Bian Hao still had some ability. He knew that he only had one or two thousand cavalry on his side, so he would definitely be unable to pursue them. He would have to block the return path of Zhou's cavalry.
If these two thousand people want to run away, let them run away. The remaining one thousand people in the city will also be a great victory.
If they want to retreat into the city, they must have the ability to overwhelm his tens of thousands of soldiers.
However, Bian Hao ignored one problem. In other words, based on Bian Hao's knowledge, he had no idea how powerful and fast the Yongliang cavalry of Zhou State was.
Just like during the War of Liberation, most Chinese officers and generals could not imagine the horror of European armored group assaults.
Because he has never seen it at all, no! I haven't even thought about it, so I can't judge.
Bian Hao was like this. He had estimated Zhou Guo's cavalry to the limit of what he could imagine, but the facts proved that he still underestimated.
The Southern Tang Army was ready to intercept Zhou Jun on his way back to the city, but the collapse of Jing Haijun and his united troops caused great chaos on the battlefield.
More than 10,000 people were running around and shouting, providing inadvertent cover for the actions of Zhou's cavalry.
When Bian Hao raised the nest car and started to look out, he was immediately horrified and speechless.
It turned out that Zhao Kuangyin had no intention of retreating back the same way, let alone escaping after breaking through the siege.
Instead, they made a large circle and ran to the flank of the main military camp of the Southern Tang Army stationed in the north. It was a distance of four or five miles, and the cavalry could reach it quickly by running.
Bian Hao was so shocked that Li Jingda was in the northern military camp, and he even brought out the main force.
What if the Zhou army stormed the camp regardless of casualties and captured King Yan?
Therefore, the Southern Tang Army, which had just walked more than two miles to the west, quickly rushed to the camp under the command of Bian Hao.
But most of them are infantry, with an average weight of more than 20 kilograms per person. No matter how fast they are, it will take close to two quarters of an hour, but the Zhou cavalry is almost there.
Bian Hao didn't dare to bet. He didn't dare to bet that Li Jingda of the Chinese army would not panic, so he quickly called his cavalry general Shen Tu Lingjian to his side and asked Shen Tu Lingjian to lead all the more than a thousand cavalrymen to stabilize the situation first.
Shentu Lingjian was a burly Shandong man who was originally a rogue horse thief in Mizhou and was extremely brave.
After the Khitans entered the Central Plains, Huangfu Hui, who was originally the governor of Mizhou in the later Jin Dynasty, was unwilling to surrender to the Khitans, so he led his troops south to the Southern Tang Dynasty.
This Huangfu Hui was a heavyweight, and the trigger that drove down Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxu of the Later Tang Dynasty was that this group lost all their money gambling in the army when they were in Weibo Town, and instigated a mutiny in order to subsidize the loss.
Shentu Lingjian, who has the same affinity with a heavyweight like Huangfuhui and becomes his confidant, is naturally also a heavyweight.
They are typical Five Generations warriors, bastards, shameless, greedy for money, but very brave.
Shentu ordered Jian to take the order and leave, and Bian Hao felt a little more at ease.
Thirty percent of these cavalry were Mizhou horse thieves who followed Huangfu Hui south. Although their military discipline and character were not very good, their combat effectiveness was still guaranteed.
Just as Bian Hao thought, Zhao Kuangyin accurately discovered his loophole. How could he not try it?
After all, Li Jingda’s coach’s white ocher-edged banner and Yamen flag, as well as the red-bottomed unicorn and Tang-character banner symbolizing the Li family, are too obvious.
However, unlike Jing Haijun who was too rubbish, the Southern Tang Army's will to resist was much stronger.
When Zhao Kuangyin led his army through the maze-like military camps, although these military camps had not yet been built and there were many people running around and crying, there were always a small number of people in each half-built military camp. People are resisting.
Either a few arrows were shot out, or a spear was stabbed from nowhere. As a result, Zhao Kuangyin had to clear out the Southern Tang Army hidden on both sides every time he took a step forward.
In front of the Southern Tang Army's camp, it had been built long ago because it was the commander's tent.
Li Jingda asked people to close the gate of the camp, remove all obstacles, block horses, and even smash the heavy carts lying at the door.
Li Jingda also ordered his personal guards to move out the brocade and silver coins that were originally brought to be distributed on the battlefield.
Several of Li Jingda's personal guards were patrolling and suppressing him with their swords drawn, and they were still shouting.
As long as the Zhou thieves are defeated, everyone will have merit, and each person can get half a bolt of brocade or grab a handful of silver coins from the treasure chest.
Who said that Li Jingda, the majestic King of Yan of the Tang Dynasty, is a fool? He still knows how to fight!
The actual situation is also the same. Compared with his cowardly brother Li Jingsui, and the handsome but cruel Li Hongji ten years later, Li Jingda is a rare person in the Southern Tang clan who has some talent.
This gentleman has a reputation for being upright. Although he is definitely not good at commanding a battle, he still knows how to save his life.
Zhao Kuangyin asked some of the archers to dismount and hold horned crossbows, and shoot at the Southern Tang army in the camp. At the same time, he sent people around to look for gaps in the camp.
However, this is the main tent of the Chinese army. There are not many holes and it is built on a hill. Although it is not easy to defend and difficult to attack, the defenders must have an easier time.
Xue Guizhong knew that they didn't have much time, so he directly asked the horse archers to dismount. Yang Guizhong personally led the strong men among the horse archers, and under the cover of others, carried a huge crossbar that he had found. Go bang on the door.
Zhao Kuangyin rolled his eyes, looked at the Li Jingda banner and Qilin flag erected in the coach's tent, and swallowed hard.
If it could be broken, this would be a peerless achievement that could break two thousand to one hundred thousand! As long as it can be completed, at least he will have the status of an adopted son and the title of earl.
However, he took a deep breath and forced this temptation to the deepest part of his heart.
The Southern Tang army had already begun to assemble under the command of the military commander Yuhou and the commander. The main force of the Southern Tang Dynasty, who had guessed his purpose wrongly, also sent cavalry back to support him. He could not gamble with these two thousand soldiers.
Moreover, Zhao Kuangyin knew the purpose of going south to Yangzhou this time. In addition to subduing the Southern Wu court and seizing a large number of people and goods, he also wanted to weaken the strength of the Southern Wu forbidden army as much as possible.
Even if his two thousand men captured Li Jingda, it would be difficult for him to cause a lot of damage to the Nanwu army.
Moreover, Li Jingda is not Li Jing, and is far less important than the Southern Tang Army here.
We must wait for Murong Nobunaga to return before defeating them, so that we can kill a large number of the main force of the Southern Wu Forbidden Army.
"Stop it, Xue Erlang, go around quickly and scatter the infantry that has gathered on the left. At the same time, it will attract the Wu army's cavalry to pursue them. I will flank them from behind and kill their cavalry first."
Xue Guizhong was so anxious that he wanted to hug Chuangmu himself. When he heard Zhao Kuangyin say this, he swallowed hard and glanced at Li Jingda's big brocade fluttering in the distance.
"General Lang, you may have time. As long as you open the gate, you will be able to capture the fake King Yan of Southern Wu."
Zhao Kuangyin didn't explain much, his face darkened, "Execute the order!"
Xue Guizhong had no choice but to quickly tell the soldiers to put down the wood and get on their horses.
At this time, some of the state and county soldiers of the Southern Tang Army who were the first to assemble had already gathered. Under the scolding of the officers, they hurried towards the Chinese army camp.
The appearance of Xue Guizhong dealt a huge blow to the Southern Tang troops who had gathered first.
Most of them had not even finished wearing armor. They held spears and horizontal knives tightly in their hands, and had no crossbowmen to cover them. They were just hit by Xue Guizhong head-on.
Arrows rained down from the sky like locusts, but before that, the Southern Tang Army, which was still in formation, had been frightened by the impact of thousands of horses and dispersed.
The thousand cavalry archers under Xue Guizhong are all the best Yongliang cavalry. They only wear light armor and hold less powerful horse bows, so they can shoot arrows extremely fast.
In almost just a few breaths, two to three thousand arrows were fired at the thousands of soldiers from Nantangzhou County, killing at least nearly a thousand people and wounding them.
The soldiers of Nantang Prefecture County collapsed in response. One Du Yuhou still wanted to struggle. He was shouting loudly to control the running soldiers.
Xue Guizhong rushed forward and fired two arrows in a row, one of which hit the face accurately. Du Yuhou covered his face and screamed, staggering and fell to the ground.
A cruel smile appeared on Shentu Lingjian's face. He felt that he came at the right time. Although the Zhou cavalry defeated some state and county soldiers, they just happened to expose their buttocks to him.
When he shouted, the Southern Tang cavalry put down their carbines and sabers and took out their bows and arrows, ready to take advantage.
In fact, Xue Guizhong had noticed the arrival of the Southern Tang cavalry. Seeing that the enemy was fooled, Xue Guizhong suddenly blew the bronze whistle on his chest, and the surrounding officers also blew the bronze whistle at the same time.
A weird and strange sound sounded, and the surrounding knights immediately stopped shooting arrows, and then suddenly increased their horse speed to the maximum.
Shentu Lingjian rushed to a distance of fifty steps, and wanted to shoot the Zhou cavalry in the back, but unexpectedly the Zhou cavalry suddenly accelerated. Shentu Lingjian was caught off guard, and the Zhou cavalry had already run far away.
"The thieves slave runs very fast!"
Shentu Lingjian held his horse bow and couldn't help but curse. Unexpectedly, at this moment, a roar of thunder sounded on his left side.
"Can you recognize this slave?"
Shentu Lingjian looked to the left in horror and saw a group of men and horses rushing towards them at a very fast speed. They didn't have a bow in their hands, but just a horse's bow, a pecking hammer, and a long saber.
Obviously, these people are shock cavalry, and they are here to fight hand-to-hand.
In fear, Shentu Lingjian quickly threw away the horse bow in his hand and turned sideways to draw the saber on the side of the horse.
However, in the panic, his hands and feet seemed to be a little clumsy. The saber that he usually used very easily could not be drawn out after two draws.
And it was this delay that sent Shentu Lingjian to a dead end.
The three generations of sweaty horses under Zhao Kuangyin came very fast. Shentu Lingjian, who couldn't pull out the saber, could only scream in despair, and then Zhao Kuangyin chopped off the leather helmet on his head with a knife.
Blood splattered everywhere, and Shentu Lingjian, who had always been brave, was directly chopped off by Zhao Kuangyin. He didn't know whether he was alive or dead.
At this time, the Southern Tang cavalry army was extremely frightened. They knew Shentu Lingjian's bravery, but they fell off their horses without even seeing him.
Zhao Kuangyin looked up to the sky and roared loudly, then threw the saber in his hand with the impact of the horse.
An unlucky Southern Tang cavalry ran over unexpectedly and caught the blow with his face. He screamed and turned over and fell off his horse.
In an instant, Zhao Kuangyin killed two people in a row. The morale of Zhou Jun's attacking cavalry was like a rainbow. Everyone scrambled to get ahead and immediately knocked away the Southern Tang cavalry and cut them into two pieces.
At this time, Xue Guizhong's thousand horse archers also turned around and came back. They also drew their sabers and hammers and charged into the chaotic Southern Tang cavalry.
Unfortunately, these Southern Tang cavalry lost their commander as soon as they entered the battlefield. Their horses, weapons, and numbers were inferior to those of the Zhou army. They were also cut into two pieces, and soon they could no longer even parry.
Bian Hao's face turned pale, and he quickly ordered the returning Nantang infantry to form an array, muttering to himself.
"Murong Baipao will definitely find a way to surprise us. The two thousand cavalry can resist the temptation of capturing the commander and use all their strength to eat our only cavalry. This proves that they have enough confidence. Annihilate us all.”
"Deployment, what should we do?" A commander of the Jiankang Army ran over and asked.
Bian Hao steeled himself and squinted his eyes before replying, "The Jiankang Army and the Longwei Army each have a thousand crossbowmen. Let the sword and shield soldiers cover the spearmen and move forward to form a formation to deal with them."
After saying that, seeing what the commander had to say, Bian Hao also knew that he couldn't just let the Zhou cavalry kill all his cavalry without taking any action.
He said in a deep voice to the commander: "Send a battalion of infantry to pretend to attack, and only allow defeat but not victory, and lure the enemy to ride over and charge into the formation."
(End of chapter)
