A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 353: One Han versus Five Barbarians, Han-Barbarian War

With the collection of information from all parties and more than a month of processing, the situation in Lujiang has been greatly improved.

The originally shaky eastern counties, under Lu Zhi's strong suppression and fair governance, the barbarian tribes finally stabilized and accepted the rule of the government again.

The eastern part has been made impregnable by Lu Zhi. As long as Shu County is not lost, the eastern part will continue to provide food, grass and personnel to Lu Zhi's counter-rebellion army.

There is information about Gaolin in the west, and Lu'an and other three counties are in the hands of the imperial court, which can contain a large part of the barbarian power. After receiving Lu Zhi's promise, the barbarians in Anfeng, Yulou, and Anfeng counties were dispersed, and the Han people regained control of the county.

Nowadays, only Longshu and Yao in the middle are close to the Dabie Mountains and the road from Shu County to the high officials in Lu'an is far away. There are more barbarians in them. The barbarians are unwilling to surrender, so they still occupy them.

According to Gao Lin's estimate, the Barbarian Alliance numbered tens of thousands. Fortunately, they lacked armor, lacked training, and had no formation at all. They were far away from the regular Han army.

So Lu Zhi prepared to start a head-on battle. There were only 3,000 men, which was definitely not enough. So Lu Zhi, as the prefect, issued recruitment orders to the five eastern counties one after another.
Order each county to send out five hundred troops, led by the county captain, to assemble in Shu County, totaling 2,500, plus one thousand from Shu County, a total of 3,500, and 3,000 forbidden troops, a total of 6,500 , ten days later, the troops were sent to Longshu County, which is closest to Shu County.

The five counties in the west and Liu'an only need to guard the city and do not need to send troops.

Among these 6,500 people, they were recruited from various counties and counties. Their combat effectiveness was quite satisfactory against ordinary barbarians, but there was no comparison at all against the forbidden soldiers.

Since the resurgence of Emperor Guangwu in the Han Dynasty, the soldier source system has changed. Like the Bai Kingdom's five thousand battalions, the tens of thousands of central imperial guards of the Han Dynasty all adopted the recruitment system. Only the garrison troops in local counties and counties inherited the conscription system of the former Han Dynasty.

Due to the recruitment system, the soldiers of the Central Forbidden Army have excellent military qualities and skills. Most of them are recruited from the frontier army and local brave men. The soldiers and officers serving there have at least five years of military career.

Far from being able to be resisted by local county soldiers and foreign skirmishers, battles against foreigners since Emperor Guangwu have often involved hundreds of Han troops fighting against thousands of barbarian soldiers; thousands of Han troops fighting against tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers. ; Tens of thousands of Han troops fought against tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of barbarian soldiers. This is why we have the saying that one Han is against five barbarians.

And because the economy of the Han Dynasty gradually prospered and its technology continued to increase, the Han Dynasty Forbidden Army was able to achieve 100% armor coverage and possess many weapons, which were almost armed to the teeth.

With the horse farm in Liangzhou, the popularity of war horses in the Han Dynasty in the north has reached more than ten to twenty percent. With the nationwide recruitment of war horses, it is possible to gather almost hundreds of thousands of war horses, and millions more. An auxiliary horse such as a horse.

It was precisely to maintain such an elite army that the military expenditure of the Han Dynasty increased several times compared with the previous Han Dynasty. Even if the taxes collected by the court increased, very few could be retained.

Since Liu Hong ascended the throne, there have been wars in the Han Dynasty almost every year, and they are all in border areas thousands of miles away from Luoyang. Because the military expenditures for dispatching the imperial army will be several times higher than the usual cost of raising troops, and the farther the troops are sent, the multiple of military expenditures will also increase.

It can be seen how much money Liu Hong has squandered over the years, which is why Liu Hong values ​​​​money so much.

August st

Lu Zhi swore to go on an expedition in Shu County. He took a thousand county soldiers as the vanguard to explore roads and build bridges, and used 3,000 forbidden troops as the central army as the main force. The remaining 2,500 county soldiers were behind to transport grain and grass and protect the army. rear.

Soon, the army arrived in the north of Longshu County. The barbarians themselves knew that they had no advantage in fighting with the Han people in the city. In addition, there were many people on their side, so the barbarian army leader pulled all the more than 20,000 barbarians in the city to the fields to fight with Lu Zhi. The army faces off.

Lu Zhi reorganized his troops, with 2,000 forbidden soldiers as the central army, and 1,500 county soldiers on each side, forming two formations on the left and right. A thousand forbidden army cavalry, holding horses, hid behind the central army, allowing Five hundred soldiers from counties and counties set up banners to cover up the situation, making the barbarians think that thousands of Han troops were deployed in the rear.

The Han army formed a large formation with banners and flags, and the troops were neatly arranged, horizontally and vertically, as if they were drawn with a ruler. There were messenger cavalry running back and forth in the specially arranged messenger channel to deliver military orders.

There were more than 20,000 barbarian troops, divided into tribal units, standing scattered. Although there were many people and they were powerful, they stood swaying, and some even sat on the ground to rest. There was no formation at all.

Both sides are high and low, make a distinction.

Lu Zhi ordered to stabilize the formation and wait for the barbarians to attack first.

Sure enough, half an hour later, the barbarian army began to be in chaos. Some barbarians couldn't stand at all. They told the leader that if they didn't fight, they would go back to sleep. Why are we standing here? So they complained one after another.

Some people even fell asleep in the middle of the formation, and the area far behind the front line was even more unbearable. The barbarians were walking around, communicating with each other, laughing and joking, and some were even holding their extra weapons. The trading started like a mountain market.

The leader of the barbarian army took a look and dragged it on. Before a fight, chaos broke out on his own side, so he ordered the horns to be blown and the attack started.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

The horn blew, some people reacted quickly, some reacted late, but they all knew to move forward. A sea of ​​scattered people rushed towards the neat formation of the Han army.

"Be on guard, prepare to engage the enemy!!!" "Archers prepare!" "Crossbowmen prepare!" "Shield soldiers brace up!"

"put!!!"

Densely packed arrows were thrown from the front line of the Han army into the barbarian army. Many charging barbarian soldiers were hit by arrows and fell to the ground wailing. Then they lost their lives. Instead of being shot, they were trampled to death. .

Although the Han army had dense arrows, the barbarians were too numerous to stop their charge. Instead, they aroused their bloodshed.

After several rounds of arrow formations, both sides fought hand to hand. "Get ready!" "Stab!" "Close!" "Stab!" "Close!"...

Under constant orders from the officers, the soldiers mechanically stretched out their spears.

"Sword and Shield Hand, come in!"

Countless barbarians died in front of the Han army's formation, but there were too many barbarians, and soon some Han soldiers were out of action. When he was about to change places with his comrades who replaced him, a barbarian soldier looked at the right time. The machine crashed directly in, and more barbarian soldiers poured in from behind.

Because he was a county soldier and inexperienced, he was in a hurry. Seeing that the front line was about to be breached, a burly man, holding a long sword and with more than a dozen personal guards, rushed into the group of barbarians and filled the gap. He killed all the barbarian soldiers who poured into the gap, and waited for the subsequent soldiers to fill it before he retreated.

"Be careful, be sure to maintain the formation. As long as the formation is not chaotic, these barbarians will not be able to get in. Don't be careless and lose your life!" the big man reminded loudly to these soldiers.

"Yes, County Captain!"

Seeing that the front line here had stabilized, the big man took his guards to another shaky front line to help. Under his constant patrols, the front line in charge of their county was impregnable.

In front of the five hundred county soldiers, at least a thousand corpses of barbarians were left behind.

Lu Zhi observed the battle situation on the entire front from the rear and saw that the barbarians were helpless against the Han army's formation, so he was ready to implement his strategy.

Because he wanted to keep most of these barbarians and couldn't let them all disperse, otherwise it would be another big disaster if they escaped into the mountains and forests.

"Send an order to have the Chinese army retreat fifty steps gradually. Pay attention to the connection between the left and right lines. Let Lu An and Lu Po each bring a hundred men to my general. Guard the connection. If we lose our position, we will engage in military law!
Don't move the front lines of Lin'an and Juchao counties. Wan County and Xunyang counties each retreat twenty steps. We also remind the captains of the two counties to pay attention to the connection between the two sides and send me elite troops to guard it carefully! "

Several messengers rode on horses, carrying Lu Zhi's orders, to convey orders to the generals of the battle formations who were fighting in front.

"The cavalry quickly moved to the left formation, waiting for my order and ready to send troops at any time."

Another messenger reined in his horse and headed towards the rear.

Xunyang County Position

"The general ordered that after three drums, your troops should retreat after hearing the drums. After each drum, slowly retreat ten steps until you reach fifty steps. No longer listen to the drums. Hold your position until the drums stop. Do you understand?
Also pay attention to the connection between the two sides. The general will order you to select elite soldiers to guard the connection to prevent the barbarians from breaking through. "

The messengers rode on horses and quickly conveyed orders to the county captains of Xunyang County.

"Sun Jian, the Lieutenant of Xunyang County, has received the order. Please rest assured, Lord, Sun Jian will not let a barbarian enter the battle!"

The messenger was about to turn his horse back to tell the story. Because he was too close to the front line, an arrow penetrated directly into the back of the messenger's heart and fell off his horse.

Upon seeing this, Sun Jian immediately sent someone to take the body of the messenger back to the central army, and also asked someone to take care of the horses.

Then he selected dozens of brave soldiers to fill the front lines on both sides, and he personally led dozens of people to defend the front to replace the dozens of people who had withdrawn.

As the military drums continued to sound, the Han army's formation gradually turned into a U shape.

Seeing that the formation was ready, Lu Zhi decisively asked the cavalry in the left formation to attack, making sure to retain the barbarians in the U-shaped formation.

Just as Sun Jian was struggling to kill the enemy, an order came for them to separate their formations. Just when they were confused, a rumbling sound came from the rear of the battle.

Sun Jian's expression changed drastically: "Quick, retreat to both sides, retreat quickly!"

Fortunately, he retreated in time. Sun Jian watched as thousands of knights rumbled towards the barbarians. The barbarians along the way were cut to pieces by the thousands of knights like leeks.

"Run away, the Han people's horses are coming, they can't be beaten!"

As the Han cavalry joined the battle, the war came to an end. Of the more than 20,000 barbarians, only 2,000 or 3,000 ran away. Nearly 10,000 remained on the battlefield, and thousands more became the Prisoners of the Han army.

From now on, the work of building bridges, paving roads, and digging mountains will accompany them throughout their lives.

The main force of the barbarian army failed, and Longshu City was captured that day. The Han people in the city rose up to resist. With the help of hundreds of pro-Han barbarians, they killed the more than a thousand barbarians who stayed behind, opened the city gates, and welcomed the imperial army into the city.

Long Shu was defeated, and only Xian County was left. There were tens of thousands of barbarians in Xian County, but once Long Shu was lost, their escape route back to the mountains was cut off. Surrendering or holding on to the city until death was their last resort. way out.

After resting for two days in Longshu, Lu Zhi left hundreds of forbidden troops in Longshu and ordered them to look after the army's retreat and guard against the barbarians in the Dabie Mountains. He personally took the remaining five thousand troops and began to go north to pacify the last barbarian tribe in Lujiang. The county seat occupied is Yaxian County.

(End of this chapter)