Chapter 718 Falling off the wall
In the chaotic sentry post, the fighting gradually dissipated.
Zhang He threw the broken horsetail in his hand on the ground, put down his pocket and held an apricot-yellow military flag to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Just now, he led eight hundred Beifu knights to travel ten miles and annihilated the Taishan Army outpost here in one fell swoop.
There were probably more than fifty people in this outpost. Faced with Zhang He's sudden attack, they could only burn out the smoke and be annihilated.
This is not the first time that Zhang He has led a unit alone. Previously, during the battle of Chen State, he led a battalion to successfully surround the rear of Chen State's Han soldiers and capture the enemy's central army in one fell swoop.
But that was already two or three years ago. This time he once again led the army alone. Although he only had 800 riders, he still cherished it.
Zhang He took another horse pole from the cavalry behind him, and then said to Gao Hu, the general who had finished questioning the information:
"How? Where is the main force of the bandit army?"
Gao Hu smiled ferociously, the flesh on his face squeezed together, and his long and narrow eyes suddenly narrowed into a slit, and he said:
"Colonel, the main force of the bandit army is five miles to the north. The leader is Hu Muqiu, and he has more than 3,000 people under his command."
Zhang He laughed, Ma Shan tapped Gao Hu, and then rushed towards the north with the horse's belly between his legs.
Following closely behind him were eight hundred Beifu soldiers, their armors stained with blood, racing towards the north.
The knights of Beifu galloped on the big valley road, with lush hills on both sides. They did not hide their momentum and rode at a furious speed.
Soon, Zhang He saw the enemy's fortress revealed in the distance, and also saw the panicked enemy troops on the outside.
So, Zhang He roared:
"Kill them all!"
Then, he straightened his horse and charged forward at the lead.
……
On the Bohai Navy side, Hu Muqiu has already led the guards to the front camp. Standing on the sentry post, he watched the melee outside the camp in horror.
Previously, more than 400 assault cavalrymen under the Bohai Navy had just received Hu Muqiu's military order to go out to fight.
Many of the Bohai Navy's assault cavalry were formed by him absorbing Wuhuan knights from Youzhou, and they have always been relied on for his combat strength. However, as he saw at this moment, those Wuhuan cavalry who were originally horse-bow warriors fell off their horses one after another.
Then he took a closer look. In the enemy's formation, a two-foot-long banner was fluttering in the wind. A cavalryman covered in black armor led thirty or fifty elite armored knights in the Bohai Navy's sudden cavalry formation. Raging.
The cavalryman's bow skills were extraordinary, and every arrow he shot was like a thunderbolt. In an instant, more than twenty of the cavalrymen died under his bow.
And not only was he extraordinary, the thirty or fifty cavalrymen behind him were also elite. They opened their bows from left to right, and arrows rained down like rain.
In addition to these shooting cavalry, behind them, there were also assault cavalry, all holding horse spears in their hands. They took advantage of the space provided by the robes in front, suddenly accelerated their horses, and rushed directly into the chaotic Bohai Navy assault cavalry.
At this moment, the consequences of the Taishan Army's cavalry expansion in the past two years were exposed.
The assault cavalry in the Bohai Navy are not elite, otherwise they would not be included in the second-line troops. Many of them were captured during the Taishan Army's Northern Expedition to Youping, and they were deployed to the local military after a little training.
What Hu Muqiu said before was right, that is, if a soldier runs away once, his mentality will be different. And this is the case with these Wuhuan knights.
Normally, these people would have no problem beating weak opponents, but once they encounter Yuan Shao's refined cavalry, they will be incomparable and have no toughness at all.
Therefore, as the Yuan Jun cavalry regiment on the opposite side became more and more excited to kill, the assault cavalry outside the Bohai Navy camp became visibly looser. Many people were already looking back frequently. If the military law was not still restrained, this would have collapsed.
Naturally, Hu Muqiu in the rear also discovered this. He first asked Sun Yu, the former military camp general beside him:
"Old Sun, how are your front camp's defense preparations going?"
Sun Yu is Sun Qing's younger brother. He was previously transferred to the Bohai Navy as a former military camp general. Now when Hu Muqiu asked him, he said bitterly:
"We came in too hasty, and the enemy came too quickly. There are no abandoned weapons, just some logs and rolling stones."
Hu Muqiu had a cold face, as if she didn't hear the dissatisfaction in Sun Yu's words at all. He calmly ordered:
"In a moment, you will gather all the military chariots in the camp under the camp gate, and then gather all the archers and crossbowmen in the army together, waiting for my order."
Sun Yu sighed, and then followed the order to prepare.
After that, Hu Muqiu said to the golden drum flag bearers around her:
"Ming Jin asked the cavalry to retreat, and the flag bearer commanded them to return to the camp through the back door."
These golden drummers nodded immediately, and then a sharp and harsh golden sound sounded, and the assault riders who heard the sound outside the camp retreated one after another.
These assault riders knew how to retreat from both sides, so they were like waves intercepted by rocks, and then dispersed along both sides of the camp.
When the knights of the Yuan Army saw the Bohai Navy retreating, they did not pursue them. They just roared in front of the Bohai Navy camp, and their morale was high.
But Hu Muqiu was not worried at all. He smiled and said to the generals:
"That's what the enemy is like. If he dares to attack, I will fire with my powerful crossbows. Since they are small in number and they are cavalry, how can they break my camp?"
The generals around him also nodded, agreeing with Hu Muqiu's view.
And as Hu Muqiu expected, the cavalry commander on the opposite side was keenly aware of Hu Muqiu's arrangement, gave up the plan to storm the camp, and then dispersed all the troops, completely occupying the battlefield.
At this moment, Hu Muqiu's face stiffened because he understood something.
Just as the knights of Yuan Jun's Beifu were roaring back and forth, a burst of smoke and dust billowed from behind them.
Then there was a steady stream of drums and trumpets, and gradually, various flags appeared in front of Hu Muqiu and others.
Soon, on the flat ground about a mile outside their camp, Yuan Jun's infantry arrived and spread out their troops here.
Not only that, when these Yuan Jun's infantry arrived, a large number of siege equipment was fired from their rear. Although it is not a heavy equipment, those ladders alone are enough to pose a threat to the Bohai Navy's simple fortifications.
At this moment, Hu Muqiu couldn't understand why these Yuan troops could pass through the Dagonkou unimpeded? Could it be that Zhaoyi's army dared to disobey his orders and flee?
Hu Muqiu's heart was very confused.
However, the officials of the Bohai Navy shouted loudly and ordered all ministries to stand ready.
For these children of the Bohai Navy who have been bathed in the myth of the Taishan Army's invincibility since they were in the army, victory is not only a belief, but also an indisputable fact.
So even though the enemy has a large number of troops, they are still confident of winning.
……
On the flat ground in front of the Bohai Navy's fortress, Yuan's army was in chaos.
A little outside the battlefield, Man Chong's battalion leader was sitting on the ground, holding a water bottle and sipping it. Their battalion general Man Chong stood on a military vehicle, looking at the Bohai Navy camp in front from time to time, and from time to time looking around at the friendly forces around him.
The battalion head of Man Chong was affiliated with Shao Wu's army, and was originally used by Director Chun Yu as a chosen vanguard to attack Zhaoyi's army.
But things were too dramatic.
When they had just finished setting up, the Zhaoyi Army on the opposite side also began to beat the war drums, and then a messenger came out from the Zhaoyi Army's barrier, hoping that they would step back to leave room for the Zhaoyi Army to leave the camp.
Man Chong thought this was outrageous, but his military leader Chun Yudao was eager for it.
Chunyu led the troops and slowly retreated towards the rear, and this time Ju Yi at the rear had nothing to say.
After enough battlefield space was left for Zhaoyi's army, the drumbeats in the opposite camp became more intensive.
But while Man Chong and the others were waiting for the Taishan Army in the camp to leave the camp, they saw no one for a long time.
At this time, Man Chong realized that something was wrong.
He selected twenty warriors and asked them to rush directly into the camp. Then he learned that the Taishan army had retreated, and those beating the drums turned out to be a group of tied sheep.
Man Chong, who felt he was being tricked, prepared to organize troops to pursue him, but was rejected by the military leader Chun Yu.
For Chunyu Dao, this is the best result.
So, he occupied the camp left by Taishan Army and handed over to Ju Yi.
But how could Ju Yi let Chunyu Dao go? Then he issued an order, saying that he met You Yi of the Taishan Army in the north. Now that the Beifu knights had gone north, he ordered Shao Wu's army to set off immediately.
What can Chunyu Daoneng do? He could do nothing but continue northward with Shao Wujun.
But in his heart, a dangerous idea had sprouted, and even Chunyu Dao himself didn't know what its consequences would be.
At this moment, Manchong's troops were gathered at a place near the west. From his point of view, the flat Heluo Basin spread out in front of their eyes, and the outline of Kyoto in the distance seemed to be vaguely revealed to them.
Manchong thought that as long as they took down the barrier in front of them, they would be able to reach Kyoto.
He had been to Kyoto. At that time, he was still serving in Shanyang County and often had to go to Kyoto for the governor's affairs.
The prosperity of Kyoto at that time was still engraved in his mind. Although he was envious, he still understood that this place did not belong here. He was just a local official and could not even stay here.
But who would have thought that in the past few years, the world has changed, and the original brilliant Han Dynasty has also fallen like a star. Instead, Chen Gong and Yuan Shao have risen in the Central Plains and led them to Kyoto.
Just now, Director Chunyu sent a military order, asking Man Chong's troops to guard here and guard the siege equipment.
Director Chunyu was quite particular. Since Man Chong had already ascended first as the front army, even though there was no war, he still would not let them ascend first again.
From this point of view, Chunyu Dao is much more particular than Ju Yi.
Therefore, at this moment, Man Chong could look at the battlefield at leisure, just looking at his position in the west. He didn't know why he was always a little uneasy.
The reason for the uneasiness is too simple, that is, the Taishan Army on the opposite side is not dead. There is no reason for them to move northward to this position, and they have not responded yet.
Moreover, this place is not far from Kyoto. If it is an infantry march, it may take two or three days, but the enemy has the world-famous cavalry. With the speed of the cavalry, it can be reached in half a day.
So the further north he went and the less movement he encountered, the more uneasy Man Chong became.
He believed that he was not the only one who thought this way, there should be many people in the army who thought this way. The reason why the military leader Chun Yudao repeatedly refused Ju Shuai's orders was because he probably didn't want to be the sacrifice.
Man Chong had an intuition. He felt that he was a chess piece being planned on this chessboard. Ju Shuai and the Taishan Army on the opposite side are like two chess players, constantly trying to compete.
But the price for the temptations of the big shots may be their lives.
At this moment, Man Chong felt powerless. He didn't know why he was here. To build a stronghold? For bait? To ask for directions?
However, Man Chong is not a person who resigns himself to fate. He knows that no matter what the outcome is, being able to run is the most important thing.
Therefore, since I went north, I have asked my subordinates to collect mules and horses. I have also continuously streamlined the organization of the troops and transferred the elites of each team to the camp in the name of selecting forwards.
The reason was that if things were not harmonious, he would be able to retreat first with the elites in the camp.
This is not because Man Chong was born to grasp military power like this, but because Yuan Jun's ecology is like this. There are military leaders at the top, and warrior groups at the bottom. At the bottom, each warrior has his own servants and military remnants. It can be said that in Yuan Jun, feudalism was implemented from top to bottom.
Therefore, Man Chong is no exception. He has a thousand soldiers, but a hundred warriors among them are his own clan members, and he is responsible for these people.
While Man Chong was still daydreaming, a member of the Chinese army carrying a flag suddenly ran over and ordered loudly:
"Captain Man, the Chinese army has an order for you to go forward with the ballistae to attack the enemy wall."
Man Chong answered the order loudly, and then looked at the more than twenty ballistae behind him.
These ballistae were modeled after the Taishan Army by the Yuan Army, but they were no less powerful. After all, the Central Plains region has always been where the world's intelligence lies, with the highest concentration of skilled craftsmen and resourceful people.
Man Chong jumped off the military vehicle and walked to the ballista area at the rear in person. He smiled at the ballista commander here and said:
"Let's go, I'll go to the front line with you. I haven't seen the power of a ballista volley."
The crossbow will be a Yingchuan scholar. It is not uncommon for a son of aristocratic families like him to join the army in Yuan Shao's army. Moreover, to command such a crossbow, one must have certain mathematical knowledge, which can only be mastered by descendants of Yingchuan aristocratic families. .
So the ballista general glanced at Man Chong, and then said indifferently:
"Look, that's it."
After saying that, he shrugged and called on his subordinates to push the ballista forward.
As Man Chong led the ballista troops forward, he also saw the layout of the Taishan Army on the opposite side, but he was very puzzled, why was the camp wall so crude?
The Taishan Army barrier he had attacked before was infinitely stronger than this one. So inevitably, he wondered if this was a trap set by the Taishan Army.
While Man Chong was in a daze, a group of knights from the Chinese army rushed over, led by their military leader Chun Yudao.
At this moment, a big blood bubble appeared at the corner of Chunyu Dao's mouth. He rushed to Man Chong's side with a huff, and then gave the order to the ballista:
"Shoot, shoot directly at the row of fences in front of you."
Without any hesitation, as the ballista roared loudly, twenty strong military officers held their hammers high and struck the ballistae heavily.
Then, twenty thick spears shot forward like lightning.
After a while, another twenty, another twenty...
Finally, following Chunyu Dao's roar, thousands of Shaowu Army infantry roared into the already dilapidated Taishan Army camp.