The commander of Dangtu is a fool. Li Chuyun said suddenly after riding along the river bank for a while.
Looking to the other side, Zhang Lingduo was seen stretching his arms on horseback, and with his posture, a knight in front of him who was carrying a horse fell off his horse. A large group of Southern Tang cavalry had just arrived and turned around and fled eastward in panic. From a distance, it looked like a group of frightened ants running around, with dense crowds in the middle and sparse crowds around.
The sun had just risen from the eastern horizon, and the autumn wilderness in the south was still green. There was no smoke on the cold weapon battlefield, and no one set fire. Li Chuyun was watching the battle on the south bank. He was far away, so he could not smell the blood or see the fighting. Even the shouting of the people was faint, and he could only hear the noise around him.
Come here, tell Zhang Lingduo the message, Li Chuyun shouted.
After hearing this, a civilian aide nearby called over a young general, who soon brought two messengers.
Li Chuyun then said: Two things. First, tell Zhang Lingduo's cavalry to stop the pursuit, withdraw to the east, and gather more cavalry. Li Chuyun looked out and saw a large group of Southern Tang infantry lining up to reinforce this side. Second, let Zhang Lingduo designate a general as the formation commander to organize the infantry that crossed the river to resist the enemy's counterattack.
The civil official then asked the two messengers to repeat the military order each time without writing it down, and directly ordered them to cross the river.
After Guo Shao worked out a simplified version of the messenger system, he received strong praise from Wang Pu, and it was quickly promoted from the Privy Council to almost the entire Imperial Guards. This method was also relatively tight and had few loopholes under the war mode at the time, and most importantly, it was simple and convenient, and was quickly recognized and accepted by the generals.
The messengers are personal soldiers sent by generals at all levels. They know each other and are not likely to be deliberately misled by the enemy. Moreover, the personnel of the messenger system need to be replaced from time to time; this eliminates the unstable intermediate links and makes the method simple and efficient.
Routine orders were dictated directly, but important military orders needed to be written down and sealed and filed. Civil servants sent by the Privy Council were responsible for managing the filing of written military orders, and they were numbered individually to make it easier to hold military commanders accountable in the future.
Then Guo Shao designed this system in a hierarchical way. In Guo Shao's strategic-level central army headquarters, there were personal soldiers sent by generals such as Li Chuyun, Han Tong, Luo Yanhuan, and Gao Yanchou. Guo Shao only needed to pass on his intentions to these generals to control the entire battle; and generals of Li Chuyun's level had deputy general-level messengers around them, so as to control the battlefield tactically; the military commanders also had a system at the level of the captain, which further refined the use of tactics.
Now in Zhou Jun’s command system, even if there are hundreds of thousands of people, Guo Shao can indirectly control the movements of first-level units.
The civil servant beside Li Chuyun was from the Jiangnan Front Camp Military Office. He was mainly here to assist Li Chuyun in confirming the written records of the Central Army's military orders. Of course, he also secretly monitored the execution of the generals. The civil servant was originally a minor official in the Privy Council and had only recently joined the temporary military office.
When Li Chuyun saw the civil servant coming back, he asked: What is the name of the commander of Dangtu City
The civil servant blurted out: The commander is Yang Shou, and the military supervisor is Sun Zhen.
These two are fools. Li Chuyun said bluntly, if I were Yang Shou, I would hide my troops in places where they might cross the river, and wait for the enemy to cross the river, and then attack the unprepared with the prepared, and use offense instead of defense.
It would have been fine if Yang Shou hadn't thought of this method, but he actually squeezed his troops together like this, and then hurriedly patched up the gaps when we were crossing the river. Did he foresee that our army would definitely cross the river from multiple places
The civil official bowed and said: If the Southern Tang army used only wise men, how could Lord Li dare to march straight into this place
After hearing this, Li Chuyun stroked his thick black beard and couldn't help laughing: I looked at the fortifications of Dangtu City and had no intention of attacking this city. But now it seems that since the enemy general is so incompetent, we might as well give it a try.
At this time, the Southern Tang army infantrymen who came to reinforce from the other side began to reorganize their ranks from a distance, forming square formations and approaching this side. Li Chuyun ignored them and hurried to the west of Linjiang and crossed the Guxi River by boat. The navy on the Yangtze River dispatched boats to build a floating bridge on the Guxi River. The river was narrow in some places, so it would not take too long to use boats to build a simple floating bridge.
Zhang Lingduo on the eastern battlefield received the military order from Li Chuyun. Most generals did not dare to resist such a clear order, so they withdrew their troops and marched towards Li Chuyun.
The infantry combat deployment on the river bank has been completed, Li Chuyun asked.
Zhang Lingduo said: The commander-in-chief of the First Army is originally the vanguard commander. I will follow Lord Li’s military order and make him the formation commander to lead the riverside infantry to form a battle formation.
Very good. Li Chuyun said, the Nan Tang garrison troops rushed to fight, and they are no match for my elite guards in the frontal battle; wait a minute, the infantry will defeat their reinforcements, and the defeated troops will flee to the central camp of the Nan Tang army. Tell the vanguard generals to follow them and take the opportunity to attack the front of the main force of the Nan Tang army. Tell him not to worry about the lack of troops, just do what I say, I will take care of it.
After Li Chuyun finished speaking, he turned around and looked at the civil servant from the military office. The civil servant was also knowledgeable and immediately helped Li Chuyun find someone to convey the military order.
Li Chuyun looked at Zhang Lingduo again: You are the commander of the cavalry on the north bank. When the vanguard approaches the Southern Tang army camp, lead the main force of the cavalry to attack their flanks and rear, and try to break through their formation with lightning speed.
Zhang Lingduo clasped his fists and said: I understand your command.
Li Chuyun looked around and pointed at a general and said, "Chen Mu, after your troops cross the river, gather 200 cavalrymen and stand by. Once the main force of the Southern Tang army is defeated and retreats to the west gate of Dangtu City, you will approach the city gate from the north, seize the opportunity, and hold on until help comes."
Chen Mu clasped his fists and said: I have obeyed your command.
Li Chuyun asked everyone around him if they understood what he was going to do, and several people responded.
After giving the order, Li Chuyun ordered a military commander to reorganize the troops at the ferry, and he rode eastward on horseback. His personal guards followed him carrying a tall red flag so that they could be easily seen when the generals sent people to look for the commander.
At this time, drums and trumpets sounded in the distance, which were the movements of the Southern Tang army. Li Chuyun's troops were still on the south bank of Guxi River, and they were busy mobilizing troops and horses. Those sundries had not yet been delivered to the front line. The Zhou army seemed to have stopped fighting, and it seemed that the troops were running around everywhere, but in fact they were busy executing their own military orders.
Li Chuyun and his companions rode for a while and saw the scene on the battlefield. There were dense black dots in the sky, which were arrows flying. The closer Li Chuyun got, the louder the noise became. The clanging of metal and the neighing of horses and men buzzed in his ears. The two armies were already in close combat, with perhaps two to three thousand people in total. Some square formations were scattered like neatly piled sand piles that had been kicked. There were rushes and battles in various places, and the space between the square formations had become blurred.
As Li Chuyun expected, the fighting power of the Southern Tang Army was obviously inferior to that of the Zhou Army's imperial guards, and the hastily mobilized troops were insufficient, so they were no match at all. After a while, the Southern Tang Army collapsed due to the slightest casualties in front, and then led the various square formations to turn around and run away. Li Chuyun had fought many battles, and this scene was too familiar.
Once too many people were running, people would follow. The Southern Tang army was defeated, and most people followed the crowd and ran to their own camps in the east. A few marginal people ran for their lives, throwing away their armor and weapons along the way, and the deserters just ran wildly. The Zhou army infantry chased and killed the defeated soldiers who ran slowly, but they still couldn't catch up with the majority of the defeated soldiers. Those people threw away all their burdens and ran for their lives, running very fast.
However, Li Chuyun did not order the large number of cavalry to expand the victory, but only let the infantry slowly follow the defeated soldiers to pursue the main force of the Southern Tang Army. Li Chuyun, Zhang Lingduo and others also followed with their troops.
People were busy on both sides of the Guxi River, and the sun had already risen to the middle of the sky. The bodies lying on the field under the sun were basking in the sun, giving off a very strong smell of blood, which was completely different from the smell of fish and was even more unpleasant.
A large number of defeated soldiers in the distance ran towards the camp of the Southern Tang Army. The front was full of defeated soldiers, and the square formation of the Southern Tang Army could not be in a hurry to shoot their own people. There were relatively large gaps between the square formations. At first, it was okay, and the defeated soldiers retreated back to the camp through the gaps. But soon they could not control it. The defeated soldiers coming from behind were being chased and killed, and they ran into the camp in panic. Because the infantry square formation was a rectangular horizontal formation in a static defense state, in order to increase the long-range attack surface, the horizontal surface of the large formation was very wide; the defeated soldiers rushed over, and the enemy shot arrows from behind, so they had no time to bypass the gaps in the square formation. They squeezed straight into the square formation. At this time, no one in the Southern Tang Army ordered to attack to stop the defeated soldiers, and they were slow to react.
The Zhou army's pursuers were also in disarray, but they easily took the opportunity to rush to the front of the Southern Tang army. The two armies mixed together and soon engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
Li Chuyun turned around and shouted: Zhang Lingduo, what are you waiting for
Zhang Lingduo was already impatient, because Li Chuyun was waiting for him to speak. As soon as he finished speaking, he rode out of the queue and shouted: Brothers, follow me, it's time for us to go into battle!
There was a sudden roar of horse hooves, and a large group of cavalry began to move out, gradually entering a jogging state. The dark mass of people surged towards the north side of the Southern Tang Army like a tide, and soon approached the enemy camp; the Southern Tang Army's flanks shot arrows randomly, and the neighing of horses echoed in the air. From time to time, knights fell off their horses. But this little casualty could not stop the Zhou army's cavalry from charging. The cavalry in the front rushed very fast, and the no-man's land between the two armies was quickly swallowed up at a visible speed.
There were crackling sounds of strings and shouts of "kill, kill, kill" in the air, making the space between heaven and earth even more noisy.