Volume 3 Chapter 63: Shooting Skills
Wu Jie felt the helmet to measure the temperature, and then charged with a hand-to-hand weapon, winning a great victory over the Jin army. He then chased the Jin army for several miles and burned down the camp before returning.
After the first battle, the momentum of both sides was reversed. Wanyan Salihe, who fled to the second camp in Huagou and stopped the collapse with the support of Han army archers, felt hot all over but his heart turned cold.
Because at this point, he was very sure that it would be impossible for him to capture Fangzhou City within the deadline, which was before tomorrow.
It’s not because of this defeat on the battlefield.
To be fair, losing a battle is really not a big deal, and being chased like a rabbit is also not a big deal. Victory and defeat are common in the military, which is really a golden saying on the battlefield... If you really want to say being chased like a rabbit, wasn't Wu Jie the same way several times before?
Who is the one who has been defeated in three battles and all the way here?
If you lose, next time you can learn from Wu Jie and fight back bravely after learning from his mistakes.
Therefore, the problem is not about the future, but about the present: when the defenders who have the advantage of geographical location dare to counterattack, dare to fight hand-to-hand, and can win, it means that the morale and military spirit of the defenders have reached a certain level. At this time, it would be ridiculous to want to capture the city by intimidation and non-consumption means.
And in the current state of Fangzhou City, if it is purely consumption, how many lives will be lost? How long will it take?
However, Salihe couldn't just retreat like that... It wouldn't matter if he was ridiculed by Tuhesu and others, but the key point was that he still had a military order to capture the city in three days!
If I go back like this and anger Lou Shi, I will be beheaded according to military law. Who can save me?
Of course, I dare not cover up today’s failure.
So, in the evening, Salihe finally bit the bullet and sent a message to the Hekou camp, explaining the battle situation and requesting the next "instructions"... The original words were, requesting General Loushi, the commander-in-chief, to give him "tactical guidance".
When night fell that day, instructions came from Lou Shi as expected.
"The three-day deadline has not yet arrived, and there are no new orders. So I will follow the previous order?" Salihe was stunned. "Does that mean I should continue to attack the mountains and capture the cities?"
"That's probably what you mean, right?" Wanyan Mouyan didn't look at Salihe, but his eyes wandered. He was attracted by the chaotic scene of wounded and deserting Jin soldiers around him. He was obviously on a mission to observe the military situation. "Father, that's all you have to say."
Salihe was completely speechless.
Mou Yan did not stay long. Seeing this, he bowed slightly, then went to the camp to ask a few familiar officers, and then went back to the Hekou camp overnight.
Not to mention it that night, the next morning, Salihe prepared his troops and continued to turn west to prepare to execute military orders. He did not dare to really test Lou Shi's patience.
However, when this cold-faced man was heading towards Fangzhou City again, he first saw the burnt remains of his own military camp, and he felt powerless. But after passing the burned military camp and walking into the main battlefield of yesterday, he suddenly felt panicked again... It turned out that the Song army naturally did not forget to clean up the battlefield when they evacuated, so the armor, clothing, and weapons on the corpses of the Jin army were almost stripped off. Not only that, the heads of almost every corpse were chopped off for military merit, so that headless naked corpses were scattered everywhere.
There was no way. On the battlefield, this kind of situation was expected. It was just that the Song army knew that their field combat capability was insufficient and they were afraid of being counterattacked, so they did not have time to concentrate on burning or burying the bodies, which was why they looked so messy and barbaric. The Jin army was even worse. Because as the invading party, the Jin army often carried out large-scale and systematic massacres of cities and towns after the war in order to deter and plunder, and often burned designated fortresses and cities to ashes, and even engaged in large-scale slave hunting.
Therefore, Salihe knew very well that he had no right to say that the Song army's actions were barbaric.
However, back to the present, the Jin army collected the corpses of their own side along the way and gathered them together for cremation, but the troops' mentality changed drastically when they saw this situation while marching. After all, they usually did this kind of thing to intimidate others, but today they encountered this in turn, and found that they were no different from the enemies who were intimidated before... They were also terrified, hateful, numb, and at a loss.
These were just the thoughts of ordinary soldiers. For officers or Salihe, the psychological torment did not end there... Before Salihe even entered the city, he had already found himself in a dilemma.
This Jin army commander clearly knew that it was impossible to capture the Song army's position in a short time, but because of the serious military order issued by Lou Shi in the rear, he had to personally push his men into this death tunnel again! And these people, these living people, are likely to become those headless naked corpses again!
It's no wonder that Salihe is sentimental. He has followed Aguda since he was a child, then followed Nianhan, and later followed Loushi. He only needed to obey orders and charge on horseback to enjoy the glory of the victor. He never had to consider the consequences of defeat. He never thought that he would encounter such a thing. He has always been the one trampling on the lives of others.
Therefore, at that moment when the battle was about to begin, Wanyan Sali hesitated.
Reason and the military education he received since childhood told him that just to maintain the fearless attitude of the Jin army and the morale of this expedition, the lives of some men were not worth mentioning, not to mention the pressure from military law and the commander. But yesterday's defeat and the heavy casualties in just two days still made the youngest commander of the Western Army fearful.
This fear is not a personal fear of death, but a commander's panic on the spot... It may be fine tomorrow, but today he is at a loss.
"Wan Hu..." someone stepped forward carefully to remind him.
"Attack before it gets too hot." Wanyan Salihe was startled when he saw his subordinate asking questions, and then he forced himself to restore his cold-faced gentleman's attitude and made the most rational and appropriate move. "Three Moukes..."
"Three Moukes are bound to be useless." The subordinate reminded seriously.
"Then... five!" Salihe took a deep breath and shouted as if he had made up his mind. "Five Moukes, let those who didn't participate in the lottery two days go up! Bring all the remaining large shields! Let the Han army also go up, bring the only divine arm bows to follow, and go to the foot of the mountain to shoot at the Song army and provide cover!"
"Not enough shields..." the subordinate reminded carefully again.
"Those without shields, bring wooden boards!" Sali shouted solemnly. "If wooden boards are not enough, wear double armor!"
The military order was clear and resolute, and even showed some wisdom and momentum. As the saying goes, the general is the courage of the army, and the Jin army actually showed some generosity for a while.
Then, less than five hundred Jin soldiers, some holding shields and carrying short weapons, some wearing double iron armor and holding hard bows. One or two hundred so-called Han soldiers who surrendered from the Zhe family also followed with crossbows. Under the urging of the extremely strict military discipline of the Jin army, they rushed to the front of the "Road of Death", and then moved forward with shields at a speed that was obviously much slower than the previous two days... But unexpectedly, this time, the Song army did not launch an attack from a distance, but greeted this unprecedented saturation attack with a weird silence.
But there was no doubt that everyone knew that the crossbow arrows of the Song army would arrive sooner or later, which put the Jin army into a state of serious cowardice. Their speed became slower and slower, and the atmosphere that had once risen up became extremely suppressed.
Salihe's mood became increasingly unbearable with this extreme repression, but he kept his expression tense and did not say or do anything to urge himself.
However, what is coming will come.
A quarter of an hour later, the Jin army rushed to the front of the mountain and began to climb the top. Although there were crowds of people in front of the Song army camp on the top of the mountain, no arrows were fired. This made the well-trained Jin army quickly explode under the encouragement of their commanders. Four or five hundred armored soldiers and the Han army crossbowmen who were holding the line climbed the top of the mountain desperately, trying to rush into the camp... and this situation continued until Puliyan, who was wearing double iron armor, raised his bow and shot an arrow, injuring a Song soldier behind the crossbow machine above his head.
Until this time, a team of more than a hundred Song army archers, holding their crossbows, appeared above the Jin army in a more orderly and calm formation than the previous two days.
The Jin army that was attacking from above also reacted almost immediately. After climbing forward one or two steps, almost all the soldiers began to raise their shields hurriedly, and those without shields took the opportunity to hide under their shields... and sure enough, as soon as they finished raising their shields, the Song army above their heads naturally launched a volley of their Shenbi bows. Hundreds of crossbow arrows from above, using the power of the Shenbi bows themselves and the added force of gravity, directly nailed into the tops of the Jin army's heads.
The distance is too close!
Except for a very small number of metal shields, most of the wooden shields and wooden boards were penetrated in the first place. A few unlucky ones were directly hit by crossbow arrows through the gaps in the shields. Not to mention death or injury, they were basically nailed to the ground.
The wailing sounds instantly drowned out the Jin army commanders' cheers of encouragement, which were tinged with excitement.
However, even though the commanders' voices were covered, the excellent tactical qualities of the Jin army still prompted these people to stand up quickly at the moment the volley ended, preparing to take advantage of the gap when the Song army was loading crossbows and get as close as possible in order to break into the camp... This was the closest they had ever been to the Song army's Shenbi bow team.
However, at the moment they raised their shields, another round of crossbow arrows arrived unexpectedly, and this time, the Jin army was caught off guard and suffered unprecedented heavy casualties. The wailing sounds in front of the formation instantly shocked everyone.
But there was no time to think about it. In just a moment, as another round of crossbow arrows flew down, the wailing sounds actually decreased a lot, because many people were shot to death.
But that was not all. The Jin army at the end below was completely panicked when they saw what the Song army was doing above them. They gave up the attack out of fear and tried to turn around and flee regardless of the strict military law. However, they did not expect that the fourth round of crossbow arrows from the Song army had arrived, and this round of volleys was directly fired at the foot of the mountain. Combined with the crossbows fired at the right time from the city on the other side of the river, the Jin army that was trying to flee was directly suppressed.
Next, what made all the Jin soldiers gathered on the mountainside, at the foot of the mountain, and even watching the battle from afar fall into complete fear was that the Song army's rain of arrows from their divine arms did not stop for a moment. It was just like raindrops being thrown evenly and densely, with even a clear rhythm, pressing down from the front and back, keeping hundreds of Jin soldiers firmly under the rain of arrows, and slaughtering them quickly and firmly.
This abnormal situation soon alarmed Salihe. The young Jin army commander heard the sound of the arrows from afar and felt something was wrong. He ignored the danger and climbed up the hill to look from afar. After looking for a while, he fell down in shock and was almost dragged down the hill by his personal guards... He said that he could see clearly from above that at the front of the military camp on the top of the mountain, which was in full view in the distance, the Song army actually adopted a simple yet practical, but previously hidden, tactic of rotating shooting.
Hundreds of crossbowmen were divided into three teams. The front team fired in unison while the back team loaded crossbows. After the front team finished shooting, the team behind them immediately stepped forward, while another team had already restrung the crossbows with the help of special auxiliary soldiers at the back... The three teams took turns firing in unison as the commander waved the flag, either pointing at the Jin army trying to escape in the rear or shooting at the brave warriors trying to advance in the front. The arrows were so dense that hundreds of Jin soldiers who had fallen into the range trap were pinned down at the foot of the mountain, unable to move, and could only passively wait for death!
This is not a particularly brilliant or difficult tactic, but for Salihe, who almost grew up in the army, its effectiveness is clear at a glance.
However, the problem is that no matter how clear Salihe is, he cannot change the fate of his soldiers being slaughtered by this execution-style attack!
Fighting for days, suffering casualties for days, the failure of the night attack the day before yesterday, counterattack by the Song army yesterday, and today seeing headless naked corpses scattered on the roadside, and being waited for like this... The young Salihe could no longer hold on, but burst into tears behind the hill. The Jin army commander, who had been trying to be a cold-faced man before, turned into a crying man in an instant.
But none of the Jin officers around laughed at him, and some even cried along with him.
Just like that, before noon, hundreds of Jin soldiers were finally effectively slaughtered by the Song army. The Jin army had suffered unprecedented casualties... In the previous two days, including yesterday's rout, the Jin army only lost five or six hundred people, and most of them were just wounded. But on this day, facing the revelation of the Song army's last trump card, the Jin army lost five or six hundred lives in one go, and completely lost the will to fight.
At this point, at least here on the front line, no one is thinking about taking down this city, this mountain, or this stronghold anymore.
After crying bitterly, Salihe wiped away his tears and ordered the entire army to withdraw to a safe distance. He also set up crossbows and bows and arrows to build a defensive formation, and then sent a messenger to the river mouth camp for the third time.
This time, Wu Jie did not attempt to attack again. On the contrary, he began to order his soldiers to throw the heads of people who had been cut off yesterday and just now from the mountain to anger the Jin army, but no one in the Jin army went to fight.
Lou Shi also did not force Salihe to continue the war, but instead led thousands of troops here with his deputy commander Wanyan Balisu before dusk.
Lou Shi asked about the battle situation and took a look at the terrain and battlefield situation from a safe distance, but he did not blame Salihe for anything, and of course did not comfort him. He just immediately sent a surrendered general to persuade him to surrender, and promised that Wu Jie would be the governor of Jingyuan and Huanqing routes, and his brother Wu Lin would be the governor of Yanfu route.
The surrendered general left in a hurry and returned in a hurry. As expected, Wu Jinqing rejected the proposal.
"He said that the only way for him to surrender is for General Loushi to defeat him in a duel." The surrendered general's face turned pale, as if the dense concentration of Jin army heads and corpses on the road had caused him a severe psychological shock.
"It's not impossible..." Lou Shi smiled slightly and actually wanted to agree.
But immediately, as Balisu looked at him in shock, Lou Shi, who had regained his consciousness, immediately shook his head.
After this exchange, everyone realized that this undefeated general of the Jin Dynasty was not as calm as he appeared. He was also shocked by Wu Jie's unstoppable killing methods and determination to go to war. He also realized that there was really no hope of capturing the city in the short term.
But as the commander-in-chief, Lou Shi also knew how great an impact this nail in this sensitive position would have on his strategy.
Therefore, at that moment, Lou Shi was really forced to kill Wu Jie in a one-on-one fight.
"What do you think?" Coming back to his senses, Lou Shi no longer cared about his brief gaffe and asked Balisu in a serious tone.
"Unless it rains and the bowstrings of the Song Army's Shenbi bows become ineffective, otherwise I will have to exchange my life for the Song Army's crossbow arrow reserves." Balisu was frank.
"It won't rain in the next few days." Lou Shi shook his head repeatedly, but immediately ordered the tearful Sali. "One last try..."
Salihe was almost in despair, but burst into tears again on the spot.
"I'm not asking you to attack the mountain again, but to set it on fire." Lou Shi pointed to the mountains in the north. "See if we can force them down the mountain with the fire."
Salihe felt relieved and immediately took the order and left.
As soon as the man left, Balisu turned to Lou Shi again and said seriously: "It's useless to burn the mountain... The mountain village can be seen clearly from afar, the surrounding trees have been cleared, and there is not much wind at the moment, so the fire can't spread over, and even the smoke can hardly get through."
"I know." Lou Shi tightly grasped the reins of the warhorse in his hand, not even looking at Balisu. "But is there any other way at this time?"
Balisu was silent for a moment before continuing, "Then let's burn the mountain... but we should make a decision sooner rather than later! If we can't take down this city in a hurry, does that mean we can't leave Yaozhou or Huazhou?"
This time it was Lou Shi's turn to remain silent.
Just like that, the two of them immediately stood at a safe distance of six or seven hundred steps away from Fangzhou City and the mountain. They watched in silence as the fire started from the hilltop around Xiaoqiao Mountain, and then quickly gained momentum with the help of the high summer temperature, scorching half the sky.
Once the fire started, it was unstoppable, rolling towards the surrounding hills, as if it had become a natural disaster. But just as Balisu said, the wind was not strong today, and Wu Jie had been prepared. Although the fire was fierce, it never reached the village with proper fire prevention measures.
Not only that, Wu Jie responded immediately after seeing the movement, which was to have soldiers carefully light a fire on the other side of the isolation belt where the trees were cut down, forming a fire belt in the opposite direction for escape. This move also worked quickly, and the fire easily passed the nearest hilltop and then burned directly into the deep forest in the north.
Lou Shi watched from afar for a while, and saw the fire go away with his own eyes. He finally sighed in his heart, and then turned his horse around and headed east without hesitation. But he suddenly reined in his horse and looked back: "Yelü Mawu attacked Baishui quickly and succeeded. Let Salihe lead 5,000 soldiers and the wounded in this battle to hold the camp at the river mouth. Let's move forward!"
Balisu calculated the military strength in his mind, his face turned dark for a moment, but he said nothing. He just glanced at the unmoved stronghold and turned around to follow.
"Are you saying that the reason these Western Army generals are so timid and afraid to speak their true feelings to me is because I often touch my sword during military meetings?"
In Chang'an City, Zhao Jiu, the Emperor, who was completely unaware of Wu Jie's success in defending Fangzhou and achieving a great victory, bent his bow and drew his arrow while frowning and looking at Yang Yizhong beside him.
As soon as he finished speaking, although he didn't even look at the target, the arrow in his hand flew out and hit the center of the bull's eye.
Yang Yizhong looked at the flying arrow, and was shocked. But he quickly came to his senses and said sternly: "Good instructor, you know, I did hear this..."
"But why is it so?" Even so, Zhao Jiu still found it hard to understand. He bent his bow and put his arrow on it again, while continuing to frown. "I don't remember touching the sword often at that time... I didn't even wear a sword all day today."
"Excuse me, it's probably because the emperor didn't have a bow and arrow with him a few days ago, and he hasn't practiced archery. In addition, he just came to Guanzhong and was anxious, so he kept touching his sword unconsciously?" Yang Yizhong said carefully. "And today, the emperor started practicing archery again, so he didn't wear a sword anymore."
Zhao Jiu instinctively agreed with this reason, nodded, and put down the bow and arrow in his hand.
The next moment, when Yang Yizhong was about to say something else, the official suddenly drew his bow and shot an arrow directly, knocking a crow that was looking around on the eaves to the ground.
With such wonderful archery skills, everyone has to admit that this official is indeed good at shooting.
