Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 680: Attack from both sides
Huo Fan was very sharp in judging the battlefield situation. He could predict that after the Wei army looted the grain team, they would definitely plunder the spoils and return north. Moreover, the Wei army was carrying supplies and retreating, so their marching speed was not fast.

At the same time, if this group of Wei troops were allowed to return safely, regardless of whether returning victorious would boost morale, it would certainly increase the strength of the Wei troops defending Chengyang. If they were caught up and defeated now, it would not only weaken the strength of the Wei army, but also undermine its morale.

Not only that, Huo Fan was even more far-sighted. He knew very well that once the Wei army that robbed food was defeated, the Wei army in Chengyang would turn their attention to the south. By then, the city walls would be empty, and he would be able to capture it by dividing his troops.

If this battle goes smoothly, the passage to Qi will be opened quickly. After analyzing the pros and cons, Huo Fan ignored the possible gap in strength and immediately led 2,000 cavalrymen to pursue Dai Ling.

In order to intercept Dai Ling in advance, Huo Fan led his troops to climb the Wulian Mountain Trail and arrived at Haiqu before the Wei army arrived. After arriving at Haiqu, Huo Fan did not stay in Haiqu City, but hid in the mountains and ravines to avoid being exposed.

However, in order to survey the area for deployment of troops, after Huo Fan arrived in Haiqu, he and Tang Zi climbed the mountain to choose a battle site.

Haiqu, later known as Rizhao, is a place with mountains, hills, plains and rivers interspersed. Therefore, if you want to fight here, you need the commander to have the ability to arrange the battlefield accordingly.

Huo Fan climbed up to a high place and looked out. He could see several unknown rivers crisscrossing between the low hills and the gentle plains and flowing into the sea.

"The scouts are heading south now. If Dai Ling's troops reach Haiqu, our army will know about it."

Huo Fan pointed at the mountains and rivers and asked, "We have 2,000 cavalrymen, while Dai Ling's troops are equipped with both cavalry and infantry. If the two armies line up to fight, it will be very disadvantageous to our army. There is a big river south of Haiqu now, and we want to attack them halfway across. What do you think, Bo Wen?"

Tang Zi looked at the river that Huo Fan mentioned and said, "This is the Haiqu River (Futong River). The water is wide and the river is fast. If Dai Ling wants to cross it, he will probably look for a bridge to cross it."

Tang Zi pointed to the river section hidden by a low hill and said, "This hill is Ma Ling. There is a stone bridge in front of Ma Ling. If you don't take a boat, you can cross the river here. Our army should hide in the shadow of Ma Ling and attack when the Wei army is halfway across the river."

During the Han Dynasty, Haiqu had a salt field. During the peaceful and prosperous times, there were many merchants and common people, so a stone bridge was built over the water of Haiqu for passage. Now, Huo Fan's "attack the enemy halfway across the river" probably meant to attack the enemy halfway across the stone bridge.

"good!"

Huo Fan was very satisfied and said, "You can order the soldiers to move to Ma Ling to rest and let me check the terrain again!"

"promise!"

Huo Fan was deeply influenced by Huo Jun in his military tactics, and he was very rigorous in his investigation of battlefield terrain. It should be noted that the prerequisite for an excellent commander, in addition to outstanding military talent, is to be diligent in doing things, such as managing the army and enforcing military discipline, or exploring the battlefield.

When Huo Fan and Tang Zi were surveying the terrain, the Wei army led by Dai Ling was slower than the Han army due to problems with money, food and supplies.

However, Dai Ling was worried about being chased by the Han army, so he still tried his best to hurry on. At about 3 p.m., he suddenly appeared ten miles south of Haiqu River. Upon hearing the news, Huo Fan urgently assembled the Han cavalry to prepare for Dai Ling's troops who were about to cross the river.

In order to observe the movements of the Wei army, Huo Fan led his men to climb Maling and look at the Wei army on the south bank.

Huo Fan saw the dark mass of Wei troops approaching the stone bridge. Five thousand infantry and cavalry may seem small, but if they were deployed on land, they would give people a sense of deterrence.

"The enemy should have five to six thousand men!"

Tang Zi looked at the number of people and said worriedly: "Their numbers far outnumber ours. And judging by their movements, they have more cavalry and fewer infantry. It will be difficult for our army to win!"

Huo Fan narrowed his eyes and looked over, suppressing his excitement, and said: "Don't panic. Although the enemy has a large number of troops, they don't know our whereabouts. Moreover, there are more cavalry than infantry. If we attack them halfway across the river, they will scatter and flee once they are defeated."

"If we defeat Dai Ling now, we may be able to lure Sun Li out of the city."

Before the war began, Huo Fan had already begun thinking about plans to capture the cities.

"Get off the mountain!"

Seeing Dai Ling leading 5,000 infantry and cavalry on a long march, preparing to cross the stone bridge and head straight for Haiqu City on the north bank of the river, Huo Fan led his troops down the mountain and joined his soldiers.

After a while, when Dai Ling's troops were about to reach the stone bridge, they suddenly stopped, perhaps discovering something, and sent out scouts to investigate the situation on the other side of the river.

In the Ma Ling forest, which the Wei army had not noticed, several clever scouts were hiding in the forest, observing the movements of the Wei army. Seeing this, they quickly sent someone to tell Huo Fan.

At this moment, Huo Fan was sitting in an open space, discussing with everyone the use of military force after the war. Tang Zi was sitting in the deputy seat, and seeing that there had been no news of the Wei army crossing the river for a long time, he could not help but become impatient.

After a while, the scouts came in quickly and reported the news that the Wei army was stagnant. Tang Zi stood up nervously and asked, "Did the Wei army discover our ambush?"

Huo Fan was neither impatient nor anxious, and said: "Anyone who leads an army across a river must observe the situation on the river bank. What Dai Ling did now is not surprising, so we should wait patiently."

It was a normal practice for generals to guard against attacks halfway across the river during a march. Huo Fan deployed his troops in a secluded place to the north of Maling to prevent Dai Ling from sending people to search the south of Maling.

After an unknown amount of time, scouts came to report: "The enemy is about to cross the river!"...

"Enemy cavalry first!"

……

"Enemy infantry is about to cross the river!"

Upon hearing this, Huo Fan jumped on his horse, and together with Tang Zi, they led a thousand cavalrymen, went around from the left and right of Maling, and approached the Wei soldiers who were crossing the river.

As the journey was long, Huo Fan first led the cavalry on horseback and advanced slowly. The sound of four thousand hooves could be heard clearly. The cavalry in the front row held their spears high, and the thousands of cavalry were deployed in three rows. From a distance, it looked like a long moving forest.

On both sides of the Haiqu River, the Wei army's infantry and cavalry had no idea that there would be an ambush. The Wei army's infantry and cavalry that had crossed the river did not form a battle array but formed five rows, advancing towards Haiqu City in the northeast direction.

The Wei army's infantry and cavalry who had not yet crossed the river formed neat rows at the urging of their officers and waited in line at the bridgehead on the south bank to cross the river. The flag symbolizing Dai Mausoleum was also on the south bank.

Many Wei cavalry on the north and south banks dismounted from their horses after a day's trek, and advanced on their horses, unaware of the Han army's ambush.

When the Wei army saw the Han cavalry deploying in a horizontal formation from the left and right sides of Maling, they realized that they had been ambushed by the Han army, and immediately fell into tension and panic.

The Wei army officers who were the first to react rode their horses frantically, shouting at the Wei cavalry to line up and prepare for battle, and ordered the infantry to quickly line up with spears. However, how could it be so easy for the Wei army to line up while crossing the river?
Dai Ling was left on the south bank, so his drum system was naturally not on the north bank. In addition, during the crossing of the river, many tribes, troop formations, and garrison systems were broken up, which meant that it was difficult for the Wei army to line up to meet the enemy in a short period of time. Not to mention that some soldiers did not know what to do, even if there was a horn warning of an enemy attack.

Dai Ling stationed his horse in Henan, looking at the Han cavalry's ever-changing speed. His expression showed shock at the Han cavalry's ambush, anxiety about not being able to cross the river, and even more panic about the enemy's attack.

The Wei army was preparing for battle in a hurry, but Huo Fan and Tang Zi would not give the Wei army time. After the horns were blown one after another, the thousand cavalry were deployed in three teams. The front and middle teams each had 300 people, and the rear team had 400 Han cavalry.

The first row of cavalry charged. Their mission was to defeat the chaotic Wei cavalry, and then withdraw from the left and right to make room for the second row of cavalry to charge.

The second row of cavalry broke into the battle formation. They rushed in through the gap of the first row of cavalry, killed the Wei army that was originally in the marching formation, and then withdrew to the left and right to reorganize the formation.

The third column of cavalry was led by Huo Fan himself. With the continuous attacks of the two columns of cavalry, the third column would be able to completely disrupt the Wei army's organization and plunge them into chaos.

After the third row of cavalry charged, the first and second rows of cavalry reorganized themselves and looked for weak points to attack, completely defeating the Wei army on the north bank.

Although the Southern Han Dynasty was not known for its cavalry in its early days, with the passage of time, the cavalry tactics of the Han army had long been in line with the times, and the level of its cavalry was not inferior to that of Cao Wei.

The first row of Han cavalry were the bravest in the army. They were like wolves and tigers, charging fiercely into the Wei formation.

The Wei army reacted slightly, and dozens of arrows flew through the air. However, the arrows were sparse and inaccurate, and could not hurt the cavalry at all.

After the Wei army launched a counterattack with arrows, the powerful Han cavalry rushed into the Wei army like a tidal wave. The Wei army, which lacked a formation, saw the Han cavalry and fled with their belongings before the cavalry entered the battle.

Several brave and strategic Wei cavalrymen tried to fight back, but the Han cavalrymen did not fight for a long time. Instead, they retreated from the inside to the outside, killing the Wei soldiers who blocked their way along the way, and quickly turned back. Before the Wei cavalrymen could react, they were greeted by the second line of Han cavalrymen.

The second row of Han cavalry was not as brave as the first row, but with the charge of the first row, they rushed straight in, killed those Wei cavalry who tried to resist, and then hacked to death those Wei soldiers who had fled before.

Unexpectedly, without the need for three rows of Han cavalry to send out, the charge of the second row of Han cavalry was able to penetrate the Wei army's ranks with a crushing force, and then turned left and right, completely destroying the Wei army's ranks.

Huo Fan, who was in charge of the third row of cavalry, was overjoyed and immediately changed his plan. He held a long spear and shouted, "Chase the enemy!"

Because many Han cavalry saw that the Wei army had already been defeated, when Huo Fan led the charge, everyone seemed to be fearless and no one in the cavalry team fell behind. They charged with even more ferocious momentum than the first row of cavalry, which made the Wei army even more frightened.

"Wan Sheng!"

Tang Zi and Huo Fan led 800 cavalrymen to charge, shouting and killing, their momentum was terrifying!

Many Wei soldiers on the south bank were watching the battle from across the river. They saw the three columns of Han cavalry charging, each one more powerful than the last, and their faces turned pale, not to mention the Wei soldiers on the north bank who experienced the charge firsthand.

As the first and second rows of cavalrymen returned to the battlefield, circling back, shooting arrows and stabbing with spears, more than 2,000 Wei soldiers on the north bank collapsed on the spot and fled in all directions without any organization. Those with four legs fled in panic, and those with two legs knelt and surrendered.

Seeing that the situation on the north bank had become one-sided, Dai Ling recovered from his initial confusion and personally led the Wei army on the south bank to set up camp, determined to take the opportunity to cross the river at night.

Seeing this, Huo Fan ordered Tang Zi to chase and kill the defeated Wei soldiers, while he led a thousand cavalry to station at Maling to prevent the Wei army from suddenly crossing the river!
(End of this chapter)