War is the highest form of expression of contradictions and the most violent means. Due to the limitations of the times, the outcome of medieval wars often depends on the gain or loss of a key city, the life or death of a key figure... However, no matter when, a decisive battle
The battle will always be the most straightforward, direct, and most speechless means of victory.
However, unlike most battles that require planning, deployment, and testing, this main battle that took place in the hilly area between Zishui and Longshui was actually a bit caught off guard for both sides.
Yue Fei judged Li Cheng's main attack direction from Zhang Jun's arrangement, but he never expected that Li Cheng would actually bring almost the entire existing military strength of Puppet Qi. Otherwise, he would have tried his best to bring as many troops as possible.
With all the horses on board, how could Hu Cheng be allowed to sit in the back?
The same is true for Li Cheng. The development of the current situation forced him to use all his strength, but for a warlord, who is willing to destroy his entire family fortune for no reason?
Neither side is sure of victory, and everything is completely arranged. Both sides can only fight to the death.
Li Cheng's two wings of cavalry sandwiched the infantry brigade and rushed forward in unison; Yue Fei adapted to local conditions and set up cavalry instead, with the most elite heavy infantry as the prominence, forming a diagonal formation to respond to the enemy... This was already what both sides could do in just ten years.
This is the best that can be achieved within a distance of several miles.
"Jiedu!"
The battle lasted only half a quarter of an hour. When the fierce battle ahead was raging, a horseman, covered in blood, suddenly galloped from a distance. Because the command flag on his back was broken, he had to dismount in front of the commander's flag and present his waist badge, and then he was trained by Yue Fei himself.
Jindai relayed the military information. "There is a definite military report from the front. Zhang Zian, the fifth general of the Wei Army on the back of the right army of the imperial camp, was injured by a stray arrow and died just now!"
Yue Fei halted his horse and stood on a hill in the hilly area beside the road, looking at the smoke and dust in the distance. His expression remained unchanged, and he didn't even turn his head. He directly shouted coldly: "In such a fierce battle, the commander-in-chief will die in retribution!"
As Yue Fei's schoolmate, Bi Jin naturally knew the coach's temper, but he bowed his head beside Yue Fei... As for the fact that Zhang Zian was Zhang Jun's nephew, he was not prepared to report it from the beginning.
However, on the battlefield, Yue Fei could ignore the death of Zhang Jun's nephew, but he could not ignore the battle situation in the middle part of the Tian division that was advancing forward. Even on the contrary, the battle situation of that unit was the basis for determining victory or defeat.
"Did you see it?" Li Cheng also raised a flag and stood on a small slope next to the avenue, then looked eastward to observe the battle situation, and suddenly said, "The victory of this battle depends on the long line of the Song Army protruding from the south.
The heavy infantry will be defeated first, or our central army will be in chaos first..."
On the side, Guo Dadao hesitated to speak. He wanted to ask his lord, was he talking to himself or to himself? But when the words came to his mouth, he changed his mind:
"What the Lord said is true, this is the truth!"
After a pause, Guo Daofu said seriously: "The infantry in the middle should be facing the Beiwei army under Daeyeyan, which is the cavalry led by Zhang Xian; and the cavalry in the south is blocking the Jurchen cavalry.
The long-axe soldiers should be the Beiwei army led by Zhang Laocai's son-in-law."
"That's right." Li Cheng nodded repeatedly. "They are all famous teachers and generals."
"Then should we support the south side and help the Jin people defeat Tian Shizhong, or should we support the center and stabilize the Chinese army?" Guo Dadao continued to ask.
On the noisy battlefield, Li Cheng fell into a kind of silence for a while... It was not just the kind of silence in personal language, nor was it just his own unilateral silence, but that this Hebei army member was messing around.
The hero suddenly felt a kind of silence after the abruptness on the battlefield was smoothed away.
If there is noise everywhere, then there will be no noise; if there is the smell of blood everywhere, then there will be no smell of blood; if there are fighting and death everywhere, then fighting and death will seem insignificant.
The key is this question raised by Guo Dadao. This simple question is what determines the outcome... Yue Fei made the final diagonal formation arrangement. It is true that Yue Fei is more calm, but what happens next?
Then there is the feeling of both sides throwing the dice together... The current battlefield, the middle road, is slightly rugged on both sides. It is only about ten miles in front and back, and there is a neither wide nor narrow river blocking each other's retreat. It is so crowded.
And in a narrow battlefield, once the troops in hand are smashed out, it will be difficult to mobilize, so what else can be done?
As a general, the only thing you can do at this time is to decide when and where to throw out the last bit of elite power you can command!
"My lord! My lord?!"
Seeing Li Cheng's silence, Guo Dadao couldn't help but speak out a reminder.
"Wait a minute." After coming back to his senses, Li Cheng couldn't help but take a few deep breaths before answering. "Wait a minute... these hundreds of long-sword cavalry and three thousand heavy steps are our last trump card. We must do it this time."
To strike later, we can't let Yue Fei confront him at the opportunity... You must know that the big and small eyes are going to smash the Wei army out as soon as they come up, so there must be the last one!"
Guo Dadao nodded repeatedly, as if convinced.
"Jiedu."
Seeing another wave of wounded being carried down, Tang Huai, who had been reining in his horse and standing beside Yue Fei, made some calculations in his mind and suddenly spoke.
"What's the matter?" Yue Fei was still just staring at the flags on the front line in trance.
"Based on the fact that the fighting has also begun at Deputy Commander Wang (Wang Gui), the fighting on the entire front has only lasted a little more than a quarter of an hour, and the number of seriously injured people carried out is no less than 300. I am afraid that the number of casualties on the front line is also the same..."
Tang Huai spoke in a deep voice. "Jiedu, since the battle with the Jin people, the armors of both sides have become stronger and stronger. It is rare for so many people to die in a short period of time."
"With this kind of terrain and the number of battle routes, how rare are these casualties?"
"Actually, I always feel a little worthless..." Tang Huai paused and said frankly. "Not to mention the imperial right army led by Tian Shizhong is carrying the Wei army, even our 20,000 soldiers are also in Xuzhou
They were carefully selected during the rest period. There were not many casualties during the previous southern expedition for more than half a year. In the future, I planned to keep them for the northern expedition across the river to fight against the Jin people, but I didn't want to have to fight with the puppet bandits at this time.
It's a waste of time in the wilderness... I know this is a decisive battle in the wilderness, and I know people will inevitably die, but they die too quickly!"
This time, Yue Fei didn't make a sound for a long time. He didn't know whether he didn't want to talk or because he felt a certain kind of "silence" unique to the battlefield like Li Cheng opposite him.
"Send troops! Press forward!"
But unlike Li Cheng, after just a moment of silence, Yue Fei gave the order directly. "Press up to the middle!"
Tang Huai didn't say a word, but turned around to look at Bi Jin behind him. Just as Bi Jin was about to deliver the military order, he found that the flag bearer behind him had already removed the flag, and all the sergeants around him had also activated... He turned around in shock, only to find that his coach Yue Fei
After giving the order, he actually stepped forward in person, and the last four thousand Chinese troops staying around the commander's flag naturally started to move forward.
As soon as the commander-in-chief flag with the word "Yue" moved, the entire battlefield was shaken.
On the Central Avenue, the infantry formation of Li Cheng's division, which had been killed by Zhang Xian's large forces, immediately began to waver, and the middle section of Tian's division, which was advancing alone, suddenly relaxed and was able to get a chance to breathe and be responded to by the infantry behind him.
Keep up.
Seeing Yue Fei sending troops so early, Li Cheng on the opposite side was obviously startled, and then fell into a bit of confusion under the attention of many generals, including Guo Dadao... It was hard for him to understand, and he felt sorry for his family background.
, don’t your big and small eyes feel distressed?
Why is the decisive battle so early? Isn't the battle not fierce enough?
But soon, Li Cheng realized that whether it was due to a moment of soft-heartedness or a mistake, or because he felt that a quick victory would result in fewer casualties, since the opponent had moved, he could no longer waste his elite strength behind the scenes.
, we must not give in!
"Send troops!" Li Cheng pulled out his sword and looked behind him. "Come up with me! Kill this big eye in front of him!"
Guo Dadao was the first to respond. He directly removed the brocade sheath on his long-handled broadsword. With a shout, he led the long-sword cavalry to clear the way. Li Cheng led the commander's flag forward, and then the three thousand heavy steps followed the call of dozens of generals.
Following Li Cheng, he marched forward to meet him... just like the two armies had collided head-on without caring about it before. It had only been two quarters of an hour before the battle started. The commanders of both sides unfurled their flags and headed towards the front line head on.
This brought the intensity of the battlefield to a new level.
In an instant, almost everyone was swarming forward. The usual military pay, favor, honor, and loyalty, as well as the pressure, leadership, and supervision of the commander behind him, mixed with fear and anger, all came together. Everyone could
You can clearly explain why you are moving forward, but you can only move forward... and then wait until one of the parties loses the breath of moving forward first.
Yue Fei arrived at the front line first. While thousands of his troops joined forces with Zhang Xian's cavalry, he took advantage of the dislocation space created in front of the middle part of Tian Division and dealt a huge blow to the oncoming infantry of Li Cheng... It was almost visible to the naked eye, although both sides
They were all rising up, but as Yue Fei's flag arrived at the front line, with the infantry as the base, the cavalry divided into multiple groups and thrust forward, pushing the front westward step by step.
For a time, one thing disappears and the other grows.
At this time, Li Chengbu was still hard at work on the march.
One more thing to say here, the reason why there is such a time difference in arriving at the front line is not only because Yue Fei activated the commander's flag first, but the key lies in the deployment of troops... There are 23,000 troops in front of the Imperial Camp, advancing diagonally.
There are eight thousand infantry on each side. Among them, Wang Gui leads Zhang Yong, Li Kui, Sang Zhong, Liu Zhong, Li Hong and others. A total of eight thousand troops will be in the north. The other group will be five thousand led by Ma Gao, Yi Zhangqing and his wife.
The leading generals marched behind the middle section of Tian Division, with Zhang Xian in the middle leading 4,000 cavalry, and finally Yue Fei and Tang Huai leading 4,000 Chinese troops from behind.
In other words, after Yue Fei pressed forward, there were only four thousand cavalry on the road in front of him, so he could pass unimpeded.
At the same time, Li Cheng's troops had nearly 40,000 men, with 5,000 cavalry on each side, followed by some infantry, and then some supervising troops were separated to mix in the gaps. Even so, the infantry formation in the middle was still dense and deep.
A total of 20,000 people lined up, but the front was strong and the back was weak. The armored elites were in the front, and the leather armored soldiers were in the rear... At this time, Li Cheng led his troops forward, and it was entirely dependent on Guo's sword to clear the way in front, and he could barely advance.
The advancing speeds of both sides are not on the same line at all.
By the time Li Chengbu arrived at what was considered the frontline position after hard work, the frontline infantry formation was already crumbling... The so-called breath, there was only one breath left.
All I can say is that luckily I caught up.
"We must counterattack!" After the military formation, Li Cheng directed some of the heavy infantry to form a stable formation, while pointing at Guo Zhongwei and shouting loudly. "Guo Dadao! All the remaining long-sword cavalry are with you. Go and charge. It's best to
Rush over and chop off the handsome flag of the big and small eyes! Remember, only chop the handsome flags, never compete with the big and small eyes, you must be no match for him!"
Guo Zhongwei didn't say a word, didn't raise his flag, didn't shout, he just held his sword upside down and moved forward. However, the two hundred cavalrymen behind him took off their sword sheaths, and for a while, their swords were like a forest of arrows, moving forward in the middle.
Not only that, Li Cheng's infantry in front saw the iconic long-sword cavalry arraying forward with their swords raised, but they also separated to both sides like waves of wheat after encountering a living creature in the distant fields.
Under the hasty advance of the army and the squeeze of additional troops, except for a group of more than 200 Beiwei Army cavalry who were directly on Guo Dadao's march route, the rest could not easily step forward to stop them. The leader of this Beiwei Army cavalry was none other than someone else.
He was Li Zhang, the Flying Eagle who came from Hu Cheng's command and had followed Yue Fei for a long time.
Li Zhang was originally a hero in Yizhou and had always been known as a brave man in the army. How could he shrink back in the slightest? When he saw this, he was not angry but overjoyed and went straight to face him.
Two cavalrymen collided, with broadswords and spears flying everywhere. Li Zhang was so eager to kill that he even led seven or eight of his fellow cavalrymen to kill several cavalrymen with long swords and fell directly into the opponent's formation. At the moment, his momentum was not as famous as that of Li Cheng.
The sword cavalry is slightly weaker.
But at this time, Guo Zhongwei saw Li Zhang and still didn't say a word. He just continued to lower his head and drag his sword forward in the military formation. However, under the cover of other long-sword cavalry, he silently accelerated suddenly, and suddenly
He pounced straight to the opponent's side, and then swung with all his might.
With just one swing, Li Zhang was cut in half from the left side of the neck to the right side of the armpit, and he was beheaded under the horse.
It was only then that the long-sword cavalry shouted together, with Guo Dadao as the core, they gathered together and easily dispersed the out-of-command back-to-back Wei army, and then continued towards Yue Fei's commander's flag.
Of course, the long-sword cavalry was too conspicuous. After crossing the cavalry melee area, they were directly spotted by Yue Fei and Tang Huai.
"Such a group of troops, advancing slowly and slowly, advancing slowly and slowly, although they are consumed, they keep moving forward. There must be a general Yanqi sitting in command!" Tang Huai just looked at it for a moment and saw the difference. "I will go to meet him!
"
"Wait for him to come!" Yue Fei, who was sitting under the flag on horseback, looked at him coldly and raised his hand to stop him. "We can just continue to press the soldiers and follow the cavalry forward."
Tang Huai didn't know what his brother meant, but he immediately nodded in understanding, and then simply led his bodyguard to move under the commander's flag, and then called Bi Jin to give some instructions.
After a while, I don't know if it was the Song Army's deliberate indulgence. After this long-sword cavalry entered the Song Army's infantry formation, the resistance they encountered was not that serious. The soldiers and horses along the way were just blocked and exhausted.
However, when Guo Dadao rushed not far from the commander's flag, he saw Yue Fei, who was clearly in armor, and dozens of cavalry in front of the commander's flag. He turned around and saw that there were only a dozen or so cavalry left behind him.
He also knew it well and woke up to what was going on... It was the Song army who was deliberately indulging, peeling off the bamboo shoots layer by layer, and then tempting him to take the big eye itself when there were fewer soldiers and horses.
Otherwise, with such a strict arrangement under the commander's flag, why would the general stand in front?
This is a trap.
However, knowing this, the bold Guo Dadao, who is an expert in art, resented that he was being underestimated, but he ignored it and urged the last ten cavalry forward. He threw away the designated goal of the handsome flag and went straight to Yue Fei...
You know, there are so many weapons in the world, why does he, Guo Zhongwei, use a long-handled sword on horseback? Is it because the sword is sharpened before the battle, and then swung with all his strength, no matter whether you are a world-famous martial artist, well-armored, or a famous general, you are just
Kill it with one knife?
Since Guo Dadao went straight to Yue Fei, and Yue Fei's bodyguards were not fools, they naturally swarmed to meet him. Dozens of people almost tried to capture the last dozen or so long sword knights. However, Guo Zhongwei was so experienced on the battlefield that at this time
Since he had expected it, he suddenly accelerated and rushed forward before the enemy encircled him.
Yue Fei, who had already turned his head and squinted his eyes to see the person coming, was not afraid and simply turned around and rode to meet him.
As soon as the second general and the two horses were handed over, Guo Dadao became panicked... because he had just used the momentum of the horse to strike with his sword, but was easily knocked away by the opponent with his steel spear. This showed that the two sides' immediate skills were not even close. Waiting for his next move.
At a disadvantage, he remembered his coach's instructions and was about to turn in the direction of the commander's flag. Unexpectedly, Yue Fei behind him turned very fast, and soon followed him on horseback, stabbing him in the back of the heart again. Guo Zhongwei was embarrassed.
At this moment, he could only turn around and use his hands to block. However, such an action would inevitably deform the movement and apply improper force. Then the man's mouth was numb, and the long knife in his hand was directly crushed by the opponent's steel gun.
Now that Guo Dadao had lost his sword, he became more and more frightened, so he reined in his horse again and prepared to turn and flee.
Unexpectedly, just by reining in the horse, the horse slowed down a little, and Yue Fei was bullied to the front by relying on the horse's advantage. Then he saw the dignified former military commander of the imperial camp just let go and threw his spear, and turned his backhand from the other side of the horse.
He took off a sharp simple knife, then held the knife with both hands, and immediately slashed hard at the back of the opponent's neck. It actually slashed all the way from the neck of the opponent's neck, directly to the opponent's crotch, and continued to slash again and again.
It cracked the saddle and hurt the horse's back before it stopped.
Guo Dadao was also split into two parts, and his internal organs were scattered on the ground.
Yue Fei, half-covered in blood, stopped his horse without saying a word, then went down to the ground to pick up his spear, then calmly mounted his horse again. When he returned to the front of the commander's flag, he continued to direct and mobilize the formation.
Not far away, the long-sword cavalry who were still resisting and Li Cheng's infantry who were close by saw this scene, and they were as frightened as if they had seen ghosts and gods. This time Guo Dadao's surprise attack inevitably dissipated directly.
Li Cheng was far away, and although he didn't know that his sword had been split in half and his intestines might not be connected, he saw Guo Zhongwei fell into the Song army's formation and never returned, and then it seemed that the Song army was in front of him.
With morale restored, it was natural to guess that Guo Dadao had failed.
However, Li Cheng was not an incompetent person. After a general died, he did not hesitate to send a messenger, but also ordered Xu Dadao, who was supervising the army at the junction of the north and the central part, and his two hundred long sword knights, plus a thousand Jinan
The cavalry were called together to continue to maintain central line suppression.
Xu Dadao was also a man of loyalty. In addition, he had already seen the difficulties of the Chinese army due to Yue Fei's first arrival and the bloated formation of his own army. Therefore, he did not hesitate after receiving the order and also hurriedly rode his horse to rescue him.
Instead, they tried to use the organic cavalry to separate the cavalry and infantry troops on the road in front of the imperial camp.
This was a very correct decision. In fact, it was impossible for Yue Fei and he did not dare to put such a cavalry into the Chinese battlefield.
"Two thousand soldiers and you will be blocked no matter what!" Yue Fei turned to face Tang Huai and spoke concisely.
Tang Huai understood and led his troops away. However, Yue Fei, half of his body covered in blood, thought for a moment and ordered the flag to be moved again... not like before, step by step, but like the first time it was started.
, directly raised the flag and strode forward to press.
Let's say that the war has progressed for about half an hour at this time, and both sides' front lines have suffered heavy casualties, and are somewhat shaky. If we go forward at this time, the casualty rate will undoubtedly rise sharply, but Yue Fei hesitated for a moment.
, or take the initiative to step forward.
What made Li Cheng on the opposite side even more panicked was that since Yue Fei stepped forward again, the entire Song army formation still showed no sign of wavering... You must know that the number of casualties on both sides was naturally higher than that of Li Cheng, but the ratio was two to one.
The troop strength ratio is there, but in terms of casualty ratio, the two sides are almost the same.
However, under such a situation, Li Cheng's army had already begun to be somewhat sluggish, chaotic, and out of formation, but the imperial camp's front army still maintained its morale and aggressive attitude.
In this way, before half of the afternoon, Yue Fei himself and his banner appeared in the melee area. At this time, thanks to the central cavalry's tactics of fighting infantry and the commander's personal pressure, the melee front in the central part had also
It is almost level with the middle part of Tianshi.
This was actually very dangerous for the Song army, so Li Cheng hesitated for the second time.
If he retreats slightly at this time, he is likely to be able to pull the weak middle troops of the Song Army into a situation surrounded on three sides. This is also the best situation pursued by the two-line cavalry formation itself, and it is also the diagonal formation used by the Song Army before.
The final tactical pursuit was defeated... However, once he retreated at this time, there was also the danger of being overwhelmed by Yue Fei and causing the entire collapse.
On the contrary, he can also choose to lead his troops forward, without giving up a breath, and directly fight with Yue Fei at the front line.
But in this case, he is likely to face the most direct danger to his life... He has never seen Han Shizhong, who is known as the number one in the world, but he knows well about the big eyes in front of him.
If so, I really have to bet my life 50-50.
Or worse?
After all, General Li Chengli's swords were not good at horse fighting, and they were lost now.
For a warrior, losing his sword is a terrible thing.
That's it for now.
In the midst of hesitation, there was no longer a sword to torture his soul, and no one was interrogating him, so he just hesitated... Little did he know that standing still under hesitation was the third option besides advancing or retreating, but it was exactly the same.
It's the worst choice.
Because while hesitating, Yue Fei took action again.
Specifically, Yue Fei, who had reached the extreme position of the front line, once again moved his flag to put pressure forward - but what is interesting is that this time Yue Fei did not go directly to the west, but instead moved the remaining two
The thousand infantry moved to the left front, that is, to the right front of the middle part of Tian Division on the south side of the battlefield for the most direct support and forward pressure.
"broken!"
Li Cheng watched the big flag with the word "Yue" heading to the southwest, and almost instantly saw through the thoughts of the big-eyed man opposite him. He also instantly noticed the stupidest arrangement in his pre-war arrangements.
"Forward! Forward! I want to fight to the death with Big Eyes face to face!"
After waking up, Li Cheng no longer dared to hesitate, but immediately raised his flag and moved forward.
However, as soon as the commander's flag was pulled out, almost at the same time, the Song army suddenly roared to kill, almost using all the strength of the army to attack westward. At the same time, what made Li Cheng completely helpless was that the huge flaw he had just thought of
It also broke out on the spot... At the forefront of the south side of the battlefield, the Meng'an who came to support him encountered a tenacious blockade by the heavy armored soldiers of the Tian Division. After suffering a large number of casualties, he finally chose to fight under the pincer attack launched by Yue Fei himself.
retreated.
Poor Li Cheng was worried before the war that the Hebei brothers were not working hard, and he was also worried that the local tycoons in Jingdong had second thoughts. As a result, none of the old brothers betrayed him, but the most powerful Jin army reinforcements betrayed him.
Of course, it is wrong to say betrayal. It is unexpected and reasonable... No matter how powerful the Jin Army is in combat and no matter how good at fighting hard, why should they sacrifice their lives for Li Cheng? Does a marching force need to be integrated with Hebei and Beijing?
Are you not strategically aware?
Li Cheng should not have allowed this unit to undertake tactical tasks in the first place.
Back in front of us, such a well-organized unit with tactical missions suddenly retreated, leaving a huge gap on the south side of the exhibition. However, in this gap, with Yue Fei's general attack order without losing the opportunity, people were killed and injured in an instant.
The tired middle part of Tianshi was occupied.
For a time, the puppet army's military formation also tended to be shaken by the impact.
At this moment, Li Cheng's newly raised flag was not only unable to move forward, but was pushed back by the slightly wavering army in front, forcing him to push dozens of steps to the rear.
But his footing was unstable again, and he fell backwards again, and then he couldn't stand his ground three times, and fell backwards three times.