The camp at the eastern foot of Qizi Mountain stood on the official road. Two miles of shallow trenches were dug into the hard soil that was frozen solid on both sides and erected with wooden fences.
If the Luqi wanted to quickly move south from the east side of the Qizi Mountain camp, they could only go through the bumpy and undulating wilderness.
The brightness of torch illumination is limited. Generally speaking, the cavalry's forced march will be slow.
However, even though more than a thousand captive cavalry had just experienced a very high-intensity forced march before, and had only rested for more than two hours before regrouping in Liulingou Village, they were marching south at a faster speed than Shen Zhenye. Yuan Lei and the others imagined that is much faster.
In order to suppress the evil, Yuan Lei led two hundred cavalry and lurked in the woods on a low ridge on the east side of the valley after dark. When they saw this scene, they frowned deeply.
At the same time, Xu Wuqi and Chen Zixiao also decisively lit the piles of bonfires deployed on the east side of the camp.
We had expected that this place would become a battlefield, so we dug many horse trap pits, buried some horse trap stakes, and piled up a lot of firewood in preparation for night battles.
Groups of infantry also filed out of the camp at the same time, quickly extending eastward, preparing to form formations to intercept the captives.
Although the messenger sent by Xu Wuqi has not yet arrived, Shen Zhenye, Yuan Lei also saw the intention of the main camp: he would rather let the enemy infantry swarm over the camp to take it away, but he should do everything possible to block it. More than a thousand prisoners were riding southward.
However, the distance from Liulin Gouzhai to the scheduled interception battlefield is less than six miles. With the speed of the Luqi's southward march, when the Qizishan defenders came out of the camp, did they have time to assemble and form an array?
Chen Zhenye and Yuan Lei looked south. They could only barely tell from the firelight that the storming of the Han army camp in Yunzhou was in full swing, and there might still be some time before the final victory or defeat.
"You lead your troops here and wait patiently for the opportunity. I will lead a hundred cavalry to intercept the captives first!" Shen Zhen'e gritted his teeth and said to Yuan Lei.
"The enemy cavalry's attention has not been completely attracted by the frontal interception battlefield. If I attack its flank now, it will only fall into a melee in advance and there will be no surprise effect!" Yuan Lei said in shock.
Their original plan was to take advantage of the fact that the captives were concentrating on besieging the camp, or when they were intercepted by formations of infantry in the open valley below, and then send troops to attack their flanks unprepared.
Only in this way can the best surprise effect be achieved.
Shen Zhene now decided to lead a hundred cavalry and kill the generals first. Facing the captive soldiers who were ten times his own and with stronger combat power, one can imagine how dangerous it would be.
"The cavalry moved south too fast, and the infantry came out of the camp. Not to mention forming a formation, it was easy to assemble the entire team. If so many people and horses are not prepared for anything, they will just fight in a melee. It will be too easy to be overwhelmed by the soldiers. ——At this time, we must slow down the enemy's cavalry!" Shen Zhen'e couldn't help but Yuan Lei said that he was the commander of the flanking ambush, so he immediately sent down the order and asked his generals to lead their horses and follow him ahead.
Shen Zhen'e did not expect that with just over a hundred cavalry, he could intercept the cavalry ten times his own from the front. He led his troops down the ridge without lighting torches. They walked through this path and the road was familiar. When you get to the edge of the forest, you hide in the dark and use your crossbow to shoot down the dozens of horsemen who are exploring the way.
Shen Zhen'e took the initiative to expose himself, and also wanted to alert the enemy and slow down the speed of the main force of the captive cavalry moving south - in comparison, the Xinzhou defenders were pressing towards the Qizi Mountain camp on foot, and their speed was much slower, even Within an hour, there was no need to think about whether they could reach the camp.
Shen Zhene still underestimated the Red Husbands, and underestimated the tactical qualities of even the middle and low-level generals among the Red Husbands.
Shen Zhen'e led his troops down the ridge. Although they were walking on a familiar road in the dark, with their horses in the saddle and without raising any fire, the movement through the forest and snow still aroused the suspicion of the dozens of captive scouts who were scouting the road.
Although the other party said that two or three people were hit by random arrows, they did not panic much and had no intention of retreating to distance themselves. Instead, they determined the direction and directly threw the torch in their hands, then took out their bows and drew arrows, pointing at the black figures. Just "swish" and shoot the bow.
The soldiers obviously anticipated that they might encounter an ambush on the way, and except for the hundreds of soldiers in the front line who sped up and rushed here to join them, the main force was not much disturbed.
While the main force of the captive troops advanced rapidly, more than a hundred captive cavalry on each wing spread out to the sides and front, intending to rush forward and engage in a melee while the infantry entering the intercepting battlefield had not yet gained a firm foothold.
Seeing this, Shen Zhen'e didn't care about the chests of the mounts beside him. He was hit by an arrow in each neck. He got on his horse and led his troops to the front to attack with dozens of cavalry scouts.
A dozen soldiers and scouts were in the front, already close to the edge of the interception battlefield. There were no torches, but they could barely distinguish the terrain on the left and right with the lighting of the bonfire in the distance.
They had no intention of outnumbering the enemy, so they pulled the reins and drove the horses diagonally. The hundreds of cavalrymen behind them quickly rushed up and fought with Shen Zhen's men - they wanted to fight for time to prepare for the follow-up. The main force moves south to clear the way, at least not to be intercepted by the hundreds of cavalry ambushes.
Chen Zixiao, Xu Wuqi and others entered the interception battlefield first on horseback. They were three to four hundred paces apart and could not tell the faces of Shen Zhene or Yuan Lei. However, judging from the size of the cavalry who took the initiative to intercept, they knew that Shen Zhene or Yuan Lei were unknown. Yuan Lei separated half of the ambush troops and took the initiative to expose them. At this time, seeing that it was impossible to arouse the enemy, they did not hesitate to use this small force to confuse the captives and cavalry. The purpose was to gain more precious opportunities for the infantry to quickly enter the interception battlefield and form formations.
"Grab the spear and the big shield in your hand, and don't tremble. The soldiers don't have one leg or one hand longer than you. When you see the sword coming, raise your shield to block it. Don't give in, don't give in. Remember, everyone, If you are close to the people around you, there is nothing to be afraid of if the horse's hooves come over you! The spear holder stabs the horse first! Grab the spear in your hand and stab the opponent's horse. Such a big target, let alone the darkness I can’t see clearly, and I’m not telling you to stab a horse|egg.”
Xu Wuqi and Chen Zixiao were galloping back and forth, shouting at the top of their lungs, and vulgarly ordering the soldiers to hold on to their swords, shields, spears and spears and organize their ranks.
They could not wait for all the troops to enter the interception battlefield and form formation before taking action. When they saw that two groups of troops were the first to complete the assembly, they ordered them to go forward to engage in the battle.
To the east of Qizi Mountain Camp, the relatively open valley is only four or five miles wide, but the terrain for more than ten miles to the east is still not very rugged. They entered the open valley to form a formation. If they simply thought about passive interception, the enemy cavalry could still Continue to detour to the low ridge area to the east.
They don't know what the fighting situation is like in the Yunzhou Han army's camp. As long as the defenders haven't completely given up resistance and asked hundreds of soldiers to rush to the nearby side, they don't even need to enter the Yunzhou Han army's camp to meet up. They will be extremely worried. This greatly boosted the morale of the defenders, making the battle situation more complex, chaotic, and unpredictable.
Their only mission is to intercept this rogue cavalry at all costs.
"Yang Qiye, hold the back line here!"
It is impossible for all infantry to engage in melee.
In the current situation, the troops who are assembled first must go forward to engage in the battle, but at the same time, they are also buying time for the troops who will leave camp later to assemble a stronger formation.
The defenders of Qizi Mountain were actually the only ones who could actually form a formation to resist the attack of the Qizi Mountain troops.
The others, whether they were prisoners of war from Tianxiong's army or the Luliang Mountain rebels who had come down from the mountain to defect in the past two days, were more suitable for a melee.
After giving a military order to Yang Qiye, Xu Wuqi and Chen Zixiao, surrounded by Wang Hua and dozens of other bodyguards, put their long spears under their arms and charged towards the enemy's formation.
The lighting provided by the campfire was limited. More than two thousand horses and horses were fighting together in the dark, and outside the camp, the traditional command system could no longer play any role.
Yang Qiye can take charge of the rear formation. All Xu Wuqi and Chen Zixiao can do is go into battle in person, kill more captives, and slightly reduce the pressure on the generals on the left and right.
Of course, if the generals on the left and right cannot resist and are slaughtered or dispersed, they will also be swallowed up by hundreds or thousands of captives.
"The ambition is to eat the meat of Huns when hungry, and to drink the blood of Huns when they are thirsty -!"
There was no chance to use a well-organized and tight infantry array to hold back the Japanese soldiers before the interception formation. The main forces of both sides were already fighting as one group, and the significance of launching a surprise attack from the flanks was lost.
Yuan Lei did not wait for a better opportunity, shouted loudly, and led his troops out of the woods, roaring the prescribed command, and attacked the flanks of the prisoners.
On the chaotic battlefield, the number of infantry seemed to be high, but the disadvantage was still too great. He led more than a hundred cavalry into the battlefield, and at least he could regain some of the disadvantage.
There were as many as 6,000 defenders of the Han army camp in Yunzhou, and Xu Huai did not allow them to break out from Beiyuan Gate to attack the Qizi Mountain camp to join the reinforcements. The trapped beasts' will to resist was much stronger than imagined.
In addition to the hopelessness of breaking out of the encirclement, Li Chulin and other Khitan generals also believed that the Southern Dynasty was about to perish, and the Chushan Cavalry's raid on Taiyuan was just a desperate struggle.
Even if Xu Huai gives them a chance to surrender at this time, they don't think there is any meaning in surrendering to Xu Huai. They will just become clowns completely, and they will probably fall into the hands of the Red Huren in the end, and they will be worse off than dead.
Under this kind of emotion and cognition, they tried their best to resist, and even led their own troops to join the fight in the front line.
Even when Xu Huai led Chushan's elite troops to attack the central army's tent, Li Chulin did not retreat. Instead, he gathered his few elite direct descendants around him to carry out desperate resistance, waiting for the resistance on both wings to regain the upper hand.
The main tent of the Han army's camp in Yunzhou was originally a manor built outside the city beside the official road, with a deep courtyard.
When the car crashed down the heavy wooden door with a rough style, Xu Huai, Xiao Yanhan, Wang Ju and others personally led the elite troops, rushed in layer by layer, and started fighting for each house. It was not until the sky turned white that the fish belly turned white, Xu Huai just surrounded him
Li Chulin, who had only a dozen guards left, besieged the courtyard in the northwest corner of the main tent.
Xu Huai had no intention of talking nonsense to Li Chulin at this time, so he ordered Wu Chihai, Niu Er, and Shi Hu to rush in with swords and shields. After killing all the dozens of guards around Li Chulin, he hacked Li Chulin to death with swords.
Only then did he ask for a ladder, and he inevitably had to climb up to the eaves with some exhaustion.
The war at the Han army camp in Yunzhou was coming to an end at this time, and only a few defenders were still fighting stubbornly.
The fighting on the two wings in the northwest and northeast corners of Taiyuan City was small in scale and not very intense. It has now ceased. General Yin Chao performed at his usual level and did not bring them any "surprises". The direction of the Qizi Mountain camp was plunged into a sea of fire.
middle.
Although there were numerous horsemen and soldiers who escaped from the direction of Qizi Mountain, they were not many, and they were intercepted by Pan Chenghu outside Beiyuan Gate. They did not cause much interference to the war in the Han army camp in Yunzhou, but the chess pieces were not known yet.
Is the war in the Shandong Lu Valley coming to an end, and how many tragic casualties have been paid?
