Chapter 16 Breaking the Formation
While Sun Jie and the Tiger Guards were fighting Guan Shengyun's guards, his cavalry on the right had already forced themselves in front of the circular formation.
The armored cavalry were driving in circles about a few feet outside the circular formation, making all kinds of ferocious expressions, cursing loudly, and making various threatening attack movements with their weapons back and forth. The Tang riders all brought their bows. At this time, they hung their long soldiers back on their saddle rings, took off their bows and arrows, and began to aim and shoot calmly. This is psychological warfare: for armored targets, the power of a mounted bow is inferior to that of a walking bow, and its deterrence effect is far greater than its actual killing effect - but its effect cannot be underestimated: no one will be hit directly in the face by a sharp arrow seven or eight feet away. , will be under tremendous psychological pressure. What's more, they don't just aim and shoot, they often aim for a while and then suddenly change the direction to point at another person. Several times, the arrow suddenly loosens its string and shoots out. The guy with a cold sweat smiled sinisterly teasingly and put down the bow again. Just as the person being targeted breathed a sigh of relief, a sharp arrow shot through the air and hit...
The armored cavalry were bluffing, but they were actually waiting for their own infantry. They were in no rush to rush into the formation. The veterans in the circle formation all knew this, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Breaking through was already impossible: no matter what, a man's two legs could not outrun a horse's four legs. As soon as the formation dispersed, everyone was instantly on both sides of their bodies.
In a place of death, despair overwhelms fear, and everyone's face is ferocious.
The armored infantrymen of the Changjie Battalion rumbled up with heavy footsteps.
The armored cavalry gave way to the front and changed to cover from three sides.
Directly in front of the circular formation is a square formation - Sun Jie's personal barracks.
The thick square array was twenty or thirty rows deep. In front of the hollow circular array, which only had three thin lines of defense, it looked increasingly impenetrable.
The other three directions are armored cavalry - in the open and flat fields, they are the nightmare of all infantry.
The noisy drum noise subsided, and the battlefield gradually became quiet. There was only the sound of heavy breathing and slight metal friction, as well as the occasional snort of the war horses and the clatter of patrolling hooves. Each sound was like a knock on the soldiers in trouble. on my heart.
The two sides were in a stalemate. This moment was so long that time seemed to have frozen.
Not far away, more than a hundred feet away.
The hundreds of cavalry pursuers on the left were galloping wantonly in the fields. One after another, the defeated soldiers who had lost their strength but were still running hard in all directions fell one after another under the sharp sabers and lances. They screamed one after another. It can be vaguely heard... Some armored cavalry have cut down all the defeated soldiers within the attack range, and they are teasing the last target like a cat and mouse: they rush to the vicinity, tap lightly with their lances, and the runners immediately turn around and run away. Looking in the other direction, the knight just watched on the spot, waiting for the unlucky guy to run dozens of steps and urge his horse again to catch up and block the road ahead. The latter could only turn again... Seeing the little figure, he was desperate. , running and running without direction, suddenly fell down, struggled for a few times and then became motionless - this was a lung injury.
Guan Jianlin, a guerrilla in the circular formation, turned pale and looked around: outside the formation was an enemy with an absolute advantage, and next to him were his brothers who lived with him day and night... He gritted his teeth and took a few steps forward to get out of the formation. He shouted in a hissing voice: "Please give me an answer, Commander-in-Chief of your army!"
silence.
No one answered.
The veins on Guan Guoqi's neck were clearly visible and he continued to shout: "Your general, Guan has something to say!"
The shrill voice pierced the dusk, and the noisy battlefield seemed to suddenly become dead silent.
Horse hooves clatter.
A member of the cavalry stands out from the crowd.
The saber in his right hand pointed towards Guan Jianlin. The blade was still sharp and the blade was dyed bright red. A drop of blood slowly crawled along the blade towards the tip.
Guerrilla Guan Jianlin took a few steps forward, raised his saber with both hands and knelt down on one knee: "Commander! This is Guerrilla Guan Jianlin who is under Marshal Guan's command. Every wronged person has an owner, and every debtor has an owner. All the sons and gentlemen are obeying orders. Guan is willing to sacrifice his life." In exchange for a life for the brothers, we will kill them as they please without any hesitation!"
There was a commotion in the circle.
Everyone knew in their hearts that Guan Guerzhi's so-called finding a new way of life was by no means as simple as putting down his weapons and walking away. Being put into a hard labor camp and being whipped to death should be the best ending. It may also be that each person sacrifices a palm or an arm as the price of leaving here and surviving. Of course, there is another possibility: the officers and soldiers just pretended to agree verbally, and then suddenly turned against and killed everyone when everyone put down their weapons and became unarmed - this kind of thing has not happened before, and it has happened far more than once! The only thing that can restrain the other party is not an oath, but only the vague prophecy of "it is ominous to kill prisoners". Whether to keep the promise or not depends only on the other's general's thought.
The soldiers' emotions were complicated: Of course they didn't want to see the guerrillas killed at the slightest opportunity, but... who would be willing to give up their chance of survival? Even if it means being permanently disabled...
The condescending cavalry commander stared at Guan Youyi, who was half-kneeling in front of his horse, with cold eyes for a while, and then said word by word: "This is Shangguan Fei, the general under the command of General Sun, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu."
Just as Guan Jianlin responded, "Look up for a long time," he saw Shangguan Fei's saber stretched straight ahead and raised high. He paused for a moment, then quickly made a stroke to the right, turned around, and rode away. The blood drops thrown from the blade fell on Guan Jianlin's face and armor, but Guan Jianlin didn't notice it at all.
Seeing this, the armored cavalry in other directions withdrew!
The knights gathered their horses' heads and trotted away with Shangguan Fei. Only the infantry phalanx was still standing tall in front of the circular formation.
Guan Jianlin and everyone in the circle were stunned on the spot: What is going on?
agreed? Agreed, why don't you give me a nice word? Why not take yourself away?
disagree? If you don't agree, why do you all leave and give up two paths?
Guan Jianlin, who was kneeling on one knee, straightened his upper body and looked around. Then, he stood up hesitantly, looked in the direction where the cavalry left, and then turned to look at the infantry phalanx in front of him - he was horrified to find that the mountains and plains were still there just now. The other group of armored cavalry chasing the defeated troops had already completed their respective tasks. They formed a large arc-shaped cavalry line from a distance and slowly came over...
In the midst of confusion, the three-faced armored cavalrymen had already galloped more than a hundred steps. They reined in their horses again, returned to line up, trotted, accelerated, sprinted...
stunned!
Heartbroken!
This, this, this is about charging into the battle formation and killing them all!
They didn't even bother to pretend to accept surrender and then kill the prisoners!
After the shock, Guan Jianlin yelled with all his strength: "Fight with the dog officers and soldiers!"
However, the shouts were immediately drowned in the rumble of horse hooves.
Like most generals in this era, Shangguan Fei's loyalty and bravery are not so much directed at the court, but rather directed at Sun Jie alone. In front of others, he calls Sun Jie the Commander-in-Chief, but in private, he is his benefactor - Shangguan Fei, who has been a personal servant of the young master of the Sun Mansion, and has become a dignified third-rank general. Without Sun Jie, there would be no him. everything! The shameless thieves not only killed prisoners, but also massacred the city after it was broken. Now, do you still want to leave only one life? Where in the world can there be such a cheap thing! If you change positions, will you spare my handsome man's life? Will you spare my life?
Admittedly, it would be most convenient to pretend to accept surrender and then encircle all the thieves who had laid down their weapons. It was not that Shangguan Fei had not thought about it. That was why he was pondering just now.
But Shangguan Fei has followed Sun Jie for more than 20 years, and he knows the character of his benefactor. Although Sun Jie didn't say anything on the surface, he definitely didn't like this in his heart. Moreover, there is no greater pleasure for the guys who cheated the assassins and screamed in the sky than to chop off the heads of the blood-scarred thieves in the air with their own hands, and let the bodies and horses enjoy the bath of blood spurting out!
This is what a man should do!
Dozens of riders, with thunderous momentum, crashed into the side of the formation that was not protected by spears.
In the blink of an eye, the formation collapsed.
Guan Jianlin, who was alone outside the formation, was hit head-on by the galloping horse. He waved his hands and feet and flew backwards. He hit the outside of the circle formation in the air. The three layers of defense were instantly smashed and torn apart by the corpses and the galloping horse that had not lost any momentum. Come on!
The cooks and soldiers in the center of the circular formation looked at the Guan Guoqi lying in front of them in horror: a large piece of his breastplate collapsed, his limbs were twisted in extremely weird postures, and large streams of blood slowly poured out of his mouth, nose, eyes and ears, surrounding him. The corpse quickly formed a pool of blood...and then, a sharp sword flashed beside him!
The galloping horses, which had not finished their castration, rushed straight towards the general flags in the formation that were standing straight up to the sky. The sword flashed, and the flag bearer's left arm holding on to the pole was broken at shoulder level. The flag bearer looked at the empty left shoulder in shock, threw away the sword in his right hand, and fell to the ground screaming while covering his bleeding shoulder. Shangguan Fei didn't stop, didn't even look at the enemy's general flag, clamped his legs, shouted and rode towards the other end of the front line - all the remaining enemies were here, the flag used for command, at this moment, the value and destruction Cloth is no different.
At the same time, the cavalry formed four columns and filed in through the gap created by Guan Jianlin, and then galloped against the inside of the circle. Cold light flashed frequently, and at the same time there was a shrill howl.
When the circular formation was torn apart, Shangguan Fei took the lead and rushed towards the Guanzi Shuaiqi. At the same time, the infantry square formation of Changjie Battalion, led by guerrilla Sheng Degong, began to attack simultaneously.
The spear team directly in front of Poxiao Camp had been reduced to pieces under the impact of the previous rout. Shangguan Fei's cavalry arrived too fast. The swaying spearmen had no time to reorganize their defense line before they were overwhelmed by the ensuing saber cavalry. The gun knocked down one piece, and then the cavalry quickly completed the encirclement, followed closely by the infantry. Regardless of whether they still have weapons in their hands, the remaining spearmen can only get into the circle to seek protection from their fellow sword and shield soldiers - as the saying goes, a stick in the moon is worth a sword in a lifetime. The indestructible Macedonian spear array in the West requires huge training costs year after year. The two thousand years of war in the Central Plains were dominated by farmers and soldiers, which is completely unimaginable. The sword and shield soldiers who have been trained for a year and a half are the elite troops of most generals. The main task of the spearman is to resist the horse. Facing the overcoming sword and shield soldiers, resistance is not only a dead end, but brandishing the spear will also have a great impact on the formation of the companions behind him.
Right in front of the Poxiao camp, that is, to the east, is the Changjie camp's troops. The distance between the two sides is only a few feet, and to the north is Shangguan Fei's cavalry. At the moment when the cavalry charged into the formation, Sheng Degong yelled out the most familiar word to his brothers: "Squat!"
Three javelin throws!
The round shields of the Poxiao battalion's sword and shield soldiers had already protected the body's vital points.
However……
This time the main target of the javelin is not a person, but a shield.
The round shield with a diameter of half a foot was nailed to three or five heavy javelins and could no longer move easily. The shield holder couldn't help but lower his arms, and then there was the cold light of the iron blade that broke through the wind!
The south and west are the other two directions where the circular formation has no enemies. The soldiers here dropped their weapons and started running away - however, dozens of feet away, waiting for them was another encirclement of armored cavalry...
The formation collapsed.
