On the arid Loess Plateau of Longxi, the hospital army was marching. Huaiyu sent twenty-four Tangqi to explore the road. Chai Shao gave him two days to reach Xiangwu City, Weizhou, 180 miles away.
Huaiyu, who was marching alone for the first time, was very cautious.
Five cavalry per pond, and twenty-four ponds were sent out to explore the road at one go. Each pond was one mile apart, and the pond cavalry was twenty miles in front of the pond. The riders on each pond must be able to look at each other and not lose sight of each other to prevent an ambush.
When encountering dangerous mountains and ridges, infantrymen should be sent to carry flags to climb the mountain for inspection.
Caution is the boat.
The terrain of Longxi is the Loess Plateau, dominated by the Loess Liangmao and river valley terrain. The terrain here is dangerous, and ambushes can be found everywhere, so we have to guard against it.
Huaiyu didn't even care about the hot weather. He had already put on his chainmail and the rhinoceros leather vest. The white hooves and black horses, his two beloved horses, were all covered in black lacquer vests.
······
"call out!"
A sharp arrow flew through the air. Wu Junbo, the leader of the Tang Cavalry, raised his cowhide round shield. There was a clang sound and the arrow hit the shield hard.
Wu Junbo broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, as the leader of the Tang Cavalry team, he was mentally prepared and had been extremely careful. When he saw the dangerous river valley ahead, he became even more cautious and had already carried the shield in his hand.
The shock of the arrow made his arm numb. Looking at the quivering arrow feathers still nailed to his shield, he quickly backed away, while quickly raising the Zhangba flag gun in his right hand and shaking it violently.
The other four Tangqi of Bentang kept a certain distance from him, searching in separate lines within sight. When they saw him waving the flag, they immediately asked loudly, "Team leader, what's going on?"
"There's an ambush!"
Wu Junbo shouted to his companions while riding his horse back.
"How many people are there, Turkic wolf cubs or Qiang Yi?" the companion shouted.
After retreating about twenty steps, Wu Junbo did not continue to retreat, but began to observe the direction of the arrow. At this time, several people ran out from that side and were getting on their horses.
"Turks!"
As Wu Junbo shouted, he quickly touched the Hulu at his waist. He was equipped with two Hulu. One Hulu was equipped with arrows, and the other Hulu was equipped with rattling arrows and five-color flags.
He pulled out the red flag, raised it and waved it.
Shaking the flag gun means that the enemy has been discovered. Raising the small red flag means that the enemy is suddenly encountered.
If it is discovered in advance that the enemy is waving the yellow flag, there are many enemies waving the green flag, and there are few people waving the white flag, it is just a matter of terrain that raises the black flag.
While waving the flag as a warning, Wu Junbo retreated and kept a distance from the enemy.
Tangqi's signal was passed down from generation to generation and the enemy's situation was quickly conveyed back.
Wu Junbo always kept a certain distance from the enemy. When the enemy advanced, he retreated, and when the enemy retreated, he advanced. He would not engage in battle easily, and would never leave.
Twenty miles behind, the hospital army of 2,800 people was still marching hastily.
A Tangqi came flying back with a red flag stuck on his back.
Red flag hunting.
"General Manager, Turkic cavalry were discovered in the valley ahead. They attacked Tangqi and were discovered. They are twenty miles away."
No one in the marching team intercepted Tangqi. Military law stipulated that Tangqi could gallop in the camp and arrive in front of the general. No one was allowed to intercept or block him, nor was he allowed to inquire privately. Anyone who violated the rules would be executed.
"how many people?"
"It's not clear yet."
"Explore again!"
Huaiyu raised his hand, "Look for a flat and wide terrain nearby.
Put on armor, line up, and prepare for battle!"
The benefits of caution were demonstrated. They discovered the Turkic soldiers twenty miles in advance. Whether they encountered a small group of rangers or a large enemy ambush, at least they were given ample time to prepare.
The horn sounded in a hurry, and all the battalions started to move.
Huaiyu's messengers and soldiers were rushing back and forth among the army, and the flags at all levels were also moved.
Ma Zhou became excited. Huaiyu's song "Expedition" made him feel as if he had been given a shot of blood. He wished he could transform into Ban Dingyuan. Yesterday he marched ninety miles and camped all night. Everything was fine.
As a result, shortly after setting off today, we discovered Turkic soldiers.
"Turks were discovered twenty miles away from Tangqi. Longxi County is only more than twenty miles away. Could it be that Longxi County has been captured or surrounded by Turks? Longxi County is less than fifty miles away from Weizhou in the northwest. Niu
Did something happen at Pioneer?" Ma Zhou asked.
"First form an array to repel the enemy in front of you, and then rush to Longxi County to find out." Faced with the sudden enemy situation, Huaiyu found that he was not afraid, not even nervous, and was surprisingly calm.
Whether it's just a plundering Turkic ranger or something else, fight it first and then talk about it.
Although it was his first time to lead an army, Huaiyu was still calm and composed.
Huaiyi led the cavalry battalion and quickly went out to guard.
On a relatively flat river beach, the hospital battalion was nervously donning armor and forming an array.
"Hurry up!"
The leaders of the team were urging loudly, and the civilian husbands from the baggage camp also came over to help the infantry wear armor. The remaining civilians began to use vehicles to form a camp fence. This was a more conservative formation and a method of camping during night marches.
A team flag was planted in the ground with the efforts of the tall flag bearer. The flag bearer stood like an iron tower. In front of him was the leader of the team holding a spear and a horizontal knife, one person standing in front of the independent team.
The flag bearer holds the flag, and there is a flag bearer on the left and right. The three of them stand in the second row.
Then there are the forty-five soldiers in the team. At this time, they are divided into five rows, the first row is seven people, the second row is eight people, the third row is nine people, the fourth row is ten people, and the fifth row is eleven people.
At the back of them, the deputy of the team stood at the end of the formation with a sword.
They formed a wedge formation, twenty steps forward and backward.
Wear armor and line up.
After the civilians put on the armor for the soldiers, they quickly retreated to the back. They also picked up spears, bows and arrows, and carried horizontal knives, ready to support the battle at any time.
"The archers and crossbowmen obey the order and move forward, ahead of the vanguard!"
Huaiyu has been studying the tactics of the Tang Dynasty soldiers in recent times. At this time, the formation in front of the enemy was quite satisfactory.
The Tang army's soldiers fought in various formations, such as horizontal formations, square formations, etc. Huaiyu now uses the simplest square formation.
The battle team is at the front. The front row of the battle team is the battle front, and the back is the jumping team. The archers and crossbowmen begin to be deployed in front of the battle front, first attacking the enemy from a distance, and then retreating to the battle front to assist in the battle.
Behind the team is the garrison. The main role of the garrison is to guard the formation and take turns to replace the team in the front row at any time.
The cavalry was deployed on both wings of the central army and did not attack easily.
He, the general manager, and the military flag are at the center of the entire army. The flag is with the people and cannot be easily shaken.
Behind him, there is a general reserve team drawn from the cavalry and infantry, which can be sent at the most critical moment to ensure the maintenance of the battle formation, whether it is Qin Qiong or Cheng Yaojin, or Father Wu or
When Lu Huairang and others discussed the tactics of war with Huaiyu, they emphasized over and over again that they could not fight in vain. When the two armies formed a formation, if the formation was broken, the army would be destroyed.
The baggage train was at the end of the army.
This arrangement allowed Huaiyu to choose the battlefield in advance. The location he chose was backed by a river and a mountain. The enemy could only attack the front, so it would be safer if the baggage team was placed at the back. Otherwise, it would be safer if the baggage team should be surrounded in the formation.
The Turks haven't shown up yet, but the atmosphere is already tense.
Everyone was preparing nervously. Huaiyu secretly observed and found that most of them were nervous, but it was mainly due to excitement, and not many showed fear. Even the civilians in the transport team over there were sharpening their guns and knives in front of the battle, eager to try.
Everyone is eager to fight, and even more eager for fame.
Tangqi kept sending back messages.
There are a lot of Turks, and the exact number is still being explored.
Huaiyu's caution, or the Tang army's marching system, helped them a lot.
Finding an enemy twenty miles away meant that the Turks had no way of attacking them by surprise. Even if they came at a rapid pace, it would take them at least thirty or forty minutes to cover the distance of twenty miles.
This gives the hospital camp ample preparation time.
It took about twenty minutes to complete the formation of the hospital battalion, forming a line of defense with baggage trains.
"Why hasn't the wolf cub come yet? I can't wait any longer." Zhao Xin laughed and said.
Er Lengzi, who had just come to Longyou with Huaiyi from Sanyuan, also raised a long-handled ax and shouted, "Yeye's big ax is already hungry and thirsty!" This was not Xu Er Leng's first time on the battlefield;
The second son of the family, before his father retired from the Forbidden Army, he took him to several battlefields during the expedition. Unfortunately, although the second son had seen swords and guns, and even shed blood, he did not achieve any meritorious deeds. At most, he made some profit.
The loot was recovered.
During the war, he even had the mood to sing sour songs.
"I miss my sister. I haven't eaten a single pellet in the past three days. I missed you in the first half of the night and couldn't turn off the lamp. In the second half of the night, I missed you and couldn't stand up!"
Xu Erlunzi sang this song boldly and unrestrainedly, which made many recruits who were originally very nervous feel a rare sense of relief.
Just as Erlunzi was getting into singing, the horn sounded.
Woohoo!
The passionate horn horns instantly revived the war atmosphere that had been diluted by the sour music. In the distance, the Tangqi of the Hospital Army had slowly retreated and appeared in front of everyone. They always kept a distance from the enemy and did not allow them to let go.
The Turks were out of sight and retreated all the way back.
When they retreated to the front and rear of the formation, they did not retreat into the formation, but continued to spread out and wander around.
Huaiyu raised his hand to look at his watch.
It has been exactly half an hour since Tangqi reported the discovery of the Turks. This Turkic cavalry is still relatively fast.
This silver-black watch was brought before his expedition. It is a special commemorative model of a certain brand. It was given to him by his girlfriend who loves sports. It has a stainless steel strap, a carbon fiber wear-resistant dial, and a scratch-resistant glass mirror.
It is waterproof to a depth of 200 meters, and the dial displays 25 years of self-luminescence. It is known as the magic seal.
This watch had been with him for more than a year. After the two broke up, he kept it in the bottom of the box. Now that he wears it again, it is quite practical.
Apricot tree gourd and silver needle flag flutter in the wind.
The Turkic cavalry came menacingly.
Huaiyu took out the telescope from the mirror box on his waist, which was also one of the outdoor equipment given by his girlfriend.
Through the telescope, Huaiyu could clearly see the Turkic cavalry who were still far away. This was the first time he actually faced the Turkic army. There were quite a few of them. These guys had rope heads, braided hair, and others.
Those with fair hair are very casual, and their equipment is relatively messy. In this summer, some wear horn helmets, and some wear wolf head, bear head, and tiger helmets. They are not afraid of the heat, and many of them are also wearing leather robes.
There are also many iron armors.
Everyone in the Turkic cavalry carries a bow, many arrows, and almost all are equipped with spears. The main secondary weapons are Turkic sabers, iron bones, maces, whips, hammers, axes, etc.
All of them are quite arrogant.
They came in force, kicking up dust all over the sky, and did not stop until they were two hundred steps away.
There was a huge fishy smell, and it was very irritating.
The Turks were so arrogant that they did not stop until 200 steps in front of the Tang army's formation. Before the people behind them had even arrived, some of them rushed up to mount and shoot without haste, and even deliberately showed off their riding and archery skills.
It's just that the hospital army has already formed up, and the front row is full of 600 crossbowmen. Everyone in the back is armed with a bow. Faced with their approach and provocation, those disciples who are good at archery are not polite.
counterattack.
A Turkic cavalryman rushed too close, and was shot down by a Kansai Han archer with one arrow. His companions wanted to snatch him back, but several other soldiers from the government added arrows and killed him.
He was shot into a hedgehog, and even one of his companions who came to drag him down was shot down.
The Turks underestimated the enemy and suffered a loss. They did not even dare to come up and snatch the two corpses.
Soon, after a commotion, the Turks began to retreat slowly.
They retreated about a mile and regrouped.
"General manager, while the new barbarians have arrived, the formations are not in full order, the troops are tired, and we have just weakened our spirits, why don't we kill them and do their damn thing." Zhao Xin, who joined the army as a recorder, suggested.
The Turkic horns sounded again.
Huaiyu has been carefully observing this Turkic army with a telescope. Smoke and dust are everywhere, and cavalry are coming from behind. There are already thousands of cavalry in front of him.
"Not urgent."
About a quarter of an hour later, the Turks arrived one after another.
Some experienced soldiers from the government determined that the opponent had approximately 1,400 to 5,000 cavalry.
The hospital battalion has 2,800 people, 1,900 soldiers and 900 auxiliary soldiers. However, their soldiers are basically composed of Yi Zheng children and Minzhuang. Excluding the 900 unarmored auxiliary soldiers, they have 1,000 soldiers.
The Nine War Soldiers have one thousand and two armored soldiers.
There are five hundred cavalry in total.
The hospital army has the upper hand in terms of numbers, but it’s hard to say in terms of strength.
The Turks kept sounding their horns in a somewhat arrogant and provocative manner.
"Bang the drum!"
Huaiyu decided to remain unchanged in response to all changes. Facing the Turkic cavalry, which had mobility advantages and was naturally good at riding and shooting, he planned to occupy this favorable terrain and use military formations to fight the Turks.
"Send an order, if the wolf cavalry charges into the formation, and the enemy approaches a hundred paces, the crossbow team will fire a volley of crossbows. Within sixty paces of the enemy, the archers will fire a volley of bows and arrows. If the enemy comes within fifty paces, the war team will also fire a volley of bows and arrows.
When the enemy approaches twenty steps, the crossbowmen retreat to the wings of the front line and continue to shoot at the enemy with their crossbows. If the enemy breaks into the first line of the front line, the crossbowmen use swords and sticks to attack the enemy with swords and sticks from the front line!"
"Stick to the military formation and do not engage in provocative battles. Anyone who dares to engage in provocative battles will be killed!"
"If the enemy retreats, the infantry must not pursue more than thirty steps!"
If you use steps to ride against a horse, you will inevitably suffer losses.
The only thing they can rely on is the geographical location and military formation. Fortunately, the Tang army has always had a lot of bows and arrows, and has the advantage of long-range strikes. The Turkic light cavalry has less advantage in fighting more.
Huaiyu was glad that he was leading soldiers from the early Tang Dynasty. Even if they were irregular soldiers, they would still be the children of the soldiers with a good foundation. If he had led the rotten guard border troops like those in the late Ming Dynasty, he could only rely on a few servants to support the scene.
, that really needs to be explained here.
Speaking of which, the children of the soldiers in the early Tang Dynasty and the powerful children of the frontier areas were not inferior to the servants of the generals in the late Ming Dynasty.
Two to one, I have the advantage.
However, to be on the safe side, Huaiyu quickly called a Wu family member, Buqu, and asked him to rush back to Fuqiang City to report and ask for help!
