As the saying goes, if there are tens of thousands of people, there will be no boundaries. The cavalry team of more than 20,000 people, carrying the captured horses, dispersed in a charging formation. The scene was extremely spectacular.
The knights carried their spears and their bodies rose and fell with the horses' backs. There was no fear in their eyes, but there was no determination either. Some were just numb. That is because they have killed too many people, chopped down too many livestock, and were surrounded by blood all day long in the past year, which brings about their disregard for the lives of others and their disregard for their own lives.
The chaotic sound of horse hooves suddenly synchronized into a clatter. The earth trembled and it swayed far away. Amidst the raging wind and the setting sun like blood, a long black shadow with no visible boundaries appeared on the horizon, entering the field of vision of the Xixia defenders forming formation outside the city. It stopped five miles away, with a chilling air. Ascend.
Not long after the Fubei Army advanced eastward, Xixia's scouts had already received the news. No one thought that this force would really attack Xingqing Mansion, but at this time, with a large encirclement of dozens of kilometers, it was already too late to come over.
Looking at the cavalry arrayed in the distance and the infantrymen who numbered less than 50,000, Wang Yan was not surprised why the front line was being beaten so hard. There were so many troops here.
Because this is easy to understand, he basically drove most of the people to the big cities in the south. In Xixia, all the people were soldiers. At this critical time of life and death, they had to go to war even if they didn't have enough to eat. Therefore, most of the men in Xixia, those in their teens, went to the battlefield. Moreover, the troops and horses facing the Liao Kingdom in the east were also mobilized to the south. This was to unleash all their war potential to resist this devastating disaster. Therefore, there is no shortage of soldiers, but their quality has been reduced.
On the other hand, the Song Dynasty did not have cavalry units, but the only elite unit that had become an organized unit was the Northern Army. If the Northern Army could be completely wiped out, it would weaken morale on the one hand, and weaken the Song Dynasty on the other. After all, it would definitely not be a joke if the Fubei Army was let go, went out to rest, and then turned around and rejoined the frontal battlefield. So this time they are serious about putting the fate of the country on the table. Xixia would rather abandon part of the frontline and retreat, but also deploy all the troops to destroy the Northern Army. This is called saving people and losing land, but both people and land are saved.
Therefore, if the Fubei Army is destroyed in this battle, Xixia will have room for relaxation and can still struggle for a while. If it cannot be destroyed, Xixia will be doomed this time.
This is the largest team battle since the birth of Fubei Army. When they encountered such a lineup before, they would just run away and never challenge them head-on. Now it's no longer possible, the rear has been cut off and there is no place to run. There is a high probability that there is no time to arrange these things such as tripping ropes and traps. Of course, even if they are arranged, there is no other way but to rush. In a truly tough battle, if several thousand of the North's Army can survive in the end, with these people as the foundation, the North's Army will become the absolute number one light cavalry unit in the world.
As for the whole army being wiped out, that is just an adjective. Xixia couldn't do it if they wanted to kill everyone without leaving a single person, and some of them fled. Anyway, he can't die, but he won't be able to deal with Zhao Ji when he goes back.
"Instructions are sent to each wing to send two armies of 5,000 men and horses to respond to the attack. The rest of the troops will be the vanguard and form the front line."
As his voice fell, the generals around him waved flags to convey the message. Soon, as the flags were passed, five thousand people were divided into two sides of the military formation. After a brief confusion, they quickly formed a formation for charging. , attacked one after another.
The flanks need to take a detour and run far away, mainly attacking the infantry on the flanks, dividing the battlefield and destroying the enemy's formation. Wang Yan looked at the smoke and dust on the left and right, and said without looking back: "The outcome of this battle is unpredictable, so you two must follow closely. If you fall off your horse, you will either be trampled to death by the enemy or by your own people. .”
He said this to the two supervisors behind him. The safest position in the entire military formation was behind him. After all, he was slashing in front, and there were gaps in the military formation, so there was always a vacuum behind him. This was the key to the survival of the two supervisors until now.
After hearing Wang Yan's words, the two of them responded, holding the saber in one hand and holding the reins tightly with the other. Their buttocks were twisted back and forth on the saddle, and their feet were firmly pushed into the stirrups. They couldn't see their heads pressed down. The enemy troops are numb to anyone who looks at them.
Seeing the other side changing formation and starting to fire arrows, but the cavalry in the middle did not move, Wang Yan casually pinned Ma Shuo horizontally in the groove on the saddle, then picked up the tied bow and took three arrows in his hand. Following his movements, the cavalry behind him followed suit, all unified.
When the intensive clattering behind him stopped, Wang Yan let out a haha, rushed out of the formation with his legs sandwiched between the horse's belly, and began to speed up. The soldiers at the rear followed tacitly, and at the same time they drew their bows and arrows, and started firing according to their calculations.
At a distance of five miles, there were troops coming from the opposite side, and the three rounds of arrows were almost perfect. Of course, the other side is also firing arrows, this is all mutual. Some were unlucky enough to be shot by horses, and some not so unlucky were shot at people. They all died in different ways. Fortunately, the battle formation is reasonable, and it will not cause one enemy to fall down and delay the situation of the people behind, so the positions can be changed.
Staring at the arrows, he rushed forward. After firing three arrows in a row, Wang Yan bent down calmly, clipped the bow in place to prevent it from falling off, and then picked up the eight-foot-long Ma Shuo lying on the horse's back, tucked it under his arm, and leaned slightly. He fell down and slammed into the oncoming enemy troops.
In this era, the first cavalry officer was, of course, a fierce general. Just like the left and right wings he just sent, one is led by Lu Junyi and the other is Dong Ping. They are not fierce and do not have the momentum to move forward. They cannot be the vanguard. They are generals.
Wang Yan was not interested in knowing who the oncoming opponent was. He just stared at the opponent from a distance. Both sides had a tacit understanding of holding their weapons and adjusting their angles as their bodies rose and fell. This was a mental battle, and there was only one chance. Psychological warfare. Look at the prediction, look at the courage, whoever loses will die. But the enemy general may be disappointed, because he is always the one who wins.
The enemy general was still changing the trajectory of his spear before the battle, trying to confuse his judgment. It might be useful to others, but it was useless to Wang Yanjifei. I saw him holding Ma Shuo between his arms and swinging in a wide range. In the eyes of the enemy general's disbelief, he pushed aside the tip of the spear that was constantly shaking and playing tricks, and then pierced him directly in the stomach. The quality of the armor was good. Although it broke through the defense, it only penetrated the general a little. The enemy general gave up his weapon in pain and held the head of the gun that had been pierced into his stomach with both hands.
At this time, he was already flying in the air...
The principle of leverage is there. A weapon more than four meters long can be held under the arm by the arm, which is already awesome, let alone move in a wide range like him. Although there are many people who can do it, it is a war after all, and it is not just about doing that, so the reasonable distribution of physical strength is a great test. There are very few attacks that are so fierce to Wang Yan, and they are so easy and freehand, so powerful and swift that they are caught off guard.
Wang Yan didn't stop at all. He used the impact force and his own strength to lead the enemy's body and hit the soldier who was following him from the back row. He directly hit the soldier and fell off his horse. Without waiting for him to think about anything else, he followed The men behind Wang Yan followed the horse, nailed the horse's foot with a shoe, and stepped on his face with a click...
Picking, poking, and poking, he does not need to kill all the enemies in front of him. In fact, as long as he destroys the balance of the enemy, the men following him will naturally hack him to death before the enemy soldiers recover. He is very efficient, like a real arrow, sweeping away the enemies in front of him.
The confrontation of thousands of cavalry took only a moment. Soon, Wang Yan penetrated the enemy army, but he did not stop because there were infantrymen holding shields and spears behind him.
Wang Yan was not afraid. He directly threw the Ma Shuo in his hand vigorously, penetrating the shield and pinning the soldier behind it to the ground. His horse was not afraid, and jumped up high, and the horse's hoofs stepped hard on the shield. Above, as for the cold spear, it is not something to be afraid of. Because most of their war horses are covered with a layer of light armor on the front, just to avoid being damaged by head-on collisions.
He picked up Ma Shuo who was nailed to the ground, held it with both hands, and hit the enemy soldier hard on the head. Although long weapons are difficult to use at such times, they are undeniably more powerful. He is an expert at playing with guns. He basically doesn't shoot anywhere else. He either hits the head, picks the head, or stabs the head. To deal with this small infantry, shoot them one at a time.
Even the two supervisors who followed closely behind him held their sabers sideways to see who would back them. Neither of them could move, so they used the speed of the horse to stab the sword outward. The saber is inherently sharp, and coupled with its speed, these soldiers can basically form a row with one stroke. This is the advantage of cavalry over infantry.
At this point, Wang Yan already understood that Xixia was going to be gone. Although this was the first time for such a large-scale team battle, he could also see the quality of the soldiers. The troops fighting them now, whether cavalry or infantry, have very low combat effectiveness. He can see that the old is bringing the new, but the old is bringing too much new, which is the crux of the problem. From this point of view, Xixia is at the end of its rope.
Of course, maybe their real elites are intercepting him from behind. After all, it is a strategy. It can go in four directions, true and false, false and true. Just like he doesn't know where to find his way out, the enemy doesn't know where he's going, let alone the most difficult place.
Now it seems that he is lucky.
As the killing progressed like cutting leeks, the troops from both wings finally came in from the side, and then without any instructions, they made a U-turn without saying a word and continued to slaughter in the newly divided battlefield.
It was also at this time that Xixia's army began to collapse.
People have their own judgments about the battlefield situation. Seeing Wang Yan leading the team to kill the cavalry troops, like a tiger entering a herd of sheep, he swung Ma Shuo, and some of them even flew away with the swoop. So many people died, and the Northern Army's horses couldn't even slow down. They were about to be killed. How could they still fight? Why don't you run away and wait to be picked up to heaven?
Therefore, the people behind the military formation became more and more frightened as they watched. They did not dare to move forward with their swords. They did not want to die, so the only way was to turn around and run away.
There are supervisors at the rear. They also know that this group of soldiers is not good, and they also know that the opponent is strong, so they fulfill their duties and kill those who run away when they see them.
It did frighten some people at first, but seeing Wang Yan and his men getting closer and closer, more and more people were frightened. Naturally, they broke through the supervising team and started running towards the city gate. More and more troops were defeated, leading more and more people to flee. It was natural that the whole army was defeated.
Instead of pursuing them to the city as a target, Wang Yan led his team in a wide swoop, killing a bunch of fleeing soldiers, and then asked his men to wave the flag and pass the order, turn their horses and go directly south.
The cavalry behind them didn't pay any attention. There are still countless soldiers and horses behind them. They can't attack the city now, so there is really no need to fight. It's just right to run away quickly.
The situation now is much better than he imagined. The Xixia soldiers' combat effectiveness is too poor, and they were forming formations when they first arrived, which shows that they were not fully prepared. In this case, there is no need to go north in a big circle and then go back. It is the best way to take advantage of them when they are not prepared and poke them out from behind.
Xixia's cavalry was almost half damaged in the confrontation just now, and the remaining ones did not dare to continue the pursuit. So Wang Yan led the soldiers and horses of the Fubei Army and headed straight for Jingzhou, which was not far away, no matter how dark it was.
The last time I communicated with Yang Jian was a month ago. Xixia had such arrangements today. The battlefield ahead must have changed a lot. He didn't know these things. What he told Yang Jian was only the grand strategy, which place to take, how to force Xixia step by step, etc. Other than that, how many troops and how to deploy them, that was not his business. The generals would supplement it.
Yang Jian knew nothing. All he could do was nod in agreement and endorse the actions of his generals. At the same time, we strive for logistics to prevent the civil and military officials behind from being too greedy and to ensure the supplies of the army. Having only achieved these two points, Yang Jian was already a qualified commander, and he could run through eight streets.
Tong Guan is too greedy. As the coach, no matter how he plays, he will get the credit as long as he wins. But Tong Guan was shameless and wanted to take credit from his subordinates. He wanted to put his cronies in positions of power, which was quite unsatisfactory.
After searching for a way all night, Wang Yan, who only crossed the river the next morning, arrived outside Jingzhou City and discovered that the Song Dynasty army had arrived in Jingzhou and camped thirty miles away to rest, and Yang Jian and Zhong Shidao were both here. .
When they heard that a large group of cavalry was invading, they were naturally on guard. However, after Wang Yan took out his Wangzi general and tied the Fubei army flag to his spear, the misunderstanding was avoided and no one started fighting.
"Prince-in-law, you are back in good health. You don't know that in the past year, the official family has been asking questions every three days, and Chang Diji's letters have also been sent to us one by one. , are all worried about you."
Yang Jian was very enthusiastic and personally led Wang Yan's horse, and his enthusiasm was beyond words. First, he took Wang Yan's money. Secondly, anyone who understands can see that Xixia will be destroyed this time, and he is the commander-in-chief. When this battle is over, Tong Guan will be nothing. This is his great benefactor and must be taken care of.
Next to him was the seventy-year-old Zhongshi Dao. Looking at Yang Jian's licking style, and comparing it with the way he used to be humble to himself in the past, but in fact he was condescending, he couldn't help but secretly sigh, this damn thing has to be reduced to one thing. things. But he didn't have any objections to Yang Jian. After all, he had cooperated with Tong Guan. In contrast, Yang Jian was very serious and never acted blindly, which saved him too much worry.
Wang Yan waved his hand: "Okay, let's make arrangements for the soldiers of the Northern Army to settle down, boil water for bathing, and serve them with good wine and food."
"Don't worry, my prince-in-law, we have already made arrangements to ensure that the meritorious soldiers are well fed and well-fed."
"How are the injured people who were sent back earlier recovering now?"
In the previous battle, although the enemy's army was unbearable, their losses were not small. Only more than 14,000 people came back, and the rest stayed there. Xixia will definitely not kill them all, but I don’t know how they will be treated. It depends on their fate.
"Those who can fight are now guarding with the heavy cavalry in Xiliang. Those who can't fight have been sent back to their hometowns to rest. The pension money has also been sent back. We watched it personally and made up a lot of it ourselves. I also said hello and promised not to treat them harshly."
"Send a letter to them and ask them to go eastward and get closer to this side." He turned around and gave instructions to his soldiers. Then Wang Yan looked at Master Zhong and said, "Old Mr. Zhong still looks so energetic."
"The general's demeanor is even better than before." Zhong Shidao laughed and said: "General, there is no need to say more here. Go and wash yourself off first. The food and wine are already prepared. Let's eat and talk later."
It is true that alcohol is not allowed in the army, but when Wang Yan and other soldiers of the Northern Army returned, they had to drink when they should. Besides, even if the whole army drinks together, from his understanding, nothing will happen even if he reports it. This is the real deal.
After washing up, in the Chinese army tent, in addition to Yang Jian, Zhong Shidao, and other generals who were qualified to sit at the table, all came to greet Wang Yan and report the situation to Wang Yan. They all know who the real boss is in this battle, and judging from the current situation, they also very much recognize the boss's strength. They are all eager, after all, this is a great achievement to destroy the country.
While eating and drinking, Wang Yan had a grasp of the overall battlefield situation.
The southeast and northwest of Ningxia had all been conquered by the Song Dynasty, and they reconnected with the Liao Kingdom in the east. Now it can basically be regarded as being surrounded on three sides, with only the north remaining untouched. It was also because Xixia deployed troops to besiege the Fubei Army this time, and the front line lost a large area of territory. Now that this battle has failed, it can be said that Xixia is already in decline.
Although Xixia still had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, that was because the Song army carried out a war of attrition, slowly forcing them. Although they were holding them down and beating them, the beating was not too fierce, they just kept hanging them. them. It is relying on the consumption of resources to gradually compress Xixia's living space. Having more soldiers is not a good thing, and Xixia can no longer withstand it.
It was also Wang Yan who didn't want to kill all the Xixia men, because all the people in Xixia were soldiers, and if the soldiers were gone, there would be no men. It's all labor, there's no need to waste it, and it will cause massive casualties to our own side...
Zhong Shidao took a sip of wine. He was old, his health was failing, and he couldn't drink too much. That is to say, he asked Wang Yan the key question: "General, wasn't the original plan to come back from Xiliang? Why are you in Jingzhou now?"
After listening to Wang Yan's explanation of the situation, he pondered for a moment and said, "I estimate that all the bridges across the river have been cut off at this moment. Maybe the Li family has also fled north, either to the Uighurs or to Mongolia. They still have some wealth and soldiers to protect themselves, but it’s a pity..."
Of course Wang Yan had thought about this, but he didn't know the specific battlefield conditions at that time. Otherwise, he would have definitely gone north to Helan Mountain as planned. In fact, the most likely possibility is that the people from the Li clan had already run away when they were heading east. If there is an intention to surrender, when their soldiers are dispersed, someone will try to surrender. Even if they were hesitant at that time, they should send people to Jingzhou to study the surrender when they come back, but now there is enough time, but there is no movement from Xixia, so they can only run away.
He shook his head and smiled: "It's no pity, they can't run away. Now there are no Xixia people in the northwest, and the Uighurs don't dare to cross a step further. The Mongolian tribes, after we take over the Xixia land and open trade routes, we still have to follow As long as we tell those tribesmen who are engaged in cattle and sheep business, the Li clan will come to Bianjing to dance for Jinshang."
When Wang Yan said this, everyone who was originally feeling sorry for not catching the enemy monarch laughed loudly and stopped studying those useless things.
If you want to say that people really need to make progress, look at the group of people who are doing this. They used to think that they could win the war and not be tormented by the civil servants. Now that we have destroyed Xixia, we begin to regret that we were unable to capture the enemy's monarch. This is progress, great progress.
When asked about his next action plan, Wang Yan shook his head and smiled. He knew that these people were afraid that he would not be satisfied and take the credit. After all, Xixia is about to die now. As long as you lead troops to surround a few cities, no one will have to die. When the food and grass in the city are exhausted, someone will naturally offer the city. There will definitely be no surprises. It is time to divide the fruits.
He replied that after a few days of recuperation, the North Korean Army stayed to cooperate with the operation, and he took his soldiers home. Hello, me, hello, everyone...
