The Yecheng Pass in front of us is not Yecheng, but a barrier on the outskirts of Yecheng. It was built by the Taishan Army as a southwest barrier.
When Sun Jian led 1,300 cavalry and arrived here, it was afternoon, the weather was warm, and there was thin flowing ice on the Zhang River not far away.
Then there was a solid barrier not far away. At this time, the sound of warning was heard, and two beacon fires were lit.
Chang Diao, a young general, had already led five rangers to circle the stronghold. From time to time, he stepped forward to test the arrows of the Taishan military stronghold. Finally, after completing the circuit of the entire stronghold, Chang Diao returned with his men.
Chang Diao was a member of the Hedong Cavalry and was the elite of the Han army in Hedong. However, after the First World War in Yingyang, the Hedong Cavalry suffered heavy losses and could no longer form an army. Most of the rest were divided among the various armies. This is how Chang Diao and others reformed. Under Sun Jian's command.
At this time, Chang Diao was still a young boy of eighteen or nineteen years old, but he already had deep battle experience. In just one lap, he had already led people to test the strength of the Taishan Army's barriers.
He rode the bay-red horse and reported to Sun Jian with a little breath:
"Captain, we just took the first ten times, and the thieves fired eight times, all with hard bows and crossbows. We circled the camp again, and there were soldiers with halberds on all sides, but they were not standing close together, and there was only one person every step of the way. The thieves The big flag has four sides, called Zhang, called Niu, called Guo, and called He."
Under the red turban was the resolute Sun Jian. He nodded to Chang Diao and then motioned for the man to return to the formation.
Looking at Chang Diao's back, Sun Jian was a little confused.
Is Chang Diao strong? He is strong! He is skilled in bow and horse, brave and wise, and most importantly, he is still very young. He can still fight on the battlefield for twenty years at least.
But he, Sun Jian, has no use for this person.
This can be known from what Chang Diao called him just now. For example, Lu Fan and others called him lord, that is, he is the chief. But Chang Diao called him Xiaowei, which means Han official rank, that is, He said that the reason why Sun Jian was able to mobilize this person was because of the authority of the Han Dynasty.
This phenomenon is not limited to Chang Diao alone, but is a common situation among most cavalry officers in the army. After all, at this time, half of the 1,300 cavalry led by Sun Jian were from the north, or from Youzhou, or He is from Bingzhou, and he is even a bit unruly.
There were many Jianghuai men in his army who were not good at horses, so he managed to form an army of 700 men.
However, Sun Jian didn't think much about it. He knew that as long as he took these people with him for a long time, what if they were people from the North? They would still become loyal and brave members of his Sun family.
Chang Diao tried to find out whether the barrier was real or not. Cheng Pu on the side said to Sun Jian:
"My lord, although this stronghold is strong, it has few soldiers. We can quickly cover up and kill them, so that we can quickly pull out this stronghold. Otherwise, if we are too late, enemy reinforcements will arrive."
After Cheng Pu finished speaking, Han Dang also added:
"What Demou said is right. If you guessed correctly, those two wolf smoke are telling the Taishan Army behind us about the number of our troops. I think the reinforcements from the other side are right in front of us."
But Sun Jian shook his head and said:
"If we don't attack this stronghold, we'll wait here for the reinforcements from the opposite side to arrive."
Then, if the generals no longer listened, they ordered the entire army to dismount, rest and eat.
…
While eating dry food, Han Dang found Cheng Pu and asked quietly:
"Have our lord been too trusting? Our attack was light and quick. Now we have to fight to the death here. If we are not careful, the whole army will be overturned. Do you want to stop trying to persuade my lord?"
Cheng Pu took a hard bite of the biscuit and retorted unhappily:
"Why don't you go? I won't go! If you go, there will be nothing but scolding."
Cheng Pu did not cooperate, and Han Dang became a little anxious. He pointed at the rest of the army officers and soldiers and said anxiously:
"Why are you being scolded? How will you know if you don't try? How can you bear to see so many people die with us?"
Han Dang still ignored Cheng Pu, no matter what he said, he just kept eating the cake.
After finishing all the cakes, Han Dang said slowly:
"Why are you so anxious? Let me ask you a few questions."
Cheng Pujie said to Han with his neck:
"You ask."
Han Dang wiped his hands and asked:
"Who can fight, you or my lord? Who cares more about the lives of your brothers, you or my lord? Who has more military strategy, you or my lord?"
These three direct questions made Cheng Pu dumbfounded.
He wanted to say something several times, but still couldn't. Finally, he smashed his riding crop on the ground and cursed:
"Donkey begged, you are asking your brothers to risk their lives with you. Donkey begged, donkey begged."
Cheng Pu, who was already a little crazy, chopped the frozen soil vigorously, venting his inner timidity.
To be honest, Cheng Pu was scared. He couldn't understand what Sun Jian said about risking death and surviving. In his opinion, the only chance of survival for this trip was to avoid the barriers, pray that the attacking army would not be discovered, and then take the opportunity to rush into Yecheng. Otherwise, you're dead.
Before, Sun Jian and Lu Fan said that there was no way out this time, and his heart was half cold. Now when Sun Jian said that he would wait for the rebel reinforcements to arrive, Cheng Pu's whole heart was cold.
Don't talk about absolute loyalty. You must know that Cheng Pu joined Sun Jian's Jianghuai martial arts group for less than half a year, and he is not yet the number one enemy of Jiang Biao who will serve the three Sun family members in the future.
Is Cheng Pu's mentality the only one? No, I'm afraid there are not a few. But as Sun Jian said, they have gone deep into the enemy's territory and have been discovered by the Taishan Army. Now that they are together, they can still fight. If Running alone will only lead to death.
Perhaps, this is Sun Jian's purpose.
At this time, Sun Jian didn't know that his subordinates were hesitant, but even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care. He took off his red turban, tied it on again, and carefully counted the weapons in his horse bag.
Then, in this tense atmosphere, the pennant was waving in the northwest, and a cavalry team had come to the rescue.
At this time, with everyone watching, Sun Jian rode up to the front of the army and looked at the various emotions of the soldiers. Even though Sun Jian had such an indomitable temperament, he became worried.
But looking at the thousands of troops on the opposite side, Sun Jian became even more arrogant.
At this moment, right here, he, Sun Jian, was about to create a legend. He raised his sword and rode his horse in front of the formation, his blood surging.
Under the bright sun, with his red robe, red cloak and red horse, Sun Jian was like a warm fire, burning in this cold winter. His passion and his courage inspired the Han troops in the same crimson uniforms, who raised their hands high The weapon in his hand cheered in response to the man opposite.
This is the power of a general. If you don't experience a real battlefield, you won't know the role of an excellent general on the morale of the entire army, and you won't understand that war is never doomed!
Amid warm cheers, Sun Jian drew out his small shield, then struck it with his sword and shouted:
"Wei!"
The three armies shouted in unison:
"Wei!"
One man seeks death, three men conquer the Yi. Three armies seek death, and the five mountains are overthrown. This is the power of man, this is the power of courage, this is the power of faith.
At the same time, the cavalry commander who led the army was Yan Gang, who gave the giant clam the flag.
When two beacon fires came from the southwest of Ye City, Yu Jin, who stayed behind in Ye City, immediately summoned the generals to discuss matters. After General Chongtian left, there were only more than 3,000 soldiers and horses in Ye City.
Among them, there are 2,000 soldiers on the left side of Yujin's Central Guard Army, 500 troops on the assault cavalry, and 500 troops on other troops.
So when the beacon fire came from the southwest, everyone was a little panicked. Apparently they didn't expect that there would be enemy troops in this direction.
To be on the safe side, Yu Ban Yan Gang commanded the cavalry to set off first, and then he led thousands of armored soldiers behind to slowly press the formation. Before Yan Gang set off, Yu Jin specially told him that the focus of this trip was to explore the enemy and not to damage the cavalry.
military strength.
Because in the field battle later, his armored army will need the protection of Yan Gang's cavalry.
Just like that, Yan Gang came with five hundred cavalry and saw Sun Jian's scene as soon as he arrived!
Seeing that the morale of the enemy army was greatly boosted and that it was more numerous than our own army, Yan Gang's deputy general Li Duo couldn't help but advise:
"General, the enemy is outnumbered and we are exhausted. It is better to retreat to the rear and join forces with Yu Xiaowei. This is safer."
Yan Gang chuckled when he heard this and asked:
"Have you ever fought with his commander? Do you know that if his commander were here, would he retreat? I have followed his commander for a long time, and I have learned that when we meet on a narrow road, the brave wins. Besides, after we retreat, the brothers in the wall will
What should they do? They see that the reinforcements have withdrawn, how can they still hold on to this wall?"
Lieutenant General Li Duo really wanted to say something, General Yan, can you compare with Commander Qu? But anyway, the second half of what Yan Gang said does make sense.
If the brothers inside the barrier retreat without fighting when they see the reinforcements arriving, how can they still have morale?
So, no matter what, we still have to give it a try.
So Li Duo stopped trying to persuade him and began to return to the formation, prepare his troops, and begin to charge.
On the opposite side, Sun Jian has the means of drum formation, and Yan Gang, as an experienced cavalry general, also has his own means.
He raised his iron halberd, placed it in front of the formation, and shouted:
"drum!"
The horsemen carried small horse drums. Following Yan Gang's order, they picked up sticks and hammers and started beating the drums:
"Boom!"
Yan Gang thought it was not enough and shouted again:
"drum!"
Then all the drummers were beating, and this time it went on and on.
Just like that, ten miles into the frozen ground, the two armies had their guns drawn and their halberds hung, ready to fight.
After that, Yan Gang in front of the crowd yelled:
"rush!"
Then five hundred cavalry rushed towards the Han army.
Yan Gang charged, but Sun Jian on the opposite side didn't say a word and charged directly. Then came Cheng Pu, followed closely by Han Dang.
In this way, with Yecheng Guanbao as the center, the cavalry regiment of nearly two thousand people began to collide and fight.
The chaotic horse hooves broke through the frozen soil, and the remaining snow swept away. The continuous drum horns resounded throughout the sky and shocked people's hearts.
Sun Nuo was worthy of being a tiger from the east of the Yangtze River, and he took the lead as usual. He held up his round shield to block the arrows coming from the opposite direction, and crouched on the horse's back, raising the horse's speed to its maximum speed.
The arrows fired by the thieves on the opposite side were really accurate and fierce. It was the most ferocious arrow rain that Sun Jian had ever encountered in the cavalry battle. In just this charge, dozens of his own knights had been knocked off their horses.
Most of Sun Jian's cavalry used the Han army's shock tactics, with only a dozen or so miscellaneous men carrying bows and arrows to shoot scattered arrows.
The cavalry on the opposite side actually used crossbows at long distances, short halberds at mid-range, and only raised their spears at close range. Therefore, before the first round of confrontation began, the Han army had lost dozens of people.
But fortunately, they were already within easy reach of the thieves riding on the opposite side.
"Bang~"
Men and horses were flying, screaming and howling, bones and tendons were broken, and the battlefield was completely quiet for a moment, but after the mistake between the two armies, the most tragic sounds in the world began one after another.
At the first moment of Sun Jian's attack, Ma Jin overturned the cavalry on the opposite side. However, during this attack, Sun Jian realized that the formation on his side was not as tight as the one on the opposite side.
Even though there were thousands of them, in the small space of the charge, there were even more people on the opposite side. Sun Jian didn't bother to figure out why they were all in a forward formation, and why the opposite side could line up so densely.
Now he can only rely on his own bravery to lead others.
Collision between cavalry depends on not being afraid of death. "Not afraid of death" does not mean anything else, but it means that the most important thing for the cavalry is the impact speed, but the faster you rush, the more miserable you will die if you collide. So.
Only the most fearless cavalry warriors have the courage to ride their horses to the fastest speed.
Not afraid of death, he, Sun Jian, has it, and his Jianghuai son-in-law is even more so.
They had already accelerated their horses to the fastest speed early on, just to use high-speed impact to overwhelm the opponent's formation.
Therefore, Sun Jian gritted his teeth, covered his crotch with his hands, and then bumped into the other cavalrymen on the opposite side.
At this moment, Sun Jian regarded himself as a soldier, and this collision was to clear the way for the attacking cavalry behind him.
But at this moment, a dramatic situation occurred.
It was just like the group of monkeys that Sun Jian encountered. When Sun Jian charged suddenly, the horse on the opposite side was scared. Or to be more precise, the horse on the opposite side was scared.
The war horse on the opposite side saw Sun Jian's horse bumping into him stupidly. It immediately tilted its neck obediently and passed through the narrow slit on the side.
But this time, it was not that it penetrated Sun Jian, but that Sun Jian single-handedly penetrated the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry.
Many war horses followed the horses in front and plunged into the small gap, which directly caused Sun Jian to penetrate completely, causing chaos in the formation.
This accident made Sun Jian ecstatic, and he shouted:
"The brave live, the coward dies. Follow me, Sun Jian, to death today!"
Behind, Han Dang and Cheng Pu were also frantic with killing. Each led a team of cavalry to penetrate through and directly cover both sides of Sun Jian.
Not far away, the more resourceful Lu Fan had already led five hundred cavalry around to the left rear of the opposing thief cavalry, made a large circle, and then plunged straight into the waist of the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry.
The assault cavalry of the Taishan Army are indeed good at fighting, but they are also human beings and comply with the principles of physics. When their invisible rear wing is dug into, the outcome of the battle has already been decided.
For a moment, the Taishan Army's soldiers were knocked off their backs, and Lu Fan's cavalry directly cut them off.
The sound of bones smashing skulls, the broken blades slashing at the armor's golden iron body, the sound of war horses stumbling to the ground, everything covered the Taishan Army's fighting spirit and their vitality.
At this time, Yan Gang, who was fighting on the horse's head, was exhausted. He pushed away three horseshoes, and then a piece of bone hit his mount.
His horse fell to the ground with a pitiful cry after the blow. The huge tears flowed from the eye sockets of the horse, full of raw nostalgia.
Yan Gang finally rolled off his horse and strangled an enemy soldier who rushed up to him, and then saw his beloved horse die in front of him.