On the morning of the 24th of April, a chaotic and tragic battle had already begun near the ancient city of Hanzhong.
The first place to exchange fire was the predetermined battlefield near the south gate of Hanzhong. The main force responsible for the defense of this area was the First Brigade of the First Division of the Seventh Army, the artillery and engineering corps directly under the First Division, and a regiment led by Chen Hai. According to later statistics, there were about 3,300 of them. In front of them were Wanyan Xiyin's 13,000 men, who were relatively energetic, as well as more than 10,000 defeated soldiers of the Jin Kingdom who had entered Hanzhong City ahead of them.
In terms of proportion, they were facing about eight times the number of enemies on their side.
This was going to be the most desperate battle in the entire Battle of Hanzhong.
At the first moment of the artillery fire, the Huaxia army's position was silent and did not respond. The soldiers hiding behind the bunkers and positions had already understood the mission and purpose of the battle.
They had to coordinate with the few reinforcements that might come later and nail Wanyan Xiyin's army to the east of Hanzhong, so that the main force of the army moving westward at high speed would have precious time to achieve their strategic goals.
The moment the artillery fire sounded, the early morning clouds drifted across the sky, and the explosion raised a small amount of dust. The soldiers behind the bunkers looked up at the sky.
"I say, why isn't our mission to kill Wanyan Xiyin here? There are only more than 10,000 people on the other side …"
A soldier said so, and the soldiers around him laughed when they heard it.
Not far away, the company commander threw a lump of soil at him and hit him on the head.
This was a small fragment from the beginning of the exchange of fire.
At this moment, Wanyan Xiyin was still unaware of the changes that had taken place in the opposite camp. Fifteen miles to the west of Hanzhong, the friction had already begun.
…
The first to start fighting were the scouts on the periphery.
Such steps were normal in any battle. Wanyan Zonghan's main force at the moment still had nearly 30,000 men. When the army advanced, the scouts were sent out nearly two miles away, so there was naturally a time lag for the feedback of the news. But not long after, the intensity of the fighting rose in several different directions.
In the days after the start of the Hanzhong Battle, the battle was chaotic and fierce, and the armies of both sides had been dismantled into countless small pieces. As Wanyan Zonghan broke up his army into small units and threw them out, the Huaxia army also launched a small combat unit to meet the attack.
Unlike the Jurchen army, when the Huaxia army was separated from the main force, they were still able to maintain a clear direction and vigorous fighting spirit based on a large target. The result of this situation was that in the past few days, there would often be skirmishes between scout squads near the Jurchen army's main force.
Sometimes the Huaxia Army soldiers they encountered were in companies or battalions. These teams even lost their position as the core troops of the Huaxia Army for a time and gathered in this direction with the purpose of "killing the Huaxia Army." Of course, they would suffer all kinds of attacks along the way, but there were troops that magically broke through the defense and extended their vanguard to Wanyan Zonghan. They would then hide, watch, harass for a while, and flee when they saw that the situation was not good.
Sometimes, the Jurchen scouts would even encounter a few Huaxia soldiers who were good at cooperating with each other leaving the team and sneaking over. They didn't hope to assassinate Wanyan Zonghan. Instead, they would constantly set up traps on the perimeter, specifically capturing small groups of Jurchen soldiers who were alone and then killing them before moving on.
These Huaxia soldiers were very active in battle, and they were very purposeful. The Jurchen soldiers would occasionally be ambushed, but if they didn't pursue them, that would be fine. But if the scouts on this side were provoked and gathered together to pursue them, the Huaxia soldiers would tirelessly drag them around in circles in the mountains. In any case, they didn't have many people, and as long as they attracted their attention, they would win. There were even a few false alarms that caused Wanyan Zonghan's entire army to become nervous.
The Jurchen Zonghan originally had a large number of elite scouts, but with the end of the southwest war and the death of Yu Yu and the other generals, the strength of the scouts had fallen to an all-time low. Starting from the afternoon of April 19th, in the five days of intense combat, the first to be tossed out were naturally these elite scouts. By April 24th, the mission given to the scouts by the Jurchen upper echelons had even changed to conservative defense and gathering intelligence. They were no longer encouraged to actively pursue and kill the enemy, as they had encountered far too many situations in the last several days.
Of Wanyan's thirty thousand soldiers, more than half of them were defeated soldiers. Some of them had voluntarily returned while others just happened to run into the path of Wanyan's army and regrouped. In this regard, Han Qixian and the others had first-rate internal affairs abilities. Not only did they quickly adjust the leadership of the returning soldiers, they also filtered out a group of Huaxia soldiers that had disguised themselves to blend into the Jurchen army during the chaos and fled in distress. They had underestimated Han Qixian's ability to control the army, believing that in this chaotic situation, the Jurchen Zonghan would have no time to distinguish who was who when they saw the same defeated soldiers. They were simply too naive.
From a certain point of view, other than the area where the few troops were highly concentrated, the wilderness near Hanzhong had become a huge sandbox of war between scouts. Frictions large and small were happening every day and every moment. Even if the Jurchen soldiers had lost the will to fight and wanted to find a direction to flee in, they would unintentionally run into several ambushes. The small Huaxia squads would also occasionally run into enemies.
By the time Wanyan Zonghan and the others on the battlefield received news of the battles coming from several directions, the scout network in the southeast had nearly been broken through, and battles were also taking place in the east and north.
The battle that was originally scheduled to take place near the southern gate of Hanzhong City was just around the corner, and there were two possibilities for them to be attacked at this time. Either a Huaxia army unit had launched a large-scale attack to prevent him from reaching Hanzhong City, or the main force of the Huaxia army was already charging over here. Zonghan's intuition immediately rejected the former possibility.
Given his proud temperament, there were some things that were deeply hidden in the depths of his heart. In terms of the results of the five-day battle in Hanzhong, he still hadn't reached the point of defeat. Although a large number of his own troops had been routed, the Jurchen Zonghan's army wouldn't fall to the bottom for a while. In such a battle, the Huaxia Seventh Corps would be far more exhausted than he was. Once the other side was exhausted and the two sides engaged in another decisive battle, his side wouldn't lose.
This was the most unique battle he had encountered in his life. The Huaxia army's offensive ability was too strong, and they were practically murderous ghosts. If the two sides were fully recovered and engaged in a decisive battle, his side, having already experienced defeat in the southwest, would only taste the bitter consequences of protecting Bu Dagang. He could only use this method to maximize his temporary advantage in military strength. From a strategic point of view, this was not wrong.
He still maintained the strength for the battle, and with the arrival of Xi Yin, the Huaxia army had also adopted a violent fighting stance in the southern part of Hanzhong. From the beginning of the battle until now, the Huaxia Seventh Corps, under the leadership of Qin Shaoqian, had never changed their firm and fierce combat style. But as the intensity of the scout battle on the periphery continued to rise, this veteran Jurchen Zonghan finally reacted.
The arrival of the Huaxia army wasn't a simple attack to stop his advance with a small number of troops, so that the western troops led by him could not reach the battlefield in Hanzhong. Instead, in the consecutive days of battle, compared to Xi Yin's troops, which were small in number but full of vigor, his side had fallen to a low point and became the weak point on the battlefield, becoming an "opportunity" in the eyes of the Huaxia army.
In the past decades of countless battles, no one would underestimate Wanyan Zonghan, and no one could underestimate Wanyan Zonghan. The area where he was located was the most secure and terrifying place on the entire battlefield. It was also because of this, until he woke up this morning, he had never considered such a possibility. Perhaps there was such a thought in his mind, but before it could take shape, it was covered up by his pride.
This moment was like a blow to the head, his blood was surging in his brain, he felt humiliated and ashamed, followed by great anger. He seemed to be able to see the scene of the Huaxia army discussing the battle in the General Staff Department, "Come, there's a soft persimmon called Ni Han here, let's go and pinch him." It was just like the humiliation and anger that Xi Yin felt when Yue Fei desperately tried to break through Xi Yin's formation outside Zhenjiang City.
Of course, at this moment, the expression on his face was calm, no one knew that he had experienced a tsunami in his heart.
"… Prepare for battle."
Not long after, the Huaxia army confirmed his thoughts.
…
Only by looking at it from the back would people be able to feel the crucial and exciting atmosphere of a certain decisive battle. But at the time of the battle, all of this did not exist.
The Seventh Army of Hua Xia had already gone through five days of complicated and high-speed battles. Even though Xi Yin had put on a ferocious stance in the south of Hanzhong City, it did not have much to do with them who were on the battlefield. This was just another battle among the many fierce battles.
They had been fighting and moving continuously since a few days ago. Until last night, that madman Chen Hai had continuously launched attacks on Xi Yin's camp. By this morning, the troops who had rested well began to move towards the northwest direction again to launch an attack. Only that idiot Xi Yin would use that place as the key location for the decisive battle.
Just like playing chess, both sides would always checkmate each other. If the checkmate did not die this time, the next one would come. In these few days, both sides of the decisive battle were nothing more than checkmates.
It was quarter past seven in the morning, the smell of blood was constantly rushing through the sparse forest. Company Commander Niu Chengshu looked at the scattered Jurchen scouts running through the forest. He pulled up the strong bow on his back and shot an arrow at the back of the distant figure. The strong bow was snatched recently and did not hit the target. The soldiers in the company stopped at the edge of the forest. They could even see the silhouette of the Jurchen army not far away.
Niu Chengshu estimated the time and said, "Little Sun, ride as fast as you can and inform the regiment headquarters that we have broken through the perimeter and are ready for battle."
The area where the regiment was scattered was not far away. The messenger, Little Sun, quickly rode away. Niu Chengshu looked around.
"I'm going to repeat the mission one more time. Be smart and line up!"
"Yes!" The platoon leader stood up.
"You are in charge of attacking! As long as there is a chance, charge! Throw the grenades into the enemy's formation in batches and blow them up! But you do not have many grenades left. Be careful to use them in batches. Give me three chances to break through the formation! "
"Yes!"
"Line 2, prepare to deal with the cavalry. If the enemy cavalry comes up, I will leave them to you. If they really fight, it is not a loss to exchange a grenade for a horse. If they really do not care about their lives, the horses will be in danger. Don't hide anything!"
"Yes!"
"Line 3, the reserve team is in charge of the main attack. Once Line 1 opens a gap, you will press forward. Chop those bastards to death! Do you understand — "
"Yes —"
"The only thing we need to pay attention to is that if the enemy's artillery fire is fierce, we will hide and find a place to protect ourselves! Once the enemy's artillery fire is moved away, we will make a bigger noise so that they will pay more attention to us! As long as they have their eyes on us, our other brothers will find trouble for them! "
Niu Chengshu's body was like a bull. As he spoke, he waved his hands and feet in front of everyone. His voice was still echoing. From a nearby mountain top, a firework flew into the sky with a loud noise. Soon after, in the southeast sky, fireworks also rose one after another.
"The regiment is in position! Everyone, today is a big day. Keep your spirits up. Our men have already surrounded Wanyan Zonghan. Today, we will treat him to a meal! I will still say the same thing. Observe carefully! Be calm in battle! Kill — be festive — "
Fireworks rose one after another in the cool summer sky, representing combat units of at least battalions. On the battlefield, the huge army of the Jurchen people was whistling, moving, and changing formations. The huge ferocious beasts had already lowered their bodies. More than seven thousand troops of the Huaxia army had already surrounded the Jurchen army, which had a total of nearly thirty thousand people. The rest of the army was still in the process of rushing over.
Before the hour was up, the battle began.
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