Chapter 158: Fighting for Hetao (23)

The Special Tank Battalion was shot down by two chariots, and two more special tanks hit the slumped chariot and stopped moving forward.

In addition to special chariots, there were fifty ordinary chariots on the left and right wings of the Tiger Camp. After receiving the order, these fifty ordinary chariots immediately accelerated their speed and rushed from the left and right wings of the chariot battalion to the front of the special chariot battalion.

Although Chen Meng was the commander of the Special Chariot Battalion, he saw another Dangxiang cavalry squad rushed over, but he couldn't feel sorry for the chariot that had fallen to the ground and ordered loudly: "Keep the formation and move forward at medium speed." Then he heard the harsh sound of three long and three short horns coming from behind. This was a signal that the ordinary chariot battalion was about to launch an attack from both wings. Chen Meng ordered again: "Keep the formation and move forward at a slow speed."

Amid the sharp and short screams of the bronze horn, the special chariot battalion gradually slowed down. The bronze horn, as the most important command method in the chariot battalion's advance, is divided into several tones such as "attack, defense, retreat, two-wing attack, crossbowman shooting, Western Shu crossbow shooting, and Modao hand to meet the enemy". In order to make the drivers familiar with these commands, the chariot battalion spent a lot of time and formulated strict assessment methods. The drivers who could pass the assessment were all smart young men with clever ears and eyes, but there were big differences in training and actual combat. In this noisy battlefield environment where horse hooves, tear and shouts were mixed together, and with a nervous mood, the signal soldiers issued the harsh command, the drivers of three chariots did not understand the meaning of the signal, or did not hear the signal at all, and still maintained their original speed, and soon became prominent from the special chariot battalion.

At this time, the overall formation of the tiger camp changed from a Pin character to an upside-down Pin character. Ordinary chariots on the left and right wings were also lined up in front and back rows, with twenty-five chariots in each row.

From the perspective of Xifeng Heishan, the combat front of the Heiyu Military Vehicle Battalion is hundreds of meters, which looks extremely wide. The main force led by Xifeng Heishan retreated backwards without being too fast or too slow under the pressure of the chariot, but always maintains an appropriate distance from the chariot camp.

While keeping the main force at an appropriate distance from the Black Eagle Army, Xifeng Heishan constantly sent small troops to harass the chariot battalion. The first batch of cavalry shot horses only out of the instinct of horse riders. Before the second batch of riders set off, Xifeng Heishan issued an order: specifically to shoot and kill war horses pulling chariots.

Dangxiang riders were skilled in bowing and horses, and they were flying like flying. In the blink of an eye, they approached the Tiger Camp's chariot. Dangxiang riders did not care about the crossbow arrows shot from ordinary chariot battalions, and used ruthless and accurate iron arrows to hunt three carriages in the front of the chariot battalion.

The second group of Dangxiang riders shot arrows of revenge, but failed to escape the Huanghua crossbow arrows of the ordinary chariot battalion. When the three carriages overturned to the ground, Dangxiang riders were all shot off the horse by powerful crossbow arrows.

In order to maintain the formation, the Special Chariot Battalion has gradually slowed down its speed. Although the three carriages were shot and overturned, it did not cause too much chaos to the special chariot camp with a large distance. Only one chariot could not dodge and hit the chariot that fell to the ground.

After all the second batch of Dangxiang people were dismissed, the third batch of Dangxiang riders launched a suicide charge based on their own interpretation. The target of the Dangxiang riders was very clear, which was to shoot and kill the war horses of the Black Eagle Army's chariot battalion.

Just when the third group of Dangxiang riders rushed to the front of the special chariot, the ordinary chariots on both wings had completely surpassed the special chariots. Seeing the third group of Dangxiang riders starting to draw bows and shoot arrows, the ground yellow birch crossbowmen on the chariots fired the crossbow arrows in their hands one after another. The dense crossbow arrows from the left and right, like the heavy rain in summer, enveloped the Dangxiang riders. The third group of Dangxiang riders only shot a few arrows and had no chance to take action.

Although the third group of Dangxiang riders did not cause new losses to the chariot camp, they consumed a large number of crossbow arrows from Huang Hua crossbowmen. Just as Huang Hua crossbowmen was busy stepping up the strings, the fourth group of Dangxiang riders rushed to the scene. This time, there were hundreds of Dangxiang cavalrymen, and the sound of war horses rushing on the grass rumbling. Shan Zongyuan realized the seriousness of the problem and was so anxious that his hair stood up.

After Xifeng Zhengzheng broke into the range with five hundred cavalry, the tiger camp could not organize a neat attack for a while, and Huang Hua crossbowmen had to fight on their own. Compared with crossbows, the range of bows and arrows was not as good as that of Huang Hua crossbows. However, the ability to launch continuously was stronger than that of Huang Hua crossbows. Therefore, after Huang Hua crossbows lost unified command, the bows and arrows were not at a disadvantage in the chaos of bows and arrows. War horses and soldiers were constantly shot by Dangxiang bows and arrows, and chariots were constantly overturned to the ground.

The Modao Hand in the Hu Camp could only squat in the carriage and was anxious. The Modao Hand was originally equipped with crossbow arrows, but in previous battles, the Modao Hand was fighting against the enemy on foot with both hands. Taking crossbow arrows was a burden. Therefore, the Modao Hand in the Hu Camp did not like to carry crossbow arrows. At this time, the Modao Hand was sitting in the chariot carriage and could not engage in close contact with the Dangxiang people, nor did they have long-range shooting weapons such as bows and crossbows, which made these iron-blooded men so anxious that they vomited blood.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Shan Zongyuan immediately ordered: "Stop moving forward and defend on the spot." Shan Zongyuan had just issued an order, and the order to let the tiger camp defend on the spot came from the tent of Hou Dayong.

However, to stop the chariots during the movement and not give the enemy an opportunity, the troops need to have superb tactical qualities. The Tiger Battalion was not established for a long time, and it was the first time to use a chariot to fight. Although the Tiger Battalion was born from the horse infantry and was more suitable for the chariot field in the Black Eagle Army, in actual combat, the chariot battalion had some problems from equipment, tactics to command. After the desperate harassment of three Dangxiang teams, under the desperate attack of the 500 cavalry of Xifeng Zhengzheng, the Tiger Battalion suffered major casualties.

Just when Shan Zongyuan was anxious, under Chen's command to exert his strength, four Western Shu crossbows with shooting angles launched a fatal attack on the Dangxiang people. Although the thirty-six crossbow arrows could not solve the siege of the Dangxiang people, they greatly increased the confidence of the Huanghua crossbowmen in the ordinary chariot camp. They fought against the raindrops and fired the crossbows on the ground, and the casualties of the Dangxiang riders also rose sharply.

After the Dangxiang Iron Cavalry gave the Black Eagle Army a heavy blow, with a few sharp whistles, Xifeng Zhengzheng and Dangxiang riders turned their horses' heads and quickly broke away from contact with the tiger camp, fighting and retreating to the west of his father.

At this time, the Lion Camp of the Black Eagle Army and the Jiao Camp had already been surrounded from both wings. Guo Jiong did not take the hundreds of cavalry of Xifeng Zhengzheng seriously. He led his troops to attack Xifeng Heishan, preparing to cover all the people and horses of Xifeng Heishan inside. The Jiao Camp directly attacked Xifeng Zhengzheng from the right wing.

Xifeng Zhengzheng was extremely clear-headed. While turning back and firing arrows, he observed the situation on the battlefield. He keenly discovered the intention of the Black Eagle Army Lion Camp. With a few sharp whistles, Xifeng Zhengzheng turned the horse's head and rushed towards the Lion Camp. He wanted to entangle the cavalry of the Lion Camp to relieve his father's pressure.

When the riders of the lion camp saw the Dangxiang people rushing over, they all set their bows and arrows and shot at the Dangxiang riders.

Before the winter came, the Black Eagle cavalry was fighting with the Dangxiang cavalry on the banks of the Qingshui River, and there was a confrontation almost every few days. Therefore, the Dangxiang cavalry fully mastered the Black Eagle army's tactics. They found the weakness of the difficulty of crossbow arches. In response to this weakness, the Dangxiang cavalry also made corresponding tactical adjustments. They focused on two key points when attacking quickly. One was to adopt a relatively loose offensive formation. The other was that the riders lowered their heads on the horse's back to reduce the attack surface of the crossbow arches.

As long as these two key points are grasped, the Dangxiang cavalry can effectively reduce casualties caused by crossbow arrows, as long as they break into the range of the bow and arrow. Due to the difficulty of the Black Eagle Army's crossbows, the Dangxiang rider's bow and arrow can take advantage of the time when the Black Eagle Army rider takes the bow and arrow to give the Black Eagle Army major damage.

The Dangxiang riders took advantage of the small weakness of the Black Eagle Army and shot and killed many Black Eagle Army riders. After Hou Dayong quickly learned about the battle situation, he led Shi Hu, Guo Jiong and other generals to study the new tactics of the Dangxiang people many times, and divided them into two teams of cavalry several times. The results of the battle showed that there are great limitations in using crossbows in high-speed movements. As long as the enemy cavalry adopts the Dangxiang people's tactics, it will cause considerable damage to the cavalry using crossbows.

When they were fighting against Tubo people and Uighurs, the Tubo people and Uighurs were defeated before they could understand the attack rules of the Black Diao Army, so this problem was not reflected. Hou Dayong thought of the defects of the Black Diao Army's cavalry using Huanghua hand crossbows, and recalled the brilliant achievements of the land, and couldn't help but sweat and secretly called for luck. During winter training, the Black Diao Army focused on practicing the cavalry's shooting ability in movement. The Yellow Diao Crossbows were mainly used in infantry attacks, chariot battalions attacks, attacking fixed targets, defensive positions, and other combat methods that do not require high-speed movement.

The three thousand cavalry of the Lion Camp were the most taxable cavalry of the Black Eagle Army. When the cavalry of Xifeng Zhengzheng rushed over, the Lion Camp followed Guo Jiong's order and shot against each other with bows and arrows, while continuing to rush towards Xifeng Heishan. Two cavalry feather arrows shuttled through, and cavalry kept falling off the horse.

At the same time, the Jiao Camp also chased after him from the right wing bit Xifeng Zhengzheng's butt. Xifeng Zhengzheng's troops were blocked by the Lion Camp to the south, and the Jiao Camp was chasing the north, and surrounded by the Black Eagle Army. Xifeng Zhengzheng watched his father's main force retreating southwest. In order to disrupt the Black Eagle Army, Xifeng Zhengzheng gritted his teeth and led the remaining more than 300 cavalry to rush towards the Tiger Camp position.

From Hou Dayong's order to "stop chasing the tiger camp" to the time when the tiger camp accepted the order, it changed from movement to defense. In less than a stick of incense, in this short period of time, the Special Tank Battalion suffered a crazy continuous attack from three Dangxiang squads, losing nine chariots. Under the attack of the cavalry of Xifeng Zhengzheng, the ordinary tank battalion lost twenty-four chariots.

After the Tiger Camp's chariot battalion slowly stopped, Mo Daozhe jumped off the chariot and carried the casualties to the chariot carriage. At the same time, some simple horse-resistance was arranged in front of ordinary chariots to build a new defense line.

Xifeng Zhengzheng led the remaining more than 300 cavalry and rushed towards the Tiger Camp position regardless of everything. At this time, the simple horse-rejecting of the Tiger Camp had not been fully arranged. With large sections of gaps, the Dangxiang cavalry was very flexible in their actions and rushed towards the gaps at any time.

The Huang Hua crossbowman in the Tiger Camp did not get out of the car, and held the Huang Hua crossbow in the carriage to provide protection for the Modaomen who were simply arranged to resist horses. When the Dangxiang rider turned around and rushed towards the Tiger Camp, it provided the Huang Hua crossbowman with an excellent attack opportunity.

More than 300 Dangxiang cavalry were injured and half of the casualties were killed or killed by crossbows, but more than 100 Dangxiang cavalry broke into the defense line of the Tiger Camp. Dangxiang riders waved various close-fitting fighting weapons such as knives, guns, maces, etc. to launch a fierce attack on the Tiger Camp soldiers.

The battle on the banks of the Yellow River was mainly long-distance offensive and defensive battles. Mo Dao hand held a sharp weapon, but could only passively be beaten but could not fight back, which made these powerful attacks Mo Dao hand depressed. After the Dangxiang cavalry rushed into the Tiger Camp chariot group, the chariot group restricted the speed of the Dangxiang war horses and provided Mo Dao hand with an excellent combat opportunity. The Mo Dao hand teamed ten people as a small team, some chopped the horse's legs and some chopped the riders on the ground, and launched Ling Li's attack on the Dangxiang cavalry, harshly exuding the anger in his heart.

Xifeng Zhengzheng held a mace and smashed the heads of three Mo Dao Hands. He had heard of the Black Eagle Army's Mo Dao Hands. At this time, he saw more than 100 riders who were attacking the chariot group in a blink of an eye. He shouted: "Don't entangle in the chariot group, run east."

Xifeng Zhengzheng was tall and strong. He waved his mace and knocked down several Mo Daozhan who were close to him. Seeing his fierceness, three Huanghua crossbowmen on a chariot in the Tiger Camp set off three crossbows at Xifeng Zhengzheng. Two crossbows shot the war horses and one crossbow shot the abdomen of Xifeng Zhengzheng. After Xifeng Zhengzheng fell off the horse and fell to the ground, he immediately turned over and stood up and fought with four Mo Daozhan. Xifeng Zhengzheng was famous in Fangdanghan Navy. Although he was seriously injured, he knocked down the four Mo Daozhans one after another. For a moment, Mo Daozhan did not dare to step forward. Xifeng Zhengzheng took the opportunity to snatch an unmanned war horse and rushed out of the chariot group with more than 20 riders.

Behind the chariot group was Hou Dayong's personal guard. The five hundred personal guards had not been involved in the battle and were closely guarding Hou Dayong. Hou Dayong shouted to Liu Heigou behind him: "Shoot them."

When Liu Heigou saw bloody fierce battles, he could not hold back. When he heard the Jiedushi's words, he ordered the fifty archers behind him to say, "Get up the arrow and shoot."

Fifty eagle-feathered arrows shot towards the Dangxiang rider who broke through the encirclement like precise guidance weapons. After a string sounded, more than 20 Dangxiang riders were all dropped. Xifeng Zhengzheng was hit by a crossbow arrow on his abdomen, and at this time another eagle-feathered arrow was hit on his shoulder. Xifeng Zhengzheng felt that it was dark in front of him and fell off his horse.

In the southwest direction, the Lion Camp of the Black Diao Army and thousands of people were chasing towards more than a thousand cavalry in Xifeng Heishan. Seeing that thousands of Black Diao Army cavalry were holding on to him, Xifeng Heishan felt relieved. Chasing on this grassland was the specialty of the Dangxiang Army. The more desperate the cavalry of the Black Diao Army chased themselves, the safer the main force in Fangdanghan Haiti.

Just as the Heishan Mountain and the Heiyu Army Lion Camp were chasing, a group of more than 1,000 Dangxiang cavalry joined the battle group. They suddenly emerged from the flank of the Jiao Camp and took them together with the Jiao Camp.

This group of men was severely damaged and fled to the remnants of the two Dangxiang cavalrymen in the southwest. They gathered together and were commanded by Li Chang'an, the Dangxiang Army, as the temporary commander.

Commander Li Changan is an authentic housewife, but because his father gave him the strange name "Li Changan", he was bullied a lot since he was a child. Before Li Changan could ask his father why he gave him such a strange name, his father died in the war with the Uighurs. In order to commemorate his father, Li Changan did not change his name. Fortunately, everyone got used to this strange name and was no longer surprised.

In the decisive battle between the Black Eagle Army and the Dangxiang Army, the Dangxiang Army collided with the sharp Western Shu crossbows two charges and suffered major casualties. The commanders of both cavalry teams were both killed in front of the Black Eagle Army. Li Chang'an's official position was the highest among the remnants of the Dangxiang cavalry, so he naturally assumed the responsibility of command.

Li Changan gathered more than a thousand troops in the southwest of the battlefield. Like ordinary soldiers of the Dangxiang, he was deeply shocked by the powerful weapons of the Black Eagle Army. He slowly calmed down until he left the battlefield far away. Li Changan did not attack again recklessly, nor did he escape cowardly, but paid attention to the development of the battlefield.

When he saw the Black Eagle Army chasing a team of Dangxiang Army, Li Changan resolutely ordered the defeated Dangxiang army to enter the battlefield. After going around a big circle, he suddenly rushed to the flank of the Jiao Camp.

Hou Dayong, who was in charge of the central army, was located in the position of the Tiger Camp. Seeing that the main force of the Dangxiang Army had retreated far away, thousands of riders in Pingba fought together, he ordered: "The Tiger Camp defended the defense line to prevent the withdrawn Dangxiang Army from returning, and the personal guards attacked."

These five hundred personal guards are among the elites of the Black Eagle Army. The fierce battle has long made them excited. After receiving the order, they rushed towards the Dangxiang Army led by Li Chang'an like an evil tiger. Hou Dayong did not charge with the personal guards. He led more than 20 commanders to hold his command position. Seeing that the Jiedushi was few soldiers, Shan Zongyuan sent fifty Mo Daomen to follow Hou Dayong.

The cruel battle was soon revealed. Under the attack of more than 7,000 elite Black Eagle Army, the two thousand Dangxiang cavalry quickly could not withstand it. Xifeng Heishan led more than 300 cavalry to break through the encirclement, and Li Chang'an's troops were tightly surrounded by the Black Eagle Army, and none of them could escape. Commander Li Chang'an was injured and captured.

At this point, the decisive battle between the Black Eagle Army and the Dangxiang Army in Xihuizhou was over. In this battle, more than 5,000 people were killed in Fangdang Hanhai's troops and more than 200 were captured, including two commanders, Xifeng Zhengzheng and Li Chang'an. The Black Eagle Army was killed in battle about 537, including 34 special chariot battalions, 67 ordinary chariot battalions, and 426 cavalry troops.

The Black Eagle Army launched this battle to clean up the periphery of Xihui Prefecture and prepare for the general attack on Xihui Prefecture. The purpose of Fang Danghanhai launched this battle was to buy more time for the westward migration. After this battle, both sides believed that they had achieved their strategic goals.
Chapter completed!