The battlefield chosen by Jiang Shuo was Shannan Town, which is more than 100 miles away from Ganzhou and about 300 miles away from Suzhou. The Shannan Inn where Han Chong was assassinated two years ago is located at the west end of the town. It is a flat valley with abundant water sources.
, if Zhang Wei sends his troops to march quickly, they can just rest and recuperate there for one day. When the army is disarming and drinking horses, it is the perfect time for Jiang Lang to make a sneak attack! What is more advantageous is that the gentle slope down to the valley is about 30 meters long.
Five miles, a cavalry battle, a condescending attack will give the party in the high position a huge advantage!
The army led by Jiang Lang was stationed ten miles east of Shannan Town. Everyone was hiding in the wilderness on both sides of the official road, except for Master Yuanbao who led twenty Quanzhen disciples to sneak into Shannan Town at night and lay in wait quietly.
, Jiang Lang's army of 4,000 men endured hunger and thirst, and not a single horse ran into Shannan Town to drink.
The main reason for staying so far away was the fear of being discovered by Zhang Wei's reconnaissance cavalry prematurely. According to the practice of Qi cavalry during a rapid march, the reconnaissance cavalry is usually divided into two teams, eight miles in front and one team every four miles.
Four hours later, when it was already morning, smoke and dust could be seen rising from the official road in the distance, and six fast horses were riding along the official road.
"Father, here we come!" Jiang Shuo and Jiang Lang hid themselves on a hill, overlooking the scene in Shannan Town. A team of nearly ten thousand people was rushing down the gentle slope from the west into the valley of Shannan Town.
Apparently they came after a night's march. In front of the army, almost four miles apart, there were two teams of reconnaissance cavalry exploring the road along the official road. The nearest team was less than four miles away from Jiang Shuo's army.
Both sides of the official road are almost flat wasteland. The hillock Jiang Shuo and Jiang Lang are standing on is only four or five feet high and more than ten feet wide. There is no way to hide a few people behind the hill. The scouts only need to run as close as two miles.
Within, you can find large groups of cavalry ambushing on both sides of the official road.
"Send the order and get ready to attack!" Jiang Lang ordered. In the valley in the distance, the enemy troops had dismounted and were probably preparing to drink their horses.
"Yes!" Jiang Shuo flew down the hill, put the bag in his hand on his head, then waved his arms and shouted: "Brothers, mount your horses! Attack!"
Soldiers on both sides of the official road who had been ready mounted their horses one after another. After taking a nap for more than three hours last night, most of the soldiers were tired from running around for days, and they all rushed towards the valley with a hundred times of energy! The sprinting team was about a hundred horses parallel.
Rushing forward, the most powerful cavalry gallops on the flat wasteland. The so-called official road is just a few more ruts.
Not long after Jiang Shuo gave the order, Zhang Wei's scouts had already discovered a large group of war horses on the official road ahead. Before Jiang Shuo charged, three of them ran to the rear, while the other three continued to move forward to investigate, and then
Oncoming were four thousand cavalrymen under the command of Jiang Shuo!
The three scout cavalry who were less than two miles away were so frightened that they immediately turned back to follow the three cavalry who reported the news and ran towards the valley.
As the sound of horse hooves sounded like thunder, Zhang Wei's second team of scouts poked their heads out from the slope of the valley. The sight before them was that thousands of cavalry were chasing six scouts on the official road with their hooves spread.
The clear enemy situation made the second team of reconnaissance riders turn their horses around and charge into the valley without even thinking. Everyone was shouting "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!..."
In the valley, Xi Junhu left two thousand horses on guard. The others took off their saddles and chewed, preparing to give the horses that had been running all night a moment of relaxation. Soldiers who were going to draw water from nearby water sources were walking across with buckets of clean water.
Among the cavalry teams, many people who helped carry water were ordinary people called from the town...
At this time, the roar of the scout cavalry was vaguely heard from the top of the valley on the east side. Xi Junhu just glanced at the team of scout cavalry running back and knew what they were shouting. In shock, he hurriedly dropped it and sent it to the enemy.
With the water scoop at his mouth, he shouted: "Hurry up and mount your horse to meet the enemy!"
Xi Junhu's cry startled all the soldiers around him, but soon many of the soldiers began to shout: "Stop drinking horses, mount your horses to meet the enemy!"
The war horses were drinking vigorously at this time. How could they strap on the saddles and fasten the bits in a short time in a hurry? The tens of thousands of cavalry in the open space outside Shannan Town were in chaos. With the first batch of King Jin's
The cavalry emerged from the heights in the east, and the chaos even turned into a riot!
"Don't panic! Tianzi Camp, Xuanzi Camp, Yuzi Camp, and Zhouzi Camp quickly go up to fight!" Xi Junhu immediately asked the four battalions of cavalry who were on alert to rush up the gentle slope to fight. As long as they can block a cup of tea, most of them will
Can complete the assembly of horses.
More and more enemy troops appeared on the top of the slope. Taking advantage of the condescending momentum, Xi Junhu felt a sense of fear in his heart and unconsciously took a few steps back behind the team. However, most of the soldiers in the valley were immersed in completing the equipment of the horses.
No one expected that several "common people" who volunteered to help the army carry water would drop their buckets and rush straight towards Xi Junhu!
"Stop! Who are they?" Xi Junhu's personal guards discovered the "common people" running towards them at an astonishing speed. They were all Chengzong-level figures. At this time, Xi Junhu was only focused on the fierce battle on the hillside, until
Only when his own bodyguard asked, did he realize that someone was approaching. At this time, those "common people" were no more than ten feet away from him!
"Quickly stop the assassin!" Xi Junhu left at least a hundred guards around him. If more than half of them had not gone to drink horses, the number would have been 500. Xi Junhu, who was at the peak of the Eight Meridians, just glanced at the assassin's figure and felt a little...
I was so scared that there were at least three Chengzong who came!
It was the Quanzhen top masters led by Lu Baogen who rushed towards Xi Junhu! Twenty people were divided into three teams to hunt down the generals in Xi Junhu's formation. Among the six people who dealt with Xi Junhu were Lu Baogen, Lingxu and Lingkong!
Xi Junhu, who was about to mount his horse and run away, was half a beat too slow after all. His mount was injured by Lingxu's flying rocks. After dismounting, he didn't run far when he was killed by Yuanbao and Lingxu who had just broken through the guard's defense.
Xi Junhu's personal guards were not much weaker than Han Chong's personal guards. The reason why they failed to stop Yuan Bao and others was precisely because the attack from above the valley distracted most people's attention, and no one expected it.
The dignified elders of the Quanzhen Sect will carry out sneak attacks.
"Xi Junhu is dead! Why don't you dismount and surrender?" Lu Baogen's low roar filled with inner strength came from the valley. The sound was enough to reach everyone in the valley. More and more people followed the sound and saw that he was being killed.
Lu Baogen's body was raised high, and the commotion in the valley had turned into disorderly chaos. Especially after King Jin's cavalry broke through the two thousand cavalry defense line that was attacking them, the soldiers who had not yet assembled their horses abandoned their horses and headed for the town.
To run away from a house in the middle of the country is to pull off the saddle, mount the horse and flee westward!
Some of the soldiers who had been equipped with horse gear gritted their teeth and faced the battle, some dismounted and surrendered, and some followed the escaped people and ran westward. Among them were the 500 personal guards Zhang Lei lent to Xi Junhu.
The chaotic team was completely unable to withstand the impact of the King of Jin's cavalry and was quickly defeated. The Jiang Shuo brothers who led the charge were not satisfied with the current results and chased them for more than 30 miles before returning with their men.
After the battle, the results were almost unbelievable. More than 3,000 people were killed and wounded, nearly 3,000 were surrendered, and only more than 2,000 horsemen escaped. As for Jiang Shuo, only more than 400 horsemen died, and those who were too injured could no longer fight.
The Quanzhen Taoist priest responsible for the assassination, with three hundred cavalry, was besieged by the enemy and suffered several casualties.
Shannan Town is the only road from Ganzhou to Suzhou. After the victory, the King of Jin stationed himself on the spot. Half of the surrenderers were willing to be loyal to the King of Jin, which was enough to make up for the losses in the previous battle. The rest were unwilling to join the army.
The King of Jin was kind-hearted and gave the old horse and road supplies as gifts and allowed him to return home to farm. He also tried his best to treat the injured and then released them.
Since a lot of food and grass were collected along the way, it could support the needs of more than 5,000 men and horses for a month. As long as the pursuers behind him did not arrive so quickly, Jin Wang Jiang Lang planned to block this food road forever!
The King of Jin also selected several groups of people who sincerely surrendered among the surrendered soldiers, and asked them to return to Zhang Wei's army, and by the way, he conveyed the news of the defeat of Zhang Wei's cavalry to Suzhou City.
The news that Xi Junhu's army was almost wiped out soon reached Zhang Wei's tent. Zhang Wei could no longer sleep peacefully. Early the next morning, he made the decision to withdraw the entire army to Ganzhou. The army only had enough food for 70,000 people.
It takes six days for the army to eat, and the fastest march back to Ganzhou is four days! At present, except for the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Yunzhou, almost all the troops in Gansu Province are in and around Suzhou City, and they can no longer be mobilized from other places.
Defeat Jiang Lang's cavalry in Shannan Town without sending any troops.
It's not that Zhang Wei didn't want to send some troops to open up the grain road, but now the cavalry has almost been lost, and the total can't
There are more than two thousand cavalry. If the infantry is too small, they will die. If there are more people, they are afraid of Suzhou City's counterattack. Besides, the opponent is cavalry. They can choose the time and place of the battle at will. If they keep touching without fighting, their infantry will definitely
If they couldn't catch up, by then, the food road would not be opened, and a large number of soldiers in the outer city of Suzhou City would have starved to death, so retreating as a whole army became a last resort.
Zhang Wei's ability is not weak, and there is a reason why he can stand out in the Zhang family where there are many talents. This is also the reason why Zhang Zhiren supports him so much, and his military position is even higher than that of his legitimate son Zhang Cheng. Zhang Wei has figured out the stakes.
Finally, he decisively took all the more than 70,000 people with him and retreated to Ganzhou angrily.
Zhang Zhiren in Suzhou City soon learned about the battle situation in Shannan Town through the soldiers sent by Jiang Lang. He was overjoyed and decided to let Han Chong send people to pursue him. Since he had obtained many war horses in the battle of Zhangjiazhong Garden,
Including the 800 military horses requisitioned from Anxi Racecourse, Han Chong's cavalry also reached 2,500, but there were less than 1,000 soldiers with superb riding skills, and the rest were just infantry who could ride horses.
Seeing Zhang Wei's decisive retreat, Han Cong personally led all the cavalry in pursuit and followed the troops ten miles away, looking for opportunities to harass him.
The news of Zhang Wei's retreat was soon learned by the King of Jin's reconnaissance cavalry. The King of Jin, who had just won a great victory, wanted to look for fighters as the enemy troops marched. Although Zhang Wei had many men, he did not have many cavalry, and his morale was greatly damaged.
, his five thousand cavalry will definitely have the chance to inflict heavy damage to the opponent, so after resting for two days, he led the main force to meet Suzhou, leaving only a few people in the town to look after the royal family members and some generals and officials who were accompanying them.