Chapter 221: The Four Battles of Northern Liang (III)

North Mang’s iron hooves even passed the two cities of Crouching Bow and Luanhe, and was blocked by the last Xiaguang City, which is the last dangerous pass, outside of Youzhou Pass. Without breaking through this pass and successfully breaking into the territory of Youzhou, all the cavalry troops of the Eastern Front of the Northern Mang will be useless.

Outside the city, two generals of the North Mang Eastern Front, under the close escort of no less than 1,000 elite riders, were inspecting the battle situation at the top of the city, and the commander-in-chief Yang Yuanzan lamented: “Half of a hundred miles is half of ninety, and the ancients have not deceived me. Apart from this city, Hulukou is already in my hands, but as long as Xiaguang City remains unbroken, I will never be able to fight that 30,000-man Phantom Cavalry to the death.”

The vanguard general Seed Tan, who had just been appointed by His Majesty the Emperor as the King’s Tent Xiashuang, laughed, “It’s really hard for the great general, like bringing a large nest of young birds waiting to be fed, and every day he makes a lot of noise.”

The veteran general laughed: “After Xiaguang City, the entire Youzhou is under our hooves, then want to fight is not simple, everywhere is the opportunity to fight and military achievements, but how much can be loaded into their own pockets, depends on their own skills.”

Seed Tan, who had personally killed in the city yesterday, was covered in blood, and softly said, “Now we’re waiting for Yan Wenluan to take his Yuzhou foot soldiers to fill in the gaps in Xiaguang City. Otherwise, in three days at most, Xiaguang City won’t be able to hold.”

Yang Yuanzan laughed coldly, “Xiaguang City isn’t Tiger Head City, the city is just this big, how many people can stand at the head of the city? Yan Wenluan threw at most 6,000 people into Xiaguang City to participate in defending the city at one time, any more, not to mention going to the head of the city, inside the city can only crowd a bunch of people watching the fun.”

Yang Yuanzan looked at the far side of the fortifications have long been stretched Xiaguang City, the big crossbows are destroyed, especially in their own side of the infantry almost demolished the lying bow city Luanhe City, this period of time hundreds of stone throwers crazy throwing boulders, so this summer, Xiaguang City’s head of rain is very sufficient, a stone rain. In addition to Xiaguang City and Luanhe City between the two sides of the edge of the fortress, the rest of the large and small strongholds, have been given to want to reap the benefits of the war want to crazy private cavalry of the North Mang clan clean up, those who do not have many guards Hulukou beacon flints undoubtedly be the first to bear the brunt of the best hunting targets, some of the force is slightly more than enough larger E fortress, but also in the convergence of a number of shares to dozens of shares of the family private cavalry a dash and break, which is a move that saves the Yang Yuanzhan This move saved Yang Yuanzan a lot of trouble.

Now the hulukou, in lying bow luanluanhe two cities were destroyed, in fact, is very suitable for cavalry long-distance gallop, it can be said that Yang Yuanzan’s eastern army as long as to take the xiaguang city, not only yuzhou gateway is wide open, in the yu cavalry force absolute disadvantage under the premise of the eastern line of the northern mang can attack, retreat can be a breath of retreat to the hulukou north of the city of xiaguang, and even directly out of the hulukou and what is so difficult? Yan Wenluan’s foot soldiers, no matter how good they are, can a two-legged foot soldier outrun a four-legged cavalry? So although Seed Tan’s infantry army had suffered staggering battle losses, and almost every day two or three thousand-man units were fighting to the point of collapsing into a miserable state, the old general with a furrowed brow on the surface was in fact not too worried, and deep down inside there was also a hint of an unspoken gloat towards his old friend Liu Gui, who was presiding over the Western Front. At that time, the western capital wanted Liu Gui to go to that northern Liang border army does not have a dangerous pass to rely on Liuzhou, but he Yang Yuanzan to attack Youzhou, to lead his troops through the Hulukou this claim can bury 150,000 northern Mang army of the horror of the zone, Yang Yuanzan why not have a complaint, only now look back and see again, it is really a blessing and a curse, the will of God can not be predicted ah.

The corner of the eye of the seed Tan glimpsed the old general that kind of winning attitude, this outstanding vanguard general want to speak again and again, and finally swallowed the words back to the stomach, did not say his own speculation. To be able to less than a year of military age to squeeze out of the Yeluyu Wat among the new Xia Zhandao, lies in the temple hall of Xijing, an A word of the big man of the great valve of the sentence “seed sandalwood a person, so that my eastern army in the Hulukou less dead 50,000 people, is the same as our side of the more skilled in attacking and pulling out of the fortress of the 50,000 brave pawns out of thin air, how to do not do Zhandao!” According to reasoning, a leap to become and the central plains XieXi frontier bandit JiangHuai SongGasa and so on people with a line of famous generals of the species family children, at this time should be the most complacent, but species of Tan always feel that YouZhou war situation is not so simple.

Yang Yuanzan suddenly reached out and pointed to the situation of the city, not surprised but happy, laughed: “kind of Tan, you see, Yan Wenluan finally can’t sit still, I thought that this old man in the territory of Youzhou we dug what a big pit, I did not expect that it is also so a little bit of determination. Disappointed, really disappointed ah!”

When Seed Tan saw the tragic battle situation at the head of Xiaguang City, he was finally relieved.

Xiaguang city’s geographical location can be said to be unique, occupying the Hulukou can be the only large-scale cavalry into the pass of the dangerous pass, so the battle here is only hard to fight, both sides want to start any surprise attack is a fool’s errand. Kind of Tan under the banner of the eastern line of the infantry has recently been able to continue to influx into the city, yesterday Kind of Tan personally led 800 dead soldiers boarded the city to fight, fighting a little half an hour before being driven down to the city, when a siege of the main battlefield from the ants attached to the walls of the city into the city of the head of the physical combat, often means that not far from the breakthrough of the city. Probably also know that Xiaguang City is in danger, this is the first time that Yan Wenluan’s Old Character Battalion foot soldiers appeared on the battlefield of Hulukou. Seed Tan horse forward, in the absence of the threat of the city bed crossbow, to this Seed Tan’s martial arts cultivation, coupled with the body clad in iron armor, and not afraid of the city’s scattered a few archer’s foot bow long-distance shooting.

Kind of Tan looked up, really is a large wave of Youzhou old battalion foot soldiers to support the city, wearing the typical “Yanzha armor” preparation, all by the Beiliang official craftsmen carefully built, this Yanzha armor by 1,500 pieces of fine iron armor leaves, and then to tough leather strips and nail nail fine linkage and become, weighing more than sixty pounds, compared to the once the first class heavy armor foot soldiers in western Chu, the halberdiers are not inferior. In addition, the physical fitness of Northern Liang men is inherently better than that of Western Chu’s soldiers, and the Yan family foot soldiers wearing heavy armor and holding spears in formation to resist the cavalry, once in the Spring and Autumn battles, they played a jaw-dropping effect on Western Chu’s cavalry. Heavily armored foot soldiers in the birth of the Dafeng Dynasty and the formation of the nine kingdoms in the Spring and Autumn period were originally a kind of deformed troop type that came into being after the large-scale cavalry gradually became the protagonist of the battlefield, especially after the steppe cavalry became more and more unstoppable, the purpose was that, since the infantry army could not compare with the agility of the cavalry army, it simply gave up mobility, and used static to control the action. Of course, the heavily armored foot soldiers were not originally used as precious soldiers for defending the city, not purely because using foot against foot was a big use, but the heavily armored foot soldiers were too heavily draped, and it was not wise to engage in close combat in the inch of land at the head of the city.

However, the 400 Northern Mang soldiers who had already attacked the Xiaguang Castle were killed by Yan Zha’s armored soldiers in almost a single glance.

Seed Tan turned his head and said in a deep voice to one of the ordering pawns, “Have Zheng Lin lead 2,000 cavalry to meet the retreat of the attacking foot soldiers.”

Above the city, life and death were immediately decided.

The North Mang foot soldiers were already almost exhausted, one of them still slashed out a powerful and ferocious slash, but the result was that the opposite side of the well armored Yan Clan heavy foot soldier raised his left arm and waved away the blade at will, that Old Character Battalion Yan Clan soldier continued to charge forward, his right hand cool knife instantly stabbed into the chest of this leather armored North Mang brute, by virtue of the tremendous force directly knocked this North Mang soldier against the outer wall, swiftly drew his sword, and then gripped the sword with both hands. After pulling out his sword swiftly, he held it with both hands and lifted it up, pulling out a North Mang barbarian who was waiting for a chance to cut at his face from waist to shoulder, ripping out a flesh and lifting a bone-deep bloody groove, and splattering scarlet blood all over the heavy step’s face, which was particularly hideous.

A Northern Mang soldier was knocked out of the city on the spot through a rupture in the crumbling city head.

At the head of the city, the iron armor clanked.

The blood-drenched head of a Northern Mang soldier was thrown off the city by those burly armorers at the same time.

Apart from the soldiers who ascended the city, none of them were spared, the Beimang attacking soldiers who heard the retreating drums hurriedly withdrew their ladders, and above their heads, there were constantly heads and corpses smashing down, as well as a rain of arrows poured out by the archers who had returned to the city.

This rain of blood and arrows is Xiaguang City’s most powerful answer to the “rain curtain” created by the North Mang’s stone throwers earlier.

For the first time, Xiaguang City, whose gates had been closed until now, took the initiative to raise its gates, and a large group of heavy-armored foot soldiers rushed out.

At the top of the city, the heavy-armored soldiers of Youzhou slid down the ladder and started a one-sided slaughter of those Northern Mang soldiers who could not retreat fast enough.

Like a flood of water pouring out of the city, there were constantly Northern Mang soldiers “drowning” in the blood.

The 2,000 cavalry soldiers of the Northern Mang closest to the city head received the order from Tan, and started to accelerate their charge, launching a round of mounted fire, trying to rescue their own soldiers while retreating, and at the same time, try to suppress the Xiaguang City infantry’s formation out of the city. At the same time, the infantry bows on the top of the city, which had a longer range than the mounted bows, decisively gave up shooting at the North Mang foot soldiers and turned to the North Mang cavalry, which was disturbing the heavy steps out of the city. Zheng Lin, the general of the cavalry, raised his arm and gave a push back, the cavalry stopped moving forward and slowly withdrew fifty paces, most of the arrows of the city fell on the earth between these fifty paces, Zheng Lin, who had turned his head back, looked around and was a bit depressed, in addition to the attacking pawns that had urgently withdrawn from the two sides of the cavalry, the culprits that really blocked more of their cavalry from going to the battlefield were the ones who should be responsible for the subsequent attack on the city in the vicinity. Otherwise, as long as they are given 2,000 cavalry to block the city gates, with the number of bows and crossbows in Xiaguang City nowadays not enough to pose too much of a threat, then the 4,000 cavalry won’t say that they can completely stop that infantry from leaving the city, but at the very least they will be able to prevent them from spreading out their formations comfortably.

Zheng Lin’s this cavalry can be described as the eastern line elite, in addition to not expected to charge and temporarily did not carry the spear, riding bow and bow, lasso and throwing axe and other miscellaneous weapons are endless, the body of the color of the locks of the armor, compared to the ordinary steppe cavalry leather armor is known as a large sum of money to cover the extravagance.

Zheng Lin’s static cavalry in the surging retreat of the North Mang infantry, appearing particularly cranes.

Soon there are several reinforcement cavalry hard interspersed in the infantry to run to, together almost also have 3,500 riders, but the battlefield opportunity is never fleeting, the Youzhou infantry in nearly a thousand responsible for the supply wagon transportation of auxiliary soldiers skillful help, already in Xiaguang outside the gates of the city from the formation, dense as a hedgehog. But for some reason, this infantry army did not place those three axes in front of the formation that blocked the cavalry’s charge, antler wood, thistles and rejecting horses. Zheng Lin can not help but feel a little strange, Xiaguang City is at least the last major town of the Hulukou defense line, even if you never want to go out of the city to the foot of the cavalry, but how the city should also be a symbolic reserve of these soldiers common things, Zheng Lin smiled, no better, those who set up the four diagonal logs, chiseled holes inserted in the release of iron guns of the large refusal of the horse, and the kind of curtain before the military aircraft Lang flipped back to explain countless times of the other simple refusal of the horse, it is really letting Zheng Lin this kind of cavalry generals just hear a burst of scalp numbness.

Zheng Lin carefully observed that the Yuzhou infantry troop distribution, really as that group of crepe military machine Lang said is not bad, the brawn of the strongest robust shield pawns stand up almost as high as a person in front of the big shield, the back row of sharp spears from the shield tilt stabbed, rattan iron wall, forming more than one row of the summer can also make their cavalry army feel the chill of the “forest of spears”, and then there is the abandonment of the Liang sword, the Liang sword is a simple horse, but also a simple horse. After that, there is the axe troopers who gave up their cool swords and held big axes, followed by the bowmen who can draw their bows earlier than the cavalry to kill the enemy, as well as the waist-opened crossbows and crossbows that have a longer range than the infantry bows. Zheng Lin subconsciously raised his buttocks off his horse in an attempt to see more clearly, but it was difficult to discover more of the inner workings of this Yan Family’s Old Character Battalion’s foot soldiers.

A cavalry captain who came to Hulukou from Beiting Grassland laughed and asked: ”General Zheng, why don’t you let me lead the troops to charge first? It’s good to try it out.”

Zheng Lin looked at this young captain, is a large grassy grasslands in the north to occupy a large number of the first son of the big Xie Tick, young and vigorous, previously in the Luanhe City around the Beacon Fortress in the sweep of a lot of war achievements, and now waiting to break through the Xiaguang City to go to the territory of the state of killing, it is said that this kid with a group of similar origin of the northern court nobility son of the discussion, then into the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state, do not care about the other places, just join together to watch that the General Zheng. On the partnership to stare at the place called Rouge County to make a strong mouth, where the water spirit of the women but even from the Yangzhongyuan men are drooling, when the first pick out a few hundred of the best posture alone to enjoy, and other Rouge County women are sold to the grasslands size of Sydney, both silver, but also earn favors.

Zheng Lin as the south dynasty b word high family descendants, for these north court Sydney pick children and grandchildren do not have any good feelings, this twenty years, the north court small nobles all dare in the south dynasty western capital city to make the power of the countless instances, but Zheng Lin still shook his head and said: “that four thousand people infantry is yuzhou yan wenluan’s old word battalion, it is a direct line in the direct line, we don’t easily charge, kind of general just let me cover the infantry Retreat, don’t be greedy and risky.”

The captain of the thousand hehehe laughed: “Is not greedy to advance, that I have to lose the fight and then make a judgment, my men of this thousand grassland children, which is not drilling the horse belly with the same as the play of the elite cavalry, General Zheng, since you do not dare to charge, then stay on the side to see me swept the line is.”

Zheng Lin said expressionlessly, “Oh, then I will wait for the report.”

The young commander let out a loud laugh and rushed towards the tightly defended infantry square.

One thousand riders with two hundred riders as a row, five rows between them and pull out a large distance, the first two rows to short people to pull out the taller “heavy horsemen” is mainly, everyone holding the original spears, or from the Beiliang Wubao seized iron gun, wearing armor is also superior to the latter three rows, quickly forward. This kind of grassland nation use extremely familiar with the cavalry charge, formation simple and flexible operation, once in the big Feng dynasty at the end of the year in the face of the central plains infantry to achieve unbeatable outstanding results, so that the central plains earth everywhere smoke, whenever and the central plains infantry is about to collide when, the rear three rows of light cavalry will suddenly speed up the charge, from the iron horsemen gap in the speed of the charge, or riding shot sprinkled out of the dense rain of arrows or throwing short spears, if the enemy infantry square can If the enemy’s infantry formation can maintain a solid formation, then the heavy cavalry is not in a hurry to charge, around the arc from the two wings of the formation sliding out, the light cavalry in turn trailing, if you can’t find the opportunity to fight on both sides of the infantry formation, return to the original position, and so on, until the infantry formation is shaken by the emergence of a small loophole, the iron cavalry will launch a round of really deadly and strong charge for the rear of the light cavalry to cut the breakthroughs.

In the past years, the prairie cavalry that roamed freely on the territory of Dafeng Dynasty, along with the benefits brought by that Hongjia’s north run, both armor and weapons were greatly improved.

It is a pity that the enemy that this 1,000-man cavalry army is facing is Yan Wenluan’s heavily armored foot soldiers, the Northern Liang Border Army.

Instead of that embroidered pillow dynasty that was boasted by some rich and powerful literati as “all dynasties have died with weakness, but only Dabong has died with strength”.

When it was discovered that there were only a thousand riders charging alone.

This infantry formation made a shocking move, violating the common sense of military law and letting down the shield wall and gun forest, which were the essence of the Horse Rejecting Formation.

Just between three hundred and one hundred paces.

Under the sharp and massive bow and crossbow fire, the one thousand horsemen who were shouting loudly, tumbled over and laid down more than six hundred horsemen.

And the next scene is also very different from what the army book says, the infantry formation did not continue the massed rifle bow parrying, and only accurately shot those dozens of rangers who saw the bad opportunity and tried to break away from the front battlefield, while the front row reared up their shields and held their spears.

It was like saying, cavalry charging? Then you’re invited!

After realizing that their Thousand Horseman was penetrated by an arrow through his chest, the remaining three hundred or so North Mang riders madly charged forward without any regard for life or death.

Crashing into those sharp refusal spears.

After one collision.

The entire infantry formation was still as stable as a rock!

Before the shields.

Among the lances!

More than three hundred Northern Mang warhorses, without exception, were pierced through on the spot by lances that were two and a half feet long!

At the head of Xiaguang City, a short, one-eyed old man, accompanied by General Huangfu Ping of Youzhou and Assassin Hu Kui, two of the most powerful officials of the Northern Liang Frontier, personally accompanied him, and from beginning to end, the old man didn’t even take a glance at the North Mang’s thousands of cavalry’s self-inflicted deaths, but instead looked out of Hulukou, further north, and mumbled to himself, “Three days from now, the four cavalry armies will all be able to enter the Hulukou, won’t they? ”

Outside of Hulukou, the 20,000 Youzhou cavalry army splits into two, with Diatribe Cavalry General Shi Yulu and Hussar General Fan Wenyao each leading 2,000 cavalry to continue northward, responsible for smashing the transportation of Longwai State’s grain and intercepting those wandering cavalry ranks.

Yu Luan Dao, the vice general of the Yu Cavalry, personally led sixteen thousand riders to meet the arrival of the two cavalry armies at the same place, and when the time came, the Yu Cavalry was to act as an escort for the latter.

Although the latter two cavalry numbers together, only just more than half of the Yu cavalry.

But Yu Luan Dao did not have the slightest bit of resentment.

Two days later, a 10,000-man cavalry army took the lead in breaking away from the army and rushing into Hulukou.

A decrepit fortress, an unoccupied beacon flint.

It was full of devastation.

The wind swept over Wolbow City, which was no longer a city, like a sob.

These 10,000 riders did not stop at Wolbow City, but just circled around the city when all the riders spontaneously drew out their Northern Liang swords and raised them high.

Great Snow Dragon Riders.

Just like this, they went south without a sound.