There were few villages or houses on the bank of the Zhen River behind the forest. At this time, thousands of Zhou army soldiers emerged from the forest, and the scene was strange. People rushed to the camp behind in a disorderly manner.
There were undulating mountains on both sides, and only this stretch of river beach was relatively open. In the wilderness, the beach was even more noisy. There were many camps and towers.
After the enemy's infantry and cavalry chased out of the forest, they did not pursue us rashly.
But after a while, some huge creatures suddenly emerged one after another from the edge of the woods at the foot of the mountain. The soldiers in the Zhou army camp all craned their necks to watch in surprise.
A strange giant creature called out. The Zhou army soldiers in the camp finally recognized that it was an elephant.
The elephant was not an ordinary elephant. It was caught from nowhere. It was huge and covered in iron armor. It carried a tower-like thing on its back with a person sitting on it. Although the elephant walked slowly, it was covered with iron and sharp spears, as if it was invulnerable to swords and spears. It looked very scary.
On both sides and behind each elephant were infantrymen holding swords and shields in front and archers in the back, following the elephants. Those huge war elephants were like warships in the sea of people and also like armored army clusters, with infantrymen forming battle groups around the war elephants.
Dozens of war elephants emerged from the forest one after another, followed by the Southern Han infantry and cavalry, and they attacked the Zhou army's camps scattered on the river beach.
The Southern Han army gradually approached with a strange formation of war elephants. For a moment, the open ground seemed as if a torrent was slowly flowing over. The cries of elephants, the voices of people and the neighing of horses resounded through the mountains, and this desolate wilderness was very lively.
The war elephants deployed horizontally and the infantry holding thick wooden shields gradually advanced within 200 steps. Neither side had yet fired long-range weapons, but the soldiers of the Southern Han Kingdom on the war elephants had already prepared their bows and crossbows. The huge monsters were like moving arrow towers, unstoppable.
Soon, some pennant flags planted on the ground were knocked down by the approaching infantry of the Southern Han Army.
At this time, the sound of wood rubbing against each other could be heard from the Zhou army camp, as the men pulled the hemp ropes on the catapults. Many boulders were thrown out from the catapults.
The round stone was thrown very accurately and exactly at the attacking position of the Southern Han army, because the range had been marked in advance.
Boom! Suddenly there was a loud noise, a flash of fire appeared in the air, and the smoke suddenly exploded. The round stone actually exploded in the air.
A moment later, explosions continued to sound, with stone cannons exploding in the air or on the ground, with stone pieces flying everywhere and smoke filling the air. The attacking army of the Southern Han Kingdom was immediately struck by lightning, and panicked and confused.
The war elephants were so scared that they turned around and ran away. The drivers on them could not control the frightened elephants at all. The elephants turned around and rushed to the Southern Han army's infantry and cavalry that followed closely behind. At this time, except for the cavalry, the army was basically very dense to maintain its combat effectiveness. The elephants rushed into the crowd. They were huge, made of iron, and had sharp spears like hedgehogs. How could the Southern Han army stop them? The elephants avoided them and their formation was in chaos.
After a round of stone cannon blasts, they soon stopped. Then they threw real stones. According to the method of the Beiyuan Firearms Workshop in Tokyo, people had to drill holes in the stones to hollow out the inside, but it was not easy as there were very few shells.
But the Southern Han army had been disrupted by its own war elephants.
At this time, the fence gate between the camps was lowered with a bang. The neatly-armored infantry inside heard the gongs and drums and the flags were raised, and they ran out in a column.
The front troops caught up with the Southern Han rebels with spears, swords and shields, killing anyone they saw. The crossbowmen and firearms soldiers behind them changed their columns into three rows and moved forward.
The battlefield was filled with people and horses, shouting and shouting, and people were everywhere. The land here was moist and the vegetation was good, so many people rushed together, but there was no dust; but the air was filled with smoke from the explosion of stone cannons.
Behind the Zhou army, some people actually played cymbals. The exciting music was accompanied by screams of fear. The scene on the battlefield was very strange.
The Zhou army in front and the Southern Han army were in a chaotic battle. The machetes and spears of the Southern Han soldiers stabbed into the Zhou army's plate armor, making clanging sounds, and some of them pierced through the hard leather armor between four plates, causing screams of pain. Few Zhou soldiers died, most of them were injured.
At this moment, the military music stopped, and the thick copper instruments were tinkling. The Zhou soldiers in front turned around and retreated. Some were so nervous that they didn't hear it, but when they saw their comrades running away, they turned around and ran too. The chaotic soldiers retreated from the empty space in the middle of the horizontal column.
At this time, the crossbowmen in the horizontal column were also ready. The crackling sound of the strings could be heard everywhere. The Southern Han army suffered countless casualties and fled in a mess. The Zhou army's columns advanced from time to time, and stopped from time to time to fire volleys. The firearms and crossbows of each commander fired alternately, and the air was filled with white smoke.
A large group of Zhou army infantry pursued to the foot of the mountain. At this time, all the attacking troops of the Southern Han army collapsed and ran into the woods.
A messenger with a red triangular flag on his back rode over on horseback, shouting to the commanders at various locations: "Order from the Central Army: Stop the pursuit, and do not enter the forest!"
The army in the camp was cheering and it was very lively.
The civil and military officials around Cao Bin were congratulating him. Prime Minister Li Gu said with a smile: "General Cao is worthy of being appointed by His Majesty to lead a group of new soldiers. A few months ago, they were holding hoes, but now they have picked up weapons and can defeat the main reinforcements of the Southern Han Kingdom. I admire you very much."
Cao Bin politely bowed and said: "Your Majesty has given us excellent equipment, and Lord Li has transported sufficient food and fodder for military supplies. I dare not take credit for it. I joined the army during the Later Han Dynasty. These armors and weapons were not necessarily equipped by elite soldiers in the past."
The staff said: Marshal Cao sent people into the forest in advance, it turned out to be a trick to lure the enemy
Cao Bin did not comment.
At this time, a group of generals in front entered the tent and started arguing. Someone patted his chest and said loudly: If the central army doesn't tell us to retreat, we must take advantage of the victory to attack Shaozhou!
Another person said: Let's not talk about attacking Shaozhou, breaking through this mountain, setting up camp behind the mountain and approaching Shaozhou will definitely be correct.
Cao Bin was over 30 years old, with a pale face and very elegant manner. He was often praised as a Confucian general. He was not angry at the complaints of his subordinates, but said seriously: "It is reported that the Southern Han army has sent reinforcements in Shaozhou. The mountains ahead are high and the forests are dense. The central army has not yet taken control of the situation. It is a taboo for military strategists to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly."
The staff immediately agreed: Cao Gong's words make sense. Shaozhou does not produce elephants. The elephant soldiers of the Southern Han Kingdom obtained war elephants from the Wu Dynasty of Dali Annan. Only the imperial guards of the capital city had them. Now they appeared in Shaozhou. Just as Cao Gong expected, the Southern Han Kingdom sent its main reinforcements.
The military officers paused for a moment after their noisy conversation, stunned by what was said.
Li Gu then said: This battle was a great victory, Cao Gong can write a letter to report the victory and ask for credit.
Cao Bin glanced at the civilian officials behind him and said, "I will report the truth. We have won a great victory, but have not made any substantial progress. Firstly, the Southern Han Kingdom has sent in reinforcements, and secondly, there is miasma in the south, and many soldiers are sick, which has greatly reduced our strength."
Li Gu frowned and was worried: "The miasma is really difficult to deal with. I brought a lot of medicinal herbs and gave them to the healing camp, but there was no improvement."
People in the Central Plains are indeed very afraid of the miasma in the south.
In the past, during the Han and Tang dynasties, the south was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, but officials least wanted to serve in the Southern Han Dynasty, as it was considered a loss of favor and exile. Many people who came here to serve as officials died due to malaria.
There was an imperial physician sent by the Taichang Temple in the army, who believed that the miasma was extremely terrible, and made Cao Bin and other soldiers in the main camp very worried.
Under the arrangement of the imperial physician and the military doctor, the sick were separated into camps for treatment. In addition to following the medical books, they also found local doctors to treat them with herbal medicine. Some of the patients were cured, while others got worse.
After Yu Liang escaped from the forest, he fell ill. That night, he had malaria and cold sweats all over his body. He was immediately sent to the wounded camp. The Kaifeng command was in the worst condition. They were defeated in the woods, with hundreds of casualties, and more people fell ill one after another. The entire command basically lost its combat effectiveness.
Yu Liang was lying in a makeshift straw hut, surrounded by the smell of realgar fumigation and thick smoke. He could also hear the sounds of vomiting and groaning. He was in a very bad mood.
He didn't expect that fighting was like this. It was completely different from what was written in poems such as "A man will not return until Loulan is conquered, why doesn't he take Wu Gou with him" and so on. It was not so poetic at all. What happened to Yu Liang after the expedition: he walked and walked, and walked for thousands of miles. Then he heard that Xiongzhou was captured, so he walked over again. Then he led his men to dig trenches and build walls in the wilderness. He had just lined up to march forward, but he didn't even get a good look at the enemy soldiers before he ran back in embarrassment.
Then he fell ill and was sent to lie down in this shabby place.
Many people in the Zhou army were sick, but they did not retreat because many of them were cured by the treatment of the imperial doctors and local doctors. It was said to be miasma, but it was curable anyway.
But Yu Liang's condition did not improve. He lay on the broken bed every day, and no one came to see him. The soldiers he was familiar with were not allowed to enter the healing camp. Yu Liang felt that his health was getting worse and worse. He felt weak all over and it was a bit difficult to get up. He couldn't help but wonder if he would die of illness in this broken place.
After all, he was a scholar. Yu Liang was now doubting whether he had chosen the wrong career. He was not suitable for martial arts at all, but he could not pass the imperial examination even if he studied literature.
Now he could only wait for death in depression, his despair deepening bit by bit.
The Zhou army made slow progress and almost stopped attacking. After the last battle, there was no news of any movement from the Southern Han army. After a few days, Yu Liang was still not getting better, so he was pulled out of the camp with a bullock cart and sent to Xiongzhou. Many people were sent away with him by the militia.