With the hearts of the people in mind, we continue marching.
Within a moment, the entire army crossed the Xiangshan Pass.
Correspondingly, the smoke rising in the distance kept approaching, and below the smoke, the Mongolian army rolled towards them.
The smoke and dust stirred up by the marching army is called military aura. Some people believe that the various appearances of military aura can indicate the success or failure of the war. Guo Zhongyuan does not believe in such mysterious things, but he can indeed learn from the smoke and dust.
You can feel the urgency of the enemy's footsteps and the orderliness of the queue, and then roughly estimate the ratio of soldiers to knights in the team.
The scout was right, it was indeed a surrendered Jin army, fully equipped and with high morale.
In this kind of open terrain, it is difficult to carry out ambush and interception operations. When the two armies meet, they can only face each other head-on, and the stronger one will win.
About three miles apart, the two armies each slowed down and gathered into battle formations.
Although the number of enemy troops was smaller, their morale was extremely high, as if they did not take Guo Zhongyuan's troops seriously. They faced Guo Zhongyuan's troops and formed a sharp triangular formation.
At the front of the sharp formation was a group of arrogant soldiers. They shouted loudly, challenged Guo Zhongyuan, and insulted him with contempt. Some people laughed maniacally, ran out of the queue, and picked up gravel on the ground.
Or cow and horse dung is thrown over.
In response, Guo Zhongyuan only ordered: "Anyone who acts rashly will be killed."
He was not very good at arranging troops, and his soldiers improvised, let alone mastering any complex formations. Therefore, the formation he sent out was the simplest and most basic square formation.
The front row is a vehicle connected end to end with thick ropes. The crossbowmen stand leaning on the vehicle and put the quivers on their backs in front of them. The officers leading them walked quickly while shouting loudly to remind them that they must watch.
If the military flag is not wavering, you cannot shoot.
Compared with the total force of 5,000 men, the number of crossbowmen was very small. The carts were sent in three columns, but the crossbowmen were only two columns.
Behind the crossbowmen were infantry armed with spears and spears. They lined up densely, stacked in front and back, and arranged in five or six columns.
Behind them are many small phalanxes. These phalanxes are not only a mixture of sword, shield and spearmen, but also a mixture of Guo Zhongyuan's experienced soldiers and prisoners, and strong men. Each soldier,
At this time, they all played a backbone role, keeping the entire team they led stable.
Guo Zhongyuan himself is in these small square formations.
The ones at the very rear were the elite soldiers led by Xiao Moule. The cavalry led their horses, sitting or standing relaxedly, sometimes looking ahead with hawk-like eyes to intimidate those who showed the slightest sign of wavering.
Some people even raised their heads as a signal. The heads were dripping with blood. They were people who disobeyed military orders during the formation and were beheaded.
One of them, when he was killed, was standing in a small square formation next to Guo Zhongyuan. He was not a prisoner or a defeated soldier, but a soldier of Guo Zhongyuan's headquarters. Xiao Mo Le held a golden sword and killed all of them.
scruples.
This makes Guo Zhongyuan very satisfied.
Most of the generals under Guo Ning are border guards who have been stationed in northern Xinjiang for a long time. Some have even served in the border army for several generations, witnessing the rise of the Great Mongolia from scratch, from weak to strong. In the army
Everything is as natural to them as breathing. Although most of them are subordinates, in terms of commanding operations, the fat-headed Jurchen generals in Zhongdu are far inferior to them.
Li Ting, Guo Zhongyuan and others are different from these soldiers guarding the border. They originally had their own identities and professions. In recent years, after the imperial court's fight with Mongolia was unlucky, they were signed to the northern Xinjiang one after another. Then, suddenly,
Facing the most powerful military group of our time, he died with blood flowing everywhere.
People who survive in this environment may differ in their military abilities, but their common characteristic is that they are ruthless.
Li Ting is very cruel to himself, and his leadership style is no less than that of Guo Ning.
Guo Zhongyuan, on the other hand, was very cruel to the soldiers.
Many people who are familiar with Guo Zhongyuan regard him as a kind brother and a reliable partner, but Guo Zhongyuan himself knows that he is more than just such a person. When the capital of Japan and China were fighting, Pu Xian's team lured the soldiers to die for themselves, and Guo Zhongyuan knew it at a glance.
I noticed something strange in it, because Guo Zhongyuan had the same style on the battlefield.
In his view, victory is always built on human lives. No matter how generous you are to your soldiers in daily life, no matter how caring you are with your heart and soul, in the end, on the battlefield, as long as death can bring victory, you must give up without hesitation.
Soldiers, die.
What is there to miss in this world that cares little about human life? I don’t know how many soldiers died under the leadership of incompetent generals. They died in a miserable and meaningless way. In this case, it is better to die in a more valuable way!
This was what Guo Zhongyuan thought when he was serving as general. Now that he is serving as the general of the personal army under Guo Ning, he still thinks this way.
Now, most of his subordinates are newly surrendered prisoners, and the other half are Ding Zhuang who have recently joined the army. It is difficult for the army composed of them to remain stable in the face of sudden heavy pressure. And Guo Zhongyuan's method of coping is also very simple, that is
Take the pressure off in advance.
If the soldiers are accustomed to the sword of their own leader who kills people at every turn, then the ferocity of the enemy's army will be nothing!
On the battlefield, people have their shortcomings and strengths, and their energy rises and falls. No one dares to say that they are always victorious and invincible. But at any time, if one person surrenders his life, he is afraid of thousands of people, let alone five thousand people who dare to die?
Guo Zhongyuan looked ahead calmly.
He saw the enemy approaching quickly, saw his own crossbowmen firing arrows continuously, saw the enemy's crossbowmen still shooting while running, saw his own crossbowmen were quickly suppressed, and had to rely on vehicles to retreat.
He saw the enemy troops spread out in front, divided into countless small groups, passed through the car formation, and broke into the spearmen's queue without hesitation; he saw the spearmen were in chaos, and the Puchan leading the team somewhere could not hold up.
, a little panicked, but as soon as he turned around and took half a step back, he was beheaded by the military judge who came from behind. The military judge then stepped into the line with a knife and took over the command.
He saw the enemy troops shouting and fighting like wild beasts, with blood and flesh flying everywhere they went; he saw the ranks of spearmen becoming more and more loose, and the small phalanxes at the back filled in one by one.
One of the officers in the small square formation was an old acquaintance of Guo Ning, a Liaodong man named Zhang Chi who was defeated in Yehuling. That day, Guo Ning was gathering people at Xijun River, and Zhang Chi was one of the first ones to arrive.
, very experienced.
On weekdays, Guo Zhongyuan treated him very politely and did not simply regard him as a subordinate.
Zhang Chi rushed to the front of the battle line, ducked sideways to avoid the spear that was thrust straight at him, and slashed with his sword. The enemy on the opposite side screamed and fell to the ground. He reached out to cover the wound on his chest, but the blood vessels in the injured area twisted and blood spurted out.
, where can I cover it up!
Zhang Chi did not look at the enemy who was lying on the ground, and with one stroke of his sword, he deflected the spear thrust by the second enemy behind him.
But at this moment, the third enemy leaned over and sprinted, grabbed Zhang Chi's side, pushed him to the ground, and then suppressed his legs. He immediately threw away the long knife, took out the short knife at his waist and stabbed him randomly
After stabbing twice, the hand holding the knife was stepped on by the fourth enemy.
It’s hard this time!
Zhang Chi shouted loudly, and two companions around him hurriedly came to the rescue. In the blink of an eye, one of them was hit by an arrow, the other was hit by a gun, and both of them lay dead on the ground.
The enemy knelt down to suppress Zhang Chi's flabby arms, and stabbed Zhang Chi in the throat with a half-broken iron spear. Fortunately, the third enemy had been stabbed by Zhang Chi with a short knife and was already dead. At this time, the body was shaking
After wandering for a moment, he suddenly pounced on Zhang Chi, blocking the path of the iron spear.
The enemy with the spear quickly turned around and stabbed Zhang Chi in the belly.
Just as he was about to make his move, another of Zhang Chi's subordinates pounced on him and pushed him away. The two of them tore at each other and turned over and over again, neither of them bothering to pull out the short-sighted soldier beside them. Zhang Chi took a step forward and was stunned.
, the knife penetrated the gap between the enemy's helmet and shoulder armor.
The enemy twitched twice, blood flowed from his neck, steaming, and he stared dead.
"Boy, good job!" Zhang Chi withdrew his dagger and praised, reaching out to pull his subordinate who fell to the ground.
Holding hands together, Zhang Chi was about to exert force when a cold light flashed before his eyes.
A soldier rushed out of the enemy formation and cut off the fallen soldier's arm with a sword.
The soldier's left arm was severed at shoulder level. He couldn't help but scream loudly, and then his head was beheaded.
Zhang Chi stood unsteadily, holding half of his arm in his hand and staggering back. He took a few steps back, watching the front line waver, and he could already see the figure of the military judge out of the corner of his eye!
Military law is strict and no one dares to violate it. If you retreat from the battlefield, you will die immediately! Instead of dying in the hands of your own family and dying humiliatingly, how can you kill the enemy and die like a good man, and still leave some pension and land for your family?
What's more, I just didn't stand firm! Guo Zhongyuan is crazy, Xiao Mole is also crazy, why are they forced in such a hurry?
Zhang Chi yelled, threw half of his arm forward, hit the soldier in the face, and then stepped forward to fight to the death.
