When they meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. In a head-on confrontation, what you fight for is your morale, and what you fight for is your spirit. Before the official confrontation, the morale of Wang Lang's army had been suppressed.
The 50,000 soldiers and horses commanded by Deng Yu faced an army of 100,000 kings led by Li Yu. The 50,000 soldiers and horses commanded by Wu Han faced an army of 100,000 kings led by Zhang Shen.
Soon, the battle formations of both sides came into contact. The large-scale legion battle was like a huge meat grinder, crushing everything that could be seen on the battlefield.
The shield soldiers in the front row huddled behind their shields and squeezed forward desperately. The spearmen and crossbowmen in the back row kept thrusting their spears forward and shooting crossbow arrows.
The soldiers on both sides no longer fell down one after another, but fell into a pool of blood in rows, and then were trampled into pulp by the enemy or their own soldiers.
Wu Han was not a reckless man, so it made sense for Liu Xiu to let him command an army of 50,000 men.
Watching the fierce battle ahead, Wu Han quickly made adjustments to his own formation, and the general orders he issued were conveyed one after another like a revolving lantern.
As the battle between the two armies continued, the central part of Wu Han's army gradually became invincible, and the originally square battle formation gradually turned into a concave shape.
The officers and soldiers of Wang Lang's army on the opposite side thought that Wu Han's army had begun to be unable to hold on, so their morale immediately improved, and people pushed forward with all their strength.
The situation on the battlefield changed rapidly. Wu Han's army camp changed into a concave shape, while Zhang Cann's army camp on the opposite side changed into a convex shape.
Just as the former soldiers of Zhang Cann's army kept pushing forward, they did not notice that they had stepped into the encirclement of Wu Han's army.
Feeling that the number of enemy troops that had penetrated into his own pocket formation was already large enough, and if there were any more, they might burst his stomach. Wu Han made a quick decision, turned his head and shouted: "Send the signal quickly!"
Following his order, the soldiers holding the flags beside him began to wave the flags together.
Wu Han's flag message was immediately conveyed to the entire army. Seeing their own flags swinging regularly, the generals of each department led their troops to launch a joint counterattack against Wang Lang's army.
Wang Lang's army, numbering at least 20,000, had gotten into the pocket of Wu Han's army. They were advancing smoothly, but suddenly encountered huge resistance. At the same time, Wu Han's army was shouting to kill from all directions.
The former commander of Zhang Shen's army was Sun Li. He was also in Wu Han's pocket formation. Realizing that something was wrong, he hurriedly shouted to the left and right: "Hurry up and send the order for the entire army to retreat!" xdw8
It was too late! At the same time as he issued the general order, Geng led four thousand cavalry and suddenly broke out from the Wu Han army's main formation, drew an arc on the battlefield, and went straight to the flank of Zhang Cann's army.
Zhang Canjun was unprepared and was caught off guard by the sudden attack of the cavalry. Many of the soldiers had not yet seen what was going on. They were either stabbed to the ground by the cavalry's iron spears or knocked away by the galloping horses.
These four thousand Youzhou cavalry rushed into Zhang Canjun's camp. Like a sharp knife, they were unstoppable and cut Zhang Canjun's camp into two parts in one fell swoop.
The part that was cut out was the 20,000 former soldiers who were trapped in the Wu Han army's pocket formation.
Sun Li ordered the entire army to retreat, but the retreat route was cut off by the cavalry, making it impossible for the soldiers in the front army to evacuate.
The situation on the battlefield was indeed changing rapidly. Just now, Zhang Cannjun still had a huge advantage, forcing Wu Han's army to retreat steadily.
But in an instant, Zhang Cann's army was cut into two parts. The 20,000-strong front army was surrounded by 50,000 Wu and Han legions, and the other 80,000 Zhang Cann's army was surrounded by 4,000 cavalry commanded by Geng.
He was so shocked that he retreated repeatedly.
Seeing that the front army was separated from the main formation and that the front army was surrounded by enemy troops, Zhang Shen became anxious and ordered the entire army to rescue the front army no matter what.
Ancient wars are different from modern wars. The most elite and most skilled soldiers are usually deployed in the front army.
Although the casualty rate of the front army is the highest, it is also the key to the victory of both sides. The victory of the front army means the whole army wins; the defeat of the front army basically indicates that the whole army will be defeated. The officers and soldiers in the army all use
It's an honor to be assigned to the former army.
It can be said that when two armies are at war, the front-line soldiers of both sides are the sharpest weapons in their hands.
Now 20,000 former soldiers led by Sun Li were surrounded by 50,000 enemy troops. For Zhang Shen, this was tantamount to disarming him. How could he not be anxious?
Under Zhang Shen's constant urging, the 80,000 Zhang Shen army regrouped and launched a counterattack against the 4,000 cavalry commanded by Geng.
The cavalry charge into battle was unparalleled. Under the lance, all beings were equal, but the cavalry was not used for positional warfare. As the 80,000-strong Zhang Shenjun counterattacked ferociously, the 4,000 cavalry began to show signs of weakness.
Four thousand Youzhou assault cavalry were forced back continuously by the advance of 80,000 Zhang Canjun. Seeing that the main force of Zhang Cannon's army was about to come into contact with Wu Han's encirclement, at this time, it was already very critical for Wu Han's army.
If they continue like this, not only will they not be able to encircle and annihilate the enemy's front army, but they themselves will be attacked by the enemy's forces from both inside and outside, and the entire army will be annihilated.
Now, Liu Xiu's superb formation planning and commanding abilities were demonstrated. He arranged his soldiers into three square formations. It seemed inexplicable, but in fact, the most powerful thing about this formation lies in two words,
flexible.
Seeing the intentions of Wu Han's army and Zhang Shen's crazy counterattack, Liu Xiu immediately ordered the formation to move closer to Wu Han's army, meet the main force of Zhang Shen's army, and help Wu Han's army annihilate Zhang Shen's front army.
This sudden change of formation once again caught Zhang Cannjun by surprise. The main force of Zhang Cannian's army, which was counterattacking forward and approaching Wu Han's army, was blocked by Liu Xiujun, who moved quickly over.
Zhang Shen didn't know that the 20,000 enemy troops holding back his side were commanded by Liu Xiu himself. At this time, his eyes turned red and he shouted loudly: "The enemy army only has 20,000 troops. Defeat them quickly!"
Having lost the 80,000 elite front-line troops who joined the army, it was not easy to defeat the 20,000 Han troops led by Liu Xiu.
The two sides fought together, and in an instant, the sound of sharp blades piercing through armor was heard. Many of the soldiers on both sides pierced each other's bodies at the same time, and both fell to the ground.
Just when the two sides were evenly matched, the Benming Army headed by Jia Fu was dispatched again. The people, shirtless and holding long swords, rushed directly from the Han army's camp into Zhang Cann's army's battle formation.
A thousand-mile embankment was destroyed in an ant nest, and the two armies were facing each other. The collapse of one place may affect the entire battle situation.
Although the Ben Ming Army under the command of Jia Fu only had about 500 men, they rushed into the enemy with an unstoppable force and caused chaos on the enemy's side. The chaos among the enemy's troops quickly spread to other places.
Zhang Canjun, numbering 80,000, retreated again. Just now they were pushed back by cavalry, but this time they were repelled by Liu Xiujun.
We clearly have an army of 80,000, while the enemy only has about 20,000. However, our army of 80,000 was repulsed by the enemy's 20,000. This made Zhang Shen, who was watching the battle from behind, furious.
He gritted his teeth and roared: "Give me the order, our soldiers are only allowed to move forward and not to retreat. Anyone who dares to retreat in front of the battle will be killed without mercy!"
His general orders were passed on, but no one listened to him. Zhang Canjun, who numbered 80,000, was forced to retreat again and again by Liu Xiujun.
At the same time, Wu Han personally went into battle and led his soldiers to launch an all-out siege against the trapped Sun Li tribe.
Sun Li also wanted to lead his troops to break out of the encirclement. He tried several times, but failed to break out. Instead, he suffered huge losses in troops.
As the encirclement of Wu Han's army became smaller and smaller, the number of soldiers around Sun Li also became smaller and smaller. There were originally 20,000 soldiers, but with such skill, there were no more than 10,000 soldiers.
Sun Li couldn't help but look up to the sky and let out a long sigh. At this time, he felt like crying and laughing at the same time. He had an army of 200,000, and Liu Xiu's army only had 120,000. On a battlefield with such a disparity in strength, how could he still be defeated by the enemy?
The legions were besieged, but none of our 180,000 soldiers came to rescue them. Isn't this sad and ridiculous?
If they were besieged any longer, there would be a dead end. Sun Li took the risk and led his soldiers to make a final breakthrough.
When Sun Li's troops broke out, arrows flew from all directions like raindrops. The soldiers who were knocked down by the arrow array and buried by the arrows were not one after another, but one after another.
At the end of the breakout, even Sun Li was hit by dozens of arrows and died among the rebels. This is how Zhang Shen's 20,000 elite front troops were defeated by Wu Han.
As the trapped enemy troops were all annihilated, Wu Han's army reorganized their formation, replaced Liu Xiu's troops, and continued to face Zhang Cann's army.
When the two sides met again, Zhang Can's army immediately showed signs of weakness. The soldiers in front could not resist the advance of Wu Han's army and were forced to retreat again and again.
The defeat was like a mountain. The defeat had already taken shape. It was not easy to turn the tide, not to mention that the opponent Zhang Canjun faced was Wu Ziyan of Wu Han Dynasty.
On the battlefield, Wang Lang's army was divided into two, and Zhang Shen's side was unable to hold on at first. A partial retreat gradually evolved into a complete army rout.
A defeat on Zhang Shen's side also directly affected Li Yujun on the other side.
Li Yujun's soldiers had no intention of fighting and began to retreat step by step. Li Yu realized that his side had no chance of winning today's battle, so he decisively ordered the entire army to retreat and return to the camp.
On the battlefield, it is not possible for one party to retreat smoothly if it wants to retreat. During the retreat, Wang Lang's army was pursued by Liu Xiujun. The soldiers on the rear were running and dying along the way.
When the soldiers led by Li Yu and Zhang Shen returned to Wang Lang's camp, they counted their numbers. After a day of fighting, they found that out of the 200,000-strong army, 60,000 were lost, leaving only 130,000.
Naturally, Liu Xiujun also suffered a lot of casualties. The 120,000 soldiers were reduced sharply to about 100,000. The vast open space between the two camps was littered with devastation, corpses strewn across the field, and swarms of crows.
The dried blood of the people dyed the ground dark brown.
Next, both sides sent out their own corpse collection teams to load the corpses of their own fallen soldiers one by one into carriages, and took them away to be burned.
During the day, the soldiers of both sides, who had been fighting tit-for-tat and fighting each other to the death, now looked at each other in silence even if they met face to face. They were busy.
Han army camp, Zhongjun tent. Liu Xiu was sitting in the tent. He was not complacent because he had won a great battle during the day. Instead, he frowned.
First of all, although Wang Lang's army was defeated, his side also paid a high price, with 20,000 casualties. Secondly, the Xie Gong army he had been waiting for did not arrive.
If Xie Gongjun could appear today, Liu Xiu would not even ask them to join the battle directly. He would only need to capture the enemy's empty camp, thus doubling or tripling his victory today, and even possibly annihilating the enemy's army.
However, Xie Gong's army never arrived. Only when it was getting late in the evening, someone was sent to convey the news from Xie Gong, saying that new enemy conditions had been discovered near Handan, and Xie Gong did not dare to lead his army to leave.
Camp.
The news sent by Xie Gong made all the generals under Liu Xiu's command filled with righteous indignation. You had clearly promised to help us in today's decisive battle, but now you have gone back on your promise and thanked him. It is too shameless.
