Qiu Yizhi was actually too cautious.
The reason why this battle went so smoothly was not that Dai Luanxiang used any strategy to lure the enemy deeper, but that he was not in the camp at all.
It turned out that Dai Luanxiang had a great victory a few days ago and drove the Youyan army out of Dengzhou, so he thought he could take advantage of the victory to pursue and attack the Youyan army entrenched in Bianzhou. So he thought that the Youyan Army was frightened by him and would not launch another offensive on the western front in a short time. Therefore, he mobilized the main force of the army to march west to Bianzhou to attack Zheng Miao and Cui Nan's troops.
However, both Zheng Miao and Cui Nan had seen how powerful Dai Luanxiang was, so Zheng Miao refused to accept the camp and did not dare to attack easily. Cui Nan only led a small group of elite cavalry and harassed them everywhere, but they could only retreat at the first touch and did not dare to attack. Love war.
Therefore, Dai Luanxiang led the imperial imperial army to confront Youyan's army for nearly ten days. Although there were many small victories, they were never able to achieve a decisive victory and gradually fell into a stalemate. It was at this moment that Qiu Yizhi took advantage of the fact that his coach was away from the camp, crossed the Hutuo River and re-entered Henan.
When Dai Luanxiang heard the news, he sighed deeply, feeling that there was no general available in the court except himself. In desperation, they had no choice but to give up the great opportunity to regain Bianzhou and march westward again to consolidate the defense line of Dengzhou.
It wasn't until the day after Qiu Yizhi crossed the river that he received a military report from his third brother Zheng Miao in Bianzhou that he realized that it was not the famous general Dai Luanxiang who was commanding the enemy forces in front of him. This made him extremely upset. If he had known this, he would have mobilized the army to attack vigorously. Even if he could not defeat all the officers and soldiers in front of him, he would at least eliminate some of the effective forces.
Therefore, Qiu Yizhi estimated that it would take three days for Dai Luanxiang to return from Bianzhou to help. There was still a whole day without a commander in the army formation, so he mobilized 30,000 elite troops and arranged them in formation in front of the camp. The force was overwhelming, and they tried to win a quick victory and defeat the newly defeated army in front of them in one fell swoop.
The officers and soldiers had just been driven out of the camp by the Hutuo River by Qiu Yizhi two days ago. They hurriedly set up a temporary camp at the foot of a mountain, facing Youyan's army across hundreds of hectares of rice fields.
It was the golden autumn of August. If it had been anywhere else, it would have been the time of harvest. Even if the rice planted in the rice fields in front of the two armies was not yet mature, it would have already formed ears of rice and was waiting for a good harvest. However, since the Tianzun Rebellion at the beginning of this year, Henan Province has been in disgrace. Even such good farmland has been abandoned, with only a few weeds growing sparsely, making it look very desolate.
However, such an open plain is the best battlefield for the two armies to confront each other.
So in the early morning of that day, Qiu Yi's troops were divided into two groups. Zheng Sen, the second son of King Youyan, led the cavalry in the front, and the rebel general Wei Hu led the infantry and crossbowmen to advance slowly behind. He himself commanded in the center and pressed against the official army. A temporary and crude camp.
The army advanced to a point where it was still two to three hundred steps away from the army camp. Suddenly, a cannon shot rang out in the front camp, and several camp doors slowly opened. A large number of officers and soldiers filed out one after another, setting up a defensive formation next to the camp.
Qiu Yizhi sat on his blue sweat horse and looked at the army lineup from a distance. He saw that their lineups were neat and clear, with clear flags. They didn't look as panicked as they did two days ago. They had formed their formations in the blink of an eye.
Although Qiu Yizhi was leading the battle alone for the first time, he had sent out troops every year since he followed Zheng Rong, so he was not lacking in combat experience. He saw at a glance that the situation of the army and the army was very different from that of two days ago, and knew that there must be changes. He also saw from a distance that there seemed to be a red-robed general in the opposite camp commanding Ruode. He suspected that the famous general Dai Luanxiang was rushing back at night, so he Zhao Chengxiao, who was standing beside me, said: "Go and tell my general, His Highness the Second Prince, not to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly. Come back immediately, form a formation on my right side, and watch the opponent's changes."
Zhao Chengxiao agreed, then rode his horse like an arrow off the string and ran to report the news.
Not long after Zhao Chengxiao left, another Qingqi came up behind Qiu Yi and said in his ear: "King Youyan has an order: Dai Luanxiang has returned to the camp alone. If His Highness Yi feels that it is difficult to win, he can retreat to avoid the battle."
Qiu Yizhi quickly looked forward and saw that Zheng Rong was indeed two or three hundred steps away from his army, surrounded by a group of brightly armored guardsmen, observing the situation on the front line from a distance.
When Qiu Yi saw Zheng Rong personally holding the battle for him, he had a backbone in his heart. When Zheng Sen returned to the main battle, he discussed it with him and Wei Hu, and then said to the messenger: "You will report back now. Your Majesty, just say that we will fight with Dai Luanxiang first, and if the battle goes unfavorably, please retreat first and I will be the queen."
The messenger listened and memorized it silently. When Qiu Yizhi finished speaking, he repeated it again. Seeing that there was nothing to add, he galloped back on his horse and reported to Zheng Rong.
So Qiu Yi's flag waved, causing the drummers around him to beat the war drums. When the troops heard the rhythm of the drums, they arranged their formations very skillfully under the command of generals at all levels. In less than a moment, 5,000 "Dangya Camp" heavy armored infantry were at the forefront of the team, with 5,000 crossbowmen in the middle, 15,000 light-armored infantry at the rear, and another 5,000 cavalry. On the right side of the infantry, be ready to attack at any time - the formation is complete.
With this formation, Youyan's army could not fall behind even when faced with cunning and brave Turkic cavalry and archers. This was the unique skill for which Youyan's army was famous.
When Qiu Yi saw that his side's formation was complete, he knew that he was in an invincible position, so he held the command flag in his hand, waved it in the air, and pointed forward.
A crossbowman in the formation saw the flag clearly, so he held the heavy crossbow in both hands and walked to the front of the formation. Without even taking aim, he shot forward a crossbow arrow with a red ribbon tied at the end. The crossbow arrow dragged its blood-red tail, like a red lightning bolt that cut through the sky and plunged into the ground. The arrow fired by the Jinnu was so powerful that the entire arrow body penetrated directly into the ground, leaving only a ribbon exposed on the ground, fluttering in the wind.
The crossbowmen of Youyan's army fired this crossbow arrow not aimlessly, but to determine how far the crossbow's range would be under today's wind direction.
When Qiu Yi saw that the ribbon was only six or seven steps away from the imperial officers and soldiers, he already knew it in his heart. He waved the flag in his hand and pointed it forward towards the enemy formation.
The five thousand crossbowmen hidden behind the huge shield of the Dangya camp saw the flag order, stepped forward in unison, walked around to the front row, and then, under the command of the corresponding officers such as Qian Zongbaihu and other officers, aimed at the enemy and fired a volley.
In an instant, arrows no more than five inches long rushed towards the officers and soldiers. Among the officers and soldiers, officers wearing chain mail or willow leaf armor could still withstand the short arrows shot like locusts. The infantrymen wearing ordinary leather armor did not have such good luck. They could only compete with this deadly weapon with their flesh and blood bodies, but in the end they were defeated without any suspense.
All of a sudden, hundreds of infantrymen in the front row of the army had been shot to death and wounded. A cry of mourning echoed through the sky, and the position seemed to be somewhat disordered.
Qiu Yi was very happy when he saw that he had killed a lot of people with his first salvo, so he sent an order for the crossbowmen to continue shooting at the officers and soldiers.
The commander of the army, no matter how mediocre and incompetent the general, must have seen the power of the crossbowmen of Youyan's army, not to mention the former general Dai Luanxiang who was famous for his famous generals. However, he seemed to be unmoved by the power of the Youyan army's crossbows in the army. He calmly ordered the bodies of the dead and injured soldiers to be carried back to the camp. The formation remained unchanged, and the archers took a step forward to face the Youyan army. shoot.
Seeing that their coach was so calm, the officers and soldiers finally stabilized, rearranged their formations, and fired at the enemy. However, the archer's shooting range was far inferior to the powerful crossbow on the opposite side. The arrows he fired drew a parabola in the sky, and then fell weakly. One by one, they were stuck in the mud about ten steps away from Youyan's army.
The crossbowmen on Youyan Army's side felt funny in their hearts when they saw the bows and arrows fired from the opposite side were like green onions sprouting from the barren land. With a sense of superiority, they unhurriedly opened the crossbow machine and set up the crossbow. Load the arrow, aim briefly, and then shoot forward.
So the five thousand crossbow arrows made a thrilling "whoosh" scream and rushed towards the officers and soldiers again, taking away another two hundred lives and leaving behind countless wounded.
Even as calm as Dai Luanxiang, he could no longer ignore the huge gap in long-range firepower and quickly ordered the entire army to retreat into the camp.
The officers and soldiers had already been shot with fear by You Yan's crossbows, and only their trust in Dai Luanxiang managed to prevent them from being defeated. Now that I heard Marshal Dai personally ordering the retreat, I only regretted that my parents had lost two legs, so I turned around and retreated to the camp, almost without abandoning my armor.
Dai Luanxiang saw his soldiers retreating in such a hasty and helter-skelter manner. He could only shake his head helplessly while sitting on his horse, and led his personal guards to personally rear him, and then he was the last one to retreat into the camp.
Although the officers and soldiers retreated in an unseemly manner, the word "quick" was important. After the Youyan Army's crossbowmen fired a burst of fire, before they had time to complete the preparations to pull the string and set the arrow, all the officers and soldiers who came out of the camp and lined up were gone.
You must know that those facing Youyan's army have always been prairie knights who are not afraid of death. Without the consent of the leader, they would not retreat easily even if they were in a desperate situation. They would always fight to the last soldier before completely surrendering.
Therefore, when they saw that the officers and soldiers in front of them had the title of "Forbidden Army" but fled so resolutely after only two rounds of volleys, the elite Youyan crossbowmen were a little at a loss and stood there blankly. On the ground, they all turned back to look at the coach Qiu Yizhi.
Qiu Yi saw that he lived up to his expectations, so he beat Dai Luanxiang, who was known as the "famous general in the country", to the point where he couldn't stand back. Feeling very proud, he waved his command flag, still with the crossbowman as the leader, and directed the entire army to press forward.
The crossbowman stood at the forefront of the formation, advancing first and only stopped when he was only a hundred steps away from the entire military camp. It turned out that Qiu Yi saw that the entire camp of the army was within the range of his own powerful crossbows, so he ordered the crossbowmen to fire another volley at them to reduce the vigor of the army, and then organized a large group of troops to launch a general attack.
So the crossbowmen in the front row stopped, but because all the officers and soldiers were hiding in the camp and had no target to aim at, they had no choice but to fire a bunch of crossbow bolts at the camp in front, then put down their powerful crossbows and retreated backwards. The lightly-armed soldiers behind him quickly moved forward and stood in the front row, planning to listen to the general's order and go to seize the camp and strive for complete victory. (To be continued)