Confucianism in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 27 Meng Ao's Decision

In the Yan family in the northwest of Anyi, the sound of killing shook the sky.

General Meng Ao of the Qin State was wearing armor, standing on top of a canopy military chariot with a serious face, watching the battlefield in front of him.

Around the chariot, a full 820 two personal guards stood in an array holding halberds, arching on his left and right.

In front of it was a surging crowd of tens of thousands of Qin soldiers, and 46 black phalanxes were neatly arranged on the east bank of the Yanhe River.

On the west bank of the Yanhe River, the Allied Forces of the Four Nations, commanded by Zhao Guolian, stood in full formation, forming a confrontation with the Qin Army.

The Qin army came out, perhaps because Heluo's Wang Ji army was defeated by Xinling Lord Wei Wuji and needed to rush to help Heluo.

The coalition forces came out to contain the Qin army and prevent the Qin army from crossing south and returning to the division.

Under Meng Ao's watchful eyes, one after another Qin army phalanxes were forcibly crossing the Salt River, preparing to launch an attack on the coalition forces on the opposite bank.

The moment the first phalanx had just crossed the river, Meng Ao calmly issued an order: "Get on the ballista."

Behind the Qin formation, hundreds of Qin State Thousand Stone Heavy Crossbows that had already been prepared were pushed to the front of the formation and moved slowly.

After the ballista was in place, Meng Ao drew his sword and pointed at the coalition forces in the distance: "Fire the arrow."

As these words fell, the heavy crossbow that had been parked in the crossbow box suddenly shot out, and the heavy giant arrows came with a roar, flew over a distance of tens of feet, and nailed them fiercely in the enemy's formation, causing a scene of chaos immediately. Flesh flew everywhere.

The power of these giant crossbows was astonishing, even the soldiers of Zhao Jun who had experienced the baptism of war could not help trembling slightly.

Although there was a moment of confusion in the coalition formation at the front, order was quickly restored.

After all, the thousand-stone heavy crossbow is a great weapon for siege, and it is somewhat overkill to use it to bombard the coalition positions on the other side.

But there was no relaxed expression on Meng Ao's face, because Qin Army's crossbows were not the only ones raging on the battlefield at this moment.

Wei Guo's Scorpion Crossbow also shot a heavy arrow at this time, and with the strength of Wanjun, it directly penetrated the front row of Qin Guo's pawns.

Countless Qin soldiers who were crossing the river were caught off guard by heavy arrows and fell to the ground, wailing everywhere.

The ballistas of the coalition forces were also extremely powerful, and the infantry of the Qin army suffered heavy casualties, but they continued to advance unswervingly.

Looking at the dead Pao Ze in front of him, Meng Ao's eyes were cold and unwavering, this level of death and injury was nothing to him.

A bright red and eye-catching blood color began to appear on the water of the Yanhe River. Many soldiers of the Qin Army fell into the river water, sank slowly, and never floated up again.

After paying the price of the lives of nearly a thousand infantry, finally a Qin army stepped across the river of death and landed on the other side.

The phalanx of the Qin Army consisted of 3000 people and was led by a school lieutenant.

After the Qin army landed, they did not rush to charge. Instead, they set up a formation and waited for the arrival of follow-up troops to form a new formation.

"General, do you want to send cavalry to attack first?" Lian Po, the deputy general in the coalition position, asked.

"No hurry, wait a little longer, it's not time to attack yet." Lian Po refused.

The Qin Army's phalanx continued to advance despite the heavy crossbow pressure of the coalition forces, and landed on the opposite bank one after another, each reorganizing according to its own position.

Seeing this, Meng Ao decisively issued an order, "Qingqi is outgoing, Qingche is the head, the vanguard is introverted, and the crossbowmen are in the middle."

Under Meng Ao's dispatch, the Qin army on the two wings changed formation one after another, with light cavalry guarding the two wings, and forward infantry guarding around the chariot, forming a small formation.

Each of these sixty chariots was followed by ten soldiers, and there were 25 foot soldiers behind the soldiers. The coalition forces pressed forward.

When the charging phalanx rushed towards the coalition position, the entire large formation spread out like wild geese, with 36 columns on the left and right, a total of [-] columns, with [-] soldiers in each column, a total of [-] and [-] Qin army crossbowmen. Under the orders of the two five hundred masters, they drew their bows and opened their crossbows at the same time, aiming at the coalition positions.

After a round of salvo, dense crossbow arrows poured out like a torrential rain, and there was a trace of chaos in the coalition's front.

The shieldmen of the coalition army immediately raised their shields to block the soldiers in the front row. Many shieldmen were directly shot in the neck by the arrow feathers, and fell to the ground bleeding violently.

When the three rounds of salvo were over, the Qin army's chariot in front was less than [-] steps away from the front line of the coalition forces.

Suddenly, the horses pulling the cart neighed, and then the chariot stopped suddenly, and the pack horse suddenly disappeared, it turned out to be submerged in the pit.

After losing the balance of the pack horse, the Qin army's chariot tilted, its center of gravity suddenly became unstable, and it rolled over to the ground amidst the rumbling sound. It was like rain falling on the ground, splashing a large amount of dust.

The Qin army's formation was in a mess, and the charge stopped immediately.

"Shoot the arrows!" Lian Po ordered, and immediately countless arrows flew over the coalition positions like locusts, and countless soldiers of the Qin army were knocked to the ground by the arrows.

"Order the Yan army, order Ju Xin to lead the Yan army to meet the landing Qin army." Lian Po ordered loudly.

I saw that the front of the coalition forces separated to the two wings, giving way to a wide passage.

The Yan army's chariot rushed out from the front, and under the cover of Qingqi, it rammed into the Qin army from both wings.

The infantry in the rear followed the Korean chariot and moved forward.

The chariot of the Yan army has only one soldier driving the chariot, and there are no soldiers and guards. The driver is fully equipped with protective gear, only two eyes are exposed outside.

This kind of chariot changed the structure of the previous chariot of Yan State and replaced it with a more practical chariot.The wheels of this chariot are very strong and can withstand bumps, and at the same time, because of the long axle, the wide chassis is also stronger.

The two cubit-long sickles on the wheels on both sides of the chariot rotated rapidly with the rotation of the wheels, like a sickle of death, sweeping bloody paths in the Qin army's position.

The infantry of the Yan army lined up in front and stopped in front of the Qin army's formation. After the chariots circled out from the two wings, they immediately rushed forward while the Qin army's formation was in chaos.

The spearman in the front row stabbed out with a spear, and went straight to the Qin army's infantry on the opposite side.

On the other side, the Han army, which is famous for its powerful crossbows, has come to the left bank of Hexi from the other side to build a crossbow formation, and shot dense arrows at the Qin army's infantry on the opposite bank, preventing the Qin army's follow-up troops from crossing the river.

Lian Po's intention is obvious, that is, to eat the Qin army who landed.

.........

This bloody battle lasted until dusk, before the two sides retreated and retreated to the camp for repairs.

In the Qin army's camp, three people stood in front of Meng Ao, with black hair and crowns, and dark golden robes with embroidered silver embroidered seven lotus patterns on the collar and cuffs.

Three of the five commanders of the Black Ice Terrace have gathered in this military tent.

Meng Ao's face was gloomy as if it could drip water.

Wei Jun not only cut off the grain road, burned the Pingyang warehouse, and defeated Wang Yu, but now he appeared in Xiayang.

Meng Ao, who was supposed to remain unchanged and respond to all changes, was completely passive at this time. If he did not act again, and waited for Lord Xinling to complete the siege, then the Qin army would be completely desperate.

The only good news is that Wei Jun's numbers are not dominant.

His fierce attack today was just a feint to build momentum.

"Xu Yi, Meng Wu, the camp of our army will be guarded by the two of you. Don't show any flaws. You must hold off the main force of the coalition army for at least seven days. If possible, I hope you can hold on to the camp and hold the coalition army until I break it. The Wei army in Xiayang." Meng Ao looked at the two generals on the left and said solemnly.

Chu Yi and Meng Wu immediately knelt down and accepted the order: "No!"

"Commander Baili, I need your people from the Black Ice Terrace to seal off the camp, so that the spies of the coalition army can't spy on our army." Meng Ao set his eyes on the oldest of the three.

This person's surname is Baili, and his name is Xuanshang. He is a descendant of Bailixi, and he was trained in Tiejianmen, the number one sword school in Qin.

"My Black Ice Terrace will fulfill my mission!" Baili Xuanshang agreed with his hand.

"Kong Yu, order the whole army to get ready, and the whole army will be ready at a quarter o'clock tomorrow." Meng Ao said firmly.

On the second day, when the sky was slightly brighter, the Qin army began to gather.

Meng Ao stood under the commander-in-chief's flag in military uniform, while the Qin Army's battle flag was still flying, and the Qin Army's front was filled with awe-inspiring spirit.

Zhao Tang, the leader of the personal guard beside Meng Ao, reported to Meng Ao: "General, our army is ready."

"Let's go!" Meng Ao issued a brief order.

This battle is about his own life and death, this time, he must win.

Prior to this, he had withdrawn the elite of the entire army in batches, and asked the civilians accompanying the army and the remaining troops to build several false camps to confuse the coalition forces.

(End of this chapter)