Chapter 6: The Resurgence of the Storm Section 13
Jitou Valley is located on the west side of the Jingshui River, across the river from the Boluo Valley. It is about 15 miles long and is named because it resembles a chicken's head.
Xu Rong took Nie Xiao and Lou Lu's two battalions of cavalry, as well as Zhao Yun's Changshui battalion, and arrived at Jitou Valley two days ago, quietly hiding in it.
He Feng was very dissatisfied. He came to Xiliang to kill the enemy and make a name for himself, not to hide in this inaccessible valley and be bitten by poisonous insects. He didn't say anything in his mouth, but he had already scolded Xu Rong in his heart. Now the battle in Fanting Mountain is very fierce, and more than 20,000 iron horsemen can't go to Fanting Mountain to kill the Xianbei people, but they are recuperating in this valley, he thinks it's too ridiculous.
Lord Xian Yu said that he wanted to ambush the enemy, is it in this Jitou Valley? No matter how he looked at it, this Jitou Valley didn't look like a place to ambush the Xianbei people. If you want to ambush the enemy, you should also be in the Boluo Valley on the other side of the Jingshui River, which is the only way for the Xianbei people to go south.
He Feng did not return to Luoyang, but took the initiative to ask to go to Xiliang with the Changshui camp to participate in the war, and he had his own hardships. He hated Luoyang, and he had long wanted to get out of there.
He Feng has been in Luoyang for several years, and what he feels the most is that he is a subordinate everywhere he goes, and he is called around like a dog, and he has never straightened his spine in Luoyang. Although he is a relative of the great general He Jin, and he is the subordinate of the general's mansion, the thief Cao, and the general He Jin has always regarded him as his confidant, and he is also very grateful to He Jin for his appreciation, but he hates the people around him, and even has some hatred.
In Luoyang, the streets are full of princes and nobles, gate lords and bureaucrats, and there are many children of their clans, in the eyes of these people, He Feng is a thug who guards the courtyard, and he is a watchdog in the general's mansion, and no one is looking at him. Although Yuan Shu and He Miao often took him around, they never regarded him as a friend of equal status, they only regarded him as a waiter who could fight.
Why did you fight on the streets of Luoyang? In the final analysis, I am still despised by others, and I am angry, am I born a cheap species? The longer He Feng stayed in Luoyang, the more disgusted he became, he thought of a place where he could hold his head high and be an upright person, he felt that he had stayed in Luoyang for a long time, and one day he would be beaten to death by those dogs and people.
He Feng finally found an opportunity. Li Hong wanted to take the Changshui camp to Xiliang to resist the invasion of the Xianbei people. This is an opportunity to make great achievements and change one's destiny, and this is an opportunity to get rid of Luoyang and bid farewell to humiliation. If he made military achievements, with the help of the general's backer, he believed that he would soon be able to become a 2,000-stone official. He Miao then came to Xiliang with great ambition.
He is very grateful to Li Hong for his magnanimity, a hero is a hero, and his temperament is different from that of ordinary people. He and Yuan Shu were originally going to kill Li Hong on the secret order of the general, but in the end they failed, but Li Hong did not embarrass them because of this, and even avoided the interrogation. When he had the courage to propose to follow Li Hong to Xiliang to fight, he thought that Li Hong would refuse, but he didn't expect Li Hong to agree without hesitation. He was very excited at the time, and he felt that he could die for Li Hong at that moment.
Liu Ming and Lu Xian once worked together to catch He Feng that day and beat him violently. The two once thought that Li Hong would kill He Feng or drive him back to Luoyang, but unexpectedly, Li Hong not only left He Feng, but also arranged him to continue to serve as a military Sima in the Changshui Battalion, which made the two very embarrassed. He Feng was refreshing, invited them to a meal, and everyone laughed at each other, and they would be brothers in life and death in the future.
Liu Ming saw He Feng restless in the Chicken Head Valley, sighing for a long time, looking like a hero is useless, very funny, Liu Ming said, you had better go to the river to soak in cold water, sober up your mind, and lower the fire, so as not to curse people here and be upset when you listen. He Feng was overjoyed when he heard this, and happily ran to the river to bathe with a few guards, but was caught by Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun said that they violated the military order to hide their traces, and they showed no mercy to each person. He Feng was so angry that he scolded Liu Ming's Hu ancestor countless times.
He Feng didn't dare to scold Zhao Yun. Although Zhao Yun is young, he has high martial arts, and he also killed the leader of Baimaqiang, who has been rampant in the western frontier for decades, in the Battle of Yicheng, June Thunder, he obeys this kind of ruthless person.
In the afternoon of this day, Li Hong also entered the Jitou Valley with the cavalry withdrawn from Fanting Mountain. After the two armies met, the number of cavalry reached 40,000.
He Feng knew that there was no need to wait, the big battle was about to begin, and he spent a sleepless night in excitement and excitement.
The next day, the Xianbei people arrived at the Boluo Valley, and they were very careful, and only after several reconnaissance confirmations by hundreds of scouts did they carefully cross the Boluo Valley. As soon as the Xianbei people left Boluo Valley, Li Hong led the army out of Jitou Valley, waded across the Jingshui River, and followed.
The 40,000-strong army went all the way down the Jingshui River, roaring and rushing, and the momentum was majestic. He Feng was in the midst of thousands of troops, and for the first time deeply felt his own insignificance and powerlessness, he was like a fine grain of sand on the river beach, insignificant, insignificant, he was like a dead leaf floating on the surface of the river, struggling on the edge of overturning. He was drowned out by the loud roar, his consciousness was gradually disappearing, he had completely lost himself, he couldn't think, he couldn't stop, he couldn't help but be wrapped up in the boiling torrent and poured down, he only knew that he was going to kill the enemy, he was going to fight, his ambition was shattered in this instant.
Tens of thousands of armies are fighting against each other, hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting, what can you do alone? Killing the enemy and making meritorious contributions seems to have become a joke, a hope, and an unattainable dream in the blink of an eye.
He Feng looked at his surroundings, dense, overwhelming, all of them were iron knights, everyone looked excited, or numb, or leisurely, or drowsy, or full of fighting spirit, no timidity, no fear, no panic before death, everyone galloped on horseback, converging into a magnificent torrent, moving forward.
He Feng suddenly knew where he was going.
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The advance speed of the Han army's iron cavalry remained very steady, as if it was not in a hurry to catch up with the Xianbei people.
"Zilong, when are we going to attack?" He Feng approached Zhao Yun and shouted loudly.
Zhao Yun glanced back at him, a smile on his handsome face. In Changshuiying, there are very few Han people, and the two people spend more time chatting, and they have similar temperaments to each other, so their friendship is getting deeper.
"Bluestone Shore, let's go to Bluestone Shore." Zhao Yun shouted, "Lord Xianyu is there right now to stop the Xianbei people. ”
"Why not hurry?" He Feng was anxious, and shouted louder, "Why don't you hurry forward?" ”
Zhao Yun pointed to the clear blue sky, "Wait for the signal, wait for the signal for help from the adults." ”
He Feng looked at the blue sky suspiciously, and then suddenly realized. When leopards fight, not only are they elusive, but they even grasp the timing of cannibalism so well. A terrifying leopard.
Thinking of the bloody battle that was about to start, He Feng was excited, and there was a slight tremor all over his body.
"Let's go, kill the enemy...... he kicked the horse's belly, whipped the horse, and roared again and again, "Kill the enemy and ......"
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On the evening of the day they arrived at Shengtou Mountain, Yan Rou and Zhang He went to the camp to visit their subordinates. After four days of bloody fighting, only about 300 of their battalion of 6,000 soldiers remained. The soldiers were very excited, shouting for revenge, to go down the mountain and fight to the death with the Xianbei people.
"My lord, we don't have time to bury our dead brothers, whose remains have all been left behind by us in the woods by the roadside." Lei Chong's eyes were red, and he said sadly, "Their heads must have been cut off by the Xianbei people to make war spoils, my lord, we have to take revenge." ”
Yan Rou and Zhang He were in a heavy mood, and the two of them tried their best to comfort everyone for a while. Yan Rou said, don't worry, we are about to go down the mountain and fight the Xianbei people again, but we are not an ambush, but a block, or a tragic blockade.
"Lord Li led the cavalry to ambush the vanguard of the Xianbei people along the Jingshui River, and we went to Boluo Valley to block the enemy's reinforcements, giving Lord Li time to completely destroy the enemy." Yan Rou sighed and said, "The terrain of Boluo Valley is gentle, there is no danger to defend, we use the phalanx to block the enemy's cavalry, and it is estimated that the casualties will be greater than when we were in Fanting Mountain." ”
"We only have 24,000 infantry, but the Xianbei people have at least 30,000 iron cavalry, and the terrain of Boluo Valley is also suitable for the assault of the cavalry army." Zhang He said worriedly, "Master Li asked us to hold on for a day, and we felt very difficult. ”
The soldiers sat around the side, solemn and silent.
"According to our experience in fighting the Hu cavalry many times, although the dense infantry phalanx plus giant shields and giant spears can temporarily block the enemy, it can only hold out for a while. If the follow-up armies of the Xianbei people arrive one after another, they will surpass us in numbers, and at that time, we will not be able to stop the Xianbei people. The lazy looked at the soldiers around him and asked, "Do you have any better ways to stop the attack?" ”
The surrounding soldiers exchanged heads and whispered discussions.
"You can use the rejection horse." Lei Zhong whispered.
Although Lei Chong's voice was very small, it was still heard by Xiao Lazy.
"What did you say?" The little lazy pointed at him and asked, "You say it again." ”
Yan Rou and Zhang He looked up at him when they heard the sound. Lei Zhong glanced at them timidly, and muttered two words in his mouth, and his voice became quieter.
"You say it louder." Yan Rou smiled, "You have to know that if your method works, you can let countless brothers survive, you can let Lord Li calmly command the army to defeat the Xianbei cavalry, and you can drive the Xianbei people out of Liupan Mountain, so you don't have any concerns, say it boldly." ”
Lei thought of his dead comrades, and his courage suddenly strengthened and he stood up, "We can meet the enemy with a rejection horse." ”
"Rejection?" Yan Rou, Zhang He, and Xiao Lazy exchanged a surprised look with each other. The chatter of the surrounding soldiers suddenly became louder.
Rejection of horses, for the soldiers, is too familiar, so to speak, as long as there is a barracks, there is a rejection of horses. The so-called rejection of horses is a triangular utensil tied into three long logs and a number of short vertical logs according to certain rules, one of which is a row of vertical logs with a long length, oblique thorns stretching forward, the top is sharpened, placed in front of the camp gate or in front of the fence, specially used to block the charge and leap of the enemy's cavalry, so this thing is also called "rejecting horses". Generally, when the large army is encamped, in order to prevent the enemy from attacking the camp, it is necessary to set up a horse rejection array dozens of paces around the camp.
"Sit down, sit down." Yan Rou beckoned at him and said with a smile, "Can you elaborate on it?" ”
Lei licked his lips, thought for a moment, and said, "I used to be the Yellow Turban Army. During the time of Guangzong, our army fought with the Northern Army and suffered a lot from the Changshui Battalion of the Northern Army. Later, we thought of a way to use the rejection of horses to set up a large rejection array in front of the large army array, and as a result, the Changshui battalion was defeated by us. ”
"Oh." Yan Rou became more and more interested, and he said excitedly, "Have you defeated the Changshui Camp with the Horse Rejection Array? Great, tell me how you defeated the Changshui Battalion? ”
"We used horses of different sizes in the open field suitable for cavalry charges, and arranged them into phalanxes, which were tall and short, staggered, and inconsistent. In this way, the originally open space became a winding and rugged array composed of countless horse-rejecting phalanxes, and our soldiers hid in the horse-rejecting array and waited for the opportunity to kill the enemy. Whether it is cavalry or infantry, if they want to attack in battle, they must intersperse detours in the rejection formation, and they must be attacked from both front and rear directions at the same time. ”
"At that time, the Changshui battalion wanted to attack the horse rejection formation and destroy our blocking formation, but their cavalry could not be used in the formation, and as a result, our archers, spearmen, and swords and axes were killed and fled in embarrassment. As soon as they withdrew, we followed up and killed. When the Changshui battalion regrouped and came again, we ran into the horse rejection formation and lured them to attack. So back and forth, finally the Changshui camp was beaten away. ”
"So effective?" Xiao Lazy said in disbelief, "Then when you were in Youzhou and Jizhou, why didn't you use this method to deal with our Fengyun Iron Cavalry?" ”
Lei Zhong smiled miserably and said in a low voice: "They all died, and they all died later, and no one knew that we had defeated the Changshui Camp in this way. ”
"There are only 5,000 people in the Changshui camp." Zhang He asked, "But now there are 30,000 Xianbei people, and there will be more and more, what if the horse rejection formation is broken?" ”
"We also have a giant shield and a great spear." One of the soldiers shouted.
"The phalanx has also been breached?" Zhang He then asked, "In these few battles, we have all had a phalanx that has been broken, and as soon as the phalanx is broken, the brothers can only wait to be slaughtered." ”
"No, there's a way." "We can use soldiers to build a horse rejection array. ”
"Use people as a rejection array?" Yan Rou asked in surprise, "Facing the enemy with a battle formation?" ”
"When I was training in the Zixiu Mountain camp, I saw that the Xiliang infantry of Lord Koji were practicing a kind of cavalry formation, they put shield soldiers and spearmen in front to block the onslaught of enemy cavalry, use archers to cover and shoot in the rear, and then cut the horse's legs with swords and axes." Lei Zhong said, "Although the formation of the Xiliang infantry can effectively kill and injure the enemy's cavalry, its own casualties are very large. I fought with the Vietnamese cavalry battalion of the Northern Army, and when they fought, they all met the enemy with battle formations, and they were invincible in advance and retreat. I think their battle formations are very suitable to defeat the cavalry. ”
"The Yue cavalry battalion of the northern army used to be the main force of the Han army that went out of the fortress to attack the Huns, and they repeatedly defeated the Hun cavalry and were invincible, so they were called the Yue cavalry battalion. In the past, when they were marching and fighting outside the Saiwai, they were often attacked by the Hun cavalry with lightning speeds, and the soldiers did not have time to use the vehicles accompanying the army to set up a vehicle formation to block the enemy, and often suffered heavy losses. Later, they came up with a formation that could effectively deal with cavalry in the field without relying on a chariot formation. ”
"This battle formation is based on 'shi', as long as the commander gives an order, the soldiers will immediately build a formation with 'shi' under the leadership of the chief. Facing the direction of the enemy's cavalry, the first three soldiers sat on the ground, put the end of their spears on the ground, clamped their knees, clenched their hands, and stabbed the tips of their spears obliquely in front of one person high, forming a rejection of the horse; In the middle were also three soldiers, who knelt close to them, holding their spears tightly in both hands, with the end of their armpits, and the tip of their spears pierced about one and a half to two people in front of them, so that the purpose of the formation was to prevent the enemy cavalry from rushing forward and leaping; The three soldiers standing in the last row, armed with bows and arrows, were responsible for shooting the enemy cavalry directly in front of them and on the left and right sides. The chief is responsible for directing the operation of the formation. ”
"The spacing between each battle array is one to five zhang, and the various formations are staggered, although scattered but orderly. If there are dozens to hundreds of these small formations on the battlefield, you can force the enemy to ride back and forth in these small formations, losing their strong attack power. ”
"The Yue cavalry battalion has defeated the Huns countless times with this kind of battle formation, and we will definitely do it."
Zhang He nodded again and again, "Yes, yes, when you say that, I also remember, in the Jizhou battlefield, I also saw the infantry of the Northern Army using this kind of battle formation. How do you know it's called Horse Rejection? ”
"It's not called the Horse Rejection Formation, it's a random name for me." "I have thousands of brothers who have died in this battle, and of course I know it well. ”
"This kind of battle formation requires a long period of training before it can be used in actual combat, but tomorrow we will meet the enemy, and it is useless to say it." Yan Rou waved his hand and said, "Tomorrow we will meet the enemy with the rejection of the horse, and order the soldiers to rush to the rejection of the horse overnight." ”
"What's your name?" Yan Rou suddenly pointed at Lei Zhong and asked, "You can be a military commander." ”
Lei Zhong smiled bitterly, bowed down and replied, "The villain's name is Lei Chong." ”
"Okay, I remember." Yan Rou walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder, "If you don't die, this battle formation will be led and trained by you." ”
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On the mountain road leading to Boluo Valley, Yan Rou was galloping all the way with more than 20,000 soldiers.
Some of the soldiers carried a huge spear in pairs, some carried four or five feet long tree trunks, and some carried bundles of straw ropes on their backs, and walked like flies. Lei Zhong and his comrades-in-arms carried an arm-thick sharpened tree trunk one after the other, running the mountain, sweating profusely.
"Old Lei, does this rejection work?" The soldier in the back asked breathlessly.
"It works." Lei Zhong shouted, "This time we will definitely kill the Xianbei people to the point and avenge the brothers." ”
"Lao Lei, if we win the Xianbei people, you will have the greatest credit."
"I don't want credit, I just want revenge."
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