On 9 March, the Vietnamese army saw that the Yuan army was about to cross the river in a big way by connecting the warships as a bridge, and finally couldn't help it.

Chen Rilian from the north and Chen Guojun from the west, the 350,000 army was like two huge pincers, and they drove out of the mountain camp in a mighty way, intending to flank the Yuan army that was preparing to cross the river.

There is also a purpose of such a two-sided attack, which is to seize the flat land on the river bank and compress the space for the cavalry of the Yuan army to gallop.

From the river bank to the city of Anxing, the terrain is flat, which is conducive to the vertical and horizontal cavalry. But after all, the area is limited, and if the two main forces of the Vietnamese army occupy these areas first, the space of the Yuan army will be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult for the cavalry to be used.

This seemingly simple action of sending troops contains a deadly killing move.

Li Luo has been here for ten days, and he has long been aware of the nearby terrain, and he has already deduced with the generals several times, how can there be no embankment of the Vietnamese army?

As soon as the two main forces of the Vietnamese army were dispatched, the Yuan army was quickly divided into three. He also led the main cavalry force and part of the infantry in the west, and Shi Bi led the main infantry force in the north. Li Luo sits in Anxing City in the south, forming a triangle.

According to the strategy that had been set a long time ago, Li Luo ordered Shi Bi to lead 50,000 Han troops to move north, relying on Anxing City, cooperating with the Yuan army under his own command in Anxing City, one inside and one outside, to form a line of defense to resist Chen Rilian's 170,000 army in the south.

Relying on the city, the 80,000 troops defended the attack of the 170,000 Vietnamese army of Chen Rilian, which was enough.

This is the Northern Defense.

And Su Dieer led the main army of 100,000 to attack Chen Guojun from the west.

This is the Western Offensive.

The north defends and the west attacks, one defense and one attack. It is to give full play to the defensive strength of the infantry and the offensive power of the cavalry, and release the combat power of the Yuan army to the maximum extent in the limited battlefield space.

In the earth-shattering shouts and war drums, within a radius of more than ten miles, the mountains were full of soldiers and horses. The more than 500,000 troops on both sides of the Yuan and Vietnam sides were all pressed in this space. There is a poem as evidence: "The flag covers the sky and deceives the wind and rain, and the war horse chirps a hundred ghosts." The armor is sonorous and the iron dragon rises, and the drum will shock the heavens. ”

The magnificent battlefield simply changed the color of the heavens and the earth, the mountains and rivers trembled, and the momentum was majestic.

Like a poem... Picturesque!

Shi Bi commanded the defensive corps to the north, with the right flank near the city gate, and the front was full of shield carts, behind which were stone cannons and bed crossbows, and behind were archers.

The left flank, however, was a square formation of pikemen, completely defensive.

In this way, with the Anxing City on the right flank, a four- or five-mile defense line was formed.

Chen Rilian's 170,000 army, lined up with sixteen sub-formations, maintained a formation and pressed southward unhurriedly, but was blocked by the northern army and the city led by Shi Bi.

The front passage was blocked, and Chen Rilian's army had to stop and confront Shi Bi, the two armies were separated by less than a mile, and each other could faintly see the faces of each other's soldiers.

"It's a defensive position!" Chen Rixian stood on the lookout car and frowned, but did not immediately give the order to attack.

As a famous general, Chen Rixian thought of several countermeasures for the Yuan army. He knew that the most difficult thing to deal with was that the Yuan army relied on the city to defend the north and attack the west, or defend the west and attack the north.

This tactic can make up for the disadvantage of the Yuan army to the greatest extent, and can also make full use of the city, and can ensure the space for cavalry activities.

In a place like this, this tactic is very difficult to crack. Chen Rixian only expected that the commander of the Yuan army was not wise enough, but he did not expect this tactic. Or arrogant and disdainful of using this tactic.

But now, Chen Rilian is very disappointed. The Yuan army really used the tactic he feared the most.

It seems that Li Luo, the commander of the Yuan army, is both wise and not arrogant.

"Your Highness, the Yuan army is so arranged, our army can only attack hard." The general pointed to the Yuan army's large array and said, "It's not okay to go around from the left, there are hills over there, not only are they crowded, but they can't maintain a formation." ”

Another general said: "There are many big shield carts in front of the Yuan army, which should be to guard against our elephant soldiers." This war elephant cannot be used at the moment. Firearms cannot be used if they are wet. Do you rely on heavy infantry to rush hard? ”

Chen Rixian has more than 200 war elephants, but he knows the nature of war elephants very well. It was still impossible to harness the war elephant against the tall shield cart covered with spears.

Chen Rixian looked at the sturdy Anxing City on the left, and his heart was extremely bitter. This is the coastal defense city that Dayue worked so hard to build, and now it is used by Yuan Kou, which is really hateful and sad.

Chen had no other choice. He knew very well that the Yuan army in the west would soon launch an attack on Chen Guojun. Chen Guojun may not be able to resist.

The best way at the moment is to rely on the superiority of troops to solve the Yuan infantry blocking themselves as soon as possible. Open the gap, and then attack the back of the Yuan cavalry in the west, and Chen Guojun flank back and forth.

"Your Highness, can our army turn the four-four formation into a two-eight long formation? In this way, the formation will be narrower and longer, and you will be able to move away from the attack range of the city, and you will not need to worry about the right flank. A ministry general advised.

Chen Rixian shook his head, pointed to the city, and said with a wry smile: "How can you not know this strategy?" But Ben Shuai guessed that there must be Yuankou cavalry in the city. If our army becomes a long formation, and the Yuankou cavalry goes out of the city to attack, they can cut our army into two sections, and they cannot take care of each other, so they will definitely be defeated. ”

The general said: "Your Highness, our army also has 10,000 cavalry!" ”

Chen Rixian said: "The cavalry of our army is definitely not the opponent of the Yuankou cavalry, and it is used for cavalry duels, so how much do you think your own cavalry?" "The Yue army, like the Song army, had few cavalry. There are only 30,000 cavalry in the entire Vietnamese army, how can they be willing to go head-to-head with the Yuan army, which is good at cavalry?

The generals thought about it and felt that it made sense. It's no wonder that this battlefield is too unfavorable to the Vietnamese army.

Chen Rixian no longer hesitated, because the fight had already started in the west. He had heard shouts of killing.

"The left flank of the 30,000 township army is shielded to defend against the enemy attack at the head of the city! All the stone bed crossbows in front were fired, suppressing the Yuan army's bow crossbows! 10,000 spearmen and heavy infantry advanced, 40,000 spearmen and shield bearers in the center, and 20,000 archers in the rear! After the 50,000 township army hall, defend the city and attack the Yuankou! ”

Chen Rixian ordered that all the forbidden troops should be used, and the 80,000 township troops with poor combat strength and equipment were all used to defend the Yuan army in the city.

This arrangement, in such a situation, is the best tactic, and almost all the elite troops are fully utilized to attack the fortification.

As soon as the Vietnamese army attacked, the crossbows of both sides fought at a distance first.

Li Luo at the head of the city also mobilized all the bed crossbows and stone cannons, all of which were concentrated on the west city wall, and condescendingly attacked the right flank of the Vietnamese army.

Shi Bi's 50,000 infantry, although also equipped with a large number of stone artillery bed crossbows, was not as many as the Vietnamese army. Soon fell to the upper hand in long-range engagements.

"Kill the captives and repay the country! Kill! "10,000 Vietnamese heavy infantry, shouting and holding spears, rushed towards the Yuan army's large array, followed by a full 60,000 elite forbidden troops, and 10,000 cavalry.

As long as Shi Bi's infantry formation was broken away, more than 200 elephants and 10,000 cavalry took advantage of the situation to charge, and Shi Bi's 50,000 infantry would be defeated.

Although the bed crossbows and stone cannons, bows and arrows at the head of the city were also fired intensively, killing and wounding a large number of Vietnamese troops on the flanks at all times, but because the Vietnamese troops on the flanks were all township troops, the Vietnamese forbidden army was not hit.

Shi Bi's 50,000 infantry troops were almost all Han troops who worked for the Yuan court, and their fighting will was not as tenacious as the Vietnamese army that defended the country, and the number was at a disadvantage, and they were suddenly more passive under the fierce impact of the Vietnamese army.

The infantry on both sides had not yet made contact, but the shooting of the bow bed crossbow had already turned white-hot. There are arrows in the Vietnamese army that specialize in directing bow-and-arrow volleys. A blow is a launch. Two blows in a row, it is the upper wind.

Under this kind of horn, every salvo of bows and arrows of the Vietnamese army was very neat and fast-paced.

After all, the Vietnamese army had the advantage in numbers, and its fighting spirit was more determined than that of the Han army, so the Han army suddenly suffered more casualties, and the entire large array was a little chaotic. Of course, the casualties of the Vietnamese army in the charge were not small, but they were fewer than those of the Yuan army.

"Chen Rilian, he is really a famous general, if he doesn't move, he will be like thunder!" Li Luo couldn't help but praise, and waved his hand, "Cavalry attack!" ”

If the cavalry doesn't attack again, Shi Bi can't hold on, his 50,000 Han army can't withstand the desperate hard attack of the 80,000 Vietnamese forbidden army.

As soon as the military order was given, the west gate and the north gate were all opened, and the 30,000 cavalry, who had been ready for a long time, rushed out of the city like two torrents, and then accelerated in a circle.

That's right, Li Luo left 30,000 cavalry in the city, including 3,000 heavy cavalry!

Chen Rilian only miscalculated, he had long expected that there were cavalry in the city, but he didn't expect that there would be as many as 30,000!

Isn't it sick that you hide 30,000 cavalry in the city?

The Yuan army had 180,000 land divisions, plus Li Luo transferred another 5,000 from Luo Yu's water division, for a total of 185,000 people. Shi Bi brought 50,000, Su Die'er brought 100,000, and Li Luocheng brought 35,000.

Five thousand of them were drawn sailors, and they were the ones who attacked the Vietnamese army with ballistas at the head of the city. The remaining 30,000 were all cavalry.

The Yuan army had a total of 80,000 cavalry, and Li Luoguang hid 30,000 in the city, and no one could have imagined it.

The Vietnamese heavy infantry rushed to the front of Shi Bi's army and collided with Shi Bi's 10,000 heavy infantry.

The heavy infantry on both sides immediately fought fiercely. However, due to the tens of thousands of elite forbidden troops of the Vietnamese army coming in large formations, several phalanxes of Shi Bi were suddenly in danger.

At this moment, there was a sudden thunderous roar, and at the same time it seemed that the whole ground was trembling. Chen Rixian looked at the lookout car, and his expression suddenly changed sharply.

Sure enough, it's the Yuankou cavalry!

Can... Why so many cavalry? Chen Rixian gasped. He originally thought that Yuan Kou had hidden more than 10,000 cavalry in the city at most, but now it seems that it is far more than that.

Chen Rilian reacted quickly, and when he saw the number of Yuan cavalry far exceeding the estimate out of the city, he immediately ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops and gather a large array to resist the impact of cavalry.

He knew very well that at least the right wing and the township army behind the palace would never be able to keep it.

For today's plan, the only way to do this is to use the township army to block the cavalry of the Yuan army, take back the forbidden army, and sacrifice the township army to protect the forbidden army.

Chen Rilian ruled the army strictly, and Ming Jin gave the order to withdraw his troops, and even if the phalanx of the forbidden army was unwilling, they quickly retreated and retracted, and at the same time, the archers stepped forward and shot at the position.

Shi Bi was about to run out, but when he saw the various formations of the Vietnamese army suddenly retreating, he immediately knew that the cavalry in the city had attacked. He waved the command flag and shouted: "The Vietnamese army has been defeated!" Attack and counterattack! ”

Several phalanxes of the Han army, led by heavy infantry horizontal formations, took the initiative to launch a counteroffensive, trotting towards the retreating Vietnamese army.

However, the dense rain of arrows of the Vietnamese army was overwhelming, preventing the pursuit of the Han army.

At the same time, the 80,000 Vietnamese army and township army fell into a catastrophe.

The 80,000 township army, equipped with spears and large shields, could have completely resisted tens of thousands of cavalry. But under the onslaught of up to 30,000 cavalry, it finally collapsed uncontrollably. 30,000 cavalry broke into the village army and slaughtered them. The fierce prancing horses of the Tubo, Khitan, and Jurchen cavalry raised their swords, and I don't know how many township soldiers were hacked and trampled to death.

The 80,000 township army was defeated like a mountain. Within a few miles, there was blood and rain, and everywhere there were fleeing village troops, as well as cavalry chasing the north. The shouts and screams rang for ten miles. The Annan Township Army is not weak, it is not a rabble, and such a defeat is really not trivial.

waited until the large array of the eight township armies completely collapsed, and finally revealed the Vietnamese forbidden army phalanx inside.

However, Chen Rixian had already taken advantage of the time gained by sacrificing the township army to withdraw the forbidden army and put on a defensive posture.

Li Luo looked at the city with some admiration. The retreat of the Annam Forbidden Army was decisive and timely, in an orderly manner, and without any delay. No wonder the intelligence said that the forbidden army under the command of Chen Rilian, the king of Zhaowen, was the most difficult to deal with.

He himself was a little lucky, if he only left 10,000 cavalry in the city, it would never be possible to defeat Chen Rilian so easily, and even lose the battle in the north.

Li Luo saw that there were still tens of thousands of cavalry in Chen Rilian's array, and he very much hoped that Chen Rilian would send these tens of thousands of cavalry to fight hard. However, to his disappointment, Chen Rixian had no intention of sending cavalry at all.

It's a pity, why didn't this Chen Rilian have a hot head and send cavalry to save the field?

At this time, the cavalry of the 10,000 Yuan Army went to chase and kill the captured township army, and the remaining cavalry gathered again, blocking the retreat of Chen Rilian's army.

Chen Rilian was surrounded by Shi Bi's infantry to the south, Yuan cavalry to the north, cities to the east, and hills to the west.

But Li Luo did not order the attack.

Chen Rixian still had more than 70,000 forbidden troops, and at this time, the eight phalanxes were lined up in a hollow array, with spears and shields outside, and archers inside. Even if you can break the formation in a short time, you will definitely pay an extremely heavy price. Even if he wins, he will win like a defeat.

Li Luo knew very well that he couldn't trap Chen Rixian today.

Why? Because there is a hill to the west, Chen Rixian can evacuate safely as long as he maintains a defensive formation and slowly retreats to the hilly area.

And Li Luo had no way to stop the Vietnamese army from retreating into the hills, unless he could deal with Chen Guojun in the west as soon as possible, and then rush to converge.

Sure enough, Su Die'er was still shouting to kill Zhentian, and Chen Rixian no longer hesitated, preparing to give the order to retreat into the hill.

Chen Rilian saw the corpses of the township soldiers all over the mountains and heard the screams of the fleeing township soldiers in the distance, and his eyes were full of pain.

Defeated, defeated!

80,000 township troops, ruined!

When it came, there were 1670,000 troops, but now there are less than 80,000.

Although the forbidden army only lost a few thousand people, and the main force still existed, it was still an out-and-out fiasco.

The township army is a young man who has been trained for half a year, not a farmer who has just taken up arms!

How could Li Luo ambush so many cavalry in the city? What a miscalculation, losing the whole game!

Unfavorable battlefields, unfavorable timing, miscalculations, and unjust defeat! It's because of their own incompetence that they have today's failure.

Chen Rilian's face was indifferent, but his heart was painful.

"Herald! The Elephant Soldier Strikes! ”

Although he decided to retreat, in order to cover the retreat, Chen Rilian still gave the order for the elephant soldiers to attack.

It's not that he has to sacrifice the war elephant, but he has to retreat into the hills, and the war elephant is very difficult to climb, it is completely a burden, and he has to abandon it.

Hundreds of elephant soldiers knelt down to Chen Rilian with tears in their eyes and said, "Your Highness, take care, I'll wait!" ”

Chen Rilian said: "Go, Ben Shuai will remember you, remember the name of each of you!" ”

In the sound of war drums, hundreds of elephant soldiers drove the elephants, opened a large formation, and rushed to the Yuan cavalry formation without hesitation.

"Withdraw!" At the same time, Chen Rilian gave the order to retreat. He looked back at another battlefield six or seven miles away, although he couldn't see the end, he also understood that the main force of the Yuan cavalry was over there, and Chen Guojun's army was most likely defeated.

On a battlefield favorable to cavalry, the side without cavalry is most likely the end of defeat.

He can't take care of Chen Guojun anymore. The only way to do this is to save the forbidden army under his command, go west along the river, collect ships, cross the river to Yuezhong as soon as possible, and fight again with the Yuan army in Yuezhong. As for what will become of Vietnam and China in the flames of war, I don't care.

When Chen Rilian retreated, more than 200 elephants also roared and rushed towards the Yuan cavalry.

The result was already doomed, and the cavalry of the Yuan army shot arrows while dodging on horseback. Soon after, each elephant was filled with feathered arrows, and finally fell head-on, leaving hundreds of elephant soldiers unspared.

Li Luo also watched Chen Rilian retreat into the hill and couldn't stop it.

…………

Another battlefield on the bank of the river has already been divided by this time.

There were also 100,000 troops in Sudieer, and there were 50,000 cavalry alone, including 10,000 heavy cavalry.

Although Chen Guojun had an army of 180,000, the cavalry was only 10,000.

It is different from the defense of the Yuan army in the north. The Yuan army in the west was completely on the offensive.

Chen Guojun also relied on the strategy of relying on the superiority of troops to compress and advance step by step. This strategy is to compress the space, so that the cavalry of the Yuan army has no way to speed up the war horse.

Then to Chen Guojun's surprise, Li Luo ordered Su Die'er to put the cavalry last, and instead put the infantry in front. In this way, as long as the infantry gives way to both sides, the cavalry behind will have room to accelerate the attack.

Since this battlefield was not suitable for the reckless tactics of the Mongol army, it was simply used to break the formation with cavalry.

So at the beginning, the two sides were infantry against infantry, and when Chen Guojun had the upper hand with his superiority in strength, he also gave an order, and the Yuan infantry on the left flank suddenly abandoned the battlefield and rushed to the hills to the north, so that the vacant flat land in the middle increased to two miles wide.

Immediately afterwards, the heavy cavalry of the 10,000 Yuan Army carried an invincible momentum, crushed over, and crashed into the Vietnamese army's large array. The large array of the Vietnamese army, which was caught off guard, was suddenly torn apart.

The 40,000 light cavalry behind also rushed with a roar. At the same time, the infantry of the Yuan army took the opportunity to gather and followed the cavalry into the main formation of the Vietnamese army.

The elite forbidden army arrays in front of the Vietnamese army finally collapsed.

Chen Guojun retreated to the rear army and desperately organized resistance, but he was powerless to return to the sky.

Seeing that the formation was in chaos and the defeat was decided, Chen Guojun had no choice but to order the Vietnamese troops to flee to the hills. Under the pursuit of the cavalry of the Yuan army, the corpses of the Vietnamese army were everywhere, and the blood flowed like a river.

Even if the remnants of the Vietnamese army fled into the hills, the Tusi barbarians pursued them. In the end, Chen Guojun was shot and wounded, but still led his own soldiers to resist, and after a fight, he died at the hands of Nong's servants, and his head was cut off.

At this point, Chen Guojun, the famous king of Xingdao in later generations, was defeated and died.

The fundamental reason for Chen Guojun's defeat was not that he made a command error, but that he should not have fought a decisive battle with the Yuan army, which had a large number of cavalry, on flat ground at all. It's really hard to win the battle with dignity.

But if you don't fight a decisive battle, will you watch the Yuan army cross the river? Once the Yuan army crosses the river, what will happen to the three million people in Vietnam? What about tens of millions of acres of crops?

I have to fight a decisive battle. It's just a last resort.

Of the 180,000 Vietnamese troops, more than 60,000 were killed by the forbidden army, and the losses of the township army were even worse. In the end, only 20,000 or 30,000 Vietnamese troops fled into the hills.

The number of captured Vietnamese soldiers alone exceeded 20,000. Horses and elephants were almost all captured.

"Report! Great general, great victory in the west......"

Li Luo soon received the battle report, and also saw Chen Guojun's head, and finally put his mind at ease.

The expedition to the south is half the battle.

After the defeat of Chen Rixian and Chen Guojun, the main force of Annan lost nearly half of the forbidden army, and the township army lost most of it. The ordnance and materials captured by the Yuan army were piled up, and forty or fifty thousand prisoners were captured.

From a strategic point of view, Annan has basically lost the ability to carry out strategic offensives. Next, you can only be passive and defensive.

However, the losses of the Yuan army were not small. More than 20,000 infantry casualties and 8,000 cavalry casualties, with a total of more than 30,000 casualties. Now there are less than 150,000 capable fighters. In particular, the poisonous arrows of the Vietnamese army, once they were wounded, most of them could not survive.

…………

"Today's two battles, thanks to the general's strength, adherence to the strategy, and the command of the general, there is a victory in Jiangbei!" At the celebration banquet in the evening, Shi Bi took the initiative to toast Li Luo with sincerity and said.

Su Die'er also said: "General, I am also a rough man, please don't mind the general." This bowl of wine should be compensated to the general! After speaking, he drank a bowl of wine.

The generals also toasted Li Luo one after another.

It turned out that Shi Bi and Ye Sudieer were not in favor of leaving 30,000 cavalry in the city before, and felt that it was a pure waste. Originally, the strength of the army was only half of the Vietnamese army, why did they still put 30,000 precious cavalry in the city? There's no such way to play!

Even, some generals secretly laughed at Li Luo's timidity and wanted to keep 30,000 cavalry by his side to save his life.

However, Li Luo insisted that the Vietnamese army could not bypass Anxing City whether it attacked separately or jointly, so it was necessary to make maximum use of Anxing City.

It is precisely because you all think that it is inappropriate to idle 30,000 cavalry in the city that the commander thinks it is appropriate to do so. Because the commander of the Vietnamese army would not have thought of it.

This is the only way to achieve a surprising effect.

Moreover, Li Luo believes that the key to victory or defeat lies in the fact that the defending Yuan army's partial division must block one Vietnamese army and create an opportunity for the main force of the Yuan army to annihilate the other Vietnamese army.

If the partial division does not block the first line of the Vietnamese army, then the two Vietnamese troops will flank the main force of the Yuan army in front and rear, and then completely compress the space for cavalry activities, then our army will be defeated.

As it turned out, Li Luo was right.

Shi Bi has a deep understanding of this.

If there were few cavalry in the city, he would have been defeated by Chen Rilian. If Chen Rixian defeats himself, he will be able to sweep south and attack Chen Guojun quickly. As a result, the battlefield space became extremely cramped, and the cavalry of the fast Die'er was useless. An can not be defeated?

This shows how important the general's previous persistence was.

Otherwise, it will not be easy to win this battle. The Vietnamese army can be regarded as having seen it, and its combat effectiveness is not bad.

Li Luo raised his glass and smiled: "This is all the work of everyone working together to defeat the enemy. This commander will write down the report of the Great Khan one by one, and ask for credit for you. Now, our army has won a big victory, it is time to cross the river with victory, and the strategy is more than the middle! Don't get drunk tonight, cross the river tomorrow! ”

Qingyi literature