Chapter 513: Fighting for Several Days
The soldiers and horses trapped in the enemy's army, while dividing the enemy, were also separated by the enemy's small square formation. The difference was that the enemy's small square formation was surrounded by shield soldiers, while Daqian's soldiers were directly exposed to the enemy's swords.
“Kill, kill, kill!”
The enemy's troops were in high spirits. The shield soldiers spit out spear tips like poisonous snakes, and long swords flashed from time to time. In a very short period of time, the vanguard of Daqian suffered heavy casualties.
Meng Hua hurriedly ordered the archers in the rear to press forward and concentrate their forces to attack the center of the enemy formation in an attempt to disrupt the enemy's lineup. On the other hand, he ordered the flag bearer to raise the flag to shrink the formation.
After a chaotic battle, the Daqian side lost more than two thousand soldiers.
Meng Hua, who commanded the central army, had a sullen expression. He was also a skilled warrior, boasting that he was no less skilled than the others. Although he was still slightly inferior to the older generation, he always held a certain pride in himself compared to his peers. However, this very first battle ended in failure?
After this defeat, they should have withdrawn their troops and reorganized to fight again. However, Meng Hua was unwilling to accept defeat and directly ordered the reorganization of the formation. However, this time the entire formation turned into an arrow-shaped formation.
Meng Hua said to his deputy general Guan Jin, "Guan Jin, if you and I return defeated like this, how can we live up to the Marshal's trust? You and I will personally fight these barbarians and let them see the power of our Daqian army!"
Guan Jin immediately responded, "Don't worry, General. I will fight to the death!"
Afterwards, the two of them personally led their personal guards to the front of the Arrow Formation!
"kill!"
Meng Hua shouted loudly, and the dense drum beats sounded again. After reorganizing their formation, the Daqian soldiers charged towards the enemy again.
The other side thought that the Daqian troops would retreat, but they didn't expect Meng Hua and the other two to attack again. So, Sangbuza used the same trick again and formed a formation to counterattack.
"boom!"
The armies of both sides collided again, but this time, the arrow-point formation led by Meng Hua and the other two was able to break through the surface with a single point. The enemy's shield soldiers only lasted for a few breaths before being torn apart by the Daqian soldiers.
Afterwards, Meng Hua waved the big knife in his hand, and Guan Jin beside him followed closely with a halberd in his hand. The two men's personal guards fought with them as if they were risking their lives.
When the enemy saw that their formation was broken, they immediately changed their formation. However, Meng Hua naturally could not fall twice in the same place. This time, the two wings of the Arrow Formation were also protected by shield soldiers, so the two wings directly turned into a collision of shield soldiers.
Meng Hua and the other two rushed forward. The small square formation could not stop the Daqian troops at all. Soon, two or three small square formations were hit head-on and were wrapped up in the big formation and instantly became victims of the Daqian soldiers' swords.
The two sides fought for a while, and the enemy's vanguard was completely defeated. Sambuza in the rear saw that the situation was not right and immediately sounded the retreat. Meng Hua and his men chased for a while, but felt exhausted and retreated.
After each side withdrew their troops and counted their forces, the damage suffered by the Daqian side was only slightly less than that of the other side.
In the central army tent, Jia Cong looked at Meng Hua and Guan Jin who knelt before him. He paused for a moment before saying, "Meng Hua and Guan Jin, you two fought poorly. You will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane. Do you accept this?"
"I'm convinced!" The two didn't dare to say anything more and were directly dragged out by the guards and beaten with military sticks.
After the two returned to the tent, Jia Cong asked, "Do you know why I punished you?"
Guan Jin said with shame, "We two fought poorly, resulting in the loss of over 3,000 men under our command. We deserve the punishment!"
Jia Cong said in a serious tone, "I will punish you, not for your defeat in the first round, but for your victory in the second round!"
"As a general, caution is paramount! Acting rashly under impulse is not what a general should do. You must know that a single order from you could lead to the death of your soldiers! The men of Daqian fear no life or death, but they cannot die because of your recklessness!"
"Fortunately, the enemy didn't change their formation any more. Otherwise, how many of your 20,000 soldiers would have been able to return today?"
After hearing this, the two finally understood and immediately bowed their heads and said, "Thank you for your teachings, Marshal!"
"You must remember that one hundred thousand soldiers followed us into battle, fighting for Daqian. Every time one of them dies, there will be one more orphan and widow left upon our return!"
"Return to camp and fight again tomorrow!"
On the city wall of Chengdu, Sun Ze witnessed the battle outside the city for the past two days. Although he could not see it clearly, the reinforcements from Daqian had indeed arrived.
He once again requested permission to leave the city and join the reinforcements in attacking the southern Xinjiang troops, but unsurprisingly, he was rejected again.
"Ah!" Sun Ze sighed. The deputy general beside him stepped forward and whispered, "General, are we just going to stand by and watch?"
"Looking at the number of military camps outside the city, our Daqian reinforcements are not as strong as those from Southern Xinjiang. If the reinforcements are defeated, then there will be no hope for our Chengdu Prefecture. If we leave the city now and attack from both sides, even if we can't win a decisive victory, we can at least inflict heavy damage on the Southern Xinjiang troops!"
Sun Ze sighed, "How could I not know? But, you also know that person in the palace..."
The deputy general said disdainfully, "General, that person has become a frightened bird, and has no idea about military affairs!"
"Why not let me lead the troops out of the city to attack the camp? Then, even if you are blamed, I will bear the responsibility!"
Sun Ze's expression changed. After a long pause, he whispered, "Leaving the city rashly will also mean no chance of success! For the past two days, secretly gather our brothers together and monitor the situation outside the city!"
"Once we have the chance, you and I will lead our brothers to fight our way out!"
"After Xinjian's defeat, the royal palace ordered us to retreat to Chengdu City. However, hundreds of thousands of civilians from various counties were killed or injured, and there are hundreds of thousands of civilians in this city. Even for the sake of the civilians, we must fight!"
The deputy general immediately prostrated himself and shouted, "I will follow you till death!"
Outside the city, Daqian's troops and Southern Xinjiang's troops engaged in a fierce battle for five or six days, with both sides suffering heavy casualties. As Jia Cong watched the battle, he pondered how to defeat the enemy. If the fighting continued like this, even if they could relieve Chengdu, the rest of the battle would be impossible...
On this day, after the war ended, Jia Cong asked Meng Hua and others to come to the big tent!
"Meng Hua, Guan Jin, Lu Feng... Let's fight again tomorrow. Arrange your formations like this!"
Meng Hua was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately said, "Great commander, this is a brilliant plan! The enemy army will surely be in chaos!"
"Xie Jing, Wu Qing, I will allocate another 10,000 cavalry to you. When the two armies clash tomorrow, you will immediately lead your troops around to the rear and attack the enemy's rear!"
Everyone obeyed the order and then returned to the camp to rest.
On the morning of the second day, both sides launched their troops again! There were no pleasantries or harsh words. After the troops were deployed, the deafening shouts of killing once again resounded through the sky.
