Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1338: Defeating Songjiang

On the north bank of Songjiang River, the sound of horse hooves thundered and arrows fell like locusts. On the south bank, the camp position converted from a hangtai was covered with a whole layer of fallen arrows. The Wuzhong soldiers in the position could only huddle behind the bunker, unable to raise their heads at all.

At the river bend a dozen feet away from the camp, a floating bridge built with boats and rafts has been formed. Fully armed Tang army soldiers came from the floating bridge in a line and immediately lined up outside the camp.

At this time, the cavalry archery offensive on the north bank also came to a temporary end, and the knights dismounted to rest. In the past half an hour, they had been maintaining a high-intensity long-range firepower coverage on the south bank. The two thousand knights shot several hundred arrows in vain, and tens of thousands of arrows were tilted into the positions on the opposite bank, which was also a considerable burden for them.

The reason why the Tang army invested so much soldiers and horses to attack this place is because this position is an important connection point connecting the upper and lower parts of the Songjiang defense line. As long as this place is captured, the Songjiang defense line will be difficult to take care of both ends and can be broken separately.

The one stationed at this crucial position was Luo Ya, a fierce general under Chen Qian. Luo Ya was known for his bravery, but because the firepower of the Tang army was too fierce, he had almost no chance to fight the enemy in the first half of the battle. He could only hide in his position and watch the enemy build a pontoon bridge on the downstream mudflats and rush southward.

At this time, the enemy's offensive on the other side of the river finally stopped. Although a group of enemy troops had already crossed the river and formed a battle array, Luo Ya was still fearless. He stood up from his position, kicked away the falling arrows around him, looked around at the soldiers in the position and shouted: "The Tang army spared no effort, and the situation will inevitably decline. As long as we can hold our position, reinforcements will arrive soon! Men, rise up to meet the enemy and let these foreign invaders know that the men of Wu are brave and unyielding!"

At Luo Ya's call, the defending soldiers in the position also stood up and reorganized the formation in the camp. Hundreds of crossbowmen filled the line with bows and crossbows, while Luo Ya personally led thousands of strong and brave soldiers, resolutely rushed out of the position and charged straight towards the Tang army formation opposite.

"This thief is quite brave. We will capture him in battle later. We can ask him if he surrenders!"

The one in charge of attacking this position was the Tang general Yuwen Xin. When he saw that the enemy general dared to leave the formation and attack despite being weak, although he knew in his heart that this was a helpless move by the opponent to avoid being covered by the arrow formation later, this courage was indeed commendable, Yuwen Xin said with a smile.

As they were talking, the armies of both sides had already collided. Due to the limited carrying capacity of the floating bridge itself, the Tang army that crossed the river to the other side did not wear heavy armor, but mostly lightly armed. However, the Wuzhong Division on the opposite side was not well armed either, so there was no obvious difference in armament between the two sides, and the number of troops deployed in the battle was also similar, so the only thing they could compete with was skills, combat power, and fighting spirit.

The Tang army had just completed the unification of the north not long ago. Although the Huainan division was not the main force to destroy Qi, they knew that the country was strong and looked down on the Wuzhong division. But when the real battle started, they found that the Wuzhong soldiers were also very brave, always fighting with a desperate style, and at the beginning of the battle, they actually forced the Tang army to retreat more than ten feet with their fierce momentum.

"Cheer up! Fight seriously and don't let the enemy laugh at you!"

Yuwen Xin initially arranged the battle formation in a relatively wide and sparse manner. After the battle began, he realized that the enemy's combat effectiveness was not to be underestimated. He immediately put aside his contempt and hurriedly ordered his men to adjust their formation during the battle, changing it from the original square and wide formation to an arrow-shaped battle formation with a small enemy surface and strong penetrating power. He himself served as the arrow spearhead, standing at the front of the queue to withstand the enemy's fierce offensive and buy time for the troops in the rear to change their formation.

As the offensive of Luo Ya and his troops was resisted by the Tang army in the front, the rest of the Wuzhong soldiers failed to seize the time to fight in close combat, giving the Tang army a chance to adjust their battle formation. As the Tang army adjusted its battle formation, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. Under the leadership of Yuwen Xin, the Tang army was able to charge forward and fight back.

Unlike the Wuzhong Division, which relied solely on the bravery of its commander, the Tang army had more balanced combat qualities and better coordination. When the frontline soldiers pushed back the enemy, the rear sergeants naturally followed suit and took the opportunity to tear open and expand the gap in the enemy, forcing the enemy to retreat across the board.

Luo Ya held a knife in one hand and a spear in the other, and kept swinging and slashing. Wherever his knife and spear reached, the enemies found it difficult to get close to him. He was truly brave and strong.

However, the Tang general Yuwen Xin was no weakling either. He was one of the best young warriors in the country. When he saw that Luo Ya was so tough and difficult to defeat, he personally stepped forward to fight him. Holding a long sword in both hands, he roared and chopped down at Luo Ya in the face.

Luo Ya was about to block with his spear in one hand, but when he saw the cold wind of the opponent's sword, he was startled and hurriedly dropped the sword in his other hand and held the spear with both hands. At this time, the opponent's long sword had already chopped down, and the indestructible blade directly cut into the spear shaft more than an inch.

Luo Ya felt as if his hands were struck by lightning. The skin and flesh on his palms, which were tightly gripping the spear, suddenly burst and bled. Then, he flew backwards uncontrollably into his own army formation, staggering back several feet before he could finally stand firm.

Yuwen Xin was about to take advantage of the situation and move forward to make another attack, but the powerful crossbows in the enemy's army were shot directly at his own army. Since his soldiers had no strong armor to protect them, they could only withdraw and give the enemy a chance to return to the formation to repair. More than a thousand soldiers from Wuzhong went to the battle, but after a fierce battle, only six or seven hundred of them successfully retreated to the position. Nearly a hundred of them died directly in the battle with the enemy, and many others could not hold on under the enemy's counterattack and retreated from the formation and scattered on various sides. Such an astonishing loss of battle also made Luo Ya change color, and he dared not go out to fight the enemy easily. Next, he just ordered his troops to hold their positions and wait for the support of the left and right divisions.

Since these Wuzhong soldiers no longer went out to obstruct the battle, it was naturally more convenient for the Tang army to act. Yuwen Xin led his troops back to the vicinity of the pontoon bridge and continued to reinforce the bridge, allowing more troops, horses and equipment to come south smoothly.

Meanwhile, the Wuzhong Division also rushed over upon hearing the news, but when they saw the horrific scene of arrows piling up in the battlefield and corpses strewn all over the ground outside the formation, those soldiers did not dare to get too close, and only led their troops to wander around the periphery, trying to scare away the enemy.

But such an approach was obviously ineffective for the battle-hardened Tang army, and even exposed their own weakness. As a well-organized cavalry unit of the Tang army came from the south of the floating bridge, the situation on the battlefield changed again. This Tang army light cavalry unit of several hundred people rushed directly towards the enemy division cruising nearby.

"Don't drive the bandits away, drive them towards the enemy camp!"

The commander of this cavalry squad is the young general Yang Su. Although Yang Su is not very old, he has been trained in the Three Guards for several years. He is skilled in archery and horse riding. He also followed the army to destroy Qi. Although he did not create many merits, he has accumulated considerable combat experience.

Seeing that the Wuzhong divisions were not very mobile, he planned to drive out the Wuzhong soldiers and let them break through his own army. He led his troops to move flexibly among the Wu troops, and with a few hundred people, he intercepted and controlled several nearby Wu troops of thousands of people, and drove the enemies straight towards the enemy formation with his horse archery skills.

Although the enemy camp here was well-defended with internal and external trenches and fortifications, and there were crossbowmen with strong attack power guarding the line, when faced with thousands of their own troops who were fleeing in panic, those crossbowmen could not bear to shoot with arrows or snipe, and could only allow these soldiers to pour into the battle formation.

However, before these people could gain a firm foothold after entering the battle formation, Yang Su in the rear had already led his troops to approach the front of the battle formation, constantly drawing bows and shooting, causing chaos in the enemy formation.

"Yang Lang is really brave!"

Even though Yuwen Xin had a high opinion of himself, when he saw that Yang Su had thrown thousands of enemies into chaos with only a few hundred light cavalry, he could not help but raise his hand to praise Yang Su. Then, taking advantage of the opportunity created by Yang Su, he led his troops to charge into the enemy camp.

The Songjiang Defense Line is one of the most important arrangements for guarding Wuxing. The Wuzhong Division and Brigade were deployed on this defense line for nearly two months. Many camps and garrisons were set up along the river, and more than 20,000 divisions and brigades were deployed in the area of ​​more than ten miles from east to west, including some of the elite troops led by Chen Qian for many years.

In Chen Qian's opinion, even if the Tang army marched south in large numbers, the Songjiang defense line would be enough to intercept and resist the Tang army for about ten days, buying enough time for the divisions on the Great Wall.

However, after the Tang army from Jingkou arrived in Wujun, they launched a tentative attack on the entire Songjiang River. The attack was repelled on the first day due to the flexible cooperation of the defenders on the defense line.

However, the next day, the Tang army returned and launched a feint attack on the left and right to contain the enemy, while another 3,000 infantry and cavalry concentrated on attacking the central camp. This time, the defense line that Chen Qian had high hopes for was broken through in less than half a day. Even with the emergency support of the troops on both wings, the central camp was inevitably lost. 3,000 Wuzhong soldiers died in the battle, including the brave general Luo Ya, Wuxing native Shen Tai and several other generals.

With the loss of the central camp, the so-called Songjiang Line of Defense no longer existed. This line of defense, which had been carefully built and had high hopes, actually intercepted the Tang army from the south for less than two days.

After the defense line was broken, Chen Qian's general Qian Daozhi led the remaining defeated troops to hastily evacuate towards the Great Wall, while Tang general Ruo Ruofeng led his troops closely behind, pursuing the defeated army while dividing his troops to occupy several cities in Wuxing County, including Wucheng and Jiaxing.

At one time, more than half of the counties and towns in Wuxing were owned by the Tang army, and only some powerful village manors and fortresses between these cities were still able to be preserved. However, these manors and fortresses were only for self-protection, and had no ability or intention to support the King of Linchuan in the Great Wall, which made Chen Qian's troops in the Great Wall gradually isolated and trapped.