Xu Huai held the long sword in both hands, exhaled loudly, and slashed down with a violent sword light, splitting open an iron shield that was approaching in front of him.
The enemy soldier hiding behind the iron shield watched in horror as the sharp sword's power continued to break through the shield. The blade was as cold as snow and struck through his brow, making him suspect that his body would be split in two from the brow.
, but he didn't want the violent blade to cut his throat. In the gushing blood, he suddenly turned to the left side with a light stroke, and drew a single-shaped blade light with ease, like a poisonous snake flying out of the grass.
He slashed towards a spear that was stabbed hard from the side and behind.
However, before Xu Huai could charge out like a fierce tiger, sharp arrows shot through the air with a "whoosh". The long knife in Xu Huai's hand suddenly cut into seven rays of sword light, blocking all seven sharp arrows in front of him, but in the time of blocking,
Xu Huai could also fully feel how fast these arrows shot.
At the same time, Xu Huai also heard someone behind him groaning in severe pain. He glanced over from the corner of his eye and saw that a guard was shot in the face by an arrow and was dying; there was another person on the shoulder.
The armor was pierced by an arrow, which penetrated the flesh very deeply. It seemed that it might have penetrated the shoulder bone directly.
"Damn it, these dogs are so ruthless in their archery skills!"
Wang Jun saw that the captives were riding close to a hundred paces and fired a dozen cold arrows at Xu Huai. Then he galloped to the outside without any delay to open up a distance, telling the elite archers on their side to get away.
There was no chance for him to fight back with his bow, so he could only curse in vain.
Wu Chihai, Liu Yueting and others personally led the armored soldiers to continue to advance to the periphery. The counterattack was not interrupted by a small episode, but to prevent the enemy from having another cold arrow aimed at Xu Huai. Wang Xian, who was in charge of the battlefield command in the center, ordered two teams of swordsmen and shieldmen to quickly move from
They rushed out from behind the chariot formation and separated Xu Huai from the enemy soldiers.
Seeing that this round of the enemy's offensive had been almost disintegrated, Xu Huai put his sword back into its sheath with a stern expression. Surrounded by Niu Er, Wang Jun and others, he slowly retreated to the section where more than a hundred refined iron shield vehicles were located.
The knotted arc formation is followed by the sweeping formation.
Behind the car formation, more than 40 ships were lying across the vast water surface of Yingshui River.
In addition to being lightweight, the fine iron shield chariot is also stronger than the traditional wooden chariot, but it is far from indestructible.
Whether he was going south from Zhuxianyi or landing on the branch of Xiliu River this time, Xu Huai did not directly place a vehicle formation on the outermost edge to resist the enemy's attack.
More often, armor and soldiers take turns to fight in formation outside the chariot formation, with elite archers standing on top of the shield chariot to provide support.
If the enemy army gathers armored cavalry to attack suddenly, the armored soldiers on the periphery will quickly withdraw behind the chariot formation, change spearmen, and stand on the shield chariot with long spearmen to resist the impact of the armored cavalry; the small group of armored soldiers will quickly form a formation to counterattack.
Kill and intersperse, disintegrating the enemy's cavalry charge.
The battle lasted for most of a day and successfully resisted seven waves of enemy attacks. Thousands of corpses were abandoned in the grass.
In addition to the fact that the fine iron shield chariots made by Chushan were lighter and stronger, the tactics implemented by the Chushan army on the south bank of Yingshui River were essentially the same as the "Que Yue" that was famous in the Hehuai land hundreds of years ago.
Array" makes no difference.
If viewed from a high altitude, Chushan's warships, chariot formations, more than 2,000 armored soldiers, and a small number of cavalry formations entering the front bank look like a huge half-moon, covering a space of 2,000 to 3,000 steps to the left and right.
However, the "Que Yue Formation" in history was short-lived. It did not shine much dazzlingly in many wars in the Central Plains in the following hundreds of years. It is not without inheritance. The main reason is this kind of formation with a large number of tanks against the water, combined with the warships carrying generals.
The tactics of using soldiers, combat supplies, and equipment have too many limitations when implemented.
The terrain of the Hehuai River is flat and broad, which is advantageous for vehicle fighting. However, the main rivers between the Hehuai River, such as Cai, Bian, Ying, Ru, Wu, and Yi, have soft soil along the banks and are prone to flooding in summer and autumn.
Branch streams and canals dug by nearby people to facilitate irrigation, coupled with the clumsiness of traditional chariots, severely restricted the maneuverability of vehicle formations.
However, the vehicle formation does not consider mobile combat and only defends one place, but it has the advantage of resisting the charge of heavy armored cavalry.
At this time, Xu Huai set up the "Queyue Formation" on the south bank of Yingshui River and west of the mouth of Xiliu River, mainly to form a solid beachhead, and then used several large-wing boats to quickly travel between the two banks to gather the troops on the north bank of Yingshui River.
Those generals, soldiers and horses were transported little by little to the south bank.
…………
…………
Yue Hailou, Muchi and others reined in their horses and stopped on a flat hill.
At this time, the rain has stopped, the sky has not cleared up yet, and is still covered with clouds. However, the Yingshui River near Xiliu River is only more than a hundred feet wide, which does not hinder Yue Hailou and others from moving Yingshui north to the wilderness of Xihua City.
All in sight.
A group of Chushan Army generals, under the personal leadership of Xu Huai, took warships directly to the south bank of Yingshui River west of the mouth of Xiliu River. At the same time, more than 4,000 Chushan Army generals came directly from the south city of Xihua City before noon.
He rushed out of the gate and rushed to the north bank of Yingshui River.
Although the cavalry they deployed on the north bank of Yingshui was dispatched as quickly as possible to surround Xihua City, because Xihua City was only eleven or twelve miles away from the north bank of Yingshui, they were unable to stop the four thousand cavalry in the end.
Chushan Army soldiers and more than a thousand war horses quickly resisted the north bank.
Now these four thousand armored soldiers are on the north bank of Yingshui River. In addition to relying on hundreds of chariots to form a moon formation to resist the impact of the cavalry, they are also constantly sending troops to the south bank bit by bit through boats.
Judging from the soldiers' armor, the tightness of the formation, and several tentative attacks that lasted for most of the day, Yue Hailou was able to ensure that the 6,000 armored soldiers gathered on the north and south banks of the Ying River at this time were all elite members of the Chushan lineage.
This means that only the four to five thousand rebel troops that Xu Huai attached to after attacking Bianliang, the generals who returned to the rebellion, and their families are still standing in Xihua City.
At this time, in addition to the tens of thousands of infantry and more than 2,000 elite cavalry gathered on the west bank of Xiliu River, Yue Hailou also dragged hundreds of heavy side carriages and shield carriages from nearby camps with oxen and horses, and marched in Xiliu
The west bank of the stream and tens of thousands of infantry formations together formed a solid blockade defense line.
Yue Hailou even mobilized thousands of young and strong civilians to dig long trenches along the east-west direction on the west bank of Xiliu River; cut down trees to create more obstacles such as horseback and deer antlers.
Yue Hailou was confident that they had completely blocked Xu Huai's possible breakout southward along the west bank of Xiliu River. However, Yue Hailou's inner uneasiness became stronger. After all, in this situation, how could Xu Huai still survive?
Continuously transport soldiers and horses from the north bank to the south bank bit by bit?
"It may be necessary for Wuchi to lead the cavalry on the eastern front to march westward in advance,"
Zhong Changqing looked at this scene, frowned deeply and suggested to Mu Chi, Yue Hailou and others,
"The Southern Dynasty should be aware of our intention to lure its reinforcements to the north of the Shuishui River for encirclement and annihilation. It may be that we are trying to take advantage of the situation.
Our troops on the eastern front have not yet moved westward, and the three reinforcements from the south crossed as quickly as possible to the upper reaches of Xiliu Creek, and Xu Huaisuo led elite troops from north to south to attack our troops on the west bank of Xiliu Creek, seeking the possibility of rendezvous -
—We can’t even rule out the possibility of them organizing night battles!”
Zhong Changqing claimed to have a deep understanding of Chu Mountain. All he could guess was that the reinforcements from the Southern Dynasty would probably rush towards the Xiliu River as quickly as possible. After Xu Huai led the elite to gather together, they would then slowly break out south.
.
Mu Chi laid out the Kanyu map on the saddle. The Kanyu map marked Chushan's camp on the north bank of Xiaoquegang, the position at the mouth of Xiliu River occupied by the elite led by Xu Huai, and the shores of the Shuishui River where the main force of the Xuanwu Army of the Southern Dynasties was located.
The position it occupies happens to form a triangle with three roughly equal sides and a distance of about sixty or seventy miles.
At this time, it is really impossible to rule out the possibility that the three reinforcements from the South Dynasty will suddenly dispatch and travel north overnight to meet Xu Huai near Xiliu River.
At that time, about 50,000 soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasty will gather together, form a huge military formation, and then slowly break out to the south. Their mobilization of soldiers and horses on the east and west fronts will be a little slower, and they may not be able to completely surround these 50,000 soldiers and horses.
Woolen cloth……
"If you are greedy for too much, you will lose. If you can annihilate Xu Huai's troops along the Yingshui River at this time, it will be better. After the Hehuai River is completely frozen, it will not be too late to gather troops and tear open the defense line on the Huaihe River..." Mu Chi also has extremely strong feelings in his heart.
Feeling uneasy and worried that it would be risky to draw all the reinforcements from the Southern Dynasty to the north bank of the Shuishui River before mobilizing troops and horses for encirclement, I decided to follow Zhong Changqing's suggestion and transfer the elite cavalry of Wuchi's unit to the western front in advance.
He directly asked the military officials to draw up military orders and seals on their saddles. In the dusk, he sent messengers carrying letters and orders to 40 miles away. Wu Chi led his troops to garrison the camp in the west of Shangshui City, and asked Wu Chi to receive the orders after receiving the orders.
After the signal was given, all the cavalry were immediately assembled, and they detoured from the south of Miaowang Valley all night, crossing directly to the north bank of the Shuishui River to intercept the Southern Dynasty troops and horses that might cross northward from the shore of the Shuishui River at any time.
As the sky gradually darkened, Yue Hailou, Muchi, and Zhong Changqing returned to the temporary camp formed on the west bank of Xiliu River. At the same time, they ordered the garrison in the nearby camp to further gather on the west bank of Xiliu River, and at the same time, they ordered the civilians to stay overnight.
Dig a long trench on the south side of the camp and build more obstacles such as horses and antlers to prevent the possibility of being attacked from the north or south.
Piles of bonfires were lit, lighting up the hazy night sky.
The Chushan army formed at the mouth of Xikou showed no signs of breaking out of the car formation, but they did not stop using warships to continuously transport people and horses from the north bank across the river.
Yue Hailou was busy until late at night before he lay down to rest with his clothes on. Half asleep, he heard the sound of galloping horse hooves and suddenly woke up.
Hearing carefully, he saw several fast horses galloping into the camp. He rolled up from the simple bed made of wooden planks and walked out of the tent. He saw Zhong Changqing striding over with Xinqi and asked in surprise: "Reinforcements from the Southern Dynasty.
Have you gone north overnight?"
"The situation could be more serious than this,"
Zhong Changqing would rather he knew the news earlier that the reinforcements from the Southern Dynasty were heading north overnight, but the unconcealed fear in his heart betrayed him and he said in panic,
"After Wu Chi received the order, he immediately sent the front troops and horses to go ahead, but he encountered a large area of flooding in the southeast of Miaowang Valley and was unable to cross!"
Although Chen Zixiao led 4,000 soldiers and horses to set up the front army camp at Miaowanggou, there was still more than twenty miles between the front army camp at Miaowanggou and the company camp of the Chushan Army on the north bank of the Huishui River.
of free time.
The Chushan Army only had 20,000 soldiers and horses on the north bank of the Shuishui River, which was far from enough to fill the space from the north bank of Xiaoquegang to Miaowanggou, which was about 40 miles wide.
If the Wuchi cavalry wanted to quickly penetrate to the north bank of the Shuishui River west of Xiaoquegang, intercept the main reinforcements of the Southern Dynasties, mainly composed of the Xuanwu Army on the left and right, cross the Shuishui River and quickly go north to fight, and pass through the open space south of Miaowang Valley, it would be
The fastest and most convenient way - this is much faster than the dense camp area built by Chenzhou Army in the north of Miaowanggou (different camps are connected by fence walls and long posts).
The terrain south of Miaowanggou is flat and broad with almost no ups and downs. As the elite Red Husband Cavalry, they pass directly through this area and are not afraid that the Chushan Army dares to break out from the camps on both wings to engage in night battles and melees.
But who would have thought that before entering this area, it would have been blocked by extensive flooding!
"How is that possible?" Yue Hailou felt a chill running down his spine and almost screamed. He couldn't imagine or believe that a large area of flooding would suddenly occur in the southeast of Miaowang Valley.
In the past three or four days, it has been raining continuously, and the Yingshui River has risen a bit, but this is very different from the torrential downpours in summer and autumn.
What's more, there was no rainfall for more than a month between Ruying and Ying, so the land was dry.
The continuous rain can first seep into the dry soil, and there is no condition to form a large area of water, let alone the flooding that has blocked the open area more than 20 miles south of Miaowang Valley.
Generals such as Mu Chi and Yin Chao also rushed over after hearing the news.
Yin Chao's face was a little pale, and he secretly regretted why he didn't stay in Xuchang for two more days, but came to meet Yue Hailou and Mu Chi at this time?
Mu Chi didn't even have time to put on his armor. He held the sword at his waist and stared at the envoy who rushed to deliver the message. He couldn't hide his surprise and asked: "Why is there flooding in the southeast of Miaowang Valley? Have you sent any reconnaissance cavalry?"
Go south to explore the water conditions, how deep is the flood you are currently encountering, and how wide is it between the east and west?"
"I haven't had time to explore the whole situation in a hurry. At present, it is only confirmed that from the south of Miaowang Valley to the end of the Chushan Army's company camp on the north bank of the Shuishui River, it has been blocked by flooding. However, it is still uncertain how wide it spreads from east to west. The forward cavalry
The wading in the edge area that has been touched so far is not too deep, and the deeper part has just reached the horse's belly. However, there are no stars and moon in the night sky at this time, and General Muchi cannot lead his troops to forcibly move westward. For the time being, he only goes to the temple first.
As for the camp north of Wanggou, we need to wait until the water conditions are further verified before we deal with it!" the messenger reported.
"Is there flooding spreading to the north of Miaowanggou?" Yue Hailou grabbed the messenger's arm and asked eagerly.
Twenty to thirty miles east of Xiliu River, between Miaowanggou and Yingshui, the Chenzhou Army has built dense fortresses in the past two months. The Chenzhou Army has 30,000 soldiers and horses stationed in it - Yue Hai
Lou plans to mobilize these troops and horses to the south of Xiliu River early tomorrow morning.
If the camp in this area was flooded overnight, Yue Hailou's hands and feet trembled slightly, and he could not imagine what a tragic scene it would be.
Zhong Changqing said calmly: "General Yan has sent people to comprehensively investigate the situation near Miaowanggou. It is expected that news will come soon - according to the current situation, Xu Huai led his troops to sneak attack Bianliang, and it will be very soon
Maybe that’s not its real purpose!”
"Has the Chushan Army planned to intercept the Shuishui River at Xiaoquegang for a long time? All the conspiracy is actually located at Xiaoquegang, right?" Yue Hailou looked at the vast night sky and asked with trembling disbelief.
Although it was not yet the time when the ground froze, the north wind blew on him, which was so cold that he could not help but tremble deep in his heart.
Why didn't he prevent the Chushan army from attacking with water?
How stupid he is! How could he not have prevented this!
Muchi walked to a high place and looked over at the Chushan Army's camp at Xikou.
There were no stars or moon in the sky. Although the Chushan army lit a large number of bonfires inside and outside the camp, looking at them from a distance of four or five miles, they could only see a blur of shadows.
"..."
A few moments later, they rode fast horses and reported that there was a large water flowing east of Miaowang Valley and rapidly spreading to the north. It was expected that their camp area north of Miaowang Valley would be cut off before dawn at the earliest.
They had previously built a fort north of Miaowang Valley, and they had chosen as high a place as possible to build it. However, the problem was that the terrain undulations north of Miaowang Valley was extremely limited, and they had not conducted a step-by-step survey, so there was no way to predict when the flood would come.
direction.
Even if the fortress itself will not be flooded for a while, it is not difficult for Yue Hailou and the others to imagine what it would be like if the fortress area was cut off by the flood.
Yue Hailou suddenly understood the situation at this moment:
The soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasties were mainly on the west side of the line between Xiaoquegang and Miaowanggou, and they were ready to penetrate in depth. Then their plan was to use the flood to move their army south of Yingshui River.
Cut them off, and then concentrate their superior forces to attack their troops and horses that were cut off to the west of the Xiaoquegang-Miaowanggou line?
Yue Hailou looked towards Mu Chi.
Mu Chi shook his head with firm eyes.
The Southern Dynasty has no deployment east of the Xiaoquegang-Miaowanggou line. It is obvious that the troops and horses on the eastern front will not be attacked. Even if there is no way to open up the flooded area and enter the western front for reinforcements, they will be able to calmly withdraw from Ruyin to
Go to the left bank of Yingshui River.
However, whether the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses divided on the western front could successfully withdraw from the pontoon bridge south of Xuchang City to the north bank of Yingshui River, or whether they could directly resist the encirclement of several soldiers and horses from the Southern Dynasty in the south of Yingshui River, Yue Hailou was thinking at this moment.
There is no bottom at all.
Of course, Yue Hailou would not abandon his generals and flee alone at this time. After all, the moment of real despair has not yet reached - will the camp area between Miaowanggou and Yingshui be completely destroyed by the flood?
Cut off, no one knows at this time, maybe there may be a gap between the east and west lines for large groups of troops to pass.
This gap does not need to be very large, it only needs about three to five hundred paces wide.
Even if the troops and horses on the eastern front are completely blocked, they still have 40,000 infantry and more than 10,000 elite cavalry to the west of Xiaoquegang-Miaowanggou. Linying City, whose terrain is obviously much higher than that on the east side, is also there.
It is under their control. As long as they can retreat into Linying City as soon as possible, and they only need to hold on until the Hehuai land enters the freezing period, they can usher in tens of thousands of elite cavalry to come to their aid. They have to worry about the enemy not retreating.
?
"Commander, you and General Yin immediately rush to Linying City with Marshal Yan. I will lead my troops to station here to hold Xu Huai back!"
Zhong Changqing knew that if Yue Hailou directly led the cavalry to escort Nayan Muchi to retreat to Xuchang, it would only cause the tens of thousands of infantry south of Yingshui to collapse immediately.
Don't say that Yan Muchi, as a red guard general, would not accept this proposal. He himself could not make such a suggestion.
The most urgent thing at the moment is to order the soldiers and horses in the north of Miaowang Valley to evacuate immediately to the two wings to avoid being trapped by the spreading flood. At the same time, Zhong Changqing also feels that Yue Hailou should immediately go to Linying City with Na Yan Muchi.
Sit in charge.
Once the east-west line is cut off, even if their camp on the south bank of Yingshui River is not flooded, it will become extremely vulnerable to superior enemy forces after being divided.
Only Yue Hailou and Muchi rushed to Linying City to take up positions, defend Linying City, accept the withdrawal of all the Western Front soldiers and horses, or hold Linying City to resist the Southern Dynasty soldiers and horses who were encircled and killed by all roads, and there was no chance of victory.
They also stationed seven or eight thousand elite cavalry in the north of Linying City.
As long as they hold out until dawn, these seven or eight thousand elite cavalry can be mobilized to gallop between Shuiying and Ying, intercept the lagging pursuers, and cover more infantry to retreat calmly into Linying City.
And this is the only choice they can make before the flooding situation becomes clear.
Speaking of the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses gathered on the west bank of Xiliu River at this time, although most of them were Yin Chao's troops, his expression was complicated and unclear, and his eyes were twinkling. Zhong Changqing wanted to keep Yin Chao behind here to hold him back.
The 6,000 most elite soldiers of the Chushan Army led by Xu Huai were probably too difficult for him.
Zhong Changqing was afraid that if he forced Yin Chao to stay and lead the rear, Yin Chao would probably run away as soon as they left, causing the collapse of more than 10,000 soldiers and horses on the west bank of Xiliu River - which would also cause them to lose control of their troops in Xiliu.
There are nearly 20,000 garrison camps between the east of the creek and the expected flooded area, and there is no chance of evacuating to Linying City in the southwest.
Zhong Changqing decided that he should stay as queen.
"There's fire over there!" At this time, the guard pointed towards the east and south direction and reminded.
The fire was extremely far away and could not be said to be very bright, but because of the extremely far distance, they could still see clearly, indicating that the fire lit there was extremely strong.
"That's the former army camp of the Chushan Army on the south side of Miaowang Valley!" Zhong Changqing looked at the direction and confirmed that the light of fire was the former army camp of the Chushan Army on the south side of Miaowang Valley. He said in shock, "
It was Chen Zixiao who lit the beacon and sent the message!"
Because their scouts and reconnaissance cavalry still have an absolute advantage in the Miaowang Valley area, it is actually very difficult for the Chushan Army to detect the direction of the flood at any time near Miaowang Valley; they want to pass the news to Xiliu River.
Even more difficult, Zhong Changqing guessed that Chen Zixiao must have used this method to send a signal to the soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasty on the north and south sides, telling them that the flood had passed through the Miaowang Valley, and that they had been greatly disturbed and panicked.
.
This must also be the signal for the Chushan Army and other soldiers of the Southern Dynasty to launch a general offensive!
Zhong Changqing subconsciously stepped up to the enemy-watching platform made of dirt, stood next to Yuehai Tower and Mu Chi, and looked towards the north toward the Xikou.
The Chushan Army's previous camp at Xikou was mainly illuminated by piles of bonfires inside and outside the car array, but now there were dots of fire lights one after another, which was caused by a large number of torches being lit at this time.
"Commander, you, Marshal Mu Chi, and General Yin should leave quickly, we can't delay any more! I'm the only one here!" Zhong Changqing almost groaned...