Chapter 328: Recovering Gaochang (I)
The front line of the enemy spearmen was broken into by the front team of the front battalion, and the unparalleled combat effectiveness of these ironclad soldiers undoubtedly brought an unparalleled shock to the commander of the enemy formation. He looked at the front team, which was already gradually overwhelmed, and relied on the fact that the number far outnumbered the front battalion, gathered the rear team and the hundreds of soldiers who failed to intercept the cavalry, and divided them into two wings to outflank the front battalion, intending to disperse the attack direction of the front battalion by besieging them, so as to contain their offensive.
Lu Yi struggled to stab the long knife in his hand into the chest of an enemy soldier. Turning the blade according to the combat skills taught by Li Yanzhi, looking at the blood foaming from the enemy's mouth, and the hands holding the spear also hung down weakly, Lu Fang kicked him down, let him fall to the ground and struggle and spasm, and then held the knife and went to the next person.
As the superior number of enemy troops outflanked from the flank, the sharp soldiers of the front battalion of Li Bu faintly formed an encirclement trend, and under the stabbing of the spears, the casualties of the soldiers of the front row gradually increased. However, the soldiers of the Battle Blade Battalion, who had already formed a tacit understanding, immediately stepped forward to fill the vacant position as soon as the robe fell to the ground in the front row, and at the same time, the wounded were quickly transferred backwards.
Rao is in this tragic battle, the exchange ratio between the enemy and his own soldiers has always been high, looking at the front row of his own soldiers who have been killed and wounded one after another, Li Yanzhi still feels sad. In his concept, one casualty of oneself for ten enemy miscellaneous soldiers is a huge loss. After all, these veterans who have experienced the battle formation and have excellent quality are one less if they are killed. In his inner plan, these soldiers will be the mainstay of the army in the future. Seeing that they were needlessly consumed by the enemy's miscellaneous soldiers in this kind of battle at this time, how could they not make Li Yanzhi feel sad!
He looked up and saw that the enemy infantry soldiers outside the car formation in the distance had already become scattered under the impact of the mounted iron horses. Tao Heng and Cao Jian led those armored cavalry to attack the enemy army several times, and each impact showed the great power of the mounted heavy cavalry. Almost no one can stop it. The crossbowmen behind the enemy's repeated assault had already begun to scatter and flee, and the sword and shield soldiers in the front were already shaky in the face of this situation.
Seeing that the enemy forces facing him are unstable and about to collapse. According to Wang Cheng and Wei Xu, who were guarding the car formation, they briefly exchanged opinions, and then ordered the outer soldiers to move the car formation. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen gaps appeared around the car array. The foot soldiers, who had been passively beaten before, had already exerted their strength, and as soon as the car formation opened, they immediately poured out of the dozen or so gates like a tide and slapped towards the enemy formation.
Tao Heng and Cao Jian, who led the armored cavalry to break through the enemy's army formation again, met on the periphery. Looking at the military horses and cavalry that were already showing fatigue, Tao Heng looked at Cao Jian with great concern, and said, "Cao Beibu, the impact of the armor cavalry is certainly refreshing. However, horses are physically exerting and difficult to sustain. Seeing the way it is now, these armored horsemen of our department will attack again, and then continue to ......"
Cao Jian looked back and looked around, and saw that as Tao Heng said, the soldiers and horses were all out of breath and tired. He also looked at Li Yanzhi, who was being besieged by the enemy's pikemen, and the enemy's main formation seven or eight hundred paces away on the other side. His brow was deeply twisted.
Cao Jian looked back at Tao Heng and said in a hurried tone: "You and lead your troops to rescue Sima." I will lead my army to the enemy's main position! After that, he didn't listen to Tao Heng's reply, so he pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, pinched the horse's belly several times with his legs, and led more than 100 armored horsemen in the headquarters to rush straight to the enemy headquarters flying the banner of the word "Zhao".
Tao Heng saw that he couldn't stop it, and the Cao soldiers rose up to be brave, one by one, they slapped their horses, followed Cao Jian's horse and rushed towards the enemy's main formation, and they had to sigh, and then took out a bamboo whistle and blew the signal of the whole team. When the riders heard the signal, they turned their horses one after another, and gradually lined up in a sharp triangle formation behind Tao Heng. And Tao Heng, as the general of this cavalry, has become the sharpest point of this triangular formation.
The melee between the front battalion and the enemy pikemen was in a state of stalemate. When the heavy hoofs of the mounted iron horsemen sounded behind the enemy pikemen, it was too late for them to react. The iron cavalry led by Tao Heng was like a sharp steel cone, quickly chiseling into the enemy's line. From time to time, the sound of enemy howls and broken bones sounded from under the hooves of the horses.
The horse lance in Tao Heng's hand flew up and down like lightning. In just a dozen breaths, he picked several enemy generals in a row. The sharpness of this steel cone is constantly digging into the depth of the enemy. It opens the way for the many subordinates who follow behind him.
The mounted iron cavalry tore at the line of the enemy pikemen. At the same time, the ironclad soldiers of the Zhanfeng Battalion who seized the opportunity also rushed to kill one after another. Although the formation was slightly disorganized as a result, it undoubtedly greatly accelerated the speed of the enemy's demise.
Under the fierce attack of the soldiers of the front battalion and the armored cavalry behind them, the enemy's spear formation finally broke down. Fear began to spread in the ranks, and flight began to emerge from all around. At first, only three or five people fled from the battle, and later, the whole area of soldiers who were not involved in the battle abandoned the robes behind them who were still fighting against the Liangzhou soldiers, and fled in all directions in a panic.
The resistance of the remaining enemy soldiers gradually weakened. As the Liangzhou soldiers splashed with plasma on the iron frame shouted: "Those who descend will not be killed!" The besieged enemy soldiers hesitated. However, seeing the corpses of their comrades who had fallen to the ground, and recalling the terrifying combat power of the soldiers of the Battle Blade Battalion and the mounted iron cavalry, some of the soldiers threw their weapons to the ground. For a moment, the rustling sound of iron inserted into the sand echoed in the sky above this tragic battlefield.
Tao Heng rode his horse and came to Li Yanzhi. Although Li Yanjiong, who had been fighting fiercely for half a day, felt tired, he still ordered the surrounding generals to arrange for his soldiers to go to receive prisoners and collect weapons discarded by the enemy. Tao Heng reported to Li Yanzhi the movements of Cao Jian's department, but Li Yanzhi couldn't help but be surprised.
Although Cao Jian led the armored cavalry with strong attack power, after all, he had been rushing back and forth on the battlefield before, and his manpower and horsepower were limited. The risk of going forward to attack the enemy's own position is naturally not trivial. What's more, there are only about 100 cavalry soldiers he leads, and there are still more than 1,000 of Zhao Zhen's reserves left in this formation.
Li Yanzhi turned his eyes to look at the battle situation in the car formation, but saw that at this time, Wang Cheng and Wei Xu had also defeated the enemy in front and were pursuing everywhere. The battlefield is littered with enemy flags. The corpses of the dead on both sides, discarded weapons, and arrows stuck in the sand were everywhere. Li Yanzhi ordered the military drummers to beat the trumpets and drums in the formation, and at the same time, the generals also blew the bamboo whistles of the whole team one after another.
Under the command of drums and whistles, the Battle Battalion, the Cavalry Battalion, and the Jianrui Battalion were successively concentrated. Then the troops were combined, with the front battalion in the front and the Jianrui battalion in the middle. The cavalry battalion took off its horse armor and left more than ten horsemen to guard it. The rest of the horsemen were fed some fodder and went to the flanks, which became the two wings of the formation.
With an order, the entire Lingju County soldiers advanced towards the remnants of Zhao Zhen's headquarters in the valley. Previously, Cao Jian led the army straight here, going back and forth twice, which really surprised Zhao Zhen. However, the most elite of his men surrounded him, struggling to resist the onslaught of Cao Jian's armored cavalry. After two reciprocating trips, the horse's physical strength was almost exhausted. And this support of Zhao Zhen's left and right troops, although they paid a lot of casualties in the previous two rounds of charges, they were still concentrated, blocking Cao Jian's next impact.
Cao Jian held the sword in his hand and was about to give the order for his cavalry to charge again, but a military horse beside him suddenly screamed twice, and then fell straight down, foaming at the mouth. The horseman on the horse was caught off guard, and one leg was crushed under the horse's body. The horseman let out a terrible howl that did not resemble a human voice, and it made people shudder when they heard it.
Cao Jian looked at the soldiers beside him and saw that most of the horses were already in a state of exhaustion. In order to prevent the tragedy from happening again, he had to order all the staff to dismount and prepare for foot combat. As soon as he jumped off the horse, two soldiers stepped forward and lifted the body of the fallen horse with great difficulty, pulling out the leg of the soldier who was stuck under the horse.
"Brothers, Zhao Zhen, the enemy's commander, is in this formation! Before the start of the war, Sima had clearly said, 'Capture and behead the enemy's main general, reward 10,000 dollars, and the official will be promoted to the third level!' Our department is now running out of horsepower, and there is no way back. It's better for someone Cao to take everyone and go forward to fight for his lifelong wealth and a bright future! ’”
"Kill! Kill! Kill! When the soldiers heard Cao Jian's encouragement, they all shouted or held spears and horses, or drew their swords at their waists, and roared and rushed towards the enemy. In the blink of an eye, he was already fighting with the enemy army in the front. Even though they were not riding at this time, their physical strength was a little overdrawn, but they were still like tigers descending from the mountains, wielding their swords and fighting hard into the enemy's ranks. At the foot of the cavalry, the commanders in the front gradually piled up the corpses of the enemy soldiers.
Cao Jian led his cavalry to keep slashing at the enemy in front of him. However, as the tide of enemy troops arrived, the cavalry, who had lost the advantage of their horses, became more and more exhausted to deal with it. There were gradually casualties in the battle. However, these cavalry soldiers had no choice but to step over the fallen robes of life or death, and continue to fight their way, slashing and slashing the enemy with all their might. Everyone forgot about everything else for a while, and only remembered an iron rule on the battlefield: if you don't kill the enemy, the enemy will kill you!
Just when Cao Jian was tired of running for his life, he was caught off guard, and his left arm was already stabbed. After being stabbed, Cao Jian was so angry that he didn't care about treating the wound for a while, and slashed his backhand on the enemy soldier Tianling who cut him. The opponent's leather helmet was like paper paste under the blade, and Cao Jian's knife used his strength again, and when he saw it, almost half of the enemy's head was cut off by him.
However, no matter how brave these horsemen are, after all, the hungry tigers can't stand the wolves. As the enemy troops surrounded them desperately, the cavalry in the front row could no longer advance, but with casualties, they were forced to retreat by the superior enemy forces.
Cao Jian's heart became more and more uneasy and anxious. He looked around the battlefield, trying to find out where Zhao Zhen was. However, apart from the dense enemy army, you can't really see anything. With his sword in his right hand, he slashed down an enemy soldier who had pounced, and immediately shouted: "Brothers, kill in battle!" Those who captured Zhao Zhen, from the envoy to the king, Changshi, down to Master Li and Cao someone, all have a lot of rewards! ”
With that, Cao Jian's eyes widened angrily, and he then knocked down an enemy soldier in front of him.
At this moment, hundreds of soldiers of the Jianrui battalion who had been lying in ambush on the anticline on both sides of the valley heard the sound of drums behind the battle and rushed down from the hillside. The boulder prepared earlier, so the two armies were stuck in one place, and the dogs' teeth were intertwined, so as not to be injured by mistake, it was no longer needed. The impact of this soldier distracted the attention of the enemy's main formation, and also gave Cao Jian's troops a little respite.
The soldiers gathered by Li Yanzhi soon arrived near the valley one after another. The echoes of the fighting in the valley are constant, and they still sound in my ears. Looking at Cao Jian's department, which had fallen into the heavy encirclement of the enemy, Li Yanzhi blew the signal of the bamboo whistle attack in his mouth.
As soon as this signal came out, the cavalry of Tao Heng's troops on both wings took the lead in rushing out, and each selected a weak place in the enemy's formation to rush forward. At the same time, the soldiers of the Zhanfeng Battalion and the Jianrui Battalion, who were coming to victory, also clamored one after another, raised the weapons in their hands, and rushed towards the enemy formation in the valley.
When Tao Hengsuo led the cavalry to break through the enemy's two weakest lines, and then rushed to the rear of the formation, preparing to reorganize the formation, Zhao Zhen, who had already changed into a soldier's uniform, knew that this time, his defeat was imminent.
He watched unwillingly as the sudden forward battalion broke through the outer line of his own army formation, and when the whole army had begun to waver, he rode a horse under the persuasion of a group of staff guards and galloped away with dozens of guards on the side of the valley. As soon as Zhao Zhen left, the soldiers who were abandoned by the main general gradually lost their fighting spirit. Under the relentless blows of the Li Division, many people began to drop their weapons and surrender.
When the last stubborn enemy army was awarded, Li Yanzhi looked up at the sky, the yellow sand in the desert was still raging intermittently, but the red sun gradually sinking in the west showed that the current moment was almost dusk.
The identification of the captives proceeded quickly, and Li Yanzhi knew that Zhao Zhen had fled the battlefield disguised as an ordinary soldier, and he was immediately remorseful. Although this battle can be regarded as the defeat of Zhao Zhen's main army, there are still two or three thousand soldiers in Gaochang City, if Zhao Zhen escapes back and continues to organize stubborn resistance, he does not know how many unnecessary casualties that could have been avoided.
Before the war, Li Yanzhi had sent a liaison sentinel to contact Li Bai, who had conquered Haitou. After the battle, the number of enemy prisoners was counted, which made Li Yanzhi secretly surprised, the number of these captured enemy soldiers was more than 2,000, more than the soldiers under his command. It was obviously difficult to guard these captives on their own. Li Yanzhi temporarily gathered these prisoners near the battlefield, and then collected the weapons and equipment left by the enemy on the battlefield and piled them up far away, and sent hundreds of cavalry guards to guard them. The captives were then escorted back to the camp.
After returning to the camp, Li Yanzhi ordered his soldiers to erect another barracks outside the camp and build a simple concentration camp for these prisoners. Later, he sent a cavalry to cross the river to Haitou to contact Li Bai and ask for the transfer of men to guard the prisoners. Li Bai was pleasantly surprised when he learned that Li Yanzhi had defeated the main force of Zhao Zhen's department. At dawn the next day, Li Bai left 1,000 men to guard Haitou, and he personally transported enough grain and grass and equipment used by the army, and personally led the remaining 4,000 people to cross the Beihe River and came to Li Yanzhi's camp.
"The master book has become a great victory, and it is highly anticipated. Bo has the help of the master's book, which is really a blessing for three lives. Li Bai saw Li Yanzhi who was greeted outside the camp, and immediately stepped forward to hold Li Yanzhi's arm and said.
"Frustrating Zhao Zhen is really a soldier's life, and he doesn't dare to take credit......" Li Yanzhi bowed humbly, which made Li Bai have a good impression of him.
"Dingdong thinks, what should we do next?" Li Bai looked at Li Yanzhi and asked seriously.
"I think I should make a little repair, quickly go north, and seek peace with Gaochang!" Li Yanzhi clenched his fists and bowed: "Although he won this battle, he failed to capture Zhao Zhen." If we wait for it to be repaired and then gather soldiers, our department will not be able to win quickly, and the labor division will be outside, and the daily cost will be thousands of dollars, and it will be left behind. Please make a long decision......"