The Battle of Daishan allowed Qin Shubao and others to completely change their previous evaluation of the strength of the rebels. Similarly, the Wagang Army, now walking among the barren mountains and wild ridges, also admired the enemy who had just bid farewell. They did not wear any clothes after leaving the Daishan range.
They passed through the relatively wealthy Lu County, although it was easier for them to obtain supplies by looting the estates of wealthy families on the way. Instead, they hurried for more than 80 miles and withdrew overnight into Jibei County, where the land was barren and there were hordes of bandits. This way around
The road back to Wagang would take them twice as long as the road to Lujun, and they would have to climb two high mountains and cross two huge swamps on the way.
But it would be safer for them to go this way. Unable to summon enough manpower, Qin Shubao would never dare to follow him with only the 700 elite Qi County soldiers in his hand. Although the county soldiers are all brave and good at fighting, in Jibei County
, heroes from all walks of life can definitely bite them to death with their numerical superiority.
"Bah, when did our Wagang Army hide from others?!" There were also people who were very dissatisfied with Xu Maogong's arrangements. Shan Xiongxin, the commander of the Ma Army, was one of them. When he fought against Luo Shixin, he received a slap in the leg from the opponent, although it was not
It is fatal, but riding a horse for a long time will be very painful. As the sweat invades, the wound seems to be cut with a small knife, one after another.
Especially when going uphill or downhill, it feels like being tortured. Shan Xiongxin, who cannot use any strength in his legs, can only rely on people to support him to prevent him from slipping off the horse. If he is not careful at all, the wound will immediately hurt.
The blood oozes out endlessly, which is particularly annoying.
What hurt Shan Xiongxin more than the wound on his leg was the dozens of sets of war horse equipment that were finally snatched from the enemy. Xu Maogong pretended to be generous and returned them to others. Although his explanation to everyone was,
If the number of cavalry equipped with heavy armor is too small, it will not be effective. If there are too many Wagang troops, they cannot support it. But Shan Xiongxin, the commander of the cavalry army, refused to accept this excuse. In his opinion, Xu Maogong's move
It was clearly a sign of weakness to the enemy, which not only disgraced him, but also damaged the prestige of the Wagang Army.
"A little is better than nothing. A little makes a lot. I really don't know what he thinks. The poorer he is, the more generous he is. We are bandits, what kind of hypocrisy are we playing?" He glanced at Xu Maogong in the distance and murmured in a low voice. Every time he complained, he complained a few times.
In other words, the pain in my legs feels lighter, and my head doesn't feel as dizzy as before.
"Come on, old Dan. Don't be so stingy. The military advisor is right, we will suffer too much loss if we fight head-on with the enemy. It's not like you haven't fought with them before. The strength of Qi County officers and soldiers is not inferior to our Wagang Army at all.
!" Cheng Zhijie couldn't get used to Shan Xiongxin's endless wordiness, so he whispered advice from the side.
His words came out of good intentions, but they hit Shan Xiongxin's pain point. "What's wrong with being strong? No matter how strong we are, we haven't lost to them! If we really want to fight, it's not sure who will fall first!" Shan Xiongzhi
His eyes widened and he let out a series of roars. This caused the soldiers nearby to turn around, wondering what medicine the leader had taken today.
"If we fight another battle, we will definitely win. Okay? Are you satisfied, Lao Dan? But after the battle is over, the brothers have almost fought hard. You, Lao Dan, can go back to Wagang Mountain alone. You, go back to Wagang Mountain."
Go and be your King of Guanggan Mountain!" Cheng Zhijie was so angry at Shan Zhongzhi's roar that he spit on the ground and led his horse away to the front of the team.
When Shan Xiongxin heard this sentence, it made him want to vomit blood even more than the previous sentence. In the first battle with the elites of Qi County, the two hundred cavalry of the Wagang Army were almost wiped out. And Shan Xiongxin, as a
The commander of the horse soldiers meant that he had firmly established himself as the King of Guangganshan after that.
"Whose fault is it? It's not like we don't have the chance to expand our army. I've said before that we don't have enough manpower, we don't have enough manpower, but you just don't listen. You still dream of dominating the world. You can't even handle a bigger battle. You're a ghost!"
As Xiongxin spoke, he whipped the branches and trunks on the roadside with his riding crop. He was so strong that he hit the ground with broken leaves. Cheng Zhijie was too lazy to argue with him. Ordinary soldiers were not qualified to argue with him. The surrounding area fell silent for a while.
I only heard him shouting alone.
"Which of the thirty-six heroes in Henan is not armed with tens of thousands of soldiers? We are the only ones with elite soldiers, elite soldiers, so elite that there are no soldiers at all!" Shan Xiongxin's voice got louder as he spoke, as if he was eager for someone to quarrel with him.
shelf.
The strategy of elite troops was proposed by Xu Maogong when Zhai Rang had just raised his troops. At that time, the Wagang Army mainly made a living by collecting "consecrations" (Note 1) from the estates of wealthy families near the village. They could not afford to support too many troops.
Therefore, we cannot afford too serious losses.
Later, the Wagang Army gradually established a foothold in Dongjun, but they could not bear to plunder the countryside like other bandits. They tried to distinguish themselves from thieves, so their recruitment was very limited, and of course they had to stick to the strategy of elite troops.
This strategy earned the Wagang Army the name "Righteous Army", but it has also received a lot of criticism recently. Especially after Li Mi went up the mountain, this great talent who is famous all over the world believed that it was time for the heroes to join forces and recruit more people.
Joining a group will give you more strength. Xu Maogong stubbornly believes that soldiers are more valuable than elites. Two hundred thousand farmers with sticks and shovels are definitely no match for five thousand veterans who are familiar with orders and have been trained for a long time.
The two parties have publicly discussed their future development strategies many times, but Mr. Zhai has never been a person with accurate ideas. Therefore, the leaders are divided into two groups. One group supports Xu Maogong's approach of slowly accumulating strength and not being the leader for the time being. The other group agrees with it.
Li Mi's view on rapidly growing his strength and preparing to compete for world supremacy.
Shan Xiongxin believed in Xu Maogong's character, but supported Li Mi's suggestion, so he didn't want to please both sides. Originally, he didn't want to mention these boring things, but when his leg hurt today, he immediately stopped talking.
"Brother Shan, what you said is inappropriate. There are 100,000 rebels in Beihai County. You have seen with your own eyes the results of the 100,000 rebels!" Xie Yingden caught up from behind and retorted in a slow voice.
While talking, Xie Yingdeng winked at Shan Xiongxin. Xu Maogong's location was not too far from Shan Xiongxin's place. If Shan Xiongxin kept shouting, the other party would definitely hear his complaints. Although Xu Er's boss is broad-minded, but in the crowd
In front of this, he must also protect his dignity.
Moreover, Xu Maogong's views have been tested by facts. When they first came to rescue the Beihai Rebels, many generals were full of hope for the rebels' combat effectiveness. A hundred thousand troops swept across Beihai. Even if they were in trouble, they could still hold on for three to five months! Who?
I thought that when everyone was halfway there, they heard that the Beihai Rebels had been driven out of Beihai. When everyone arrived at the foot of Mount Dai, they found that only 6,000 of the legendary 100,000 rebels were left, and there were only 1,000 regular soldiers and officers, and the rest were all
Minzhuang was recruited temporarily to make up the numbers.
"It's only been a few days since they started the uprising? We have been struggling for more than two years! If we recruit more people for training from the beginning, will we still be unable to train them? Besides, how can those gang of people in Beihai County compare with our Wagang Army? Among them?
How can anyone be worthy of being a general?" Shan Xiongxin lowered his voice slightly and defended unconvincingly. On the one hand, he expected the Wagang Army to grow rapidly, on the other hand, he also looked down on the futile behavior of the Beihai bandits.
Quantity, an army without combat effectiveness. But the two originally conflicting views on development were perfectly unified in his mouth, and in turn they seemed to make sense.
"Brother Shan, the heroes of Beihai still have some abilities, but they were caught off guard by Qin Shubao!" A leader riding a red horse in front of Xu Maogong turned back and whispered to Shan Xiongxin and Xie Yingden. At the same time,
He quietly pointed his riding crop at Qi Guoyuan, who was following Xu Maogong's horse, and signaled Shan and Xie not to be too mean.
Qi Guoyuan is now the real boss, with not a single brother left. To criticize the heroes of Beihai behind their backs is to add insult to injury. Besides, after this person goes up the mountain, he will be regarded as a member of the Wagang Army, riding on the red
Leader Ma doesn't want everyone to have too many gaps in their hearts in the future.
"Bodang, can you hear us?" Shan Xiongxin realized that his complaint just now was really loud. Since the people walking next to Xu Maogong could hear it clearly, Xu Maogong himself must have heard every word.
.
"Your loud voice will probably scare away the leopards in the mountains. Who can't hear it?!" Wang Bodang frowned and lowered his voice in response. "The military advisor knew that you were feeling uncomfortable in your legs, so he deliberately pretended not to hear you.
, so as not to embarrass everyone! But you should also restrain yourself and don’t force him to enforce strict military discipline!"
"Ugh!" Shan Xiongxing covered his mouth with his hand, and at the same time his eyes widened like a leopard. "I, Old Dan, was really sorry just now!" He muttered to Xu Maogong's shadow in a low voice. "But, please be nice.
Pretend to be returned to others..."
"Come on, old Dan, don't let it go on forever. Didn't you notice? The military advisor returned those heavy and heavy iron equipment, but not their war horses?" Wang Bodang knew that Shan Xiongxin had a stubborn temper.
Even if he is wrong in his heart, he will not give in. "The military adviser is not optimistic about the combat effectiveness of the armored cavalry. Think about it, we are fighting against the elites of Qi County. It is those light cavalry running around that are a headache. They also say that the armored cavalry are
More of a headache?”
"Of course they are light cavalry, grandma's. This is the first time I have seen this style of fighting. They take advantage of us. But there are so many of them. If there are the same number of armored cavalry..." Shan Xiongxin said halfway.
Stop suddenly.
He is not an unreasonable person, although he is sometimes stubborn. The cost of light cavalry is less than 20% of that of armored cavalry, and the requirements for war horses and the quality of soldiers are far lower than those of armored cavalry. Several factors are combined.
After calculation, the cost of building two hundred armored cavalry is enough to build two thousand light cavalry.
If the two thousand light cavalry have appropriate tactics, including the tactics used by Qijun elites to bully the infantry's slow movement, they can defeat tens of thousands of well-trained infantry. If they encounter the Beihai Rebels who are not easy to fight,
Meatou, two thousand Qingqi can defeat tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands.
A strange scene suddenly appeared in front of Shan Xiongxin. He led more than a thousand cavalrymen to fly past in front of an enemy force that was ten times his size. The arrows around him were like rain, but they could not stop the speed of the cavalrymen. The cavalrymen ran as they ran.
While shooting arrows into the enemy formation, there is no need to be accurate. In such a dense formation, shooting directly can cause huge damage. After several circles, the enemy's morale was greatly demoralized, and then they were completely defeated. The brothers rode up to catch up and started from behind.
Chopping down enemies is like chopping melons and vegetables.
He knew that this tactic had already been used by others. The reason why the Qijun elites were able to kill the Wagang Army's Beihai counterparts so cleanly was because they used this "novel" tactic.
This tactic cannot be called invincible, but it is a surefire way to deal with infantry, especially the poorly equipped and poorly trained rebels. "What a ruthless Qin Shubao!" Shan Xiongxin admired secretly in his heart. Although the scene just now was just a flash of light.
For a moment, he knew that he had entered a new realm. If he continued along this path, more elite tactics would be revealed to him.
"Thankfully they met the military advisor!" Shan Xiongxin, who suddenly had a glimpse of the tactics of the light cavalry, thought as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. If Xu Maogong hadn't responded appropriately that day, the Wagang Army's losses would have been greater than they were now.
He knocked his stirrups and chased Xu Maogong along the emergency passage reserved on the right side of the team. He wanted to share this experience with Xu Maogong. Since the military advisor has methods to restrain cavalry and shooting tactics, he must have a deeper understanding of such tactics.
.
"This impatient old Dan!" Wang Bodang scolded with a smile. He and Xie Yingdeng knew exactly what Shan Xiongxin was doing. In fact, he and many Wagang generals realized it after their first battle with Qijun elites.
The power of new tactics. For them who are used to and familiar with traditional armored cavalry tactics, this is a tactic full of freshness and temptation. After all, everyone is a rebel army now, and there is no imperial court that frequently builds thousands of iron equipment.
, the ability to buy good horses from the Western Regions at high prices. With the meager conditions at hand, it is the most realistic and reasonable consideration to build an invincible light cavalry with local war horses, cowhide light armor, horizontal swords, and short bows.
Once such an army is built, the Wagang Army's range of activities and attack power can be expanded at least three times. In this way, they will have the opportunity to rush out of Dongjun like a storm. Whether they go to Xingyang in the west or take Xuchang in the south, it will happen overnight.
thing.
Hearing the sound of horse hooves coming from behind, a smile appeared on Xu Maogong's face. He had not been able to hold back and maintain his dignity just now, and he deliberately gave Shan Xiongxin a chance to vent. For the man in the Wagang Army who was older than himself,
Xu Maogong likes the straightforward Ma Jun commander sincerely. Judging from his ability to observe people, such a person is upright and will not attack others behind their backs. In addition, another important reason why he admires Shan Xiongxin is that he
His ability to understand cavalry tactics is quite high, perhaps second only to that of Li Xu.
Thinking of his good brother, Xu Maogong sighed involuntarily. His dream back then was to become a general and a marquis, so every time he heard news about Xu Zi, he seemed to see his dream. Sometimes, Xu Maogong was very envious.
Li Xu's good luck is because he firmly believes that if he had the same fate, he might not do worse than Xu Zi.
But fate plays a trick on people. Not everyone will be favored by Tang Gong Li Yuan as soon as they join the army. And not everyone can escape all disasters safely. Xu Maogong clearly remembers the scene when the government forcibly came to his home to deliver racha. Xu Maogong
The family spent a lot of money and had a lot of money entrusted to them, but the other party repeatedly searched for it based on a piece of military recruitment order, and the demands were excessive.
Really unable to swallow this breath, he went to Wagang and surrendered to Zhai Rang. Half a year later, he heard the news about his good friend. By this time, the other party had become a captain in the Sui Army.
"Is Commander Xu worried about the guy named Li?" Qi Guoyuan, who had been following Xu Maogong like a follower, suddenly quickened his pace and asked Shan Xiongxin before he could.
"That cavalry and archery tactic came from the nomadic tribes on the grassland. It should have been brought back by Li Zhongjian, not by Qin Shubao." Xu Maogong did not answer Qi Guoyuan's words, but turned to Shan Xiongxin who was following him. "But Qi County elites use it.
At that time, it was obviously improved based on our Central Plains tactics. This tactic first emphasizes speed, and then attack power! I don’t have much understanding, but we can discuss it together after returning to the mountain."
"Does the military advisor know less than the man named Li?" Shan Xiong was stunned for a moment, with a hint of disappointment in his words.
"His understanding has always been better than mine, and he has experienced two conquests of Liao Dynasty and one counterinsurgency. He also has far more experience in leading troops and actual combat than me!" Xu Maogong nodded and answered very modestly. He found that he was actually doing something for Li Xu
And proud, although this person may become his most troublesome opponent in the future.
"I have a way to make the surname Li very unlucky!" Qi Guoyuan added forcefully. He had just joined the group and was eager to perform, so he didn't care about other people's faces for the moment.
"Oh?" Xu Maogong's brows suddenly jumped up and he asked in surprise.
"Have the military advisor and Li Zhongjian known each other before? Or are they very familiar with each other?" Qi Guoyuan showed off his intelligence to his heart's content, "The secret minister has an informant in Qi County. If we pass this news to Zhang Xutuo through him..." He laughed.
He was standing with a sinister look on his face.
"Victory is impossible without force!" Xu Maogong shook his head repeatedly.
"This trick will definitely work if you call the maggots! Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin may not be convinced by Li Zhongjian. He is a foreigner, but he is dictating everywhere..." Qi Guoyuan kept chattering to himself, trying to make Xu Maogong understand the brilliance of his idea.
"Extremely shameless!" Shan Xiongxin commented unceremoniously. "If you dare to think of this again, believe it or not, I will stab you?" He threatened loudly, wishing to immediately throw Qi Guoyuan into a deserted valley.
"Okay, okay, even if I didn't say it, wouldn't it be enough?" Qi Guoyuan shrank his neck in fright and hid behind Xu Maogong's horse. After a while, he added again, "But people talk too much. If the news reaches
Qijun, Brother Shan, please don’t rely on me!” (To be continued)
