In the direction of Hancundu, the person responsible for the first attack was Liang Shou, the third brigade of Denghai Town Division.
Since the beachhead on the west bank was occupied by our army's advance soldiers, the position was expanded to a depth of more than 300 steps. The crossbows, scorpion crossbows and other war weapons on the crossbow platforms along the river on the east bank could not be used.
Although shotguns still have quite good lethality at a distance of 400 meters, the range of the cone-shaped barrage spread out when shot from 400 meters away will cause serious accidental injuries to our own soldiers on the west bank, and it is prohibited to use them.
At the artillery positions on both wings of the east bank of Hancundu, eighty light and heavy artillery pieces deployed before the war were alternately spraying solid artillery shells at an oblique angle at the enemy's charge array.
The muzzle ejected a strange flame, and the shells passed over the Fenghe River and passed through the low altitude covered by the night. They roared sharply and tore apart the enemy's charging array from the sides and front wings...
When Tong Huacheng was in Dengzhou, he only saw Huaidong shelling the warships of the Dengzhou Navy and the walls, arrow towers and other buildings of the Dengzhou Walled City. He did not personally observe the Huaidong Army shelling the charging array in the field.
Before the war, the heavy artillery that entered the east bank of Fenghe River first conducted test firings. The west bank was actually under the control of Beiyan soldiers and horses. Scouts could not be sent to penetrate too deeply. They could only use the method of ejecting solid bullets to estimate the west bank.
distance is used as a reference to determine the range. In fact, in an unobstructed plain area, facing the enemy's troops rushing towards them, before the explosive shells can be put into practice, the killing power of the artillery shells fired at a low angle is far greater than that of projectiles.
high
The sound of galloping horse hooves was like a violent shower in the ears, and the mud kicked up by the horses' hooves hit his face, causing pain. Tong Huacheng rushed forward with the left-wing vanguard, mainly armored light cavalry, and the chest-high stabbing blade shone brightly.
Sparkling like river water
The sound was so loud that it seemed that he could only hear his own breathing, but the whistling shells were so obvious - they passed by him and were stung by the hot wind. Tong Huacheng turned his head and looked back in fear.
, I saw seven or eight riders falling down from the other side...
Tong Huacheng turned pale with horror, flicked his horse's head, left the charging formation, galloped diagonally to a high ground on the flank, reined in the reins and looked diagonally behind him, and saw that on the battlefield that had just been covered by Huaidong's artillery, there were at least nearly a hundred cavalrymen.
Those who were either dead or maimed were knocked down and dismounted, losing their fighting power.
Tong Huacheng's hand holding the reins trembled slightly. Although the interval between shelling was not short, it was enough for the cavalry to charge to the Huaidong Army's front line and avoid the Huaidong Army's second shelling with close combat. However, the first wave of sprints
The cavalry array of the Huaidong Army killed nearly one-tenth of the men and horses from the left and right front wings in one go. This kind of lethality may not be too amazing.
In fact, before the war, Tong Huacheng reminded Nahewugu that when sending out cavalry to charge, the troops should start in a dispersed array and sprint to the front of the enemy formation to gather together to enhance the impact. The purpose was to guard against Huaidong artillery's attack on the dense array.
In terms of lethality, when it comes to war, the power of a salvo of seventy or eighty artillery pieces has been underestimated...
In the daytime, a single artillery bombardment would cause such a large number of casualties, which would seriously affect the determination of other generals to attack the enemy formation. However, the darkness of night would cover up the bloodshed, and the cavalrymen who charged through the artillery bombardment area did not take it seriously.
Observing the casualties behind him, he fiercely attacked the Huaidong Army array entering the west bank of Fenghe River with the force of an angry arrow, like a raging wave. Suddenly, swords and shields, arrows and guns, blood and flesh were everywhere.
The attacks were roaring, and although some people kept falling off their horses, the blood of both the enemy and ourselves was boiling, and we were locked in an endless bloody battle...
The soldiers and horses of Beiyan had already anticipated the cruelty of this battle before the war, and also knew that only a battle formation made of blood and flesh could stop the Huaidong Army from advancing westward.
Before the first wave of cavalry could claim victory, the Yan army's second charge formation, composed of more than 1,800 cavalry in three formations, came flying in the dust; those faintly visible cold-colored armors, shiny blades, shining eyes and slightly
The open teeth float in the night like tiny visible waves
Tong Huacheng was dragged off his horse by his horsemen and pinned to the ground. He listened to the whistling sound of the shells above his head. When he looked up, he saw the roaring solid shells coming with unstoppable momentum.
Penetrate a body of flesh and blood
Tong Huacheng watched helplessly as a cannonball was fired from the front left corner of the charge array and shot out from the rear right corner. With irresistible force, it shattered a giant tree and left at least thirteen or four flesh and blood bodies in the middle.
A cannonball was fired; sometimes one could clearly see those shells hitting the ground, but then they would bounce up a second time as if possessed by a demon, and continue to run rampant among the array.
Fortunately, on the sprint battlefield two or three miles away from the river bank, the entire forward cavalry formation was relatively scattered, and a considerable number of artillery shells were fired from angles that were far from ideal: either high, passing through the air; or low, firing early.
There was no ricochet formed on the ground, but just like that, on the battlefield covered by Huaidong artillery, an additional 140 or 50 horses were added to the dismounted, dead or disabled men and horses...
Night has advantages and disadvantages; Tong Huacheng had to be grateful for the benefits of night at this time
The cavalry that had already charged from the area covered by Huaidong's artillery could not see the heavy casualties left behind in the night. They approached the Huaidong Army and entered the beachhead position on the west bank, taking advantage of the fact that the Huaidong Army's position on the west bank was unprepared.
At close range, he raised his horse again and again, and with a desperate attitude, he attacked the Huaidong Army's temporary defense line on the west bank.
Yanhu's cavalry officers, who were famous for their bravery, used their horses and lances as weapons, swinging them left and right. The cast iron shield chariots and spear chariots weighing hundreds of kilograms were easily knocked over in front of them, and even fell to the ground.
These generals of Yan and Hu, who were able to roll over and were not afraid of life and death, faced the assassination spears of the Huaidong Army. Even though their bodies were stabbed with dozens of bloody holes, they still did not forget to fight forward when they were about to die, hoping to inflict harm on those who came after them.
A huge gap was created, and the roar was as loud as thunder...
Although the infantry brigade of the Huaidong Army is known for its tight defense, the temporary front line that entered the west bank after midnight was not well defended after all. Hu Qi, regardless of casualties, desperately urged his horses at close range and sprinted desperately.
It still caused strong pressure and casualties to the Huaidong Army entering the West Bank.
Hu Qi's goal was very clear, which was to break through the Huaidong Army's defenses on the west bank, destroy the trestle, then encircle and annihilate the Huaidong Army generals on the west bank, and then retreat and wait for the Huaidong Army to build a bridge to cross the river for the second time...
Beiyan planned to use this pure bloody battle of flesh and blood to weaken the westward march of the Huaidong Army, to preserve the city of Yanjing, to protect the nation, and to restore the fate of the country.
The tactics of the Yanhu cavalry were also very simple and crude. Since attacking from the flanks would be threatened by artillery and heavy crossbows from the east coast, they could only choose to use the simplest chisel attack tactics from the front to attack the Huaidong Army's defense line on the west bank again and again.
The Huaidong Army's defense line on the west bank was less than 300 steps wide. Although the resistance was extremely tenacious, with spears, crossbows, and chariots blocking the front, it could not withstand Hu Qi's life-threatening attacks again and again. Yan
Hu's forward thrust, regardless of casualties, also caused the generals of the Huaidong Army to die or die under the iron hoof. Many wounded soldiers even had no time to withdraw to the two wings, so they watched the defense line being penetrated by Hu's cavalry, leaving the trestle exposed to Hu's cavalry.
Under the iron heel of...
The Yanhu cavalry unloaded the prepared bundles of firewood soaked in grease from their horses, threw them to the end of the trestle, and lit them on fire, making the light on both sides of the Feng River brighter. However, at the next moment, the fire was exposed
Among them, it is not the floating boat trestle that Yan Bing imagined, but three black iron beam bridges.
The iron beam bridge is composed of a section of box-cage bridge body, lying across the Feng River. The bridge erecting vehicle is used as a temporary support under the bridge, standing in the turbulent flow. Only then did some people understand a little bit why they saw it before nightfall.
How many trench bridge vehicles of the Huaidong Army look like their wheels are extraordinarily tall? It turns out they are meant to be pushed into the middle of the river to be used as bridge pilings.
General Yanhu couldn't imagine how these three iron beam bridges were built, but the bridge body was mainly composed of I-shaped or ruler-shaped iron beams. The Yanhu warriors holding giant axes and preparing to chop the iron cables looked at
The thick iron beams reflected in the firelight, no matter how sharp the giant ax that can cut the iron ropes is, it can't destroy the interlaced bridge body of the iron beams in a short time with clumsy chopping methods...
The iron beam bridge could not be destroyed by arson and was not afraid of being hacked by swords and axes. Seeing that the bridge could not be destroyed, Yan Qi wanted to cross over and attack the east bank to kill the Huaidong Army's main formation on the east bank. However, what they had to face at this time was Huaidong.
The army deployed eight artillery pieces on the river bank to blockade
The lead shot hit the iron beam, and there was a roaring sound of metal. However, many lead shot mercilessly penetrated the body, rolled in the body, and opened large holes in the flesh and blood.
Solid bullets still shoot linearly, and the possibility of the angle of the shells deviating is also very high. At close range, the shotguns directly cover a surface, killing the enemy in pieces and killing the Huaidong Army on the west bank of the ground who penetrated the defense line.
They did not collapse, but before the crazy attack of the enemy cavalry, they deliberately retreated to the two wings to reduce the huge pressure on the defense line and reduce unnecessary casualties. At this time, they lost no time in counterattacking from both wings...
Division Denghai has rehearsed this tactic more than ten times, seizing the opportunity for enemy cavalry to be shot and blinded by scattered bullets, and cutting off more than a thousand enemy cavalry from the flanks in one fell swoop...
Facing the killings on the west bank, the Yan cavalry army did not retreat. The third group of cavalry passed through the artillery coverage area at a very fast speed and came up. Faced with such a fierce attack by the Yan Hu cavalry, Chen Zhi had to send the second brigade in advance.
To the west bank, the Third Brigade, which suffered heavy casualties, was moved to the two wings to disperse...
Compared with the bloody fighting on the Hancundu battlefield, the fierce fighting at the other three crossing points was much less intense. At these crossing points, in order to prevent the generals entering the west bank from having their defense lines penetrated and defeated, when the pressure reached a certain level, they would use
The war crossbows blocked the defense line, and the soldiers and horses assisting the west bank withdrew from the pontoon bridge, giving the enemy cavalry the opportunity to rush forward and set fire to the pontoon bridge.
Once the floating boat trestle catches fire, or the iron rope is cut by a giant axe, the enemy cavalry will quickly leave the river bank, without giving Huaidong artillery a chance to shoot more, and the war will be suspended for a period of time, giving both sides a chance to rest and recuperate.
Only the bloody battle on the Hancundu battlefield was so fierce that it exceeded the advance predictions of the commanders of both sides.
The existence of the iron beam bridge prevented the Huaidong Army from entering the west bank from Hancundu without being interrupted by the enemy's cavalry charge; and the gap between the enemy's cavalry charge was a good opportunity for the Huaidong Army to reorganize and strengthen the western line of defense.
However, the enemy also realized that they could not defeat the Huaidong Army entering the west bank of Hancundu, and they could not prevent the Huaidong Army entering the west bank of Hancundu from continuing to expand in depth. Eventually, their defense line on the west bank of Fenghe River would no longer exist.
, and from Fenghe to the west all the way to the foot of Yanjing City, they will not have any advantageous terrain than Fenghe to hinder the Huaidong Army from advancing westward, which means that the imperial capital of Beiyan cannot be preserved in front of them...
General Hu Yan was also fighting like crazy. He kept crossing the battlefield in a manic and furious manner to replenish his elite combat power. Regardless of casualties, he used his flesh and blood to block the westward advance of the Huaidong Army.
The fighting at Hancundu showed no sign of stopping until the afternoon of the next day. Gao Zongting, Yang Yihang, Song Shixing and others had to make a temporary decision to transfer an elite brigade from Han Caizhi and Hu Qiaoguan's troops to strengthen the front line in the direction of Hancundu.
Ordered Han Caizhi and Hu Qiaoguan to advance towards the west bank of Fenghe River from both wings with determination...