The Yecheng Pass in front of us is not Yecheng, but a barrier outside Yecheng. It was built by the Taishan Army as a southwest barrier.
When Sun Jian led 1,300 horses and arrived here, it was afternoon, the weather was warm, and there was thin flowing ice on the Zhang River not far away.
Then there was a solid barrier not far away. At this time, the sound of warning was heard, and two beacons were lit.
The young general Chang Diao had already led five riders around the stronghold. From time to time he stepped forward to test the arrows of the Taishan military stronghold. Finally, after completing the circuit of the entire stronghold, Chang Diao returned with his men.
Chang Diao was born in Hedong Cavalry and was the elite of the Han army in Hedong. However, after the First World War in Yingyang, the Hedong Cavalry Corps suffered heavy losses and was no longer an army. Most of the rest were divided among the various armies, and this is how Chang Diao and others were transferred to Sun Jian's command.
At this time, Chang Diao was still a boy of eighteen or nineteen, but he already had deep battle experience. In just one lap, he had already led people to test out the strength of the Taishan Army's barriers.
He rode the bay-red horse and reported to Sun Jian with a slight breath:
"Captain, we have just taken the first ten times, and the thieves fired eight times, all with hard bows and crossbows. We circled the camp again, and there were soldiers with halberds and armors on all sides, but they were not close together, and there was only one person every step of the way. Thief. The flag has four sides: Zhang, Niu, Guo and He. "
Under the red turban was the resolute Sun Jian. He nodded to Chang Diao and then motioned for the man to return to the formation.
Looking at Chang Diao's back, Sun Jian was a little confused.
Is Chang Diao strong or not? Strong! He is skilled in bow and horse, brave and wise, and the most important thing is that he is still very young. It can be said that he can fight on the battlefield for at least twenty years.
But he, Sun Jian, has no use for this person.
This can be known from the way Chang Diao called him just now. For example, Lu Fan and others called him the lord, which means they are the main one. Chang Diao called him a lieutenant, a Han official rank. In other words, the reason why Sun Jian was able to mobilize this person was because of the authority of the Han Dynasty.
This phenomenon is not only common to one person, but is a common situation among most cavalry officers in the army. After all, at this time, half of the 1,300 cavalry led by Sun Jian were from the north, from Youzhou, or Bingzhou, and even some miscellaneous ones.
There were many Jianghuai disciples in his army who were not good at horses, so he managed to form an army of 700 disciples.
However, Sun Jian didn't think much about it. He knew that as long as he took these people with him for a long time, so what if they were people from the North? He will still become a loyal and brave member of his Sun family.
Chang Diao tried to find out whether the barrier was real or not. Cheng Pu on the side said to Sun Jian:
"Lord, although this stronghold is strong, there are few soldiers. We can quickly cover up and kill them, so that we can quickly pull out this stronghold. Otherwise, if it is too late, enemy reinforcements will arrive."
After Cheng Pu finished speaking, Han Dang also added:
"What Demou said is right. If you guessed it correctly, those two wolf smokes tell the Taishan Army behind us about the number of our troops. I think the reinforcements from the other side are right in front of us."
But Sun Jian shook his head and said:
"If we don't attack this village, we'll wait for the reinforcements from the opposite side to come over."
Later, if the generals no longer listened, they ordered the entire army to dismount, rest and eat.
……
While eating dry food, Han Dang found Cheng Pu and asked quietly:
"Have our lord been too trusting? Our attack was light and quick. Now we have to fight to the death here. If we are not careful, the whole army will be overturned. Do you want to stop trying to persuade my lord?"
Cheng Pu took a hard bite of the biscuit and retorted unwillingly:
"Why don't you go? I won't go! If you go, there will be nothing but scolding."
Cheng Pu did not cooperate, and Han Dang became a little anxious. He pointed at the resting army officers and said eagerly:
"Why are you being scolded? How will you know if you don't try? How can you bear to see so many people die with us?"
Han Dang still ignored Cheng Pu, no matter what he said, he just kept eating the cake.
After finishing all the cakes, Han Dang said slowly:
"Why are you so anxious? Let me ask you a few questions."
Cheng Pu's neck said to Han:
"You asked."
Han Dang wiped his hands and asked:
"Who can fight, you or my lord? Who cares more about the lives of your brothers, you or my lord? Who has more military strategy, you or my lord?"
These three direct questions made Cheng Pu dumbfounded.
He wanted to say something several times, but still couldn't. Finally he smashed his riding crop on the ground and cursed:
"Donkey begged, you are doing this to make your brothers risk their lives with you. Donkey begged, donkey begged."
Cheng Pu, who was already a little crazy, chopped the frozen soil hard to vent his inner timidity.
To be honest, Cheng Pu was scared. He couldn't understand what Sun Jian said about risking death and living later. In his opinion, the only chance for this trip was to avoid the barriers, pray that the attacking army would not be discovered, and then take the opportunity to rush into Yecheng, otherwise he would be dead.
Before, Sun Jian and Lu Fan said that there was no way out this time, and his heart was half cold. Now, when Sun Jian said that he would wait for the rebel reinforcements to arrive. Cheng Pu's whole heart froze.
Don't talk about absolute loyalty. You must know that it has only been less than half a year since Cheng Pu joined Sun Jian's Jianghuai martial arts group. He is not yet the number one enemy of Jiang Biao who will serve the three Sun family members in the future.
Is he the only one with Cheng Pu's mentality? No, I'm afraid they are not in the minority. But just as Sun Jian said, they were deep in enemy territory and had been discovered by the Taishan Army. Now that they are together, they can still fight. If they run alone, they will die.
Perhaps, this is Sun Jian's purpose.
At this time, Sun Jian didn't know that his subordinates were hesitant, but even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care. He took off his red turban, tied it on again, and carefully counted the weapons in his horse bag.
Then, in this tense atmosphere, the pennant was waving in the northwest, and a cavalry team had arrived to help.
At this time, with everyone watching, Sun Jian rode up to the front of the army. Looking at the various emotions of the soldiers, even though Sun Jian had such an indomitable temperament, he became worried.
But looking at the thousands of troops on the opposite side, Sun Jian became even more arrogant.
At this moment, right here, he, Sun Jian, was about to create a legend. He raised his sword and rode his horse in front of the formation, his blood surging.
Under the bright sun, with his red robe, red cloak and red horse, Sun Jian was like a warm fire, burning in this cold winter. His passion and courage inspired the Han troops in the same crimson uniforms. They raised their weapons high and cheered in response to the man opposite.
This is the power of a general. If you don't experience a real battlefield, you won't know the role of an excellent general on the morale of the entire army, and you won't understand that war is never doomed!
Amid warm cheers, Sun Jian drew out his small shield, then struck it with his sword and shouted:
"Power!"
The three armies shouted:
"Power!"
One man seeks death, and three seek change. The three armies seek death, and the five mountains are overturned. This is the power of people, this is the power of courage, this is the power of faith.
At the same time, the cavalry commander who led the army was Yan Gang who gave the giant clam the flag.
When two beacon fires came from the southwest of Yecheng, Yu Jin, who stayed behind in Yecheng, immediately summoned the generals to discuss matters. After General Chongtian left, there were only more than 3,000 soldiers and horses in Yecheng.
Among them, there are 2,000 Yujin's central guard troops on the left, 500 cavalry troops, and 500 other troops.
So when the beacon fire came from the southwest, everyone was a little panicked. Obviously they didn't expect there would be enemy troops in this direction.
To be safe, Yu Ban Yan Gang commanded the cavalry to set off first, and then he led thousands of armored soldiers to slowly press the formation behind. Before Yan Gang set off, Yu Jinte told him that the focus of this trip was to detect the enemy and not to compromise the strength of the cavalry. Because in the field battle in the future, his armored army will need the protection of Yan Gang's cavalry.
Just like that, Yan Gang came with five hundred cavalry and saw Sun Jian's scene as soon as he arrived!
Seeing that the morale of the enemy army was greatly boosted and that it was more numerous than his own army, Yan Gang's deputy general Li Duo couldn't help but persuade:
"General, the enemy is outnumbered and we are exhausted. It is better to retreat to the back first and join forces with Yu Xiaowei. This is safer."
Yan Gang chuckled when he heard this, and asked:
"Have you ever fought with his commander? Do you know that if his commander was here, would he retreat? I have followed his commander for a long time, and I have learned that the brave will win when we meet on a narrow road. Besides, after we retreat, the brothers in the wall What should they do? They see that the reinforcements have withdrawn, how can they hold on to this wall?”
Lieutenant General Li Duo really wanted to say something, General Yan, can you compare with Commander Qu? However, the second half of what Yan Gang said does make sense.
If the brothers inside the barrier retreat without fighting when they see the reinforcements arriving, how can they still have morale?
So, no matter what, we still have to give it a try.
So Li Duo stopped trying to persuade him and began to return to the queue, prepare his troops, and begin to charge.
On the opposite side, Sun Jian has the means of drum formation, and Yan Gang, as an experienced cavalry general, also has his own means.
He raised his iron halberd, placed it in front of the formation, and shouted:
"Drum!"
The horsemen carried small horse drums. Following Yan Gang's order, they picked up their sticks and hammers and started beating the drums:
"Boom!"
Yan Gang thought it was not enough and shouted again:
"Drum!"
Then there's all the drummers banging, and this time it just goes on and on.
Just like that, ten miles into the frozen ground, the two armies held up their guns and hung their halberds, on the verge of breaking out.
After that, Yan Gang in front of the crowd shouted:
"Rush!"
Then the five hundred cavalry rushed towards the Han army.
Yan Gang charged, but Sun Jian on the opposite side didn't say a word and charged directly. Then Cheng Pu and Han Dang followed closely behind.
In this way, with the Yecheng Guanbao as the center, the cavalry regiment of nearly two thousand people began to collide and fight.
The messy horse hooves broke through the frozen soil, and the remaining snow swept away. The continuous sound of drums and horns resounded throughout the sky and shocked people's hearts.
Sun Nuo certainly lived up to the Jiangdong Tigers and took the lead as usual. He held up his round shield to block the arrows coming from the opposite side. He leaned on the horse's back and raised the horse's speed to the highest speed.
The arrows fired by the thieves on the opposite side were really accurate and fierce. It was the most ferocious arrow rain Sun Jian had ever encountered in the cavalry battle. We only charged this way, and dozens of our own riders fell off their horses.
Most of Sun Jian's cavalry troops used the Han army's shock tactics. There were only a dozen miscellaneous men with bows and arrows shooting scattered arrows.
The cavalry on the opposite side actually used crossbows for long distances, short halberds for medium distances, and only raised their spears for short distances. Therefore, before the first round of confrontation began, the Han army had lost dozens of people.
But fortunately, they were already within easy reach of the thieves riding on the opposite side.
“Bang~”
Men and horses flew around, screamed and howled, bones were broken and tendons collapsed. The battlefield was quiet for a moment, but after the mistake between the two armies, the most tragic sounds in the world began one after another.
At the first moment of Sun Jian's attack, Ma Jin overturned the cavalry on the opposite side. But after this rush, Sun Jian discovered that his side's formation was not as tight as the opponent's
Although there were thousands of them, in the small space of the charge, there were more people on the opposite side. Sun Jian didn't bother to find out why they were all in sharp arrow formation, and why they were so densely lined up on the opposite side.
Now he can only rely on his own bravery to lead others.
When cavalry collide, they rely on not being afraid of death. This "not afraid of death" doesn't mean anything else, but it means that the most important thing for a cavalry is impact speed, but the faster you rush, the more miserable you will die if you hit someone. Therefore, only the most fearless cavalry warriors have the courage to ride their horses to the fastest speed.
Not afraid of death, he, Sun Jian, has it, and his subordinate Jianghuai Erlang is even more so.
They had already accelerated their horses to the fastest speed early on, just to use high-speed impact to overturn the opposing formation.
Therefore, Sun Jian gritted his teeth, covered his crotch with his hands, and then bumped into the other cavalry on the opposite side.
At this moment, Sun Jian regarded himself as a soldier, and this collision was to clear the way for the attacking cavalry behind.
But at this moment, a dramatic situation occurred.
Just like the group of monkeys that Sun Jian encountered. When Sun Jian charged forward suddenly, the rider on the opposite side became frightened. Or to be more precise, the horse on the other side was timid.
The war horse on the opposite side saw Sun Jian's horse colliding with him stupidly. It immediately tilted its neck obediently and passed through the narrow slit on the side.
But this time, it was not that it penetrated Sun Jian, but that Sun Jian single-handedly penetrated the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry.
Many war horses followed the horses in front and plunged into the small gap, which directly caused Sun Jian to penetrate completely, causing chaos in the formation.
This accident made Sun Jian ecstatic, and he shouted:
"The brave live, the timid die. Follow me, Sun Jian, to death today!"
Han Dang and Cheng Pu behind him were also frantic with killing. Each led a team of cavalry to penetrate through and directly cover both sides of Sun Jian.
Not far away, the more resourceful Lu Fan had already led five hundred cavalry around to the left rear of the opposing thief cavalry, made a large circle, and then plunged straight into the waist of the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry.
The assault cavalry of the Taishan Army are indeed good at fighting, but they are also human beings and comply with the principles of physics. When someone dug into the rear wing that they couldn't see, the outcome of this battle had already been decided.
For a moment, the Taishan army was knocked off their backs, and Lu Fan's cavalry directly cut them off.
The sound of bones smashing skulls, the broken blades slashing at the golden iron body of the armor, the sound of war horses stumbling to the ground, everything covered the Taishan Army's fighting spirit and their vitality.
At this time, Yan Gang, who was fighting on his head, was exhausted. He pushed away three pieces of horse silk, and then a bone from the sloping edge hit his mount.
His horse fell to the ground with a pitiful cry from this blow. Tears flowed down the huge horse's eye sockets, full of raw nostalgia.
Yan Gang rolled off his horse at the end, strangled an enemy soldier who rushed up to him, and then saw his beloved horse dying in front of him.
Yan Gang yelled:
"You are all going to die!"