Chapter 111: The Sword and the Swordsman
Meng Huo obviously came prepared this time and had enough confidence. In order to win this battle, he borrowed 10,000 cards of swords and shackles from southern Xinjiang. These are the unique arms of several tribes living in the mountains in Yongchang area, which are more than the south. They do not wear clothes and are covered with dyes of various eyes, but this does not mean that they have poor defense.
In fact, these fang soldiers lived in the mountains like wild animals since childhood. They rarely took baths since they were born. They had a layer of old skin on their bodies, and sometimes they were more effective than armor. They were as brave as savages in the wilderness and were not afraid of death. After both sides formed formations in relatively flat places in the Lujiang area, these fang soldiers showed their terrifying combat power in the first battle, and rushed towards the Shu army like savages.
The bumpy road seriously restricted the movement of the Shu army, but for these savage-like soldiers, it was like walking on flat ground. In the first battle, Ding Li's five thousand soldiers were almost defeated. Facing these wild beast-like barbarian soldiers, the soldiers were a little scared.
This is the first time that the barbarians have gained an advantage on the battlefield.
After a quarter of an hour of fighting, the Han army was in a tendency to collapse. These savages seemed to have no idea of the pain and fear. Even if they opened a hole in their body, blood flowed. As long as they did not die, these savages would attack wildly.
"Lord, the last general is incompetent!" Ding Li returned to the military camp and bowed to Ye Zhao with shame. The well-equipped and well-trained Shu army was defeated head-on by the enemy in the first confrontation. Even if the opponent has many soldiers, this was not an excuse for failure.
"It's not your reason." Ye Zhao shook his head and saw the battle before. He saw Ding Li's mood depressed and comforted him: "Now what we are facing can no longer be called humans, but a group of wild beasts, or wild beasts who don't know the pain and fear. If it were others, including me, the situation would not change at all."
Ding Li was silent, and the generals in the tent were silent. They were all figures who came out on the battlefield. This was the first time they encountered such an army that had no idea what fear was. Ye Zhao was right. He was in a place where he was as proud as Guan Yu, and he would feel extremely headache when he encountered such a unit.
"Lord, the bandit army is powerful, and our army cannot be sharp. I think we should defend the camp and wait until the bandit army is exhausted before we can do it!" Huang Quan bowed to Ye Zhao and said.
Ye Zhao nodded and said, "According to Gongheng's words, close the camp. If the thief army comes to attack, they will only force them to retreat with bows and arrows!"
"The Han people are just like this!" On the other side, in Meng Huo's camp, Meng Huo was drinking with several barbarian leaders. Unlike Jianning, Yongchang, and Jinghua, Yueli was dominated by barbarians, and there were not many Han people. If it were not forbidden, the Han people would not like to go to such barren places to make a living. Although the three counties had prefects, it was useless. Especially in recent years, the Han Dynasty was declining and the imperial court's control over the local area became weaker. For places like Yongchang, Yueli, and Jinghua, the prefect was equivalent to failure in political struggles and exiled. The third brother was dominated by barbarians. A group of barbarians wanted to raise an army, and these people could only cooperate, otherwise they would be the first to die.
"What a pity, Duosilai's soft egg actually chose to surrender to the Han people!" a cave owner said disdainfully.
In fact, everyone knows that this is a big deal. Bana Cave is in Jianning. In the last battle, Bana Cave was the main force. The impact of successive defeats, Duosilai lost more than just a niche. There were many warriors in the cave. In addition, Meng Huo retreated strategically, but the root of Bana Cave was under Ye Zhao's nose. Several conflicts and battles made Bana Cave even worse. Ye Zhao also broke the trade with Bana Cave.
At that time, Duo Silai had asked Meng Huo and others for help, but the troops were not gathered at that time, and Meng Huo did not dare to go up, for fear of being defeated by Ye Zhao, so he had to give up Duo Silai.
However, even so, the surrender of Bana Cave still made many people dissatisfied.
"Thirty-six caves are like a plate of loose sand. I think it's time to elect a king to command the thirty-six caves in southern Xinjiang." said a cave owner.
When Meng Huo heard this, his eyes lit up, then disappeared without saying a word. Although the Yi people are a big tribe in Nanzhong, Meng Huo is not the leader of the Yi people. Even if he wants to choose the Barbarian King now, it will not be his turn.
Several cave masters argued for a few words, but no one could convince anyone. The matter of the Barbarian King was left alone. This was the result Meng Huo was willing to see. However, it was indeed a problem to be able to command in a coordinated manner. For example, the group of savage troops from the south of southern Xinjiang cannot fight in a coordinated manner. If troops were sent together, those savages would attack with friendly forces.
However, Ye Zhao has been unable to defend the camp, which has also caused great headaches for a group of barbarian leaders. Although the Fang soldiers are powerful, they are not copper-skinned and iron-clad. The Han people's bows and arrows are powerful. If they die, they will also be afraid of moving forward. And they cannot send patrol soldiers to suppress them like ordinary troops. In desperation, these Fang soldiers will directly attack all outsiders who block them, including friendly forces.
Ye Zhao stayed in the door and stared in the camp for ten days. At first, the fang soldiers who were still swaying in the claws had been used to this attacking mode for a long time and became lazy.
"Lord, the barbarian soldiers are already decadent and have lost their aura. Is it an opportunity to send troops?" On the watchtower, Huang Quan saw that the other party was no longer as violent as before, retreated from the watchtower and found Ye Zhao and asked.
"It's almost done." Ye Zhao nodded and looked at the generals and said, "But I'm not going to fight only these barbarian soldiers, Chief Yun."
"The last one is here!" Guan Yu stood up and bowed.
"Teach five thousand soldiers and horses and detour to attack the main camp of the barbarian army. They saw that we had not left for many days, and the barbarian soldiers in front of the camp were so lazy, and the main camp in the rear would inevitably be relaxed. You lead the army to bypass the barbarian soldiers in front of the camp and attack the main camp of the enemy army." Ye Zhao handed an arrow to Guan Yu and said.
"The last general will take the order!" Guan Yu bowed his hand and took the order and retreated.
"Ding Li, Gan Ning, Guan Hai!" Ye Zhao took out three more arrows and said.
"The last one is here!" The three generals stepped forward after hearing this.
"It was almost time for these barbarians to attack. Ding Li and Guan Hai each led two thousand soldiers out from both sides. When the barbarians attacked the camp, they waited for our orders and ordered them to attack and kill from both sides. Gan Ning led two thousand troops to attack the enemy's rear. After the enemy was defeated, they did not need to go back to the camp, but directly covered the enemy's main camp and cooperated with Yun Chang to strangle the enemy's main camp." Ye Zhao handed three order arrows to the three people and said in a deep voice: "In this battle, we must make a concerted effort to break through the enemy."
"Here!" The three generals agreed and each took the order and left.
A quarter of an hour later, the Southern Barbarian Fang soldiers attacked the city as before, and Ye Zhao commanded his troops to guard the camp.
"To go to the enemy camp, General Guan needs to take at least ten miles of detour. Even if he marched urgently, he would take more than an hour to avoid being discovered by the enemy!" Huang Quan frowned and calculated: "Lord, when will General Ding and others take action?"
"No hurry." Ye Zhao looked at the fang soldiers who were screaming and pounced on him, and casually stuffed a piece of wooden stick into the mouth of a fang soldiers, and said to Huang Quan: "The more intense the battle here, the more relaxed the defense of the barbarian army camp will be. Give them some sweetness today!"
"The lord's intention is..." Huang Quan was a little confused.
"Let them break through the village gate!" Ye Zhao retreated from the village wall and said.
"If this is the case, I may collapse in morale. Before the three armies can break out, our army's camp will be broken first!" Huang Quan frowned and said. This fraudulent defeat is not something that can be played casually. In history, many fraudulent defeats eventually turned into real defeats.
"No!" Ye Zhao shook his head and ordered the Shengong Camp to start building a second simple line of defense behind the village wall.
According to the attack rhythm of the past ten days, the Liao soldiers almost retreated in half an hour. But today, the cave master who was responsible for commanding the Liao soldiers was surprised to find that the defense of the Shu army camp seemed to be much weaker. From time to time, the Liao soldiers rushed to the wall of the village. Although they were quickly driven down, the Shu soldiers seemed to have reached their limits. Similar things frequently occurred, which made the commanding cave master unable to help but feel greedy in his heart, and wanted to capture the village in one go.
"Click~"
The door bolt that blocked the gate was suddenly broken, and a large number of fang soldiers swarmed in. The soldiers defending the gate were broken and immediately lost their fighting spirit and began to retreat.
"Kill~" The cave master was overjoyed and rushed in with his fang soldiers. But as soon as he rushed into the gate, he saw a low village wall behind the gate, and cold crossbow arrows poked out from the gaps in the fence. He suddenly felt something was wrong and wanted to retreat, but he could not retreat.
"Let it go!" Ye Zhao waved the order flag in his hand, and a row of crossbow arrows broke through the air, enough to shoot through the cluster of arrows in the plate armor one hundred and eighty steps away. Within such a short distance, the power was even more terrifying. One cluster of arrows could penetrate the bodies of two Fang soldiers. Even if the Fang soldiers held a shield, they could not block these extremely penetrating crossbow arrows and fell in pieces.
"Room the arrow!" Seeing a large number of fang soldiers starting to retreat, Ye Zhao waved his hand, and an archer who had already prepared quickly took off the bow and arrow and shot a sound arrow into the sky.
The sharp whistle sounded throughout the four fields. Ding Li, who had already been lying on both sides, led the troops out. These yamen soldiers attacked very fiercely, but once their morale was damaged and they lost their strength, they were in chaos when they ran away. In addition, they were frightened and became even more manic, and even began to attack their own people. They were easily cut off by Guan Hai and Ding Li, while Gan Ning led his army to attack behind the enemy. A group of yamen soldiers were intercepted from the front and back, and the morale of the army was in chaos and began to run wildly in the direction of no one.
Ye Zhao rode out and looked at the savages who were chased away by them like headless flies. He shook his head and smiled, "It's really a group of wild beasts."
Chapter completed!