Liu Xiu's plan was to have Niu Han deliberately defeated, flee to Jitou Road, and give Wang Meng's army a fatal blow from inside.
Wang Meng's plan was not to support Wa Ting and sit back and watch Niu Han's defeat, so that he could take the opportunity to turn Niu Han's subordinates into his own.
Both sides have their own agendas and bad intentions.
Soon, the Zhengxi Army began to attack Wating. The defense line outside Wating was completely vulnerable to the Zhengxi Army. Niu Han had no choice but to gather his troops and concentrate them all on Wating.
small town.
Without resistance from the Long Army, the Expeditionary Army was even more powerful and advanced all the way to the outside of Wating City.
Niu Han was also a strong general. Facing the wolf-like Western Expeditionary Army, he led all his troops out of the city to fight. The two sides launched a large-scale legion battle on the eastern plain of Wating.
The scale of this battle is indeed huge. The Xixi Army has 100,000 people and the Long Army has 150,000 people. The two sides have drawn up their postures. As far as the eye can see, the crowds are surging, overwhelming, and you can't see the edge at a glance.
The front army of the Zhengxi Army took the lead in advancing forward. When Niu Han saw this, he immediately ordered the front army to go out to fight. The front army of the Zhengxi Army had 50,000 people, and the front army of the Long Army had 60,000 or 70,000 people.
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The battle formations of both sides moved in opposite directions, and soon they entered the range of the arrow formation.
The soldiers and horses on both sides fired arrows almost at the same time. A dark cloud rose up from the Han army camp and the Long army camp at the same time. The two dark clouds met in the sky and fell into the other side's camp.
In the camp, there were constant crackling sounds, and soldiers were lined up in neat square formations. From time to time, someone was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground.
From the outside, the battle between the two sides appears to be a formal legion battle, but when you are inside, you will find that the arrows fired by both sides have no arrowheads.
When nailed to people's armor, at best a sound can be heard, but it cannot penetrate the armor at all.
However, even if they were not injured, all the soldiers who were shot would lie down on the spot, showing that they had been killed. This was not so much a battle as a large-scale exercise.
The distance between the two sides became closer and closer, and the crossbow and arrow formation was added to the bow and arrow formation. The arrow formation became more dense, and the number of fallen soldiers also increased.
The soldiers of the two armies collided with each other's arrow array. For a moment, the shield array hit the shield array with a loud rumbling sound. The soldiers on both sides picked up the spears and halberds in their hands and stabbed towards the opposite side.
However, whether it is the Zhengxi Army or the Long Army, the spears and halberds held by the soldiers are all wrapped in thick linen cloth. When stabbed on the body, let alone being injured, there is no pain.
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There were few soldiers in the expedition to the west, but the offensive was extremely fierce. The officers and soldiers of the Long Army who fought against them were killed in groups and fell to the ground.
Seeing that the front army was unable to support itself, Niu Han hurriedly mobilized the central army to attack, in an attempt to restore the decline of his front army. However, when Niu Han mobilized the central army, the Chinese troops of the Western Army were divided into two groups, one on the left and one on the left.
Attack the Long army's two flanks fiercely.
When Niu Han saw this, he couldn't help but become nervous. Even though this was just an exercise, a play for Wang Meng later, he really wanted to see how powerful the Western Expedition Army was.
Seeing the Zhengxi Army attacking his own flanks, Niu Han immediately ordered the central army to divide into two groups and attack the Zhengxi Army's side troops. Just when Niu Han was concentrating on the battlefield ahead, he suddenly listened to his own command.
There was chaos behind the scenes.
He couldn't help but take a breath and looked back. He couldn't see clearly the specific situation behind him, but he could see the flag of the rear army, which suddenly became shaky.
Before Niu Han could figure out what was going on, a soldier galloped over from the rear. When he got close to Niu Han, he intervened and saluted, and said urgently: "General, the enemy cavalry is attacking our rear!"
Niu Han had no idea when the cavalry of the Western Expedition Army circled behind his own side.
When he heard that his own rear army was being attacked, his expression suddenly changed and he quickly said: "Send the order, the rear army becomes the front army, and resist the enemy's cavalry for me!"
It’s too late! The cavalry is the most elite unit, while the rear army is the weakest. Most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. It is impossible for the rear army’s soldiers and horses to resist the cavalry.
Seeing a large group of Youzhou cavalry charging towards them, the soldiers in the rear army ran very fast one by one and quickly made way for them.
An exercise is an exercise. If you are hit by a war horse, you will either die or be seriously injured. Moreover, the war horse will not let you go. Once you are knocked down, you may not even have a chance to get up, and you will be trampled to death.
This was not a life-and-death battle in the first place, and no one would be stupid enough to block the cavalry charge. Seeing the Youzhou cavalry coming, the officers and soldiers of the Long Army ran faster than the other.
The rear army was in chaos, which affected the middle army. The chaos in the middle army directly affected the front army. Soon, the front, middle and rear armies of the 150,000-strong Long Army were all in chaos.
Niu Han issued general orders one after another, and the Long Army's chaos was under control. However, on the scene, the Long Army was already at a disadvantage.
Near the battlefield where the two sides fought, there were many spies of Wang Mengjun, who constantly reported the situation on the battlefield back to Jitou Road.
Jitou Road, Wang Meng's army camp in Boluo Valley, Zhongjun tent. Wang Meng was sitting behind the commander's desk, listening to the spies' reports, with an indifferent expression on his face.
When Niu Han led the army out of Wating to fight against the Western Expeditionary Army, Wang Meng had already cursed Niu Han as a fool for confronting the Western Expeditionary Army head-on. Do you really think you are commanding 150,000 elite soldiers?
Later, when he heard that Niuhan's front army was passive, the Chinese army was forced into battle, and the rear army was attacked by the cavalry of the Western Expeditionary Army, causing the whole army to be in chaos, Wang Meng laughed out loud and said with certainty: "This is
The overall situation of the battle has been decided. I originally thought that Niu Han could lead his troops to resist the Han army for three to five days. Now it seems that I really overestimated Niu Han."
As he spoke, Wang Meng stretched out a finger to his generals and said: "One day! Niuhan can only last for one day! Tonight, Niuhan's disadvantage will become even greater, and by the morning tomorrow, they will be completely defeated."
, the remnants of their troops will definitely flee towards the Chicken Head Road!"
After hearing Wang Meng's words, all the generals present grinned secretly. Niu Han commanded an army of 150,000 people. Even if 150,000 pieces of wood were standing there and left motionless for others to chop down, they wouldn't be able to finish it in a day!
How could the fighting power of the Western Expedition Army be so ferocious? Everyone's expressions were not very good, and they all said: "General, when the Western Expedition Army reaches Jitou Road, my unit...can our unit still be able to withstand it?"
ah?"
Wang Meng showed no fear and said with a smile: "Our army has already occupied the dangerous place on Jitou Road. Let alone Feng Yi leading the army to attack, even if Liu Xiu personally leads the army to attack, the enemy army will not be able to get in!"
His confidence greatly calmed the panic of the generals. I hope that, as the general said, we can defend the Western Expeditionary Army from the Jitou Road.
The fighting in Wating is still going on. The fighting between the two sides has reached a stalemate, and no one can withdraw. Even if the sky gradually turns dark, both sides can only bite the bullet and continue fighting.
However, after dark, the fighting between the two sides was far less intense than during the day. The soldiers in the front were holding weapons in one hand and dry food in the other. They took a few bites and roared twice to let the spies outside know that they were still continuing.
Just have a fierce battle.
At this time, the center of the battle between the two armies was very interesting. The soldiers of the Han army were eating dry food, and some soldiers still carried dried meat with them. The Long army was eating fried noodles, and everyone had only fried noodles in their grain bags.
It's a small handful and is gone in two or three bites.
The officers and soldiers of the Long Army were so hungry that their eyes almost turned green when they saw the Han Army on the opposite side munching on dry food.
Youzi, an elderly veteran, couldn't bear it any longer and strode outside. Before he even got close, he was stabbed several times by the Han army's halberds and spears. Although the armor was not broken, the
He was also stabbed until his chest felt tight.
"Why are you still here?" Seeing this veteran of the Long Army pretending to be dead without falling down after being stabbed several times, the Han Army on the opposite side yelled in dissatisfaction.
"Brothers, do you still have something to eat? Give me some! To be honest, I haven't had a full stomach for five or six days!"
The soldiers of the Han army looked at each other in confusion. A leader came forward and asked, "Is there no food in Wating?"
"Ha!" The veteran couldn't help but smile bitterly, shook his head and said: "There is only food for 100,000 people, but now 150,000 people are required to eat it, how can we be full?! We drink mush every day, and it was only today that we became full."
Order some fried noodles!”
As he spoke, he took out the grain bag, waved it to the Han army, and said: "This is the amount for each person!"
The Han troops took a closer look and saw that only one bottom of the long and thin grain bag was bulging.
Looking at the old soldier with a sallow face and skinny muscles, and then looking at his food bag, the leader of the Han army touched himself without saying anything. He had already eaten up all his dry food. He turned around and asked, "Who still has dry food!"
Soon, a Han soldier handed over a large piece of dry food. The team leader handed it directly to the veteran and said, "Eat it!"
The veteran swallowed, bowed to the ground before the team leader, then ate the dry food and stuffed it into his mouth hungrily. The way he ate was so scary that he rolled his eyes because he was choked.
When the Han army leader saw this, he couldn't help but exhorted: "Slow down! Slow down! It's not enough to eat, we still have more here!" He was afraid that the other party would choke to death on the dry food.
"Um, um, um... shush (thank you)... shush (thank you)..." the veteran said incoherently with his mouth full of dry food.
Seeing that the veteran was about to receive dry food, the surrounding Long Army soldiers came forward one after another and asked pitifully: "Brothers! Brothers of the Han Army! Do you still... have dry food? Also... give us some too!"
Too many people came over, and the team leader saw that the situation was getting out of control, so he hurriedly reported it to the superior military commander. The two sides were doing exercises, and the soldiers on the opposite side suddenly came over to ask for food. The Han military commander did not dare to make the decision privately, so he could only report it to the military commander.
The army commander reported to the captain, and the captain reported to the general...
After many reports, finally, Han soldiers sent several bags of dry food.
Seeing the dry food, the Han army did not do much, but the Long Army soldiers rushed forward like crazy. Fortunately, the Han army was maintaining order, otherwise, these few bags of dry food would have been destroyed in an instant.
Grab it all.
After learning that the front army had dry food to eat, the Chinese army behind them stopped working and crowded forward one after another. The front army and the Chinese army were all in a mess.
The news soon reached Niu Han. After hearing about the situation ahead, Niu Han smiled bitterly, looked around at the generals, and lamented: "It's my incompetence! Let the brothers be hungry all day long..."
"General——"
Niu Han waved his hand. Now he was very lucky that he had led his troops to submit to the emperor and the Han Dynasty. Otherwise, many of the more than 100,000 brothers under his command would have starved to death.
Knowing that the soldiers under his command were shamelessly asking for food from the Han army, Niu Han did not order to stop him. Face was important, but it was not as important as the stomach. If the soldiers could fill their stomachs, what was the point of losing face?!
Niu Han sent one of his trusted generals to the central Han army on the opposite side to ask for a meeting with Feng Yi. He told Feng Yi the predicament his side was currently facing, and asked the Han army to take advantage of the darkness to distribute more to their own soldiers.
food.
Feng Yi met with the generals sent by Niuhan. After hearing about the situation of the Niuhan tribe, Feng Yi was not stingy. He immediately ordered people to prepare dry food and send it to the Long army camp.
The food sent by the Han army was a timely rain. It was the first time in so many days that the Long army soldiers had their stomachs full. After eating to their full, many soldiers collapsed on the ground and could not stand up.
However, people did not rest or work. They all sat on the ground and shouted, as if a fierce battle was still taking place in the center of the battlefield.