,!
After reporting the battle damage to Chen Chong, Yang Fu thought about the next step and lay awake all night. At dawn the next day, he put on his clothes and stood up, and saw the golden sunlight shining from the southeast, which was eye-catching. The weather is still sunny, and after days of sunshine, the land will be harder, which is good news for the cavalry in the north.
Before they had time to have breakfast, the West Bank announced that reinforcements had arrived and had already crossed the pontoon bridge. Yang Fu hurried out of the camp to greet them, only to see a long horse team winding towards them. Many energetic sergeants were sitting on the horses, and the horses carried some items. It seemed that they had been loaded after rationing overnight.
The general leading the army, Yang Fu, knew him as Yang Fu's cousin Jiang Xu. Although martial arts flourished in Liangzhou, there were also noble families who passed down poetry and calligraphy. Among them, the four surnames of Tianshui Jiang, Yan, Ren, and Zhao were the most famous. Jiang Xu was the leader of the Jiang family, and was as famous as Yang Fu. As "Jiang Er Yang Fore", he helped the Qiang in Jincheng and made many achievements. At this time, he was appointed as the captain of Xiping School, with more than 3,000 people under his command.
Seeing the soldiers and horses brought by his cousin, and the friendly greetings he gave to him, Yang Fu felt relieved a lot, and hurriedly welcomed him into the tent to talk in detail. Jiang Xu took off his leather hat and his water-stained leather boots. , then he knocked his elbows and faced Yang Fu and said: "After you reported the news, Prime Minister Lian Liang called us to hold a military meeting at night. They all said that they thought you were just taking advantage of the Shu people, but unexpectedly the enemy also had elephants, haha! So! So! So I was sent here.”
Yang Fu looked ashamed after hearing this, and was about to make a few remarks when he saw Jiang Xu wave his hand and continued to say to him: "The Prime Minister said that no one expected that the enemy would use elephants, so you don't have to blame yourself. And although the pontoon bridge is important, , but it’s not a matter of life or death in the battle, so I haven’t equipped you with heavy troops. Now that we know they have elephants this time, many things will be easier to handle. There are many pine trees left on the west coast, and I brought them over. Elephants are afraid of fire. , when they come again, you set a fire, who will see the chaos?"
After hearing this, Yang Fu felt a sense of warmth in his heart. The slanting sun shone in through the raised tent door, sweeping away the darkness inside the tent. Yang Fu couldn't help but feel complacent. The weather was so sunny today, so the Shu people would definitely fight again. This was a good opportunity for him to avenge his previous shame! He immediately introduced yesterday's battle situation to Jiang Xu and discussed the formation strategy.
During the discussion, Li Jun, the commander of the army under Yang Fu, came to see him and reported that the scouts had reported that there were indeed men and horses in the Shu camp coming out of the camp and marching towards the pontoon bridge. Li Jun took the initiative to take the lead today because he did not receive any meritorious service yesterday. The soldiers wanted to fight, but Yang Fu couldn't get what he asked for, so he immediately agreed.
At midnight, the Shu people's Nanzhong Army entered the sandbank again. The Han army responded in a timely manner, beating drums and lining up quietly in front of the camp. In contrast, the Shu army responded to yesterday's victory by making noise and demonstrating in front of the camp, which was extremely arrogant. The two sides move step by step, one is noisy and the other is quiet, the contrast is very sharp. There was a forest of military flags in the Shu army's formation, while most of the Han army's military flags were put away. Only dozens of large flags with Chinese characters were left in the camp, slowly fluttering in the wind.
Jiang Xu rode on horseback to observe the enemy's situation, pointed at the Shu army and said to everyone: "These are all people who have never been through a large formation. How can they compare with our athletes? The tiger was as quiet as a virgin before it pounced on the food, and the frightened wild boar howled desperately!" Everyone laughed and became more courageous after hearing this
According to the prior plan, the Han army was not in a hurry to send out cavalry to charge, but gradually approached the Shu army like dark clouds, and finally stopped two arrows away. The Shu people seemed to be inspired by yesterday's success in defeating the Han army. Not only did they not stop making noise, but they also used long bamboo poles to pick out dozens of heads and hung them under the flag of the Shu army. These were obviously the heads of the Han soldiers who died in the battle yesterday. class. However, the Han army was not disturbed and still maintained its formation.
Seeing that it was time to confess, the people of Shu were the first to lose their composure. I heard a shouting and shouting from behind the Shu army, and several holes were opened in the front of the Shu army array. Then, four tall and mighty beasts suddenly appeared in the Shu army array. They were the majestic figures yesterday. elephant. Behind the elephant, there were many cavalrymen.
However, although the Shu people had confidence in the elephant, since they failed to complete the construction yesterday, they obviously realized that the infantry alone could not destroy the Han Army's East Camp, so they simply let the infantry form their formation on the spot. It seems that the Shu people wanted to use elephants to demonstrate and scare away the approaching Han army. The mahout stabbed the elephant with spikes, and the elephant raised its trunk and roared. The four giant beasts walked side by side, dozens of steps apart, and approached the Han army together.
Sure enough, the horses in the front row of the Han army began to become restless again when they saw the monster approaching. However, this time the Han army was prepared. When the elephants came out of the battle, the military commanders immediately called on the knights to dismount first to prevent the horses from being scattered. They covered the eyes of their horses with cloth towels and tied the reins around their waists to prevent the horses from panicking and getting lost. After being prepared, the soldiers took up their bows and shot arrows at the four elephants in front of them.
Arrows were flying at random, and the elephant was very anxious. It kept waving its trunk to block the arrows, and the sharp blade on its trunk made a clanking sound when it hit the arrow shaft. The skin of the giant beast is extremely thick, and it is difficult to cause damage unless it is shot to the vital point. Seeing that the elephant was getting agitated, the tamer was afraid that it would lose control, so he yelled and cursed, urging the elephant to speed up and run forward.
Seeing that the random arrows could not scare away the elephant, the Han army remained calm and took out the rockets and torches that had been prepared in advance from their horses. They lit them and shot them out immediately. The burning flames were filled with blue smoke. At the same time, the Han soldiers The gong was struck, and a strange shriek erupted.
Ahead, there were flames flying and gongs ringing again. This time the elephant finally couldn't stand it anymore. One of them hissed one after another, which was an instinctive reaction in the face of fear. The mahout riding on its head sensed that something was not good and cursed him with thorns, but he could no longer control this angry big guy. One elephant twisted its huge body and ran away first. The other elephant saw it and turned around to chase after it. This star frightened the cavalry following behind, and those who could not avoid it were immediately trampled to the ground.
Although the horses of the Shu people are used to seeing elephants, they are all panicked when faced with the elephant's mad dash. The frightened horses ran around, causing chaos. This, in turn, stimulated the elephants even more, making them mistakenly think that they were surrounded by enemies, so they ran even more crazily. During the wild bumps along the way, the two mahouts riding on the back of the elephant fell down one after the other, screaming and perishing in the chaos of wolves running like pigs.
The two elephants at the front returned one after another, trampling and ravaging them as they ran into the dense forest. People scrambled to avoid them, leaving a mess on the ground. However, the two elephants at the end were not disturbed, but the mahout saw their companions end up like this. , I felt hesitant for a moment, not knowing whether to move forward or back.
Jiang Xu saw the hesitation of the elephant tamer from a distance, and smiled at Yang Fu: "The thief is so frightened!" After saying that, he immediately clapped his horse and came within an arrow's range of the elephant on the left, drew his bow and took aim from a distance, because Jiang Xu was dressed in lacquer. The crimson armor and stomach are very conspicuous in the army, so the elephant tamer saw his movements at a glance, and quickly leaned down on the elephant's back, intending to avoid Jiang Xu's cold arrow. Unexpectedly, Jiang Xu saw this clearly, he just sneered in his heart, opened and closed his arms very quickly, and shot out an armor-piercing arrow in an instant, hitting the elephant's right eye.
The elephant tamer felt a huge force throwing him up, and then he saw the giant beast below him roaring to the sky due to severe pain. Both the Shu people and the Han soldiers felt their ears sore. But the more terrifying thing has just begun. This elephant was inspired with unprecedented ferocity and lost sight in one eye. No matter where it was or where it was going, it rushed into the Shu people's formation. , the Shu people couldn't dodge in the foot formation, and were almost kicked one by one. Soon there were dozens of piles of non-human-shaped flesh on the ground.
This purgatory-like situation completely destroyed the morale of the Shu army. The remaining elephant tamers drove the last elephant slowly back, fearing that the Han soldiers would do this again. At this time, Army Sima Li Jun flew on his horse and led the knights to rush towards the gap left by the elephant. The Shu people had collapsed. Although dozens of people rushed forward and raised their swords to resist the Han army's cavalry, it was too late. The Han cavalry were fully armed and armored and barged in. Even if there were arrows flying in front of them, they had no need to dodge. They waved their horses and started to engage in hand-to-hand combat. All the Shu people they encountered were forced to retreat. Bodies fell all the way.
Soon, the front of the Han cavalry had reached into the dense forest. Yang Fu saw this and immediately ordered the remaining knights to outflank him from both sides. He said: "The elite of the Shu army are all attracted and have no time to care about the left and right. If you fight from the left and right, you will definitely gain a lot!" The fact was as he expected. When the Han cavalry formed a three-way arrow and penetrated into the Han army, the Shu people were completely unable to fight back. A large number of Shu soldiers who were trapped in the cavalry formation were helpless. The Han army, on the other hand, shouted and cheered wildly, and continued to pursue in depth, just like the raging waves washing and tearing up the rocks. Before long, the Han cavalry had captured nearly two thousand people.
But at this time, the Shu army camp obviously also learned that something was not going well on the front line. Some new troops were coming here one after another. Although it was unclear how many people there were, the shadow of the flag could be seen. The Han cavalry just gave up on the situation like the Shu people did yesterday and did not pursue the decisive battle any further. However, today's losses were enough for the Shu army to find it unacceptable.
When the battlefield gradually returned to calm, the subsequent Shu troops came to clean up the battlefield. They saw corpses lying everywhere in the forest, and the dead and injured were lying on pillows, which was sad. Those Shu people who were lucky enough to survive were holding their severed shoulders and elbows, sitting next to the corpses on the ground, crying as their fellow villagers gradually stopped breathing.
But this is the law of the battlefield. Only when it ends, people will use another standard to look at life. When this war will end, the generals of the Shu Dynasty have no idea.
