At first hearing Feng Liao's words like "A general cherishes his life, why should he ask his soldiers to use their lives?" Han Duan felt a little excited in his chest. He dragged Han Chengmeng and Chen Zhiyong together with his uncle Han Daoming and father Han Daochang all night to catch up with the large army and headed west.
Han Duan also specially took off the armor from his soldiers and put it on, hoping to show the heroic side of the Han family's children in front of thousands of generals.
However, in order to ensure that the rhythm of the westward march of the large army was not disrupted, not only were hundreds of reconnaissance cavalry scattered on the northern flank, Han Qian and other generals on horseback could only walk through the fields on the north side that had been abandoned for two or three years and were full of pits.
Han Duan was sitting on a horse, wearing armor weighing forty or fifty kilograms, with a long bow and quiver hanging on both sides of the saddle. When walking through the bumpy fields, he not only had to be careful of the horse losing track and falling, but also being careful not to be hung.
After bumping into the long branches of the saddle, walking this night, I realized how hard it is to march at night.
When the morning light appeared in the sky, Han Duan felt that his bones were falling apart, and he wished he could find a thatch pile where he could lie down on all fours and feel comfortable.
At this time, Guo led several cavalrymen and rushed back through the morning fog to report that more than 2,000 enemy cavalry had gathered overnight in the southeast of Chuzhou.
"Zhao Mingting is still unwilling to give in. He wants to test our strength. He is such a difficult person!" Han Qian got off his horse and asked Han Donghu to take out the map, spread it out on horseback, and meet with Zhou Dan, Feng Xuan and others.
The general looked carefully.
From their position to where the enemy cavalry gathered, it was more than twenty miles away, with a flat river in between.
At this distance, there are no terrain obstacles between the enemy and ourselves.
Even several shallow and narrow streams and rivers were frozen solid in the last few days of the second year of Yanyou - it can be seen that the enemy cavalry outside Chuzhou City were dispatched at this time, and they still had to take advantage of the terrain to fight them.
battle.
Of course, these streams and rivers are no more than three feet deep, and even if they are not frozen, they will prevent enemy cavalry from wading directly through the water and charging towards them.
During the night's march, Han Qian said very little, but before Han Duan and the others crossed the river, they knew that the enemy general who led three thousand cavalry to monitor Chuzhou City was the former Shouzhou Army guard Zhongli, and the naval commander Zhao Mingting.
At present, Liang General Chen Kun has led more than 20,000 Liang Army infantry battalions to Zhongli. Before the ice breaks up in the river between the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, the warships of the Lou Chuanjun Army will not be able to go south for the time being. Zhao Mingting, as the vanguard general designated by Xu Mingzhen, will be in ten
Before the end of the day, he led 3,000 cavalry through the Mopan Valley and entered the vicinity of Chuzhou City. They mainly monitored and contained the remnant soldiers who fled south in Wujian Mountain and the Chuzhou garrison did not dare to break through at will, waiting for their troops in the rear.
After reorganizing them, come forward to surround and annihilate them.
Han Qian waited until this moment to lead his troops to Tingzi Mountain, but this was not a big mistake. In fact, it would take time to reassemble the old Zuo Guangde Army into the battalion, and it would not be possible to form the combat effectiveness to withstand the impact of enemy cavalry in the field overnight.
Yesterday, it was also detected that the enemy had tens of thousands of cavalry and infantry moving from Zhongli and Chaozhou to Chuzhou. Han Qian had to make corresponding military arrangements; otherwise, Han Qian hoped to have more time to stay in Tang.
Prepare troops and horses in the city.
Han Daoming and Han Daochang knew that battlefield matters were not what they were good at, so they stood on the periphery and watched how Han Qian and the others mobilized their troops; Han Duan and the others saw that even Guo Que, He Liufeng and other former slaves of the Han family were qualified to join the Han family.
Qian was discussing the next battle plan with Qian, but they couldn't squeeze in, and they felt a little unhappy.
Han Duan turned around and looked at the south bank of the Chuchu River. The green and black peaks of Dasi Mountain looked like a dragon dormant in the mist, but it was still more than thirty miles away from the destination of the trip, the Donglu Station of Tingzi Mountain.
Han Qian quickly made a response plan. As the generals went to their respective posts, groups of soldiers and horses moved very quickly northward into the wilderness. The formations on the north side of the official road were staggered and orderly, with clear layers.
defensive formation.
However, most of the generals could not hide the fatigue and distress on their faces after traveling light-packed all night.
"Are you going to fight the enemy cavalry here?" Han Duan looked at the unobstructed terrain on the left and right. Although he had never had the opportunity to lead his troops to fight on the battlefield, he doubted that the five thousand infantry with crude armor could survive on the battlefield.
Blocking the attack of two thousand enemy cavalry in the unobstructed wilderness.
Behind them was the Chuhe River, which was more than a hundred feet wide and had not frozen at this time. Once the enemy on horseback rushed into the heart of the area, they would not be able to retreat even if they wanted to.
Besides, even if they were able to hold off the enemy cavalry's attack for a while due to their superior strength, they would be stuck in the wilderness unable to advance or retreat, and the situation would be extremely unfavorable.
The enemy troops still have tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry advancing rapidly from Chaozhou in the west and Yongyang in the north. Once they are delayed until they are besieged by a large group of enemy troops from the west and north, won't they be unable to escape defeat?
Han Duan was a little uneasy and thought to himself, if he had known this, he would have asked to stay in Tangyi to keep an eye on Han Jun.
Han Qian left Chen Jingzhou, Feng Liao accompanied Han Daoming, and Han Daochang stayed behind the formation. Surrounded by Han Donghu, Xi Faer and other guards, he shuttled among the armies, talking to the generals who were entering defensive positions one after another, inspiring them to be brave.
Fighting morale.
In his heart, Han Duan could only hope that Han Qian and his generals could live up to their reputation, and also hoped that the enemy would be intimidated by Han Qian's reputation. He only approached tentatively, but in fact he did not dare to easily test the reality here.
Han Qian soon returned to the rear formation with Zhou Pan and others. After listening to his conversation with Guo Que and other sentry generals, Han Duan realized that the two thousand enemy cavalry more than ten miles away had been divided into three teams and were heading this way in a formation.
Covering the attack, it can be seen that the enemy is using all their strength even if this battle is intended to be a test.
Han Daoming was also a little impatient and walked over to ask Han Qian: "In a field battle between infantry and cavalry, it is usually said that you need more than three times the strength of the troops to win. Before the enemy's reinforcements arrive, are you sure that you can defeat the enemy's forward?"
cavalry?"
Han Daoming also knew that holding the formation and not being scattered or defeated by the enemy's cavalry did not mean that they had escaped from danger. The more important thing was to guard against being held back by the enemy's forward cavalry, and whether they could cover up the first wave of attacks.
It is very important to inflict heavy damage on the enemy cavalry.
"Liu Yu of the Southern Song Dynasty created the Queyue Formation, which is famous for its formation of chariots on the shore. However, this method of warfare was not promoted in later generations due to the lack of corresponding conditions," Han Qian said while looking at the mist floating in the wilderness.
, "Whether this tactic can effectively curb the enemy cavalry's sudden charge still needs to be tested in actual combat..."
Han Duan also read military books in his spare time and knew that the foundation of the Queyue Formation was chariots and crossbows. He was about to ask Han Qian why he deployed the Queyue Formation with only 5,000 poorly armored infantry, when he saw a fleet of ships.
Breaking through the mist from the west, we moved closer to this side.
The warships in this fleet were not very large in size, probably specifically for the convenience of entering the Chu River for combat, but they had all sails and oars, hung the flag of Xuzhou Shuiying, and sailed very fast in the morning fog.
After the fleet came closer, the boatmen and oarsmen on the ship jumped into the cold shallow water without hesitation, dragged the ship as close as possible to the shore, set up pallets, and soon saw light chariots.
It was dragged onto the river beach, and then quickly extended northward from the two wings of the shore defense formation.
A dozen people gathered around a light chariot. The chariot was equipped with a huge shield and a crossbow. Ten spears were thrust out from the gaps in the grid to prevent the enemy cavalry from rushing directly to the front of the chariot. Instead, they surrounded the chariot to fight.
The light soldiers did not wear much strong and heavy armor, and they all carried strong crossbows and short blades.
Of course, the chariots extended to the north and were not formed individually. Instead, seven or eight chariots formed a team and merged into the defensive infantry formation that had been formed in advance on the periphery and flanks.
At this time, the enemy cavalry was already close to three or four miles away. Some of the cavalry were already charging towards them at a speed that covered the sky and the sun. They also noticed the abnormality here, but were unwilling to give up the charge they had launched. The horses' hooves picked up the remaining snow and dust, as if
Waves of flesh and blood rushed over.
The sound of arrows piercing the air was like the roar of the wind.
The intensive shooting caught the enemy cavalry off guard. A dozen people on the left front wing were shot off their horses, causing the cavalry charge formation on the left front wing to scatter...
Han Qian led everyone on horseback to climb a five- to six-foot-high earth slope and looked at the fighting outside.
The two troops, led by Dou Rong and He Liufeng, stood on the front flank and directly faced the enemy's cavalry charge. They were not many in number, but they were the elites of the Chishan Society who were the first to move to Baiti Gang since early June.
Congregation.
This part of the troops and horses has been assembled and reorganized for the longest time. The troops and armor are fully prepared, and in cooperation with the landing chariots, the position is extremely stable. At present, the enemy cavalry's harassment is firmly blocked at the periphery, and the combat effectiveness and fighting will are relatively weak.
The Jiangzhou soldiers sheltered on the inside.
Seeing that it was difficult to dismount, the enemy cavalry did not attack blindly, but did not retreat either. Instead, they patrolled on both wings, sending out small groups of cavalry from time to time to provoke and harass, trying to find an opening that would facilitate the rapid penetration of large groups of cavalry.
Gaps and flaws.
Although the strength of the troops here was more than twice that of the enemy, the enemy troops outside were all cavalry. As they ran wildly, they caused the remaining snow and dust to fly across the field, and the momentum was even more shocking.
Han Qian frowned slightly and said to Zhou Zang and the others: "Zhao Mingting has a good command of being a secret spy leader for the thieves, and his ability to lead troops in battle is not weak. Depending on the situation, if they can't find a good opportunity to attack, they probably want to
Delay the war until the infantry reinforcements from Chaozhou arrive..."
Although cavalry has disadvantages such as being more severely restricted by terrain, having loose formations, and being difficult to stabilize on the battlefield, compared with these shortcomings, the advantages of cavalry are more prominent.
The soldiers riding condescendingly on horseback have a larger killing range and stronger assault capabilities. The mobile cavalry has more time to use for quick roundabouts and outflanks to separate and encircle the enemy.
Not to mention the main cavalry of the Liang Army, in the nearly twenty years since the founding of Da Chu, the only organized cavalry unit has also fallen into the hands of Xu Mingzhen. In addition, it is already difficult for Da Chu to reorganize a cavalry force.
More difficult.
Han Qian decided to establish a defense line in Tangyi. The first thing he had to consider at the tactical level was how to counter the advantages of the Shouzhou Army and Liang Army's cavalry galloping across the Jianghuai Plain.
The simple Queyue Formation, relying on chariots and strong bows and crossbows, is certainly not afraid of enemy cavalry attacks, but Zhao Mingting is obviously not a weak opponent.
He was not stupid enough to send two thousand cavalry to rush up and tear up their defenses. Instead, he delayed them here as much as possible. It was obvious that he was waiting for their main infantry force to arrive from Chaozhou City, and then they could
Use a denser and more solidly defended infantry formation to approach the Queyue Formation, and then find an opening and use the cavalry to attack.
Han Daoming, Han Duan and the others were even more worried about this possibility.
"Should we try staggering and pulling the formation to the west?" Zhou Pan suggested.
"I think the terrain around here is good, so we can build a stronghold here. We won't go to Tingzi Mountain for the time being!" Han Qian said.
"Establish a stronghold here?" Han Daoming looked at the surrounding fields. In addition to a few abandoned villages, the Dasi Mountain, which was eleven or twelve miles away on the south bank of the Chu River, had terrain that could be used. If he chose a place to build a stronghold, he shouldn't.
It would be better to retreat to the south bank of the Chu River, where at least the Chu River can block the enemy's attack?