During the spring equinox of the second year of Xiangfu, if it was said that no one cared about the increasingly intense war in the northwest, then the situation of Guangling Road, which was originally going well, suddenly took a turn for the worse, making the capital of Liyang very worried. All of this originated from the young man at the western border of Xie. After the soldiers on the eastern front of Guangling had gotten used to Kou Jianghuai's mysterious movements, the main general Song Li slowly pushed forward step by step, continuously reducing the space for the West Chu army to perform. Not only did he take back all of the lost land, he also successfully instigated a number of West Chu officers who had rebelled at that time. He compressed the twenty thousand infantrymen of West Chu's main force to the front line of Dangyin River and Crow Cry Valley. At that time, not only did Song Li's army have thirty thousand Guangling Road infantrymen, there were also eight thousand elite cavalry who were good at fighting as a mobile force. In addition, Song Li had always been steady in commanding troops. No matter how one looked at it, it was a situation where victory was in the bag. The only problem was whether or not they could break into the old capital of West Chu before Lixia. But it was at this moment where victory was at their fingertips that the inferior Xie Xibian suddenly began to exert force, taking the initiative to attack. Afterwards, it was rumored that Song Li's cavalry moved out in full force, wanting to use several thousand cavalry to "thin out the enemy's formation." Using the grassland nomadic cavalry's best move, the eight thousand cavalry were divided into three groups, and each group was divided into five horizontal groups. The nomadic cavalry was at the front, and the elite cavalry was at the back. Facing the enemy's rear, the elite cavalry quickly passed through the gaps and charged forward, launching a projectile attack. Then, under the situation where the battle line was neat and tidy, the elite cavalry retreated, and the light cavalry retreated in turn. But Xie Xibian only had five thousand strong, heavily-armored infantrymen, holding Mo Swords more than ten feet long, to form a dense horizontal formation at the front. Ignoring the arrows, they advanced like a wall. When the shrinking Guangling cavalry had no choice but to launch a true charge, facing these heavily-armored infantrymen who were like great halberds of West Chu, it was actually a phrase that made the officials of the Ministry of War of Taian City look at each other in dismay: "Men and horses will be crushed when they meet them!" Then, the scattered remnants of the cavalry could only use their own infantry to circle out of the battlefield. What followed was an even more tragic infantry battle. Although the Guangling infantry, whose morale had hit rock bottom, did not retreat, it was still difficult to stop West Chu's advance. The main general, Song Li, did not hesitate to personally charge into the formation, leading eight hundred men to break through West Chu's Mo Sword Formation. Even so, in the following battle, Xie Xibian, who had been jokingly called by the Liyang imperial court before the battle, "Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice," repeatedly mobilized troops that had been biding their time to enter the battlefield. There were less than a thousand of them, but all of them accurately remedied a few dangerous situations. Song Li was not a mediocre general, fighting bravely. Twice, he led troops to within a hundred steps of Xie Xibian's formation and was forced back by arrows. Afterwards, Xie Xibian used the thousands of cavalry hidden in ambush to charge into the formation. Song Li had long prepared for this. Even though the battle was at a stalemate, he still strictly ordered the cavalry that had suffered heavy losses not to "enter the battle formation lightly" to support his side. He only allowed the cavalry captains to lead five hundred cavalry to take turns killing the enemy. This was the only way to prevent the Guangling cavalry and infantry from collapsing in one battle under the charge of the three thousand West Chu cavalry. The two armies of West Chu and Guangling fought from noon to dusk. Corpses were strewn all over the field. Xie Xibian's twenty thousand infantry had suffered more than fifteen thousand casualties. When Song Li's forty thousand infantry and eight thousand cavalry finally retreated from the battlefield, there were less than five thousand people left who could still fight. However, the truth that truly made the soldiers on both sides feel a chill run down their spines was that when Song Li took the initiative to retreat more than ten li away from the battlefield, Xie Xi sent out three thousand light cavalry that seemed to have descended from the heavens. Meanwhile, the ones who stopped this cavalry from expanding their pursuit were the five thousand ambushes that Song Li also wanted to use to win by surprise.
The Liyang imperial court, in the court meeting after the urgent memorials arrived in the capital, all heavily criticized Song Li, saying that he was muddle-headed in his use of troops and that he had a great advantage but was not able to control the situation. The Emperor was furious and ordered Song Li to go to the capital to beg for forgiveness. However, in the small court meeting that only the central government officials met, Son of Heaven Zhao Zhuan was the first to praise Song Li. He said that he was not in the Guangling army, much less Song Li. The second-in-command of the Secretariat, Zhao Youling, even said that although Song Li had caused the Guangling war situation to deteriorate, because before Lu Shengxiang entered the border, Guangling temporarily had no power to fight on land. They could only place their hopes on Guangling Prince Zhao Yi's navy. However, in the end, they only lost a small battle to test the depth of West Chu's military power. At that time, the old general Yang Shenxing was also included in the small court meeting. He immediately knelt down and begged for forgiveness, sobbing silently. However, he did not absolve himself. Instead, he said that Yan Zhenchun's death was the fault of him and the old soldiers of Ji Province. The Emperor, Zhao Zhuan, did not pursue the matter further. Instead, he comforted this old general who had brought shame to the Imperial Court. He even appointed his eldest son, Yang Huchen, who had lost an arm during the Battle of Guangling, as the Deputy General of Ji Province, to lead the infantry of Ji Nan, who had been through hundreds of battles not long ago, to Ji Bei, to make up for his father's mistake.
After the spring equinox, the hundred thousand strong army of Nan Jiang had arrived in Xiangzhou. Yan King Zhao Bing fell sick along the way and had no choice but to let Crown Prince Zhao Zhu lead the troops. At the same time, General Lu Shengxiang and the old general of the same generation as Yang Shenxing and Yan Zhenchun led the troops on two fronts, a total of forty thousand elites. They worked together with the Nan Jiang army to pincer the West Chu rebels. Before this, the Liyang imperial court seemed to have used a huge loss of ninety thousand casualties and the death of a king to create the fame of Xie Xibian and Kou Jianghuai, these two young men of West Chu.
At such a time, West Chu made a sound that shocked the world. After Xu Xiao, another king of the dynasty, Chen Zhibao, wrote a letter to the capital, saying that he had raised ten thousand soldiers and could assist Guangling at any time. Although it was rejected by the Ministry of War. However, the imperial court was still shocked and praised him as' the sound of spring thunder '. It was enough to see the special position of the white-clothed war saint in the hearts of the people of Liyang. It seemed that in Li Yang's eyes, those "traitors" of Northern Liang, such as Chen Zhibao, the Confucian grandmaster Yao Baifeng, the imperial relative Yan Jiexi, and Jin Lanting, who was now the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites, were all particularly pleasing to the eyes of Tai 'an City. Within the Beiliang Governor-General House, Hsu Fengnian and Chu Lushan led a group of Liangzhou border generals to discuss the victory of Xie Xibian and Song Li. This was perhaps the only entertainment of the Beiliang generals during wartime.
Huaiyang Pass Lieutenant Huang Laifu's words were full of disdain. "Didn't this Xie family kid learn his military tactics from us? In areas where the battle lines are not fully spread out, he secretly accumulates strength and throws it into the battlefield in batches at critical moments. Our Beiliang Frontier Army's most observant lieutenants all know this. The only thing he can take out is the Mo Sword Array that he learned from who knows where. But it is still alright to deal with the Guangling cavalry, but against our cavalry, hehe, it is the same as the West Chu great halberd warriors of the past. "
Hsu Fengnian said, "After all, this is the first time since the Spring and Autumn period that a cavalry on foot has been used. No matter how strong Song Li's cavalry is, we should get a feel of it. Do you have the detailed layout of the Mo Sword Formation? "
As always, Chu Lushan was looking at the various geographical details on the sand table. Hearing this, he raised his head and smiled. "I'm still waiting for news from Fu Shui Fang. However, based on the rough losses on both sides, Xie Xibian's Mo Sword Formation should be much more complete than the great halberd battle formation of the past. I believe that Gu Jiantang's Two Liao side will soon be popularized, and he will have to ask for a large sum of money from the Lion of the Ministry of Revenue. "
The sturdy Commandant from Qingyuan Army Town frowned and said, "Based on the spy report, Xie Xibian and Song Li are not of the same mind. They are both shrewd and cunning, and are very cautious and bold in their use of riding. In the past, I've only heard that Kou Jianghuai of West Chu is adept at long-distance raids without regard for the strength of his legs. Even if his overall strength is less than the enemy's, he can still fight with many on the battlefield. Furthermore, he has never defended or besieged a city. He fights as if his infantry can be used as cavalry. It's very chewy. "
Chu Lushan laughed cruelly. "Kou Jianghuai is using a string of dazzling victories to tell the world how to fight in the Central Plains in the future. It's no longer as simple as you besiege a city and I defend it. All campaigns have the goal of eliminating the enemy's strength. If you hide in the city like a turtle, I'll find a way to force you out of the city to fight. If you have a large number of troops coming out of the city, I won't fight first. I'll find the right opportunity to defeat you once again. In any case, it's just a quick cut of flesh. One to two jin of flesh each time. After a few more times, you'll only see the bones. If Great Ancestor Gu's suggestion of fighting outside the city for the first time was enough to broaden the horizons of the military strategists of later generations, then Kou Jianghuai's novel way of fighting is a perfect extension. It can probably be called fighting outside the city to weaken the meaning of the city to the greatest extent. If used well, one can seize the initiative everywhere. Of course, when I was fighting in the hinterland of Beimang, I was already playing like this. It's just that the spearhead wasn't aimed at Liyang, so those court officials didn't know how to feel pain. "
Liu Ya rubbed his chin and said, "Guangling Dao finally has a general who understands military affairs like Song Li to support them. That Emperor of Liyang must have been kicked in the head by a donkey. Just like that, he took him to Tai 'an City to denounce him? It's obvious that Zhao Yi's navy will also be eaten by Cao Changqing. "
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