The author said: People say that I am good at writing war scenes, but I have actually deduced them from pictures, okay!
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The Turkic leaders received the order and led their troops to the north of the mountain. For a while, there was a hustle and bustle. Seeing that the team had assembled and victory was in sight, Bishimi saw that the long-unexperienced success was in his heart. He ordered with a smile in his tone: "Shoot hard for this wolf master!"
The core of Yizhi's strategy is to survive in the face of death. Although it violates the art of war, it is just right for the situation where one cannot lose and cannot escape, and the troops are only a fraction of the enemy's. Zheng Rong, who is well versed in the art of strange and regular tactics, watched the Turkic cavalry at the foot of the mountain merge and split, split and merge again, how could he miss this fleeting opportunity? He drew out his sword and ordered: "Direction due north, intensive shooting!"
After being silent for half a day, General Cui Nan finally stood up, waving a bright yellow flag in his hand, pointing directly at the Turkic soldiers at the foot of the mountain. The crossbowmen who had been lying in ambush behind the "Dangshi Camp" for a long time finally stood up, looked down from a high position, carefully aimed for a second and pulled the trigger. Without time to see if they had hit the target, they switched to another crossbow with arrows loaded in advance, and continued to aim and fire, repeating the cycle without a moment's pause.
Who was stringing the crossbow behind him? It was the cavalry who had just lured the enemy in. They climbed to the top of the mountain, rested for a while, and then dismounted to help the crossbowman string the arrows.
If the arrows fired by the Turkish archers were like rain, then the crossbow arrows fired by the Han crossbowmen from a high position were like hail. The combined forces of Piximi were about to concentrate their firepower to attack, but they were attacked by concentrated firepower at this pass, and a large area was swept away in an instant.
Seeing that the archers around him were terrified and had no time to aim and shoot, Viximius quickly ordered his troops to disperse and get out of the range of the crossbows before making further plans.
Unexpectedly, the heavy snow last night, after being exposed to the sun for half a day and trampled repeatedly by countless horses, had already become mushy, mixed with the bare mud in winter, forming a swamp. The horses that had traveled thousands of miles were trapped in the quagmire. The Turkic cavalry, who regarded the lives of their mounts as their own lives, could no longer hold back and whipped their beloved horses with whips. The war horses felt the pain and jumped up with all four hooves, but 30,000 horses were crowded together, and there were war horses running around everywhere, so how could they escape? So horses bumped into each other, and people trampled on each other, and it was immediately a mess. In the midst of this chaos, another rain of arrows fell, and a whole row of cavalry fell down like mowing grass.
Killing the enemy with a bow and arrow from a distance was not considered a heroic act on the grassland, but seeing the old enemy helplessly waiting to be slaughtered still made Dali very proud. It was obvious that the troops of the Viromele clan were getting fewer and fewer like cheese being sifted. Dali seemed to feel that the precious sword in the scabbard was eager to seek the bloody taste, so he tentatively asked Zheng Rong beside him: "My lord, I think, can we send the cavalry down?"
Zheng Rong carefully observed the battle situation at the foot of the mountain and replied, "Well, it's time. Please ask the Khan to lead one thousand cavalrymen to charge down from the right wing. I will shoot two more arrows and then go down to join the Khan. I hope the Khan will make a concerted effort and capture Bishimizu alive!"
After hearing this, Dali performed a respectful grassland etiquette, assembled his thousand knights, and went down the eastern slope of Mantou Mountain. He detoured about half a mile to the northwest, formed a cone-shaped assault formation, and then charged straight towards the chaotic Pisimi.
The surprise attack was not as easy as expected. Firstly, although the Pisimi army was badly damaged, it was still powerful. Secondly, the horses shot down by the crossbows inadvertently formed layers of obstacles, making it difficult for Dali's cavalry to break into the enemy camp. Dali Khan was furious when he saw this. He took the lead, jumped over several corpses, and rushed into the enemy camp with a steel knife in hand, stabbing and slashing left and right. Seeing that the Khan was still so eager to be the first, the warriors of the Ulin Yala clan had no reason not to fight for their lives, so they also rushed into the enemy camp and fought hard.
The two cavalry groups were like green beans and red beans scattered together. They had lost their formation and were fighting desperately based on their courage and instinct. Zheng Rong could see clearly from the mountain and saw that both sides were close to their limits. He called General Cui Nan, who had lost his patience, and ordered: "Charge!"
Cui Nan was waiting for the commander to say this, and waved the command flag in his hand with great excitement. The Dangshiying infantrymen who were originally distributed around Mantou Mountain abandoned their large shields and replaced them with fine steel swords. One hundred people lined up in a row, which was more than ten rows in total. Following the drum beats and marching in unison, they charged down the mountain.
Pissimus was an excellent commander. Just now, when Dali led the cavalry to attack from the flank, he was able to resist with the advantage of numbers. But when the heavy infantry of the Dangshi Camp on the mountain rushed down like a tidal wave, he immediately knew that the situation was not good. He hurriedly raised his long whip high and signaled the troops to disperse. But if Pissimus's army could disperse, it would have already dispersed. After being attacked by Dali for a while, it became more chaotic and began to trample on each other, resulting in countless casualties.
The neatly-organized "Dangshiying" square formation finally charged into the battlefield. The soldiers mechanically wielded sharp and tough machetes in their hands, and anyone who resisted stubbornly would be slashed in the head without explanation; if anyone rode a horse and tried to charge, the horse's legs would be cut off first, and the mount would throw him off, and then he would be slashed again. One by one, the soldiers turned into farmers harvesting wheat, and cut down the Turkic warriors who usually showed off their might on the grassland. The entire infantry square formation was like a ruthless meat grinder. No matter if you were the head of a household or a slave who was captured, if you dared to stand in the way, your only outcome would be broken bones and your head and body would be separated.
A corner of the vast white grassland turned into the Avici Hell.
The desperate and helpless screams mixed with the smell of blood in the air, and the broken limbs scattered on the snowy ground stimulated Qiu Yizi's tender nerves all the time. He could no longer control his throat. The delicious food he had feasted on last night came out like a boot shaft.
Zheng Rong watched from the side and thought to himself: Qiu Yizhi is so young, yet he can come up with such a brilliant plan. Although the details still need to be refined, he is still a rare war genius; but compared to his calm performance in the first battle, Yizhi is not as good as him. Thinking of this, Zheng Rong seemed to smile, and asked Zheng Miao and Yiran to take good care of Yizhi, while he led General Cui Nan and his cavalry to rush down the mountain.
The slaughter at the foot of the mountain continued, leaving only 4,000 to 5,000 wounded soldiers of the 30,000 elite soldiers that Bishimi was proud of and dominated the grassland, and this number was still decreasing. However, the decreasing number of people unexpectedly gave Bishimi some room to move around. However, the purpose of this freedom was not to fight with the enemy but to escape as soon as possible in order to make a comeback.
Pisimi organized his troops under extremely difficult circumstances, resisting Dali's attack while retreating to the north. Although Dali on the right wing took advantage of the chaos to charge into the enemy camp, he was outnumbered and exhausted, and was unable to stop Pisimi's retreat; the Dangshi Battalion in front was composed of infantry, and could not catch up with the speed of the war horses. Pisimi was about to escape.
At this time, a thousand cavalrymen from the left wing arrived at the right time and blocked Pisimi's retreat route. Together with the other two troops, they formed a big pocket with three sides surrounded and one side missing. Just as the pocket was about to close, a big man with a curly beard riding a snow-white camel broke out from the gap that was about to close and galloped towards the north of the grassland alone.
Zheng Rong, who was riding on his horse, could see the majestic figure clearly. He muttered to himself, "I have heard for a long time that there is a precious camel in Vishimi, with a body of snow-white and able to travel a thousand miles a day. It is indeed true."
There was a guard who also knew Bishimizu. He said to Zheng Rong, "Your Majesty, the man riding the camel in front is Bishimizu. I will use my crossbow to shoot him down."
Zheng Rong hurriedly stopped him and said, "He is carrying a strange object, so God will not kill him. Let him live, he will be useful in the future."
After hearing what Zheng Rong said, the guard nodded as if he understood and put away the crossbow.
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PS. The battle is over. I have simulated this in the game (Total War), and found that this method is feasible at normal difficulty, but it is very demanding on micromanagement and will also come at a heavy price. (To be continued)