Chapter 760 Battle
In the third year of Taiwu, on May 28th, at noon, in the middle of the river.
After two days of heavy rain, today the temperature is high, the sky is clear and cloudless, and there is not a trace of cool breeze.
The entire central area was steaming with heat, and accompanied by a strong stench and blood, 4,312 Wei Bo army officers and soldiers entered the battlefield.
……
Deng Qian led fifty heavily armored soldiers as they stepped on the semi-hard soil.
The sun was shining brightly, and Deng Qian and others were not wearing armor, but were all placed on the cart beside them. There was a huge enemy formation two or three miles ahead.
Because Wei Bo's army was advancing from the northwest, Deng Qian and others could only see the enemy's phalanx as a shortened horizontal formation.
What stood in front of Deng Qian and the others was a phalanx with the flag of "Man" hanging high. At this time, they were also seen on the opposite side, but they did not make any move. The outermost step formation was still facing due north, as if Deng Qian didn't exist.
Deng Qian nodded secretly. The enemy's response was correct. This is the true nature of a strong army, which is as motionless as a mountain. It seems that this enemy general named Manchu is a powerful one.
But Deng Qian didn't think too much about it. According to the regulations, he ordered the convoy behind to stay in place to form a simple square formation, and then began to let the followers wear armor for them.
Deng Qian's fifty armored soldiers were accompanied by eighty followers. These people had been with the army for a long time. They were not strong men and civilians without military experience.
At this moment, while some of the subordinates began to put on armor for the soldiers, the remaining subordinates were gradually moving the equipment from the baggage cart.
Iron blades, daggers, iron bones, crossbows, and cards were carried under the car in clusters. Finally, these servants took down the stretchers hanging on both sides of the carriage.
In the military order of the Taishan Army, the casualties of the attached soldiers were not light, especially those who served as stretcher bearers. Because according to the regulations of the Taishan Army, the fighting officers of the army cannot carry injured soldiers off the battlefield by themselves. This can ensure the combat resilience of the Taishan Army.
This regulation was summed up by the Taishan Army from countless combat experiences. In the past, there was always a pattern, as if the casualty rate of the sergeants reached one-third, the army would collapse.
It seems that this number is an iron law. Later, Zhang Chong analyzed and discovered the reason. The reason why there is a golden thread of one third is because of the act of transporting injured soldiers off the battlefield.
Because the weight of people is there, if an official is injured and falls to the ground, two people will be needed to carry it. And often officials tend to carry injured robes, not only for friendship, but also to stay away from the battlefield.
Therefore, every time an official falls to the ground, there will be double the non-combat attrition. Therefore, no matter how elite the army is, it can only withstand one-third of the casualties.
Once he discovered this, Zhang Chong consciously trained a stretcher team. These stretcher teams were responsible for dragging injured soldiers to the rear during wartime.
For example, when the military formation is resisting the line, if an official in the first row is injured and falls to the ground, the robe in the back row will drag the person's collar and pass it back to the back of the formation.
Generally speaking, the thickness of a Taishan Army square formation is at most five to eight people, and these people are all close together.
Then, the gap between the phalanxes is the horse racing track. The stretcher teams of each battalion are waiting here. Once an injured officer is pulled down, they will pull the stretcher and send them to the back, just like an assembly line. Same, all the time.
However, even if they are waiting behind the formation, because enemy cavalry often rush in through the gaps between the formations, these stretcher teams will also suffer devastating blows from the enemy's cavalry.
But even so, the casualties of the Taishan Army's subordinate troops were smaller than those of other forces, because other forces did not take the lives of these people at all, and they were either used to fill lines or to be possessed by ants. It's always a matter of catching another batch after one batch is dead, purely consumables.
As for the Taishan Army, among those who can join the stretcher team, who in the family is not assigned to Shangtian? These simple Guizhou leaders actually knew that this was a deal, trading land for land.
But as far as this business is concerned, it is the fairest thing in the world.
The Taishan Army relies on the existence of the stretcher team to maintain the army's resilience at 50% to 60%, that is, a battalion can bear a 50% casualty rate without collapse.
It can be seen from this point that even though the Taishan Army has only 70,000 troops and the two Yuan brothers opposite have a combined strength of 120,000, in terms of real utilization rate, the two are almost equal.
This does not include Yuan Shu's 30,000 soldiers, which is an imaginary number, and the actual number is only 10,000.
In the fierce battle that follows, this will definitely be the decisive factor in the battle.
……
Deng Qian and the other fifty armored soldiers had all put on their armor. Among them, Deng Qian himself wore three layers of armor and gained weight.
As the formation trapping team directly under Wei Bo's army, Deng Qian's mission this time was to capture the enemy's defense line and open a channel for the infantry phalanx behind.
After casually weighing the card holder handed over from him, Deng Qian snorted and took the lead towards the enemy's position.
Behind him, fifty elite iron-armored bearers maintained a loose front and followed closely.
It's about a mile from here to the full phalanx. As the sun scorches, the previously wet ground begins to harden, which is good news for the Taishan Army.
When Wei Bojun's trap team was dispatched, there were sounds of fighting from the front and the south. Taishan Army had surrounded the enemy from three sides with great momentum.
Deng Qian led the trapped soldiers to march slowly, but soon they ran into trouble.
The place where Zhang He's army deployed was a huge field. All Deng Qian and the others could walk on were the ridges between the fields. The ridges were higher than the surrounding fields, so the movement of Deng Qian's troops was All exposed to the eyes of Yuan Jun on the opposite side.
Deng Qian also felt bad. There were loud croaking frogs everywhere, disturbing his thoughts. Suddenly he heard a familiar sound breaking through the air, and immediately roared:
"楯!"
Then the trapping team, including him, raised their cards one after another, and the next moment, their card cards were filled with arrows.
Everyone was half-kneeling, and many soldiers were looking at Deng Qian in front, waiting for his orders.
But the enemy's arrows were so fierce that even the trapped soldiers holding banners seemed like small boats in the big waves, and they might capsize at any time.
However, the suffering of the trapped warriors did not last long. Pao Ze from behind had already fired arrows from behind. They poured towards the favored military formation in front, and from time to time they could see enemy troops falling to the ground.
But the enemy's phalanx did not waver at all.
With the support of Pao Ze behind him, Deng Qian stood up and advanced with a loud roar, but this time only forty-eight soldiers followed him.
In that arrow-feathering fight just now, the two armored warriors finally died in battle. Even though they are heavily armed, they are never short of surprises on the battlefield.
Holding the arrow feathers, Deng Qian and others moved slowly in formation. He didn't know how long he had been pushing forward, until Deng Qian could clearly see the enemy troops in the front row through the small cracks in the pavilions.
That's almost it.
Deng Qian jumped out first, cut off the arrows on the card holder with a knife, then held the card holder in front and ran wildly.
After that, all the trapped soldiers were like this, running towards the enemy's strict military formation. ……
"Whoosh, whoosh..."
Deng Qian was breathing heavily in the iron armor. His strong body and long-term training had given him abundant physical fitness. Even after walking a mile in armor, he could still walk as fast as flying.
The sound of arrows piercing the air was everywhere in my ears, and from time to time there was the muffled sound of the brothers behind me, as well as the sound of falling.
At this point he needs to make a choice.
Because when Deng Qian charged from the northwest, the Manchu troops were still unmoved and did not change their formation. Its front faces north, and its two wings also face north, so its northwest corner is vacant.
Originally this was a loophole in the formation, but Man Chong was obviously an experienced warrior in the formation. He deployed four carriages and two ballistae in the northwest corner.
Originally, these two ballistae were aimed at the north, used to snipe the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry that might appear on the front. However, the frontal tension in the south has not been triggered, and it has only continued to bring pressure to the Manchu troops, but it has never been substantial. attack.
So just now, Man Chong ordered the two ballistae in the northwest corner to turn and fire at Deng Qian's trappers.
The power of the crossbow cannot be compared to the iron armor of the trapped soldiers, but Yuan Jun's crossbow is imitated from the Taishan Army's early technology, so it is very inconvenient to turn.
So when Deng Qian, who was running, saw the enemy's gunners preparing to turn to the ballista, he realized that he had to make changes immediately.
Without hesitation, Deng Qian changed direction directly towards the left wing of the Manchong Division, and then rushed into the enemy's square formation before the ballista was even cocked.
Infinite anger gathered in his chest, Deng Qian held the card, swung the spear in front of him, and then hit the enemy in front.
Wrapped in three layers of armor and sprinting all the way, Deng Qian brought huge kinetic energy and knocked down the three rows of people in front of him.
Then more and more trapped warriors came in directly, and they saw red with their swords.
It has to be said that the overall strength of Duke Chen is much weaker than the Taishan Army. Even if the force is expanded to 100,000, there is no shortage of elite soldiers, but the number of armors is much weaker than the Taishan Army.
The Taishan Army owns the huge Iron Office in Hebei and has invested in advanced smelting technology. At the same time, it pays money and food to the workers of the Iron Office on a piece-rate basis.
And what about Duke Chen? Although he also began to consciously learn to burn charcoal and smelt iron, the strict hierarchy still allowed the iron office under his rule to maintain the approximate output of the past.
The difference between these two is a thousand miles apart.
So even though Manchong knew that some armored soldiers should be deployed outside the phalanx to resist, he only had so many pieces of armor in his hands, and he had to use them on the edge.
What is a blade? That is the five hundred warriors under his own banner. They are the real top soldiers.
It is precisely because of the resource gap between the two sides that the two sides have different development directions of their military systems. The Taishan Army is divided into two battalions: the main force and the local battalions, while the Yuan family's side is divided into miscellaneous soldiers and elite warriors.
Therefore, when Deng Qian risked his life and rushed into Manchong's left wing, he unexpectedly discovered that the enemy army was too fragile.
The Yuan family's foot soldiers, who only wore uniforms, had almost no power to fight back once they were approached by armored warriors like Deng Qian.
One or two brave people used their swords to resist, but their heads were mercilessly smashed by Tie Guduo and disappeared.
At this time, Deng Qian had killed several people and almost penetrated into the middle of the enemy's formation. The same was true for the armored formation behind him. They dispersed in twos and threes and slaughtered the Yuan army who lacked resistance.
The rapid sound of the horn kept changing, and it was unclear whether it was from our own side or from Yuan Jun.
The chaotic sight and loud noises caused Deng Qian to lose his sense of space on the battlefield. He could only lead his men towards a flag not far away.
But before they could get any farther, their sight was gone. It turned out that they had already penetrated the enemy formation.
But when Deng Qian looked at the scene in front of him, a chill came directly from the soles of his feet.
I saw that the open space outside the phalanx was filled with wooden stakes everywhere. These wooden stakes were facing outward diagonally, with their sharp ends pointed towards the north.
This is not what makes Deng Qian feel chilly, but that there are crossbowmen between these wooden piles.
And when he led his men to fight out, these crossbowmen also turned their heads to look at them in shock. They had just received the order from the Chinese military flag and fired a round of arrows towards the north.
It turned out that when Zhang Nan from the front saw that Wei Bo's army had fallen into battle and caused chaos on the enemy's left flank, he also ordered the front battalion to attack.
The Yuan's crossbowmen, who had just finished shooting a round of arrows, looked at the enemy who suddenly appeared in shock and the iron man covered in blood. These people hurriedly prepared to cock their bows and fight back.
At this time, Deng Qian gritted his teeth and roared towards him. There were only about twenty soldiers left behind him, but they still rushed over without hesitation.
It's not that they are not afraid of death, but they all understand that if they hesitate at this moment, they will die.
So, on a narrow strip of land full of sharp stakes, both sides fought for their lives.
……
Xie Bi, the leader of Wei Bo's army, has moved his flag to the front line.
At this time, in his field of vision, the enemy's flanks were completely in chaos. He did not expect that the trapped soldiers could achieve such great results, which was beyond his expectation.
Fortunately, Xie Bi was on the front line, so he quickly seized the opportunity and ordered the trumpeter to blow the general attack horn.
In terms of planning, the general attack was too early, but considering the situation on the battlefield, Xie Bi's order was very timely.
Originally, Xie Bi planned to let the cavalry attack first, so that they could attack the enemy's formation faster. By this time, the sun had hardened the ground, and there was no resistance to the cavalry's charge.
But just when he was about to order the cavalry to charge, he keenly saw that something was wrong. That's because the enemy's confusion exposed some of the arrangements within the formation.
What is that?
Although he could not see clearly, Xie Bi had doubts in his mind, so he decided to change his military order and ask the infantrymen from the front camp to press forward.
He decided to line up rather than break through.
This decision directly saved Wei Bojun, because to the south of him, Guo Mo did the opposite. He chose to use the method of riding through the formation to expand the results of the battle.
Then, tragedy occurred.