blade instantly pierced through the paper-thin leather armor and came out from his back. The man who stabbed him was also knocked to the ground by the huge inertia of the warhorse charging forward, and was unable to get up for a long time.

Dou Yuzhen was watching from behind with bloodshot eyes.

There is a key point when cavalry charges infantry. That is, when the cavalry rushes into the infantry formation at the risk of huge casualties and creates chaos, what will the main enemy infantry force in the rear that has not yet engaged in the battle do?
The best case scenario is that they turn around and flee, the second best case scenario is that they freeze in place, at a loss, and the worst case scenario is that they are not afraid of the cavalry charge, rush forward, and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the cavalry that breaks into the formation.

He had the worst situation today!

This Jin army did not look very regular because their weapons were not uniform. There were all kinds of weapons, but they cooperated very well and were extremely brave. They seemed to have been stimulated by something incredible, and the sounds of their roars and fierce fighting almost resounded throughout the entire valley.

The more than one hundred charging cavalrymen could no longer move and stopped where they were.

With a chop from the long axe, blood spurted far away.

The wooden club hit him, his chest shattered, and he fell to the ground without a sound.

The hook-and-sickle spears were no longer used to hook the horses' legs. Some people raised them directly to hook the people off their horses, while others rushed forward and cut them into pieces with their swords.

There was also a cavalryman with skilled combat skills who killed several Jin army infantrymen in a row, but as the fight went on, his horse's hooves went soft and he fell to the ground with a thud. This man quickly disappeared among the crowd of Jin troops.

There were more and more dead bodies of men and horses on the mountain road, piling up layer upon layer, and it was no longer possible to charge forward.

Dou Yuzhen hesitated for only a moment before the Jin army's infantrymen crossed the ground covered with corpses of men and horses and rushed over with roars.

At this time, the cavalry attacking the hillside on the right side (the left side of the Jin army) also retreated, losing more than a hundred cavalry and failing to attack.

Dou Yuzhen no longer hesitated and directly ordered a retreat.

More than 2,000 Xianbei cavalrymen immediately changed the rear team into the front team, and the front team into the rear team, and ran backwards.

Jin Zheng took in the scene and said, "Chase him! Chase him to the end, don't stop!"

The five hundred Jie cavalrymen who came with the army immediately received orders. They carefully bypassed the battlefield littered with corpses and made a circle through the mountains on the right.

Qin San, the commander of the Daye Longxiongfu, quickly put on his armor, picked up the bone whistle and blew it.

In an instant, a large number of soldiers from Zuo Feilong Guard rushed towards him.

The soldiers were quick to hand the reins to them.

Come a man and lead a horse over.

No matter whose horse it was, the soldiers mounted it and gathered in the direction of the flag.

A moment later, groups of soldiers rode out on horseback, following the Jie cavalry and pursuing them bravely.

After chasing for more than ten miles, the Xianbei people sent out a part of their forces to counterattack.

The Jie cavalry made a circuitous move, going up and down the hills, galloping and shooting.

The Flying Dragon Guard infantrymen dismounted and formed a battle formation, then charged straight at the front, defeating the enemy and beheading more than a hundred of them.

After the battle, everyone mounted their horses again, followed behind the enemy and pursued them.

In the evening, they captured a group of Xianbei cavalrymen who were counterattacking and defeated them, killing nearly a hundred of them.

Only when they saw a large enemy force in the distance did they stop pursuing, and then they went up the mountain to set up defenses, waiting for the main force to arrive.

On the same day, Helan Aitou personally led more than 15,000 cavalry, changed route halfway, went up the Tuwen River (now Maying River), crossed many mountainous areas, and arrived at the flat territory of Mayi County.

The army did not carry much food and fodder, only enough for seven or eight days. Helan Aitou did not hesitate at all and ordered his troops to attack Yinguan County directly.

The third group of Xianbei cavalry led by Qiu Dunshi, numbering 7,000, turned into the mountains in the west and did not contact the other two groups. Their target was Mayi County.

(End of this chapter)