People have a misunderstanding about the ancient types of soldiers, that is, they think that ancient soldiers were professional and professional, but in fact, they are not at all.

For example, most of the Tang crossbowmen were dressed in armor, and they would use their bows and crossbows to shoot at distant enemies, and when the enemy soldiers approached, they would change their ring-headed knives or spears to fight the enemy in close combat.

The cavalry of the Yu State was only well equipped, and everyone brought short bows, sabers, and spears when they fought, which could be used as light cavalry to harass, and could also be replaced with sabers and spears as heavy cavalry charges.

The same is true of the cavalry of the Tang Army, it is necessary to be skilled in arches and horses, and the distinction between light and heavy cavalry is often a temporary division given by the battlefield commander, and the functions performed are different, not at the beginning.

For a soldier, the more versatile the better, and it is better to know everything. Crossbowmen, sword and shield hands, this clear professional distinction, with crossbows will not use bows, crossbowmen can not be close combat, is the unique characteristics of the Song Dynasty army, other dynasties whether it is the Warring States, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Yuan, Ming, Qing, etc., the requirements for soldiers are basically, except for the difference between foot and horse, everything must be done, and the commander on the battlefield will do whatever he is told. Five

The same was true of the soldiers of the Tang army, and even more so of the Yu army.

After the two sides lined up, they both understood that this battle was inevitable, and if anyone retreated first, it might trigger a large-scale rout, and the other side of the army would cover up, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Wang Rong looked at the other party, he was waiting for the Yu army to move first and see the strength of the Yu army.

The east direction of the Yu army's large array is Yique Pass, and the southeast direction is the personal guard, Xiao cavalry guard and other troops, separated by a clearing, they left a group of men and horses there to confront.

The Tang army's large array spread out from the southwest to the northeast, with the infantry in front and the cavalry on both flanks behind.

Soon there was movement in the middle of the Yu army, and after the long desolate horn sounded, a large number of cavalry on the left flank of the Yu army came out of the formation, moving towards the open space between the two armies, rolling up a lot of dust.

"How many?" Wang Rong asked Dai Qiuqiu beside him, Dai Qiuqiu, the commander of the Detective Affairs Department, has a skill, that is, he can see the number of people very accurately, even if other generals are experienced, they may misjudge in the face of a large number of people, and he is better than many veterans in this regard.

It may be related to the environment in which he grew up, and he used to herd sheep every day and count the number of sheep.

Dai Qiqiu replied respectfully, "Holy Lord, there are about 5,000 cavalry in the Yu army."

Wang Rong nodded, knowing in his heart, and soon the huge cavalry of the Yu State approached the large formation of the Chinese army for about fifty or sixty steps, and then no longer approached but moved in parallel, and the cavalry opened bows and arrows on horseback, throwing a large rain of arrows under black pressure.

The four phalanxes in front of the Chinese army held up dense shields, and the sound of clanging was endless, mixed with one or two screams from time to time, that was someone who had been hit by an arrow.

The counterattack of the Tang army was also very fast, a large number of crossbow arrows buzzed and roared, even overshadowing the summer wind, overwhelmingly shooting towards the cavalry of the Yu army fifty steps away, and the four round formations in the front could support each other, so that the Yu army in the middle was shot by the bows and crossbows from the four round arrays, and in an instant people turned over on their backs, screaming again and again, and after a while, hundreds of people and horses fell between the dust of the battlefield, and they did not know whether they were alive or dead.

And from time to time accompanied by a huge explosion sound, the arm-thick terrifying crossbow arrows shot at the cavalry of the Yu army from the center of each circle, and several times when they hit, they directly pierced the horse, flew out horizontally, and tripped over many people and horses behind, and the sand and gravel flew and wailed endlessly.

The Yu army used a short bow for cavalry archery, which was good for rapid fire, but the power was greatly reduced, and it could exert the maximum power at a distance of twenty or thirty paces, and it was not an opponent at all at a distance of about fifty steps to shoot at a strong crossbow of the Tang army.

More and more of the Yu troops who came out of the battle were shot dead and shot off their horses, and the cavalry of the Yu army soon could not resist it, and immediately maneuvered to the corner of the left flank of the Tang army. At the same time, he changed out the saber and spear, and prepared to try such a classic tactic as attacking the corner of the Tang army's formation.

However, they soon found that no matter how they ran, they would be shot from different angles by the bows and crossbows of the Tang army's round formation, and more and more people fell off their horses.

Wang Rong's deployment worked!

This was the main reason why he split the large circle array of military vehicles into eight small circular arrays, and it was also the reason why he himself was further improving the combat methods of the vehicle formation.

It is subject to Waterloo

Inspired by the method of placing the British army's hollow phalanx in the battle, if the whole army placed a large circle formation, it was certainly beneficial to resist the cavalry, but it was not offensive enough, and the soldiers in most places of the large formation could not see the enemy soldiers at all, and could only defend completely passively.

If the number of people in the circle is reduced, a number of circle formations will be formed on the whole, with 2,500 to 3,500 people for each of the two regiments forming a circle formation, and the periphery will be blocked by military vehicles, and a larger large formation will be formed between the various circles.

Then when the cavalry of the Yu army wants to attack any of the circular formations, they will face the bows and crossbows of several circular formations around them, and if they dare to go deep into the formation in an all-round way, it is even more Tang army bows and crossbows in all directions.

In the first wave of the attack, the Yu army sent a cavalry force of about 5,000 people, but after leaving thousands of corpses and many wounded soldiers in the open space between the two armies, they fled north to the big formation.

The unfortunate ones who fell off their horses fled north in a hurry, and Wang Rong ordered not to shoot, not because he was merciful, but because it was not worth wasting a lot of arrows for such a few people, and the soldiers had limited supplies to carry on the ground.

The morale of the Tang army soared, and the soldiers shouted that the Yu army had no courage, the Yu army rats, etc., and the sound was continuous, resounding through the wilderness.

Wang Rong was also very happy, but he did not relax, he knew in his heart that the Yu army was only attacking tentatively.

The two sides began to enter the confrontation, about a quarter of an hour later, there was action in the camp of the Yu army, this time the formation was very large, from a distance a large number of people and horses began to dispatch, the sky was full of smoke and dust and flags with the movement of the cavalry dragon, moving in the large array of the Yu army, the entire large array of the Yu army was like a tumbling quagmire, and it came alive in an instant.

Wang Rong suddenly understood that a big war was coming.

Time has unconsciously arrived in the afternoon, the huge sun is in the sky, the air in the distance rises and distorts, this moment is the hottest time, all the soldiers are facing the scorching sun, especially those wearing iron armor, the armor is beginning to be hot, but at this moment there is no time to take care of it.

The Yu army moved very quickly, but their formation was not tight, or rather, it was their habit.

A large number of cavalry began to dispatch and gather, and their large array was mainly infantry, and they could only wait for the battle, which was their greatest disadvantage when fighting against the Yu army.

Wang Rong was both excited and nervous in his heart, because the opportunity to force the Yu army to a frontal decisive battle was very rare, if there was no cavalry on both wings, the oppression and pressing of Wang Tan and others in the east, the Yu army would most likely retreat without hesitation and not fight a frontal battle with them.

In many cases, war is not simply a matter of whether it can be fought or not, and if war can only be fought head-on, it will be simpler. There is no need to fight, everyone pulls the army out to compare, which side has more people, strong men and horses, and good equipment, and the other side directly admits defeat, the world is peaceful, but unfortunately the reality is not so.