Chapter 447: How to compete with the original country?
The second batch of Chu army chariot troops dispatched were targeted by the Yuan Kingdom's cavalry.
The Yuan cavalry who attacked the Chu army's chariots were separated from the first batch of Chu troops who were besieged and trapped.
It could be seven or eight Yuan cavalry targeting a Chu army chariot, or it could be a dozen or so. At once, about seven or eight hundred Yuan cavalry evacuated, which actually somewhat relieved the pressure on the first batch of Chu troops.
The first batch of Chu troops who were surrounded by the Yuan Kingdom's cavalry and shot down two to three thousand people within two quarters of an hour of fighting. The Chu troops behind wanted to free themselves from the siege. The Chu troops who escaped from the formation were not shot dead.
Because the formation was too scattered, the original cavalry rushed up and hit them with horses or were killed with sabers.
This group of Chu troops saw follow-up reinforcements coming up, and slowly moved towards the reinforcements; when they discovered that the original army had dispatched a second batch of troops, they stopped moving closer to the original army, and instead moved in the direction of their own formation.
When they move, their casualties increase instead of decreasing. This is because standing still allows soldiers carrying shields to form a shield wall. Once they move, the shield wall will be dismantled. Without the protection of the shield wall, the casualties will definitely increase.
of.
As for the second batch of Chu troops that came up, they were met head-on by the standing army of the original state.
The way the two armies greet each other is that the original army takes the lead in shooting arrows.
The first to shoot arrows was of course the standing army of the original state. The soldiers carrying the crossbows were shooting about 280 meters away from the Chu army. After they shot the crossbow arrows in the arrow trough, they would stay in place, holding the main body of the crossbow and stepping on the bow string.
Wind the bow, load the crossbow and shoot again.
As a result, about 800 original soldiers holding powerful crossbows stayed in place, stringing and loading arrows again and again, and fired arrows in response to the command. After shooting ten arrows, they stopped and continued to advance in an orderly manner.
Two hundred and eighty meters? Even if the range can be that far, don't even think about the accuracy. Hitting anything depends purely on luck.
The standing army was within 120 meters of the Chu army. The standing army stopped from advancing, and soldiers carrying strong bows joined in the long-range attack sequence.
During this period, five hundred cavalrymen moved to the left and right wings, and they would wait for opportunities on the outside.
As for this group of Chu troops, they had been targeted by the light cavalry of the Yuan Kingdom before. Mainly the chariots were called out one by one. At the beginning, there were nearly one hundred and thirty chariots, and in less than a quarter of an hour, about four were left.
They were about ten times larger, and they were seriously led astray by the Yuan Kingdom's light cavalry, causing them to become seriously separated from the main formation.
Because they were advancing against a hail of arrows, Chu Jun changed his formation. The soldiers holding shields moved forward. They needed to carry their shields, and their movement speed would definitely be affected.
"Hold still, go forward forty steps, and the bow holder will step forward!" Dou Huai hated fighting with the Jin army before, and now he also hates the fighting method of the original army.
In terms of long-range attacks, the other countries lost to the Jin State before, but now they lose even more to the Yuan State.
It is not that no country wants to change the gap in the range of long-range weapons, but either the cost is too high or it is technically impossible to do so.
There is another fact. Zhiyao can use assistance or loans to quickly complete the change of personnel. The other princely states do not have enough courage to do that.
Therefore, the armaments of other countries are not only unable to catch up with the original country in terms of relevant technology, but also there is a huge barrier in the difficulty of upgrading the equipment of the personnel.
Dou Huai was a man who wanted to upgrade his family's armaments but encountered technical and financial difficulties. He once again fought against the original army, knowing very well that if he didn't make changes, he would be using human lives as consumables.
"Even if my subordinates change their uniforms, will the rest of them do it? If I do that, I can't change the situation of falling behind and being beaten!" Dou Huai felt that the Chu State should hold another general meeting, and the monarchs and ministers must reach a consensus on the issue of changing their uniforms.
The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and when they were almost within the shooting range of the Chu army's archers, Dou Huai ordered the archers to move forward, but at this time, the front array of the original army on the opposite side separated, and the original troops on the left and right wings separated.
The National Guard Cavalry also took action.
Changing formations on the battlefield itself carries great risks. Apparently Zhi Xuwu, who commanded the standing army of the original country, seized the opportunity of the Chu army's archers to move forward and issued new orders.
The Yuan Kingdom's assault cavalry, who were originally on the left and right wings, saw the command flag of their formation, pulled the reins, changed the direction of their gallop, and charged at the head of the Chu army with a charging attitude.
At the same time, the main formation of the standing army split open, and about a thousand former soldiers ran out in formation holding spears. A "line" consisted of two hundred soldiers. The distance between each spearman was about one and a half meters. There were five lines in total.
"Xian" rushed towards the Chu army directly opposite with all his strength.
The Yuan Kingdom's assault cavalry, who was the first to make a move, had already crashed into the Chu army's head. In an instant, the Chu army, which had been a little confused due to the change of formations, became even more chaotic. A large number of Chu army shieldmen and archers fell on the Yuan Kingdom's assault cavalry.
On collision or under the saber.
Dou Huai, who was in the Chu army's formation, was completely stunned and murmured: "Isn't it impossible to charge into the formation?"
Yes, the light cavalry of the original country never attack the enemy in formation. Once the enemy's long-range troops have a long range, they will be cautious when attacking.
Those who appeared were not the light cavalry of the original country, their unit was called the shock cavalry.
Regardless of the fact that there are only 500 cavalrymen in the original country, the war horses they ride on are only one in a hundred. Not only are the requirements for the height of the horse's back higher, but the explosive power of the war horses is also strictly selected. Zhiyao ordered people to search from all over the country.
Excellent horse breeds are cultivated, and currently there are only more than 1,300 horses that can be used as troopers.
Why is there only a strength of 500 cavalry when there are more than 1,300 qualified war horses? This requires keeping spare war horses. How can it be possible to fully use as many suitable war horses as there are?
The two Yuan national assault cavalry who charged from the left and right directions completed the cross-cutting. They did not turn around and charged again, and resumed cruising on the two flanks of the Chu army.
If we count the number, the number of Yuan Kingdom's shock cavalry who completed the cross-cutting was not more than ten cavalrymen???
In fact, there is nothing too strange. The cloth armor equipped by the knights is different from that of the infantry. The skirt armor is lengthened and widened to protect the legs. They are still dealing with shieldmen and archers, not long-hand weapons.
The enemy's weapons were lost, and the cavalry lost was caused by the horse's stumble, not by the attack of Chu soldiers.
The focus of Dou Huai's pupils shrank for a while!
The Yuan Kingdom's assault cavalry completed the cross-cutting, and then the thousand Yuan Kingdom standing infantry troops who launched the charge had arrived.
These thousand soldiers of the original standing army armed with spears completed their interaction with the cavalry. Almost as soon as the cavalry completed the cross-cutting, the first batch of spearmen rushed into the head of the collapsed Chu army's formation.
, followed by the second batch, the third batch, the fourth batch... until all are completed.
Behind the thousand standing army pikemen, two thousand heavy infantry were advancing and shooting arrows.
Is there anything surprising about the heavy infantry's archery? The truth is that archers perform miracles!
Soldiers who can draw strong bows have very strong arms and are very powerful in melee combat given appropriate weapons.
Most archers are vulnerable simply because they have no armor, and furthermore they don't have suitable weapons, or their strength is exhausted when shooting arrows. It's not that they don't have the ability to fight in close combat.
Dou Huai could tell the type of former soldiers who were advancing while shooting arrows.
In fact, if one is not blind, no one would think that the advancing soldiers of the original army are pure archers, just because they not only have a shield behind them, but also a halberd at an angle.
"Heavy infantry that is almost indistinguishable from the elites of the Wei family!" Dou Huai came to a conclusion instantly.
If you know the details of the Jin Kingdom, or if you have a time traveler, you will probably curse: "The Zhi family is so shameless, taking away the development route of the Zhao family's cavalry, Wei family's heavy infantry and Han family's long-range attack advantage!"
You were right to scold me.
Zhiyao hid it at first, but later she didn't even try to cover it up, and tried to gather the strengths of other families.
Of course, judging from the timeline, the current historical version is that the Zhi family first completed the training of the cavalry and the formed heavy infantry. The world's view is that the Zhao family and the Wei family imitated the Zhi family, so that the Zhi family did not plagiarize.
In addition, in the current era, only the Zhi family can do that, and the other families really do not have the financial resources, technology, and optional sources of troops.
Of course, Dou Huai didn't just watch. He had to give orders to the left and right wings to beware of the Yuan cavalry, and he also had to abandon the head of the formation so that the Chu army at the back would be ready for battle.
A thousand pikemen from the original standing army slaughtered the Chu soldiers at the head of the formation, and then retreated to the left and right under orders from the officers.
The scene once again demonstrated the seamless connection between the pikemen and the heavy infantry of the original country, that is, the pikemen had just given up their positions, and the heavy infantry filled in immediately after.
Another new round of collision begins!
The heavy infantry of the original standing army had put away their bows and crossbows. Instead, they used a halberd in one hand and a shield in the other. Facing the rain of arrows that continued to fall, they seemed to be advancing like a wall.
When passing through the battlefield, the heavy infantry of the standing army needed to be careful with their feet to avoid stepping on corpses and tripping, or being attacked by alive Chu soldiers.
The arrows constantly falling from the head? Most of them are blocked by the raised shield. Even if an arrow hits the heavy infantry of the standing army, and the arrowhead hits the gap where the armor is connected, they will be blocked by the next layer of leather armor.
Even the luckiest arrows only caused the heavy infantry of the standing army to feel the pain of flesh and blood.
The main reason why Dou Huai's pupils shrank was that his troops were being melted away layer by layer like ointment encountering a hot sharp blade.
Although the Dou family declined, they were still one of the powerful families in the Chu state. Before the Jin state was destroyed, if they faced the Jin army except for the Zhi family, the outcome would be a split between 40 and 60 at most.
What is the situation now? Dou's troops did not lose their will to fight. When they encountered an enemy that was difficult to resist, they managed to maintain their formation and fight, which most Chu troops could not do. The Dou's soldiers in front of the formation did not die in battle.
Just being forced to retreat.
This scene was watched by many people. What they saw was that the dark green color representing the Chu army continued to disappear as the red color advanced, and the dark green color disappeared faster and faster.
At the current historical stage, unless the heavy infantry of the original country's standing army were disbanded or were besieged somewhere for a long time and lost supplies, they would actually be invincible in a head-on confrontation!
"Retreat..., retreat gradually in an orderly manner!" Dou Huai tried several methods and found that he could not stop the enemy's advance at all.
Then, Dou Huai looked at the friendly troops who originally needed rescue. He didn't know when it started, but it had turned into a chase.
He did not care about friendly forces in his current fight, because not long after, he discovered that his own retreat was facing a huge threat!
The Yuan Kingdom's assault cavalry has been cruising on the left and right sides of the Chu army. The original army's standing army pikemen who broke away from the battle also divided into two groups to threaten the Chu army's left and right wings. They sensed that the Chu army wanted to retreat, so first the assault cavalry moved towards the rear of the Chu army.
The pikemen then performed the same move.
I don't know when, the two thousand heavy infantry of the standing army had stretched out their formation. They changed from the straight line advancement method at the beginning to a ")" shape.
The battle-hardened Dou Huai knew that if they didn't make any changes, they would soon be surrounded and end up like friendly forces.
At this time, there was a new movement in the original army's main formation, and a light cavalry force of about three thousand was dispatched.
There is no need to waste too much time guessing what these three thousand light cavalry from the Yuan Kingdom were doing. They were either joining in the pursuit of the first batch of Chu troops that had collapsed, or they were cooperating with the standing army to keep Dou Huai's troops behind.
On the side of the Chu army's main formation, Zonglou asked for orders from the king of Chu, saying: "Your Majesty, I am willing to lead my troops into battle!"
Zonglou was originally an aristocrat of the Qi State. The civil war in Qi was so great that he was unable to resist the annexation of the Zhi family. He chose to lead his people south to the Chu State and was taken in by Xiong Zhang, the ancestor of the Chu State.
Chu Junzhong, who had been watching the battlefield, showed no reaction at all.
Ziguo said on his behalf: "A small army is useless. Let's attack with a large army!"
After the battle began, about 70,000 Chu troops came out of the camp one after another. They lined up in front of their camp and stood ready.
Chu Junzhong (Xiong Zhong) looked a little dull. It seemed that he had gone through a lot of mental journeys in more than an hour?
"Five thousand versus more than ten thousand, and another three thousand five hundred versus sixteen thousand, our army is completely at a disadvantage in the confrontation?" Chu Junzhong knew that the Chu State had entered a period of decline, but he did not expect that against the Yuan State, which had just been founded, both sides would be at a disadvantage.
The difference would be so big.
"Don't let all the troops who go to war be wiped out!" Chu Junzhong said to Ziguo.
If two troops were completely wiped out on the first day of fighting, the loss of 20,000 to 30,000 troops would not be much compared to a total of about 300,000 troops. The blow to morale would definitely be severe.
Ziguo immediately ordered 60,000 troops from the army on standby to press forward.
"Ning Qing." Chu Junzhong gestured to his country to get closer and asked softly: "Is it true that Jun Yao has such a strong army under his command?"
Ziguo's mouth twitched when he was asked.
How should I put it? There must be strong and weak troops in the Yuan Kingdom. It is impossible for all of them to be strong armies. If there is a level difference, the Zhi family must be the strongest, and among them, the standing army is the most elite.
"Your Majesty, it is imperative to rebuild Zuoyouguang!" This is all Ziguo can say.
Chu Junzhong understood immediately.
In other words, in the current confrontation between Chu State and Yuan State, Chu State can only use quantity to offset Yuan State's quality.
A new batch of about 60,000 Chu troops are pressing forward. Is this the end of today's battle?
On the side of the original army's main formation, Zhiyao was looking up at the sky.
The sun is in the west-center position. Based on the time of day, it should be about three o'clock in the afternoon?
"Your Majesty, would you like to mobilize troops for reinforcements?"
Zhiyao did not answer immediately, and glanced back and forth between the two Chu armies who were struggling to support...
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
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