Chapter 25: Do your best to get off the mountain (Part 1)
Amid loud shouts, both sides returned to their formations.
As soon as he returned to the command vehicle in his formation, Cao Mengde immediately summoned the remnants of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry beside him, which was now the last armored cavalry beside him, and waved his sword and ordered:
"Send the order and tell the generals that our army is fully prepared and has high morale. The enemy's cavalry rushing into the formation rashly is tantamount to seeking death... and our entire army is not allowed to move without permission. We should observe the enemy's posture and stick to kill first.
, wait for the enemy to relax for a moment, then follow my command, move in order, and return to camp southward in turn!"
The tiger and leopard cavalry who temporarily acted as messengers dispersed and sent orders without mentioning them.
On the other side, Gongsun returned to the flag of the white horse. When the shouts subsided, he calmly waved his sword and ordered: "The enemy is in full step, with shields and spears in front, and bows and crossbows behind. There are so many armored soldiers that it is really difficult for the cavalry to get close.
Let the armored cavalry station for a while, and the commanders of each department will personally lead the light cavalry to disperse in all directions, using cavalry shooting to test the strength of each enemy battalion. The results will be reported later! Remember, all cavalry departments in the army, except Tian Yu, need to rest and reorganize.
In addition, for all the rest, be sure to test out the enemy’s outer seven battalions one by one, and then report back! But save your arrows!”
In addition to Tian Yu, Cheng Lian, Zhang Liao, Tian Chou, Yang Kai, Yuwen Heita, Yu Fuluo, and Xu Bu took the second place, which happened to be seven generals. They all obeyed orders, and then returned to their formations, immediately selected their own light cavalry, and began to ride with them.
He shot and tested the seven outer camps of Cao's army. The crossbowmen were an important part of the defense against the cavalry. Therefore, Cao's army naturally did not want to show weakness and counterattacked one after another.
For a moment, the bows and arrows of both sides were flying wildly, and the arrows were intertwined. One side stood with a large shield, motionless as a mountain; the other side was flying left and right, moving as fast as the wind, which was really shocking.
In fact, this is just a plain. Even the commander can barely stand on the chariot or on his horse to briefly observe the battlefield situation... But if someone can be condescending and observe the entire battlefield from a bird's eye view, then regardless of the gathering,
Not to mention the large area of more than 10,000 armored cavalry waiting behind Gongsun, these northern light cavalry and the infantry formation of the Central Plains Allied Forces who were fighting happened to form an extremely huge 'Brother Kong Fang' that resembled a five-baht coin!
The square in the middle is naturally a large square formation composed of the eight battalions of heavy infantry of Cao's army, while the outer circle follows the direction of the shadow of the sundial and surrounds the light cavalry of the Yan army. They received orders from their lord and were asked to test Cao's army.
For each 'small' square formation on the periphery, the best way is, of course, to run directly around the enemy formation, and then separate some troops for a round of galloping, riding and shooting!
By the way, the Yan army has a clear system. The 35,000 cavalry in this attack are fully equipped, but they are slightly different. Not to mention the 3,000 white horses who are willing to follow, the remaining 32,000 cavalry, in terms of organization, are exactly 10,000.
Two thousand armored cavalry, plus 20,000 so-called light cavalry capable of riding and shooting, which are actually generally worn by officers... At this time, Tian Yu's tribe did not participate in the war, so the remaining light cavalry surrounding the parade was actually less than 20,000 cavalry, but it was only insufficient.
Twenty thousand!
And nearly 20,000 cavalrymen were galloping around Cao Jun’s formation. How shocking was it?!
There is no need to pretend to step forward and trample the cavalry, the basic intimidating effect of the cavalry has already been demonstrated.
Cao Mengde's face was also pale... Of course he was not afraid of these cavalry, but he was afraid that someone in the surrounding camps would waver and then directly collapse, and then lead to the trampling and expulsion of the more than 10,000 armored cavalry behind Gongsun, and finally direct defeat?
Of course, facts have proven that Cao Mengde's worries were actually unnecessary. The reason why these soldiers were selected by him represents the best part of the Guandu camp except Cao Ren's tribe... They are not stragglers, but a team.
A well-organized army from top to bottom! Even Wenpin and Li Tong's troops were fully-organized troops that had experienced seven or eight years of war.
In the army, people's courage can be enhanced by the collective.
In other words, without effectively destroying the entire army's structure, such an army cannot be crushed by other means.
The cavalry of each unit of the Yan army surrounded Cao's army, and there was a circle of arrows. Then they retreated slightly by relying on the strength of the cavalry, and then the generals of each unit gathered under the white horse flag again... At this time, two quarters of an hour had passed.
When Cao Mengde saw that the Yan army had stopped its heart-stopping galloping and firing, he was naturally overjoyed, but he once again summoned the tiger and leopard cavalry to deliver the order: "Tell the generals of the battalions that the Yan army is exhausted! They dare not really charge into the formation and fight hand-to-hand."
, but the intimidation by cavalry and archery is useless... Let each battalion be sure to stabilize, and our army will definitely be able to return to camp in this battle!"
"how?"
After a while, under the banner of White Horse, Gongsun also began to seriously ask about the group of cavalry generals he trusted most, and they were probably the most average-quality cavalry generals on the planet. "Which battalion of the Southern Army has the most crossbowmen?
Which battalion has the most pure crossbowmen? Also, which battalion of the Confederate Army suffered the most damage under our cavalry fire? And which battalion is the most effective in intimidation?"
The generals did not dare to neglect and told everything.
Some of the final answers are obviously reasonable, but some are unexpected.
For example, those with the most crossbowmen and the heaviest counterattacks are Wenpin and Li Tong's second battalion in the east. This is because they have the thickest military formation and even serve as the rear camp, with many livestock hidden among them.
Vehicles and military equipment; and the quality of the army is the worst, that is, when faced with the intimidation of the Yan army knights, it is the second battalion that is the most frightened; at the same time, after the circle just now, the Yan army has the most killings and the highest killing efficiency.
Second Battalion... This is of course an expected answer!
As for the crossbowmen that Gongsun specially proposed, unexpectedly but still being cleaned up, they turned out to be the middle three battalions...that is, the Zhou and Tai army formations in the middle to the west, the Maojie army formation in the middle to the south, and the Du Xiu army formation in the middle of the north.
Obviously, this is due to the status and political nature of these three troops. Good crossbows are hard to make, and it is also a period of fatigue after half a year of fighting between the two sides. Good things will naturally be distributed to the core troops.
The two military formations of Mao Jie and Du Xi were separated from Cao Cao's Central Army. They are basically Cao Cao's Central Army. Zhou Tai's three thousand Danyang soldiers are the old foundation of Liu Bei's career. Of course, they are also qualified to be the same as Cao Cao's Central Army.
treatment.
Gongsun lowered his head and thought for a moment, then asked again: "In other words, although Xu Sheng and Chen Wu's second formation are almost all wearing armor, you can still cause damage?"
"As His Highness said, there will always be damage."
The first person to answer was Zhang Liao, who almost instantly realized what Gongsun meant. "These two battalions are located at two corners of the enemy's formation. They can shoot at the same time from both sides, and the bows used by the two battalions to counterattack
Be it crossbows or crossbows, they are indeed the least in number, so if you want to use cavalry and archery to concentrate all the forces to kill, you should really start with these two battalions... But I must be honest, these two battalions are extremely capable, and almost all of them are wearing armor.
There are also a lot of large shields, and the troops are very well-organized. With such a killing, even if all the light cavalry in the army empty their quivers, I am afraid it can only slightly shake the two battalions."
After Zhang Wenyuan said this, none of the surrounding generals had any objections. Instead, most of them nodded.
In other words, since Zhang Wenyuan killed Xiahou Yuan and Cao Chun, everyone knew that he would definitely be granted a title after the war, and the army has always respected military merit and the courage to fight. Many of Xiahou Yuan's top generals were still dissatisfied, but after that bloody battle,
His status among the generals has gradually increased... Except for Cheng Lian, who is too old and can still hold him down by half, the other generals can't help but feel a little backward, and today the youngest Tian Yu's rush
It is difficult to say whether the defeat was due to Zhang Wenyuan's troops being behind him.
"You don't have to worry about anything else. Let's shake the second battalion a little first." Unexpectedly, in the face of the almost unanimous views of the generals, Gongsun kept his expression as usual and issued a military order uncharacteristically. "The whole army of light cavalry immediately took turns to fight, attacking from both sides.
Let’s empty the quivers of all the light cavalry at the head of the second battalion first!”
The generals did not dare to neglect and took orders one after another and left.
A moment later, the shocking arrow battle from before suddenly resumed. However, the Yan army concentrated its forces, took turns moving forward, and in a circular riding posture, threw all the arrows at Chen Wu. Xu Sheng's second battalion was called Huainan.
In the military formation of Shangjia.
Unlike the previous Yan army's light cavalry, which was as fair as clouds and rain when they circled the entire formation, General Chen and Xu encountered concentrated blows like strong winds and showers in the formation. The people holding up their shields were listening as if they were hiding from the rain.
The shield was crackling all the time. If you were not careful, arrows would fly in from the gaps in the shield and engage in a second round of competition with the soldiers' armor, causing some damage.
Cao Mengde stood on the Chinese chariot, struggled to put his feet up and looked at it for a long time, but he was also worried... He knew very well that this was the mobility advantage of cavalry with one more horse than infantry!
After all, mobility on the battlefield brings too many benefits. It allows light cavalry to easily concentrate on a local corner of the battlefield, forming a huge strength advantage in the local battlefield; it can also use rotation to maintain a continuous force against the infantry.
Moreover, the cavalry has a huge mobility advantage and can easily retreat to rest and prepare after the attack is completed.
Correspondingly, under such repeated attacks and projections, the soldiers and horses of the two battalions of Chen Wu and Xu Sheng could only remain motionless. Then, while passively being beaten, they managed to seize the gap in the rotation of the cavalry and use their bows and crossbows to counterattack.
However, even this kind of tactical counterattack that seizes the gap is much more disadvantageous than imagined... Because it was not until this time that Second General Chen Wu and Xu Sheng discovered a serious problem, that is, the cavalryman who had originally imagined
The bow is slightly softer, and the crossbows of our army should be at par later. However, at this time, the Yan army cavalry uses the momentum of the horse to launch. The speed bonus brought by this kind of war horse, in turn, gives it a slight advantage, which can make the arrow
The arrow easily crossed the outer shield and fell into the second battalion's formation; what about the other way around? Although the Central Plains Alliance crossbowmen under the protection of the shield could counterattack, they were limited by the critical range and the dodge of the Yan army's light cavalry, and often did not do enough damage.
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It must be said here that the late Han Dynasty was the intersection of the spiral game between crossbows and armor in Chinese history. It is difficult for armor to completely defeat crossbows during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it is also difficult for crossbows to be defeated during most of the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Invincible posture. In other words, the battle between a well-made recurve bow and a piece of traditional iron armor in the second half of its range depends on luck and other factors.
At this time, compared with the counterattack of the Central Plains Allied Forces, the Yan Army's cavalry archery seemed to have an additional layer of speed bonus of the war horses, causing small but effective damage.
Of course, the more important point, and the most critical point, is that the Yan army bullies the smaller ones with more troops, attacking from both sides and taking turns to advance. The density of arrows from both sides is not at the same level at all!
In other words, under such a hail of arrows, although the killing efficiency is low due to the limitations of armor and large shields, there is no doubt that for both warring parties, it is the Southern Army that has been passively and continuously reducing its numbers!
In such a state, Cao Mengde was naturally horrified... He did not dare to assist the two battalions when the Yan army's cavalry was still highly motivated and still had sufficient bows and arrows. If he wanted to assist them, he would definitely need the protection of only two thousand cavalry.
However, the only two thousand cavalry remaining in the entire Central Plains Allied Forces were basically the defeated generals of the Yan army in the bloody battle that day. If they were sent here at this time, they would only cause chaos.
Moreover, he did not dare to directly order the infantry to move to respond when the Yan army was in such a posture, or to ask generals Xu and Chen to retreat, because that would give the Yan army's cavalry an opportunity to charge for a decisive battle.
But what is gratifying is that although there were hundreds of casualties, Xu Sheng and Chen Wu's 2nd Battalion actually gritted their teeth and persevered, and took the initiative to gather the wounded in the middle of the military formation, and seized the time to make every effort to let them go.
The soldiers in front and behind exchanged positions in order to take a breather... Such quality also made Cao Mengde happy and secretly sighed that Liu Xuande had managed the army well.
"Go and tell the two generals Chen and Xu separately that arrows are precious. Since our army's arrows are exhausted, the enemy's arrows will soon be exhausted!" Seeing the second wave of Yan army knights moving forward again, the second battalion
The efficiency of the counterattack dropped sharply again. Cao Cao knew it well and could not help but grit his teeth and ordered his soldiers to cheer him up. "As long as they can withstand another two waves of arrows, our army can calmly retreat south alternately... At that time, I will let Du attack and Mao
Turn the steps to the front and cover them!"
Immediately, a knight galloped towards the second battalion who was being beaten at the horns of two bulls.
"Go and give the order to the other generals." Cao Cao looked at the Yan army's continuous shooting, but gave the order again. "Order the entire army to carefully check the arrow reserves... If the enemy's arrows are all shot, and our army goes south, we need to
Arrows to prevent the enemy from charging into the formation! Be sure to save them! Let Generals Wen and Li prepare livestock and arrows and prepare to distribute them to the other formations!"
Cao's knights scattered again.
On the other side, as the Yan army continued to rotate and fire, Xu Sheng and Chen Wu's troops had basically begun to hold on... Even though there were arrows on the ground, the crossbowmen of the southern army who were within striking range were not able to fire at all.
Dare to fight back, because fighting back means moving the shield above your head, and moving the shield above your head means that even with iron armor, the probability of death is increasing.
In addition, compared to the physical strength and horsepower that the Yan army maintained through rotation tactics, Chen and Xu, who were beaten, had begun to show signs of weakness... they raised their shields and kept shooting arrows to counterattack, as well as pulling away
Heavy crossbows are very laborious.
In turn, the surrender of the southern army's crossbowmen allowed the Yan army's Qingqi to loosen their courage. They began to get closer and closer to the enemy's formation, throwing arrows at a more oblique angle, making the arrows more powerful.
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Suddenly there was a particularly harsh scream. Chen Wu, who had just listened to Cao Cao's messenger, suddenly raised his head, but he and the messenger beside him were stunned. It turned out that just more than ten steps away, a shield hand staggered and fell to the ground in pain.
, but let Chen Wu and others clearly see that an arrow actually penetrated the soldier's iron shield, and connected his palm with the handle of the shield! And in pain, the soldier with the shield
Turning over, it caused chaos all around, and then a hail of arrows flew in, turning a crossbowman and the spearman who had lost their barrier into hedgehogs.
I don't know if it was God's malice, but the crossbowman died on the spot. The spearman was hit by many arrows in front and back, but he was still alive and kept struggling and howling.
Without saying a word, Chen Wu risked the possible danger and stepped forward directly to end the suffering of his subordinate with a knife. However, he hurried back to the messenger's side and responded seriously: "What Mr. Cao said is right, and I have nothing to do with him."
Words, but please make sure to report this situation to Duke Cao!"
The messenger nodded repeatedly, turned around, left the formation from the rear, and rode away.
But not long after he left, the arrow rain that lasted for nearly half an hour finally came to an end. Chen Wu, who was almost numb, was half heartbroken and half lucky. The heartache was naturally due to the heavy casualties in his headquarters, with a total of four to five hundred men reduced.
He was basically taking a beating for the entire army; fortunately, he could see better than Cao Cao on the front line, and the Yan army seemed to be the last batch of light cavalry to be rotated!
In other words, the precious arrows of Yan's light cavalry were finally shot out! Facing such an elite heavy infantry formation of Cao's army, these majestic-looking cavalry finally lost their last effective means of killing with all the arrows.
In fact, if he hadn't understood this truth, Chen Wu would have ordered the whole army to charge with shields at all costs, and he believed that Xu Sheng on the other side would only charge faster than him... because he could only be beaten passively, and then
The feeling of continuous casualties during beatings, and the casualties getting faster and faster, is really not something a normal person can bear.
Cao Cao also breathed a sigh of relief, and the entire Central Plains Allied Forces breathed a sigh of relief.
Almost immediately, Cao Cao gave another order, but he said sadly to the only two remaining cavalry units, Sima Xiahou Shang and Che Zhou: "The matter is over. Boren goes to General Chen's formation, and Sima Che goes to General Xu.
In the formation, escort the wounded soldiers to me first, and then immediately join forces, first north and then south, to provide cover for the movement of the military formation!"
This was a matter of course, so the second general immediately followed the order and did it.
Carrying the wounded in the large formation was naturally very fast, but it only took a moment. Then the two thousand cavalry hurriedly went to the north to form a formation, preparing to cover the exchange positions of Chen Wu and Du Xi's second battalion behind them... But this process was
It took another full quarter of an hour.
The reason is very simple. Although he knows that the opponent has no arrows, and he also knows that the infantry formation behind him will also protect him, but facing the number of cavalry that is more than ten times his own, as the survivors of the previous bloody battle in Guandu, these
Cao Jun's cavalry really cowered.
It took them a long time to choose a safe distance next to the large array.
From the beginning of the battle to now, more than an hour has passed, and the sun has already turned far to the west... After Cao Jun's cavalry held their bows to cover, Du Xi, who had already become impatient, took the lead to move and took charge.
Quickly move toward the southwest from behind the cavalry, and then quickly stand still.
Immediately, Chen Wu looked at the corpses on the ground and sighed. After all, the overall situation came first, and he immediately ordered to pass through the cavalry and Du's attack formation and move the formation to the east.
They succeeded. The Yan army's Qingqi, who lacked attack methods and were afraid of the opponent's crossbows, only tried it out midway. After being hit by the crossbows, they immediately retreated, and then watched as they weakened Chen Wu's troops for half an afternoon and moved to the opposite direction.
In a safe position in the middle of the formation, they sat back and watched as the morale-rich and well-organized Du Xi troops came to the northwest corner of the formation and successfully established their formation.
Not only that, because Du Xibu carried a considerable number of crossbows, the Yan army's knights had to retreat further. However, the two thousand cavalry of the Cao army hurriedly passed through the formation and headed south.
Next, it is almost conceivable that after Xu Sheng's troops and Mao Jie's troops in the southwest corner successfully exchange positions, Cao's entire army will take over cover in a very calm manner, slowly heading south, all the way back to Guandu.
Xia Houshang and the chariots repeated their old tricks, using the cavalry to hold their bows to stand in position, and then the hairy steps moved first, and the victory was confirmed... But at this moment, a sudden change occurred!
Suddenly, a light cavalry of the Yan army went straight forward. Without enough time to surround the cavalry and shoot, they shot a hail of arrows directly at the head of Xu Sheng, who had put away his shield and was about to move the formation!
I still have a little stock of the dividing line.
"Using footwork to ride on horseback, not occupying mountains and rivers, not building fortifications, not erecting camps, and forming formations on the plains. Although the formations are detailed and wonderful, they are actually trapped in a dead end." "Zi Bo's Art of War"
