Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 902 Canyon Ambush ([-])

"Send several groups of scouts to the mountains on both sides, and climb up to watch."

"Order the whole army to continue marching forward, pay attention to vigilance, and be ready for battle at any time. Drive the five hundred camels to the front and let them explore the way so as not to step on that explosive landmine."

Following the spread of Cao Xuexiong's order, the [-] Guiyi Army continued to march towards Suzhou, but at a much slower speed, and the [-] camels that had been prepared in advance were also driven to the front.

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"They didn't panic. I don't know if the Guiyi army is elite enough, or because Cao Xuexiong thinks his army is twice as powerful as ours, so he is so arrogant." Yang Jiye was stunned after hearing the spy's report.

Tang Xingwu said with a smile on his face: "Commander Qi, Brigadier Han and Brigadier Tuoba have brought their cavalry to the No. [-] and No. [-] hidden positions, and they can attack the Guiyi Army from both sides along the predetermined mountain road at any time." Battalion Commander Sun has also led the Special War Battalion to blow up the Guiyi Army's back road. At this time, the follow-up mission has begun to kill the Guiyi Army spies and plant landmines on some mountain roads on both sides."

Yang Jiye nodded and said, "They are fast. It's a pity that I have to bring luggage and a trebuchet here. The speed is half a day slower than theirs. Now it is too late to dig a trench. Fortunately, everything else is ready."

While the two were talking, spies rushed over.

"Report...to the commander-in-chief, the enemy's forward is still ten miles away from my position."

"Explore again!"

"Report...to the commander-in-chief, the enemy's horses were not disturbed by the sound of the explosion."

"Report...to the commander-in-chief, the enemy army used [-] camels to walk in front of the army to clear the way."

"As expected, the Guiyi Army has heard about the power of our gunpowder packs and landmines, and they are prepared." Yang Jiye said lightly. Obviously, these were expected long ago. Because it is too far away from Xiangfu Kingdom, and it is extremely difficult to transmit news in this era, so Xiangfu State used gunpowder weapons to deal with the Liao Army and the Song State. The Guiyi Army in the two states of Gua and Sha did not know.But now both Liangzhou and Ganzhou have suffered from gunpowder weapons. If the Guiyi army is not prepared, it can only be said that the Cao family is all pigs.

"Report...to the commander-in-chief, the enemy's forward is still five miles away from my position."

"Order, the trebuchet position is starting to make preparations before throwing."

"Yes!"

"Report to Commander-in-Chief, the enemy forward is still three miles away from the position."

"Order, the whole army is ready for battle."

Yang Jiye knew very well that apart from Tuoba Lion and Han Tao's cavalry, the infantry's speed and range of long-range attacks could protect against the opponent, and the effect of ambushing was very limited in daylight.What's more, they are half the number of each other.So in addition to hiding the cavalry brigades of Tuobashi, Pan Luoajiu, Han Tao, and Kurban on both sides and rushing out of the side attack through secret mountain paths, he is going to use [-] infantry to block the front of nearly [-] rebels. charge.So the [-] infantry were not considered an ambush at all, but blocked the way.

The place where Yang Jiye chose to block the road was the narrowest place about one mile wide in the Wusu Grand Canyon. His podium was set up on the top of a short mountain on the side, and a flat land of about [-] acres had been leveled out by the engineering company. , ten big drums, various command flags, and various command and signal troops such as horns and gongs are already in place.Tang Xingwu and more than a dozen staff officers were also among them.Twenty thousand infantry were lined up at the foot of the short hill, and some fortifications were set up in front of them.The positions of the eight catapult companies chose to be on the hillsides on both sides of the [-] infantry side, and of course they also sorted out the flat ground.

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Cao Xuexiong observed the battle line of the Xiangfu Kingdom army in front of him. Although it seemed densely packed, and the neatness of the battle formation made him feel unbelievable, they lined up horizontally for a mile and blocked all the passages, but the number of people was only 2 at most. Wan more, the most important thing is that I can't see any cavalry.

"Marshal, the army is ready to charge."

"Okay." Cao Xuexiong looked around the surrounding terrain, glanced at Yang Jiye's podium from a distance, and the eight catapult positions that they could not see clearly in the distance, thinking that the opponent's cavalry should be hiding on both sides Somewhere behind the mountain, if the opponent's cavalry is facing the opponent's infantry in front of them and raids the two sides, there may be big trouble: "General Yan, you take your troops and horses to scatter on both sides, protect the flanks, especially the supplies, food and grass. .”

"Others, kill all the enemies in front of me." Cao Xuexiong compared his palms in front of his eyes, then stretched his arms straight forward, and chopped towards the middle of the Xiangfu Kingdom army deployed in the canyon. : "Team A is on the left side of the official road, Team B is on the official road, and Team C is on the right side of the official road. Team D and Team E follow Team B and attack in a column to enter the enemy's formation. Tell them to be careful when rushing over." Fu Jun's gunpowder weapon."

"As you order, Commander." The orderly ran away quickly.

"Guardian cavalry, stay with me and obey orders."

"As you order, Commander."

Cao Xuexiong's commander-in-chief's flag tilted slightly forward, and the army that had just been touched by the sound of the horn yelled to kill and rushed towards the Xiangfu army blocking the way. Of course, there were five hundred camels a hundred steps ahead of them. ,

There was no explosion of landmines that Cao Xuexiong expected, so the camels were intact and blocked the sight of the troops of both sides.The Xiangfu army temporarily arranged a one-mile-long position, adding iron nails to the horse-repelling chain to form a chain, and covering it with thorns, and then setting up a horse-repelling gun that was two feet long, and behind it was a giant crossbow.This kind of animal known as the desert boat is actually very spiritual. When it was more than 20 steps away, it ran desperately to both sides, and the Guiyi army who was a hundred steps behind did not stop it. In fact, at this time they also Can't stop it.However, there is no need to stop it at this time. It is impossible for the Xiangfu army to have landmines within [-] steps, because it will hurt the Xiangfu army itself.

The moment the camels ran to both sides, the long-range attacks of both sides began to rain arrows from both sides, the giant crossbow guns of Xiangfu Kingdom, and the whirlwind cannons on the camels of the Guiyi Army began to attack.Of course, the nine catapult positions on the hillside on both sides of the Xiangfu army also began to projectile, but only one catapult fired gunpowder packets in each company's salvo, and the others were cobblestones.Because the gunpowder packs of the Western Expeditionary Army were excessively consumed in the process of taking Liangzhou and Ganzhou, even Xiangfu's domestic equipment department does not have many gunpowder packs.

As soon as the two sides started their long-range attacks, Cao Xuexiong and many other generals in the Guiyi Army changed their faces. Compared with Xiangfu Kingdom's arrow rain, their arrow rain seemed too sparse. The most important thing is that Xiangfu Every soldier in the country wears iron plate armor and an iron helmet with a low-browed face shield. The arrows shot by the Guiyi Army, except for the arrows in the eyes of a few unlucky ones, the first wave of arrows over a distance of more than 120 steps There was not much damage, but the stones thrown by a thousand whirlwind cannons on a thousand camels killed nearly a hundred infantrymen of the Xiangfu army.However, compared with the long-range attack damage of the Xiangfu Army, the difference between this damage is too much. Less than one-fifth of the Guiyi Army has iron armor, and most of them are only half-body breastplates. As for the helmet, only one-tenth of the soldiers own it. Although they all have shields, they can prevent most of the bows and arrows, but they can't stop the two hundred giant crossbows, guns and eight catapults. The stones and gunpowder packs fired by the eight trebuchets are dead in the first round. More than 500 people.

Cao Xuexiong reacted quickly and decisively. In an instant, he understood that the long-distance battle was not the opponent of the Xiangfu Army. With an order, the Guiyi Army began to charge faster.

The infantry of the Guiyi Army was in the middle, and the cavalry was on both sides. At a distance of about a hundred steps, under full speed sprinting, bows and arrows, catapults, giant guns, and crossbows only had time to fire another round. After the ten-step range, the effect of bursts is reflected, and the lethality is extremely high.In addition, like the giant crossbow. The gun and the catapult have been gear modified, which shortens the preparation time for each shot, reduces the number of operators, and increases the power and accuracy.At this time, each giant crossbow. Gun has two soldiers from the Xiangfu Kingdom army desperately using the winch to wind the crossbow. Within a hundred steps, every time it is fired, each crossbow. Gun can shoot through seven or eight at a time. , and even as many as ten volunteers.In short, when the Danggui Rebel Army sprinted to the front of the Xiangfu Army, nearly a thousand people were killed or injured.In the process, the Xiangfu army was smashed to death by the whirlwind cannon of the Guiyi army, and more than 100 people were killed.

Faced with an enemy who was nearly four times as numerous as himself, he charged at him, but the armored pikemen of Xiangfu Kingdom standing in the rain of stones, bullets and arrows did not panic at all. They were as peaceful as standing in the sun enjoying the spring breeze.

Although the [-] infantry led by Yang Jiye came a bit late because of the trouble in transporting heavy equipment such as trebuchets and the poor roads, they only had an hour to deploy their defenses.But with the joint efforts of [-] soldiers, they completed all the work except digging trenches, and those refusal horses were also chained.

Although more than 1000 people were lost at the beginning of the war, every soldier in the Guiyi Army from Cao Xuexiong to the following thought that with their large numbers, as long as they charged in front of the enemy and started close combat, the Xiangfu Army would be defeated when.

Therefore, although the Guiyi Army suffered heavy casualties in a short period of time, the drums in the back kept beating, and the soldiers in the back row seemed to turn a blind eye to the instant casualties of the soldiers in front, and ran two steps quickly to supplement their superiors.Then they fell under the Xiangfu Army's next round or crossbow arrows, or crossbow.guns, or stubborn stones and gunpowder packs, but the soldiers behind them rushed up to fill their seats under the urging of the officers and orders... ...It has to be said that the Guiyi Army that once monopolized the Hexi Corridor and established the Jinshan Kingdom were indeed elite soldiers. They fought endlessly for years, and their combat power was even stronger than that of the soldiers of Song and Liao.

However, the battle formation training, command mode, and weapons and equipment of the army they encountered today have actually surpassed this era more or less.

(End of this chapter)