After Xie Yingdeng received Xu Shiji's order, he led his troops to attack Qushi City at an increasingly faster pace, and the offensive became more and more fierce. Depending on the situation, there should be no problem in breaking the city within two days.
After Cheng Yaojin received the military information sent by Xu Shiji's messenger, he frowned and remained stationary. The two armies faced off at the foot of the west side of Qinglin Mountain. There were only sporadic small-scale battles every day, with only dozens of casualties.
A qualified military general will never be disrupted by intelligence from hundreds of miles away.
Rather than attacking the city and taking out the stronghold, Li Shimin focused more on defeating the Far Eastern Army and causing a large number of casualties to the latter.
Whether it was Cheng Yaojin or Xu Shiji, they actually saw this matter very clearly. As long as the army was strong enough, even if the city and territory were temporarily lost, they could easily be snatched back.
But having said that, the Liang Kingdom's 100,000 troops in the south are by no means a mob, and the pressure on Cheng Yaojin and Xu Shiji far exceeds that of Zhu Can's 100,000 troops.
Therefore, on the third day, Cheng Yaojin still took the initiative to attack Zhu Can's troops. The war here could not drag on too long.
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Daye tenth year, February 24th.
Cheng Yaojin's men launched a night attack on Zhu Can's camp at midnight with 5,000 troops on each flank, outflanking Zhu Can's camp on both wings, and 10,000 cavalry from the Chinese army charged straight into the enemy's forward camp from the front.
At this moment, five hundred people from the special force had already sneaked into Zhu Jiajun's camp in advance.
On a dark moon night, the firelight flickered, and with the shouts of killing thousands of troops, the 20,000 cavalrymen of the Wagang Camp rushed into the camp of 100,000 Zhu Jiajun like strong winds. At this time, the masters of the special forces were already in
Fires were set everywhere in the enemy's camp. In just half an hour, Zhu Can's camp, which stretched for more than ten miles, was set ablaze and burned by the soldiers of the special forces.
Therefore, when Cheng Yaojin led 20,000 people into the Zhu Jiajun camp, the camp was filled with flames and people screamed. The panicked Zhu Jiajun soldiers were easily slaughtered by the Wagang camp cavalry.
Without much resistance, they all fled in the dark.
Everything seemed to be going well. Cheng Yaojin suddenly took the initiative to attack. Zhu Can was caught off guard. In addition, the Zhu Jiajun's combat effectiveness was as low as what the intelligence said. Therefore, this time Cheng Yaojin suddenly attacked Zhu Can at night.
The attack was so perfect that it could be included in the Far East Army's combat textbooks, at least for now.
However, after Cheng Yaojin asked his men to count the number of casualties caused to the Zhu Jiajun, they found that not many enemies had been killed or wounded.
In fact, Cheng Yaojin led his men and horses from a sneak attack on the Zhu family's army camp until there was no one left to kill in the camp. In fact, it was over in less than an hour and a half.
While scolding the Zhu Jiajun for running very fast, Cheng Yaojin ordered an inventory of the battle damage. After the inventory, his subordinates discovered that the raid seemed to go smoothly and could be described as devastating, but the real death was caused by the swords and guns of their Wagang camp.
The number of enemy troops below was only close to ten thousand.
To be honest, Cheng Yaojin led a total of 20,000 people, and he killed and wounded nearly 10,000 enemy troops in such a short period of time, which is not a lot at all.
However, the Zhu army retreated too quickly tonight, and they escaped so neatly, which makes people feel a little uneasy.
You must know that this is an enemy camp with 100,000 people. Without prior organization and preparation, how could nearly 90,000 people escape smoothly in just over an hour and at night without any prior organization and preparation.
Obviously, there was something wrong with this sneak attack night battle going so smoothly, but Cheng Yaojin grinned and ordered to pursue the enemy.
Most of the Zhu Jiajun were infantry, so Cheng Yaojin and his troops quickly caught up with the Zhu Jiajun who fled north.
Then came the killing spree. The morale of the Zhu Jiajun was low. Now, whether it was real or pretended, they were just running away. They were nothing but scattered sand. The Wagang camp was killing them happily, just like a flock of wolves.
The only thing worthy of praise is that the Zhu Jiajun fled very fast like yellow sheep in the northwest wilderness. This caused the Wagang camp to chase and flee, and chased the enemy north very quickly. They chased four enemies overnight.
More than ten miles.
Just when the pursuit of the enemy entered a mountainous area, Cheng Yaojin suddenly stopped and ordered the soldiers around him to blow the horn to stop the pursuit of the enemy and quickly move closer to the general.
With more than half a year of training in the Snake Island Concentration Camp model, Wagang Camp has been able to execute orders and prohibitions. The 20,000 cavalrymen turned their horses around without hesitation and moved closer to Cheng Yaojin at the fastest speed.
At the same time, Li Shimin, who was watching the scene with a telescope on the mountaintop in the distance, his expression darkened and he said coldly: "Send Duan Zhixuan a ringing arrow."
A soldier next to Li Shimin, who had been preparing for a long time, immediately lit a sounding arrow imitating the one produced in Fanyang County.
The sound of arrows shooting into the sky was heard far away, and suddenly there was the sound of a large number of cavalry galloping and a large number of infantry running in the mountains.
At the same time, the Zhu Jiajun, who had only been fleeing before, also started to gather their troops under the efforts of a group of generals led by Zhu Can, and turned around to kill Wagang camp.
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"Master Shen, there is an urgent report from our brothers in Guanzhong in the north. Li Shimin's troops in Hanzhong County have not moved, but suddenly there are 30,000 troops in Guanzhong crossing the Qinling Mountains and heading south. Now they have arrived in Hanzhong."
"In addition, our brothers sent intelligence from the Qinling Mountains. The seven major thieves in Sichuan and Sichuan suddenly led their troops to gather in Hanzhong County."
"And Duan Zhixuan, who led 10,000 horse thieves to ravage Shanggu County some time ago, appeared in Hanzhong County."
In the south, the sky was dark and the camp where Xu Shiji was located was still silent. Song Gongliang woke up Shen Guang, who was sleeping soundly, loudly reported, and handed over the urgent report that had just been sent from the north.
Shen Guang's expression changed slightly. He had been ordering Song Gongliang's men to keep an eye on Li Shimin, and even on Liang Guo Xiao Zhang's troops in the south. However, he did not expect that Li Shimin would suddenly mobilize troops from Guanzhong.
You must know that Li Yuan's troops in Guanzhong are not enough now.
In the west, a hundred thousand troops led by Shangguan Hu, Zhou Hu and Jiang Mulang were watching with eager eyes at Longguan.
In the northwest, Wu San and Su Changqing led 60,000 troops into Yulin County.
In Hedong, Wang Junlin personally presided over. Wu Si's Pegasus Battalion, Pei Yuanqing's Xiaoyu Battalion, and Luo Shixin's Tornado Battalion stabilized Hedong. Although they had not yet sent troops to Guanzhong, they gave Li Yuan's group in Guanzhong the feeling that the Far East Army could kill them at any time.
come over.
How dare Li Yuan send a large army to support Li Shimin under such circumstances?
In addition, in addition to being occupied by Zhu Can and Xiao Zhuang, the northern and southern areas of Sichuan and Sichuan also had some rebel armies with over 10,000 troops. They had been fighting for many years, and Zhu Can and Xiao Zhuang had not been able to destroy them for many years.
Kill. Now it seems that these people have been subdued by Duan Zhixuan, or these people are originally Li Shimin's people. What's more chilling to Shen Guang is that Li Shimin clearly has Duan Zhixuan's amazing army, but in these days' battles with Zhu Can
It has never been used.
"What are Li Shimin waiting for?"
"He had long expected that the Far East Army would send troops to compete with him for the Sichuan and Shu lands?"
Coming to this conclusion in his mind, Shen Guang used Qinggong to go directly to Xu Shiji's tent and wake him up. But before Shen Guang could speak, Xu Shiji had already ordered the men's soldiers: "Blow the trumpet, and immediately go north to support Cheng Yao." gold."
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Cries of killing came from all directions, and waves of enemy troops emerged from the forests of Qinglin Mountain. Rounds of arrows rained down from the sky, shooting straight towards Cheng Yaojin's headquarters from the mountainside.
However, only a few dozen Wagang Army soldiers were killed, because Cheng Yaojin had already set up a battle formation with 20,000 horses, not a cavalry battle formation, but an infantry battle formation, and outside them were them almost all the arrows hit the horse.
Although there was a solemn look on Cheng Yaojin's expression, there was no fear at all, and it was more murderous and ferocious.
"Old Xu said that Yuchi Jingde, Li Jing, Lu Han and Guan Xiaotong fought in the east of Hedong for more than half a year, but they failed to destroy Li Shimin's troops. If our Wagang camp destroys Li Shimin's troops, then one battle will lay the foundation for His status in the Far East Army, and even because of Li Shimin's weight in the heart of the prince, can directly level the credit gap with other battalion leaders." Cheng Yaojin murmured to himself, his face filled with soaring fighting spirit.
One of the characteristics of the Far Eastern Army is that it moves very quickly under orders and prohibitions. Taking advantage of the time and cover gained by sacrificing thousands of horses, the 20,000 Wagang camp cavalry dismounted and formed an infantry battle formation.
The dust was flying. No matter whether it was Li Shimin's 50,000 men or Zhu Can's more than 60,000 men who had gathered again, they could not see clearly the specific situation of Wagang Camp. They could only see Wagang Camp ruthlessly attacking their horses. They blocked the front, and when the horses fell, an infantry square of 20,000 people was exposed in front of them.
The changes in this scene shocked Zhu Can and Duan Zhixuan, who were commanding the battle in front of the formation. Li Shimin, who was observing this scene with a telescope on the mountain in the distance, also felt his heart beating wildly, and he vaguely felt that something was wrong.
Neither Duan Zhixuan nor Zhu Can had ever had a direct battle with the Far Eastern Army in the field. Therefore, although they had heard that the Far Eastern Army's battle formations were powerful, especially the infantry battle formations, they still found it difficult to understand how the Far Eastern Army would perform in the situation just now. , gave up the advantage of cavalry, and even preferred to have thousands of horses shot to death in order to set up this infantry battle formation.
Therefore, at this time, Zhixuan, Zhu Can and others were all astonished. No matter how powerful the legend of the Far Eastern Army was, for countless years, cavalry was recognized as the most powerful force on the battlefield.
Although a sufficient number of infantry have undergone rigorous training and can fight against the cavalry under the leadership of famous generals, they can only guarantee undefeat. It is impossible to defeat the cavalry or even maintain the upper hand in a battle with the cavalry.
These are common sense in the military since ancient times, okay?
Therefore, Duan Zhixuan still ordered the 20,000 cavalry he brought to continue charging forward, but instead ordered the 30,000 infantry to wait.
On the other side, Zhu Can saw that Li Jiajun took the initiative to take the lead, and he was naturally happy to see it. Besides, they had been struggling all night, and the physical exertion of chasing and escaping was too great, not to mention that they had lost nearly 40,000 people after struggling for 100,000 people, but now Only 20,000 Far Eastern Army troops were attracted.
To be honest, even if all 20,000 Waggang Camps were wiped out, Zhu Can felt that it was totally worthless.
At this time, the soldiers of the 20,000 Wagang camp who dismounted and fought on foot had set up a battle formation, and this battle formation was composed of three battle formations. They stood in place and set up their positions.
The first five rows of soldiers in each battle formation stand with guns in hand, while the fifth to eighth rows hold crossbows in one hand and guns in the right hand.
On each side of the three infantry battle formations were a hundred soldiers who were tall, strong, and had thick arms. At some point, they were already covered with grenades.
No matter whether you look horizontally, vertically or diagonally, this battle formation is in a straight line. The remaining soldiers are arranged in three neat square formations.
Cheng Yaojin and his thousand soldiers were in the middle of the three square formations, with the flag flying, and one of the soldiers was beating the drum excitedly. He only waited for Cheng Yaojin's order to attack.
of war drums.
They have practiced this scene many times on the training ground for more than half a year. Although they have practiced with each other, they cannot kill people after all, and poking with wooden knives and guns is not enough.
However, through those exercises again and again, everyone in the Wagang camp knew the power of this infantry battle formation. They were once amazed by it and deeply felt the mystery and power of the man on Snake Island who wrote the Far Eastern Army's battle formation regulations.
Three hundred steps!
Two hundred steps!
One hundred and seventy steps...
One hundred and fifty steps!
One hundred and thirty steps...
Cheng Yaojin silently counted the distance between the other party and himself in his mind. When he reached a hundred steps, Cheng Yaojin waved his hand fiercely and shouted: "Yi!"
These Wagang camp soldiers who were selected and whose arms were much stronger than ordinary people were already ready to attack. With a loud roar, each of them fired a grenade at the same time.
The entire world already knows about the power of the Far Eastern Army's gunpowder weapons, and the Li Yuan Group has made too much research and effort and invested a lot of financial and manpower in order to prevent and imitate gunpowder weapons.
Although the gunpowder weapons left by Li Yuan have not been imitated so far, the Li Jiajun has developed many methods and techniques on how to defend against the Far Eastern Army's grenades and gunpowder packets.
In fact, it is a way to reduce losses as much as possible. The answer is very simple - that is to disperse the charging formation and increase the distance between each cavalryman in the front, rear, left and right.
Duan Zhixuan did not personally lead the troops to charge, but another general led the 20,000 cavalry. He had many trainings on how to guard against grenades, so when he saw the one hundred shooters still in action, he gave the order.
Following the order from the Li family's cavalry general, the 20,000 cavalrymen changed battle formations on the galloping horses, showing extremely strong riding skills. This made Cheng Yaojin, in the center of the battle formation, look slightly condensed, and suddenly thought of Wang
King Lin's order some time ago mentioned that "Li Shimin and his men must not be looked down upon."
"Your Majesty is right. Li Shimin's men and horses are really powerful. If nothing else, the riding skills they show are beyond comparison with those of the Zhu Jiajun."
Moreover, under the witness of Cheng Yaojin, the cavalry of the Li family army completed the change of formation with only a slight confusion.
Therefore, in Cheng Yaojin's plan, the first wave of grenades was supposed to kill at least three to four thousand people, but in the end, one hundred grenades only killed about a thousand people.
Moreover, the ears of Li's army's 20,000 cavalry and horses were obviously stuffed, so although they were still panicking, they did not run around.
"It's not just stuffing, these war horses have been trained to make explosions." Cheng Yaojin's eyes were as bright as lightning, and he could see more problems at a glance.
But even so, Duan Zhixuan, who witnessed this scene behind the Li Jiajun, was still very angry because he had lost more than a thousand people before he could reach the front.
Close, close, Li's army's 20,000 cavalry finally rushed in front of the Wagang Camp infantry square.
At this time, the horses in the first row of the Li family's army neighed and turned suddenly on their own. The bright spear points of the infantry formation made these intelligent horses automatically evade.
Before the cavalrymen of the Li family army finally rushed to the infantry square formation, they seized the time to flexibly bend their bows and arrows, and shot sharp arrows at the Wagang camp infantry formation in front of them.
A rain of arrows is coming, and the neatly lined up soldiers cannot avoid it. If the people of Wagang Village in the past, or any other army in the world except the Far Eastern Army, encounter this situation, even if they have learned the skills of the infantry of the Far Eastern Army,
phalanx, but they would also suffer heavy casualties because they did not have the weapons and equipment to match this infantry phalanx.
Naturally, Wagangying had it, so they just lowered their heads slightly and let their low-brow face-protecting helmets made of stainless steel protect their faces.
Amidst the crackling sounds, many of the infantry formations on the Wagang Camp side swayed slightly and then steadied themselves.
But there were also several screams, and a dozen Wagang Camp soldiers fell.
There was no way, the Li Jiajun was already very close at this time, and the Li Jiajun's 20,000 cavalry were so good at archery that more than a dozen of them shot arrows through the gaps in the steel plate armor of the Wagang camp soldiers.
However, new spearmen immediately came up behind the gap between the fallen soldiers of Wagang camp, keeping the formation still tight.
The horses in front of Li Jiajun could avoid it, but the horses behind them were blocked from sight and could not turn in time. They slammed into the spear chariot and were stabbed to the gut. The knight on the horse was thrown high and fell towards Rulin.
The spear was immediately met by several spears in the air and pierced into a sieve.
The huge momentum caused the pikemen in the front row to be knocked back heavily. The Li family's cavalry, which had excellent equestrian skills, leaped forward, trying to seize the opportunity to rush in and break through the pike formation.
"prick!"
This order was not shouted by Cheng Yaojin. He was separated by many platoons of people in the middle, so he might not be able to see clearly and issue the order in time.
This was the command that several captains of Wagang Battalion, who were responsible for the front row command, shouted at the top of their lungs.
And as the captain's order came out, the entire row of soldiers straightened their spears and stabbed forward without thinking, or in a conditioned reflex.
The cavalry of the Li family army who crashed into the formation stood up, only to find that around them were gun blades shining with cold light. They shouted in despair and violently slashed out the swords in their hands, but they did not wait for them to use their swords.
After hitting the ground, several holes appeared in their bodies.
At the same time, the three rows of fast crossbowmen behind the Wagang Camp infantry formation never stopped firing crossbow arrows, constantly killing the Li Jiajun's cavalry.
When Duan Zhixuan saw this scene, his expression suddenly changed and he looked incredulous.
On Li Shimin's order, he once led 10,000 fine cavalry disguised as horse thieves and burned, killed and looted in Shanggu County under the rule of the Far Eastern Army. Because they came and went like the wind and never wanted to fight, all he encountered were the cavalry of the Far Eastern Army.
He has never seen or heard of an infantry phalanx that can face a cavalry confrontation head-on, block the cavalry to death, and inflict such heavy casualties on the cavalry in this split second.
.
This first wave of attacks caused Duan Zhixuan's men and horses to lose more than 700 cavalry, but the damn military formation set up in Wagang Camp remained motionless.
Including the 1,000 people killed by grenades before, the Li family's army had lost more than 2,000 people, but Duan Zhixuan would naturally not order a retreat at this time.
He gave an order, and the 20,000 Li family's cavalrymen swept across the battlefield in a diagonal circle, and then pounced on them again.
At this time, following Cheng Yaojin's order from the middle of the three infantry battle formations, amidst the sound of war drums, the infantry gun formations of Wagang Camp suddenly changed their formations and rushed forward row by row. Behind them, there was a dense mass of gunmen.
Follow them one row at a time.
"I don't believe in evil!" Duan Zhixuan has always been talented in training and arranging troops, and he is even proud of it. At this time, he couldn't help but grit his teeth. In his opinion, if the opponent does not move in formation, he really has nothing to do.
There is no way, but as long as the infantry phalanx moves, there will be a gap between the ranks, allowing their cavalry horses to gallop, and the cavalry on one side will have hope of breaking through the opponent's infantry phalanx.
"Bang the drum!" Duan Zhixuan shouted, and the soldiers next to him immediately beat the drum, which meant that they would not retreat until they were in a desperate charge.
Like a torrent crashing on the rocks, dozens of infantrymen from the Wagang Battalion in the front row were killed alive. However, they still pressed their bodies against their spears and successfully slowed down the horses. The soldiers behind them were all rushing.
Amidst the shrill whistles of the lieutenants, rows of soldiers advanced neatly.
"Stab!" There was a swish sound, and rows of long spears stabbed in neatly.
"Second row, stab!" Another row.
"Third row, stab!"
The forest of guns seemed to never end, one row after another.
At this time, the three infantry phalanxes of the Wagang Camp had gathered together to form a huge phalanx, with about one step between each row.
After inserting and stabbing more than ten times, the spearmen at the back, under the command of the centurion and the whistle of the captain, rushed forward to replace the soldiers in the front row whose arms were so weak.
"This is a fucking war. The people in Wagangzhai that I led before are really a mob!" Although the infantry gun formation has been trained as a conditioned reflex these days, it is now the first time to use it on the battlefield.
Cheng Yaojin was still shocked. This shock was different from the brutality and bravery of the cavalry charge, but it actually gave people a sense of refinement and art.
Duan Zhixuan watched as the cavalry on his side were trapped in the endless forest of guns. The opponent's formation had been advancing for so long, but it was still arranged neatly, without leaving them any gaps. And the cavalry under his command were still arranged neatly.
The cavalry were tired of dealing with the waves of spear points.
The most important thing is that their cavalry formation was completely broken up. After some soldiers fell into the forest of guns, they were stabbed and thrown out by several guns at the same time in the blink of an eye. More dozens of cavalrymen were thrown out.
Baiqi was forced into a small area by a forest of spears, and it was difficult to even turn around, let alone move quickly.
"No wonder the Second Young Master specially told me that the cavalry of the Far East Army is powerful, but we must be more careful about their steps!" Duan Zhixuan gritted his teeth and suddenly remembered Li Shimin's confession.
But Duan Zhixuan knew that no matter how they fought, they would not be able to retreat. After all, they and Zhu Can's men and horses combined totaled 110,000 to 20,000, which was five or six times that of the opponent. And he let the cavalry take the lead, even if they could not defeat Wa
If the damn infantry gun array of Gang Camp was breached, at least they couldn't retreat in such a short period of time.
Just in this short period of time, they lost more than 3,000 cavalry. In addition to the more than 1,000 cavalry who were killed before, Duan Zhixuan's 20,000 cavalry had lost more than 5,000 people. On the other hand, Wagang
The camp lost only three to four hundred men.
The ratio of casualties to both sides has far exceeded the comparison of their military strength.