Chapter 778 Long Xiang
Time passed little by little, and a total of 160,000 soldiers were engaged in an all-out battle in this small Yiluo River Valley. The two sides were fighting each other, life and death, and there was a lot of anxiety.
When Chen Zhong's troops of Yuan Zhongjun were defeated, on the Taishan Army's side, the Long Xiang Army, which was responsible for the main attack on Yuan Jun's left-wing position, was also fighting hard.
As the rightmost army on the Taishan Army's front, the Long Xiang Army has been under tremendous pressure since the beginning of the war.
To their west, that is, the rightmost section of Yuan's army, Chunyu Qiong united the four armies of Liu Xun, Feng Ji, Gao Gan, and Guo Dan to press over from the side. And directly in front of Long Xiang's army, Yuan Shu's army Veteran Ji Ling.
It can be said that the Longxiang Army is the military formation that is under the greatest pressure in the Taishan Army.
……
On the front line where the most intense fighting took place between Longxiang's army and Ji Ling's Nanyang soldiers, platoons from both sides poked at each other. There were shouts and curses everywhere, and platoonmen were constantly stabbed and fell to the ground exhausted.
The rifles used by Ji Ling's Nanyang army were about the same length as those of Taishan's army, and Nanyang had been the imperial hometown since this dynasty and was extremely wealthy. In addition, Ji Ling was Yuan Shu's dearest general, so his army was in terms of equipment and morale. Shang Ye is not inferior to Long Xiangjun at all.
This also resulted in that when the Taishan Army in various parts of the front had faint breakthroughs, Long Xiang's army was still unable to move forward. Moreover, with Chun Yuqiong on the right leading Yuan's army's right wing, they had slowly outflanked them, leaving Long Xiang behind. The army's time is running out.
At this time, under the bushes of thorny rifles in the front row, Xu Mao, the leading general of the Longxiang Army's front battalion, was looking desperately at the staggered rifles above, and then couldn't help but glance at the companion who fell next to him.
Xu Mao is the biological son of Xu Zhong, the leader of the Longxiang Army. Like most of the generals of the Taishan Army, Xu Zhong also sent his son to the front line for training. This is how Xu Mao was assigned to the Longxiang Army as a soldier. Will be practiced in the future.
Just now, in the first round of stabbing between them and the opposite Yuan Jun, Xu Mao's thigh was cut open by a brave Yuan Jun halberdier.
Xu Mao reluctantly killed the man, but he still collapsed on the ground due to the huge wound. His deputy, who was also his companion, immediately pulled Xu Mao's collar and pulled him back.
But the Nanyang soldiers on the opposite side were really very effective. They didn't care about Pao Ze who was lying on the ground and wailing. They held their heads high and stabbed into the dead with rifles and halberds.
Xu Mao's deputy right officer was knocked down like this. He didn't even know where Bandang was injured. He only saw Bandang curled up on the ground in extreme pain.
Xu Mao was very close to the right deputy and could clearly see that every muscle on Bandang's face was extremely shriveled in pain.
He tried to use his elbows to get closer to Bandang, but just as he was about to move, a strong force came from behind, and then Xu Mao's body was pulled behind.
At this time, there were two soldiers behind him, using their nooses to pull Xu Mao away from the battlefield.
As soon as Xu Mao was pulled to the back row, he cried:
"And Abin, Abin is still there, bring him back too."
Several soldiers nodded and used the same method to pull down the deputy right officer in front, but at this time he was no longer breathing. He left the last breath of his life in this source of Chinese civilization, glorious Dead.
Later, two strong men carried Xu Mao on a stretcher to the field medical center in the rear. Then several strong women took care of Xu Mao and waited for the medical staff to come and treat him.
An injury like Xu Mao's was not fatal, but he had also lost his ability to fight. From now on, this decisive battle had nothing to do with him.
……
After all, Xu Mao was the son of the military leader, so when he was injured and returned to the rear, some of the guards immediately rushed to Xu Mao to report the situation.
At this time, under the military banner, Xu Zhong frowned and observed the situation of his right formation.
There, the situation is already very pessimistic.
Although Yuan Jun's right wing has not yet pressed forward, their crossbows and ballistae have been fired, and a huge amount of arrows are covering Long Xiang's right formation.
Just now, Xu Zhong's right general had one of his legs broken by a giant spear and was dragged down.
When passing Xu Zhong's banner, the fighting man who had joined the army with Xu Zhong since the Yingyin period had tears in his eyes and did not dare to look at Xu Zhong at all.
He felt that he could not live up to this big brother and had discredited Long Xiangjun. So he let the strong men on a stretcher carry him to the rear, and later died of his injuries in the medical camp.
The right formation of the Longxiang Army did not collapse due to the lack of the battalion general, because the deputy battalion general took over the command and flag again, but the casualties of the right formation continued.
Although most of the arrows either whizzed past their heads or were blocked by cards and armor, there were too many enemy troops surrounded by Yuan Jun from the right.
A total of four armies, that is, close to 20,000 people, concentrated their crossbow arrows on Long Xiang's right army position.
Every moment, someone from Long Xiang's army fell to the ground. Just looking at the team flags of each team, you can tell that four team flags have fallen and have not been put up again. This means that all their military-level warriors are dead. Light.
But because Xu Zhong of the Chinese Army still did not order a retreat, these right-wing officers and soldiers must continue to stick here.
At this moment, Xu Zhong's eyes were very painful. He was not the kind of person who would use the blood of his brothers to pave the way for himself, but he understood that the reason why Long Xiang Army was here was to bear all this.
Xu Zhong was already grieving in his heart, but at this moment, a horseman suddenly came from behind and told him that his son Xu Mao, who was fighting on the front line, was injured and sent to the medical center.
His eyes suddenly became moist.
Xu Mao was a bitter boy. He was born when he was a ranger in his hometown. But later Xu Zhong led a group of brothers to join the king who had just broken the main force of the Han army.
The war was fierce and dangerous, and they had to follow the army to fight. The children were young, so they were left behind in their hometown.
After that, the child grew up with his mother in his hometown. At first, although there was chaos in Yingchuan, everyone was unwilling to provoke it because of the relationship between the Xu family and the Taishan Army.
But soon, the situation in Yuzhou changed. As the local tycoons fully surrendered to Yuan Shao, they began to systematically purge the remnants of the Yellow Turbans under their rule. It was also during this process that the Xu family was betrayed by local tyrants and was forced to leave some members of the family to join the Taishan Army.
After that, the powerful army from the county town directly purged the Xu family's village. Many of the children in this village were rangers who joined Xu Zhong to recruit the Taishan Army.
That time, Xu Zhong's family was destroyed, and Xu Mao and his children finally escaped. These people begged all the way to Heji, where they found the Taishan Army.
It can be said that Xu Zhong had strong feelings for his son. Although he later married another wife and had children in Hebei, in his heart, this son was his heir.
But no matter how much Xu Zhong wanted to see his son, he couldn't leave here.
He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with indifference.
He didn't say anything to the guard, but continued to watch the battlefield ahead. Xu Zhong's lieutenant jumped off the chariot, said a few words to the guard, and then asked him to leave. Afterwards, the man held his head high and said to Xu Zhong:
"Military Commander, judging from the current situation on the battlefield, our army may not be able to hold on much longer. Otherwise, we should ask the king for reinforcements."
Xu Zhong did not answer him, but suddenly shouted an order to the guards around him:
"Now that life and death are at stake, everyone must stick to this banner. Whoever dares to leave his post without authorization will die!"
All the soldiers sang loudly, then gathered around the chariot and waited silently.
Seeing Xu Zhong like this, the deputy general could only sigh silently, then jumped on the chariot again and fought side by side with Xu Zhong.
……
At the rear of Long Xiang's army, Yu Jin had been observing the situation on the right.
At this time, he and Tian Jun were standing on the chariot, where they had a clear view of the situation on the right-wing battlefield.
Tian Jun looked at it for a while and then spoke:
"I'm afraid Xu Zhong won't be able to hold on for long. One thing we didn't expect is that the number of Yuan Jun's crossbows is too large."
Yu Jin shook his head and explained to Tian Jun:
"Our army did not expect this. After all, the Central Plains has produced strong bows and hard crossbows since ancient times. Whether it is Chen Guo or Ying Ru, they are the best crossbows in the world. In fact, no matter how we plan this battle, our numbers It’s just that we are at a disadvantage, and the enemy’s current use of flanking tactics will create this situation.”
Tian Jun pursed his lips. At this time, he saw another camp flag poured down by Long Xiangjun, and finally couldn't help but said:
"I will bring the assault cavalry to provide support, otherwise Long Xiang's army will collapse and our entire front will be exposed to the enemy's crossbows."
Yu Jin squinted his eyes and was still watching, but he was not looking at Long Xiang's army, but at Chunyu Qiong's four outflanking armies. He was looking at their formations and thinking about Chun Yuqiong.
From the current point of view, this Chunyu Qiong has some tricks.
At the beginning of the battle, the right wing of Yuan Army took action, but they did not directly encircle the right side of Taishan Army. Instead, they first gathered at the foot of the slope, then formed a column, marched directly forward, and then arrived at Long After taking Xiang's right side, he made another turn.
Chunyu Qiong's detour directly interrupted Yu Jin's prepared attack plan.
Before the war, when Yu Jin and Tian Jun inspected the battlefield, they discovered that there was a ballista position in front of Chun Yuqiong's formation.
Of course there is no problem with the enemy's arrangement like this. After all, in order to pursue a longer range, it is understandable to pull the ballista in front of the formation.
But Yu Jin saw the fighter plane, because this ballista position was exactly on the marching path of Chunyu Qiong's army. If Chunyu Qiong wanted to surround his right wing, he had to pass through this ballista position.
As for Chunyu Qiong's legion, there are more than 20,000 people. With such a large army marching, and artillery positions blocking it in front, the army can only be dispersed into narrow columns, and then pass through the artillery carriages. .
The continuous flow of people will definitely hinder the launch of the ballista position. And this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that once Yuan Jun marches in such a team, chaos will inevitably occur.
This gave our own cavalry an opportunity to attack. Originally, the enemy dared to march because of the support of the ballista position. But now that their own march blocked the launch of the ballista, it was a perfect opportunity to attack.
But now, Chunyu Qiong chose to bypass the ballista position. Although he took a lot of mistakes, the Taishan Army failed to seize the opportunity.
Yu Jin looked at it for a while and finally said to Tian Jun:
"Now is not the opportunity for a sudden cavalry attack. The strength of the cavalry is different from that of the infantry. Once it is spread out, it will be difficult to control it back. So we only have one chance, and now is not the time."
Tian Jun himself is a cavalry general, and of course he is well aware of the use of cavalry. He knows that now is not the best time to use cavalry, but the brothers' troops are suffering huge casualties, and they cannot just watch.
Tian Jun glanced at Yu Jin and said angrily:
"Then what do you say? The troops directly under our control are these assault cavalry. If we don't use them, we won't have anyone left. We can't ask for reinforcements from the king now."
Yu Jin thought for a while, called five or six guards, and ordered:
"Go to the ballista battalion and ask them to bring the ballistae and stone-fired carts to the Longxiang Army, and have them directly bombard the opponent's ballista position."
"Go to each army and ask them to quickly assemble a group of long-term workers. Let's all gather 500 people in each army under my account."
After a few orders were given, the four right-wing militaries under Yu Jin's command responded quickly.
First, Zhang Pei of the ballista battalion rushed to the left wing of Long Xiang's army with sixty ballistas, and then quickly responded to the enemy's ballista position protruding on the battlefield on the right.
Then the Tiance Army, the Zhenwu Army, and the Weiwu Army each came down with 500 longbowmen. Because Yuan Jun concentrated most of the arrows on the Longxiang Army, the pressure on these three armies was not great.
Among them, Luo Gang of the mighty army defeated two enemy battalions just now and gained a big advantage.
So when Yu Jin's command was issued to the three armies, they quickly gathered five hundred long archers and sent them to Yu Jin's tent.
As soon as this side took over, Yu Jin ordered a crossbow general under his command to temporarily unite the 1,500 longbowmen and let them support the Long Xiang army.
As these aids arrived in batches, the already shaky Long Xiang Army finally stabilized its position.
At the same time, Chunyu Qiong on the opposite side stopped marching when the army reached about 200 steps away. Instead, he chose to use the crossbow in his hand to move forward and strike with arrows at Long Xiang's army.
But as a large number of marquees and fences were erected, the damage caused by Yuan Jun's arrows to Long Xiang's army gradually became smaller. Even with the support of 1,500 longbowmen, Long Xiang's army counterattacked. It began to cause damage to Chunyu Qiong's four armies.
If Chunyu Qiong had just chosen to shoot back with a crossbow, he would definitely not have been able to defeat Benglongxiang's army. But why didn't he choose to attack with a short force despite having a huge military advantage?
It turned out that Yuan Jun's frontal front was constantly retreating at this time.
A necessary prerequisite for the success of outflanking is that you must hold on to the front. Otherwise, you will be penetrated in the middle before the two sides are encircled, and then outflanking will have no effect.
Therefore, Chunyu Qiong did not dare to take risks and still focused on harassment.
Time passed bit by bit, and soon half an hour passed. Yu Jin, who had been observing the enemy's movements, suddenly shouted:
"The opportunity has come! Attack with a sudden attack, quickly!"