Chapter 764: Stalemate
Responsible for guarding the tomb forest in the north are Xue Ping's 500 cavalry and Zhou Rang's 500-step battalion.
They received Zhang Da's military order to guard this tomb forest and repel the invading enemies.
At this time, Xue Ping was standing by the tomb forest with five knights, watching groups of skirmishers begin to appear on the opposite horizon.
Obviously, the opponent also knows that in such terrain, there is no advantage in advancing in a row.
When they were five hundred steps away, the crossbow gunners in Zhou Rang's camp took the lead in launching the crossbow and fired it at the enemy in the wilderness.
Several short spear arrows only caused very little damage to the enemy troops. The enemy troops were so scattered that the small number of ballistae had little effect.
At this time, the enemy's skirmishers, after experiencing the initial panic, quickly continued to advance, this time their teams were spread wider.
Seeing this situation, Zhou Rang was no longer prepared to continue shooting, and was ready to deal with the short-hand battle behind him.
But at this time, Xue Ping ran over. He expressed it completely in awkward Chinese:
"Keep shooting to separate their teams. Then I'll charge."
Zhou Rang reacted immediately. He glanced at Xue Ping, and then asked the hundreds of longbowmen in the formation to start shooting.
Sure enough, apart from shooting down a dozen Yuan Jun infantrymen, this round of arrows did not cause any greater damage, so the hundred-man general in charge of the long archers only shouted for one round before making the archers stop.
But this round of arrow rain also caused the already scattered enemy troops to spread even further.
At this time, a cavalry army suddenly emerged from the forest. The general at the head wore a horn helmet and held a vermilion horsetail. With a cold light, he leaped forward on his horse.
This general was Xue Ping, just like a tiger emerging from the forest, he led a hundred cavalry and rushed directly in front of the enemy.
In the wilderness, what would it be like if the infantry did not form a formation and encountered the charging cavalry? Just look at this.
Hundreds of Yuan's troops had no ability to resist at all, and they were all killed or wounded under the horses and bones mounted by Xue Ping. The assault cavalrymen who had finished the brutal killing did not want to fight. They drew a semicircle and retreated to the tomb forest from the north.
Xue Ping's tactics this time are typical grassland tactics.
All the military experience of Xue Ping and other Xianbei warriors came from collective hunting. They often use herds of horses to drive away prey such as yellow sheep, and then use bows and arrows to drive the prey to a specific direction. Then their companions guarding this direction will attack from the side and smash the skull of the prey with the bones in their hands.
The tactics that Xue Ping and Zhou Rang discussed were derived from this.
Although Xue Ping's attack just now was short-lived, at least two enemy infantry camps were annihilated. The enemy general Chen Wu who was responsible for the attack here was naturally furious.
He personally took his 800 Lujiang Shangjia troops and rushed directly to the front line. At this time, the Lujiang Middle Camp, which was already close to the outside of the forest, also began to launch missiles at the Taishan Army in the forest to cover the general Chen Wu. attack.
At the same time, the right battalion of the Lujiang soldiers also began to detour back to the north of the tomb forest, intending to detour the Taishan army in the forest from the north.
Seeing this, Xue Ping originally planned to repeat his old tricks, but he saw traces of enemy troops starting to appear in the north, so he could only defend the north with his assault cavalry.
Therefore, only Zhou Rang's five hundred infantry armor were responsible for resisting Chen Wu.
But Zhou Rang also had support. On his right wing, in the orchard, a large number of crossbowmen were working with the crossbowmen on the dock wall to attack Chen Wu's troops from the diagonal side.
This time the arrows were not a simple test, but three-dimensional and all-round coverage.
The crossbowmen and crossbowmen on the wall of the dock fired at Chen Wu's troops from above, while the crossbowmen in the orchard directly fired from the flanks, plus Zhou Rang and a hundred long archers on the front.
As a result, Chen Wu and other eight hundred Lujiang Shangjia were attacked from three directions.
Under such firepower, although each of these Lujiang Shangjia were protected by armor made by themselves, they still suffered heavy losses.
Especially the ballistas from the dock walls, each short spear was a massacre of the Lujiang soldiers.
The arrows continued, and there were wailings everywhere in Chen Wu's army formation. Five or six soldiers of the Chen clan protected Chen Wu and retreated step by step.
At this time, a thick short spear went directly through Chen Wu's thigh. The soldiers could only cut off the short spear and then retreat with Chen Wu on their backs.
But how could Chen Wu, who was already bleeding profusely, not know that his death was imminent.
He waved his hand to interrupt the songs, and then he said sadly:
"I was rash. You withdraw, leave some blood for me, Chen, in this battle. After I die, you will listen to my uncle."
Looking at the brothers who kept falling to the ground, Chen Wu was already a little dizzy. He tried his best to say the last words:
"You guys guard for me, don't let my head fall into the hands of the enemy."
The few people around him had tears in their eyes and understood what the family leader meant, so they packed up their cards and surrounded Chen Wu in the circle.
Arrows were flying outside, and the troops tried hard to buy time for Chen Wu.
Chen Wu pulled out a dagger from his side, faced the Lujiang River in the south, then raised the dagger back, looked at the world with nostalgia again, and then inserted the dagger in his chin.
In the third year of Taiwu, on May 28th, at noon, the young hero Chen Wu committed suicide at Lijiabi.
Chen Wu died, but the war continued.
After Chen Wu's death, the command of Jiangxia Army fell on his uncle Chen Min. He did not choose to listen to Chen Wu's last words, but continued to attack the left wing of Taishan Army.
The reason is not complicated. Just like the military leader Li Tong at this moment, everyone is in the game and can't help themselves at all.
At this time, the Jiangxia army learned their previous lesson. They carried a large number of cards and finally jumped into the tomb forest. There were about 600 Jiangxia soldiers and about the same Taishan army fighting together.
When Jiang Xia's army launched another attack on the left wing, Ding Feng was also advancing on the right wing.
Responsible for cooperating with Ding Feng was a cavalry army of about 800 riders. They rode westward along a forest road, preparing to slowly detour towards the right wing of the Taishan Army.
Outside the forest, Li Tong transferred the crossbows he carried to the front line and built a small crossbow position here.
The ballista squad then launched an attack on the Taishan Army in the forest to the north. Most of their arrows were blocked by the dense forest, but they covered Ding Feng's troops who were detouring through the forest.
The dense forest to the north is relatively primitive, so the two thousand sword soldiers deployed here are more suitable for such terrain.
When the ballista position was firing towards the dense forest on the north side, several Taishan sabers who were leaning behind saw the thunder and rain falling in front, so they went to look for some berries in the forest on the edge.
This was discovered by their team general, who immediately said angrily:
"Get back to your position. If you dare to leave privately again, I will deal with you according to military law."
In fact, this team will protect them, and they will be in the rear. If they are seen by those who are in charge of the law, these sword soldiers will be beheaded immediately.
So, several people stopped eating the berries and immediately ran back to their positions.
At this moment, a burst of arrows suddenly shot out from the forest to the east, shooting down these people directly.
The general in the team was shocked, drew out his sword and prepared to fight, but at this time a crossbow arrow was inserted straight into his neck. The chaos continued in the back formation of the sword players. They all picked up the cards on the ground and looked for the enemy.
At this time, a crossbow team ran out of the forest. One of the generals was holding a crossbow. Every time he fired a crossbow, someone handed the strung crossbow to him, and the crossbowmen behind him followed. Winding.
In this way, this general seemed to be carrying a rapid-fire repeating crossbow, and no fewer than ten people died under his crossbow arrows along the way.
After arriving at Taishan's army, the general drew out two Huanshou swords and slashed left and right like a storm.
Behind him, more and more Yuan troops rushed out of the forest in a steady stream.
Soon, Taishan Saber, who was attacked from the rear, had to retreat towards the dock wall due to its absolute disadvantage in numbers.
At this time, Wei Zhou, who was commanding on the side of the dock wall, saw the collapse of the Nanlin position, and immediately sent a hundred men from inside the dock wall to ride forward to cover the big spearmen entering the wall from the west.
There are only two gates on the east and west walls of this dock, and the retreating swordsmen can only enter the wall from the west.
The sudden appearance of the Taishan Army's cavalry panicked the prominent Ding Fengjun, and the original pursuer suddenly became an evader.
But the Taishan Army's assault cavalry did not dare to pursue them too close, because they also saw the enemy's assault cavalry speeding over from the dense forest.
Therefore, after defeating the enemy's pursuers, the hundred cavalry decisively circled back to the west gate and retreated into the wall.
But even with the cover of the assault cavalry, most of the swordsmen still could not retreat to the west in time, so they ran to the south wall and formed an array on the spot under the cover of the crossbowmen above.
At this time, in the dense forest, Ding Feng was riding a war horse and commanding his troops to move forward. As for the spoils here, Pao Ze at the back was responsible for cleaning them.
In this way, Ding Feng urged the Lujiang soldiers to slowly move out from the forest, preparing to defeat the defeated army under the west wall first.
Ding Feng's forehead was injured from the fight in the forest, and the blood would not stop. He bandaged it slightly with a ribbon and continued to fight.
Ding Feng has such a character, blood will not make him afraid, it will only stimulate him to become more crazy.
However, the progress of the battlefield was not in line with Ding Feng's wishes. Although they defeated the enemy in Beilin, they did not eliminate the enemy's resistance. They were even able to reorganize under the barrier.
Just now, one of his battalions launched an attack on the enemy troops under the wall, but were quickly defeated by the Taishan Army's crossbows on the wall.
Especially that damn ballista, it caused too much damage to my side.
Under such unequal damage, Ding Feng had no choice but to give up the attack. They didn't even dare to be exposed outside the forest because the damn ballista could still hit them.
In this way, Ding Feng could only report the battlefield situation to Li Tong in the middle, and then wait in this forest to wait for the next order from the Chinese army.
In fact, Li Tong has been observing the battlefield. Whether it is the defeat of Chen Wu on the right wing or the stalemate on the left wing of Ding Feng, he has seen it all.
He felt both angry and sad at the same time.
The anger is that judging from the current situation on the battlefield, if you want to break through Li Jiabi and reach the central battlefield, you must join forces with Li Zheng's troops to attack. It is impossible to take down Lijiabi with our own troops alone.
What makes him sad is that he never expected that Chen Wu would die here in battle. This young Jianghuai warrior was very important to him, but...
Thinking of this, he was filled with anger towards Li Zheng who stopped moving forward.
So, he roared, and was about to question Li Zheng with his war horse. His general tried to stop him, but failed to catch him, so he could only follow closely with a group of knights.
It's about four or five miles from Lijiabi to Li Zheng, and it only takes a short ride on horseback.
But at this moment, the flames of war have broken out in the entire Yiluo land. No one knows that there will be an armed force lurking in that dense forest. Therefore, it is actually very dangerous for Li Tong to lead a small group of cavalry through the battlefield.
In fact, this is indeed the case. When the battle broke out here in Lijiabi, there were groups of sloppy hunting teams lurking in the nearby jungles and grass.
These people are people who live nearby and are afraid of war, but at the same time they also understand that every samurai who falls behind can make them a fortune.
Not to mention, if they can hunt down a general's head and claim credit from the enemy, they can become a master.
So under the combined effect of fear and greed, these hunting teams lurked around the battlefield, like a group of greedy hyenas coveting the warriors on the battlefield.
At this moment, Li Tong was running with his cavalry, and the dense forest on both sides was full of green eyes. These people were thinking about Li Tong and his group, but they also knew that they were not easy to mess with.
At this moment, a knight on the outside of the cavalry stepped on something unknown and fell into a deep pit.
Then there was a scream, and the knight was stabbed to death by a bamboo stick in the pit.
Li Tong was about to turn around when he heard Bandang's screams, but the general beside him quickly stopped him:
"Military Lord, keep walking and ignore it."
Li Tong understood that what the general said was right. These peasants and soldiers were just a bunch of weeds. They could not be killed at all, and even the killing was meaningless.
So Li Tong took out his bow angrily and shot three arrows at the dense forest, followed by three screams. Then he reluctantly led the cavalry and continued running in the direction of Li Zheng.
After Li Zheng and the others left, a large group of hunters emerged from the dense forest. They rushed into the pit like rats, cut off the knight's head, and took away all the man's clothes and wealth.
……
A moment later, Li Tong and others finally arrived at Li Zheng's position.
There, as many as 10,000 people of right guard troops were stretching on the flat ground. On the periphery of the position, there were small formations. After seeing Li Tong's cavalry, they subconsciously raised their crossbows to attack. Shoot at this group of knights.
This is the danger of traveling between two armies in a war. Not only do you have to guard against rioters and hunters on the periphery of the battlefield, but you also have to be shot by friendly forces as enemies.
In other words, these right guards knew General Li Tong's banner, so they all shouted:
"No shooting, no shooting."
So, Li Tong led the cavalry and continued running along the horse track separated by the military formation.
Suddenly, an arrow shot out from the small formations on both sides and passed directly over Li Tong's head.
The generals beside Li Tong quickly raised their banners and continued to protect Li Tong.
On their left, where the arrows were shot, a military officer was hitting a crossbowman on the back with a short stick and cursed:
"Who asked you to shoot? It was Li Shuai of the rear guard."
The crossbowman who shot the arrow muttered:
"Accidentally, I was too nervous."
Yes, he was just careless. If Li Tong died under this arrow, the cause of his death would be this. What else could happen? The worst case scenario is that the crossbowman's life will be paid to you, Li Tong. Do you want it?
The military officer just taught him a lesson, and then nothing happened.
At this time, Li Tong could already see Li Zheng's clan flag and banner. There, a group of Qiancheng Li clan generals were sitting on their horses, looking at him.
Li Tong was so angry that he jumped off his horse and ran towards Li Zheng.