***
On the night of the third day of the Lunar New Year, heavy fog fell from the sky. Jiao Lian of Yongzhou seized this rare opportunity, led his troops across the river, and launched an attack on Liu Tichun's troops on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River at five o'clock in the morning.
Although Liu Tichun was prepared, the fog was too thick. Even with torches, he could not see the scenery a few steps away in such horrible weather. He could not detect the enemy situation at all, and it was extremely difficult to command the army. He could only barely mobilize the troops through gongs and drums.
Jiao Lian was well prepared for this. He ordered his men to bring gongs and drums and disperse around the Qin army camp to beat them violently, making it difficult for the Qin army to distinguish each other, so as to disrupt the Qin army's command system.
At the same time, Jiao Lian also prepared a large number of firecrackers and set them off in large quantities. The crackling sound of the firecrackers made the Qin army camp seem like a boiling pot, which not only made the fog thicker, but also made many Qin soldiers mistakenly think that it was the sound of gunfire.
In this situation, the soldiers could not find their generals, and the generals could not command the soldiers, and the scene was extremely chaotic.
The Guangxi soldiers approached the Qin army camp and fired a large number of rockets. At the same time, they sneaked up to the wall of the camp and blew it down with explosives, and then swarmed in from all directions.
The Qin army used thunder bombs to bomb, causing heavy casualties in Jiao Lian, but the heavy fog concealed the tragic scene and failed to deter the subsequent enemy troops. The enemy still swarmed in and eventually broke into the Qin army camp.
The choking smoke and thick fog made it difficult to distinguish between friend and foe a few steps away, and the two sides soon turned into a big melee, and it was even common for one side to accidentally cut itself. After the Guangxi soldiers rushed into the camp, they set fire wantonly, making the camp even more chaotic.
"Form a formation! Form a formation!" Sergeant Li Changqing shouted while swinging his sword. Upon hearing the order, his soldiers quickly gathered around him and formed a small circle. They used shields to block the outside and used spears to pierce the enemies rushing towards them through the gaps.
This is the difference between being well-trained and poorly trained. The Qin army was in disarray but not broken. More and more of them formed small circular formations in squads, causing great damage to the enemy troops that rushed in.
But as more and more of the Qin army's tents were set on fire, even the food and grass stored in the camp were set on fire. This naturally led to a large number of Qin troops fleeing.
But due to the heavy fog and the thick smoke, the enemy attacked from all sides. In the melee between the two sides, you couldn't even tell the direction. Even if you wanted to escape, you didn't know where to escape.
There were a lot of similar scenes. Many Qin soldiers wanted to escape, but chose the wrong direction. When they fled, they found that the enemy was increasing in number, so they could only swing their swords desperately. In fact, they launched a counterattack against Jiao Lian's troops.
This was the case with Li Changqing's squad. The more they charged, the more enemies they found. Soldier Li Dashi stabbed and killed them while shouting, "Sergeant, did you go in the wrong direction? Why are there more and more enemies?"
"Kill!" Wu Dong beside him suddenly raised his shield to block the enemy's sword, then slashed with his right sword, knocking the enemy to the ground. He screamed, "Go over there quickly, there are fewer people over there."
Sergeant Li Changqing had an arrow on his left arm, and the battle was still going on. He needed to keep shouting so that his brothers could hear his voice at any time and not be scattered. "Don't worry about it. Damn it, killing one will pay for itself, killing two will make a profit, brothers, listen to me, don't get separated, charge!"
Since I can't escape even if I want to, I'll just fight.
At this time, Jiao Lian's troops also lost their unified command. The two sides fought in a melee, with each side fighting against the other. Everyone became blind.
In the chaos, there were countless Qin troops like Li Changqing who were retreating or charging in squads. Although everyone was panicking, they needed brothers more in such a situation.
The Qin army often conducted such training, with special emphasis on the unity and cooperation of the squads and teams. During normal charges, other armies would rush forward in a swarm without paying any attention to formations, but the Qin army always emphasized that even during a charge, the squads must remain in order.
This is especially true in today's situation, where the large army is in chaos, but most of the soldiers in each squad can gather around the squad leader. No matter how small the group is, as long as there is a commander and someone to rely on, it can exert its due combat effectiveness.
This was something Jiao Lian had never expected. In this attack, he only had 4,000 men crossing the river, while the Qin army had three times as many men as him. In the melee between the two sides, the casualties were almost the same.
After heavy losses, Jiao Lian's troops became fewer and fewer. When they wanted to retreat, the result was the same as that of the Qin army who wanted to escape at the beginning. After fighting in the dense fog for a long time, they had already lost their way.
All I could hear was the sound of fighting all around, and a vast expanse of white. I couldn't tell friend from foe, or which side to follow. I wanted to retreat, but I didn't know which way to retreat, so I could only fight my way through.
It was chaos, total chaos. Even the personal soldiers of Qin army commander Liu Tichun were reduced to only 20 or 30 people. The fog was thick and the sounds of killing were like ghosts howling and wolves howling. There were shadows of people everywhere and every tree and grass was an enemy. One could only hear swords clashing and people screaming, but could not see the people. The personal soldiers of Liu Tichun were still decreasing. Most of them were not killed in battle, but were lost in the fog because they could not keep up.
Liu Tichun was known as the "Flying Tiger" in the Dashun Army. He wielded a goose-feather sword like thunder and lightning, and almost no enemy could stand up to him.
"Kill!" He kept roaring. Now he finally understood why Guangdong and Guangxi had been difficult to conquer since ancient times. It was not because the army here was brave and good at fighting, but the key was the terrain and weather here, which made it impossible to defend against them.
Such thick fog is the biggest nemesis of a large army. Even if you are the commander-in-chief of an army, the only people you can command at this time are just a few people around you.
A long spear came stabbing out from the fog on the opposite side, bringing with it a sharp sound of gust of wind. Liu Tichun swung out with the goose-feather knife in his hand, chopping the enemy's spear to the side. His iron armor clanged, and he rushed forward. The knife flashed like lightning, chopping the head of the armed enemy guerrilla flying, and the blood sprayed on him like a bloody man.
"Protect Master Wang." Liu Tichun shouted to the soldiers behind him while fighting.
This battle in the fog was blinding. Wang Fuzhi, a Hanlin scholar who was accompanying the army, was also implicated. Several personal soldiers protected him tightly. Wang Fuzhi's official hat fell off, his hair was disheveled, and he was staggering. If it weren't for the personal soldiers who desperately protected him, he would have died many times.
Liu Tichun waved his sword wildly and rushed to the periphery. At this time, he, as the commander, was powerless. In the chaos of the two sides, he couldn't even see the people clearly, and had no way to command the army. He could only fight his way out first.
Dang! He was so brave that he blocked the enemy's sword again. "Kill!" He shouted like thunder, knocking the enemy to the ground with lightning speed. Another burst of blood spurted out, almost blinding his eyes.
He reached out his hand to wipe the blood off his face and rushed forward again. At this moment, a stray arrow suddenly flew out of the mist and pierced through his face with a "puff" sound.
"Ah!" Liu Tichun let out a long cry, and his burly body fell on his back and landed on the ground with a loud bang.
"Marshal!"
"Marshal!"
The bodyguards screamed and rushed forward, only to see blood oozing out of Liu Tichun's face. His entire face was blurred with blood. Only the shaft of the stray arrow was left exposed, which was shocking.
Wang Fuzhi was also shocked. Liu Tichun, as the commander of the army, was in trouble. This was a fatal matter. If he didn't handle it well, the army of more than 10,000 would be wiped out.
"Marshal! You can't die!"
"Great Marshal!"
"Shut up!" Wang Fuzhi rushed forward to feel Liu Tichun's breath, and responded quickly. He shouted at the crying soldiers around him, and then shouted: "The Marshal is fine! The Marshal is fine! Quick. Protect the Marshal and get out!"
He shouted and asked his men to carry Liu Tichun on their backs and charge out. The stray arrow that hit Liu Tichun was obviously not intentional by the enemy. Because no one could see each other clearly a few steps away, there was no way to choose a target.
No one knew who shot the stray arrow, but Liu Tichun was destined to suffer this disaster as he was shot in the face. His personal soldiers were extremely sad and angry, and they risked their lives to rush out with his body on their backs.
Fortunately, due to the heavy fog, the enemy and ours were indistinguishable, and there was chaos everywhere. In addition, Wang Fuzhi reacted quickly, so no one knew that Liu Tichun was shot.
The Qin army still followed the habit developed from their usual training, and tried their best to gather together in groups of five to fight fiercely, killing everyone in sight.
The melee lasted for an hour until the sun came out and the fog gradually dissipated, and both sides stopped fighting.
Jiao Lian's troops had intended to launch a surprise attack, but as a result, 2,100 of the 4,000 troops crossing the river suffered heavy casualties.
The Qin army also suffered thousands of casualties, but most of the tents were burned down, and most of the food and grass were also burned. The remaining food was not enough to sustain two days of food.
What was even more terrible was that the commander Liu Tichun had been shot to death. Wang Fuzhi ordered his personal soldiers to carry Liu Tichun's body into a forest and did not dare to make it public.
He knew very well that at this time, the commander-in-chief was most needed to calm the soldiers. If Liu Tichun did not show up for a long time, the soldiers would definitely become suspicious. Once the news was known to the soldiers, no one could predict the consequences.
At this moment, Wang Fuzhi was most correct in keeping Liu Tichun's death a secret. As soon as the battle stopped, he immediately asked his personal soldiers to find Xie Zhongheng, the chief of the army, and generals above the rank of guerrilla commander in the army, and called them to the woods to discuss countermeasures.
When these senior generals entered the woods and learned that their commander Liu Tichun was dead, they were all shocked.
In this fierce battle, although the Qin army suffered less casualties than Jiao Lian, their camps were destroyed and their food supplies were burned. This was already a great defeat. In addition, their commander was killed. What could the Qin army do
Wang Fuzhi said to all the generals: "Now is a critical moment. As generals, you must not panic. You must be responsible for pacifying the soldiers. Although the enemy does not know that Marshal Liu died in the battle, our army's food and grass have been burned, and morale has been greatly damaged. Jiao Lian will definitely take the opportunity to launch a large-scale attack. If you cannot quickly pacify the soldiers, the consequences will be disastrous."
Guerrilla General Li Tianzhao asked: "The truth cannot be hidden. If Marshal Liu doesn't show up at this time, the soldiers will definitely be uneasy."
Wang Fuzhi said, "It's up to you. What I mean is to have someone wear Marshal Li's armor so that the soldiers can see him from afar. You have to cooperate with the worship so that the soldiers will believe that Marshal Liu is still here."
Xie Zhongheng, the deputy chief of the army, said, "What Wang Xueshi said makes sense. Let's do this. Du Ping, you will immediately take people to Quanzhou and inform Deputy Commander Qin to come back and take over the command of the army."
“Yes!”
Du Ping led twenty cavalrymen and immediately galloped away...
****************************
ps: The last three days of October, please vote for me, please vote for me, please vote for me!
.(To be continued..)
...