(6,000 words update, one chapter is worth two chapters, ask for red tickets)

The counties on the east bank of the Han River and other northern Hubei regions are divided into two pieces of east and west for the Dahong Mountains, which are under the jurisdiction of Suizhou and Shicheng.

Although the distance between Shicheng and Suizhou is only one hundred and fifty or sixty miles, it is a straight-line distance on the map.

If you want to avoid the Huaidong Army that has entered the northern foot of Dahong Mountain, entered the line of Longzui Mountain and Heishigou, and intercepted the valley on the east bank of the Han River, you must cross the Dahong Mountain, Lulin Mountain, and Baiyun Mountain, and go around to the northwest of Suizhou.

Don't say that Meng Ancian led his troops to retreat from Xiaonan in a hurry, and the supplies he carried with him could support three or four more days, even if he went around to the northwest of Suizhou after five or six days, who could be sure that the passage from the northwest of Suizhou to Zaoyang would not be completely blocked by the Huaidong Army by then?

The night was dark, and only a few stars emitted a dim glow in the sky, making the surrounding hills and mountains rise black between heaven and earth, and the cold wind howled, blowing the pine resin torches swaying and extinguishing, and reflecting the rudimentary maps laid on the ground.

In addition to the cavalry that first refused to listen to the order to flee north to annihilate the Huaidong army, Meng Anchan also sent a large number of scout horses to roughly find out the deployment of Huaidong's interception forces at the northern foot of Dahong Mountain......

At the northern foot of Dahong Mountain, there are three main hills from east to west:

Longzui Mountain is close to the valley on the east bank of the Han River, it is a long ridge that roughly goes southeast to northwest, Longzui Mountain is not much precipitous, the main peak is only more than 100 zhang high, in addition to the river valley near the Han River, there are also many gaps between the mountains for the cavalry to pass.

It is said that Longzui Mountain is the best passage for Meng Ancia to flee north, and it is also the shortest way to escape to Xinye from Zaoyang and Fancheng, but the Huaidong Army will enter Longzui Mountain in the afternoon to intercept the largest number of troops, and there will be 10,000 people.

Although the troops have an advantage, but fleeing from the north of Huangpi, the morale of the army is unstable and the morale is low, and Meng Ancian is really not confident that he can pass through Longzui Mountain from the elite blockade of tens of thousands of Huaidong troops who are guarding against danger.

From Longzui Mountain to the east, there is the black stone ditch.

Although it is called Heishigou, it is a big mountain clustered by the peaks at the northern foot of Dahong Mountain, with a depth of about 30 miles from east to west, but also nearly 30 miles from north to south. Although the mountain peak is not high, the mountain is steep, the cliffs are innumerable, and the locals are accustomed to calling the black stone ditch the coffin ridge to call it dangerous.

From Heishigou to the east, it is the most important land passage from the northern foot of Dahong Mountain to Zaoyang, Pinglinbu, from Pinglinbu to the east, the passage between the hills and mountains is to turn directly to the east and go into the hinterland of Suizhou, and it will only go farther and farther away from Zaoyang.

"The enemy general must think that our army is in turmoil and will only take a shortcut to flee to Xinye, so he will deploy heavy troops in Longzui Mountain, so as to wait for my rout to crash into it in a panic," Meng Ancian poked his finger the map, firmly pointed between Heishigou and Bird's Tongue Ridge, and said, "Let's bypass Heishigou, take Tiesongxi, and go to Pinglinbu!" ”

Although it is necessary to walk an extra fifty or sixty miles to Pinglinbu, the Huaidong Army has fewer interception troops deployed between Heishigou and Queling Ridge, and the valley road there is also more suitable for cavalry clusters to pass through. Compared with infantry, the biggest advantage of cavalry is not the cavalry's ability to charge, but the mobility of cavalry that gives cavalry the initiative to choose the battlefield......

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The news brought back by the scouts made Luo Wenhu's heart heavy, and under the darkness of the night, more and more enemy horsemen turned over from the Taiping Temple at the northern foot of Dahong Mountain, and went east after going around to the south of Heishigou......

After nightfall, Luo Wenhu and Cao Peng crossed the Queling Ridge into the east foot of Heishigou, and led their troops to enter the cross slope in front of Pinglinbu, and there was Tiesong Creek flowing down from the west foot of Queling in front of the slope.

Tiesong Creek should be regarded as the most important river between Heishigou and Queyuling, the source of Queling, sticking to the steep slope of the eastern foot of Heishigou to the north, from Heishigou in the past, from the southwest of Zaoyang into the Hanshui, the river beach is two or three miles wide. However, the upper reaches of Tiesong Creek, which has just come out of the Bird's Tongue Ridge, are much narrower, especially after winter, the stream is thin and shallow, and under the faint starlight, the stream is only two or three zhang wide and two or three feet deep, and on both sides are large pebbly beaches, hidden between the artemisia grass that can not contain the horse's belly.

Luo Wenhu's headquarters lined up between the upper reaches of Tiesong Creek and the cross slope, and the defensive line spread out three to five hundred paces wide, blocking the valley road that entered Pinglin Port from the south. No matter how shallow Tiesong Creek is in winter, the enemy cavalry will not be able to pull out the speed when wading through the water and crossing the stream, which can effectively suppress the impact of the enemy cavalry and provide strong cover for the infantry formation......

"Luo Xiucai, you are really lucky, you can get such a big battle just after you vote, maybe you will have a place in the general position of the army in the future." Chen Daozi dismounted and walked to the river beach, passed through the artemisia grass, walked to Luo Wenhu's side, looked at the other side of the river, and there were more than a dozen black shadows touching it, which should be the front of the enemy horse. The guards and horses in North Beach also waited calmly for the enemy to approach, while Chen Daozi easily talked to Luo Wenhu about the upcoming battle.

Chen Daozi had the excitement of the coming of the big war, but Luo Wenhu still had deep worries.

If the main force of the enemy's cavalry had to break through from the side of Pinglinbu, there was really no confidence in whether the three or four thousand soldiers and horses behind him and Chen Daozi's battalion of cavalry would be able to completely plug the gap.

Obviously, Sun Zhuang led his troops to join Luo Wenhu, and he would not mix the main cavalry force with foot soldiers on the front of the valley mouth of Pinglinbu, which would not play a big role.

In addition to Chen Daozi leading a battalion of cavalry to cover the flank of Luo Wenhu's department, Sun Zhuang led the main force of the third cavalry battalion of about 3,000 cavalry to continue to advance east of the Bird's Tongue Ridge before nightfall, breaking away from the enemy's cavalry's reconnaissance field of view, and lurking between the forest valleys east of the Bird's Tongue Ridge and between Wangjiamiao Mountain to rest.

Sun Zhuang's tactical intention was very clear, he wanted to wait for the attention of the main force of the enemy's cavalry to attract the defenders in front of Tie Songxi, and then unexpectedly lead the main force of the cavalry to cover up from the flank......

Although Sun Zhuang's tactics seem simple, effective tactics are usually not complicated.

The strategy used by Huaidong in the Battle of Jingxiang was nothing more than to lure the enemy deep first, and use some soldiers and horses to attract the main force of the enemy on the east bank of the Han River to the eastern Hubei defense line from the front, but from the flank and rear surprise troops to cover it. Luo Wenhu also felt that Sun Zhuang's tactics were simple but effective, but he was worried about whether his troops could take on the heavy task of absorbing the enemy's main cavalry and blocking the enemy before Tiesongxi.

Luo Wenhu surrendered in Lishan, and led 3,000 miscellaneous soldiers from the old department, and then Cao Peng and Zhou Sheng selected Tian Su from the captives to serve as the army and civilians.

There was no time to cut down the timber and build the fence, and more than 30 wagons also removed their wheels and filled in the defensive line. The wagons made of thick wood provided sufficient protection for the crossbowmen, and the non-enemy riders could easily break away after crossing the Iron Pine Creek.

More than thirty bed crossbows made of fine iron were erected in the gap formed by the chariot, peeking at the river beach of Tiesong Creek, which should be the most powerful weapon in Luo Wenhu's hand to kill the enemy, but everything depends on the determination of the enemy cavalry to pass the conflict from this side.

The bed crossbow has a shooting distance of 400 paces, which can block the river beach on the opposite bank of Tiesong Creek, but the enemy cavalry has to rush through from this side, and the enemy cavalry sprints 400 paces away, which is only enough for this side to fire a round of bed crossbow; After that, you have to use the armored foot soldiers to carry it up to fight, and only by killing the enemy cavalry from the creek and beach can you call and have a second round of launch opportunities......

Although Cao Ziang was asked to replenish a lot of sophisticated armor and weapons, Luo Wenhu knew that an elite soldier who could face the enemy's cavalry charge and calmly defend the place was not so easy to get.

How could 3,000 miscellaneous soldiers be reborn in just three or five days and become an elite army that is not afraid of tigers and wolves?

Luo Wenhu looked back at the soldiers who were sitting around the camp in the distance and resting, the look on their faces was excited, worried and fearful, Luo Wenhu was deeply worried: Can these three thousand miscellaneous soldiers withstand the charge of tens of thousands of enemy cavalry?

Chen Daozi was a righteous brigade commander in the Huaidong Army, but the defense line of Tiesongxi North Beach was dominated by Luo Wenhu, and Sun Zhuang still handed over the command of the battlefield to Luo Wenhu, so that Chen Daozi and Cao Peng Zuo helped him.

Due to the need to concentrate more bows and crossbows on the front to defend against the charge of the enemy cavalry, the two wings became very weak, and Chen Daozi led the cavalry to cover the flanks and was responsible for repeatedly killing from the two wings to weaken the impact of the enemy cavalry on the frontal defense line.

As more and more enemy cavalry outposts entered the south bank of Tiesong Creek after midnight, Luo Wenhu knew that this battle could not be avoided, and retreated from the river beach to the back of the defense line with Chen Daozi and Cao Peng.

Tian Su, who was brought up to act as a people's strongman, watched Zhou Sheng come back with Luo Wenhu and them, and he had the courage to meet them, and asked: "If we prisoners can kill the enemy in front of the battle, can we be rewarded with merit like the Huaidong army?" ”

For poor men like Tian Su, who have worked hard for generations, land is their lifelong pursuit and dream; For them, a life without land is worthless.

"Who is he?" Chen Daozi looked at the man who stopped in front of the horse with a strong body, there was no fear in his eyes, he was a man, and asked who he was.

Cao Peng told Chen Daozi about Tian Su's origin, Chen Daozi nodded, and asked Tian Su: "What kind of blade do you use?" ”

"It will make a big knife."

"Give him a Mo knife and a collar of heavy armor," Chen Daozi said dryly, "Luo Xiucai doesn't want you, you just follow me." ”

"I don't lack swords and armor here," Luo Wenhu rushed to ask people down, and said to Tian Su, "You go and ask again, who else is willing to go into the front to kill the enemy, they are all regarded as Huaidong soldiers, and if they are punished, they will be rewarded." However, you all have to give me what I think clearly, go forward and kill the enemy, and those who are not ordered to retreat will be killed. "Since Chen Daozi and Cao Peng allowed the prisoners to go into battle to kill the enemy for their exploits, he wished to put a brave soldier like Tian Su into the front line, how could he be willing to ask Chen Daozi to abduct him?

Tian Su was selected from the captives to serve as the people's strongmen, and at this time they were driven to dig shallow trenches, trap pits, make horses, antlers, and repair war weapons, but when the time of war they would retreat behind the defense line, which was much safer than the soldiers.

Hearing Luo Wenhu say this, Tian Su trotted back to the prisoner camp, and in the blink of an eye, more than 100 people ran over with Tian Su, shouting for war in a mess, Tian Lao said the truth was crude and rude, but he said loudly: "Poor life, starve to death in the ravine and wild dogs don't eat, it's better to go into battle to kill the enemy, fight for your life to earn a piece of reward field, maybe you can marry a mother-in-law and ten times eight times!" ”

"Grandma's, it's good if you're not afraid of death," Chen Daozi laughed heartily and said to Cao Peng, "I see that these people are handed over to you, and I will pull out more than 100 armor soldiers for you, if there is a hole in the defense line, you will be responsible for sending them to fill the gap......

Chen Daozi organized these more than 100 prisoners who were willing to fight for their lives into a team, and then transferred more than 100 elites from his subordinates to Cao Peng to form a top soldier, Luo Wenhu did not refuse, knowing that this arrangement was the most appropriate. At the same time, Luo Wenhu handed over Zhou Sheng's troops to Cao Peng's command to strengthen the strength of the top soldiers in Cao Peng's hands, and saw that Tian Su had a lot of prestige among the captives, and immediately appointed Tian Su as the leader of the team - seeing that the captives had the courage to go into battle to kill the enemy, Luo Wenhu's worries were alleviated a lot, and he was arrogant, pointed at the old department around him with a horse whip, and scolded with a smile, "You turtle egg sons, don't give Lao Tzu a soft bear at a critical time!" ”

There is no shortage of more than 100 swords and armor, and they want to use Tian Su as sharp soldiers to fill the gap, Cao Peng asked them all to wear armor and carry Mo knives, spears and spears; After a while, more than 100 elites transferred by Chen Daozi to Cao Peng's command were also wearing heavy armor, holding horse chopping knives or Mo knives, and they also specially sent Tian Su a collar of scale armor, a collar of leather armor, a horse chopping knife, and a standard talisman saber.

When the enemy cavalry rushed in from the gap to tear the defense line, the spearhead rushed up to block the gap, and the heavy armor with the Mo knife was the most advantageous killing weapon, but the more important thing was to have the courage to not back down in the face of the impact of the enemy cavalry.

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In the cold mist of the early morning of the 24th, the morning light had not yet been fully spread, and in the dim and unclear light, a hundred enemies rode across the stream to the north bank to test the defensive line, and the battle of Tiesongxi began.

In the eyes of the enemy cavalry fleeing north, only by tearing through the blockade north of Tiesong Creek, they can tear open the passage to Xinye, how can they not fight hard at this time?

The enemy generals led by Meng Anchan knew the significance of the battle in front of them even more clearly: the Huaidong Army was really launched on the northern front, and it was only two or three days, and it was impossible to form a perfect blockade on the front line of Fancheng and Zaoyang; After Iron Pine Creek, there must be a big gap that can make them flee directly to Xinye. If they were to stop moving south of Tiesongxi, and call the Huaidong Army to make up for the gap in the westward march of the 20,000 or 30,000 elites near Suizhou, or if the main force of the Huaidong Army in Huangpi catches up, then they will be unable to fly.

If you want to flee north, you must seize the opportunity in front of you, even if you fight half of the troops, at least you can still carry nearly 10,000 elites to escape to Xinye, which is countless times better than the result of annihilating all of them in the hinterland of Jingxiang.

Each of the cavalry generals who led the army selected the guards and formed a warlord to press behind the attacking horses.

Although Meng Anchan's department, which fled north, was mainly light cavalry, in order to tear apart the Huaidong Army's interception after Tiesongxi, it was not a problem to make up hundreds of ironclad cavalry.

In addition to the ironclad cavalry, looking at the defensive line established by the Huaidong Army overnight after Tiesongxi, Meng Anchan even ordered two or three thousand soldiers to dismount and fight with swords, shields, and strong bows, and mixed with light cavalry and ironclad cavalry to form a charging array and wade through Tiesongxi, instead of simply using light cavalry to attack the Huaidong Army's infantry defense formation.

Although a single roar of the bed crossbow can open a gap in the enemy soldiers who rush up, the dense enemy soldiers are like ant colonies, and they are also crazy to tear apart the Tiesongxi defense formation and tear open the gap in the northward escape.

When the enemy soldiers rushed up, they knew that they could no longer retreat and called the bed crossbow of the Huaidong Army to have a chance to fire again, and they stubbornly resisted in front of the defense line, guarded the north bank of the river beach, and fought hand-to-hand combat behind the defense line, without taking a step back, while the heavily armored iron cavalry took advantage of the depth of less than 200 paces to repeatedly pull up the speed of the horse to attack the defense line. The horse's belly and buttocks were stabbed with blood, and it neighed in the early morning mist, making people's blood boil......

The rudimentary defensive line soon opened the gap one by one for the enemy's heavily armored iron cavalry, and more enemy cavalry and enemy soldiers rushed through the gap in the rain of arrows.

Luo Wenhu's worries have also come true, although a lot of excellent armor has been replenished, and although the award of the Huaidong Army has greatly stimulated morale, but the department is a miscellaneous soldier with insufficient training after all.

Poor physical strength is one thing, lack of experience is even more dead, Luo Wenhu's soldiers rarely see the fierce enemy who will brave the rain of arrows, many crossbowmen watched the enemy cavalry rush through the gap, although they have the courage not to escape, but they don't know that they should retreat in time at this time, and call the spearmen, sword and shield soldiers and heavy armor Mo swordsmen behind to make up for hand-to-hand combat, they should shoot more fierce arrow rain at the enemy after the formation.

Without well-trained training, it is difficult to form close cooperation in combat, and the defense line is in danger under the impact of the enemy...... However, the morale of the generals still existed, and the martial arts were not defeated, although the defense line opened a gap, but Zhou Sheng and Tian Su took the light soldiers of the armor to face each other and fight the enemy soldiers who broke through from the gap.

The enemy soldiers who broke in at the first stage were mostly light cavalry, put down their riding bows and brandished scimitars, and wanted to kill the Huaidong army behind the defense line through the gap, and wanted to take advantage of the chaos to defeat the Huaidong army behind the defense line, but they did not expect to meet the Huaidong soldiers who were not afraid of death.

Luo Wenhu and Chen Daozi used Tian Su and Zhou Sheng as sharp soldiers, all wearing heavy armor; Although the scimitars of the cavalry that burst into the rush were sharp, they were not enough to split the fine iron armor and heavy armor made by Huaidong. The Mo knife and the horse chopping knife are heavy weapons, and a standard horse chopping knife weighs more than 15 catties to 20 catties, and the ability to penetrate armor is far from being comparable to the enemy's light scimitar.

The cavalry battalion was organized by the forest, and it was clear that the task of the battlefield was to cover the flanks, and the engagement with the enemy was also to attack the flanks and cover the rear, so as to give full play to the advantages of the light cavalry and avoid the shortage, so as not to be taken advantage of by the enemy. At the same time, Lin Jian equipped the light cavalry with a small amount of heavy armor and heavy weapons, so that the light cavalry could dismount and fight on foot or tear apart the enemy formation with iron armor when they had to break through the enemy formation.

It's not that Meng Ancia doesn't know these truths, but he fled north from Huangpi, so let him be fully and completely prepared? When he received the formation, he incorporated the elite armored and heavily armored iron cavalry that dismounted and fought, that is, he considered the shortcomings of the cavalry charging into the formation, but in order to tear the gap in the Huaidong army's defense line sharply and quickly, he had to order light and fast light cavalry to break through the gap.

Meng Ancian thought that as long as he fought fast enough and fierce enough, he would be able to seize the shortcomings of the light cavalry and tear apart the Huaidong army's defense line in one fell swoop before suppressing it.

The snowy Mo knife slashed down, and the huge horse's head was also halved under a single slash, and the flesh and blood flew sideways; The leather armor worn by the enemy cavalry and the rattan shields used by the enemy soldiers could not stop the heavy slashing of the horses.

Tian Su relied on martial arts to excel, and he was also a team leader in the Suizhou army, and there were forty or fifty people under him, which was the case, and he couldn't afford a pair of iron armor and a good knife in the Suizhou army. At this time, he wore scale armor inside and leather armor outside, and he was not afraid of enemy arrows within ten steps, at this time a spear stabbed him, pierced above his chest, Tian Su only felt that his chest was suffocating, although the leather armor was pierced, but the blade of the gun was blocked by the scale armor inside, Tian Su backhanded a knife, split half of the enemy's head, murderous, and shouted: "Tell your mother to stab me!" "Kill the enemy's blood.

Once the defensive line stabilized their positions, the enemy soldiers who broke through the gap looked thin, without the cover of bows and crossbows, except for the Huaidong heavy armor soldiers who prevented them from continuing to advance in front of them, and the Huaidong soldiers who came back to their senses killed their two wings.

Due to the addition of Zhou Sheng, Tian Su and other heavy-armored soldiers, the situation of the gap in the defensive line was quickly reversed, and the nearly 200 enemy cavalry that broke in were killed miserably and collapsed.

At this time, Chen Daozi also led the cavalry to attack from both wings, killing the enemy soldiers on both wings under the stream, and asked Luo Wenhu to win a chance to counterattack in front of the defense line - a truly effective defense depends on whether it has the ability to counterattack from the defense line, and whether the counterattack is strong enough to effectively weaken the enemy's ability to continue to attack.

Although the counterattack of Luo Wenhu's department was somewhat messy, it was also full of courage, and Chen Daozi led the cavalry to cut in from both wings to cover, and Zhou Sheng and Tian Su led two teams of fierce soldiers like tigers to the beach, and the counterattack that looked a little chaotic also killed the enemy soldiers who entered the north bank.

Before the enemy general re-sent a storm trooper to the south bank, Luo Wenhu promptly commanded the counterattacking soldiers to retreat to the defensive line, and the bed crossbow was reloaded......

The first time was always panicked and difficult, after experiencing the first time, Luo Wenhu and the generals looked at the enemy corpses on the stream, and their minds did not have the anxiety and fear before the war, and the enemy cavalry as fierce as a tiger and wolf was nothing more than that!

This is especially true for ordinary soldiers, once they are placed in the midst of bloody slaughter, the first fear and panic are suppressed, and the rest may be the insensitivity in the face of death; Whether it is the pursuit of the thrill of killing, or the strong desire for victory in the heart, it will make people fearless.

The mist dissipated, the sun rose to the corner of the mulberry, and what gave Meng Ancia a headache was not only that the Huaidong Army defense line on the north bank of Tiesong Creek could not be torn apart three or five times, so that he could lose his troops and generals, but what was more troublesome was that the Huaidong Army on the front line of Longzui Mountain intercepted the main force of soldiers and horses, and firmly left the defense line at dawn and marched to the southeast - the frame was to attack their rear flank at the southern foot of Heishigou.

If you don't go to Longzui Mountain to Xinye, Meng Ancian will lead his troops to cross the Taiping Mountain at night, bypass from the southern foot of Heishigou, and level Linbu from the western foot of Heishigou - once you can't tear through the defense line of the Huaidong Army in Tiesongxi, and call another Huaidong Army to go around to the southern foot of Heishigou, Meng Anchan will face the pincer attack of the Huaidong Army, which is obviously not the situation that Meng Anchan wants to see.

Meng Ancian could only divide his troops to suppress the Huaidong Army of Longzui Mountain to move south to flank their movements, and buy more time to tear apart the Tiesongxi defense line......