Chapter 623: The blood wave flies over the enemy formation and destroys it (a 9,000-word chapter)

In the north of Jize County, Liu Zhiyuan's hasty retreat to this place was carefully planned.

The most critical factor is that he can rely on Jize County to stock up on food and grass.

As Zhang Zhi pursued him from the Zhang River, the transport of grain, grass and baggage would inevitably have to cross the Zhang River again, doubling the transport capacity.

What's more, he had built several simple forts outside Jize County. The army relied on these forts and assisted with chariot formations and horse resistance, which could effectively block the Zhou army's cavalry.

However, although Liu Zhiyuan did make a second set of plans, the Hedong Army was still shocked.

Because they originally thought that even if the anvil and hammer methods could not be as advantageous as expected, the four thousand people carefully selected would not be defeated so miserably!

Although there are still more than 40,000 troops in the Hedong Army, in fact, the elite troops in Hedong are only about 10,000 people in Liu Zhiyuan's own army, 5,000 or 6,000 in the Zhangde Army in the hands of Guo Wei, and 3,000 in the Wujie Army in the hands of Shi Hongzhao. The remaining people are the four thousand people gathered by Bai Zairong and others.

Except for the 23,000 people, the rest are scraps with a very low armor coverage rate.

They never expected that 4,000 elite soldiers from Hedong fought against more than 1,000 pro-Zhou troops, but were defeated in one round.

Of course there was a reason why Bai Zairong ran away early, but before Bai Zairong ran away early, the Hedong Army was already on the verge of collapse.

Moreover, Wang Yin did not fail to exert his efforts, but he was really unable to defeat him. He was pushed back and unable to stand even after a confrontation.

From the distance came the sound of a horn whose pitch was several degrees higher than that of a cow horn. This was the unique sound of a conch horn.

Hedong is not adjacent to the sea, so the Zhou army used conch horns in this expedition to avoid conflict with the horns from Hedong.

Shi Hongzhao stood on the head of Jize County with a frown on his face. The sun had already set at this time, and those who were still blowing the horns could only be those annoying You Yiqi from Zhou Kingdom.

They had been following them all the way from Zhangshui, beating the Hedong Tuguhun cavalry at the rear very badly. At this time, they were still determining the general direction through their horns.

It is estimated that it won't take long to figure out the locations of the Hedong Army's several camps outside the city.

Shi Hongzhao walked back a little irritably. When he passed several houses, there were faint moans and crying in the houses.

Moan is a wounded soldier who was wounded by the Zhou army today. In the battle near Zhangshui River, the Hedong Army suffered as many as a thousand casualties, but most of them were either killed in battle or captured, and there are only a few here.

Those who cried were all the women in Jize County. The people in Jize County were not as lucky as Pingxiang County. The Hedong Army had no time to go wild in Pingxiang County, but after entering Jize County, they immediately had more time.

As soon as they entered the city, each general occupied it in separate areas. Gold, silver, grain, cloth, women, men, and even livestock such as donkeys, mules, etc. were all allocated immediately.

The weeping women were hidden by the generals to reward the brave soldiers below and to take care of the wounded soldiers. It seems that it was because of the deep night that these women dared to cry.

Shi Hongzhao shook his head, but this was not because he had a benevolent heart. In this era, it was actually normal for warriors to harm the people.

He, Shi Hongzhao, didn't think these soldiers had done anything wrong, but he just thought it was unlucky to hear a woman crying late at night.

And just beside the Zhang River, Zhang Gao had just arranged for all the troops to cross the Zhang River.

Tonight, the Zhou army will camp by the Zhang River. Anyway, it is only a dozen miles away from Jize County. There is no time to break camp tomorrow morning.

Compared to the chaos and panic of the Hedong Army, the Zhou Army was much more solemn.

In today's battle, seventeen people were killed in Xianshandu and later died of serious injuries, thirty-nine people were killed in Yinqiangdu, and more than three hundred were injured.

Most of the people were injured in the crossbow fire. The Hedong Army was worthy of being the most glorious warriors of the Five Dynasties. Even though it was on the decline and its equipment was at a disadvantage, it still persisted in fighting with Han Shandu for five years.

Round strong crossbow shooting.

"Erlangjun, Song Zheng can no longer follow you!"

As an old man from the Yuancong sect, Song Zheng looked at Zhang Yan with a toothless mouth and red eyes.

However, he was not about to die, but the knee of his right leg was smashed by Wang Yin Yabing. He also received a heavy hammer on his mouth, his jaw was dislocated, and his front teeth were almost all knocked out, so that he could hardly speak.

"Can you speak? What do you mean you can't follow me anymore? You injured your leg, but you didn't die in battle?"

Should you go to Xuzhou Ma Yaozi for inspection, or go to Guanzhong to serve as a county captain? Now tell me, I will let Guo Tiance make arrangements later." Zhang Hao rolled his eyes at Song Zheng angrily.

Song Zheng also chuckled, and then looked at Zhang Hao with some guilt, "Sage, I want to go back to Shazhou."

"Go back to Shazhou? Are you worried that you will not be able to serve as an official because of your inconvenient legs and feet? What are you afraid of? I allow you to choose two personal guards and let them push you wherever you go."

Zhang Hao was a little surprised. Although Shazhou was the place where he started, it was so remote that even the immigrants from Guanzhong were rarely willing to go to Shazhou.

Song Zheng shook his head heavily, "I have actually wanted to go back for a long time, but I have been thinking that the world is still uncertain and we have to follow the saint to fight against the separatist regime.

Now that I'm injured, it's time to go back. Luo Fengma and his mother-in-law are all in Shazhou. I'm back, and I can take care of them to some extent."

Luo Fengma died in Polu Prefecture north of Shule, and was one of the first people to die.

Moreover, Luo Fengma’s mother-in-law is even more troublesome. The old couple are old and attached to their hometown. They refuse to leave Shazhou. Most of the gold and silver they were rewarded were distributed to poor relatives, and they still insist on themselves.

Herding sheep in Shazhou.

Lian Zhang ordered them to live in Tokyo, but they traveled to Tokyo for three months, only to stay for five days. They said they had seen Chang'an and Luoyang and had no regrets in their lives, and then ran back to herd sheep.

In fact, there are several pairs of old men like this among the martyrs of Zhang Zhang's Yuancong sect. They are all unwilling to leave Shazhou because of language barriers and different living habits.

"I was originally a slave soldier of the Cao family. I never thought that I would be here today. Logically speaking, this life belongs to a saint. But as I get older, I want to go back to my hometown and teach my children well so that they can be a saint again.

The saints fight."

Zhang Hao nodded heavily, then looked at the few gray hairs on his head, and suddenly realized that many people in his hometown were already getting older.

When I went to Anxi that year, Zhang Yan was considered young, and most of the others were actually over forty like Song Zheng.

It is almost time for him to promote a new generation of military generals in this week, and the process of unifying the world must also be accelerated while his elite army is still in its prime.

....

After attending the cremation ceremony of the fallen warriors and visiting the wounded soldiers, Zhang Gao still could not rest.

Because You Yijun of Lin Wei on the right has brought back the information from the sentinel, Wang Yisi has also sorted out the map, and the generals above Yuhou from each military guard have also arrived.

Zhang Gao took a closer look and saw that Liu Zhiyuan had arranged his 40,000 troops in a diamond shape.

At the front is a Dazhai fort that can garrison two or three thousand troops, and at the end is Jize County. On both sides are two defensive forts with tall archery towers.

Of course, this is not a very regular rhombus, but a compressed and very flat rhombus.

Between this rhombus-shaped city and four fortresses, the Hedong army used trenches, horse barriers, and vehicle formations to form a defensive front to block cavalry raids.

A large number of vehicles are deployed internally, and the people in Jize County are also organized to quickly transport supplies and evacuate the wounded.

Li Cunhui personally ran to the front to inquire about the situation. He was explaining it to Zhang Yan and other generals.

"After Youyu Linwei followed the Hedong Army to Jize County, we did not choose to continue to entangle the hundreds of riders behind the Hedong Army, but tried to penetrate the stronghold.

Only then did we realize that the trenches on both wings combined with the vehicle formations and the archery towers could easily limit the speed of the cavalry. I guess the idea of ​​the Hedong Army was for us to attack the front.

However, the fort in front stretches to block the horses, and there is also a large fort where troops can be easily mobilized, so it is difficult for the cavalry to use it."

Bai Congxin also nodded, "There are archery towers on both sides, and the military camp and the trenches seem to prevent us cavalry from attacking from both sides and taking the retreat.

There are too many horses on the front, so this is still the same old trick, restricting the cavalry according to local conditions, with the intention of fighting an infantry battle with us."

Feng Hui was more familiar with this routine than Bai Congxin and Li Cunhui. He stood next to Zhang Hao and said.

"Sage, in the past, this was Zhu Liang's favorite large square formation to defeat cavalry with infantry. Forts were set up on both sides. If our cavalry attacked both sides, it would be blocked by the chariot formation and the archery tower and it would be extremely difficult to attack. I judge that, There must be a weapon like the Fuyuan Crossbow inside.

If we look at it from the front, the Dazhai Fortress must be guarded by elite soldiers, and it will be impossible to capture it easily.

If it is bypassed, the elites in Dazhai Fort can attack from all sides; if it is attacked by force, the Hedong Army can move away and resist horse support, making it very difficult to fight!"

After Zhang Gao listened, he looked at the map carefully and felt that it was somewhat familiar. Finally, he suddenly realized that this thing was just a stacked formation. He had used it in Shule Polu Prefecture.

It just turned the group of archers coming forward into a large fort, and the horses on both sides turned into trenches and vehicle formations.

It gave up the ability to attack from both sides, and mainly relied on the Dazhai Fort to limit the frontal attack of the cavalry. The soldiers and horses on both sides could move away to resist the attack depending on the situation.

Zhang Yan thought about it, and Bai Congxin, who had muttered a few words just now, suddenly noticed it and looked at Zhang Yan suddenly.

"Saint, isn't this the method of using infantry to defeat cavalry? The core is to block the speed of cavalry, and then use crossbows as projections.

It may be that the Hedong Army did not have enough bows and crossbows, so they built a large fort to store their elite troops, acting as a city wall while waiting for the time to move."

When Bai Congxin said this, he suddenly stopped talking, because Zhang Yan and them had analyzed the weaknesses of this stacked formation after the battle at Poluzhou in Anxi.

The conclusion is that the only shortcoming of this large formation that gives up movement is that it is afraid of superior high-mobility long-range projection weapons.

And it just so happened that the Zhou army had this—the Camel Cyclone Cannon that could be transferred at any time and fired quickly.

Thinking of this, Zhang Hao and Bai Congxin looked at each other and smiled.

Feng Hui and others had never seen the power of the Camel Cyclone Cannon. Because the maintenance cost of this thing was too high, Zhang Hao was reluctant to use it.

I did bring it with me when we fought against the Southern Tang Dynasty, but with the fighting power of the Southern Tang army, there was no need for it at all.

In fact, at a certain point in time, he wanted to give up on the golden finger invented by Zhang Zhi, because in Zhang Zhou's current situation, the camel cyclone cannon was almost useless.

This thing appeared in history because Xixia wanted to use it against the Song army. When using it, they used cavalry to restrict the movement of the Song army's heavy infantry, and then used camel cyclone cannons to smash it.

However, in Zhang Zhou, Zhou's army was strong on both infantry and cavalry. Meng, Shu, Southern Tang and other countries basically only had infantry, and the quality of their heavy infantry was not as good as Zhang Zhou's. Khitan, like Zhang Zhou, was good at cavalry.

Therefore, the Camel Cyclone Cannon has never been used. It is a tasteless weapon, but I didn't expect it to be used here.

When Zhang Gao told Feng Hui and others about the camel cyclone cannon, everyone was overjoyed. The Hedong Army's fortress was built with a large amount of wood and a small amount of earth and stone. Its defense was not very strong and it was difficult to withstand the bombardment of the camel cyclone cannon. .

We might as well destroy their Dazhai Fort first, blast out the Hedong Army, and let them come to ask for a fight.

On the fourth day of June, Zhang Hao waited for two more days, waiting for all the camel tornadoes to cross the river, and then led an army of 20,000 to the north of Jize County.

Before that, the entire land from Zhangshui to the north of Jize County had become an arena for cavalry and dog fights between the two sides.
To be continued...