Turbulent Times Chapter 1620: Li Shimin’s worries about Chang’an

Li Jiajun's first wave of charge suffered heavy losses, but the small results made Li's army feel disappointed, and morale also dropped sharply, but Duan Zhixuan gritted his teeth and ordered the cavalry to launch a second heavy charge against Wagang Camp.

After the first round of infantry confrontation just now, Cheng Yaojin's confidence in the infantry formation that he has deployed has greatly increased. All the soldiers in the front three rows held iron guns in both hands, while the three rows in the back held iron guns in one hand and quick crossbows in the other.

Under the command of their respective captains and centurions, they no longer stood firm, and even walked towards the enemy with their heads held high, stopping a hundred paces before the enemy's front line.

At this time, the cavalry of the Li family army who rushed up had already started throwing bows and arrows, and they were a little nervous and apprehensive compared to the first round before.

This time, the soldiers of the Wagang Camp standing in the rain of arrows did not panic at all. They were as peaceful as standing in the sun and enjoying the spring breeze. Naturally, the results of the battle just now made them more full of enthusiasm for their own infantry phalanx confidence.

Of course, it is mainly due to the sense of order and prohibition formed by the unique queue training method of the Snake Island Concentration Camp in the past six months, which has made them form an instinct.

At this time, the cavalry of the second round of Li Jiajun's charge was already 400 paces away, and there were still 17,000 of them left. Coming towards the Wagang Camp at full speed, compared with the previous formation and direction changes, it is more conducive to their changes. This is the experience gained from the first round of blood.

"Squat down in the first three rows! Resist horses!" Cheng Yaojin's eyes were like lightning, and he could tell at a glance that the enemy wanted to draw their infantry phalanx into a melee, and then broke through their own infantry phalanx with the advantage of numbers . So he immediately ordered loudly, and the messengers around him conveyed the order as quickly as possible, and it was quickly executed.

Facing the previous wave of cavalry, the soldiers of the Wagang Camp who dismounted from their horses and fought on foot were still a little nervous. After killing them, they faced the incoming enemy cavalry with only incomparable confidence and murderous intent. , The soldiers obeyed the order. The soldiers in the first three rows aimed their spears obliquely at the front, doing standard horse refusal actions, while the rows in the back began to aim with the fast crossbow socket, ready to shoot.

The infantry phalanx charged the cavalry. The first three rows squatted down first, and the last three rows shot with fast crossbows. This in itself is the basic training subject in the Snake Island infantry battle formation regulations.

At this time, there is no need for Cheng Yaojin to order the attack, and the captains who are in charge of commanding in front of the formation will make their own judgments and issue orders.

When the cavalry of the Li family army rushed to about 120 steps, all the captains looked hideous almost at the same time, and shouted loudly: "The last three rows of fast crossbows are ready!"

The three rows of soldiers at the back of each captain's battle formation turned sideways to look for the shooting point. The captain didn't give them too much time to prepare, and immediately roared: "Aim!"

1,000 people make up a capital, set up a captain, and each of them has nearly half of the soldiers holding fast crossbows. The 20,000 people are subdivided into twenty thousand-man phalanxes, and the front facing the enemy is five A phalanx of thousands of people. More than 2,000 fast crossbows aimed at the charging enemy cavalry. Amidst the sound of thunderous hooves, all the captains waited coldly for the enemy cavalry to enter about eighty steps, and then shouted loudly: "Let go!"

There was a buzzing sound, each fast crossbow was fired nine times in a row and all were shot empty, and in order to avoid all shooting at the enemy soldiers in the front row, they would take a breath between each crossbow. More than 500 cavalrymen of the Li family army in the front row fell to the ground.

Everything has two sides. While the cavalry charge is fierce and majestic, it also provides a bigger goal.

So, most of the fast crossbowmen in the Wagang Camp hit horses. This is not because their arrows are inaccurate, but because they deliberately did it, because the cavalry on the horse fell from the arrow, and the horse was wrapped by the cavalry around. The charge will continue, and the cavalry who fell off the horse is small in size and has little effect on the charge of the cavalry.

However, after the horse is hit by an arrow and falls to the ground, it will roll violently on the ground. This will inevitably cause confusion among the cavalry charging at high speed, and even directly cause many cavalry to rear-end, directly hitting or falling to death and falling.

"Stand up in the front row! Aim!" The voices of the captains were still very steady, but the voice of the order was a little faster.

Amidst the shouts of the captains, the soldiers in the front row stood up and raised the crossbow, while the row behind began to load arrows into the crossbow.

"Launch!"

Another round of more than two thousand

With a fast crossbow, nine bursts of bursts were fired at intervals, and the cavalry of the Li family army in front of them fell again by four or five hundred, causing chaos again, but the other cavalry of the Li family army accelerated and rushed madly.

At this time, it was too late for the Wagang Camp phalanx to start the next round of shooting.

"Reject horses in the front row!" All the captains gave an order, and the soldiers in the front row who had just finished shooting squatted down, and the soldiers in the second and third rows stood up and raised their long steel guns. Suddenly, it looked like a hedgehog with spikes.

Same as in the first round of charge before, the dense array of iron spears stimulated the eyes of the cavalry and horses of the Li family army. These sensitive animals suddenly became irritable instinctively. I wanted to stop, which greatly affected the final impact of the cavalry.

But even so, with the experience of the first round, the cavalry of the Li family army achieved much better results in this charge than before. In the infantry formation of the Wagang Battalion, more infantry were knocked into the air than before. Quite a few, more than two hundred people were killed or injured on the spot. However, it still firmly blocked the charge of the enemy cavalry.

The cavalry lost their advantage in charging, and the length of their weapons could not match the infantry with spears. The same scene as before happened again. The fate of being a target for Wagan camp crossbowmen and spearmen.

In desperation, some cavalrymen of the Li family army threw all kinds of weapons in their hands at the Wagang camp soldiers in front of them before they died, not to mention knocking down more than two hundred people. But this still changed the final result of this cavalry confrontation.

After the Li family army paid the loss of more than 3,000 cavalry again, Duan Zhixuan gave the order and returned in defeat with an expression of unwillingness.

So far, after two waves of charges, the 20,000 cavalry of the Li family army lost nearly 8,000 people.

As for the Wagang Camp, less than 600 people died.

Two waves of cavalry were defeated and retreated one after another. This scene was watched by Duan Zhixuan, and at the same time he was shocked, his face was so gloomy that he could drip ink. This kind of result was really something he had never thought of before. He had never thought of it before. The cavalry of the Wagang Battalion, who have served in the Far Eastern Army for less than a year, can be so powerful when they dismount and fight on foot.

"No, the infantry phalanx of the Far Eastern Army may only be used to restrain cavalry."

Thinking of this, Duan Zhixuan turned his head and suddenly shouted at the messengers on the left and right: "Command, let 30,000 infantry go up, the enemy's infantry is only less than 20,000, and we are a new force, they have already chased and killed Zhu Can We have just fought two more battles overnight, as long as we defeat them, we will win this battle.”

The messengers passed the orders separately, and among the 50,000 troops brought by Duan Zhixuan, the generals who commanded 30,000 infantry were also experienced in battle, and soon felt that it was the best choice for the infantry to fight the infantry at this time.

The cavalry of the Li family army withdrew to the rear to rest, and the 30,000 infantrymen of the Li family army were ready. There were many swords and guns on the formation. Duan Zhixuan waved his hand.

On the top of the mountain in the distance, Li Shimin witnessed this scene and nodded secretly, feeling relieved that Duan Zhixuan found a breakthrough in such a short time.

It's just that he took a look at Zhu's army of more than 60,000 horses with the binoculars in his hand, and was secretly worried.

……

……

I have to admit that the 30,000 infantry phalanx of the Li family army was also very clean-up, but what they encountered was the Wagang Battalion of the Far East Army, which was even more clean-up.

Compared with the cavalry, the infantry phalanx is bound to be much slower in order to maintain an orderly formation. Cheng Yaojin ordered all the grenade throwers on his side to seize the time and throw the grenade, which caused a lot of damage to the opponent's infantry before they fought in close combat. Not to mention casualties, it will also deal a big blow to their morale.

However, this is after all under the watchful eyes of Li Shimin. The elite soldiers trained by Duan Zhixuan may not be able to compare with the Far East Army in terms of orders and prohibitions, but the discipline is also very strict. The few casualties did not cause them much confusion.

The Wagang Battalion now only has more than 19,000 infantrymen left. Except for the grenadiers and the rear master's crossbowmen, the soldiers in the front rows are densely packed with their spears erected, almost covering the rear of the battle formation. vision.

The sound of the foot drum suddenly rang, and then turned into a foot point, and the twenty square formations of thousands of people moved forward at the same time, like a forest of spears moving one by one.

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The right wing of a phalanx followed the captain and the capital flag, and the left wing was the deputy captain. They walked back and forth, reminding the centurion and gang leaders in the queue to keep their formation in place.

Because of the limited terrain, the infantry phalanx of the Wagang Battalion, with nearly 20,000 people, still has ten phalanxes in front and ten phalanxes in the rear. Each phalanx has six rows, making a total of twelve rows.

The 30,000 infantry of the Li family army are more than 20 rows in front and back. Because the force is more than 10,000 more than the Wagang camp, the front line is much thicker, and they are approaching firmly amidst the sound of drums.

It is different from the previous confrontation with the cavalry. At this time, the soldiers of the Wagang Battalion put their spears on the right side, holding their right hands at the bottom, and their left hands on the body of the gun. It is very difficult to lift flat, and it will not be flattened until later in the battle.

"This time it's an infantry battle. The enemy's spears on the opposite side are only two inches shorter than ours. When approaching the enemy, keep a slow pace. Don't think about rushing to kill. Those who want to survive can hear it clearly. The spears are similar. Don't even think about it. Go up and kill them, otherwise you will most likely bump into their guns, when you approach the enemy, you must listen to the orders clearly, take a step only once the drum beats, remember to turn sideways and level the guns, and the guns are in a line."

Amidst the sound of drums and footsteps, the captains and centurions of each phalanx ran back and forth, shouting to remind their soldiers that after they learned this infantry battle formation, this was the first actual combat between infantry and infantry If it is the other battalion heads of the Far East Army, there is no need to remind them.

On the mountain in the distance, Li Shimin noticed that the steel plate armor of the Wagang Battalion infantry formation was shining coldly. All the soldiers were issued steel plate armor and low-brow helmets. .

Li Shimin knows that this is actually very good. You must know that the army of the Sui Dynasty only allowed each soldier to have a set of half-length armor. Behind the Li family are most powerful families in the world.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin recalled the intelligence information sent from Guanzhong last night, with deep worry on his face.

As Hedong was occupied by the Far Eastern Army, Wenxi Pei and Taiyuan Wang, the two great lords in Hedong, completely joined Wang Junlin. Wang Xu, the patriarch of the family, is the governor of Taiyuan, and Pei Yuanqing of the Pei family is in charge of a battalion of 50,000 troops.

After the news reached Chang'an, many powerful families who had been supporting the Li family had other thoughts. Li Shimin's spies and dark sons had discovered that many powerful families secretly sent people to Hedong to contact Wang Junlin. .

"In the final analysis, the defeat in Hedong made these aristocratic families think that our Li family can't beat the Far East Army."

"So, this war is not only about the ownership of the land of Sichuan and Shu, but also to dispel the double-mindedness that some powerful families should not have."

Thoughts flashed in his mind, Li Shimin let out a long sigh. He felt a lot of pressure on his body. No matter who he met, Li Shimin could deal with it calmly, even with ease, and he could always win the final victory for himself. In the struggle against Wang Junlin alone, he never gained the upper hand.

These days Li Shimin thought about the struggles with Wang Junlin over the years, and suddenly found that Wang Junlin seemed to be able to predict the future, and he knew him to an exaggerated degree, otherwise he would really have difficulty understanding Wang Junlin Some actions and means.

You know, he is actually very low-key most of the time. Although the ability he has shown right now is not bad, it has not reached the level of astonishment. It stands to reason that it is not enough for people like Wang Junlin to attach so much importance to him, but in fact it is just the opposite. , he could feel that Wang Junlin attached great importance to him, and he even felt that he was more important than his father.

In the world, anyone who is valued so much by Wang Junlin feels overwhelmed, even Li Shimin.

In Hedong, Li Shimin knew that the Far Eastern Army could not be defeated, so he played an empty-handed strategy, decisively leading the main force of the army to the land of Sichuan and Shu, and deliberately opened up the second battlefield of Sichuan and Shu.

Although there is a plan to occupy Sichuan and Shu, the land of abundance, among them, it is indeed expected that the Far East Army will definitely take corresponding actions. Moreover, he expected that the Far Eastern Army must have dispatched troops from the Central Plains, and the Far Eastern Army had two field battalions guarding the counties in the Central Plains. One was the Wagang Battalion that had joined the Far Eastern Army for less than a year, and the other was his younger brother Li. Xuan Ba's Violent Bear Camp.