In the seventh year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty and in the fifth year of Baodao in Liao Dynasty, March 17th is a good time to make a stove and go to office; it is forbidden to break ground or open a business.
At dawn, a burst of exciting drumming suddenly shattered the tranquility of this vast land known as the North China Plain a thousand years later, awakening the generals and soldiers of the Song and Liao armies from their sleep, who had been confronting each other for many days, and then He rushed out of the military tent in panic and looked towards the dark enemy camp ahead.
Sun Tu was also one of these people, but after suddenly waking up and running out of the tent, he quickly calmed down and headed towards the military camp far to the left with a serious expression. Sure enough, it was just as he thought. At this time, the gate of the Song Army stronghold on the other side had been opened wide. Tens of thousands of soldiers were forming groups, arranging in the most suitable formation to attack towards the Liao army ten miles away. The army camp was filled with killings. And the troops in front of them were now two or three miles away from the camp, and the encouraging drum beat was still lagging behind.
The same scene also happened in the right-wing camp of the Song Army. There were still tens of thousands of troops rushing forward with all their strength, killing the Liao Army as quickly as possible. But these two armies were not the vanguard of the Song army's surprise attack. The ones closest to the Liao army camp were actually two galloping cavalry teams, belonging to the Song Dynasty's cavalry regiment!
The Song Dynasty was short of horses. This was a fact that both the enemy and ourselves knew very well. Even if the imperial court valued them like the Forbidden Army, the number of cavalry in an army of more than 100,000 was very small, almost no more than 20,000. But the Western Army is an outlier among them. Due to its border with Xixia and the local geographical conditions, the Western Army is one of the few official armies of the Song Dynasty that can be equipped with an appropriate amount of cavalry. This is also the key to the Western Army's combat power surpassing the entire Song Dynasty army. .
This time, when ordered to carry out the Northern Expedition, 40% of the 100,000-strong Western Army were cavalry. These 40,000 cavalry were the most powerful and mobile troops in the entire Song Army. But now, with the sound of war drums, they have all devoted themselves to the assault on the Liao army. Moreover, when the sound of drums alerted both the enemy and ourselves, the two groups of cavalry rushing out from the left and right were only half the distance away from the Liao army camp. They had already crossed the five-mile distance and would soon be able to rush in. The unprepared Liao army captured the stronghold!
The desolate and loud horn sound also sounded at this moment, which encouraged the Western cavalry who were charging forward. They all whipped their horses with all their strength, making the horses under their crotches unreserved like an arrow. The ground sprinted up. Everyone was shouting loudly, swords in hand, and leaning slightly, making all preparations to confront the oncoming Liao army at any time, because they knew very well that as the commotion broke out, the Liao army would counterattack and block it. It will start immediately.
This dawn raid really caught many of our enemies and our enemies by surprise, and many generals still haven't recovered from the shock. Only a few insiders can understand Zhongshi Dao and Zhongshi Zhong's good intentions as the commander-in-chief of the Western Army suddenly issued the assault order on his own initiative.
Because they had no choice. Since they had agreed to launch the first battle against the Liao army as a vanguard army, they had to seize the best opportunity. Today is obviously the best time chosen by two veteran generals who have been fighting for many years. Then, since they had made a plan to raid, they no longer held back at all. Not only did they send out all the cavalry at once, but then the entire battalion attacked, throwing nearly 100,000 Western troops onto the battlefield.
this
What a courage and determination!
You know, even during the decisive battle, many generals did not dare to go all-out and devote all their troops to the battle. They are bound to have reservations, and may even send out only a small number of troops to test at first, to find the enemy's weak points, and then use all their strength to determine the outcome.
But in fact, this kind of tactics has too many disadvantages. As the saying goes, if the commander-in-chief of the army shows that he is helpless and does not dare to let go, how can the soldiers under his command do anything after encountering setbacks in the battle? With nothing else in mind, how about fighting to the death
Only those who have truly experienced a war will understand that a large-scale war often involves several years of preparation, several months of confrontation and testing, and a decisive battle in the last one or two days to determine the winner. Compared with the first two protracted periods, although this final decisive battle takes the least time, it is often the most critical. If the army at that time could not risk everything and let go, it would inevitably end in failure.
Of course, it is impossible for the two elders of the Zhong family to make such a mistake, and the constant testing of offense and defense these days has already allowed them to find out the reality of the Liao army, so at this time they dared to use all their subordinates to attack the Liao army in a surprise attack. The final battle.
Since it is inevitable, let me take the initiative in my own hands. What's more, they also believe that Sun Tu, who is in the Chinese Army, will help them at critical moments. Even if the two parties have only met twice, this trust cannot be compromised in the slightest.
Seeing the left and right armies rushing out like two giant dragons from a distance, Sun Tu could clearly feel the trust and expectation from them. This made his expression become more solemn instantly: "What a magnificent Western Army. After this battle, regardless of victory or defeat, it will be famous all over the world and remain in history forever!"
But many other people in the Chinese Army began to panic. With a series of chaotic calls, orders were issued, but no soldiers were sent out to follow up. Some people were even complaining and muttering: " What does this mean for the Western Army? Are they trying to grab credit? They sent out troops so suddenly without even asking Commander Tong for instructions... "
When he heard these words, Sun Tu couldn't help but frown, and then looked at Tong Guan who was also walking out of the tent not far away, but after all, he couldn't tell his thoughts from his unwavering expression. Perhaps he had already expected this change. After all, when he used those wounded soldiers as conditions, he should have thought that the Western Army would firmly hold the main offensive power in his hands. I just don't know if he regrets his previous decision now. After all, this decisive battle is obviously going to be earlier than he expected.
After standing still for a long time, Tong Guancai suddenly shouted: "Why are you panicking? Order the entire army to strictly guard the military stronghold first, and then mobilize troops and horses to advance to respond. The success or failure of our Northern Expedition in the Song Dynasty depends on this. If we win this battle, we can go straight to Youyou." State, a hundred years of great achievements are at your fingertips!”
With his shouts, the originally chaotic military camp suddenly became silent. With the loud command of the soldiers, the more than 100,000 troops in the village began to make corresponding preparations. However, it is not clear what those generals are thinking and whether they have the courage to respond in time when problems arise in the war ahead.
And when the Chinese army here began to return to normal,
On the battlefield seven or eight miles away, the first wave of contact between the Liao and Song armies had also begun.
The Liao army was indeed caught off guard by the Western Army's attack, and even allowed the enemy to advance into its own warning range before being able to intercept it - the two armies were ten miles apart, so they defaulted to the fact that the first five miles of each army were on guard for both sides. In the past, most of the probing encounters took place in this area, and it was rare for large groups of troops to break into the enemy camp seven or eight miles away.
But after all, the Liao army was composed of elites. Even if they were attacked, their reaction was not slow. In fact, before the cavalry rushed to the camp, they were still more than two miles away, and they quickly sent out several lines of cavalry to intercept them. At the same time, tens of thousands of infantry were dispatched, but instead of facing them directly, they formed formations and outflanked them from the left and right. They actually planned to completely surround and annihilate the two Song Army cavalry who broke into the formation!
In the Liao army camp, drums sounded like raindrops, and countless flags were waving. One army after another was waiting in formation, just waiting for an order, and they would quickly join the next battle. . It can also be seen from this that although the Liao army has declined and is not as good as before, under the command of generals such as Yelu Xiongge and Yelu Dashi, they can still make the most correct response in the shortest time to deal with the response. A series of battles followed.
Unlike Yelu Xiongge, who was solemn and solemn at this time, and kept ordering troops to surround the Song army, Yelu Dashi looked a little relaxed at this time, with a strange smile on his lips: "In this way, our army is more certain to win. Two more points!" As he said that, he looked ahead in the distance, looking at the Song Army's Central Army Dazhai where the troops were still stationary, and he smiled even more happily.
"Kill!" Two miles in front of the camp, the sudden burst of killing sounds instantly made Yelu Dashi's smile fade. The decisive battle finally broke out!
The Western Army cavalry who charged in with all their strength and the Liao Army cavalry who left the camp collided head-on. Without any communication, they started fighting with their weapons. One side ran a long distance to attack and was fully prepared, but the other side fought hastily. As soon as the battle began, it showed an astonishing one-sided attitude.
The Liao army, which has been famous for its cavalry for many years, was instantly at a disadvantage when encountering the Western cavalry. In just one encounter, dozens of the leaders were killed. But this was not able to stop the Song Army's momentum at all. After breaking through the first interception, they continued to speed straight towards the military camp.
Fortunately, the second and third lines of defense of the Liao army followed suit. At the same time, the infantry phalanx on the side was close to within a hundred steps of the enemy. With loud orders, dense arrows were fired. The rain poured from the left and right on the heads of the Song army who were still fighting with the Liao cavalry in front.
Suddenly, screams continued to sound from within the Song Army's cavalry. Some people fell off their horses and some were stabbed. The momentum of this drum was actually dampened. At this time, the scene in front of the Liao army camp looked a little confusing, because this was different from any previous attack and defense. The Liao army, which was supposed to focus on cavalry assault, actually used the Song army's defensive formation, and the Song army But in turn he became the surprise attacker.
At this time, the main gate of the Liao army's camp also burst open, and a cavalry numbering in the tens of thousands, fully armored, rushed out like an unchained evil dragon, urged by a burst of surging drums. The ground met the Western cavalry forward!