Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 222 The Bloody Battle in Chenzhou

Zhang Cunjing led his troops across the west bank of the Ci River and galloped north along the river to attract the court cavalry, waiting for an opportunity to cross the river to Bozhou, when they met Bianliang envoys on the way.

"Jie Shuai ordered the general to go to Chenzhou!"

Zhang Cunjing said happily: "Is Chenzhou still under the control of Jieshuai?"

The messenger said: "Never lost!"

Zhang Cunjing slapped his thigh and said, "I almost fell for Tang Jun's tricks."

"However, the imperial army is gathered in Bozhou, and General Ge's troops are weak, so I'm afraid it won't last long."

"The general can just obey the order, but the Bozhou Jieshuai has other considerations!"

"promise!"

At this time, the scout reported.

"General Zhang, the court cavalry has crossed the river and is rushing towards us."

"How many people are there?"

"No less than three thousand!"

Zhang Cunjing frowned slightly, and said: "The imperial court has more than ten thousand cavalry, but only sent three thousand cavalry, and the large force is still on the west bank."

"General, Marshal Jie has ordered Zhang Guiba to lead his army to meet him."

Zhang Cunjing shook his head and said, "If General Zhang comes, Chenzhou will be empty, and the Tang army may take advantage of it."

"The imperial court has [-] infantry troops in Chenzhou. How can it be General Zhang's opponent? After defeating this enemy, come and join the general again."

Zhang Cunjing nodded. He now has [-] infantry and no luggage, so he can't fight the cavalry in the open.

"Five miles ahead is Da'anji, and our army resists the enemy in Da'anjiyi folk houses..."

"promise!"

……

Chenzhou
Zhou Xian, the Zuo Shence Army, camped on the north side of Chenzhou, according to the river.

Zhang Guiba came to Chenzhou, but did not enter the city. He sent a messenger to notify Yu Jun in the city, and agreed to attack.

First send armored soldiers to hold shields, hang hooks and locks on the horses, wooden fences, and archery towers in front of the stronghold, and then use ropes to pull them on the horses, drive the horses to pull, and the protection of the camp will disappear.

Although Zhou Xian had already prepared, it was unexpected that his defense was broken so easily.

Seeing the Bian Army's army pouring into the camp like a tide, the soldiers of the Zuo Shence Army were nervous but also quite excited.

They have also experienced great battles. When they first arrived in Luoyang, the Zuo Shence Army was responsible for the defense of various passes, and finally went out to chase the enemy.

As soon as they saw blood, the mentality of the soldiers changed. They panicked, they must have panicked, but the soldiers also knew very well that if they fled without fighting, the chances of surviving being killed from behind would be even lower.

The Second Capital led by Song Zhaoqin is located at the front of the tent, and has already set up a battle. The higher the position, the more fertile military achievements after the war, and the more opportunities for the general to be promoted. This is recognized, but the risk is naturally the greatest.

The Zuo Shence Army has a total of ten troops, nine of them are deployed according to the position of the Jiugong grid, and the remaining one has cavalry directly under the army, all concentrated in the middle army, and the commander Zhou Xian sits in the middle.

Each lined up in a square of thousands of people, and the whole army lined up in a large square.

There is a gap five or six steps wide between each capital, which is the passage of each army, and a lot of barbed wire has already been scattered at this time.

Zhang Guiba didn't understand Zuo Shence's army, and thought that breaking the camp was basically a major event.

The Bian army did not have many cavalry, less than two hundred, but the men and horses were all in heavy armor. Zhang Guiba led this group of cavalry to rush into the camp. They are all heavily armored and hold huge shields.

As long as these heavy armored cavalry smash through the formation of the Zuo Shence Army, this group of people will surely collapse.

However, as soon as they entered the village, they encountered some small troubles. The dozens of heavy cavalry who rushed to the front fell down as soon as they entered the village, and everyone howled.

"General, the village is full of barbed caltrops."

Zhang Guiba frowned, who put the barbed wire in the camp.

"The infantry stepped forward to clean up, and the cavalry rushed into the Tang army's formation. I didn't believe that the Tang army would scatter barbed wire into the formation."

Zhang Guiba is quite relaxed. He is an old general of Huang Chao. Seven years ago, he followed Huang Chao into Chang'an and had a confrontation with the Shence Army. Can't catch up.

The heavy infantry marched forward, holding their shields to clean up the caltrops. In front of them were the three capitals of the Zuo Shence Army. Commander Zhu Wenyi didn't do anything. It was a waste to shoot arrows at this time.

To deal with heavy armored soldiers, either use heavy weapons or only use armor-piercing arrows. He doesn't have many armor-piercing arrows, and the whole army only has [-]. Seventy percent of the armor-piercing arrows are placed in the front three. Thirty percent are in the Chinese army.

After a while, the barbed wire on the front was cleared, and the infantry charged forward with shields, leaving a large gap between the heavy infantry, which was the passage reserved for the cavalry.

Zhang Guiba rode on the horse and wore heavy armor. One of his eyes was already blind, which was the trace left by the battle with Qin Zongquan.

At the beginning, Zhang Guiba led his army to fight against the Bian army under the city of Bianzhou. Zhang Guiba was shot in the eye socket by an arrow when he fought with him. Zhang Guiba was quite like Xiahou Dun of the Three Kingdoms. General Cai.

"General, look..."

Marching Sima Li Xiaoyu pointed to the formation of the Left Shence Army.

"General, the infantry formation is full of sword and shield soldiers at the front, spearmen at the back, and archers shooting afterward, but the formation of the Tang army is quite strange."

Only then did Zhang Guiba notice that the Tang army formed a small formation, and then formed a large formation. The shield soldiers, archers, spearmen, and some bamboo weapons they didn't know were all scattered one by one.

"It's strange. It's nothing special. I'm afraid it's a method of training soldiers from ancient methods."

Li Xiaoyu shook his head, noncommittal.

"The small formations are very scattered both in attack and defense. If it is a street battle in the city, the large army will not be able to use it. I am afraid that it will be very troublesome. But when the army rushes into the formation, each small formation is like a mantis holding a cart, vulnerable to a single blow."

Although Zhang Guiba had never studied or learned about soldiers and horses, he had fought many battles after all, so he could see the weakness of the mandarin duck formation at a glance.

"kill!"

The Bian army rode out with all their heavy horses, one by one bravely took the lead, and rushed to the left shence army.

The soldiers of the Zuo Shence Army all looked solemn, and the archer silently inserted the arrow into the horse manure on the ground, picked it up and put on the bowstring.

The armor-piercing arrow has no barbs, and there is only a thin round hole in the wound, so its lethality is limited.

boom!
The leading small formations were immediately knocked into the air, and the archers didn't even fire their bows.

Those who were still alive immediately ran to the surrounding army formations to form formations. Zhang Guiba expected it well, the mandarin duck formation was not suitable for a large group to rush, and they would surely fall.

But on another level, as long as the mandarin duck formation is well-trained, its resilience is very strong. If it breaks up, the formation that has not been broken up will regroup.

Now, in the general infantry formation, as long as they break through the front shield soldiers, they will not be far from the defeat of the whole army.

"Fire arrows!"

The arrows from the army formation approaching by the Zuo Shence Army fired all at once, and these were all armor-piercing arrows, like awls, with very strong penetrating power.

Poof, poof...

As long as it hits the target, all the arrows will go straight into the flesh, even if it is heavily armored, it will be like wearing no clothes...

(End of this chapter)