Chapter 901 Narrow Road
The Chinese army was half a day away from the front army. When Jin Zheng galloped over on horseback, the enemy had just arrived. After a short rest, they immediately launched an attack.
Part of them galloped forward along the relatively gentle slope, trying to capture the high ground on both sides of the river valley, and then rushed down from the high ground to reach the rear of the Jin army.
The main force of the former army consisted of 2,400 soldiers from Jiafu and Xialou Erlongxiang Mansion and their tribes, as well as hundreds of Jieqi, a total of more than 5,000 people.
Shi Xian, who had been promoted to the rank of General of the Xialou Division, stood on the mountainside with 600 people. When he saw the enemy riding up from a distance, he immediately blew a bone whistle.
The two teams of sword and shield men immediately stepped forward, looking down at the enemy cavalry attacking from below.
Although the hillside is gentle, attacking from the bottom up still loses a lot of speed, so that the enemy cavalry is like a traveler hesitating in the mud, as slow as death.
The second bone whistle sounded, and two hundred men with mediocre archery skills rushed behind the shield bearer, picking up their bows and arrows, waiting for orders.
There are dozens of other people with outstanding archery skills who are scattered far apart, each looking for a place that is conducive to shooting.
No one directs them, they can play freely.
Shi Xian led a total of 250 soldiers, armed with various weapons such as spears, longke axes, wooden poles, and heavy swords, ready to attack at any time.
It can be seen from the formation of troops that he has no intention of defending at all.
"Woo!" The horn sounded, and the first wave of arrows flew out.
The enemy's dozen or so knights rushing at the front were startled. The knights kept waving their spears and firing arrows, while lying on their horses' backs to reduce the possibility of being hit by arrows.
"Bang!" Someone's war horse was shot. When it landed, it rolled over to relieve its strength. Then it squatted down in the grass, turned its head and looked behind, gritted its teeth, and rushed forward.
There are still a steady stream of knights rushing upward from behind.
They shouted loudly and drove their horses hard, wishing they could fly in front of the Jin soldiers and trample them with their horse hooves.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" More arrows flew out from high above.
One horse after another was shot down, and one knight after another fell to the ground.
After shooting several rounds of arrows, the archers still had strength left, but the enemy cavalry did not dare to charge head-on. After leaving nearly a hundred corpses behind, they began to move to both sides.
Shi Xian looked down from a high position. On the gentle slopes of the undulating hills, there were green grass and wild flowers everywhere.
One after another, corpses of men and horses were lying on the road. The most were fifty to seventy steps in front of the formation, but they were sparse beyond seventy steps. There were almost none beyond a hundred steps, except for a few unlucky ones.
The distance of just a few dozen steps was like a chasm for the hundreds of charging enemy cavalry, which they just couldn't cross. And after the corpses of men and horses gathered, it became even more insurmountable.
"Athletes from Wei Linfang, follow me up." Shi Xian saw that no one was rushing up the mountain anymore, so he immediately ordered three hundred people and rushed towards the enemy cavalry in the distance.
The mountains are rugged, and it is not possible to ride a horse everywhere. Most of the enemy cavalry who came here have dismounted and are forming a team.
Shi Xian snorted coldly and led his men to rush over...
Compared with the hillsides on both sides, there was almost no particularly fierce battle on the front.
The cable-headed cavalry occasionally galloped over and shot a few arrows secretly. The infantry archers fought back hard. Because of the large number of people, they often carried out covering attacks. The thieves who came to show off their riding skills and arrows fell from time to time. The horse struggled on the ground and gradually became silent.
"What are you waiting for? The thieves don't dare to charge, and you don't dare to attack either? Chen Jingen!" Jin Zheng looked at it for a while and said: "The brave will win when we meet on a narrow road. You don't even dare to charge in such terrain. What else are they called Feilongwei? There are more than a thousand thieves in front of you. Wait until you attack them."
Chen Jingen blushed and said with fists in his hands."
After saying that, he immediately ordered Jiafu and Dongmin Erlongxiang Mansion's 1,200 soldiers to attack.
The moment the order was issued, the commanders of various defense departments immediately selected their soldiers.
Some people abandoned their spears, replaced them with swords and shields, and ran forward in small steps.
Some people abandoned their spears and scattered to both sides holding their strung bows.
Most of them were armed with long weapons such as spears, rifles, wooden poles, spurges, and longke axes, forming a thick five-row column.
Seeing Suo Tou, who was wandering in the river valley, he immediately became nervous.
"Dong dong..." The drum sounded.
The army soldiers pulled away the baggage train blocking the road, and five sword and shield bearers in the first row came out.
The traditional veterans of the Yamen Army held their shields in front of them, their swords raised slightly, and they looked over with bright eyes.
Then the second, third and fourth rows.
The two rows at the back spread out slightly, splitting to both sides, and soon formed a sword and shield formation of fifteen people.
The pikemen passed over the archers and followed them in formation.
The archers followed their own habits. Some of them grabbed an arrow and held it in their hands. Others who were good at using heavy arrows and armor-piercing arrows bit one in their mouths and put another on the string.
"Go into battle!" Chen Jingen shouted.
"Go into battle!" 1,200 sergeants roared in unison, with high morale.
The Xianbei people were stunned. What did "go into battle" mean?
No one could answer them, because the other side had already quickened their pace, and 1,200 infantrymen crowded the mountain road and charged towards them.
Suotou was furious and knew that he could not retreat at this time.
They are the forwards. The main force of the forwards will retreat without fighting. What use do you have?
The dull sound of horse hoofbeats sounded, and more than a hundred horsemen galloped out with their horses under their belly, holding on to their spears and horses, and rushed straight towards them.
The two groups of people collided in the mountain road. Kim was watching intently.
The dozen or so cavalrymen rushing at the front were extremely fierce. After jumping into the crowd, they rushed left and right, trying to disrupt the infantry formation.
This alone made Jin Zheng look at him in a new light.
These days, many cavalrymen do not dare to charge directly into the infantry formations. Instead, they ride and surround them, trying to deal with the enemy with the least effort and the least casualties.
But head-on battles must be fought. Factors such as the quality of the enemy's troops, the terrain of the battlefield, and the morale of both sides are unpredictable. Sometimes, if you catch up, you will have to have the courage to kill a lot of people and rush and fight fiercely.
The soldiers of Dongping Prefecture were also very brave. After letting the more than ten cavalry who rushed in first break the formation, the following people did not disperse in a hurry. Instead, they shouted for a fierce battle, and everyone rushed to join them. forward.
Chen Jingen raised his hand and shot an arrow, knocking off the horse an enemy cavalryman who was charging the fiercest.
This man was not dead for a moment. Just as he was about to get up, he was trampled by countless pairs of military boots. The veterans of the Yamen Army roared past his broken body and bravely moved forward, forward, and forward again.
"Crash!" Another group of enemy cavalry rushed towards them. The sword and shield bearers and spearmen in front failed to stand firm and fell down in large pieces.
Some people never got up again, while others stumbled to their feet and were knocked away by the enemy cavalry that was galloping towards them.
More people were unstable and were squeezed and knocked to the rear. However, when they staggered back, they still subconsciously thrust their spears forward, knocking off the enemy cavalry one after another.
The following men and horses who were squeezed by them were extremely anxious and yelled. Some people became impatient and pushed away the robes blocking the front. They rushed out to face the rushing enemy cavalry, gritting their teeth and stabbing out. lance.
The enemy cavalry was charging forward. He was unprepared for a moment and was directly stabbed in the chest. The sharp blade instantly pierced the leather armor as thin as a paper wing and came out through the back. The person who stabbed him was also knocked to the ground by the huge inertia of the charge of the war horse, and could not get up for a while.
Dou Yuzhen looked at the back and his eyes were about to burst.
There is a key point when cavalry rushes into infantry, and that is when the cavalry rushes into the infantry formation at the risk of huge casualties and creates chaos, what does the main force of the enemy infantry in the rear that has not yet engaged in the battle do?
The best-case scenario is that they turn around and flee, the sub-ideal case is that they freeze in place and are at a loss. The worst-case scenario is that they are not afraid of the cavalry charge and rush forward to fight with the intruders. The cavalry fought hand to hand.
He encountered the worst situation today!
This Jin army does not look very formal, because the weapons are not uniform, they have all kinds of weapons, but they cooperate very well and are unparalleled in bravery. They roar as if they have been greatly stimulated. The sound of fierce fighting almost echoed throughout the valley.
The hundreds of charging riders could no longer move and stood still.
Chang Ke struck with his axe, and blood spurted out far away.
The wooden raft was smashed, his chest shattered, and he fell to the ground without saying a word.
The hook and sickle gun no longer hooked the horse's legs. Someone raised it directly and hooked the person off the horse. Others swarmed up and divided the body with random blades.
There was also a cavalryman who was skilled in combat and killed several Jin infantry. However, as he was fighting, the horse's hooves gave way and fell to the ground. This man quickly disappeared among the waves of Jin soldiers. .
There are more and more corpses of people and horses on the mountain road, layer upon layer, and it is no longer possible to rush forward.
Dou Yuzhen only hesitated for a moment before the Jin army's infantry jumped over the corpses of men and horses on the ground and rushed over with a roar.
At this time, the cavalry attacking the hillside on the right (left side of the Jin army) also retreated, losing more than a hundred cavalry before and after, and did not attack.
Dou Yuzhen no longer hesitated and directly ordered a retreat.
More than two thousand Xianbei cavalry immediately changed from the rear team to the front team, and the front team changed to the rear team, and ran backwards.
Jin Zheng had a panoramic view of this scene and said: "Follow me! Chase to the end, don't stop!"
The five hundred Jieqi who came with the army immediately took the order. They carefully walked around the corpse-strewn battlefield and made a circle through the mountains on the right.
Qin San, the governor of Daye Ryuxiang Mansion, quickly put on his armor, picked up the bone whistle and blew a whistle.
In an instant, a large number of soldiers from Zuo Feilong Guard ran towards him.
The tribesmen had quick eyesight and quick hands, and handed the reins to their hands one by one.
One person comes and leads a horse.
Regardless of whose horse it was, the soldiers stood up, looked in the direction of the flag, and gathered together.
A moment later, one after another the soldiers of the government came out on horseback and followed Jie Qi in pursuit.
After chasing for more than ten miles, the Xianbei people detached a unit to counterattack.
Jie Qi made circuitous outflanks, going up the mountains and down the slopes, galloping and shooting.
The Feilong Guard infantry dismounted and formed a formation, charging straight at them from the front, crushing them, and beheading more than a hundred more.
After the battle, everyone mounted their horses again and followed the enemy in pursuit.
In the evening, another group of Xianbei cavalry was caught and defeated, killing nearly a hundred thieves.
It wasn't until he saw the enemy's brigade from a distance that he stopped chasing and went up the mountain to set up defenses, waiting for the main follow-up force to arrive.
On the same day, Helan Aitou personally led more than 15,000 horsemen, changed the route halfway, and went up the Tuwen River (today's Maying River), passed through many mountainous areas, and arrived at the flat Mayi County. boundary.
The food and grass carried with the army were not much, but only for seven or eight days. Helan Aitou did not hesitate at all and ordered to go straight to Yinguan County.
The third group of Xianbei cavalry, 7,000 men led by Qiu Dun, turned to the mountains to the west and did not make contact with the other two groups. Their target was Mayi County.
(End of this chapter)