Chapter 269: Turning the tide of battle
The people of Chu no longer attacked, and the pressure on Yang Yun and his soldiers was greatly reduced, and finally there was no need to worry all day long, running around, and they could take a good rest in the camp tent.
"Soldiers, rush me! When we take this city, we will invade the territory of Chu, and all the things in the city will be given to the meritorious soldiers. Yang Ming stood on a high place, personally beat the snare drum in his hand, and shouted loudly with all his might.
At this time, Yang Ming was full of energy and high spirits, and he was no longer the anxious look he had a few months ago because of his defeat.
A few months ago, the Dafu army led by Yang Ming suffered heavy losses, lost more than 100,000 soldiers, and was forced to retreat dozens of miles, relying on the city and pass to defend to the death, which greatly reduced the prestige of this Dafu "god of war" among officials and the people.
Just over a month ago, Yang Ming finally won a turnaround, reinforcements from all over Dafu came in a steady stream, plus the soldiers led by Liuyi Kuban did not dare to stay in Dafu for more, after attacking the soldiers of Dafu led by Yang Ming, they returned to Liuyi for the first time, so that the number of soldiers led by Yang Ming finally exceeded the Chu soldiers who invaded the territory of Dafu.
The even better news is that his thirteenth brother Yang Yun actually crossed the mountains and entered the hinterland of Chu State. He also joined forces with Zheng Guo and Yu Yue to seize the Qingzhou Pass, which was impregnable in the eyes of the people of Chu, and turned the Chu State upside down.
Yang Ming has been fighting for many years in command, and his vision is very unique, so of course he will not miss such a good fighter.
Therefore, Yang Ming decisively ordered that the Dafu army give up the strategy of stubborn defense and began to take the initiative to launch a full-scale counteroffensive to drive the Chu people back and recover the occupied Dafu City.
Under Yang Ming's order, the Dafu soldiers of Yunzhou attacked one after another, Xunyang Pass, Yunzhou City, Chen Lisheng and Yang Ming led the Dafu soldiers, and reinforcements from all over the country launched a fierce attack on the Chu soldiers at the first time.
The sudden attack of the Da Fu people made Yu Xian miserable, and the 400,000 Chu army he commanded lost tens of thousands when he fought with Yang Ming in the early stage.
And now, Yang Yun, the king of Dafu Wu, with tens of thousands of troops, actually ran to the interior of Chu to make waves.
In order to eliminate Yang Yun, Yu Xian first sent some soldiers to block them on the east bank of the Chu River, and later, according to the orders of the King of Chu, secretly removed some soldiers and participated in the encirclement and suppression of Yang Yun.
Therefore, now in Yu Xian's hands, the soldiers of the Chu army who can be used to fight Yang Ming are not even 300,000. What's even more troublesome is that due to Yang Yun's harassment in the rear, it has brought great trouble to the troops who sent grain and grass to the rear, and many materials cannot be delivered in time, which also makes Yu Xian miserable.
There was no way, Yu Xian had to follow Yang Ming's example, retreated more than 20 miles, contracted the defense line, and did his best to barely block the Dafu army led by Yang Ming from the defense line.
According to Yu Xian's plan, he only needs to lead the existing soldiers and hold the defensive line for a period of time, and wait for the soldiers in Chu to wipe out Yang Yun and all the soldiers he brings.
If you transfer all the soldiers you sent back, as well as the 100,000 army led by Zhao Yue, to the front line, and then suddenly attack, you will definitely defeat the army that Yang Yun is in.
With this idea, Yu Xian asked all the generals under his command to stick to the cities and passes they guarded, and not to go out easily.
In such a situation, Yu Xian's idea is obviously good, according to the current situation, they can hold this line of defense for a month or two without the slightest problem.
By a month or two later, Zhao Yue and the others should have already wiped out Yang Yun and the soldiers he led.
However, what Yu Xian didn't expect was that a sudden failure made his wishful thinking completely fail.
What Yu Xian and even Yang Ming didn't expect was that the one who caused the Chu army to suffer defeat was actually Yang Yan, the Twelfth Prince of Dafu who had not been on the battlefield much.
Yang Yan received the will of Emperor Fu and asked him to take the soldiers of his fiefdom to the front line of Yunzhou to reinforce his fifth brother Shengwang Yang Ming.
After getting Emperor Fu's will, Yang Yan was very happy, for so many years, he had hardly been on the battlefield. Now that he had such a good opportunity to gain military exploits, he was very happy to personally lead the troops to the battle.
The relationship between Yang Yan and Yang Ming has not been good, and he is unwilling to obey Yang Ming's dispatch. So after he arrived at the front line in Yunzhou with 20,000 soldiers, he volunteered to defend a small city alone.
Yang Ming also knew that Yang Yan's soldiers were under his own command. Therefore, according to Yang Yan's request, he handed over the farthest city of the defense line to Yang Yan.
According to Yang Ming's thoughts, the city was handed over to Yang Yan anyway. At that time, if Yang Yan can hold it well, it will also be very helpful to the current battle situation.
But if Yang Yan is incompetent and unable to hold this city, and the time will lead to defeat, the biggest responsibility is still Yang Yan, who did not defend the city, and he can successfully reduce his responsibility.
Yang Yan actually doesn't have much command ability, nor does he have many opinions. So this time, although he personally led the troops, all the ideas in the army were determined by one of his military advisors.
Although Yang Yan doesn't have much ability, he has an advantage. It is to dare to let go and rest assured that your subordinates will do everything.
Yang Ming asked the Dafu soldiers to launch a full-scale counteroffensive, and on the Yunzhou front, almost all the soldiers and horses moved almost immediately to attack the Chu soldiers led by Yu Xian.
After hearing Yang Ming's order, Yang Yan's 20,000 soldiers did not act immediately, stayed in the city and did not take the initiative to attack the enemy.
Waiting for the other armies to be drawn out, Yang Yan and his soldiers had not yet sent troops, and only after Yang Ming urged him several times did he slowly lead his troops out of the city, preparing to go to the front line, indicating that he had gone to the battlefield.
After sending troops, Yang Yan obviously didn't want to encounter the enemy, so he always marched slowly.
To say that this Yang Ming is actually not at ease, because the enemy that Yang Yan is facing now is a camp tent located on the edge of the defense line. Although this camp tent seems to be inconspicuous, there are 50,000 Chu soldiers in the battle.
However, this news is unknown to many people in the Great Fu Army, according to Yang Ming's meaning, this time it can not only weaken Yang Yan's troops, but also make Emperor Fu completely disappointed in Yang Yan, and will not have any impact on his throne.
Yang Yan led 20,000 soldiers and was the last team to come to the front line.
What Yang Yan didn't expect was that the enemy had already found out everything about himself clearly, and they had made a careful layout before Yang Yan arrived on the battlefield, preparing to defeat Yang Yan's troops in one fell swoop.
Yang Yan didn't do anything about all this, anyway, he had his own military advisor in charge of all this, and he didn't bother to worry about it.
As expected by the generals of the Chu army in this camp, after the two sides engaged, Yang Yan and his soldiers suffered several defeats in a row, causing his soldiers to lose two or three thousand.
Yang Yan, who had suffered the defeat, immediately led his troops to retreat to the rear, and when he saw that the enemy began to flee, the defenders of the city thought of Yu Xian's order to defend to the death, so he asked his soldiers to hold on.
However, Yang Yan's department, which had already left, saw that the Chu soldiers did not go out of the city to chase after him, so he took people to the city and stationed the native soldiers outside the city, but did not take the initiative to attack.
The generals of the Chu army saw that Yang Yan's troops had come outside the city again, so they attacked them again, but Yang Yan's troops fled in a hurry after leaving the corpses of hundreds of soldiers.
Soon after the Chu soldiers collected their troops and returned to the camp, the soldiers led by Yang Yan came outside the city again.
The strange behavior of Yang Yan's subordinates puzzled the generals of the Chu army guarding the city, and after discussing with his generals, he believed that this was Yang Yan's last resort.
Yang Yangui is the prince of Dafu, and he was also named the prince, if he leads the troops to evacuate, he will definitely be punished by the imperial court. But they wanted to take the city, and they didn't have that ability, so they made such a strange move.
After determining Yang Yan's current situation, the Chu soldiers defending the city had an idea and decided to use Yang Yan's mentality to completely wipe out this force.
Therefore, after the battle started again, the soldiers of the Chu army in the city poured out and launched a fierce attack on the soldiers led by Yang Yan.
Seeing that the enemy army was menacing, Yang Yan and his soldiers certainly did not dare to fight, and fled again in embarrassment.
According to the experience of the previous times, after pursuing for a certain distance, these Chu soldiers did not dare to continue the pursuit because they were worried about losing in the city.
But this time, the Chu army was determined and chased after him closely, directly chasing more than ten miles. The Dafu army led by Yang Yun panicked all of a sudden, and actually fled in the direction of a valley in a panic.
This is a valley with only one way out, and after the Dafu army enters, it is like entering a dead end, and there is no chance to escape again.
The Chu soldiers, who had the intention of destroying this Dafu army, immediately came to their senses when they saw this scene, if they could wipe out this team this time, and even capture the prince of Dafu alive, it would be a great achievement!
Such a great merit is something that can be met but not obtained, and this leading general of the Chu army is certainly not willing to give up such a good opportunity.
Now there are only a small number of soldiers left in the city, because they are worried that something will happen after a long time, so the generals of the Chu army immediately ordered their soldiers to attack immediately.
After receiving the order of the commander, nearly 50,000 Chu soldiers immediately shouted and rushed towards the valley.
After the Chu soldiers entered the valley, they saw that the Dafu soldiers who had fled in front of them were crowded at the end of the valley, and because there was no road ahead, they had to hold knives and guns, preparing to make the final dying struggle.
Seeing this, the leading generals of the Chu army were overjoyed, and he immediately issued an order for his subordinates to send troops to attack the Dafu soldiers.
This valley is still relatively large, and after nearly 50,000 Chu soldiers rushed into the valley, there was still a distance of one or two hundred zhang from the Dafu soldiers in front. Seeing some panicked Dafu soldiers in front of him, Chu Bing became even more excited, this time he would definitely be able to wipe out all these Dafu people.
The soldiers of the Chu army had just rushed out of the front for a distance, when they suddenly heard a sound on the hillside, and the soldiers looked up and couldn't help but be startled.
At some point, many Dafu soldiers appeared on the hillside. By the time these Chu soldiers had not come to their senses, these Dafu soldiers had already shot their bows and arrows in their hands, and some of them smashed down many rocks and logs from the hillside.
Seeing this situation, the leading generals of the Chu army immediately reacted, and they were ambushed by the other party, and immediately ordered their soldiers to retreat to the rear, but it was too late.
At the mouth of the valley ahead, a pair of Dafu soldiers also appeared, and they were pushing some boulders down the mountain, ready to block their retreat.
The Chu soldiers guarded the bows and arrows on their heads, and the boulders and rolling logs they dodged on the other hand, and in a short time they lost many people. By the time they reached the front of the valley, their path was completely blocked.
At this time, these Chu soldiers had become the target of the Dafu people's attack, and long arrows, boulders, and rolling logs beckoned towards them, killing these Chu soldiers quickly became a mess.