At the beginning of the rise of Chihu, the backbone of the Chihu was the elite cavalry that swept across the Tibetan tribes and expelled the Khitan forces from the northwest Tibetan tribes. However, after crossing the Great Xianbei Mountains, they headed towards the eastern foot of the Great Xianbei Mountains and the heartland controlled by the Khitans to the east. During the attack, facing the complicated rivers, hills and many strong fortresses at the eastern foot of the Great Xianbei Mountains, some of the cavalry had to dismount and fight.
However, for the Chihu people, it was a waste of resources to dismount the cavalry and use it to attack fortresses.
At this time, Chi Hu gradually incorporated the captured soldiers of the Khitans and affiliated Tibetan tribes into the infantry, and recruited and plundered Dingzhuang from Tibetan tribes north and south of Daqing Mountain and west of Jinshan Mountain to attack the city and build the stronghold.
In the past few years, these infantrymen formed by people with various names have gradually matured in cooperating with the main cavalry of the Red Husband to fight in all directions.
In the early morning of October 29th, the seventh year of Tianxuan, the sky and the earth were covered with white snow. This was also the third day when Chihu officially declared war on the Southern Dynasty. Infantrymen composed of people of various names, holding swords, spears and shields, Under the cover of the cavalry on both wings, they first launched an attack on the right camp of the Yan Army from the west wing.
In order to prevent Tianxiong's army from being besieged in Datong City, the main force of Yan's Defeating Army was stationed outside the city. However, after October entered, the land on both sides of the Hui River was frozen solid, and the trees nearby that could be cut down to build camps were extremely limited. , the fence built in a short period of time was quite crude, and was soon torn apart by the red infantry.
The Xuanwu Army and the Xiaosheng Army, as the elites of the Western Army, still had a certain fighting capacity when defending the city wall. They did not retreat at first, and were able to engage in a fierce battle with the Chihu infantry around the simple fence.
However, Xuanwu and Xiaosheng's two armies combined had only more than 5,000 cavalry. Under the leadership of Liu Yan and other generals, they went into battle several times, but were killed by the powerful red cavalry elites and fled back disgraced. Tens of thousands of generals How many days can you hold on to a small and crude fortress?
On November 3, the trebuchets captured by the Red Army infantry from Linhuang, Dading and other places were also transported to the Datong battlefield and assembled for use in the attack on the fence. In just one day, several fences in the right army camp were The strongholds fell one after another.
When thousands of generals of the right army fled towards Datong City and other barracks, they were slaughtered wantonly by the Red Hussars who came in. In just one day, seven to eight thousand corpses were abandoned in the valley between Datong City and Huihe River. On the Pingchuan, the blood melted the snow, and it was frozen solid in the extremely cold weather, as if the earth had been torn open with shocking wounds.
At this time, Liu Shizhong, Cai Yuanyou and the others did not dare to hope that they could recapture the North City Gate from the Red Husbands. They held Datong City until the imperial court organized new reinforcements to go north through Yanmen. They saw that Zhazhai could not provide them with any sense of security at all. , held on until the next night, and took advantage of the bright moon and few stars in the night sky to lead the main force of the Yan army to break through in the direction of Yingzhou.
In order to confuse the Chihu people, Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou also drove tens of thousands of Han people and Datong surrender troops to break out in the direction of Shuozhou and Yingzhou.
There was no cloud in the dark blue sky, and the earth was covered with white snow. The late night was like a dim dusk, and the visibility was very high. The more than 100,000 breakout soldiers and horses were like black lake water gushing out from the gate, flowing turbulently in all directions.
Xu Huai did not dare to let his limited elite scouts go deep into the chaotic battlefield on both sides of the Hui River. Therefore, he did not know how tragic it would be when the main force of the Yan army broke out on the south bank of the Hui River and was outflanked and intercepted by a large group of red cavalry. .
When the gorgeous morning glow filled the sky on the top of the distant mountains, Xu Huai stood in a sparse forest with fallen branches and leaves at the eastern foot of Jingong Mountain. At this time, he could see soldiers running and fleeing everywhere along the Hui River.
At this time, there were also thousands of red cavalry galloping on the south bank of the Huihe River with murderous intent.
In addition to preventing the defeated troops from escaping to Xingling (Changshan) in the south after crossing the frozen Huihe River, they also divided into dozens of groups of cavalry with more than a hundred people, constantly interspersing and killing among the defeated troops.
With their superb cavalry and accurate and fast archery skills, the Red Husband Cavalry left corpses bleeding in the snow. When encountering broken troops who had gathered together, the Red Husband Cavalry would not entangle or fight against them.
Having already won a complete victory, we will forcefully kill these defeated troops with unnecessary casualties.
However, with so many red cavalry intersecting each other, the group of broken troops were targeted, and their escape to the southwest became even slower.
Xu Huai, Wang Ju, Xu Xin'an, Yin Peng and others hid in the sparse forest and watched for a long time before sliding down the steep slope behind them and walking deep into the valley.
"How is the battle situation outside?" Xu Xin, Yan Xiaoyi, Yuan Lei, Wu Qihai, Wei Daya and others who were waiting deep in the valley came around and asked.
Because Huairen City is located in the southeast of this valley, Xiao Linshi's troops still have two thousand soldiers and horses stationed in it. Not to mention the defeated troops fleeing to the southwest of Lanzhou, the pursuing Red Hussars also deliberately avoid this place.
Bian, Wang Xian, Yuan Lei, and Wei Daya were hiding in the valley but could not hear anything going on outside.
Before the Chihu people officially launched their offensive, Xu Huai led 300 cavalrymen from Shuozhou and lurked in the valley at the east foot of Jinggong Mountain at night. In order to avoid being exposed as much as possible, everyone rode white horses.
In addition, the generals all wore white robes and white cloaks to keep out the cold outside of their armor.
"Not so good?" Xu Huai didn't know how to describe the tragic scene they saw while standing in the sparse forest on the mountain cliff. Sitting on the rocks where the snow had been swept away, Xu Huai talked in detail about the tragic pursuit and defeat on both sides of the Huihe River.
condition.
Xu Huai originally thought that the enemy cavalry would chase and defeat them, and the scene would be quite chaotic. They could choose the right time to fight out of the valley, and use the super-high mobility of a small group of elite men and horses to bite a small group of enemy cavalry and attack.
, so that the defeated soldiers can escape more smoothly towards Shuozhou.
Xu Huai did not expect that the Chihu people were very good at chasing the enemy. The main force of the cavalry chasing them on the west flank was not dispersed. They were mainly concentrated on the south bank of the Hui River. On the one hand, they tried their best to prevent the rout from heading south to Changshan.
The mountains were fleeing. On the other hand, there were about 1,500 or 600 cavalrymen advancing westward at a faster speed. It was obvious that they wanted to go directly in front of the defeated soldiers and block the escape route of the defeated soldiers towards Shuozhou.
If they were to break out from Jingong Mountain at this time, they would be easily targeted by the main force of the enemy cavalry.
Xu Huai hoped that the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain would try to engage the Red Husband's cavalry as soon as possible, but he was not arrogant enough to actively attract the hatred of the main force of the Red Husband's cavalry.
Not to mention anything else, Xu Huai didn't even think that if the 1,500 to 1,500 elite Red Hussars cavalry were rushing towards Shuozhou, they would have a 70% to 80% chance of victory if Tongbai Mountain soldiers were to annihilate them.
The Xishan Fan cavalry they had encountered before were all quite good at riding and shooting. The elite cavalry of the Red Husbands would only be better at riding and shooting. The Red Husbands were roaming across the desert grasslands, but what was truly terrifying was their maneuverability in clusters.
Ability, which is tempered by countless bloody battles.
Tongbai Mountain soldiers have now been converted into horse infantry. There are six or seven hundred people who are proficient in swords and bows on horseback, but they have not experienced real cavalry training. Why should they fight with large groups of red cavalry in the hinterland of the river valley plain?
"How about we do nothing and wait until nightfall to fight back to Shuozhou?" Wang Xian and others asked with some frustration after hearing Xu Huai talk about the situation on both sides of the Huihe River.
The Huihe River Valley in Huairen and Jincheng is nearly a hundred miles deep from north to south. No matter how strong the red cavalry are, they will not lay down a dragnet. It is quite easy for them to find a gap and escape back to Shuozhou.
Even if you are intercepted by a small group of enemy cavalry, it is not a problem to fight your way out.
However, they had been planning for so long mainly because they hoped to attract more defeated troops and escape back to Jingyuan, Huanqing and other places via Xishan, so as to accumulate strength for the subsequent Battle of King Qin.
It would be really frustrating if you have been preparing for so long but can't do anything about it in the end.
"Don't be anxious," Wang Ju said solemnly, "Although the Red Hu people attach more importance to the West Wing than we thought, they only have 50,000 soldiers and horses in the Huihe River Valley. The main force of the Red Hu soldiers is
To occupy the outside of Datong City, the main focus should be on the Yingzhou and Yanmen lines - that is the main direction for the Yan army to escape. And Xiao Linshi has no intention of surrendering to the Chihu people.
There is no way that the soldiers and horses of the west wing can gallop and kill without scruples on the north bank of Huihe River. Regardless of whether the Chihu people are now thinking of driving more defeated troops towards Jingong Mountain, so that more troops and horses can be gathered to Yun in the future.
Shuo can be annihilated more calmly, or the defeated troops will have to flee to Jingong Mountain after seeing that the south and west are blocked by enemy cavalry. As long as the defeated troops gather enough at the southern foot of Jingong Mountain, the enemy
If the cavalry doesn’t dare to pursue them in a big way, we should still have a chance to take action!”
Xu Huai thought about it, too. Even if the routes to the south were blocked by enemy cavalry, the defeated troops fleeing to the west still wanted to escape to Lanzhou, so they mainly moved southwest along the Hui River.
Everyone tried their best to avoid being driven to the Jingong Mountain in the north.
Along the Hui River was a flat plain, with enemy cavalry rushing in and out quickly. It was easy for small groups of broken troops to form a group, but it was impossible to gather on a large scale. The Red Husbands would never give them this chance.
However, as long as they are forced to flee to Jingong Mountain in the north, the rugged hills and mountains will become their best cover and will be able to limit the enemy's cavalry from killing them unscrupulously, not to mention Jincheng and Huairen on the south side of Jingong Mountain.
They are all still under the control of Xiao Linshi's troops; and Shuozhou between Jingong Mountain and Xishan Mountain is under the control of Tongbai Mountain soldiers.
The Xiaosheng Army and the Xuanwu Army, as the elite of the Western Army, were better than the generals of the Tianxiong Army who threw away their armor and weapons one by one before climbing over the wall and escaping from Datong City.
Although the soldiers of the Western Army have poor military discipline, and the officers and generals are also very arrogant, they have been fighting against the party members for many years. Most of the soldiers still know that swords, shields and armor are their last support on the way to escape, and most of them do not throw away them all.
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This makes the red cavalry, in order to avoid unnecessary casualties when pursuing and intercepting, still mainly shoot with bows and crossbows, and do not seek to annihilate many defeated soldiers in the first time.
Xu Huai also saw just now that there were many powerful soldiers and officers in the Xiaosheng Army and Xuanwu Army, and they were usually surrounded by dozens or even twenty or thirty people fleeing in groups. These people were relatively safe and could be pursued towards the west wing.
The Red Guards Cavalry will not rush to kill them.
As long as these people can escape to Jingong Mountain in time, as long as they have a chance to breathe, they can gather more people in a group. At that time, it will be the time to dispatch them...
They still have to be patient and hide in the valley first!
