The formation of Youzhou's assault cavalry was neat and uniform. From the southwest, the team extended to both sides for more than a mile.
Among the entire team, there was a completely different group of armored cavalry. They were the heavy cavalry formed by Lu Zhi after the Battle of Xingyang.
In the battle of Xingyang, 4,000 Youzhou cavalrymen died in the battle, and 1,200 were killed. It can be said that the troops were injured.
After Lu Zhi inquired from various military officials who had fought before, he learned that the reason why the Kou Huai tribe was completely wiped out in this battle was because they were covered and shot by the Taishan Army's crossbow corps.
The reason why Gaitong's troops were unable to break through the Taishan Army's strong formation was because the Changge spurs on the opposite side were better able to resist the cavalry attack.
Therefore, Lu Zhi thought of re-arming some of the assault cavalry.
In fact, Youzhou Tuqi already had heavy cavalry, but these were all middle and low-level military officials in the original army, and they were all scattered in the army.
Now, Lu Zhi specially trained these ten and fifty generals together to form a separate attack group.
Lu Zhi's idea was very simple. Since there was a crossbow on the opposite side, it should be covered with armor, even the horses.
As for the heavier cavalry, the kinetic energy of the impact is stronger. The strong formation maintained by the flesh and blood bodies on the opposite side is even less able to resist.
Lu Zhi's idea was verified in the following confrontation exercises. When these armored cavalry charged, the arrows they shot either bounced away or escaped unscathed.
However, with the elite Youzhou cavalry, Lu Zhi only trained fifty cavalry in the end, and the cavalry commander was Gongsun Yue, the younger brother of his disciple Gongsun Zan.
The fifty armored heavy cavalry among them held high a crimson Yanhan flag, and led the first cavalry with a silver-armored white horse.
On the left is a team of white horse cavalry, holding high the Gongsun flag, the Yanhan flag, and the hunting flag. Then on the left is Gai Tong's 400 cavalry. They all wear face armor, and it's hard to tell what their expressions are.
On the right side of the heavy armor cavalry is Cui Jun, a former military academy captain. As the acting commander of the Youzhou assault cavalry, his formation not only has the Yanhan flag, but also a Jiedu banner, symbolizing his authority.
Besides Cui Jun is the right military captain Lu Jun, also in crimson clothes and black armor, like Feng Linhuoshan.
They were pressing down like Mount Tai, and the left formation of Jinan Yellow Turbans became more and more difficult. On the battlefield, the remaining soldiers of Zhang Rao's tribe continued to give up their last resistance and withdrew from the battlefield.
They looked at the friendly troops who were still holding on to their positions and felt quite ashamed, but they still ran past with their heads down and rallied behind the positions.
New flags have been erected behind the formation, and yellow turban soldiers who have withdrawn are constantly looking for their own flags to regroup.
There were anxious military officials everywhere, constantly reorganizing new formations in order to restore the combat effectiveness of these people as soon as possible, and then put them into the battlefield again.
And for all of this to come true, the left formation of the Jinan Yellow Turbans must hold on so that the rear can continue to reorganize.
But can the Left Front really resist?
…
Jinan Yellow Turban's counterattack soon arrived.
In the northwest of the battlefield, where the Jinan Yellow Turbans' center and right formations were located, the Han army's offensive did not go smoothly.
Up to now, there are already five Han army regiments attacking here. They are the 3,000-man Infantry Corps, the 800-man Tun Cavalry Corps, the 1,000-man Yue Cavalry Corps, and the 800-man Changshui Corps.
Department, two thousand Zhongshan soldiers.
But what's the result?
The Infantry Colonel's headquarters suffered heavy losses, its organization was dilapidated, and it lost the ability to fight again.
Because of their commander's rash advance, the Eight Hundred Tun Cavalrymen withdrew back with 100 people, including Sima Suze on the left, Yang Qiu on the right, and General Ma Teng on the right. The rest were all killed.
However, Captain Changshui's Hu Cavalry and Captain Yue Cavalry's Qing Cavalry could not directly charge into the formation, and could only rely on missing arrows to harass the Jinan Yellow Turbans.
As for the Zhongshan soldiers who were the only ones capable of attacking the enemy, they were even more slack. They fought for a long time and stopped in front of the Yellow Turbans in Jinan?
Anyone with a little knowledge can know what is going on by looking at the spearmen in the front line of the Zhongshan army.
These people were shaking their swords and spears loudly, but few of them were stabbing the thieves, they were just hanging around.
This phenomenon was quickly noticed by Ji Sun in the center, and he realized that the opponent's weak fighting spirit might be the key to this battle.
Moreover, the left formation was in chaos at this time, and Ji Sun had to seize this opportunity to counterattack desperately and race against time.
So, Ji Sun ordered his general Zhang Tai to take the last 600 armored soldiers under his tent to counterattack the Zhongshan soldiers on the opposite side.
But Zhang Tai refused.
What he meant was that when Zhang Heizi left, he told him to protect Sacrifice Sun. Now that he has taken the last armored soldiers to the front line, how can he ensure Sacrifice Sun's safety?
Ji Sun scolded Zhang Tai, saying that he could not die, and if he did not obey orders, he might die with his brothers.
Finally, with tears in his eyes, Zhang Tai rushed to the front line with six hundred yellow scarf warriors.
The Han army actually knew its own loopholes.
When Lu Zhi saw that the Zhongshan soldiers were still unable to open up the situation, he knew that this might be the direction for the rebels to counterattack.
But at this time, the Zhongshan National Soldiers had already been deployed on the battlefield, occupying the corresponding battlefield space. Unless Lu Zhi withdrew the Zhongshan National Soldiers, he would not be able to replace them even if he deployed reinforcements.
But withdrawing troops before battle is a taboo for military strategists, not to mention the critical moment of the battle.
Therefore, Lu Zhi only mobilized 800 Hu cavalry from the Changshui School Lieutenant Division and placed them behind the Zhongshan National Army Formation to support his troops with arrows.
Moreover, behind the Changshui School Lieutenant Headquarters is Lu Zhi's Central Guard Army. He still has thousands of armored soldiers who have not yet entered the battlefield. Once the Zhongshan national soldiers are counterattacked, his armored soldiers can still support them.
It can be said that Lu Zhi was not only the first-class strategic master of the Han army, but also a first-class tactical master, with insight into various trends on the battlefield.
And soon, Lu Zhi's worries came true, and the Jinan Yellow Turbans' counterattack began.
…
The person who organized the counterattack was Zhang Tai, the leading general of the Jinan Yellow Turbans.
In addition to bringing 600 armored soldiers, he also recruited a group of brave warriors before and after the formation. Finally, he assembled a counterattack force of almost 1,800 people.
With Zhang Taishen in the lead, 600 armored soldiers in the middle, and the rest as wings, everyone bent down and rubbed their bodies, emerged from the forest of spears and spears in the front formation, and fought hand-to-hand with the Zhongshan soldiers.
With just this wave of attacks, the Zhongshan soldiers, who were already weak in fighting spirit, collapsed.
These Zhongshan soldiers not only retreated, but also hacked to death some of the military officials who had trained them in the chaos. Then they took the former Zhongshan soldiers with them and withdrew to the rear.
Zhang Tai didn't expect that his attacks would be so effective. Before his warm-up was over, the other side collapsed?
Although Zhang Tai couldn't understand the reason, he immediately realized that this moment might be the key to this battle.
Therefore, he did not let the advancing troops withdraw, but led everyone to follow the defeated troops of Zhongshan Kingdom and pursue the victory.
Zhang Tai's actions caused a chain reaction.
The spearmen in the front line who had been facing the Zhongshan National Soldiers could not hold back their joy when they saw the Zhongshan National Soldiers retreating and the friendly forces were pursuing them again, so they also joined the pursuit team.
So because the Zhongshan soldiers retreated, the Jinan Yellow Turbans' front line was also scattered.
This kind of situation will never happen in the Taishan Army. No pursuit is allowed without orders, and no retreat is allowed without orders. This set of military laws has long been engraved in the consciousness of the Taishan Army.
In the final analysis, the training time of Jinan Yellow Turbans in combat methods was still short. They were similar in appearance but not in spirit. At this important juncture, they were missed.
Zhang Tai naturally didn't know about his pursuit, which had disrupted the front line behind him. At this moment, he could only kill happily.
At the beginning of the pursuit, there was still resistance from a small group of Han soldiers.
These people are also Zhongshan national soldiers, but their combat skills and fighting spirit are much stronger than the previous wave.
But unfortunately, these people only persisted for a while, and collapsed after losing one-third of their troops.
These broken troops ran along the corridor opened in the back, passed through rows of bewildered friendly positions, and continued to run towards the rear.
When the approaching Zhongshan soldiers saw the friendly troops in front retreating, they also imitated their example and abandoned their front line, fleeing towards the rear.
When these people fled, they did not forget to carry their own flags.
When they bypassed Changshui Colonel's Hu cavalry, they did not forget to greet these ignorant Hu people:
"Failed, defeated. Leave quickly!"
These Hu people are all from the Qiang tribe, and they have heard some words after living in the Han Dynasty for a long time.
They could understand the sentence "If you lose, leave quickly".
At first, military law could still restrain them, but when Zhang Tai, who was covered in blood, came with the yellow scarf warriors, they pretended to shoot two rounds and then retreated.
During this process, many Han military officials were "accidentally" killed.
The first group of new soldiers of the Zhongshan Kingdom to retreat soon encountered military officials.
A group of armored soldiers, led by a tall and burly armored man holding an axe, cut off the defeated troops of Zhongshan Kingdom.
This axe-wielding warrior is nine feet tall, has a ten-gauge belt, and has strong muscles. His arms are as thick and strong as tree trunks, and his wrists are as hard as horns. He stands like an iron mountain.
The defeated soldiers may have gone to their heads. In the heat of the moment, one of the Zhongshan Kingdom's defeated soldiers at the head showed no fear and jumped up and slashed at him.
But this majestic warrior just grabbed the man's waist rope with one hand, then slapped it on the ground and ripped out the white brains. Then he pinched a rushing soldier with one hand, and with a little force, his head exploded.
.
At this moment, these defeated soldiers just recovered from what they had just experienced.
Anyone in the crowd who knew this person exclaimed:
"This is Lu Shuai's retinue, the ghost-faced general!"
The so-called ghost face means that if you meet this person, you will become a ghost.
After being recognized, the ghost-faced general behind the visor showed no expression, and just said in a low voice:
"go back."
Seeing that these defeated soldiers were still hesitating, the ghost-faced general picked up his ax without hesitation and began to slash at these defeated soldiers.
Some of the defeated soldiers who had no time to dodge were cut in half by the giant axe, and fell to the ground in the water.
The brutal killings and the horrific death scenes made these defeated soldiers so angry that they immediately ran back without hesitation.
Compared to dying at the hands of the Ghost Faced General, the yellow scarf warrior behind him seems less terrifying.
Looking at the defeated soldiers returning to the battlefield, the ghost-faced general did not continue to pursue them, but put away his giant ax and guarded this passage again.
On the side, the military officials who came with him to enforce military law looked at the ghost-faced general and became even more afraid.
This ghost-faced general is none other than Yu Shi, the former Chenliu County thief Cao Chang. He is the powerful general who inherited the amazing physique of his ancestor Yu Yan and became even stronger.
Originally, he was ordered by Guo Zong, the prefect of Chenliu, to lead a thousand Chenliu soldiers to aid Huang Wan in Fengqiu.
But later Fengqiu was destroyed, and Yu Shi lost contact with his troops. Because the southern road was cut off, he had no choice but to cross the river and seek refuge with Beizhonglang general Lu Zhi.
After Lu Zhi knew that this man was a famous official and had such bravery, he promoted him as his general. After that, he followed the army to fight and beheaded countless generals with his big axe, and he became a "ghost-faced general".
title.
It can be seen that the enemy and friendly forces are afraid of this man.
As the defeated soldiers met, they knew that there were ghost-faced generals behind them blocking the road, and they knew that they could no longer leave from here. But they were not stupid, and they did not want to turn around and fight and sacrifice their lives for these people.
Therefore, they specially bypassed the central army and fled the battlefield through the gaps in the infantry school's line. Wei Duan in the formation looked at these friendly troops who seemed to be fleeing, but did not pursue them.
These people who carry water jars with them when they run away are not warriors at all, they are still a group of farmers. It is useless to force these people to turn around and go back.
Over there, the defeated soldiers of the Zhongshan Kingdom who finally escaped from the battlefield fled towards the north. They stopped until they reached a pool. Then they threw their belongings on the ground and fell to the side of the road to catch their breath and rest.
To their south, the fighting on the battlefield continued.
And now, it's less than half an hour before dark.
…
The consequences of not eating during wartime are increasingly serious.
To the northwest of the battlefield, the defeat of the Han army was a foregone conclusion. At this time, more than 4,000 people here were hungry and tired. They had given up counterattack and collapsed on the ground.
They were really hungry. From morning to now, they had not used a grain of millet and had no dry food to satisfy their hunger. The soldiers from the Chinese army behind kept rushing to the position of the infantry school captain, urging them to regroup and continue the attack.
The thieves attack.
The Chinese army officials said that the enemy army was already in chaos and if they charged again, the enemy army would be defeated.
The Chinese military officer was telling the truth. At this time, the Jinan Yellow Turbans' Chinese army had become a mess with the Han army in front. At this time, whoever can invest in the organic military strength will win the final victory.
But this time, Wei Duan didn't need to say anything, even the ordinary soldiers of the infantry school lieutenant spoke harshly to the officers.
They asked where the reinforcements were, where the supplies were, and why they were fighting against thousands of rebels. They had defeated Xu He's rebels, and that was enough.
All in all, they don't want to fight anymore.
Dozens of people questioned the Chinese military officials, so that this man did not dare to say anything more. Because although these people looked like they were withering due to hunger, thirst and exhaustion, their anger was raging.
The Chinese military officials did not dare to take the risk of angering these people and hurriedly returned to the Chinese army.
And here, with the strike of the infantry captain, Zhang Tai, who stood up for his team, also counterattacked more smoothly.
After successively defeating the Zhongshan National Soldiers and the Changshui Huqi behind them, Zhang Tai and others also encountered their first resistance front.
A small square formation of 400 people composed of Han army armored soldiers.
At this moment, Zhang Tai could already see the large banner representing the Han army's commander not far away, and knew that he was not far away from the thieves' commander. As long as this phalanx of armored soldiers was defeated, he could attack and kill the thieves' commander.
Therefore, Zhang Tai summoned up his remaining courage and began to charge faster with the exhausted yellow scarf warriors.
But when Zhang Tai and others were charging, they completely failed to see that on their right, behind the formation of the Infantry School Lieutenant Headquarters, a cavalry force of a thousand men had put down their horses and was heading toward Zhang Tai's army.
The team blocked the attack.
This thousand-man cavalry team is the Yueqi battalion led by Colonel Zhou Zhong.
Zhou Zhong was an old man, and he knew how to use the cavalry to attack.
From the very beginning of the war, he had been roaming around the periphery. Except for once intercepting Xu He's rear formation, he only harassed the rebels with arrows and never broke through the formation.
But now, Zhou Zhong, who has been observing the dynamics of the battlefield, keenly discovered that although the rebel army's counterattack was very sharp and defeated two Han army legions, there was no formation until now, and they all relied on blood and bravery to get there.
Now.
Now Zhou Zhong hurriedly mobilized Yue Qi to the rear and directly ordered to block the Jinan Yellow Turban and charge forward.
Thousands of people rode more and more, and the horses were as thick as a forest, roaring and running towards them.
The trembling ground awakened the yellow turban warriors, and they discovered in horror that a Han cavalry was coming towards them.
Why did these Han cavalry charge so fast? Before they could react, they had already entered the crowd. Countless yellow scarf warriors were knocked away, and some of them were still stunned and were nailed to the ground by the cavalry whizzing by.
Viewed from a high altitude, the charging Yellow Turban warriors looked like several slender yellow ribbons being torn apart by a huge red cone.
Everything is settled.
Even though hundreds of Qingzhou Yellow Turban Cavalry rushed behind them, it was of no help.
These Yellow Turban Cavalry were the last remaining cavalry, and they were supposed to respond to the charging Yellow Turban warriors. But unfortunately, due to the obstruction of the Han Army Infantry School Lieutenant, these people did not see the Yueqi battalion lurking behind them.
A big mistake was made like this.
The cavalry leader who led the charge was still Sacrifice Sun.
At this moment, it is not that Sun Ji has abandoned the Chinese army's position and is risking his life to be a hero. Rather, by now, the overall situation of the battlefield has been decided.
He sacrificed his grandson and more than 40,000 Qingzhou disciples, but was defeated.
It turned out that not long after the Chinese army counterattacked, the Jinan Yellow Turbans' left formation collapsed under the devastating charge of Youzhou's sudden cavalry.
Especially the fifty heavily armored assault cavalry, arranged in ten rows, plowed through the left formation like plows and hoes, leaving behind countless broken limbs and broken arms.
Before Sun Ji could blame his brother for not stopping him, he saw his brother's head being picked up by a horseman from the opposite side and riding into the battle.
Jisun's heart was suddenly hurt, but soon, the situation on the battlefield could no longer tolerate Jisun's sadness.
Due to the collapse of the entire left formation, the Youzhou Assault Cavalry directly attacked the remnant soldiers who were being reorganized behind the formation. Now, the remnant soldiers who were reorganizing could not withstand the raging cavalry and collapsed again.
Chaos can no longer be controlled.
The front of the Chinese army was already in chaos under Zhang Tai's charge. Now, a steady stream of broken troops came from the left and behind, hoping to get into the formation and get protection.
As soon as the two sides rushed forward, the Chinese army collapsed.
In the chaos, Ji Sun was already in despair, but he did not expect that Zhang Tai, who had just been released, would be so brave and defeated the two opposing armies. It seemed that he was about to kill the opposing commander Da Zhen.
At this moment, Ji Sun was like a man who fell into the water and saw a reed, so he decided to lead the remaining 700 cavalry to break out of the formation and behead the thief commander.
But when he was less than 400 steps away from the yellow turban warriors charging in front, a sudden attack of Han cavalry directly destroyed his yellow turban warriors.
This time, Jisun's eyes darkened, but he grabbed the reins hard and shouted to his companions:
"Chong, kill Lu Zhi!"
Then the 700 cavalrymen of Sun Ji spared the chaos in front, bypassed the flanks and back of the Yue cavalry, and went straight to the opposite direction.
The speed of life and death, the outcome is unpredictable!