Chapter 1102: Fighting on the Battlefield

Xue Guyan, who was supervising the battle in the front, did not dare to neglect it after receiving the order from His Majesty the Emperor. He immediately sent all the remaining front soldiers in the position to fight, and he also set out afterwards to dispatch and command in the army and control the offensive.

As the Qi army sent more troops, the situation on the battlefield was immediately apparent. Two thousand-man cavalry teams were divided into two wings, fighting with the enemy's light cavalry that was roaming and harassing on the battlefield. They fought each other closely, no longer giving them the opportunity to disrupt the infantry battle formation and advance forward, and at the same time allowing the heavy armored infantry assigned to the team to withdraw and advance into the enemy formation.

The chariot formation of the Wei army is not unsolvable. As long as it is not a high-speed target, the restrictions and influence of this chariot formation are minimal. On the contrary, because of the existence of these chariots, the Wei army battle formation cannot form a complete whole, giving the Qi army soldiers the opportunity to find a gap and rush into the enemy formation.

Although there would be a Wei army combat team guarding and protecting each chariot in the chariot formation, this was already in the category of infantry fighting. In a close combat, life and death depended on each person's skills, and the Wei army could not have an overwhelming advantage.

On the contrary, the catapults in the Wei army's main formation were afraid to throw stones into the battle formation, which gave the Qi army's heavy armored infantry more room to play. They became almost invincible in this battle formation. With the cooperation of only a few infantrymen, they could break into the enemy's formation and fight and destroy, and no one could defeat them.

Of course, the heavy armored infantry was not without flaws. Its requirements for equipment and personnel quality were too high. Even among the elite Jinyang soldiers, there were very few who could do it. The high threshold was destined to be difficult to popularize and promote in the army. The front troops of the Qi army were only equipped with 500 people. The number of other troops was even lower, and some were simply not there.

The price of the super strong protection of heavy armored infantry is the high load. Even the bravest generals and soldiers can hardly fight in armor for a long time. Moreover, the so-called super strong protection is not without loopholes. Once the lower limbs are attacked, even with the protection of skirt armor, the chance of injury is not small.

At this time, in the Qi army's position, the drums urging the attack were higher and higher, shaking people's eardrums.

The soldiers on the battlefield did not dare to stop. First, they rushed into the enemy's chariot formation quickly against the stray arrows and missiles thrown from the enemy formation. Taking advantage of the decrease in long-range attacks on their heads, they quickly formed a formation, each with a heavy armored infantry as the vanguard to rush into the enemy formation. As the heavy armored infantry broke through the enemy formation, the soldiers in the rear rushed up and divided and annihilated the Wei army soldiers who were dispersed.

Of course, the battle process was not smooth sailing. The Wei army was also very clear about the characteristics of these heavy armored infantry, and there was no lack of targeted training and preparation. When they saw the enemy's heavy armor coming forward unstoppably, they tried to avoid direct confrontation and instead attacked the enemy's armor below the waist with long-handled weapons such as long axes and clubs.

Once the enemy's heavy armor was knocked down on the battlefield, the chance of being able to stand up again was slim, and the enemy's battle team was mainly formed by relying on the heavy armor infantry's ability to break the formation.

When this advantage no longer exists, the implementation of the tactics will also be greatly hindered. Although they can still fight hand-to-hand, they will inevitably fall behind the Wei army, which has the advantage of home field and flexible coordination of equipment and tactics, and will soon be killed and wounded in the battle.

At this time, the periphery of the battle formation was the area where the two sides fought the most fiercely. A large number of soldiers from both sides fought and entangled in this area, forming an arc-shaped bloody wall of people together.

"Keep charging, don't stop! The rear army is still reinforcing to the north, the Supreme Lord is personally raiding the battle formation, and the heroes can be seen killing the enemy heroically, but if you can break through the battle formation and seize the flag, you will be rewarded! Your wife and son will be given a title, and you will be rich and prosperous!"

Xue Guyan saw that the soldiers in front were afraid because of the fierce fighting, and the offensive was no longer as fierce as at the beginning. He was also very anxious, and shouted loudly to encourage them behind the battle formation.

The Wei army soldiers in the battle formation also resisted very hard. The front commander Tian Hong had to constantly wander between the battle formations. Whenever he saw a combat team in the battle formation being broken and annihilated and a gap appeared, he had to dispatch soldiers to fill it up as soon as possible to prevent the enemy from further expanding the gap.

The order given to him by Duke Tang was to hold the front line here at least until noon, and not to retreat before that.

Although the Wei army had the home advantage, the enemy's offensive was too fierce. At the beginning of the battle, nearly half of the 8,000 soldiers assigned to the front line were deployed. In addition to the archers and soldiers operating the catapults at the bottom of the line, due to the heavy casualties on the front line, the reserve forces were constantly drawn to the front.

"Hold on, hold on... This battle will definitely be won! Old people die in the house, relatives shed tears, and die on the battlefield, and the grace of wife and children, parents are honored! Tang Gong is benevolent and compassionate to the people, and he is invincible in battle. A real man's life will not be sold here, and who else will it be sold to!"

Running east and west to shout orders, Tian Hong's voice has become a little hoarse.

When he saw an enemy force breaking through a battle group and there were no soldiers nearby to block the gap, he would rush forward with his personal soldiers, sword in hand, slashing and killing with his sword. Even if he could not tear the enemy team apart for a while, he would fight until the rear troops came forward to provide support before he would withdraw, and then patrol other battle formations despite his fatigue.

In this fierce battle, the Qi army's advancement was also very effective. The chariots that served as obstacles outside the enemy's formation were constantly captured, and then the outer walls of the chariots and the chevaux de frise were chopped and damaged. The soil and rocks inside were also dug to fill the pit traps on the slope. When the cavalry launched an attack later, they could advance smoothly. That was the moment when the Qi army dominated the battlefield and was enough to completely destroy the enemy!

Although the prospect was very beautiful and tempting, the Qi army soldiers still had to fight forward with astonishing casualties. The Wei army set up a total of three similar battle formations at a distance of nearly two miles in front of this slope. The thickness of the outermost chariot formation was about twenty feet, which was to match the effective killing range of the long-range forces in its formation.

The two battle formations in the back were thinner, each between ten feet. As long as these three layers of enemy formations were broken through, they could reach the central army flag of the Wei army on the plateau and capture and kill the bandit leader Li Boshan!

While the two sides were fighting fiercely on the front battlefield, the intensity of the battle on the east side of the Wei army's position along the Zhuozhang River was relatively small.

Before dawn, Gao Le, the commander of the right wing of the Wei army, was ordered by Duke Tang to send a team of 3,000 people to attack the Qi army camp on the east bank of the Zhuozhang River, but because the Qi army was very well prepared, they failed and the attacking troops had to retreat.

As a result, because the returning troops were chased too closely by the Qi army on the way back, they had no time to deal with the vehicles and pontoon bridges for crossing the river, and were chased by the Qi army all the way to the west bank of the Zhuozhang River, making this night attack quite counterproductive.

Heba Ren, the commander of the Qi army, was experienced in military affairs and fully grasped this opportunity. When his pursuit troops set foot on the land on the west bank of the Zhuozhang River, he deployed more than 3,000 people to the west bank in a very short time, allowing the team to gain a firm foothold on the side of the Wei army on the west bank.

At the same time, in order to divide and weaken the counterattack of the Wei army, Heba Ren sent troops to attack the floating bridge and float along the upstream and downstream of the Zhuozhang River, so that the Wei army's insufficient troops were scattered along the river bank, and there was no focus of counterattack and resistance.

The Zhuozhang River cuts through the valley and flows southward. Although the river is not wide, it is deeper and the water flow is more turbulent than its tributary Tongdi River. The traffic needs to rely on floating bridges and rafts. Moreover, the left wing of the Qi army was not the main force, and it could not do the feat of the main force of the central army carrying soil to intercept the flow, so it still needs to follow conventional means to deploy troops to the west.

At the beginning, Heba Ren took advantage of the enemy's retreat and chaos to deploy thousands of soldiers to the opposite bank, but the Wei army's reaction was also relatively quick. It quickly gathered its troops to regain control of the upper and lower floating bridges and destroyed them. Only two were firmly controlled by the Qi army, so the subsequent reinforcement speed became a bit slow.

When Zhao Daode arrived with 5,000 elite imperial guards, Heba Ren was still busy dispatching troops to the west for reinforcement.

After listening to Zhao Daode's instructions from His Majesty the Emperor, he shook his head and said, "There is enough manpower here, so there is no need to send more troops. Because there is a rapids blocking the road on the side, once a large group of troops is used, it will be difficult to advance and retreat calmly. The main force of the central army must attack the enemy head-on, and this place can only be used to disturb and contain the enemy's forces. Li Boshan is a shrewd soldier. Even if he occasionally miscalculates, it is difficult to break through his formation with this flank attack."

Although the war progressed smoothly, Heba Ren did not get carried away by it. He still made a rational analysis based on the actual situation and did not ask the central army to continue to send more troops here, and he did not think that this battlefield could undertake more combat tasks. Even if it is just to play the role of restraining the enemy at the moment, the troops allocated now, including Zhao Daode and others who came later, are a bit redundant.

Because crossing the river is a dead end with no way to retreat. If something unexpected happens and the war goes wrong, it will be difficult to withdraw the troops. The risk is too great. When the central army has a great advantage in the front, there is no need to focus too much on doing something tricky on the side. This time, the Wei army failed to attack the camp and was counterattacked in front of the camp, which is an example.

"Your Majesty is too modest. When the Supreme heard that Your Majesty had made such a breakthrough, he also praised Your Majesty for being strong and vigorous. If you work harder, the enemy will be even more desperate."

After hearing this, Zhao Daode laughed dryly and complimented. When he was about to say something, hoping that Heba Ren could speed up the pace of the attack according to the emperor's wishes, Heba Ren had already turned around and went elsewhere.