Chapter 525: A Hard Battle in the Gobi Desert
Gu Shan looked at Meng Gong anxiously and said: Lord Meng, please give the order quickly, he promises to rush across the river and avenge our previous humiliation.
Meng Gong was also anxious. There were already more than 80,000 troops transferred from Guanzhong under his command. If he did not attack, he would be exposed. Was he just going to stay here and waste food and grass?
Meng Gong slammed the table and said angrily: Let’s do it, attack at dawn.
Send a message to Lai Chuanfang immediately.
The Eastern Expedition Army in Guanzhong immediately took action.
Then return to Nailong Mountain southwest of Hongqing River.
At dawn, there was a sudden roar of artillery fire in the southeast of Nailung Mountain. The charge of the Shenwei Army sounded through the sky. A batch of Shenwei Army suddenly shouted and launched a group charge towards the Mongolian troops stationed outside.
When Cao You heard the familiar charge sound, he stood up immediately and hurried out of the tent to look around. The surroundings were still pitch black, but he could clearly feel that the air was shaken by the violent explosion of the thunder bomb.
He was overjoyed and shouted, "The Shenwei Army has arrived, our reinforcements have arrived," and immediately ordered Baturu to rush out to welcome them.
The sky quickly brightened, and all the generals could see that Baturu's cavalry rushed in with a large group of Shenwei Army infantry.
After a short rest, Lao Cao saw the commander-in-chief Lu Huacai and asked him happily: "You came so quickly, Dashan, where is brother Yulin?"
Hua Cai excitedly told him: The third young master was worried that the king would launch an attack as soon as he arrived at the battlefield in order to delay the enemy and fall into a desperate situation, so he asked him to lead the troops ahead. All 40,000 infantry and artillery came in carriages and finally picked up King Cao.
Hua Cai was still working on his report when he was rudely interrupted by Lao Cao.
Ask him: What should we do, Commander Zhao?
They only have 60,000 infantry. If they are attacked by that guy Kuo Dan and his cavalry, can the infantry withstand it?
The generals were stunned immediately.
The staff officer in charge of observation on the mountain came down in a hurry to report: the encirclement we just broke through has been blocked by the enemy, and a large number of enemy cavalry are heading south, and we don't know what they are doing. The staff officer was worried that the enemy would move south in large numbers, intending to fight a decisive battle with our infantry.
Lao Cao sighed and said: "Forget it, forget it. It was I who harmed Yulin. Prepare the army and fight. We must attack and defeat your friend thoroughly."
The brothers quickly got busy.
Deng Guanghui was overjoyed when he saw the large number of mortar shells, and immediately ordered them to be moved up the mountain as quickly as possible.
But Cao Youwen said no need, the artillery position should be moved forward, we should attack, the target is Guiyou’s camp, attack.
The generals shouted fearlessly: Attack, attack.
Lu Huacai handed the light iron barrel cannon and catapult column he brought to Deng Guanghui for joint command, and ordered them to display the power of our Shenwei Army artillery and attack.
Soon, the Shenwei Army advanced with the infantry in the front and the cavalry protecting the two wings.
Your friend will be surprised when you receive the news.
He had just discussed with Kuotan that his younger brother had already led his cavalry southward to attack the infantry of the Shenwei Army. His mission here was to block and trap the remaining cavalry of the Shenwei Army in Nailung Mountain, and then join forces to destroy them after Kuotan defeated the Shenwei Army infantry that was on its way.
However, Cao Heizi suddenly launched an attack without any warning, which caught him off guard. He immediately organized a counterattack and at the same time sent a message to Kuo Duan to send back 20,000 troops to hold off the attack.
He was worried that his troops would not be able to withstand Cao Youwen's attack after suffering heavy casualties.
However, Kuo Duan had already headed south, and hurriedly ran in front to kill Zhao Qi'er to avenge his hatred. After receiving Xiao Guizi's letter for help, he cursed in his heart: What a fool. He ordered the messenger to tell the two princes who were dissatisfied with the dispatch: Go back and accept the control of the crown prince.
At this time, Zhao Yulin was still at least sixty or seventy miles away from Nailong Mountain and was speeding up his march.
His central army, carrying a large number of catapults, food and other military equipment and supplies, moved very slowly. The limit for them to march in battle formation was thirty miles a day.
However, the Shenwei Army was well organized and had high morale. They had covered 20 miles in the morning. When the troops were taking a break, a scout came back and reported that they had spotted a large group of enemy cavalry heading south.
Wu Jie and Li Shichang were both shocked. Li Shichang asked in confusion, "Did Coach Lu lose the battle?"
He couldn't believe that Cao Youwen's main cavalry had been defeated, so he asked about Lu Huacai, who had set out early yesterday.
Zhao Yulin said confidently: It's impossible, Hua Cai must have reunited with Lord Cao. The enemy discovered that our main force was surrounded and thought we were an easy target, so they are coming to rob us. Are you afraid?
Wu Jie and Li Shichang said in unison that they were not afraid of him, as they were also the main force of the Shenwei Army.
He simply replied: Stop talking nonsense, the left wing of the seventh column, the right wing of the eighth column, push forward three miles to deploy defense, the garrison will protect the artillery as the general reserve, hurry up.
The two capable men immediately took action.
Zhao Yulin's military force is also not weak. The most important thing is that he carries a large number of new catapults and military equipment and supplies, as well as enough arrows, explosives and artillery shells.
At this time, the place where they were resting was in the Gobi Desert on the edge of a natural gully running east-west. The brothers crossed the gully in unison and were ready to build fortifications on the Gobi Desert for a desperate battle.
Although Wu Jie and Li Shichang were young commanders of the 7th and 8th columns, they were also generals who had grown up through battles of all sizes . They also followed Zhao Yulin in the central army tent as combat and training officers for two years.
Zhao Yulin was full of confidence in the two young brothers. He inspected the position and returned to the artillery command post.
Commander-in-chief Bai Heng reported to him: The command balloon can be positioned at a height of five meters and can overlook the battlefield, ensuring that the target is hit. The small thunder bombs and explosive packs are enough to give the enemy a hard time.
There are also five newly-made mortars that can kill enemy troops at long distances.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said: It seems that artillery can destroy the enemy, so we must make preparations quickly and not be careless.
The guy immediately ran out to work.
At this time, news came from the balloon that the enemy cavalry was attacking , with a vanguard of at least 30,000, and they were still advancing continuously.
Zhao Yulin judged that the enemy was going to defeat him with a large force and then attack Cao Cao. He immediately ordered the lighting of the signal smoke, because if nothing unexpected happened, Miao Gui should be not far to his left.
Miao Gui should have met up with him a long time ago, but he hadn't shown up yet. Zhao Yulin didn't know how Miao Gui was going to deploy his troops, so he decided to try lighting a smoke signal to send a message first.
Kuangduan laughed out loud when he saw the smoke rising from the Shenwei Army's position. He cursed fiercely in his heart: Let's see how Zhao Qi'er escapes this time.
He immediately shouted: Brothers, speed is of the essence in war, attack, attack, kill.
Immediately, the sound of conch horns rang out above the heads of the Mongolian army, and the cavalrymen wielding scimitars whipped their horses with the backs of their swords and ran.
In front of the Shenwei Army's position, the brothers had already marked out a route for the enemy's attack. The soldiers cleared out the sparsely populated areas with stones and piled them on both sides. When the horses stepped on the loose stones, their hooves would slip and they would automatically run to line up along the passage, making it easier for the Shenwei Army to concentrate their fire.
Seeing that the enemy was less than a hundred feet away, the artillery opened fire. The dense thunder bombs accurately hit the neatly arranged Mongolian cavalry and quickly dispersed them. After the horses that rushed to the front crossed the minefield, there were only a few left, and they were easily sniped by the infantry's new generation of muskets.
It was only when I saw this that I woke up.
Damn, the position chosen by Zhao Qier was tricky. The Gobi Desert was covered with pebbles, which made it difficult for his horse to run, and just eliminated the momentum of the cavalry's charge.
After a short probing attack, two cavalry units of 10,000 were crippled.
This also found the disadvantages of the cavalry's attack. He told his subordinates to fill empty grain bags with sand and charge again. When the horses running in the front reached the front line, they opened the noose on the mouth of the grain bags and scattered the sand on the charge path to pave the way. He insisted on using the corpses of men and horses to fill up the attack path.
None of these helped. Although the shortened second attack was a big step forward, it still failed.
This guy felt aggrieved.
Damn it, they couldn’t even defeat Zhao Yulin’s naked infantry, so what was the point of fighting? Could it be that the grassland cavalry favored by the gods is so weak?
The Mongolian army ran for most of the day and started fighting directly. They had not eaten a single bite of food or drunk a sip of water yet. Their mouths were already burning just from chewing the dried beef. They ordered the troops to retreat and fight again after eating.
The logistics of the Shenwei Army were also preparing for dinner. Soldiers from each squadron had already fetched clean water from the gully and mixed it with fried noodles to eat.
Zhao Yulin told them to hurry up and eat, and those brothers who were not hungry continued to build fortifications, as the enemy's Huihui artillery should be coming up.
The brothers took turns to dig fortifications and worked very hard.
The Shenwei Army, like the Mongolian Army, cooked rice when it was convenient along the way, and had already used up countless grain bags. Zhao Yulin ordered them to use the grain bags to fill with sand and build fortifications. Then he threw the collected large stones in front of the position to intercept the horses, and the interception trenches quickly extended forward.
On the Nailong Mountain battlefield, Cao Youwen and Guiyou fought back and forth, which had already put the Mongolian army in a panic, and they blocked the way and put out the fire everywhere.
Both sides had used their strength to the limit, and like two exhausted tigers, we lay on the ground, you staring at me, and I glared at your panting.
Guiyou has learned his lesson. He never thought that the tens of thousands of troops of the Divine Might Army would dare to go deep into the heart of the grassland and fight him head-on, and not lose at all. His troops were already wounded and unable to fight again.
However, this guy refused to admit defeat. As the saying goes, a large number of ants can kill an elephant. Even if his men were just ants, they would trap and bite the opposing Shenwei Army to death.
This guy decided to mobilize the 10,000 soldiers left behind in Linzhou to come to help in the battle, and he must defeat this powerful army in front of him and capture Cao Heizi alive.
Cao Youwen and his generals were exhausted from the fierce battle with Guiyou, so they had to retreat to Nailung Mountain to hold their ground.
The staff officer in charge of observation at the top of the mountain reported: The observation post saw smoke rising from the south, which was probably a signal from Commander Zhao to warn the battlefield and summon friendly forces.
Lao Cao immediately thought of Miao Gui’s troops who had not joined the battlefield, and he uttered dryly: What is Miao Gui doing?
Why not attack yet?
Where on earth did he go?
Lu Hua was injured. He coughed and said that there was still Gao Jin. Why didn't Gao Jin finish the battle and come back?
