There is only one word difference between defeat and false defeat on the surface, but in fact there is only one word difference.
Seeing that the thousand-man team operating the catapults was defeated, they could not stop their retreat. Gu Yang flew away from the mobile tent car and unfurled the banner.
In order to prevent the brigade from being scattered by the rout, he first led his soldiers to join the rout.
Fake defeat has always been the most difficult of all tactics, because in this era there is no real-time transmission of information. As long as it is out of sight of the commander, the army is equivalent to fighting independently. Once communication fails, people cannot trust friendly forces and need to fully Military officers at the grassroots level have a high level of initiative.
The tribal form of the Mongols just meets the two conditions of trusting friendly forces and the initiative of grassroots officers. They have a unique advantage in fake defeat.
It was a real rout at first.
They abandoned their baggage and yak carts and ran northwest. A few small groups turned back and tried to fight the pursuing nobles, but were defeated again and again by nobles with spears. .
The noble cavalry were all killing each other like crazy. They were invincible as if they had divine help, as if they were just a group of poor herdsmen being pursued.
The pursuit continued out of Liu Chengzong's sight range, and even the second echelon of Ah Liu, Basang and Gao Yingdeng slowly pushed forward for nearly ten miles.
The Xifan nobles were tired, but the Mongols recovered.
The Mongolian cavalry spontaneously rallied during the rout, forming teams of hundreds in twos and threes, and several teams of hundreds forming teams of thousands. The cavalry in one team stood on the saddle, shook their sabers, and shouted an overtone loudly.
One after another, the Mongolian calls with overtones echoed from all directions in the entire valley, making people's scalp numb.
The defeat became a false defeat.
Thousands of war horses were reined in, and the cavalry turned their horses back. The herdsman's temperament disappeared and was replaced by the ferocity of the grassland bandits licking blood. Genghis Khan's warriors are back.
Teams from all directions responded to the call one after another and launched successive attacks on the tired Xifan nobles.
One team after another, they used a circular formation to shoot with bows and arrows, a horizontal formation to collide with the flanks, and a column to rush forward with swords.
The noble cavalry who were scattered in pursuit were divided and surrounded. Those wearing mail armor were knocked off their horses, and those wearing heavy armor were also unable to stand alone. In the blink of an eye, the offensive and defensive situation became difficult.
Many nobles have not yet recovered from the change in form. They may also realize that the situation has changed but their brains cannot keep up. They are eager to fight with their horses, but their horses cannot keep up with their physical strength. They are almost lined up to be sent to Paradise. world.
Finally, a clear-headed nobleman galloped among the rebels, shouting words to ask them to dismount and form a formation. Then they reluctantly formed a line and fired at the Mongolian soldiers with their bows.
When it comes to foot archery versus mounted archery, in terms of combat alone, the infantry archer will never suffer.
Even with the same bow, if a person can use 70% or 80% of the force on horseback, he is already an excellent rider. But standing underground, he can use 100% of the force, which is more accurate and stable. Some riders with good horse control skills You can also use your war horse as a cover to block a few arrows.
But at the battle level, everyone in the dismounted cavalry formation knew that their formation was just to delay time. The key to their lives was whether subsequent reinforcements could arrive in time.
The Xifan nobles had never missed Liu Chengzong so much. If they were abandoned at this time, with less than two thousand people in the formation, they would be surrounded by thousands of Khalkha troops. It would only be a matter of time before they died or surrendered.
At the rear of the battlefield, Liu Chengzong, who was leading the cavalry and escorting the infantry, saw that the Western nobles were running back again.
Only three to four hundred people came back, and they were chased by two Khalkha troops and fled in a hurry.
Hearing intermittent noisy shouts from the river valley in the distance, Liu Chengzong clapped his hands on horseback and said to Zhang Tianlin: "Oh, you're cheating!"
At this moment, many speculations flashed through his mind. It seemed that the enemy had only returned two thousand-man troops.
He did not believe that the Western nobles could kill tens of thousands of Mongolians to only two thousand, and then escape back; that must be the main force of the enemy army that is using all its strength to besiege the right camp.
Although the Mongolian soldiers faked defeat, it showed that he underestimated the quality of the enemy, but it also confirmed his foresight to steadily advance and save a hand.
Zhang Tianlin stood on the horse and looked into the distance. Finally, she squatted down and sat back on the horse again and asked, "Commander, two thousand, shall I defeat them?"
"Don't move for now." Liu Chengzong looked back, shook his head and said: "The Mongols still have some strength left, so the cavalry soldiers should be deployed in the river valley to prevent them from crossing us to attack the rear. Since they want to fight, let Ah Liu and Gao go first. We should deal with them on board, wait for the opportunity, and defeat them in one strike."
Zhang Tianlin's own cavalrymen took advantage of the rain curtain to quietly spread out in the valley a mile away from the Ah Liu Army formation, setting up small cone formations.
Two thousand Khalkha horses pursued the fleeing nobles until they came within Ah Liu's shooting range. Seeing that Ah Liu was sticking to their formation, they took out a few centurions to try to attack from the front in turn.
The first team can't rush, the second team can't rush, the second team can't rush, the third team can't rush, it can't rush.
Impact and collision are two different concepts. Impact is to rush to the nearby area, focusing on momentum, with the purpose of causing chaos in the enemy's formation; collision is the impact of heavy cavalry.
As for Ah Liu's army, there are 200 veterans on each side. They are all old rebels from the Tianqi years. They are indeed a bit unable to keep up with the physical strength when it comes to fighting alone, but they are very courageous and knowledgeable. They were in Chengdu ten years ago. The government fought dozens of battles with Qin Liangyu, Zhang Yanfang, Xu Chengming, Huang Yunqing and other officers and soldiers under the gun. Are they still afraid of this drizzle?
One by one, they carried large shields and spears, urging the light soldiers around them to shoot arrows at the Mongolian soldiers.
The chieftain soldiers' fighting method was very simple. They either fought in skirmishes or formed a large formation with spears. This had been the case for hundreds of years. Without friendly troops, it was easy to be surrounded and withdraw from the formation.
But if you hope to break the formation, the Mongols have no firearms, and the only ones who can break the infantry formation are infantry.
Ah Liu was convinced that the Mongols, who lacked heavy cavalry like their ancestors, did not dare to charge, but Basang's people were already frightened to the point of schizophrenia.
Although their mission in this battle is to serve as auxiliary troops, the morale of most of the soldiers is very low, and their will to fight is extremely weak, for no other reason...just because God is raining, and they can't see the Generalissimo when it rains. Guns and artillery unit.
With the commander's guns and cannons on their side, the nobles who had oppressed them all their lives would be beaten to pieces. But now without the guns and cannons, only Gao Yingdeng's 600 horsemen who swept the formation on both wings could not arouse their fighting spirit.
Although Basang told the soldiers that they had artillery in the tent where the positions were held, the soldiers didn't believe it: It was raining, which went against common sense, liar!
But there are two types of people who are exceptions. Part of it is because Buchi is shouting and in a positive state in the military formation, which will make them line up and shoot outside the square formation like a chicken blood.
There are about two to three hundred people in the other group, who support eight small tent-covered tents for the artillerymen mixed in the formation. They not only enjoy Bu Chi's metaphysical encouragement, but also enjoy the experience brought by the generalissimo's artillery lift. The physical belief bonus is very calm.
Ah Liu's central military camp was held up by the Khalkha horse team and was attacked twice from the front. During this process, Gao Yingden responded to the defeated army, drove the horses into Ah Liu's military formation, dismounted from the outside and lined up to shoot at the surrounding area.
Although Gao Yingdeng is a high-level enthusiast who attacks enemy lines, in this situation, the enemy army only has two thousand troops. It is obvious that the large army behind is held back by the Xifan nobles. His 600 horsemen rush over. In other words, it's just a waste of time. It's better to dismount and shoot.
The other Khalkha teams also took advantage of the opportunity of two frontal attacks to nearly complete the ring formation of hundreds of cavalry and thousands of people, surrounding Ah Liu's central military camp in a crescent shape. Except for Zhang Tianlin's cavalry behind the formation, they were protected on three sides. They were all covered by the rangers.
Then several loud arrows shot into the sky, rushing from three sides.
The plan was three-sided, but in fact there were only two sides of the cavalry on the left and right wings, because the cavalry attacking the front ran towards the right wing of the military formation, which frightened Ah Liu and almost called the artillery to fire. He wondered what kind of tactical maneuver this was?
There is actually no strategy.
It was just that the Mongolian captain who was responsible for the frontal attack ran out of luck after two consecutive attacks, and bumped his face into a misfired crossbow arrow while running.
The captain didn't know what was going on. The boots and stirrups on his feet were stuck very tightly. After falling off the horse, he was dragged by the horse and tossed around in the mud. The horse kept running towards Ah Liu's right wing, and the three people's hooks and sickles No gun could pull him away.
At this moment, a smart man with a hook and sickle ran out from nowhere. His riding skills were very good. He stepped on the saddle and threw the hook and sickle, jumped on the captain's horse, and rode away.
Can other entrepreneurs from Mobei tolerate this?
Everyone raised their guns and gave chase. The cavalry soldiers behind thought something was happening in the front. They had no time to think about it during the attack, and the entire team was led astray.
On the other hand, the remaining two sides charged well. The right wing fired a hail of arrows at a distance of twenty steps to turn the horses. The Mongolian cavalry on the left discovered the real weak point of the formation and used the rain of arrows to make the light troops in the formation commotion. After turning the horses' heads, A few steps later, I stabbed him diagonally.
Their collision direction was diagonally from the left wing of the military formation to the front, because people thought that the cavalry in front of the formation also hit it, but all the entrepreneurs in front of the formation ran away. For a while, they were in close combat, and both sides suffered serious casualties.
The left and right wings that had just turned around saw the rear formation collide, and the captain immediately ordered to regroup to prepare for the collision. Even the front formation cavalry who had run far away elected a new captain after a short hesitation, and under his leadership joined the collision team on the right wing. .
At this moment, there was a continuous sound of artillery fire outside the Ah Liu Army Formation.
Liu Chengzong frowned when he saw it. Without the command of Cao Yao and Huang Shengxiao, the artillery fire was completely spontaneous. Starting from the first gunshot, at least fourteen of the twenty-four Lynx Suns on the flanks fired in a short period of time.
Some guns fired early, some fired late, and some guns were probably wet and not lit, or the artillery was not ready, so the damage was extremely lacking.
Originally, the artillery was small and scattered, and its range was very short. It could not hit the horse soldiers wandering far away. Only the Mongolian horse soldiers who quickly rushed forward would be injured by the artillery.
Smoke rose from the small sheds on all sides of the military formation, and fire and iron bullets flew, knocking down several enemy riders on the left wing.
Apart from being very powerful, there is almost no merit.
Liu Chengzong saw it clearly from behind the formation. The moment the smoke came out, he even doubted whether those who fired the artillery were his soldiers... Is this the level of my artillery?
He thought to himself that when he returned to Juerwan this time, he must practice artillery for another half a year. Cao Yao had not learned any of his skills!
But the next moment, the Lion Army's artillery led the Kangning light troops to jump out of the smoke in column, or shoot head-on with big-tip bows, or stab with spears, or hold shields and hobs, and snatch the corpses of those who were hit by the cannons. , and also collided with the cavalry that was blocked by artillery shells and slashed for a while.
They are not fond of fighting, nor are they obsessed with killing. They kill and injure those who can kill, and after taking three or five steps, they quickly retreat back to the formation.
Liu Chengzong's brows relaxed. They were indeed his Lion Soldiers. These people led a small group of several people in close combat, and they were much more handsome than the nonsense of artillery just now.
A brief fight frightened the Mongolian cavalry that was blocked from charging.
They had not considered that there were cannons here, and those small sheds covered with tents. People had seen similar ones at the monks in Mobei. A few slaves carried a small sedan, and the monks from Uzang sat on the mountain and watched the grassland. Tribal strife.
They thought it was the nobles of Xifan who were sheltering from the wind and rain.
What an injustice. Who would have thought that there was a cannon and two tall and strong men stuffed inside that thing!
Within the entire tribute range, there is indeed a certain height difference between various places, but the difference caused by geography is not big. On the contrary, the height difference caused by nutrition level is very huge.
Life in Mobei Mongolia has not been easy in recent decades. Relatively speaking, most people look like Mongolian horses, short and strong.
Northern Shaanxi has not been having a good time in recent years, but the Lion Soldier's body was basically in the Wanli period when supplies were abundant. He was not short. He was indeed thinner in the past. But in recent years, when the environment has been the most difficult, everyone's lives have been reduced. Hanging on the horsemeat sponsored by the government and army, each one was as strong as a calf.
This was after the march from south to north made them lose an average of seven or eight kilograms.
From the perspective of each team of Mongolian soldiers, tall helmet guns rushed out of the gunpowder smoke, killing people more efficiently than cannons. In the blink of an eye, seven or eight soldiers were gone, and then they got back into the tent, like a group of Man-eating monster.
Not to mention that there were Ah Liu's veterans and Gao Yingdeng's foot cavalry nearby, who also took the opportunity to intercept the Mongolian cavalry. Liu Chengzong's palms itched when he saw them, and he wished he could draw his sword and go forward to fight with his bow.
However, he still held back and looked at Zhang Tianlin who was ready to go in the distance and raised his hand to push forward. The cavalry that had been waiting for a long time rushed out, sounding the death knell of defeating the enemy again.
The cavalry soldiers pursued the line for more than a hundred steps and regrouped, and the Chinese military camp moved forward steadily again, heading towards the valley where the fighting was chaotic.
Liu Chengzong had already expected that this battle would cycle between defeat and false defeat, but now he has completely eliminated his worries about the outcome of the battle and is convinced that he can win even without firearms.
Because the rainy weather not only weakened him, but also affected the transmission of information by the Mongolian army during the attack. They collapsed when they retreated and collapsed when they attacked.
On the contrary, because the people in Basang are cowardly enough on their own side, when the transmission of information is blocked, the veterans can take control of the situation.
This kind of battle will continue several more times, but this is just right. It can leave enough time for Lao Qijia to occupy the mountain pass and complete the encirclement, creating a brilliant victory!
