Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 241
The military vehicle is a familiar and unfamiliar concept.

In a broad sense, all kinds of vehicles used in the army can be classified as military vehicles, which are still very common in the modern army of later generations, such as armored personnel carriers, off-road vehicles, trucks and so on.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period more than a thousand years ago, there were few cavalry and few military vehicles, and they were mostly used as chariots. Hands put arrows on it.

After the Han Dynasty, as the Han Empire changed its strategy from defense at the national level to a full-scale offensive, it faced more and more cavalry enemies, and the combat areas became more and more complex, from the jungles of Vietnam to the high mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou, and the mountains of North Korea. Gobi Grassland, Western Region Desert.
In the face of various complex terrains and large-scale cavalry, the chariot gradually lost its role.

But soon, Wei Qing, the general who fought against the Huns all the year round, found that the other side of the car was marching, and the large amount of food and grass could not be carried by people on horses.

People’s physical strength is limited, so they eat a lot when they cook a lot, and the physical strength of horses is precious. In many cases, Chinese cavalry soldiers dismounted and walked on foot during the march, so that the horses could maintain their physical strength, and then mounted to fight after encountering the enemy.

Therefore, a cart with wheels has become the best choice. Not only can it save energy and load more supplies, but it can also be pulled by cattle, donkeys, mules, horses and other livestock, which greatly reduces the difficulty of army logistics supplies. Other animals took the place of horses.

And in the subsequent battle with the Huns, Wei Qing discovered that these vehicles usually transport supplies, and they are all deployed in front of the position during the battle. The fixed shafts of the vehicles can build a temporary long wall to prevent the cavalry from rushing in, and can protect the large formation. Soldiers in front, resist the cavalry charge.

As a result, military vehicles have changed from chariots in the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period and Qin Dynasty to transport vehicles and defensive vehicles.

Since then, there have been many changes and variants of military vehicles, such as the door-plug knife vehicle for blocking the door, the nest vehicle for reconnaissance, and the cave-house vehicle for resisting the attacking party's rolling logs and rocks approaching the city wall.

However, the overall usage has not changed qualitatively. It is still Wei Qing's way, which has been used for thousands of years. Put it on a military cart and pull it away with oxen, mules, or horses.

When necessary, unload the things and push them to the front of the formation to form an army formation.

The military chariots of the Zhou army have been developed for thousands of years from the Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty to the present, and the overall changes are not great. The military chariot has two wheels, with iron bars as a reinforcement structure, and the front door is high on both sides and opens downward.

During the war, the shafts of the chariots are fixed on the ground, and the shafts are bound with iron cables between the carts. The front door panels stand up, and there are slots specially left by the craftsmen during the manufacturing process, where swords can be inserted and spears can be fixed on both sides.

Because it is a circular formation, there are gaps between the carts from time to time, and these gaps are tethered to the cattle pulling the carts. This trick was learned from Fu Yanqing. People would be afraid to run away when facing a cavalry charge, but cattle would not.

In this way, the periphery of the position became an iron wall, and even the most powerful cavalry could only bypass it, trying to attack the Zhou army behind the chariot formation with spears, bows and arrows from the gap.

But the rockets disrupted the tactics of the Liao army. The dead and wounded men and horses, and the large area of ​​frightened horses caused the Liao army to be in chaos. car array.

Shi Congyun was sitting behind the town. Looking from a distance, the long front of the Liao army in front was like rolling waves crashing into a solid rock on the shore. In an instant, the water splashed, torn apart, and broke into sections. The Zhou army's chariot formation was like a solid rock.

The horses and people collided with the car formation at high speed, making loud noises and screams instantly. If the car formation was not formed by hundreds of cars, it would probably be washed away.

All of a sudden, flesh and blood flew, and stumps flew around. Many Liao cavalry reined in their horses desperately and did not want to turn to the large number of swords and spears in front of the chariot formation. Sen Leng's sword and spear instantly turned many holes.

There were also many Liao army soldiers whose war horses wailed and crashed into the car formation. Due to inertia, the people were thrown from the horseback and fell into the Zhou army's position, where they were immediately chopped into pieces by random knives.

The military vehicles at the front of the large military vehicle formation were squeezed until they rattled, and the Liao army huddled together in front. The frontmost soldiers of the Liao army were squeezed onto the military vehicles, blood gushed out, and they couldn't die anymore. The spears on the left and right stabbed desperately across the troop, and the bows and crossbows from behind also shot randomly, wailing all over the field for a while.

Shi Congyun watched from a distance and paid close attention to the battle situation, and found that the third chariot in front of the chariot was squeezed by a large number of Liao troops. The wooden chariot shaft could not bear the force, and there was a cracking sound, and the chariot leaning on the ground collapsed. When it was disconnected, the chariot was pushed open by the Liao army with dead bodies, revealing a gap.

After the Liao army found out, they tried to squeeze into the gap. Shi Congyun was very worried from behind, but he soon found that his worry was unnecessary.

In the position, the Zhou army was dressed in full body armor, and the elite infantry armed to the teeth held axes and spears and quickly blocked them. The Liao army, which had lost the mobility advantage of horses, was not a well-equipped opponent of the Zhou army at all. A large number of Liao troops were in the gap They were hacked down and stabbed to death, unable to rush in. There were arrows from the Liao army outside. Dozens of elite Zhou soldiers at the gap were full of arrows, like hedgehogs, but they still danced their axes and spears without stopping. The Liao army who came in cut down their men and horses.

Soon after, a hill of corpses piled up at the gap, and the surrounding land was stained red with blood, completely blocking the road behind. The Liao army could only climb the corpse wall instead of riding a horse.

On the other hand, a large number of Liao army cavalry who avoided the front and rushed into the gap between the Zhou army's positions was even more uncomfortable.

They originally imagined that the scene of constantly attacking the Zhou army with spears from the gap and consuming the Zhou army with horsepower did not exist at all. The front was a wall of chariots that could not rush in, and in these open spaces, at least they could receive cross-shooting from two directions. In most places, there are Zhou Jun's bows and arrows on all sides, and there is no way to hide, no way to avoid.

The Liao army at the forefront has reached the periphery of the rear formation, dozens of steps away from Shi Congyunshuaiqi, and the guards are nervously protecting his surroundings with shields.

Everyone was nervous, but when Shi Congyun saw the Liao army rushing into battle, he was not as nervous as before, and even relaxed a little. What he was afraid of was that the Liao army would not fight him, but use traditional arts instead of fighting head-on, and use maneuvers The constant tug of sex consumes them.

Shi Congyun originally wanted to pretend to be aggressive, so he took off the bow on his back and shot several arrows, but unfortunately he was not Wang Shenqi, he had a lot of strength, and the strong bow easily made him pull into a full moon, but several arrows missed nothing. Embarrassed, I just stopped shooting.

Seeing the soldiers around him holding back their laughter, Shi Congyun became angry from embarrassment, "Laugh if you want to, I will beat you up, what the hell!"

Everyone couldn't help laughing anymore, diluting a lot of tension at once.

The commanders and envoys of the army in the large formation ahead were riding horses around the formation, shouting loudly to appease the crowd, and let the soldiers concentrate, don't be afraid, don't panic, don't be nervous, and shoot all the arrows at the Liao people.

Soon, Shi Cong Yunbu's greatest advantage of this formation began to play out.

The worst thing about bows and crossbows against cavalry is not the power issue, but the slow ballistic speed, especially the bow, the crossbow arrows are slightly stronger, but the speed of the arrows fired is far behind the bullets.

And even if the speed of the bullet exceeds the speed of sound, the runners above [-] meters will start to shoot ahead.

The high-speed moving horses and the slow flight of bows and arrows made the amount of advance required to fight even more outrageous.

A hundred paces away, the arrows shot by the bow usually take more than three seconds to fly, and are also greatly affected by the wind. Not to mention moving targets, even stationary targets are very difficult to hit, and it is easier to miss when dealing with fast-moving cavalry. The current formation of the army solves this problem very well.

This is how the British army dealt with the French cavalry in the Battle of Waterloo, using crossfire to deal with the high-speed cavalry.

The Liao army went deep into the eight circular formations to form a large gap area, and the Zhou army's bows and crossbows could cross fire from all directions. When all directions are locked, it is meaningless to run fast.

Zhou Jun's bow and crossbow firepower did not increase, the number of people did not increase, but the shooting angle increased, from a single angle to cross shooting, attacking the Liao army from all directions, so that the Liao army had nowhere to hide, and the mobility was reduced. Useless.

All of a sudden, the Liao army in the large formation found that they were surrounded by Zhou army's arrows in all directions, and people kept being hit by arrows and fell off their horses, with chaotic figures and screams.

Seen from a distance from the central army, black arrows were flying everywhere in the entire formation, buzzing like locusts.

The black arrows flew across from all directions, like a giant net woven by arrows, and it was meaningless for the cavalry of the Liao army to move and dodge inside.After a while, it was completely messed up in a panic.

If only one side is attacked by the enemy, they can easily find a countermeasure. The Liao army is very familiar with how to use the speed of the horse to throw off the arrow attack on the opposite side, but now the situation is completely different. They usually use the figure-of-eight running method that they are familiar with, stopping suddenly and turning around. , Sudden acceleration and other means are completely absent, Zhou Jun's arrows seem to have eyes, shooting them off the horse one after another.

Shi Congyun saw from a distance that some Liao soldiers ran to the periphery of the car formation in a panic, and the enraged old cow dismounted from his horse, and couldn't help laughing.

After the chaos, some Liao troops desperately wanted to run back, but the Liao troops rushed in ahead, and the two sides collided into a ball, forcing their horses to stop instead, becoming a live target in the center.

Some tried desperately to attack the surrounding chariots, trying to rush in, but they were blocked by spears tied on the outside, swords inserted in the card slots, and old cattle. , or become a living target again.

There are also some who don't use sabers and spears directly, and use short bows to shoot at Zhou Jun in the chariot formation. This part is smarter, flexible in brain, knows how to adapt to changes, achieved some results, and caused casualties to Zhou Jun, but still can't stand in all directions Crossbows of the Zhou Army.

The fighting became more and more intense, the two sides fought continuously, there were more and more corpses in the open space in the big formation, the sky was full of smoke and dust in the big formation, and the situation became more and more unclear.

The cavalry of the Liao army in the north did not know what was going on ahead, and they continued to charge into the Zhou army's formation. On the long formation more than two miles wide, the shouts of killing were like thunder, and the screams were endless, like boiling water.

From time to time, Shenhuo would shoot a rocket from the high ground in the Zhou army's formation to the place where there were many Liao soldiers.

The smell of blood in the wind is getting stronger and stronger, and the pungent sulfur smell is in the air, which can be smelled far away.

The Liao army was disturbed by Shenhuo at the beginning, and was at a disadvantage. After rushing into the big formation, it was attacked everywhere, and the more they fought, the more they fell.

After fighting for half an hour, Shi Congyun noticed that the outer chariots on the left flank of the chariot formation in front of them were pushed away by the Liao army at the cost of many lives.

On the other hand, the width of the front of the two chariot formations in the middle was more than ten steps, and the corpses covered the military chariots more than one meter high, forming a high wall. The Liao soldiers directly dismounted and crawled into the formation to fight with the Zhou army. Everyone's eyes are red.

Shi Congyun paid attention to the situation on the battlefield at all times, and judged in his mind when to join the reserve team. As time went by, Zhou Jun's shouts of killing became louder and louder, and his morale increased.

Because in general, the Liao army is at a disadvantage in all the eight huge positions. Even though the Liao army rushed into the formation against the corpse wall on the left wing and the front two positions to fight against the Zhou army, the Liao army voluntarily gave up the mobility of the horses. , Fighting hand-to-hand with the well-equipped and experienced soldiers of the Crane Control Army, the Liao soldiers are equivalent to giving up their strengths and using their weaknesses to meet the strengths of the Zhou army.

The battle lasted for more than an hour, and more and more Liao soldiers were gradually unable to hold on, and no new reinforcements from the north rushed into the Zhou army's position. Some Liao soldiers couldn't hold on, and began to try to retreat north.

However, he was intercepted by the Zhou army's bows and crossbows along the way. Shi Congyun immediately ordered the elites of the four well-preserved four formations in the rear to take the initiative to attack, support the four positions in front, and strangle the Liao army in the positions.

After that, the four formations at the rear pushed away two military vehicles from the side, and each formation boldly released hundreds of elite infantry in full armor, lined up, armed with spears and axes, and began to squeeze and strangle the fallen Liao army in the formation. .

There is a lesson in the army to shoot people first and shoot horses first. Horses are good at hitting targets, but they are easy to be shocked when they are injured, and they will throw people off their horses.

Facing the Zhou army's full-armored infantry with iron armor on their faces and only two black eyes leaking out, the fallen Liao army cavalry was desperate. Their short bows could not penetrate the Zhou army's iron armor at all, and their spears and sabers With little effect, Zhou Jun kept his front line all the way, just cut through the gaps between the positions.

Rivers of blood flowed in the formation, and after a long period of fierce fighting, the situation was no longer unfavorable for the Liao army, but the beginning of defeat.

Shi Congyun looked at the overall battle situation. Through the smoke and sand, he looked at the position of the Liao army camp in the north. He could only see that their banners seemed to be a little less, and there was no sign of moving south.

He judged immediately that the time was right.

"Order, the last four formations will be transformed into square formations, and move forward!"

"Order, send out the left and right cavalry!"

"Shi Yanchao's department went northward from the west road to attack the Liao army's northern formation as planned, and Shao Ji's department went out to the east of the large formation to cut off the Liao army's retreat." Shi Congyun said loudly.

The messengers on the high platform behind got the order, and immediately played the corresponding square flag and waved it vigorously.

(End of this chapter)