Chapter 741: The first round of confrontation in the western suburbs of Shouying
"woo(wǔ)——woo(wū)——"
A long sound of horns seemed to be coming from the far east direction, slowly coming here.
Zhao Hongrun could tell that this was the bugle of the Qi army, representing attack.
"Wei Jiao." Zhao Hongrun signaled to Zongwei Chief Wei Jiao with a solemn expression.
Wei Jiao understood the idea. After nodding, he raised his arms and shouted in a deep voice: "Blow the horn!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the few Su Wang guards in front of the formation also raised their horns and blew the horn of attack.
Slightly different from the Qi army's bugle sound, the Wei army's bugle sound spread from the main formation to several Wei army formations in front of the formation.
Because it was a large-scale legion battle, it was definitely not comparable to the small fights in the past. Therefore, the formation of the Wei army today was also extremely neat and orderly.
Only 50,000 merchant navy troops were seen, now forming three levels of columns: the front column was the vanguard, the middle column was the backbone army, and the rear column was the rear army holding down the formation.
Among them, Zhao Hongrun, as the coach and the highest commander of the battle, is in charge of the main formation; the chief general of the Shangshui Army, Wu Ji, is in charge of the backbone and also serves as the second commander; Nanmen Chi, who temporarily replaced Zhai Huang as the deputy general of the Shangshui Army, is in charge of the vanguard army.
Troops, as the third command.
『Note: According to the default rules on the battlefield, the general orders issued by each commander have priority levels. For example, the Wei army has the highest priority to obey Zhao Hongrun's general orders, followed by Wu Ji, then Nanmen Chi, and then the battalion generals and Qian.
People and generals are most directly reflected in situations where there is a conflict between generals and orders.』
After hearing the bugle sound behind him, Wu Ji, who was at the center of the central army, did not move at all, because it was not the time for him to take action yet. At this time, Nanmen Chi, who was in the front army, had slowly withdrawn.
The sword on his waist.
It has to be said that although Nanmen Chi was once an experienced general who was valued by General Xiang Mo of Chu State, facing a battle of this scale, he could not help but feel a little anxious.
In the final analysis, it was because there were so many enemy troops in the distance that Nanmen Chi felt his scalp numb.
"How many soldiers are there on the opposite side? One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? Three hundred thousand?"
Nanmen Chi swallowed his saliva calmly.
Although he knew very well that today's attack on the King of Chu's capital, Shouying, the nobles headed by the royal Xiong clan would inevitably gather heavy troops on the outskirts of the royal capital, but he was still taken aback by the massive army on the outskirts of Shoying.
Because the western suburbs of Shouying, which their Wei army was responsible for attacking, had hundreds of thousands of troops stationed at this moment. How many people did their Wei army have? How many people did his vanguard army have?
Since the two armies were only a hundred feet apart, Nanmen Chi could clearly see the details of the Chu troops on the opposite side - from the color and quality of their armor, he could easily tell that some of the hundreds of thousands of Chu troops were
Some of the "main troops of Chu" who were the same as him were local county divisions, and those soldiers whose uniforms and armor were mixed and in disarray might be peasant soldiers Shou Ying had recently recruited.
There are even some Chu soldiers who don't even have any clothes and armor, and only have a Chang Ge that doesn't look very good.
"Half of them are peasants and soldiers, okay, okay..."
Nanmen Chi secretly rejoiced, and then his eyes subconsciously looked for flaws in the formation of the Chu army on the opposite side.
Compared with the "Chu State's regular army" and "local county divisions" on the opposite side, those peasant soldiers naturally became Nanmenchi's priority attack target.
The reason is simple, because those peasants and soldiers, whether they are middle-aged men with beards or young people with smooth chins, are far less calm and calm than the regular army and county divisions.
Even from a distance, Nanmen Chi seemed to be able to feel the fear and fear in these people's hearts.
Even at Nanmen Chi, one could faintly see the hands of many peasants and soldiers holding weapons, which seemed to be trembling slightly.
"An old tactic..."
Nanmen Chi's lips couldn't help but evoke a faint smile.
As a former general of the Chu State, he was certainly aware of the human attrition tactics used by most generals of the Chu State: first launching a suicidal charge with a large number of peasants and soldiers to consume the enemy's physical strength, and then throw in the opposite force.
The elite regular army and county divisions dealt a fatal blow to the enemy.
Because he knew the tricks of the Chu troops on the opposite side, Nanmen Chi inevitably felt a little sad, because he felt that the country that gave birth to and raised him seemed to have remained unchanged for decades or hundreds of years.
Even after their disastrous defeat at the hands of the Qi, Lu, and Song allied forces twenty years ago, the Chu army still refused to repent.
Increase investment in military spending? No!
Strengthen the training of army soldiers? No!
The great nobles headed by the Xiong clan seemed to have never cared about this matter. They were so confused that the country was also confused.
"Dong dong dong——"
From behind, there was a loud bang of war drums, causing Nanmenchi, who was slightly distracted, to wake up.
Nanmen Chi took a deep breath, and then looked at the Chu army on the opposite side, sighing in his heart: On the battlefield, everyone is their own master, I can't help it...
Thinking of this, he raised his right arm high and slowly lowered it. The sharp sword in his hand pointed forward, and shouted in a deep voice: "Yi Jiabu, Chen Xiebu, move forward!"
The two generals Yi Jia and Chen Xie were originally two thousand generals in the Shang Shui Army. However, after Zhao Hongrun promoted generals at all levels in the Shang Shui Army a while ago, these two generals have been promoted to three thousand generals.
The number of troops in his hands also reached five thousand.
At this moment, as the two wings of the vanguard of the former army, Yi Jia and Chen Xie, after receiving the order from Nanmen Chi, each commanded five thousand-man phalanxes, marching in order, slowly towards the distance.
The Chu army approached.
At the same time, among the Chu army on the opposite side, a brightly-armored general also raised his sharp sword, pointed in the direction of the Wei army, and shouted sternly: "Kill——!"
As this order was issued, a roar like a mountain roar and a tsunami was heard among the Chu army. Hundreds of thousands of Chu peasant soldiers were scolded and forced by governors and governors at all levels.
Launched a charge towards the Wei army.
The scene was like a flash flood, cascading thousands of miles away. For a moment, before the eyes of the Wei soldiers, there seemed to be an overwhelming black tide.
Such a majestic and spectacular sight made even Zhao Hongrun hold his breath subconsciously and felt sweat all over his body.
However, at this time, the ten thousand-man phalanx led by Generals Yi Jia and Chen Xie suddenly stopped moving forward, and quickly dispersed to both sides under the command of Nanmen Chi.
At the same time, the Wei army's front formation suddenly changed, and a team of thousands of archers came from the rear to the front.
At this time, Nanmen Chi pointed his sword forward again and shouted sternly: "Longbowmen... aim straight ahead and shoot!"
For a moment, the Wei army's front formation was raining arrows, and the arrows were like a torrential downpour, covering the heads and faces of the peasant soldiers.
At this time, the Chu peasants and soldiers seemed to be in a state of chaos. They did not know whether to pursue the Wei army that was spreading to both sides, or to continue to move forward and attack the Wei army's front line.
And this mere moment of hesitation caused tens of thousands of casualties.
It was a pity for these peasants and soldiers who were temporarily recruited that their short fighting career ended in less than an hour after setting foot on the battlefield, and they sacrificed their lives as a result.
"Charge! Charge!"
The generals in command of the Chu army roared at the top of their lungs, as if they were not affected by the heavy sacrifice in front of them at all.
But think about it, after all, in Chu State, the lives of soldiers are not worth much, let alone a group of temporarily recruited peasant soldiers?
Maybe the Chu army commander was also sneering in his heart: You placed a group of long archers in the front army in Nanmen, aren't you afraid of being pierced by me?
It is undeniable that longbowmen do have terrifying lethality when they have the distance advantage, but they also have weaknesses.
That is, once the enemy's infantry or cavalry rush in front of them, the longbowmen who only have a short sword for protection in addition to a longbow will hardly be an opponent of the infantrymen holding long swords, let alone
Cavalry that can rely on horse power.
The distance between the Wei and Chu armies was getting closer and closer little by little.
Although this battle situation can be summarized in one sentence, the peasants and soldiers of the Chu army paid a heavy price every time they took a step closer to the Wei army.
"Hmph! Want to break through the middle at any cost? How can it be so easy?"
Nanmen Chi, who had seen through the opponent's intention, snorted secretly. He saw that he had already put the sword into its sheath. At this moment, he raised his right hand again, raised two fingers and waved forward slowly. The guards around him already understood.
He understood what he meant: order the soldiers operating the crossbow boxes of the Lu State machine to come forward.
After a while, the phalanx of long archers whose physical strength was exhausted due to the continuous drawing of their bows and long-distance shooting quickly retreated, and were replaced by groups of Wei soldiers pushing the crossbow boxes of Lu's machine.
I saw that those crossbow boxes of the Lu State were almost as tall as a person. There were countless crossbow bolts in the wooden boxes that required two people to hold them together.
"put!"
Nanmen Chi's right hand is full of subordinates.
Immediately, hundreds of Lu State machine crossbow boxes were pressed at the same time. A strange "chugging" sound was heard, and a continuous stream of arrows were shot out from the small holes of these machine crossbow boxes.
The strong force penetrated into the bodies of the Chu peasant soldiers who had rushed to the Wei army more than 20 feet away.
Poor peasant soldiers, they fell into a pool of blood one after another before they realized what happened.
Corpses everywhere!
"..."
Looking at the scene in front of him, Nanmen Chi's face twitched slightly. Then, he turned his head slightly and glanced at the mechanical crossbow boxes operated by the Wei soldiers.
He had not participated in the Qi-Chu battle that frightened the Chu people twenty years ago, but even so he had heard about the horror of the Lu State's crossbow box.
However, the tragic situation presented to him at this moment made him vaguely feel that the Lu State's crossbow box today was more terrible than that of twenty years ago.
"It's just a massacre..."
Nan Menchi turned his eyes away with some reluctance. Although he couldn't bear it, he also felt an inexplicable sense of joy in his heart.
Because he knew that if he had not surrendered to the Wei army and His Highness Prince Su, then he might be the one who personally experienced the horror of such war weapons at this moment.
"Kakaka-"
"Kaka——"
I don't know how long it took, but the crossbow boxes of the Lu State's organs had finished spraying the crossbow arrows in the boxes, and they were completely reduced to waste.
However, the power of these dead creatures made the soldiers of both Chu and Wei feel terrified.
What appeared in front of the Wei soldiers at this moment was a land of red blood, with dead bodies everywhere, and only one person survived. Those peasant soldiers tried their best and risked their lives, but they could not cross the stretch of only twenty feet.