Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 428 Thunderbolt Formation
War is always full of variables.

For example, the Southern Han army, who had been unable to hold out for a long time and dared not leave the camp despite the Qin army's scolding and challenge for more than a month, suddenly began to go out of the camp to occupy the water and form an array, ready to counterattack.

This matter was so unexpected that Pan Mei had no time to transfer the Jiannan Army from the rear to the front.

He originally planned to let the Jiannan army from Shu land play the vanguard this time, but he didn't expect that the Southern Han army would suddenly take the initiative to fight.

It was too late to adjust the deployment.

There are tens of thousands of troops, and the camps stretch for more than ten miles. It takes half a day to rush from the last camp to the front army, and it cannot be changed with a slap on the head.

Originally, Pan Mei's plan was to fight a tough battle, but now that the Southern Han army took the initiative to attack, he naturally couldn't let go of the opportunity.

However, the opponent's formation is also very strange. Looking down from the Shuangnvfeng, the opposite camp is set up along the river to the north. It looks like there are only 4000 to [-] people, and the riverside is obviously wide enough to spread out more troops.

A tentative attack, or an ambush behind?
Want to lure the enemy deep?

Pan Mei couldn't guess for a while, and it was difficult to make a decision, but the opportunity was rare, so he had to make plans early.

Looking down from the Shuangnvfeng, I can't see any flaws, and the possibility of subsequent ambush should not be great, but this kind of formation is too weird. They have 6 to 4000 people, but they have [-] people when they go out to fight. The formation is confusing.

But the opportunity is not lost, there is not much time to wait.

Pan Mei immediately made a decision in her mind, and immediately ordered: "Send the elite of the Shenhuo Army and the Crane Army to go up and fight them directly."

"Marshal, how many troops do you need?" the clerk asked.

"The [-]th Battalion and the [-]th Battalion will go to battle, and the [-]th Battalion will be used as a reserve team. Transport all the rafts that have been prepared before." Pan Mei solemnly ordered: "Also transfer the Ninth Army and Tenth Army of the Cavalry Army to the northern flank. If the frontal battle is unfavorable, let them reinforce from the downstream shoal as I said before."

Pan Mei threw out several orders one after another, and he naturally had a backup, that is, the elite Shenhuo Army and the Crane Control Army.

The Crane Control Army is mainly infantry, and it has been fighting with the officials for more than ten years. It is the most elite infantry unit in Qin State today, while the Shenhuo Army uses powerful artillery, which is the key to victory or defeat on the battlefield.

Most importantly, since the attack on the Northern Han Dynasty a few years ago, a new tactic has been proposed by the officials themselves, and then widely promoted in the army.

This kind of tactic is called "bayonet on cannon". Everyone thinks it is too vulgar, so it is called "thunderbolt formation" in the army.

The principle is very simple. It is different from the solid bullets used by ship cannons. It directly pushes the cannons to the front of the formation, loads a large amount of gravel and iron beads, and launches them in a concentrated manner, causing a large amount of damage to the enemy's front formation in an instant, making a gap, and then the follow-up elites Soldiers of the Crane Control Army will wear heavy armor and penetrate through the gap opened by the cannon, killing the enemy by surprise and dividing them at the same time.

This move has been tried and tested repeatedly in the northern battlefield.

First, the power of the cannon is too great, and the large amount of gravel and iron beads fired can make the armor of the opponent's frontline heavy infantry look like paper;

Secondly, the war horses of the Qin army have undergone long-term special training.

It is also a procedure set by the officials. The officials call it "desensitization training", but they don't really understand what it means.

But the process is to let the cavalry take turns to take their horses to the Shenhuo Army training camp to feel the sound of the guns at close range.

At the beginning, the horses will instinctively be frightened by the huge fire and noise, but as long as the owner is around to comfort them in time, after several repetitions, the war horse will no longer be afraid of the fire and sound of the cannon, and go through life and death together with the owner.

Horses from other countries have not undergone such training. When facing a cannon for the first time, most of the horses will be frightened by the terrifying loud noise and flames, which will greatly affect the battle situation.

This is due to the power of the cannon.

Another point is that their tactics have a tendency to crush the old tactics forward.

Generally speaking, when setting up the formation, the heavily armored troops will be placed in front to defend against long-range weapons. The reason for such operations is that it is really difficult for weapons such as bows and crossbows to cause too much damage to the heavily armored troops.

The heavy-armed troops can use this to buy time and shorten the distance for other cavalry, long-range troops, and light-armed troops. Other soldiers can cooperate in any way, but the formation in front must not be chaotic.

However, the appearance of cannons suddenly broke this situation. Facing the cannons with densely equipped troops, several wars in Hedong have proved that the consequences will be extremely tragic
This has also become an important reason why the Qin army has been invincible across the north in the past few years.

It was also because of this that Pan Mei would directly send the most elite partners, the Shenhuo Army and the Crane Army Army, so that even if the Southern Han Army cheated him, he would not be afraid.

At the same time, he also carefully arranged the reserve team and flank protection troops.

A quarter of an hour later, a large number of troops assembled in the distance by the river, formed formations, and then began to advance towards the direction of the Southern Han Army. Climbing the small hill, so that the position of the reinforcements is not exposed to the enemy's field of vision.

Qin Jun also talked about martial arts and laid out a large formation of more than 3000 people. After the formation was completed, he began to advance to the south of the river.

The cannons of the Shenhuo Army also approached slowly under the cover of many infantrymen of the Crane Control Army holding large shields.

The two armies were separated by a small river more than ten steps wide. The Qin army had already prepared the means of crossing the river, which was a bamboo raft that could be directly placed on the river. Move in the formation, and build a pontoon bridge only when the time is right.It is not difficult to build a pontoon bridge on a river that is more than ten steps wide.

The two sides were getting closer and closer, and the Southern Han army was on the opposite bank. When the Qin army approached the river, they immediately began to fire their bows and crossbows, and the Qin army's crossbowmen also responded.

The black arrows roared like locusts and shuttled across the narrow river, and the battle began instantly.

Both sides arranged soldiers holding large shields to defend against the arrows in various places in the formation, and the elites in heavy armor were in front of them, so the arrows of both sides came and went, causing certain casualties to the other side, but they could not play a role. Decisive, the formation is still intact.

Slowly, the front of the Qin army advanced to the river, and the two sides were separated by a river. At a close distance of dozens of steps, arrows, spears, and even small stones that could be thrown were all thrown into the opponent's formation.

All of a sudden, the water in the river splashed all over the place, and countless fish were killed. It looked like a layer of black and brown new grass grew on the bank. It was the arrows that had missed, and the battle was very fierce.

Two quarters of an hour later, the formations of the two sides were still tight, because across the river and dozens of steps apart, they couldn't do anything to each other. The bows and crossbows were not enough to break through the tight shields and heavy armor, and the battle seemed to be at a stalemate.

At this time, the Southern Han army on the opposite side must have known that the Qin army wanted to try to cross the river, and they were guarding the riverside to find a way to prevent the Qin army from crossing the river. There were already many warriors holding big axes and wearing heavy armor waiting behind the shield. Qin Jun built the pontoon bridge, and immediately rushed up to prepare to cut it off with arrows.

But they waited and waited, and they had been shooting each other across the river for a few quarters of an hour. The arrows cost nearly half, but the Qin army had no intention of building a pontoon bridge at all, and still stuck to the riverside
Suddenly the situation was a little awkward, and both sides fell into a situation where they couldn't do anything to each other.

(End of this chapter)