The sound of artillery fire stopped from time to time, but the sound of fighting never stopped.
The heavy infantry of the Third Army on the gentle slope to the east shouted loudly, like a dam to block the onslaught of thousands of people. The mortars could not stop the attack of the human sea. The two armies were in a stalemate, the sound of killing was deafening, the hillside was covered with corpses, and the wounded were crying and shouting to the sky.
Behind the coalition forces, more enemy soldiers rushed into the front, and Xu's army fought to the death. The staff of the Qianying Military Office shouted in the army: The foundation of the dynasty was built by the blood of the sons and daughters.
The spring breeze passed over the continuous ravines and the boiling battlefield. The wind carried the smell of blood and people's shouts. Guo Shao's heart was tense, and his palms holding the hilt were sweaty. The wet touch reminded him of his hands full of blood. He couldn't help but blurt out: The great cause of the empire does not rely only on weapons, the spirit of the Han family will last forever.
Wang Pu and Li Chuyun were both nearby. When Li Chuyun heard this, he bowed and said: “It is all because of the loyalty of the officers and men to Your Majesty, which can be witnessed by the sun and the moon.”
At this moment, the enemy cavalry in the distance finally moved, and a large herd of horses slowly surged from the hillside and valley towards the north of Xu's army camp.
To the north, on the right wing of the Xu army. At this time, the elite cavalry of the Xu army's first army was deployed to the west behind the infantry formation. The movement of the coalition cavalry was to prepare for a flank attack to assist the front infantry. The two armies were in a stalemate on the front. The conventional way to break the deadlock in the battle formation was to deploy new forces.
Gun smoke filled the mountains, and the rumbling of horses in the north kicked up yellow dust that seemed to sweep across the mountains and rivers. The attack of the Tangut infantry in the east became more fierce, and the number of troops continued to increase.
The sun had just risen to mid-rise in the sky and half a day had not passed yet, but the battle had intensified and it was a matter of life and death.
On the gently undulating hillside in the distance, the dark horizon was fluctuating. The rumbling sound of the horses seemed to come from all directions, or like the sound of magma surging over a large area under the ground.
The cavalry group rushed to a mile away and split into two groups. One group went straight to the right wing of Xu's army formation, and the other group went straight to the direction where the cavalry was deployed on the rear wing of Xu's army. The cavalry was still jogging, and their speed had obviously begun to increase.
At this moment, the sound of a pipa suddenly rang out amid the sound of horse hooves and the noise of the crowd, faintly audible. Then many pipa followed suit, and drums and flutes also joined in, making the music louder.
The melody of the pipa added a bit of color to this battlefield filled with screams, pain and yellow dust.
The sonorous music carries a hint of sadness, and the solemn and murderous atmosphere spreads between the mountains where horses are galloping and swords and spears are everywhere.
With the familiar sound of the pipa, the soldiers in the battle formation pulled aside the thatch one after another, and the five-foot-long bronze cannons revealed their ferocious faces. The cannon sounded with a dim metallic cold light in the sun.
The general who commanded the 1,500-man artillery corps drew his sword, his face showing excitement. The gong players nearby grabbed the handles of their sticks and waited with their eyes wide open.
The vanguard of the coalition's spreading cavalry began the charge about six hundred feet away, and the horse herd behind it extended to more than a thousand feet away. The horses that had not yet launched an attack were relatively dense because they were jogging and not very fast.
The sound of horse hooves became louder, shouts of killing rose suddenly, and countless iron hooves rushed out quickly. The tune of "Ten Sides of Ambush" seemed like the accompaniment of the cavalry charge.
At this moment, the sound of gongs suddenly joined in, followed by a loud bang. Amidst the smoke and flashes, a ten-pound iron ball was between the horses in an instant. It flew rapidly across the herd, drawing a smooth parabola with a large arc. Bang, a horse that was running had no idea what was happening and could not even scream. Suddenly, a piece of flesh and blood was missing from its head, and broken bones and brain matter splattered into the air.
Then, the two riders behind suddenly fell off their horses, and one knight screamed in fear, and his horse fell to the side. In a flash, the iron ball hit the hard earth and stone ground, and bounced up immediately at a small lateral angle.
A Tangut cavalryman in the rear saw the hot black iron ball flying up, but it was too fast, and the speed was totally incompatible with the human reaction. With the whistling wind, the man watched helplessly as the iron ball hit his chest in an instant. Bang, he was almost knocked away, the sound of bones breaking was clearly audible, and he immediately fainted.
The iron ball deviated from its direction and bounced several times on the ground, finally slowing down and rolling on the ground. In the herd of horses, people were thrown to the ground in a line, and people were terrified, as if a strong wind was blowing through a wheat field.
There were flashes of lightning and white smoke rising above Xu Jun’s camp. After a while, loud explosions louder than the sound of horse hooves spread to the mountains.
The herd of horses spread over the entire hillside seemed to have encountered a curse from heaven in an instant, or as if struck by an earthquake and thunder. It was simply a sudden disaster. The crowd was in a mess, with panic shouts and screams everywhere, blood and gore, and flags collapsed and discarded in large numbers.
But this was just the beginning. The second round of artillery fire soon made an earth-shaking roar.
After the third volley, the artillery team that fired first was busy cleaning the barrel with a brush, because the copper cannon was very heavy, so it took a lot of effort. Then they had to pour gunpowder into the barrel with a weighed wooden barrel, apply lard, wrap an iron ball with linen and stuff it into the barrel to make it airtight, and then use a wooden stick to poke it in while shouting.
The allied vanguard was frightened by the artillery fire, but they could not stop charging because if they stopped they would be hit by the horses behind them. They could only rush towards Xu's infantry formation in a gradually slowing and chaotic manner.
Facing them were the commanders of Xu Jun's infantry, who were lined up in formation. Each commander squatted down in the first three rows, and the first two rows squatted with staggered steps, sticking the tails of nearly ten-foot-long spears diagonally into the ground, holding the wooden handles with both hands; the row behind them held the spears on their shoulders, facing forward, ready to stab the horses.
Along the back of the gentle slope, slightly higher up, were six rows of arquebusiers.
Ten generals held their swords high up, and the crane flag at the head of the line leaned forward and waved again like a dragonfly touching the water. The first row of soldiers knelt on one knee, and the second row stood, all holding up iron pipes and firearms.
There was a crackling sound first from the row that were standing, and then the row that were kneeling immediately fired again.
On the hillside, there were crackling sounds like beans being smashed everywhere, and smoke rose in rows. The coalition cavalry charged into this formation from the front, and the shock caused by the bombardment caused chaos. It would be a disaster to get close at this time.
A knight shuddered on his horse, blood splattered on his chest, the saber in his hand flew, and he screamed. The horses were in chaos, and his own people were also knocked off their horses.
The clear sound of drums rang out first, and soon the horizontal flute and the flute also sounded in front of the central army, and the golden gong also joined in, forming a very rhythmic song; the song was slightly adapted, and the drums continued to beat at a constant rhythm, which was more in line with the rhythm of tactics.
The melody of the wind instrument was very similar to the song "A Man Should Be Self-reliant" sung by Jackie Chan. This song made Guo Shao in the central army a little distracted because it was too familiar.
When Shi Yanchao heard the change in the music, he immediately grabbed his spear and shouted without hesitation or nonsense: Kill them!
Dong Zunhui pointed his sword inlaid with jewels and gold forward, and the flag of the Huben Army with a tiger pattern in front of him was also placed flat in front of him. The cavalry lined up in formation began to follow him and slowly started to move their horses.
The horses gradually accelerated and turned into a large group of galloping beasts. Dong Zunhui shouted: God bless our emperor!
Suddenly there was a shout from the crowd: Long live
The coalition cavalry formation was also bombarded in depth, causing panic and chaos. The cavalry group was very mobile, but it was not easy to retreat suddenly in the middle of the battle, because there were too many people and they would be crowded. Those in the middle would be eager to run, but some at the back would be confused. It takes time to move from advancing to retreating, and even more organization. In the face of this sudden chaos, the coalition flags were all gone, and the soldiers and horses were in a mess.
Shi Yanchao's heavy cavalry took the lead in charging at the front flank of the chaotic army at high speed, with the formation roughly in the shape of a T-shaped figure. They charged very fast, and the front end penetrated the enemy group as easily as an arrow piercing through window paper. The cavalry on both wings also quickly charged in.
In the crowd of horses and people, the galloping heavy cavalry roared towards the coalition army like a typhoon, and the brandishing swords and spears were like countless drops of boiling water dancing in the sun. Blood and flesh flew under the wheels of war, and tens of thousands of people shouted wildly.
The cannons were still roaring, and the smell of gunpowder and blood mixed together. The muzzles adjusted their elevation and fired at the middle and rear of the coalition cavalry group, 1,500 feet away. The rear was even more chaotic, causing chaos and congestion on the entire hillside; the cavalry had larger gaps, but they could not run fast when they were in chaos. If the ones behind were too anxious, the horses would become more and more crowded, and the scene would be noisy and chaotic, which was simply horrible. At the edge of the hillside, a large number of horsemen fled in all directions regardless of military orders.
The Hu Ben Army cavalry was like a tiger among sheep in the battle formation. The cavalry, with high morale and anger, faced a group of terrified people and horses. Shi Yanchao's subordinates shouted, swung a long-handled saber with both hands, chased after a rider, aimed at the back of the Liao rider, and slashed at him diagonally. The knife flashed with the reflection of the sunlight, and with the clang of metal collision, the saber penetrated the mail, and with a clang, blood and crimson mist splashed.
An iron spear flew onto the buttocks of a horse. The horse let out a miserable scream and fell to the ground as if it had suddenly sat down. The knight on it screamed and waved his hands.
Shi Yanchao's troops advanced very quickly, penetrating deep into the coalition forces, and the battlefield was in chaos. A Liao soldier stood in front of a dead horse, holding a bloody arm in his left hand, looking up and crying loudly.
The loess had turned red, and in some places, blood and loess mixed together, looking like mud after rain.