Volume 4 Chapter 41: Cavalry
At noon, the two armies were twenty miles apart.
But more than half an hour later, as the two armies formed their array in front of them according to the marching sequence, they were only fifteen or sixteen miles apart. It can only be said that a distance of twenty miles is not too far for both sides, with their respective armies of tens of thousands and a total of 60,000 people.
The shortening of distance also means two things at the same time, that is, the increase in the frequency of intelligence acquisition by both sides, and the increase in the difficulty of intelligence acquisition... There is no contradiction between the two, because the frequency and bloodiness of the battles between the scouts of both sides are also rising sharply.
Everything has a price, and in other words, the two sides have actually started a preliminary battle.
Back to the present, for Yue Fei, the new intelligence naturally made him feel mixed:
What is worrying is that in such a battle where there is no retreat, Li Cheng also realized the problem and did not waver at all. This means that today there will inevitably be a battle with heavy bloodshed, injuries and deaths in a short period of time, and even the winner will have to pay a considerable price.
The good news was that as the scouts continued to come and go, Yue Fei learned that although Li Cheng's troops were almost twice as many in number as the troops in the front of the Imperial Camp, and the neatness of the troops also suggested a considerable amount of training and military discipline, the troops' eliteness and equipment level were still far inferior to those of the front of the Imperial Camp... The scouts clearly stated that the number of armored troops in the rear of the pseudo-Qi army had decreased sharply, and were replaced by troops wearing leather armor, and finally there were a considerable number of unarmored troops, just like civilians.
This is reasonable. After all, no matter how fertile the land of Jingdong is and how large its population is, even if Li Cheng plundered it as thoroughly as the deceased Kong Yanzhou, he still has to support soldiers and scholars, and collect gold and silver to exchange for war horses with the Jin people, so there will definitely be shortcomings.
Insufficient armor and uneven combat effectiveness among troops are fundamental flaws.
Of course, at the same time, Li Cheng also had mixed feelings:
What made him happy was, of course, that the enemy had fewer soldiers, especially fewer cavalry. He had more than 10,000 cavalry, while the enemy had only 3,000 or 4,000 cavalry. What made him worried was, of course, that the enemy's morale was high, their formation was strict, and their armor rate was frighteningly high... If what the scout said was true, then the armor rate of the imperial camp troops in front of him could almost be said to be second only to the imperial guard he encountered on the Wushan battlefield that day.
However, this force has about 20,000 people.
"My Lord!"
A general came riding up from the front and confronted him. "The scouts said that the soldiers of the Zhao Song imperial camp in front were flying a banner with the word Yue on it. Could it be a trick? According to the court report, Yue Fei shouldn't have come so quickly? I see that there are only 20,000 soldiers... Maybe Zhang Jun's generals are pretending."
"It must be Yue Fei." Li Cheng's face was serious, and he reined in his horse and turned around. "No one else can put up such a posture, nor have so many and such neatly organized armored soldiers. Only Yue Fei, like me, is willing to spend all the money and food on the army."
"The Zhao Song army has fewer horses, so they have more armor." The general realized, but immediately asked again, "My lord, since Daxiaoyan has come in person... do you really want to fight? With this kind of posture, if we collapse, we will lose everything. If we follow what Erlubu said and retreat to Hebei, what will we do if we lose our capital?"
Li Cheng was immediately furious: "Geng Er, the battle is ahead, don't you want to win this battle, but instead think about going to Hebei after losing? You are only afraid of the big and small eyes, but not me? Besides, isn't his coming here at this time a response to the exhausted army? We are the returning army that cannot be defeated!"
Geng Er, the so-called leader of the rebel army that Li Cheng had conquered on his way south from Hebei in his early years, bowed his head on his horse when he heard this, reined in his horse and circled on the ground before asking again, "If this is the case, has the lord issued any military orders?"
Li Cheng became even more furious: "In this situation, the whole army is united and fighting to the death. How can there be any military orders? Even if there are military orders, there is only one sentence... You are not allowed to retreat without orders! You are not allowed to leave the headquarters without permission!"
Geng Jian didn't dare to say anything more and turned around to go to the front army. After Li Cheng was extremely angry, he became a little nervous again and looked at the two generals beside him, one was called Xu Wen and the other was called Guo Zhongwei.
Among them, Xu Wen was from Mizhou, Jingdong (now the area from Rizhao to Gaomi, Shandong), and he once ruled a region. He was considered a small semi-independent force in Mizhou. However, after the Battle of Yaoshan, the whole country was shaken and people's hearts were once again in turmoil. Now Mizhou has been gradually controlled by Zhang Jun through means of enticement and persuasion, but this man is ambitious. He ignored the enticement of his old brother Li Kui in Mizhou and the local tyrant Hu Cheng in Yizhou, and almost went his own way and joined Li Cheng alone... Originally, he thought he could take over the remaining Mizhou soldiers of Du Yan and Wu Shun in Li Cheng's hands, but unexpectedly, he became the other side's personal guard general.
Guo Zhongwei was a hero from Huaishang. He was one of the brothers that Li Cheng met and conquered when he was wandering. He was also Li Cheng's personal guard general at the beginning.
As for these two... I don't know if it's more popular these days or what, but like Guan Sheng, the official general who was murdered by Liu Yu in Jinan Prefecture, they were all nicknamed "Big Knife"... Xu Wen was nicknamed Xu Big Knife, and Guo Zhongwei was nicknamed Guo Big Knife. Together, the two big knives were in charge of Li Cheng's long knife cavalry, so they were worthy of the name.
Usually, Li Chengdu is compared with Dian Wei and Xu Chu, who were beside Cao Cao in the storybooks.
Without further ado, Li Cheng scolded Geng Jian to leave, then he swung the two big swords at his side, but hesitated again... The reason was simple, he wanted to send someone to the front to supervise the battle, but he didn't know who to use.
All I can say is that every family has its own problems.
Without going into the specific situation on the battlefield at this point, let’s just say that the hastily established Li Cheng’s army, like all emerging warlords in chaotic periods , formed factions… and most of the factions were basically divided around territorial disputes between outsiders and locals.
Li Ben himself was from Hebei. During the Jingkang Rebellion, he went south from Hebei, then made a detour along the Huai River. Finally, forced by the circumstances, he settled in Jingdong and established a base in Jingdong. Therefore, his army can be roughly divided into two major factions: the exiled brothers from Hebei and the local tycoons from Jingdong.
In fact, to be fair, Li Cheng claimed to be a hero, and he had his own way of commanding the army and employing people. As for his soldiers, he would not eat if the soldiers did not eat, and he would not sleep if the soldiers did not sleep. If it rained during the march and there was not enough rain gear, he would be the first one to get wet in the rain. He was never afraid to lead the army in battle himself. When dealing with these leaders, he would usually give them clothes and food, and he would clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments and use them fairly.
The Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty are really two bastards that are unwilling to give this person a chance. Otherwise, with this person's level, he might really be able to gather a force and become a figure like Taizu. But it is difficult for a certain official hiding in Tokyo City to even think about the whole thing, right?
But on the other hand, since heroes depend on the times, and now the times are not good, Li Cheng is naturally helpless... The Jin Dynasty has strong soldiers and horses, and the Song Dynasty has a large territory and a large population. Let alone this person, if Liu Bang really parachuted in at this time, he would have to be the head of a local loyalty society in Huaibei.
By the same token, although Li Cheng is a powerful man, the current situation does not allow him to act recklessly.
Within a few months, rumors of peace talks arose again. From that time on, the generals and troops from Jingdong began to pretend to obey the order but actually disobeyed it. Later, the peace talks could no longer be concealed. The Jin people were quite honest and directly offered to allow Li Cheng to lead some elite troops back north. At that time, Li Cheng would be officially granted the hereditary status of Meng'an, the badge of a marching Wanhu, and the conditions of being stationed in Dezhou and Dizhou... As a result, even the people of Hebei province in the team became somewhat demoralized.
The world has been in chaos for several years. It seems that nothing big can be accomplished. Instead, there is a situation of coexistence of the north and the south. What's wrong with going home and becoming an official?
Frankly speaking, at that time, even Li Ben was almost in despair under the general situation. In the previous two months, he had been constantly negotiating conditions with the Jin people, hoping to maintain more independence, keep more troops, divide more territories and so on.
However, how could the Jin people give him so much face? After all, it was impossible for him to surpass the example of Wang Bolong, a Han Chinese general who was born a thief and a founding general of the Jin Dynasty.
The situation in Yanjing and the army in Damingfu was basically deadlocked. A force of 10,000 people was incorporated into the system of the Damingfu Army Division, and they became ordinary hereditary Meng'an and Marching Wanhu.
Therefore, Li Cheng went to Jinan at the call of Liu Yu, who was even more frightened. The two desperate people wanted to fight to the death, and took advantage of Yue Fei's absence from the Jeju defense zone to take the initiative to start a war and make a big news.
However, the Jin people were not pushovers when it came to military matters. How could they be allowed to do anything? Nianhan was dead, but a bunch of the founding Wanhu were still alive. Gao Jingshan, after receiving a reminder from Wulinda Zanmo, directly sent Wanhu Elubu, who had been waiting in Dezhou, to cross the river with light cavalry. He almost captured Liu Yu in a coup d'état, and also controlled Li Cheng, who happened to be caught in the act.
This brings us back to the old topic, and we have to mention again the sadness of people like Li Cheng and Liu Yu:
In terms of strength, they are not without strength.
In terms of level, Li Cheng's military level was recognized by both Jin and Song countries. When it came to raising soldiers, he was comparable to Yue Fei on the opposite side. His personal morality was better than ten Zhang Juns and Zhang Boyings. It was said that Liu Yu was equally conscientious when he was an emperor. He always flattered the nobles of Jin and supported scholars when he extorted money. He himself was always like the officials of Zhao Song who endured hardships and slept on straw and tasted gall. The officials of Zhao Song still wore luxurious cotton cloth, ate ice cream and drank Lanqiao Fengyue, but Liu Yu often only wore linen and learned from the monks of Lingjiu Temple to eat vegetarian food.
But the problem was that the Zhao Song emperor had such a resolute attitude that he would never tolerate them, and Liu Yu's dead son was a clear proof of this. Therefore, no matter how helpless and regretful they were, they would not dare to go against the Jin people unless they had no other choice. Otherwise, although the world was vast, they would have no place to stand.
But to put it the other way around, didn't Zhang Jun suddenly launch a surprise attack?
Although Elubu did not receive the exact words from Daming Mansion, as a veteran general of the founding of the country who had never suffered a defeat in the previous wars, this Jin Dynasty Wanhu who had the power to make decisions over Jinan but was not happy about peace talks was persuaded by Li Cheng to return and fight.
Not only that, Elubu even took the initiative to send out a reorganized Meng'an, plus two thousand cavalrymen from Liu Yu's Jinan Prefecture, who were also dressed up as Jin people and came together.
Things turned around again. The local heroes from Jingdong in the army did show signs of returning to the army and were enthusiastic again. However, the old brothers who originally thought they could return to their hometown seemed to be more perfunctory.
Back to the present, Li Cheng reined in his horse and moved forward slowly. He looked at Guo Dadao, who had been following him for a long time but was from Huainan, and Xu Dadao, who was born in Jingdong but arrived later. He thought for a long time and knew that he could not delay any longer. But he gritted his teeth and pointed at one of them:
"Xu Dadao!"
"I'm here!" Xu Wen rode over on horseback, holding a long-handled broadsword covered with a brocade sheath.
"You lead two hundred armored soldiers with long swords, and the Jinan Prefecture will give you another one thousand cavalrymen. Go to the gap between the left wing and the central army. Do you know what to do?" Li Cheng's face was grim.
"I know!" Xu Wen answered proudly. "After the fight begins, block a line and kill those who retreat! If necessary, lead the troops to charge forward and win in one fell swoop! And if the left wing loses in front, take over the left wing and continue the battle first!"
"go!"
“Yes!”
Half of the cavalry column in the center of the rear of the army dispersed immediately.
After all, it was a battle that would decide life and death. Li Cheng gave the order, but he still felt a little uneasy. What worried him most about this battle was actually very simple. That was that in the current overall situation, some generals in the army would inevitably be shaken. He was afraid that someone would not be able to hold on once a bloody battle broke out.
Therefore, after thinking it over, as the troops moved forward a little, he gave orders again, but he adjusted all the cavalry for easy deployment, divided the cavalry into two, and lined up on the left and right. Even the Jin army's Meng'an was sent out by him and placed on the right wing.
In other words, when the distance to the enemy was less than ten miles, he finally chose the final formation... which was the classic conservative formation of cavalry on the two wings, infantry in the middle, elite armored soldiers in the front, and weak soldiers in the back.
"My lord." Seeing this, Guo Dadao seemed to have some ideas, but he took the initiative to rein in his horse and move forward after his commander gave the order. "Although this arrangement can be considered appropriate, we still have to consider the terrain... This is our place, my lord, don't you know the terrain? The main road in the middle is barely okay, but there are some hills on both sides. Even if the cavalry charges, their combat effectiveness will be limited."
How could I not know?
Li Cheng cursed in his heart... His formation was simply to allow the cavalry troops under his direct control to surround the infantry brigade in the middle! It was a conservative tactic to try to prevent the infantry in the middle from collapsing!
However, he couldn't say this out loud. Helplessly, Li Cheng could only wave his hand and say, "Old Guo doesn't understand, but I know the answer myself!"
Guo Dadao had only mentioned it out of consideration, so seeing this, he naturally had nothing to say.
A moment later, as Li Cheng's cavalry moved in large numbers, Yue Fei heard the scouts and was slightly moved, but he did not show any extra reaction on his face. He waited until Li Cheng's cavalry had completed the formation of the left and right wings during the march... Then he suddenly ordered to summon the main generals such as Tian Shizhong, Zhang Xian, Wang Gui, and Tang Huai.
At this time, the front armies of both sides were only seven or eight miles apart.
"The opportunity for battle has emerged, and I already know how to defeat the enemy." Yue Fei reined in his horse in the army formation, with seven or eight dismounted generals standing in front of him, and a general flag with the word Yue in its name erected behind him. When the soldiers and horses behind him encountered this flag, they naturally split in two like water encountering a reef, and continued to advance without stopping. "Li Cheng relied on his large number of cavalry and actually placed the cavalry on the mountains on both sides and the infantry on the main road in the middle... We will do the opposite, split the infantry into two, meet the cavalry on the left and right on the mountains, but unite the cavalry from various units and place them in the middle with the Beiwei Army, and charge directly into his heart!"
The generals looked at each other, knowing that this was the final decision and could not be delayed, but they nodded one after another... In fact, in order to facilitate the march and protect the precious cavalry, the current marching route was arranged in this way.
Therefore, everyone realized that Yue Fei must have other words.
As expected, Yue Fei narrowed his eyes and stared at one of them. "General Tian! There is something I can only ask you to do... I'll tell you in advance, when the military order is issued, you will definitely feel that I am using you as a guest army as a ditch, and maliciously trying to consume the core of General Zhang's confidants... But even so, you have to grit your teeth and do it, because your troops are indeed the most elite troops among the infantry! If you don't do it, I will punish you by military law!"
Tian Shizhong was silent for a moment, but seemed to have expected this. Then he bowed and said, "We are all veteran soldiers. If General Yue really has bad intentions, I will know it... So, General Yue, just give the order."
Yue Fei nodded slightly: "I want you to go to the front of the left wing! Directly confront the enemy's southern cavalry brigade with the Jurchen cavalry in the mountains!"
Tian Shizhong let out a long sigh and agreed frankly: "As the general said, my unit is the best infantry in the army, and we have fought against the Jin cavalry head-on. According to the general's strategy for dealing with the enemy, I have nothing to say about this arrangement... It's settled. In the mountains, my unit can fight and will never refuse!"
"Okay!" Yue Fei nodded slightly, then shook his head again. "I haven't finished yet... I also want General Tian's troops to speed up immediately and rush out first to engage the enemy cavalry brigade on the southern mountain! The rest of the troops, from south to north, slow down their marching speed in turn and engage the enemy in an oblique formation!"
Tian Shizhong looked up and stared at Yue Fei without saying a word.
Yue Fei just looked down from his horse with his eyes wide open, and greeted the other party: "If you have anything to say, please say it quickly... There is no time to delay!"
"Captain, do you want my troops to die?" Tian Shizhong breathed heavily.
"That's right! The frontline of this battle will surely suffer heavy losses, and if your troops break out alone and fight alone, I'm afraid more people will die!" Yue Fei replied sternly. "But as a soldier, you eat food, so are you afraid of death?!"
Tian Shizhong's mouth twitched a bit, and it was unknown what he was thinking. After a moment, he jumped on his horse, reined in the horse, turned around, and then pointed the whip at the emperor, shouting: "Captain, if you do this and still can't win, I will go to the emperor and cry out to him, even if I risk my life, to wipe out the merits of your army's march south for more than half a year!"
After saying this, Tian Shizhong rode his horse back without waiting for Yue Fei to say anything.
Things were rushed, and there was no time for any bold words. Two quarters of an hour later, Tian Shizhong led the Beiwei Army of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp, which was the lifeblood of his father-in-law, 3,000 heavily armored long-axe infantrymen, and took the initiative to charge and fight the cavalry in front of them on the mountain on the south side of the road. As soon as the two sides fought, they entered the most brutal hand-to-hand combat stage on the narrow and slightly rugged battlefield.
Armor, war horses, limbs, and blood plasma instantly began to be scattered onto the hills in the heart of Qi and Lu.
The most elite troops of both sides, which were usually put aside for the final push, began to consume each other right away. However, thanks to the sudden counterattack launched by the central unit of the Tian Division, Li Cheng's idea of using cavalry to contain the infantry was caught off guard and directly shattered. The tens of thousands of infantrymen of Li Cheng's army were completely unable to be controlled and commanded in the situation where both sides were actually engaged in a large-scale battle on the south side. Instead, they continued to move forward along the flat road following the inertia of the military formation, and a considerable number of troops were attracted by the battle on the south side, like iron slag attracted by a magnet.
At this time, all the cavalry of Yue Fei's central army, which was mainly the Beiwei Army with only 4,000 people, had gathered at the Beiwei Army led by Zhang Xian. They were still one mile away from the front line of Li Cheng's infantry, but they were advancing slowly at a speed that was completely inconsistent with the normal situation of cavalry.
Under the Zhang banner, Yang Zaixing, who was seeing this kind of battle scene for the first time, was wearing double-layer iron armor, riding a horse given to him by Yue Fei himself, holding a large iron spear in his hand. He walked forward dozens of steps, and after glancing at the situation on the battlefield on the south side in front of his left, he could not help but breathe heavily, and then his whole body began to tremble.
He was not afraid, but excited... Some people seemed to be born for the battlefield from the beginning.
Behind him, Zhang Xian and Guo Jin, who were well-dressed and experienced in combat, were also panting, then reined in their horses and slowly moved forward. In contrast to Yang Zaixing, the two of them were really cautious and nervous. They were cautious rather than hesitant, nervous rather than fearful... The reason for this was that they were experienced , and they knew very well what the result would be of a head-on collision on a flat ground surrounded by narrow and rugged terrain.
Sacrifice is inevitable, but the outcome will be decided in an instant when one side can no longer hold on, and what follows is an unprecedented encirclement, pursuit, and forced landing.
"Charge!" Yang Zaixing watched as the flank of Tian's army was gradually surrounded by Li Cheng's infantry and couldn't help but turn back to make a suggestion.
Zhang Xian said nothing and just went to see Guo Jin.
Guo Jin, who had a ladle tied around his waist, reined in his horse and looked to the north, but shook his head: "Vice-Governor Wang (Wang Gui) hasn't waved the flag yet."
Zhang Xian nodded and pretended to be calm: "The 3,000 soldiers in Tian's army are capable of fighting. They stopped Hezhameng'an and Lou Shi in Yaoshan before. This is nothing! We can just draw the enemy's center army over and break up their formation, making it easier for us to charge."
Yang Zaixing had no idea what Heza Meng'an and Lou Shi were. He was just extremely impatient and helpless, so he reined in his horse and rode forward in a circle again.
Just as he was about to come back to urge Zhang Xian with his blood boiling, he suddenly heard drums beating from the rear, and saw countless flags waving together... Caught off guard, Zhang Xian took the lead, and rushed out from the side with Guo Jin and a team of personal guards.
Yang Zaixing was furious. He turned around and called his troops, then turned around and led the charge.
Immediately, the entire Beiwei Army and all the hastily assembled cavalry, no more than 4,000 people, rushed towards the central army formation of the 40,000-strong army in front.
In less than half an hour, the Beiwei Army of the Imperial Camp's front army had thrust itself into the back of the enemy army on the side of the Beiwei Army of the Imperial Camp's right army. The thousands of infantrymen of Li Cheng's army that went to attack the three thousand long-axe heavy infantrymen were instantly blown away on the spot... The cavalry on the north saw this and immediately tried to turn around and catch the cavalry that emerged from the middle under the command of the general. Unexpectedly, on some rugged mountains, countless infantrymen shouted loudly, and soon came forward in a counter-charge under the leadership of a large flag with the word "king". The three divisions of the south, middle and north were staggered in an orderly manner, seizing the opportunity to block the cavalry on the south side, attract the scattered infantry in the middle, and connect with the cavalry on the north side, leaving the other side no room for maneuvering and adjusting on the battlefield.
All we can say is that on this day, the two armies met on a narrow road after marching for most of the day. After just a hasty adjustment of their formation, they collided head-on!
It was really a powerful collision!
The 60,000-strong army, one side with 40,000 and the other with more than 20,000, collided head-on on the land of Qi and Lu like two pottery jars filled with boiling blood.
For a moment, blood flowed all over the ground, debris scattered everywhere, steam billowed, and it was unclear who had won. Only the sound of shouting and killing was loud, with echoes turning over and over, rising from behind the hills.
