Shen Shi had just arrived when there were signs of fighting in the mountains to the west of Lueyang County.
A sharp and ear-piercing whistling arrow rose from the forest, breaking the peace of the afternoon. The vanguard of the Jin army was traveling on a mountain path several li away. They paused for a moment as the generals turned to look at the source of the sound. The nearby scouts were approaching at high speed.
For elite troops that could truly fight and kill on the battlefield, scouts had always been the key to victory. Soldiers who were sent out, able to carry out missions, and returned would be put in an important position. In the early days of the Wu dynasty, the scouts were often the generals' personal guards or family generals. There weren't many of them, and they lived like princes, but it was difficult for them to cover too far. Once they were ambushed, they would often lose the ability to fight back.
For troops at the level of the Jin and even the Mountain Slaughtering Guards, it was normal for a large army to move forward and send out scouts to cover no blind spots within one or two li. Of course, when encountering troops of the same level, battles were often caused by scouts. In the course of the Jin Mieliao War, there were many cases of scouts killing each other and calling for friends, which eventually led to large-scale battles.
Of course, when too many scouts were sent out, it was hard to avoid false alarms. After the first whistling arrow sounded, Jin General Pu Cha raised his binoculars to observe the next wave of activity. Not long after, the second whistling arrow also flew out. This meant that they were indeed facing the enemy.
The scouts at the front gathered in that direction and swept their way. For the Jurchens, they were the attackers and had the advantage in numbers. Once they caught the enemy, they would be able to bite them to death. The troops responsible for mobile support from the rear would naturally come over. With Balisu guarding the Sword Pavilion, this would always be their advantage.
Thus, the formation of the troops on the road changed and they quickly prepared for battle.
…
The long sabers clashed heavily in the air, causing sparks to fly from the collision of steel. Both sides pounced at each other without hesitation. The Huaxia soldier was a little shorter, but there were already traces of blood on him. The Jurchens scout met force with force three times with his saber. Seeing that the enemy didn't stop and wanted to take him down with him, he stepped back slightly to the side. That thick saber whistled down and chopped off one of his hands.
Victory and defeat on the battlefield could be decided in the blink of an eye. The Jurchen scout was a seasoned veteran. The moment his arm was cut off, he was about to roll away, but in the next moment, his head flew into the air.
The last thing that flashed through his mind was the "military rank" on the shoulder of the Huaxia soldier. This soldier of the Huaxia army seemed to be in his twenties or thirties. He looked young, and his chin was even shaved cleanly without a beard. But judging from his "military rank", he was already the "regiment commander" of the Huaxia army. On the side of the Female Zhenren, he was the "Meng An" officer who led a thousand people.
If he hadn't seen this military rank, the Jurchen scout wouldn't have subconsciously retreated at the fourth slash. In fact, if he had been facing a slightly weaker enemy, his hand wouldn't have been cut off, and his head wouldn't have been sent flying. After all, he was a veteran who had fought on the battlefield for many years.
He swung the broadsword in the air, and fresh blood splattered on the ground, staining the grass and trees red. Chen Hai tightened the red silk around his wrist. The battle was coming to an end. The other Jurchen scouts were approaching from afar, and the nearby comrades were also approaching while being vigilant of their surroundings.
"Evacuate the wounded first." Chen Hai looked ahead and said, "Let's go south. Inform the two companies behind us not to rush closer and to hide. We have too many people. Try to get to the Mud Beach and fight with them."
As he spoke, the observer who rode to a high place on a nearby ridge also came over. "Pu Cha has set up a battle formation. It seems that he's ready to attack."
"Just as the General Staff expected, the Jurchen has a strong desire to attack. Everyone, prepare your crossbows and move while fighting."
The scout team gathered slightly, passed through the mountains, and turned to the slope in the south. The Jin scouts had caught up with them, and they shot at them with strong bows. The shooting range of the Jurchen marksmen was troublesome, but it was too far away to be fatal. Once they entered a medium shooting range, the crossbows of the Huaxia army would cause them to lose a lot of men.
Of course, long-range shooting was not the main course for either side. In order to prevent the Jurchen scouts from discovering the troops moving to the Mud Beach, Chen Hai led a group of comrades to set up an ambush on the way. After a round of fighting, they set off again.
The Mud Beach was not too far for the Jurchen troops. Before long, the number of scouts chasing after them had increased to more than two hundred, and the number was probably still increasing. On one hand, they were chasing after them, and on the other hand, they were searching for the location of the main force of the Huaxia army.
For the Jin soldiers, although they had suffered many losses in the southwest, and even lost more than half of the generals leading the scouts, the number and fighting strength of their elite scouts could not be underestimated. If two hundred or more scouts swept over and encountered an ambush, they could escape. In a head-on clash of such numbers, they still had a chance of winning.
Of course, the problem of scouts was another matter for the Seventh Army of Huaxia.
In most cases, the number of scouts that the Seventh Army of Huaxia could mobilize was equal to half of the entire army.
For Chen Hai and the others, during the few years they had lived in Dayang, they had experienced survival training in the wilderness, long distance trekking, cooperation, or individual survival in the wilderness. Of course, these training were divided into several levels. Those who really could not endure it would be considered for the ordinary soldiers, but most of them could endure it.
This was because before entering Dayang, they had experienced three years of fierce battles at the Little Blue River. Before the Little Blue River, some of them were older and had experienced the war against Lou Shi in the northwest. Further back, there were also a small number of survivors from Dong Zhiyuan.
As the regiment commander, Chen Hai was thirty years old and could be considered young among his comrades. However, he had already been in the Huaxia army for more than ten years. He was a soldier who had participated in the battle of Xia Village.
When the troops passed through the mountains and grassy slopes and arrived at the low-lying area called the Mud Beach, it was still early in the morning and the air was moist and pleasant. Chen Hai drew his saber and went to the side where the sparse forest intersected. "Prepare for battle." His face and tone were young, but his eyes were as resolute and harsh as winter. Those who knew him well knew that he never smiled.
The Seventh Army of Huaxia had experienced harsh environments all year round, so it was very normal for them to be slovenly during field training. However, before they set off in the early morning, Chen Hai still cleaned himself, shaved his beard and cut his hair. At first glance, the soldiers under his command even felt that the regiment commander had become a young man, but his eyes were different.
This was because he had already lost the eyes of a young man when he was a teenager.
More than ten years ago, when the Female Zhenren first went south, Chen Hai was probably one of the most direct witnesses of that battle. Before that, the Wu dynasty was still singing and dancing, and no one had thought about what it would be like to be invaded. However, the Female Zhenren killed their way into their village. Chen Hai's father died, and his mother hid him in a pile of firewood. After he went out from the pile of firewood, he saw his mother's naked body, which was only half-stained with black mud.
Not long after, he was rescued by the army. A hunter surnamed Zheng in his forties took him with him, and he spent many days investigating the situation of the Female Zhenren in Mutuogang. The surface of the ice cracked, and the hunter surnamed Zheng fell into the icy water. There were Female Zhenrens patrolling nearby, and the old hunter didn't struggle in the water, so he survived.
From then on, he cried a few times, but he never smiled again.
There was no black mud on the mudflat, and the mudflat was yellow. There was no ice in Hanzhong in April, and the air wasn't cold. However, Chen Hai remembered that cold every day, and a corner of his heart was filled with swallowing mud.
— — Chen Hai never smiled.
…
At a quarter past five in the afternoon, in front of a depression called the mudflat in the southwest of Lueyang, the friction between the scouts of both sides intensified. Several other scout units of the Huaxia army joined the battle one after another, gradually expanding the chaotic fighting to a scale of more than six hundred people. At the same time, the Female Zhenren scouts discovered that the main force of the First Division of the Seventh Army of Huaxia was advancing from the bank of the Jialing River in the west toward the mudflat after receiving the report.
The main force had already appeared. At the same time, Pu Cha commanded the troops to rush toward the mudflat, and the scouts had already reported the situation of the battle to the main camp of Fang Zonghan's main force.
They didn't care about adding fuel to the fire, and they didn't care about the battle turning into a mess. For the main attacker who had the advantage in numbers, the only thing they were worried about was the enemy running around like a mudfish. Therefore, as long as they saw the enemy, they would always bite them first.
…
Qi Xinyi sat on his horse, watching a brigade under his command advance under the afternoon sun. In the direction of the mudflat, the smoke of beacons was already rising.
"The Female Zhenren wants to achieve some results before the fall of Jiange. What we're afraid of is Xi Yin's method of fighting as cannon fodder. Just as well, this time it's a happy ending." He spoke to the regiment commander under his command. "There was only one large-scale conflict last year, and the Female Zhenren isn't very clear about our strength. We have to make good use of this opportunity. Who knows, we might have to be more cautious when we face them next time …"
The regiment commander nodded.
"… Also, if we do well here, Xin Han will have an easier time …"
…
The Female Zhenren vanguard crossed the mountain ridge. The scouts on the mudflat were still divided into groups and fighting fiercely. A chiliarch led the Jin soldiers over, and some of the Huaxia soldiers also came over. Then, the Female Zhenren vanguard crossed the mountain ridge and gradually spread out. The Huaxia soldiers stopped at the foot of the mountain and got into formation. They were no longer advancing towards the mudflat.
The sun set late in Hanzhong in April. Around five o 'clock, the Jin vanguard launched an attack on the Han army at the foot of the mountain. They had sufficient transport capacity, so they brought along iron cannons. However, the iron cannons were only slowly deployed in the mountains.
Chen Hai, who was on one side of the battlefield at the mudflat, had already grasped the firing point of the Female Zhenren. At this time, there were about one thousand and four hundred Jin soldiers gathered at the mudflat. One of Chen Hai's regiments, with about nine hundred men, had also gathered. They had completed their mission of luring the enemy into the main force.
"We're done here. Reel in the net and give the order to charge. "He ordered.
Three whistling arrows shot into the sky in a very short period of time. The fireworks were blood red.
Chen Hai drew his saber.
"Kill —"
"Kill —"
"Kill —"
Thunderous shouts erupted on the battlefield, and the cries of the nine hundred men merged into one. On the entire battlefield, Chen Hai's soldiers automatically gathered into six groups and charged toward the four central points they had observed earlier.
The Female chiliarch who had just come down from the mountain was dressed in armor and standing under a large flag. Suddenly, he saw three groups of soldiers charging toward him from different directions. At this moment, his scalp went numb, but what followed was the pride and passion of a Female Commander.
"Fire! Follow me to kill the enemy!"
He brandished his saber. Under the white light of the setting sun, he immediately swept his saber horizontally.
The Huaxia army tossed out the first round of grenades. Soon after, the scattered soldiers converged. The Huaxia soldiers that charged over first had their eyes on the Female Zhenren commanders.
Chen Hai brandished his heavy saber and charged toward the tall and burly Female Zhenren commander on his warhorse. The soldiers around him were like two opposing tides, roaring and devouring each other. The Female Zhenren commander's eyes were twisted and bloodthirsty, instilling fear in those who looked at him. However, Chen Hai didn't care. In his eyes, there was only the howling ice and the man-devouring abyss.
The Female Zhenren commander led his personal soldiers forward …
…
A quarter after five, Pu Cha fiercely charged through the center of the Huaxia army's main force. He was somewhat puzzled by this. But he immediately realized that in the battle just now, the Huaxia army had chosen to spread out on both sides and place them in the rear — the rear was already close to the Jialing River.
After a moment's thought, Pu Cha understood that the two sides had chosen the same strategy in this battle. He had led his army to the rear of the Huaxia army in order to block their path of retreat. When reinforcements arrived, they would naturally be able to secure victory. But the Huaxia army had made the same choice. They wanted to place themselves in the angle between the Jialing River and the Huaxia army to fight a battle of annihilation?
After their victory in the southwest, the Huaxia army had become extremely arrogant.
His heart was surging with fury.
At this moment, the reinforcements led by Saba were already on their way. At the latest, they would arrive by nightfall.
Pu Cha had a total of ten thousand men under his command. At this time, 1500 of them were on the mudflats while 2500 were on the opposite ridge, forming a rear position. He had brought nearly six thousand men to kill his way here, while the number of troops bearing the designation of the First Division of the Huaxia Seventh Army numbered no more than six thousand.
This was the first battle, and while the other side was truly arrogant, his side had to remember the lesson of Yan Bridge. In the following battles, they would have to be as conservative as possible. He would order the enemy troops to advance slowly and provide support with cannons. They would fight until nightfall and then kill off these Han dogs.
He already had a plan in mind. At the same time, the blood-stained scouts charged over. The Huaxia army had been defeated on the mudflats. Menganpulu had been beheaded by the Han, and it didn't take long for three strategists to die in battle. More than a thousand soldiers had lost their morale and were fleeing in all directions.
…
With a squelch, a Huaxia soldier cut off the head of the dead Female Zhenren commander under the fallen banner.
"Commander, is this head still useful?"
"Throw it and feed it to the dogs."
Chen Hai, half covered in blood, walked past the corpses of the Golden Men. Holding a telescope in his hand, he looked at the Golden Men's position on the opposite ridge. The cannons were facing the main force of the Huaxia army at the foot of the mountain and were slowly taking shape.
"The main force of the Golden Army has been separated. Gather the troops. Before nightfall, we'll take down the cannons … so that we can greet the next group."
Chen Hai said.
Chen Hai never smiled.
…
Before nightfall, Wanyan Saba's troops approached the Jialing River.
He heard the ear-piercing sound of the charge horn …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
