Chapter 238 Heavy armored infantry, frontal attack
To the south of Heiniuyi is a hilly area. Called hills, in fact, they are just small hills with a height of only thirty or forty meters and a low level of only seven or eight meters.
To the north is an endless plain with a large number of fields. The Shahe River is here and contains a lot of water and soil.
Zhoutai and the others were located just above the small hills in the south. From their perspective, looking from south to north, to the west, to their left, there were thousands of troops lined up on the road.
These soldiers are Han Xi's army. Han Xi is from a large family in Nanyang. He belongs to the same clan as Han Ran who is currently following Liu Bei and serving as a subordinate of Liu Bei's account. However, Han Xi is the head of the family and Han Ran belongs to the branch. Therefore, this represents the fact that the Han family actually
It has completely turned towards Xiangyang.
After getting Cai Mao's order, Han Xi left 3,000 men in the camp and led 7,000 men eastward to Heiniuyi. Because there are hills to the south and rivers to the north, the battlefield will be relatively narrow.
Suitable for this kind of small-scale combat.
His soldiers lined up in a row, with the spear and shield soldiers at the forefront, holding up hooked shields and extending sharp spears from the gaps between the shields. The soldiers stood behind the shields and watched with their heads exposed.
Look at the end of the road here.
Opposite them, to the east and right of Zhoutai's position, a group of troops slowly appeared on the horizon. The troops at the front were arrayed neatly, like countless black dots huddled together in a dense formation.
When the two sides met for at least four miles, the army stopped and formed a new formation. The two sides faced off at a distance of about four miles, which made the situation somewhat unpredictable.
About two-quarters of an hour later, two other teams came slowly from the southwest of Han Xi. A general stepped out from the crowd and flew toward them on a horse.
"General Han!"
The person who came was none other than Sun Yi. As agreed, the two sides gathered together to deal with the reinforcements coming from Huangmenting.
Han Xi said hello: "Colonel Sun."
Sun Yi looked into the distance and said, "General, are those Huangmen soldiers?"
"Um."
Han Xi said with a serious face: "Captain Sun, please be careful. The Huangmen soldiers are one of the most powerful troops in the world."
"Thank you for reminding me, General. Where should I form my formation?"
Sun Yi was not too arrogant, but was willing to obey Han Xi's command. He was famous as a Huangmen soldier. Although he had never seen it before, no one dared to take it lightly.
At least their record is real.
Han Xi instructed: "The captain can line up on my right side. If they charge over, I will be the center and the captain will attack their left flank."
"good."
Sun Yi agreed, pulled the horse and turned back to set up the formation.
After a while, Zhou Bo also came over. The two chatted for a while, and Han Xi arranged Zhou Bo's position to his left.
After arranging the task, Zhou Bo raised his head and looked into the distance, and said in surprise: "Since the soldiers from Huangmen Pavilion are here to support Gan Ning, why do they stop moving at a distance? Could it be a scam?"
"Is it a scam?"
Han Xi frowned and said, "We have tens of thousands of troops besieging Xinye, what else can he do to deceive us?"
Zhou Bo said: "It's hard to say. Shen Chen has always been full of tricks. If he brings more troops from Jiangxia and lets them pretend to be Huangmen soldiers, they will actually attack by surprise."
Han Xi turned his head and looked behind him from a distance. There was no smoke or the sound of horns behind him. It was a stretch of seven or eight miles from Xinye. Although it was far away, there were sentries and scouts along the way. If Shen Chen really wanted to make some noise, he would go east and west. , there should be an alarm.
Seeing that there was no problem in the rear, Han Xi said: "There are not enough troops in Jiangxia now. We don't even know if Shen Chen has come in person. Where did he get the troops? What's more, the Taiwei army has tens of thousands. Even if it comes, it will be... There is no return.”
"That's true."
As Zhou Bo spoke, he planned to go back and lead his troops to form a formation on the left side of Han Xi's army.
At this moment, the scout came on horseback, jumped off the horse with a beautiful movement, raised his hands and said: "Report, General, the person coming is Shen Chen!"
"Did you see him?"
Han Xi asked.
The scout said: "I didn't see it with my own eyes. I only saw that the flag they carried was a blue flag with the word "Shen" on a blue background.
"You only saw the flag with the word "Chen"?"
Han Xi frowned.
"Yes."
The scout replied.
Zhou Bo said: "General, will you?"
"Don't be paranoid."
Han Xi shook his head: "This Xinye is surrounded by thousands of miles of fertile farmland. Even if he wants to avoid the truth, it is probably impossible."
As someone from a wealthy family, Han Xi knew the art of war.
He felt that Xinye was now surrounded by Jingzhou soldiers and horses, and it stretched as far as the eye could see, with countless farmlands and their scouts and sentries everywhere. How could it be so easy to break through the blockade and reach the rear?
So I don't believe that Shen Chen will use any other tactics. We can only fight soldiers against soldiers and generals in a head-on battle.
However, Zhou Bo said: "Who in Jingzhou doesn't know that Shen Chen is constantly scheming during the war. If he uses his own flag to deceive us, he will actually lead 3,000 Huangmen soldiers in a surprise attack. Xu was not the same as Yingchuan back then."
"Forehead"
Han Xi hesitated. Yingchuan was also a vast plain. Wasn't it turned into a sieve by Shen Chen and his three thousand soldiers?
It seems that Shen Chen cannot make inferences based on common sense.
Therefore, after thinking about it, Han Xi decided to focus on stabilizing the morale of the army, and said to the deputy general beside him: "Li Sima, take five hundred people to the north to check it out, and then send scouts to move around Xinye, especially our camp. Don’t let him find an opening.”
"only!"
Li Sima took the order and left.
After the arrangement was issued, the Jingzhou soldiers on Han Xi's side also began to make timely adjustments.
Han Xi's 6,500 people were in the center, roughly divided into three large square formations and more than ten small square formations, all lined up neatly. Sun Yi was on his right, and Zhou Bo was on his left.
There are a total of about 16,500 troops. At this moment, there are seven or eight large phalanxes, and the small phalanxes are even more densely packed, with countless numbers spread across the battlefield.
If you look at the front row from left to right, it can stretch for at least two miles, densely packed like a chessboard, and the formation is majestic.
This is just a battle between less than 20,000 people. Like the Battle of Guandu, a large-scale war involving more than 100,000 people from both sides combined, then everyone is not gathered together to fight in a group, but scattered into different battlefields.
The scope of the battlefield may be dozens of miles in radius, and the scale of the battle is also different.
Han Xi is not a mediocre person, but he is not a genius either. His layout is almost satisfactory. At least on the hill in the south, he did not send archers to occupy the highest point. He chose to form a frontal formation and just stayed there quietly waiting for the enemy. arrival.
At this time, the enemies in the distance had new changes. After being stagnant for less than three-quarters of an hour, they began to form a formation and march slowly towards Heiniuyi.
At this time, Zhou Tai and the others on the hill were still watching nervously. A sharp ring-headed knife had reached Zhou Tai's neck at some point.
"Shen Jun's back formation seems to have some changes. I don't know why I can't see clearly. What are they doing?"
Zhou Tai was talking to himself.
Suddenly someone whispered in my ear: "They are temporarily changing their formation, allowing the rear to quickly change equipment, and at the same time sending archer scouts to occupy the high point."
"I see."
Zhou Tai nodded, then suddenly realized something was wrong, lowered his head again, and was dumbfounded.
There was a knife across his neck.
For a moment, Zhou Tai was stunned and became a little at a loss.
When he came to his senses again, he said in a cry that was almost aggrieved: "Spare my life."
Someone pulled him up.
Looking back, I saw that my brothers were all under control, their mouths were covered, and there were heavily armed soldiers behind them to capture them.
Standing behind him was a young general. Zhou Tai recognized him and stammered: "Mr. Mumuzi."
"You know me?"
The person who came was none other than Shen Tao. He followed Shen Chen's order to occupy the hills to the south. He found that there were many local people hiding in the hills, and some of them were lying on the hills watching the battlefield without fear of death.
Because they couldn't tell for a while whether they were scouts sent by the enemy or civilians, they had to check them one by one, which would indeed waste some time.
Zhou Tai answered honestly: "Maogong opened an academy in Xinye, and Mr. Shen occasionally came to give lectures. I met Mr. Muzi in the big class. At that time, Mr. Muzi also taught us the skills of marching in the field."
Shen Tao patted his head and said, "I did teach students field marching and reconnaissance skills at Xinye Academy, but is this what I taught you? Since you want to detect enemy troops in the mountains and forests, what should you do?
"
"Disguise, arrange warning scouts at a distance, be careful behind you, and the most important thing is to leave immediately if something goes wrong. Don't be infatuated with fighting, and don't focus all your attention on the battlefield."
Zhou Tai answered one by one.
Shen Tao put down her knife from Zhou Tai's neck and said with a smile: "You kid is still paying attention to the lectures. Although Xiaoqing does not teach full time at Xinye College, you are still half of his students. Remember
What your husband said is that you must apply what you have learned, do you understand?"
"yes."
Zhou Tai was as honest as a quail at this time.
Shen Tao waved her hand and said: "Let them go, they are just a bunch of kids."
"Hahaha, I originally thought they were Cai Hao's scouts, but I didn't expect them to be some young men."
"Our new savages are very courageous."
"I don't dare to go to the battlefield at this age. These guys are smart. If you want to join the army in the future, remember to go to Huangmen Pavilion."
When they heard that the scouts were not sent by the enemy, the soldiers let them go with a smile.
The Deng family has a high prestige in Xinye. In addition, Shen Chen, Deng Mao and others strictly control the family customs, do not bully the people, and help local agricultural development, which makes the people's hearts fall in love. Xinye people also support Shen Chen more than Xiangyang Liu.
Cong.
In addition, the soldiers in Huangmenting are all locals from Xinye, and the backbone are members of the Deng and Shen clans. Their cohesion is very high, so they are very friendly to the locals from the same hometown.
Zhou Tai and his friends felt like they were walking through the gate of hell. The murderous intent of the opponent just now was still frightening. They even suspected that once it was confirmed that they were scouts sent by Cai Mao, the opponent would definitely kill them without hesitation. 's head.
For a moment, everyone was terrified. Fortunately, the new savage did not kill the new savage and escaped. Zhou Tai quickly said: "Mr. Muzi, can we still watch the battle?"
Shen Tao had already turned around and was about to continue carrying out the mission. When she heard these words, she turned her head and glanced at Zhou Tai, and said with a deep smile: "What's your name?"
"Chou Tai."
"Zhou Tai? I've heard this name before in Jiangdong."
"State, state capital of state."
"oh."
Shen Tao nodded: "You are not my soldier, I will not order you to do anything. You can watch it if you want, but as a teacher who has taught you, I remind you that you must protect your own safety."
"only."
Zhou Tai suddenly became excited.
"Walk!"
Shen Tao waved his hand, and dozens of soldiers walked into the forest like ghosts, heading towards the mountains to the southwest.
At this time, on the front battlefield, Shen Chen's army had already formed up.
His army totaled 7,000 men, but now there were only 5,000 men. At the front were also spear and shield soldiers, slowly pressing forward.
The distance between the two sides got closer and closer, and soon it was less than two miles, and then they continued to move forward.
Han Xiyue came out of the crowd and watched from a distance at the front of the team. He saw a very large flag in the center of the team. That thing was called a big flag, which was obviously the location of the general.
Compared with their large army of more than 16,000 people, Shen Chen's army of 5,000 people looked much smaller in formation, but their mighty momentum was like a thousand troops.
About a quarter of an hour later, Shen Chen's army continued to advance, and the distance between the two sides was already very close, barely less than one mile apart.
"The enemy is nearly three hundred steps away!"
"The enemy is close to 220 steps!"
"The enemy is one hundred and eighty steps away!"
"The enemy is one hundred and thirty steps away!"
The waiters screamed at the top of their lungs.
"Archers prepare!"
Seeing that the opponent seemed to be bumping into him in a daze, when the two sides were less than 120 steps away, Han Xi issued an order.
"Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz!"
As the military flags waved and the trumpets issued continuous orders, the sound of crossbows and crossbows in the ranks of tens of thousands of people continued, and there was also the sound of armor plates clashing.
"Fire the arrow!"
Almost at the moment when the opponent's formation was within the range of the archers, Han Xi launched an offensive.
Then, at the moment when the gongs and drums of the arrow attack order sounded, in the formation of the Jingzhou Army, countless arrows were overwhelming, forming a terrifying firepower network, flying in the direction of Shen Chen's army.
The arrows were raining down, but Shen Chenjun didn't seem to have any intention of defending. They were still in the front row holding up their shields, and then charged forward with firm steps.
The speed is actually not fast, but the heavy footsteps always make people feel a kind of deathly terror.
The next second, what everyone imagined of being shot down by arrows did not happen at all. Only countless clanking sounds were heard. Shen Chenjun still moved forward unswervingly like a roaring war horse. .
"What's going on?"
Han Xi was shocked. The enemy was completely motionless after a hail of arrows. How could this be possible?
"Armor, it's armor!"
At this moment, a lookout standing at a high place suddenly shouted: "Everyone behind them is wearing armor!"
Everyone wearing armor?
With this thought, Han Xi was stunned on the spot.
Where did they get so many armors?
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
While he was stunned, the sound of trumpets could already be heard from Shen Chen's army.
The gun and shield bearers in the front row suddenly separated, revealing two thousand heavy infantrymen wearing armor.
These infantrymen were extremely tall and burly in stature. They were all wearing bright white full-body armor and were almost armed to the teeth. They were like gods descending from heaven, exuding a terrifying aura.
The armor of the Han Dynasty actually tended to be black, because it was not steel, but iron, which is commonly known as wrought iron.
In an era that lacked high-efficiency steelmaking technology, it was difficult to produce much steel by just frying steel. Therefore, there was no shortage of pig iron and wrought iron in the Han Dynasty, but steel.
The color of steel is also black, but it has luster and emits bright silver under sunlight.
Therefore, this army is actually a pure steel-armored army, which is more powerful than Gao Shun's iron-armored heavy infantry trapped in the camp.
This is the deepest foundation of Huangmenting!
They have an all-steel armored force of 3,000 men!
The reason why it was not used when fighting Cao Cao was because the equipment was too heavy and difficult to carry in a battlefield environment that required traveling sixty or seventy kilometers a day.
But now we are fighting at home, so we don't have to travel long distances like when we fought in Xudu.
Therefore, this battle with Shen Chen can be said to reveal all his secrets.
The steel-armored soldiers marched in neat and firm steps, like a tank army composed of a torrent of steel, rumbling towards Han Xi's army.
The arrows were still flying, but hitting these soldiers was as inconsequential as scraping them.
Crossbows have a certain lethality against armor, and there are even cross-bladed armor-piercing arrows that can break through ordinary armor and shoot through three soldiers without armor.
But that was because the cold weapon bows and arrows were upgraded after the technological innovation of the steel filling method in the Tang Dynasty.
The crossbows and arrows of the Han Dynasty were only the most advanced compared to those of the same era, and were very backward compared with later dynasties. Moreover, due to low steel production, most of them were pig iron and wrought iron arrows, which had no armor-breaking effect at all.
Therefore, those Huangmenting soldiers just lowered their heads and protected their faces with the small buckler of their left hand, and it was almost impossible to hurt them.
The soldiers could only hear the tinkling sound in their ears, and occasionally there were sparks flying. Apart from the uncomfortable impact caused by the arrows, there was no impact at all.
The most important thing is that the impact is not enough.
The powerful arrows of later generations of bows and crossbows were as powerful as bullets, especially compound bows and compound crossbows. After being fired, even if they could not penetrate hard body armor, the impact could break a person's ribs.
However, due to technical limitations, the crossbows of the Han Dynasty were not very powerful at long distances. After thirty meters, their kinetic energy decayed. After fifty meters, their lethality was greatly reduced. After eighty meters, they could only rely on inertia to kill enemies. .
Therefore, the impact force these soldiers can feel is also very small. Unless they are hit with a blunt instrument in close combat, it will not be enough to harm themselves.
Soon, with heavy and solid steps, the two sides finally came into close contact.
There were no bells and whistles on both sides, just like a piece of soil that had been hit by a flood and collided with each other without any hindrance.
When Han Xi's gun and shield man in the front row met them, it was as if he was being run over by a bulldozer. The shield collided with the armor, making a friction sound like fingernails scratching the glass, which was extremely harsh and unpleasant.
Immediately afterwards, both sides stabbed each other with spears and spears, and stabbed each other with swords. No martial arts or tactics were as good as the spears, spears and swords in their hands. In just a moment, Han Xi's front army was killed and dispersed.
A shield is useless without armor. If you stab someone with a spear, it won't hurt or itch. The shield cannot cover your whole body. If someone stabs you with a spear, you will die. In this case, no one is willing to fight with a group of tin cans.
, retreated one after another.
This withdrawal caused the phalanx at the front of Han Xi's army to collapse. The good news is that the collapse did not spread to the entire army because they had many people and formed early, so it was just the phalanx that was in chaos.
A good general would have asked the phalanx behind to evacuate, then guided the phalanx in front to evacuate, and then ordered the left and right flanks to surround them, encircling the Huangmen soldiers.
Heavy armored infantry was the most powerful unit even in the late Ming Dynasty. For example, during the period from Nurhachi to Huangtaiji, the Ming Dynasty basically relied on heavy infantry to win infantry battles.
It's just that the heavy armored infantry also has serious flaws and cannot fight for a long time. Therefore, before your own army collapses, you can win by making immediate tactical adjustments and adopting tactics that consume the physical strength of the Huangmen soldiers.
However, Han Xi's tactical command ability was average, and he only belatedly remembered to make tactical rectifications. When he remembered to issue the order, the collapse spread to his entire army.
Secondly, Sun Yi and Zhou Bo on the left and right wings did not support immediately. It was not that they did not want to support, but that the outer battlefield was in chaos. They could not help but could only wait and see from a distance.
It was not until Han Xi reluctantly pulled the Chinese army back a certain distance and allowed the defeated soldiers to retreat that he managed to stop the situation. Then he issued an order and surrounded the Huangmenting soldiers on three sides. Finally, he remembered
Attrition tactics.
Then the melodious sound of horns came from the mountains to the south.
Under the leadership of Shen Tao, two thousand Jiangxia soldiers who had been lying in ambush suddenly came out and ran into the rear of Sun Yi's troops who were outflanking the left wing of the Huangmen soldiers, stabbing him directly in the buttocks.
"Run quickly, there is an ambush!"
"withdraw!"
"Run!"
The messy battlefield suddenly became more chaotic.
The command of more than 10,000 people failed and the frontal attack could not be conquered, and they immediately faced the risk of the entire army collapsing.
Then their flag fell down.
Yes.
Han Xi's banner fell.
At this moment, Shen Chen was wearing steel armor, like a tiger charging into a herd of sheep, slashing and killing them everywhere.
All the attacks coming at him were unable to do anything to him. Even if there were soldiers around him who were knocked to the ground, the armor could still protect Zhou Quan.
But Shen Chen was very strong, much stronger than ordinary soldiers. Even if seven or eight soldiers pressed their spears and spears against him, he was swept away like a violent war horse that could not be stopped.
His goal is very clear, which is Han Xi Dajun among the crowd.
He was followed by hundreds of steel-armored guards, heading straight towards Han Xi. Han Xi was constantly directing the battle, but the crowd around him was crowded, and the enemy was slowly approaching him, so he had to retreat.
As soon as his flag retreated, the army became even more dispersed. Then suddenly it felt like the surrounding area was empty, and more than a dozen steel-armored soldiers rushed to his side. Han Xil was so frightened that he bolted his horse and fled without the flag.
Shen Chen chopped down his flag with a sword, and then all Han Xi's soldiers and horses were instantly defeated and fled towards the rear.
Zhou Tai and others who were far away on the top of the mountain were stunned.
There were no bells and whistles in this battle. Apart from sending a partial division to outflank and raid from the flanking hills, it was completely a head-on confrontation.
But 7,000 men defeated more than 16,000 people head-on, and they were regular troops under the most powerful princes of the Han Dynasty. They were not rogue bandits without military discipline and combat effectiveness. This in itself is already a very exaggerated matter.
It turns out there was a war.
You can still fight like this!
I don’t know if it’s due to Yang. My current symptoms are headache, runny nose, uncomfortable throat, and weakness in my left hand. When typing, my left hand feels uncomfortable when I can’t use the strength. I also feel dizzy and don’t have any ideas. I hope it’s just a cold. ...That’s it for today, because I really have no strength in my left hand and my health is in bad shape. I plan to take some cold medicine first and have a good sleep. If the situation gets better tomorrow, I will resume updating. If not, I may just have to I barely updated 4,000 words every day, and then I went to the hospital for a checkup.