Chapter 308 Broken Hoof
In the snowy plains and frozen soil, with the sun hanging alone, a fight broke out less than fifteen miles southwest of Yecheng.
There are only three places where the fighting is fiercest.
One is the front where Yan Gang and the guards are. One is the middle where Lieutenant General Li Duo is located. The last place was where Sun Jian and others struck.
Yan Gang's beloved horse was coneded to death, and he resisted wildly. He raised a Han army corpse and threw it at the enemies who were about to swarm up. Then his guards took the opportunity to rush forward and exchanged their horses for Yan Gang, but they were chopped down by the incoming enemy soldiers.
Yan Gang had tears in his eyes, but he couldn't be trapped here. As the vanguard of the entire army, he now has only one purpose, which is to penetrate the Han soldiers on the opposite side, so that he can fight for a way out for the brothers behind him.
So, Yan Gang fought so hard that the iron halberd in his hand was bent into shape. After all, he was a top-notch cavalry commander in the world, and when he fought to the death, the Han soldiers were unstoppable, and Sun Jian's troops were not well formed because they divided their troops to attack.
Just like that, after a while, Yan Gang led his men to kill the enemy formation, but he only glanced behind and saw dozens of sparsely riding horses, which made Yan Gang feel sad. In this rush, at least a hundred people did not rush out and rested here forever.
Yan Gang was very angry, but knew that this battle was hopeless. He endured the pain and did not turn around to go back to rescue the brothers in the formation. Instead, he took the dozens of riders and fled to the nearby barrier in embarrassment.
Yan Gang believed that he could bear the humiliation and be ashamed, and wanted to survive the group of brothers who came out of the battle. But those who were pulled down, especially the central team led by deputy general Li Duo, could only survive in the formation and wait for the final penalty.
At this time, Li Duo and others had dismounted, and they were surrounded. If they were still sitting on their horses, they would only be living targets.
Li Duo, as his name suggests, has a very loud voice. Duo is a loudspeaker in the army, and Li Duo's voice is comparable to that of a loudspeaker.
He is thirty-two years old and is a veteran of the Taishan Army. He was originally a Mengshan bandit, but there was no food in the mountains behind him. He was recruited by Xi Shen to lead a group of bandits out of the mountain to join the Taishan Army.
After that, Li Duo stayed in Tuqi for a long time, and participated in the Battle of Lianghe, the Battle of Yanzhou, the Battle of Fengqiu, and the Battle of Yingyang. It can be said that he has outstanding military exploits, and he has been the current deputy general with his merits.
Originally, based on his qualifications and military exploits, he could be a general like Yan Gang. But Li Duozhi is not here. He knows that he can also become a general in a non-main force, but those are not as good as the cavalry. Therefore, he chose to stay in the Juqi Giant Clam Department and served as Yan Gang's deputy.
At the beginning of the battle, he advised Yan Gang not to confront the Han army head-on, but Yan Gang blocked him because of the morale problem of the army.
Yan Gang was the commander-in-chief, and his decision-making was reasonable, so the battle started like this.
At the beginning of the war, according to the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry tactics, there was a sharp arrow formation in front and a stacking wave formation in the back. Yan Gang broke through the Han army's formation, and he led the sudden cavalry in the middle and rear areas.
So when the drums and horns sounded, he led three hundred chargers and charged in the conical formation of Yan Gang in front.
As the name suggests, the cascading wave formation means that when attacking, it is like waves rushing in layers. In terms of specific tactics, three hundred cavalry were formed into a six-row and fifty-man cavalry front line to charge forward.
As long as the conical formation in front breaks the enemy, these six rows of charging formations will sweep in with six formations, causing six blows to the enemy. Generally speaking, as long as you charge twice, the opponent will basically collapse.
However, there was a huge problem with this tactic in this battle, that is, first of all, the conical formation in front failed to penetrate the Han soldiers, but instead the conical formation of the Han soldiers was penetrated. Then, because the opponent had more horses, they also formed a looser formation, which made the opponent's side wider during the impact.
Therefore, the assault cavalry of the Taishan Army did not see a Han cavalry moving towards their side and rear at high speed on their left front. In the end, they were blocked by this cavalry unit.
The attacking cavalry army had different colors of horses, but their appearance was very neat. Their tactical style was a typical Han cavalry battle. They were all armed with horses, and with just one collision, the formation junction in front of Li Duo was broken up. .
Subsequently, the cavalry behind them released like a torrential flood, shocking the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry warriors to the point of being frightened. In this way, the Taishan Army's overlapping wave formation was broken.
……
But the so-called fear and fear are just instincts, but what makes people human is that they can often overcome fear and develop a will to die.
As a skilled combat division of the Taishan Army, the Tuqi Army is outstanding in terms of fighting spirit and discipline. At this moment, facing the desperate situation, the honor and bloodiness in their hearts were fully aroused.
When the road ahead was blocked and their horses could not increase their speed, they dismounted and began to build defenses with horses, ravines, ridges, etc.
Li Duo, as the top military official of the last besieged army, held high the giant clam flag. His loud voice directly overshadowed the golden drum, and he could dispatch his men to plug the holes in the defense line at any time.
Three hundred brave men, fifty in armor, all military officials. In times of crisis, these military officers stepped forward and used their own flesh and blood and iron armor as the first line of defense.
They comforted their anxious warhorse companions, whispered comfort in their ears, and then stabbed to death the companions they spent day and night with.
The bloody smell dispersed, making the other war horses restless. But they seemed to know their fate at this moment, with tears in their eyes, and then bursts of neighing.
In the end, the flesh and blood of these horse corpses became the Taishan Army's rejection of horses, and it was also their most painful line of defense.
Dozens of war horses were killed at the same time. This scene was very shocking.
Sun Jian's troops, who had surrounded the three hundred assault cavalry, were also a little taken aback by this scene. This is quite a bit like the shock of the Spring and Autumn Period, when Wu Guobing was fighting against Yue Guobing, a group of people suddenly ran out from the opposite side and committed suicide in front of the battle.
It was a death shock.
Sun Jian, who was at the forefront of the Han army, hated this. He frowned and growled:
"Kill!"
So the warriors of Sun Jian's tribe dismounted and rushed towards Taishan's army with swords in hand.
The Taishan Army's horses were now deployed like a giant hedgehog, constantly poking at the Han troops who were rushing towards them.
On the one hand, he was begging for death, but on the other hand, he was embarrassed and annoyed that he couldn't take a bite.
It would naturally be a battle between dragons and tigers.
Gold and iron mixed together, roaring like thunder, and the sound shook the eardrums. The huge sound was not only shocking, but also made the world tremble.
Mountains, rivers, vegetation, birds and animals all recovered from the cold of winter in this battle. Countless silent hares emerged from their nests, dizzy, distraught, and scurrying around headlessly.
After several successive attacks were repulsed, Sun Jian became angry. He threw his blood-coagulated cloak to the ground and shouted:
"Anyone who is not afraid of death will rush me."
After saying that, Sun Jian once again took the lead. This time Sun Jian decided to charge directly with his cavalry, even if he trampled and broke the legs of the horse, he would smash the other side.
Up to this point in this battle, it was no longer a matter of annihilating these three hundred cavalry, but a showdown between the military spirit of Sun Jian's troops and the military spirit of Taishan's army.
He couldn't crush these three hundred remnant soldiers even with his superior strength, so how could he convince the brothers below that they could successfully attack Yecheng?
So Sun Jian once again took the lead and fought hard. Maybe for him, his life was really the biggest weapon.
In this way, the intensity of the war reached its maximum.
The horses' hooves are groaning and screaming, the gold and iron are heartbreaking, the running attack is like the wind blowing the bones, and the random arrows are like dark clouds.
Taishan's army is exhausted and its front is collapsing.
At the moment of the battle, Zhang Ying, the general of Zuotun of Juhu Camp of the sudden cavalry army, was taken into battle by Han.
At the second moment of the battle, Lu Qiong, the general of the right camp of Juha Camp of the sudden cavalry army, was trampled to death by a horse.
At the third quarter of the battle, Gao Gong, the general of the Juhu Camp of the Tuqi Army, went crazy...
Gao Gong is a disciple of the Yellow Turban in Runan, and he really had hallucinations until now.
He seemed to see many Runan Huangjinpaoze who had died in the battle. They were all on one side of the battlefield with their backs to themselves. Gao Gong called their names, but no one responded to him.
When he tried to catch up, they shouted:
"Don't follow, don't follow. We are going back to our hometown, we are going back to our hometown."
Gao Gong burst into tears and shouted:
"Wait for me, I will join you. Wait for me!"
With that said, he ran out of the remaining formation and ran in the direction of his former robe.
But unfortunately, after only running for more than ten steps, Cheng Pu, who was chasing him, chopped off his head with a knife.
When Gao Gong's head was hung on the horse's neck by Cheng Pu, he still had a smile on his face.
……
Seeing more and more of his subordinates dying in front of him, Li Duo was extremely sad. He looked in the direction of Yecheng in confusion, wondering if he and others still had a way to survive.
But at this moment, there was a sudden cry of killing from behind Sun Jian and others, and a coalition of horse and infantry troops rushed directly behind their formation.
It turned out that the 500 strong soldiers and dozens of Yan Gang's cavalry from the nearby Taishan Army Barrier came out in full force to rescue Li Duo and others.
The commander inside the barrier is called Zhang Zhen, a member of the Zhang clan in Dasangli. He is also a companion who went to serve with Zhang Chong. Naturally, he is also one of the seventy-five old brothers sworn in the forest.
At this moment, Zhang Zhen and Yan Gang suddenly came out of the stronghold while Sun Jian's troops were attacking Li Duo with all their strength.
Earlier, when Yan Gang was about to enter the stronghold with only dozens of remaining cavalry, Zhang Zhen asked people to let him in. But as soon as Yan Gang came in, Zhang Zhen slashed Yan Gang's face with a horse whip, and then cursed him:
"It's already a great shame and humiliation for you to lose your troops and surrender, but you still dare to abandon your brothers in the formation and survive? How dare you!"
As a veteran in the army, Zhang Zhen can certainly punish Yan Gang, let alone Yan Gang abandoning the army?
Yan Gang's face was bruised and bloody, but he didn't dare to move or argue. He just waited for Zhang Zhen to finish his anger before he bent down and said to him:
"I am not a person who is trying to survive. I just want my brothers to waste their lives without following me, so I sent them here. I don't enter the camp, and the people are also sent. I just want to die with the brothers in the formation." .”
After saying that, Yan Gang mounted his horse again and was about to fight back.
When he was about to leave, the more than sixty horsemen who rushed out with him also wanted to mount their horses regardless of their injuries.
Yan Gang's words and the sudden behavior of these cavalry made Zhang Zhen doubt whether he was arbitrary. Of course, the main reason was not Yan Gang's words, but the behavior of those sudden riders who followed Yan Gang into the battle regardless of their injuries.
After all, those who can win the power of soldiers should not be greedy for life and afraid of death.
So Zhang Zhen planned to give Yan Gang a chance. He stopped Yan Gang and the Tuqi who were about to break out, gave them instructions, and left them in the stronghold.
Then Zhang Zhen watched the fighting battlefield not far away from the wall of the village. Finally, when all the attention of Sun Jian's troops was on the assault cavalry in the formation, he suddenly gave the order:
"Brothers, follow Naigong out to kill! I want those dog slaves to know that no one can kill our brothers in front of Naigong!"
The five hundred soldiers in the stronghold shared the same hatred of the enemy, raised their swords and shouted, and followed the general Zhang Zhen to rush towards Sun Jian's tribe in the distance.
Just like that, when Li Duo and others were waiting to die, their reinforcements came.
After intercepting the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry, Lu Fan led 500 cavalry on the outskirts.
So when Zhang Zhen was about to attack Sun Jian's back, Lu Fan immediately stopped him with 500 cavalry.
Zhang Zhen is not the kind of strict person, and he relies on his passion and bravery to show off at this moment. Therefore, the fiercer the charge, the wider the troops will be spread.
As we all know, there is only one outcome for skirmishers versus cavalry in the wilderness:
"Defeat!"
Lu Fan was in high spirits on horseback.
The success of this battle was all due to his interception, and he was already inflated. At this moment, he was bringing reinforcements to defeat the enemy. How could this not make him arrogant!
He stepped on the horse stirrup with one foot, and driven by the amazing strength of his waist and abdomen, he stood upright on the charging horse. He shouted loudly:
"Kill!"
Wearing the black sheepskin cloak given by Sun Jian, Lu Fan exuded intimidating confidence.
During the high-speed impact, he tilted his sword and cut off the head of an enemy soldier.
The gushing blood poured directly on Lu Fan's face, and then he grinned and said ferociously:
"Kill these pigs and dogs!"
But as soon as he raised his head, the ghosts of the dead came out, and he saw that the armored soldiers running towards him from the opposite side were actually holding big yellow crossbows.
Lu Fan opened his mouth to speak, and then three arrows shot from the opposite side, piercing his mouth directly.
The huge force flew Lu Fan directly, and then the sharp metal arrows pierced Lu Fan's head and others into the frozen soil!
At the fourth quarter of the battle, Lu Fan, a great Sima, died!
Lu Fan was nailed to the ground like a wax figure. After that, there were three rounds of arrows, and hundreds more people followed Lu Fan's footsteps.
In an instant, the entire battlefield was littered with dead bodies. Their feet were hanging on the stirrups, their heads were on the ground, and they were dragged around by the frightened horses that were out of control. Blood all the way, corpses all the way, wailing incessantly
……
Zhang Zhenbu, who witnessed this scene, had no compassion, only revenge. They all took out their swords and cut off the culprits who killed them.
Especially Lu Fan, who was cut into pieces by five horses.
When Lu Fan died, the military strength was severely reduced. The organized Han army could no longer form an impact. They spared Zhang Zhen's 500 men or even more and fled the battlefield directly to the southwest.
Now, no one can stop the furious Zhang Zhen!
The next one is Sun Jian!
But someone had already taken a step ahead of Zhang Zhen and took the lead in biting Sun Jian.
That is Yan Gang who takes revenge!
As soon as he left the camp, Yan Gang only had Sun Jian in his eyes.
I just don’t know if it was God’s will, but Yan Gang was looking for Sun Jian.
Groups of eagles fluttered in the sky, overlooking the battlefield below.
Then there was the sound of horse hooves, and everyone on the battlefield tightened their hearts, knowing that a large-scale cavalry army was daring to come.
But whose reinforcements are these?
Everyone waits with bated breath for fate to unfold.
(End of chapter)