Sun Erniu was very ashamed.

Since following Li Congjing in Qimen last year, Sun Erniu has never been as angry as he is now.

Li Congjing has always attached importance to the collection of military and enemy information before and after the war, and has paid more attention to the role of scouts during the march, so that they can play the role of the eyes of the army. Since then, whether it is entering Zelu to attack Li Jitao, or entering Huaimeng to attack the Heyang Army and Dai Siyuan, the scouts under Sun Erniu have had dazzling performances, and have made great contributions to the Hundred Battles Army several times, and have been praised by Li Congjing himself.

Under constant victory, there will be proud soldiers.

The scout's first setback was when the Hundred Battles Army marched out of Huaimeng and marched on the river to meet Duan Ning. That time, Duan Ning sent the elite to ambush in the Sanwan River Valley, and used a team of 1,000 elite cavalry to intercept and kill the scouts of the Hundred Battles Army. Although the defeat was excusable, Li Congjing did not blame it, but Sun Erniu knew that he was ashamed, and then worked hard, under his strict training and strict command, the scouts of the Hundred Battles Army never made a mistake again.

Until today.

The two armies of Baizhan and Lulong entered Yingzhou, and after converging with the gentlemen who had blocked the Khitan reinforcements earlier, they went all the way north, and the troops pointed directly at Yingzhou City. White Wolf Mountain is located in the southern section of Yingzhou, and Yingzhou City is located at the northern end of Yingzhou, the two are separated by more than 100 miles, and there is a vast blank area in the middle. On the way north of the army, according to the practice of the Hundred Battles Army, the scouts went 30 miles first, because it was the first time to enter the enemy's territory, and the situation and terrain in Yingzhou were extremely complicated, so Sun Erniu went to the front line in person.

Unexpectedly, he met with the Khitan ranger.

When Sun Erniu found the other party, his body was also discovered by the other party, and he had no other choice, so he caught and killed each other.

The scouts brought by Sun Erniu are enough to have a team of people, and the other party is also about 20 people, who can be scouts, they must be the elite of the army, meet on narrow roads, and fight desperately. Before drawing his sword to meet the Khitan rangers, Sun Erniu asked the last rider of the team to turn back and report the news to the army, and the Khitan rangers also adopted the same method.

If it stops there, if they can kill all the other side's rangers, Sun Erniu and the others will also have a chance to live. The accident occurred when more than half of the casualties on both sides appeared, and a large group of cavalry appeared behind the Khitan rangers, and the rumbling sound of horses' hooves rushed out with black pressure on a piece of Khitan cavalry, so that Sun Erniu and others, who had the upper hand, immediately lost the mind to fight to the death.

From attack to retreat, the change of attack and defense certainly requires a price, when Sun Erniu successfully escaped from the battlefield temporarily, there were only four horsemen left around him, two of which were wounded, and one was seriously injured - he was shot in the back by an arrow from a Khitan barbarian thief.

Sun Erniu didn't understand why as soon as he met the Khitan rangers, there was a Khitan brigade of men and horses who immediately killed them, which is almost unreasonable, could it be that the Khitan cavalry did not retreat due to defeat as the gentleman said, but stayed along the way?

This question lingered in Sun Erniu's mind, lingering, but he didn't have time to think about it, because the Khitan cavalry was chasing after him, and according to the speed of the Khitan horses, it was only a matter of time before Sun Erniu and the others were caught up.

At this time, Sun Erniu was both angry and ashamed. There is no need to say much about being angry, but he is ashamed because this errand asked him to "mess up" again. Scouts are the eyes of the army, coming and going like the wind, listening to the enemy's situation for the army, which is the key to the army's grasp of the enemy's movements, but at this time, Sun Erniu was chased by the Khitan brigade and died, and his life was difficult to protect, how could he not be disappointed in himself?

The first to be unable to support it was the sergeant who was hit by an arrow in the back, galloping all the way, causing the wound to burst and blood loss, his lips were already purple, his forehead was covered with cold sweat, and the hand holding the reins was trembling. Finally, gritting his teeth and heart, the scout shouted at Sun Erniu, "General, you go first, I can't go, cut off for you!" ”

After shouting, without waiting for Sun Erniu to react, he turned the horse's head, raised his horizontal knife, and faced the hundreds of Khitan cavalry who were oncoming and seemed to be whistling in the wind, roared lowly, used up the few remaining strength in his body, and slammed the horse's belly, regardless of the rush over, "Khitan dog thief, grandpa is here to get the dog's head!" ”

Sun Erniu turned around and saw that before the scout came into contact with the Khitan horse team, he was shot in the chest by a rapid rain of arrows, and as soon as his upper body stiffened, he fell from the horse's back and fell to the ground, and was trampled into a pulp by the Khitan horse team galloping past in a blink of an eye.

"Xiao Fang!" Sun Erniu was stabbed by this scene, and his heart ached, and he almost fell off the horse, but he managed to stabilize his body, and he almost wanted to tear his eyes. Xiao Fang was the sergeant he personally recruited to command the scout, no more than eighteen years old, without father or mother, and the only brother was a sharp soldier in the capital of Meng Ping, who died on the battlefield on the river. Because of pity for his life experience and his bravery, Sun Erniu takes special care of him on weekdays, and only talked about it yesterday, and when this campaign is over, he will find a daughter-in-law for him......

The battle on the river, the destruction of Liang for thousands of miles, and the hard attack on Pingzhou, the three major battles were more dangerous than the other, Xiao Fang was not injured, and he also took off three enemy soldiers' heads, but he never thought that he would be inexplicably folded here, and the bones were gone, which made Sun Erniu almost cry bitterly.

A little further along, seeing that the Khitan cavalry was getting closer and closer, the two knights behind Sun Erniu glanced at each other, and they both understood something from each other's eyes, silently lifted the short crossbow on the brigade arm, loaded the crossbow and arrows, and they were about to turn back to "block" the Khitan horse army. Although this move is of little significance, even if it can open up a distance of five steps, it can give Sun Erniu and another rider a little more hope of survival.

"Put down the crossbow for Lao Tzu!" Sun Erniu suddenly roared with eyes in the back of his head. He held his crossbow in his hand, didn't look at it, raised his hand and shot an arrow backwards, and quickly reloaded, "Listen to my military order: return to the camp at full speed, don't turn back, violators of the order will be killed!" ”

After shouting these words, Sun Erniu lifted the reins of the horse, turned the horse's head, and rushed towards the Khitan cavalry.

"General!" The remaining three horsemen were in a hurry, seeing Sun Erniu rushing towards the Khitan cavalry, they were about to be crushed into pulp by the other party, they were all angry and bloody, and they had no time to take care of anything else, so they instinctively caused everyone to react at the first time, turn their horses' heads in unison, and keep up with Sun Erniu.

When Sun Erniu saw that everyone was following, he scolded: "A group of fools on dog days! After scolding, his eyes were hot, and his throat was as hard as a rock.

If the break is done properly, some of the four horsemen may be able to live, but when the Yi barbarians are opposite, they choose to advance and retreat together, and live and die together. To be more precise, there is no retreat, no life, and we advance and die together.

A cavalry rushed out of the road, appeared behind Sun Erniu and others, faced the Khitan army of hundreds of horses, and met them face to face. The leader is none other than Guo Wei, and the cavalry led behind him can naturally only be a gentleman. Thousands of gentlemen and generals, showing their horizontal swords, collided with the Khitan horse army in an instant, and the swords and soldiers intersected and fought in one place.

A cavalry encounter without warning takes place in this vast and barren land. The horse's hooves trampled on the barren grass, and the gentlemen and the Khitan horse army did not have any extra thoughts, let alone retreat, and the brave won when they met on the narrow road, and the war knife was a butcher's knife.

Accompanied by generals Li Shaocheng and Meng Ping, Li Congjing climbed a high ground and condescendingly overlooked the battlefield where Junzidu and the Khitan cavalry fought fiercely. At the foot of the mountain a few miles behind them, the armies of Baizhan and Lulong were arrayed. In the army that set out from Pingzhou to attack Yingzhou, there were not many cavalry, except for Junzidu, but only one or two thousand people, and they were all standard cavalry commanders of each army.

Observing the battle at the foot of the mountain, Li Shaocheng frowned and said: "This Khitan horse army appeared so suddenly, according to what Guo Wei said before, after the defeat of Yelu Chishu in the White Wolf Mountain, he left hundreds of corpses and fled north, and the rangers of Junzidu followed for nearly a hundred miles before giving up tracking, but how could they appear here again?" Could it be that Jeruchishu has come back? ”

Meng Ping was also puzzled, and said: "If Yelu Chishu kills back the horse gun, it should be more than these people; But if not, whose subordinates are these people? ”

The two couldn't discuss the results, and they both set their eyes on Li Congjing. Li Congjing just stared at the battlefield and didn't speak. After a long time, he pointed out, "Perhaps, I'll know the answer soon." ”

There are already more than 100 corpses on the battlefield, and the gentlemen are very powerful, and with the momentum of the great victory of the previous few days, the morale is high, and they have the upper hand. The Khitan horse army was already less, but in the face of the fierce offensive of Junzidu, although the casualties increased rapidly, there was no slightest sense of panic and retreat.

As Li Congjing expected, a moment later, the scouts who lurked out to look from afar reported that a Khitan army was coming here, arriving from time to time. Looking at the banner of its formation, there is no doubt that it is Yelu Chishu, who was defeated by the gentlemen in the previous time, and there are nearly 4,000 people.

"Yelu Chishu has a kind, and he really dares to kill the horse pistol!" Meng Ping took a sip, "Isn't this guy crazy?" ”

Li Shaocheng changed color and said: "I don't know if I'm crazy or not, but the current situation is a little troublesome." Big brother, we are not enough cavalry, and it is difficult to defeat it if it is fought hard, if the Khitan horse army is killed, with this flat terrain, we will be trapped by it, how to deal with it, please give the order of the eldest brother! ”

It is common knowledge that the infantry is invincible to the cavalry, especially on flat ground, where the infantry and the cavalry are engaged and often hunted by the method of fighting. Moreover, no more than the grassland people, there are fewer cavalry in the Han army, all of them are treasures, the "cost" is expensive, and the loss of one is enough to make the generals feel distressed, how can they be exchanged with the grassland cavalry without a chance of winning?

"Give Guo Wei an order, and all the gentlemen will retreat from the big array." After Li Congjing glanced back at the foot of the mountain, he saw that the formation of the army had been laid out, and ordered.

The herald took the order and left, Li Congjing did not leave in a hurry, but sighed: "Although Yelu Chishu lost before, but the loss was not much, this time the raid back to the horse pistol, it was obviously intentional, otherwise the battlefield would not have been chosen in this place where the four fields are flat and conducive to the cavalry." If he was replaced by an ordinary general, he was suddenly ambushed on the way to help, and suffered a defeat, he should have fled back to Yingzhou to defend the city, but he could make the army defeated without defeat, and he could still counterattack us, and he lived up to his father who had a Yili Sumire. It is not unreasonable for the Khitan to have such a national situation, and an ordinary general in its army has such a ability, which should not be underestimated. ”

Hearing Li Congjing's words, Meng Ping and Li Shaocheng reacted differently. Meng Ping pursed his lips, disapproving, revealing the temperament of a soldier to block the water and cover the earth, Li Shaocheng followed Li Congjing's train of thought for a while, and felt very reasonable, he couldn't help but nod his head, with a serious expression.

It wasn't until the shadow of the Khitan army appeared in sight that Li Congjing, Li Shaocheng, and Meng Ping returned to the formation.

The army suddenly encountered the Khitan horse army, which was really sudden, although he had not seen the Khitan brigade before, Li Congjing could not help but consider it completely. The current formation of the army, which is different from the conventional formation, was laid out after consultation between Li Congjing and Li Yanchao. Li Yanchao has been on the border for a long time, and has a lot of experience in how to fight the grassland cavalry, this time the army array, the whole army of baggage vehicles are placed in front, surrounded by a similar bow crescent, and a large number of spears are collected, inserted in the ground, and stretched out at an oblique angle with the ground to form a "formation wall". In the formation, the temporary rush to dig out a few ravines, many of the horses are rejected, and those who have no time to be arranged are stuffed in them with heavy vehicles, and on this basis, the foot soldiers are commanded and all are taken as units, and small formations are lined up in them, and they are connected into a large array with the momentum of interlocking. In the end, the Ma army was all lined up behind the flank of the formation, recuperating.

Before the gentlemen withdrew from the battlefield, in order to prevent the Khitan horse army from being entangled, they rushed for a while, and then returned to their own position. Even so, the Khitan horse army also followed, but the large array of the Hundred Battles and Lu Longjun had been arranged, and the large array released the passage for the gentlemen, and after letting them enter the formation, the passage was closed, supplemented by ten thousand arrows, which immediately made the hundreds of Khitan horse troops retreat in embarrassment.

Infantry vs. cavalry, inferiority, but this does not mean that infantry vs. cavalry will be defeated. Hundred battles, Lu Longjun lost the lead, the battlefield location has no choice, can not occupy the geographical advantage, but the number of the army is superior, twice that of the Khitan horse army, the force is properly allocated, this is the people, should rely on it.

When the gentlemen returned to the battle, Guo Wei brought back the seriously injured Sun Erniu.

Seeing Li Congjing, Sun Erniu rushed to Li Congjing in a few steps, regardless of his injuries, and fell to his knees with a plop, crying in a hoarse voice: "The last general was derelict in his duty and failed to detect the movements of the Khitan thief army in advance, causing the army to fall into danger, this is a capital crime, please punish the military commander and correct the military law!" ”

Yelu Chishu did not return to Yingzhou, but killed it halfway, and the big military first failed to grasp this situation, which can be described as a failure, as a scout general, Sun Erniu could not escape the blame. However, the Khitan returned from the north and suddenly returned, and it was the reason why Yelu Chishu made good use of the army, and the army was in battle, and it was impossible to anticipate the enemy in everything, and all the enemy situations were under control, and this delusion was also. In addition, Yingzhou is vast and sparsely populated, most of it is wasteland, and the Khitan cavalry is good at running and has strong mobility, so it is extremely difficult to completely lock its whereabouts, and the military intelligence department cannot do it. Although Sun Erniu was guilty, he also detected the Khitan horse army in advance, otherwise the army would not have had time to set up a formation.

Sun Erniu's blood-stained armor, several wounds were deep to the bones, and the muscles were turned out, which was very terrifying, Li Congjing helped him up and comforted: "Your troops have done their duty to explore the movements of the Khitan army thirty miles away, even if there are imperfections, it is not your sin." Get up, go down and recuperate from your wounds, the army can't do without you, the scout general. ”

Hearing Li Congjing's words, Sun Erniu burst into tears, and said goodbye, "The tired army is here, if you don't kill the last general, it is difficult to know the reward and punishment!" "Death.

Li Congjing was about to speak, but Sun Erniu suddenly tilted his body, fell to the ground, and fainted. Li Congjing sighed, waved his hand to take him down, ordered the military doctor to heal him, and walked up to the corner tower himself.

Time was short, and the corner tower was not built tall, but it was enough to command the battle in front of him. The generals returned to their own posts, leaving only Li Shaocheng and Li Yanchao, two deputy generals, on the side, to cooperate with Li Congjing to dispatch the whole army.

The large array stretched for several miles, and the baggage vehicles and armored soldiers were full of them, like iron-armored giant tortoises.

When the Khitan army arrived, more than 4,000 soldiers looked like ants from afar, lined up like sand and dust, and swooped towards the military formation, and the sound of horses' hooves and shouts of killing shook the eardrums.

At the front of the army, the archers took out sharp arrows and stuck them at their feet, concentrating, waiting for the military order. Meng Ping stood on the cart next to the front row of crossbowmen, staring sharply at the rolling Khitan horse army, suddenly pulled out his horizontal knife, raised it, and shouted: "Shoot the target arrow!" ”

The first row of archers, the first row of Fuyuan crossbow archers, with Meng Ping's order, as soon as his fingers were loosened, the sharp arrows with red ribbons tied to the arrows immediately flew out, inserted on the ground in front of the formation, and lined up in two columns, one hundred and fifty steps apart. In front of the countless horse's hooves approaching by the Khitan horse army, the ribbons on the marked arrows fluttered lightly in the wind.

"Fu Yuan crossbow, prepare!" Meng Ping didn't squint and drank again.

The Fuyuan crossbow is the longest-range heavy crossbow in the Tang soldiers, with a range of up to 300 steps, and the weight and size of the crossbow and arrow are three times that of ordinary bows and arrows, and it requires the cooperation of two people to fire.

More than 400 Fuyuan crossbow shooters heard the sound of the crossbow and arrows, and pulled the strings.

The hooves of the Khitan horses crushed the crossbows-arrows stuck in the ground.

"Fuyuan crossbow, release!"

More than 200 crossbows and arrows flew out and crashed into the Khitan army. The Khitan sergeants in the front row immediately appeared in a state of people turning over on their horses, which opened the prelude to the long-range attack of the Tang Army.

"Spread the crossbow, let go!"

"Fuyuan crossbow, release!"

"Spread the crossbow, let go!"

"Crossbowmen retreat! Archers, first wave, shoot, put! ”

The crossbowmen in front of the formation put away their crossbows, retreated into the formation in an orderly manner, and went to the back of the formation. The two crossbows and four waves of salvo fire, although they did not cause too much loss to the Khitan horse army, but they also called a hundred war horses and knights to be hit by arrows, and the fallen war horses made the soldiers behind them fall a lot.

As the crossbowmen retreated into battle, the archers shifted their steps, pulled their bowstrings, pointed their arrows into the air, and released their arrows at the command.

The Tang Army's bow and arrow configuration is one bow per person and thirty arrows, but because the world has been full of smoke for a long time, the national strength is not as good as it was back then, and there are very few countries and military towns that can guarantee a bow for each person. Because Li Congjing "took advantage of the robbery" in the previous campaigns, the Hundred Battles Army was well-equipped, so the amount of bow equipment was only seven or eight out of ten, although the Lu Long Army was not as rich as the Hundred Battles Army, in the end it was a border army, and the responsibility of defending the land was heavy, and the equipment of the bow was only slightly less than that of the Hundred Battles Army.

Seven or eight thousand iron arrows were shot into the air, forming a tight net and covering the Khitan horse army. If the crossbow-arrow killing range is limited and can only fight for a section of the Khitan army, then the archer's strike range can cover the entire attack line of the Khitan army.

The iron arrows occasionally missed, and occasionally fell on the Khitan knights, and those who were shot immediately rolled off their horses.

Meng Ping's drinking order never stopped, and the horizontal knife pointed forward, "Second wave, shoot flat, release!" ”

After shooting the second wave of iron arrows, the Khitan horse army was already close in front of him, and the other party's face seemed to be able to see clearly, the angry eyes, the cold saber, as if to choose people to eat, looking at people chilling

And Meng Ping's military order continued to sound in an orderly manner, and even the tone did not change, "Third wave, salvo, release!" ”

Because of the proximity, it was a horizontal release of arrows, this third wave of arrow rain caused the greatest damage to the Khitan horse army, and countless Khitan knights and war horses fell in front of the battle, and the screams were endless. However, after the three arrows, the two armies had begun to engage each other in close combat, and the soldiers in the front line abandoned their bows, grabbed them, and held their swords; For the time being, the soldiers in the rear still shot for a while, killing and injuring the rear forces of the Khitan horse army.

The Khitan horse army rushed through the spear formation, smashed through the baggage carts, leaving blood stains and corpses all the way, and burst into the formation, slashing with sabers again and again.

In the military formation, the Tang army blocked with shields, met with spears, and relied on the well-layered baggage carts in the formation, stabbing knights on the top and cutting off the horse's legs.

The continuous baggage wagons in the formation blocked the pace of the Khitan horse army, and its strategic intention to rely on the speed advantage to break through the Tang army's formation was strangled in the cradle.

Two other Khitan cavalry and horse armies circled the two flanks of the Tang army's formation, shooting bows and arrows into the formation. The Tang army in the formation used shields as cover, and those who did not meet the Khitan army in the formation counterattacked with bows and arrows. There are a lot of soldiers on both sides, and sharp arrows fly out, so you don't need to care about the head, just want to cover the killing, and there are mutual casualties between you and me.

On the corner tower, Li Congjing saw that the main Khitan force had broken into the formation for a long distance and was dragged by the Tang army for a fierce battle, so he ordered the cavalry gathered behind the flanks of the army to attack from both flanks to meet the Khitan horse army on both flanks of the army formation, trying to launch a pincer offensive.

People everywhere in the army camp shouted and neighed, knives and spears were stabbed, flesh and blood were flying, and in the sound of golden iron horses, more and more soldiers fell.

There were melee battles inside and outside the Tang Army's large array, but the formation was as solid as a rock, and there was no panic at all.

Yelu Chishu thought that this rush would defeat the Tang army's army formation like a devastating one after a short encounter, but he never wanted to fall into a situation of entanglement.

In less than an hour, the Khitan army took the initiative to withdraw from the battlefield.

In this encounter, after the first battle, the Khitan army left hundreds of corpses, retreated ten miles, and did not dare to move again for a while.