The surging flood blocked both sides of the Qishui River, and the surging water spread to the embankments on both sides, and the rebel soldiers on the north and south embankments withdrew dozens of steps from the shore to avoid the torrent. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Yuan Bin, the vanguard general of the rebel army, has already arrived on the other side of Qishui, he is a vanguard officer, this is another great opportunity for meritorious service, how can Yuan Bin let go of such an opportunity. So he was one of the first generals to come to the other side. The sudden torrent at this moment also made Yuan Bin realize that the situation was not good, but he did not panic, after all, the soldiers and horses who had crossed the river at this moment were as high as 10,000 people, and he was not worried about any accidents.

Yuan Bin quickly discussed a few words with several generals who had already crossed the river, and all the generals realized that the strange arrival of this flood was probably a trick of the Tang army. So Yuan Bin immediately ordered the soldiers and horses to cross the river to form a defensive formation, and lined up in a formation on the south bank of Qishui to defend in a circle.

Under the rapid response of Yuan Bin and others, the chaotic soldiers and horses quickly calmed down, and more than 10,000 rebels quickly lined up in a square formation, with shield spearmen outside and archers inside, forming a standard defensive cavalry raid array. Because Yuan Bin knew that the Tang army had an elite cavalry, and if the Tang people attacked, they would definitely charge with cavalry. Therefore, the quadrangular shield array of the cavalry is the best choice.

Soon after, the heavily guarded rebel soldiers and horses saw the figure of the Tang army's attacking soldiers and horses. In the hazy night under Niutou Mountain, rows of black figures appeared in the night. With tonight's visibility, if you can see these black figures, it means that they are within range of the bow and arrow. It's just puzzling that the Tang Army is not a cavalry raid, and the slowly approaching black figure is obviously a group of infantry.

But Yuan Bin didn't have time to think about this problem, since the enemy was attacking and was already within range, there was no reason not to order the arrows to be released. So at the sound of an order, more than 2,000 archers began to shoot at the Tang army, which was slowly approaching. After a while, the other side also began to fight back, and the two sides went back and forth, and the arrows flew in the air like fireflies, and they fell into the opponent's formation, and soon, the casualties were huge.

But soon, Yuan Bin found that his own casualties seemed to be larger, while the other party's casualties seemed to be few. Because the sound of the dense arrows hitting the shield was like a ping-pong sound like popping beans. The arrows that landed on the enemy's formation jumped like raindrops falling on the tiles, apparently because of the shields. There are more than 2,000 shield soldiers on their side, but they can't cover the arrows for nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses.

What is even more infuriating is that the other party actually stopped advancing seventy or eighty paces away, and they used large shields to support the ground, forming a tight shield wall and shield roof, as if they had built iron houses in place. The archers fired their crossbow arrows from behind their shields, mercilessly shooting at the rebels at long range. They didn't intend to rush to the front of them for hand-to-hand combat, but to engage in long-range bow and arrow fire, because obviously they also knew that they had an advantage in terms of protection.

As a matter of fact, the result of the two sides firing at each other is that the rebels are at a loss, and their targets are large and their protection capabilities are not high. Their opponents had a sufficient number of shields for protection, and those shields were so large that they had the feeling of impenetrable fortifications when they formed the shield walls. After just a cup of tea time, the number of dead and wounded was immediately high. The rebel soldiers were shot seven or eight hundred people, while the attacking Tang troops were killed and wounded less than three hundred.

"Damn it, stop firing the arrows and rush up to slaughter them all. There are only about 2,000 of them, so let's shoot arrows at them and crush them into pulp. Yuan Bin finally couldn't help it and ordered loudly.

"General Yuan, no. As soon as he charged, the formation was chaotic. If the Tang cavalry took advantage of the chaos to raid, what would it do? Before crossing the river, Chang Taishou confessed, and after crossing the river, he first used a formation to defend against the Tang cavalry raid, because it was the most deadly. We can't mess up the formation. A general hurriedly explained.

"Phew, what General Chang said is true, but did he ever expect that the Tang people would use such a rogue move to attack? If we don't rush up and slaughter them, these shield-covered archers alone will be enough for us to drink. In such a short time, we have already killed and injured more than 1,000 people, and after a while, everyone is dead, but we haven't even touched a single hair of the other party. Yuan Bin said angrily.

Several generals were also speechless, what Yuan Bin said was true, if he continued like this, he would have to suffer heavy losses, which would never be possible. Now that the soldiers and horses on the other side of the strait can't get through, is it possible that they will be beaten here?

"Adjutant General Ma, Adjutant General Qin, the two of you will lead three thousand shield soldiers to protect the flanks. General Ben led his troops to rush up and slaughter the rabbits. If the Tang cavalry attacked, you could also resist it with shields. Entangle them, and when I have slaughtered these infantry, I will clean them up. What do you think? ”

Yuan Bin was not carried away by anger, so he proposed a compromise. Several generals thought that this was the only way, so they nodded in agreement. After a while, the rebel formation changed, and the shield spearmen in front of the formation retreated to the left and right sides to redeploy, while Yuan Bin led nearly 5,000 soldiers to rush out of the formation and rushed towards the iron bucket formation of the Tang infantry dozens of paces away. The three thousand shield spearmen on both sides also extended their formation with the footsteps of the pursuit, protecting the flanks of the soldiers led by Yuan Bin.

The two sides were only about eighty paces together, and it would not take long for even the infantry to charge. I saw the rebel soldiers and horses shouting like a tide and rushing towards the formation of the Tang army, and in the blink of an eye, they closed dozens of paces. The Tang infantry was obviously unwilling to engage in hand-to-hand combat, and hurriedly fired a rain of arrows, killing more than 100 rebel soldiers, and then immediately began to flee backwards. Yuan Bin was unwilling to let them escape, shouting and scolding loudly and ordering the soldiers and horses to rush forward. The two sides fled and chased, and soon the rebels led by Yuan Bin chased a distance of more than 200 steps. Just as the Tang infantry was being overtaken, the roar of horses' hooves was heard in the surrounding darkness, and at the same time, the Tang infantry fleeing in front suddenly turned around, turned around like a vicious wolf and began to fight.

The moment Yuan Bin heard the sound of horses' hooves, he realized that he had made a huge mistake. It turned out that the other party's escape was just a ruse, they wanted to stretch the battle line into a narrow and long line, and put their formation in chaos. And now, the shield spearmen protected by their own wings were in chaos at the moment as their formation extended with the pace of their pursuit. Moreover, the distance of hundreds of steps greatly lengthened the formation of the shield spearmen, making the shield array that could have formed several lanes thin. Without the protection of several layers of shield arrays, it is absolutely impossible to effectively stop the cavalry charge.

However, Yuan Bin woke up too late, and the sound of hooves rumbled, and in the darkness on both sides of the formation, a large number of cavalry charged at an extremely fast speed. A moment later, the cavalry of the Tang army collided with the weak shield and spear array, and after paying the death of more than 100 cavalrymen, they forcibly tore two huge gaps on both sides, and then the two teams of cavalry rushed into the rebel formation like a torrent.

The Don cavalry cut through the rebels' formation like a razor-like cross, trampling and slashing their opponents in a tight formation. For a moment there was the sound of blades cutting into flesh, the screams of death and the clatter of horses' hooves crushing bones. The cavalry of the Tang Army held a long-handled Mo knife in the hands of all colors, which was the sharpest and most advanced blade in the Tang Dynasty and was used in the hands of the cavalry to play its terrifying role. These sharp knives can even directly cut through chain mail, cutting the opponent in two with the power of the war horse's charge. Although the two Tang cavalry were each less than a thousand people, they staggered through the dense rebel formation, leaving behind two passages full of flesh and blood. It's as easy as harvesting wheat in a field that ripens in the summer.

In just one stick of incense, the two cavalry soldiers and horses ran through the opponent's formation from east to west and from west to east. Then they burst out of enemy lines and disappeared into the darkness.

Just when all the rebel soldiers and horses were in shock and took the opportunity to catch their breath, but listening to the roar of hooves, the Tang cavalry once again appeared in the night on both sides. They're not evacuating the battlefield, they're just in need of a perfect run to complete the next perfect charge.

Yuan Bin loudly ordered all the soldiers and horses to retreat immediately, and he wanted to gather the soldiers and horses together to form a solid defensive formation. The Tang cavalry did not seem to pay attention to him, and they allowed Yuan Bin to retreat with thousands of soldiers and horses to the riverbank, but the horses roared by, cutting the two thousand rebels dragged behind from the rebel brigade. In front, more than 1,000 Tang Army iron shield infantry were squeezed in front, and the back road was cut off by cavalry, and more than 2,000 rebels were forced to squeeze in a small space, not knowing what fate awaited them.

After a few moments, they knew what fate awaited them, and the Tang cavalry and infantry joined forces to besiege and kill a bloody massacre. Although the two thousand rebels fought hard, they had no power to return to heaven. Soon, in the midst of a one-sided slaughter, the rebel soldiers finally came to their senses, and they threw down their weapons and knelt on the ground to kowtow and beg for mercy. Wang Yuan ordered them to tie their arms and ordered the infantry to be escorted to the rear and handed over to Yan Zhenqing's care.

Near the riverbank, Yuan Bin finally gathered the remaining more than 5,000 soldiers and horses under his command and rearranged the defensive formation. But he could only watch the 2,000 soldiers and horses being surrounded and killed by the Tang army, but he couldn't do anything. His only hope now was that the reinforcements who could make it to the rear could cross the river for reinforcements, because the flood in the rear channel had subsided for the most part, and the current was no longer turbulent. It's just that the river is full of silt and trees and debris, and it is not possible to pass through it for the time being. However, if you hold on a little longer, the water level will drop completely, and you will be able to clear the trees and obstacles to cross the river.

"Hold your ground and prepare to meet the enemy." Yuan Bin gasped and gave the order, he had already come back to his senses.