Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 103 Rush to the battlefield
  Huan Xi has never been a rigid person. In the battle with Shi Bao, he adopted a formation that combined cavalry, infantry, and chariots. This was what he said was a way to consolidate defense, not a way to win.

It was because he only had a thousand cavalry under his command at that time. Facing Hou Zhao Buqi, he could only start with defense.

Then Zhao generals and their families fell into his hands, and the morale of the army was weakened. Huan Xi only had to ensure the defense. The other party would lose hope of victory and would collapse.

But now the situation is different. Huan Xi went north with 20,000 infantry cavalry, 5,000 fine cavalry under his command, and 10,000 Xiongnu bow cavalry at his disposal.

If the Huns' horse archers are arranged in a formation, their mobility will undoubtedly be restricted.

Without the advantage of flexibility, the archer's range is not as good as that of the infantry archer, which is equivalent to breaking an arm.

And placing the archers alone outside the formation, allowing them to roam and harass without the protection of the lances, once the opponent's cavalry gets close, the archers will be defeated.

After all, the essence of mounted archery is non-contact combat without armor defense.

Since ancient times, the battle between the Central Plains cavalry and the nomadic cavalry has always been a close-quarters fight, risking the opponent's arrows.

In a pure competition on horseback and archery, except for those with extraordinary talents, no matter how hard the Central Plains cavalry trains, they may not be able to compete with the nomads who have been on horseback since childhood.

Huan Xi decided to take the initiative to attack in the battle, and was about to send an envoy to Woye County to agree on the date and location of the battle with Fu Xiong. Unexpectedly, Fu Xiong's envoy came first.

In fact, Fu Xiong was more urgent about the battle. After all, on Huan Xi's side, it was Liu Wuhuan and his brothers who were under pressure.

And Fu Xiong really felt that as time went by, his side's high morale was gradually declining, and Huan Xi took preliminary control of the Huns' archers in just one day. If it continued, Fu Xiong had no doubts. Can he completely conquer the Huns' archers?

The envoy was still Wang Yuan. Although he made a fool of himself in public last time, the purpose of coming this time was just to agree on the time and place of the battle, not to let him argue with everyone in the Jin camp. Fu Xiong felt that Wang Yuan was familiar with the way, so he agreed He makes another trip.

Huan Xi didn't like or hate Wang Yuan at all. He listened to Wang Yuan's explanation of his purpose and said calmly:
  "Since Fu Xiong is eager to fight, let him cross the river and I will wait for him in formation under Langshan."

Of course Wang Yuan did not want the battlefield to be located north of the Yellow River, close to the Jin army's camp. Otherwise, Huan Xi could retreat to the camp at any time if the situation on the battlefield was unfavorable.

"Is it unfair to have a decisive battle under Wolf Mountain?"

Huan Xi heard this and sneered:
  "There is no fairness in the confrontation between two armies.

"You go back and tell Fu Xiong that if you agree, I will lead my army out into battle tomorrow afternoon and fight him in a majestic formation.

"If you don't want to accept it, don't ask for a fight again, and continue the stalemate until one side runs out of food and withdraws."

Huan Xi's alliance with the Xiongnu was equivalent to fighting on his home field. With the livestock provided by the Tiefu Xiongnu, he naturally did not have to worry about food and grass.

After that, Huan Xi ordered people to see off the guests.

Wang Yuan crossed the river and returned to the camp, where he informed Fu Xiong of Huan Xi's conditions.

Fu Xiong hadn't spoken yet, but Fu Chang couldn't hold himself back anymore:
  "It's really deceiving!"

Huan Xi not only chose a decisive battle near Langshan, but also set the time for the afternoon.

By then the sun would appear in the west, and Langshan was located on the northwest side of the Houtao Plain, so the Shanxi-Hungarian coalition forces would naturally go into battle with their backs to the sun.

Obviously, Huan Xi wanted to take advantage of both the time and location of the battle.

Just when Fu Chang was indignant, Fu Xiong said:

"Wang Yuan, please make another trip and tell Huan Xi that I have agreed. I will fight with him near Langshan Mountain tomorrow afternoon."

Fu Chang was shocked:

"Uncle! Why did you agree to him!"

Fu Xiong was not in a hurry to answer. He just asked Wang Yuan to leave first before telling Fu Chang his worries:
  "Chan'er, we can't afford to delay. Not to mention whether Huan Xi will completely tame the Huns during the stalemate, we still have to pay attention to Tuoba Xianbei's reaction.

"Changes will happen later. Once Tuoba Shiyiqian really makes up his mind to put aside domestic conflicts and send troops to Loop, we will be attacked from both sides and will be completely destroyed.

"The promise given to Huan Xi today gives him some advantages, but it is not enough to affect the overall situation.

"Even if he retreats to the camp when he sees that the situation is bad, the Huns nobles will turn against him when they see his failure. Without the support of the Huns, Huan Xi's retreat to the camp is equivalent to death."

After listening to his uncle's analysis, Fu Chang finally stopped objecting.

As for Wang Yuan, when he came to the Jin army camp again, it was already dusk. He was jolted so many times on horseback that his old bones were almost broken.

When Huan Xi heard that Fu Xiong had agreed to his conditions, he also agreed to go out to fight tomorrow afternoon. Wang Yuan had no choice but to hurry back to the south bank of the Yellow River.

That night, Huan Xi called Liu Kuantou to his commander's tent and told him face to face how the Huns' archers should behave on the battlefield tomorrow.

The next day, early in the morning, at dawn, the three camps at the foot of Wolf Mountain were all making fires and cooking. Outside the gate of the bow cavalry camp, the ferocious head was still hanging on top, and carts of long bows were transported from the Jin army camp.

The Xiongnu archers and horsemen looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what they meant. It was because Liu Yan had heard the news and came forward to clear up everyone's doubts:

"In today's battle, all the archers and cavalrymen are carrying double bows, one is a riding bow and the other is an infantry bow."

Everyone was in an uproar. The draw force of the walking bow was much greater than that of the riding bow. Many of them were riding on horseback and could not fire such a heavy bow. I really didn't know why they were asked to bring the walking bow.

However, Liu Yantou calmed down the discussion with just one sentence:
  "This is Duke Huan's military order."

After experiencing what happened before, the Xiongnu archers all understood a simple truth: no matter how outrageous Huan Xi's orders were, just follow them.

Huan Xi went north this time and brought 30,000 bows with him, most of which were kept as spares.

Because he didn't know in advance how many battles he would experience with Fu Xiong on the Hetao Plain, he had to keep enough spare weapons.

Otherwise, if the infantrymen cut off their swords and the archers broke their bows, they would have to go up and bite people with their bare hands.

This kind of battle without weapons reserves only exists in novels.

After breakfast, Liu Kuantou followed Huan Xi's instructions and made the Xiongnu bows and cavalry adapt to the tension of the Jin army's foot bows.

The infantry bows sent by Huan Xi were all weighing one stone and two buckets, which were two buckets heavier than the standard rifle bows of the Tang Dynasty army. They were the same as those used by the Song Dynasty Imperial Army infantry archers in their assessments.

Although the military of the Song Dynasty was poor, the archers of the Song Dynasty were still worthy of praise. Due to the lack of horses in the Northern Song Dynasty, facing the nomadic cavalry of Liao and Xia, they were forced to pay attention to the role of archers on the battlefield.

Huan Xi's soldiers were off-duty professional soldiers. They not only ate rice, but also meat every day. As we all know, eating meat makes you stronger.

Although this is a bit absolute, soldiers who eat meat are stronger than soldiers who eat vegetables.

The Huns also ate mainly meat. They just couldn't draw their walking bows on horseback, but if their feet were firmly on the ground, they would not be able to defeat them with their walking bows.

At noon, all the Jin and Hun troops came to Huan Xi's command to obey his orders. Not only did Huan Xi's own 20,000 infantry and 10,000 bow cavalry commanded by Liu Kuantou, but Liu Wuhuan also brought 10,000 Xiongnu infantry.

There are actually many infantry among the Tiefu Xiongnu. After all, the role of horses and soldiers is mainly reflected in their military value, and their economic value is far less than that of cattle and sheep.

Only the Xiongnu in their heyday, under the leadership of Mao Dun, could besiege Liu Bang in Baideng with 400,000 fine cavalry.

When the sentries reported that the Di army had crossed the river, Huan Xi's first order before rushing to the battlefield was to demolish all three of his camps.

Only Liu Wuhuan was left to lead 10,000 Xiongnu infantry to build a small camp to guard supplies.

Huan Xi invited Fu Xiong to fight near Langshan because he was familiar with the terrain here, not because he really wanted to retreat to the camp when the situation was unfavorable.

Now the order to demolish the three camps is to cut off the soldiers' retreat and prevent them from being distracted on the battlefield.

I thought that even if I couldn't defeat them, I could still retreat to the camp to defend.

As for Liu Wuhuan's 10,000 Xiongnu infantry, Huan Xi really looked down upon them. Not to mention the lack of discipline, the combat effectiveness of these nomadic infantry was really unsightly. If they were brought to the battlefield, not to mention not being able to provide help, they might even cause more chaos. , simply leave him to guard the supplies.

Liu Wuhuan had no objection to this. Obviously, he also understood his family's situation.

On the general platform, Huan Xi's final mobilization before the battle with the 30,000 infantry and cavalry was mainly to inspire the morale of the Huns' archers.

In this regard, Huan Xi generously promised everyone that he would be generously rewarded after the war. Anyway, rewarding soldiers was not something that Huan Xi should worry about alone. Liu Wuhuan also had to help find a way.

When the soldiers heard this, they all raised their arms and cheered. Seeing that the morale of the army was ready, Huan Xi immediately led 30,000 infantry and cavalry eastward to the battle location agreed in advance with Fu Xiong.

Of course, before the army arrives, the sentries must first explore the road.

During the battle with Qianliang, Zhang Chonghua pretended to surrender, leading Zhang Chonghua to believe that Zhang Shisheng and Guo Zhanchi, who had withdrawn Huan Xi's troops, had not missed the battle of Langshan. They were still doing the job of licking blood as scouts.

It's just that their identities are different from the past. Now they have become officers, each with twenty sentries under their command.

These were just two of the dozens of scouting sentries sent by Huan Xi.

Fu Xiong did not set up an ambush on the battlefield in advance. He knew that with Huan Xi's intelligence, how could he not send sentry cavalry to investigate in advance. If he really made such a low-level mistake, his caution these days would be particularly ridiculous.

Huan Xi led 30,000 infantry and cavalry to the predetermined battlefield. The two armies set up formations two miles apart. The Di army sentries and cavalry who went to observe reported back, and the Jin-Hungarian coalition forces set up an attack formation.

After Fu Xiong confirmed the authenticity of this information, he discussed with Fu Chang for a few words, and then ordered his people to wave the command flag and change the original attack formation into a defensive formation, hoping to wait for the Jin and Hungarian forces to come and charge.

　Next chapter at 6pm, Chapter 3 at 12pm
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)