Chapter 45: Witchcraft
The Khitan soldiers in the mountains pounced down like wolves, fierce like a large group of wolves, where is there any sign of winning and weakening? Many people were equipped with iron helmets, masks and various types of armor, some of which were supposed to have been purchased from the Central Plains and looked no different from the equipment of the local Han soldiers, while others had hair and left side, and they did not wear armor but wore round-necked and narrow-sleeved clothes and carried sharp weapons. The east and west sides soon shook the sky, and the sword light and sword shadow flew flesh and blood.
The approaching enemy soldiers looked fierce, and the battle was like the Jin soldiers who had a grudge against them to kill their father, and the fierce wind of the Northeast Yi soldiers was only a lot more than that of the iron cavalry on the Tubo Plateau.
At this time, the Liaodong region has not been developed, whether it is the living environment or the law is very bad, the Dongyi Han people believe in the law of the strong, in order to fight for the living space you fight to the death is like a commonplace, the environment has created their bravery. At this time, the Han army went out without any excuse, and the Khitan and other tribes certainly did not believe that the Han people in the "civilized" land were there to save them, and the only result of being deprived of their sphere of influence was to be plundered and oppressed more ferociously. There are only two options, either to be deprived of their land and migrate to the more bitter north or desperately.
The battle was raging, and the number of corpses on the ground was constantly increasing. The Jin soldiers are not vegetarians, they claim that the elite soldiers are not in vain, and they have reached the peak level of this era in terms of equipment and training. Moreover, there was no distinction between good and evil that was mutually acceptable to both sides, and the Han people also felt that they were carrying out a just conquest, and everyone from the bureaucrats and doctors to the common people wanted to occupy any land that could be cultivated, and for the rulers, a larger territory meant more long-term benefits. Moreover, opening up territory has always been a symbol of justice and glory in people's values.
Du Xian lived in the Chinese army and calmly issued military orders one by one. At this moment, the order cannot be argued more, it can only be judged temporarily by experience and intuition, and the subordinates cannot care about right and wrong, and the only thing that should be done is to carry it out.
"Report! Gongyecheng's troops were attacked in the north, and in order to prevent the encirclement, they had moved closer to the retreat of the Chinese army. "I rode and shouted loudly.
Du Xian said: "Allow his men and horses to enter the battle, and prepare for war in Youzhou." ”
Another person reported: "Zuo Mingguang's army was unfavorable to attack the southern highlands, the enemy soldiers were crowded in front of the mountain and blocked with log arrows, and the soldiers could not rush up, so the general asked for orders to postpone the attack." ”
Du Xian said angrily: "If you don't seize the high ground in the south, do you want the eastern and western armies to attack the enemy from the slope?" Ordered the general of the left army to go up no matter what method he used, otherwise he would come to see him! ”
It has been nearly an hour since the ambush and siege of the Khitan and Xi joint soldiers, and the Jin army has not moved on both sides, and it seems that it is difficult to distinguish the winner in a short time. Du Xian was confident in the combat effectiveness of the Fifth Army, so he had the intention to counterattack.
Unexpectedly, after a while, another herald came to report that the general who was responsible for attacking the southern slope of the rear flank was killed, and Du Xian had to order the deputy general to temporarily lead the left army, so that the attacking men and horses could temporarily retreat and repair.
Hu Bing repeatedly rushed and killed from the high flanks, and the battle could not be broken until the end of the night. The Jin army fought in turns, and due to the hot weather, all the armies were exhausted, but fortunately, the sun went down, and the enemy's offensive gradually slowed down, and finally withdrew to the mountain. Due to the fatigue of the men and horses and the attack on the back, Du Xian did not order the army to counterattack, and the battlefield gradually stopped.
As the sky grew dark, the people surrounded the barracks in their vehicles, and because they could not find enough firewood, they had to eat some dry food and drink some cold water to satisfy their hunger. Some sergeants dug into the ground and pouted the water but could not, and the generals built one after another, and they should launch an offensive early the next morning, and they could no longer be trapped in the valley.
The temperature was very high, and the corpses of the two sides began to show signs of decay after an afternoon in the sun, and a strange smell could be faintly smelled in the cold air at night. Fearing a plague, the people collected their bodies and set them on fire. The corpses were reduced to ashes in the smoke of the fire, and they will be buried forever in a foreign land, and the generals lit incense and poured wine and burned some paper money to comfort the warriors' spirits in the sky.
At dawn, the Hu soldiers were crowded on the high ground at the mouth of the valley south of Du Xian Guan, and the men and horses were very dense, so he ordered to pull four cannons to the rear and swing them uphill. At this time, hot weapons appeared on the battlefield for the first time, not only did the Hu people have no movement, but even the Jin army did not report any hope for artillery. Because the road on the high ground was about two miles away, the Jin soldiers were tinkering with a few carts at such a distance, and the Hu people did not feel any threat.
The officers of the artillery engineering section were busy adjusting the height of the gun table, the sergeants said that the gunpowder had begun to be filled, and some people carried solid cannon pellets cast in lead again. It was just dawn, and the enemy had not yet begun the first round of attack; The Jin army didn't make any more movements, only tinkering with a few iron cannons there.
After a while, a horse reported to Du Xian: "The cannon is ready." Seeing Du Xian nodding, the herald on the side shook a green flag in the air a few times. Suddenly, there was a loud "boom", like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and suddenly the valley seemed to be shaken. The troops were taken aback, and there was a slight commotion in the crowd, but everyone knew in advance that it was a cannon fire, and they were still calm.
A buckshot whistled up the hill from the smoke, and it was densely packed with people, and the cannonball smashed into the centaurs without deflecting too far and bounced on the hard soil. Only a "whoosh" was heard, and the sound of frightened screams broke out, and the crowd fell into a piece, and the people around them ran wildly, especially the frightened war horses, which ran the fastest and scattered on the hillside.
A few more loud bangs followed, and the cannonballs smashed into the area, and the enemy soldiers were immediately in chaos.
Du Xian was somewhat surprised to see this situation, and immediately ordered the rear army to gather men and horses to prepare to attack and seize the high ground, and ordered the artillery to continue shelling. But the design of the four cannons was not perfect, and after a round of shelling, the fire was muted for a long time, and the gunners were busy watering and cooling down, and cleaning the debris from the barrels with sticks and strips of cloth.
The Hu soldiers on the mountain were even more frightened and overwhelmed, obviously the Jin soldiers were still far away at the bottom of the mountain, but suddenly lead pills fell from the sky and killed several people, they couldn't even make a ballista with stable performance, let alone understand the situation in front of them. Someone shouted: "The Han people performed witchcraft in front of the formation, and invited Thor!" ”
The Khitan generals looked down the mountain and saw black smoke in front of the Jin army's camp, suspected of doing something in the black clouds. This war between mortals has summoned ghosts and gods, how can swords, guns and clubs fight against lightning and thunder, how can this battle be fought? The general looked up at the sky and saw that the sky was very clear, and there were a few sparse white clouds floating in the blue sky......
After a while, more than a dozen Khitan wizards came from the rear. The general pointed to the thick smoke below and said, "Hurry up and disperse the demonic magic of the Han people!" The wizards hurriedly set up a formation, erected a black flag at each of the four corners in front of the mountain, brought firewood and tung oil to light four bonfires, and then raised a wooden sword and jumped up in the middle as if cramping.
At this time, the cannon under the mountain was filled again, and the "boom ......" was a few lightning and thunder, but unfortunately a lead bullet happened to smash into the wizard's formation, and the soil and stones on the mountain were hardened in the continuous drought, and the cannonballs smashed the dust and splashed on the ground and bounced and flew up, and suddenly more than a dozen wizards died on the spot, and a few were injured by the flying stones and mud and lay on the ground and couldn't get up. There was also a cannonball that smashed a pile of firewood into the air, and the burning firewood fell into the crowd, and many people were lit up, and "wow" screamed and rolled on the ground.
The Hu soldiers on the southern highlands were in chaos, and a large number of Jin soldiers had appeared on the hillside. This time, the Jin soldiers calmed down a lot, and it was the sword and shield hands who came up, rushing up in groups. The Khitans wanted to repeat their old tricks to resist the enemy with logs and stones, but the men and horses were so chaotic that the army was frightened and turbulent, and they failed to organize a good blockade in time. The arrows were fired sporadically down the hill, but there were no casualties. After a while, the Jin soldiers rushed up to fight, and the Khitans saw that the wizards were dead, worried about being struck by lightning, morale, and the team was chaotic, and soon they couldn't resist and scattered to the east and west.
The Jin army took advantage of the situation to occupy the southern highlands and planted a large flag with the word "Jin" written on it, and the people in the valley shouted and cheered when they saw the flag. The 3,000 Youzhou Army climbed the mountain one after another, and then spread out to the mountains on the east and west sides. Both sides compete in the mountains and forests, and there is no longer a difference in the topography and highlands. The forest is not conducive to formation, and the Jin army, which is more organized, cannot play its strengths, but it has the advantage of equipment and body, and it does not suffer a loss in individual melee.
From the morning, the Khitans were no longer a threat to the Jin army in the valley. The Han people occupied the valley mouth in the south, so they were able to calmly withdraw their troops, and the morale of the army gradually became calm. However, Du Xian did not order the withdrawal of the army, but ordered the general Yang Meng to lead the cavalry to the north to open the way forward.
Yang Meng is very murderous, and the lord who does not hesitate to go to the battlefield does not care about his own casualties. The ground in the northern part of the valley is open, which is suitable for cavalry movements, and when Yang Meng led his troops to approach the Khitans, he did not pay attention to any tricks, and without saying a word, he took the lead and rushed in front with his own soldiers. Seeing this, the generals also rushed into the enemy formation. The Khitans intended to use superior forces to outflank and coerce Yang Meng to retreat from both flanks, but Yang Meng was not Gongye Cheng, where did he care what would happen if he was surrounded, and he would talk about it when he was surrounded.
As a result, the tactics of outflanking the Khitan wings became broken through by the central center because they couldn't resist it, and they were defeated in an instant. Yang Meng led his troops to pursue and cover up, only to kill corpses everywhere, and was persuaded by his generals to stop and return at noon.
The Khitan army was defeated twice, and Du Xian expected that they would not be able to launch a strong attack for the time being, so he ordered the camp of the five armies to move and march north. He also ordered the cavalry of the Mingguang Army to live on the east and west sides to protect the flanks, and sure enough, the Khitans saw the Jin army camp move and launched another round of attacks, but the attack power at this time was much weaker, and the cavalry of the Mingguang Army alone repelled it.
When Du Xian led his army through the Guò Valley, a group of Khitans came to surrender, claiming that they did not want to fight the Jin army anymore. Both the north and south sides of the ambush were won by the Jin army, and the battle was won so far. G