Jiuxi

Chapter 664: 662 [Everyone will die]

At the Qijing border, a rather long pursuit battle is taking place.

This cavalry of the Jing Army, numbering over a thousand, barely managed to distance themselves from the Feiyu Army at the cost of more than two hundred casualties, and fled all the way north.

If it weren't for the wrong decision made by the commander Yaligu, the Jing army would not have suffered such losses. After all, the riding skills and the strength of the mounts of both sides were almost the same, and under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult for the Feiyu army to catch up with the Jing army.

But there was no trace of anger or shame on Yaligu's face.

This 27-year-old general Jinglian was born into the Gute clan. He was originally a captain of the cavalry vanguard of the Loyal Army. Later, he followed Pucha southward and performed well in several major battles.

From time to time, he looked back at the pursuers behind him, and carefully identified the terrain ahead, and galloped with the remaining less than a thousand riders, frequently changing horses.

It has to be said that the vast and varied terrain between Jingguo's Nanjing Road and Daqi's Jingzhou is extremely suitable for cavalry maneuvers.

In comparison, the northern part of Dingzhou has the Baotai Mountains as a barrier, and the only passage is Dingfeng Road. The border troops of Da Qi only need to guard Dingfeng Road, and with the Seven Star Army on guard in the mountains, the cavalry of Jing Army will be useless.

The western part of Dingzhou has a defense system with Qingliu Pass as its core. The roads are narrow and there are many forts. If the Jing army wants to attack, it can only use the most clumsy method to advance little by little. The current situation of the two armies confronting each other on the Gongcheng line is a clear proof of this.

Only the border area between Nanjing Road and Jingzhou, which stretches for more than 700 miles, has all kinds of terrains, including mountains, rivers, dense forests, and plains. The border troops of Da Qi can only adopt the strategy of defending key areas and setting up as many outposts as possible. Faced with the Jing army cavalry that comes and goes like the wind, they can't do anything about it.

No matter whether it was the Jing cavalry fleeing in front or the Feiyu cavalry chasing closely behind, both sides knew very well how to maintain the leg strength of their mounts.

In this situation, the Jing army cavalry, which had once again widened the distance, could finally take a breath.

Yaligu looked at the mountains that seemed not too far ahead and suddenly shouted, "Northeast!"

Following his order, nearly a thousand cavalrymen of the Jing army changed direction slightly and continued to march towards the northeast.

Just at this moment, the Feiyu Army in the rear slowed down.

Yaligu understood that this was because they were close to the border and the Feiyu Army was obviously very cautious.

After a moment, Jing Jun also began to slow down.

The originally tense pursuit battle seemed to have suddenly changed, and the two armies still maintained a distance of about one mile.

"General, the enemy is heading southwest of Dingzhou."

A lieutenant reminded loudly.

Huangfu Yu nodded and said, "I know."

There was a hint of regret in the depths of his eyes.

The reason why the Feiyu Army slowed down was that Huangfu Yu wanted to set a trap for the Jing Army, inducing them to take this opportunity to run wildly, while the Feiyu Army only needed to follow from a distance behind, as long as they did not lose them. This would greatly consume the strength of the opponent's mounts, while they could recover and adjust at the same time.

One side is fleeing for their lives, while the other side is pursuing at a leisurely pace. As the gap between the two increases, it will become larger and larger, and then the Feiyu Army will be able to strangle the enemy in one fell swoop.

But the cavalry general of Jing Army was obviously not a fool. He saw through Huangfu Yu's plan at a glance. He did not just focus on escaping, but instead maintained a similar rhythm with the Feiyu Army.

The two armies marched slowly for more than ten miles, bypassed a gentle slope, and came to a valley.

Yaligu turned his head and a ferocious smile appeared on his lips. He suddenly waved his hand, and nearly a thousand cavalrymen of the Jing army suddenly began to turn sharply.

This scene seemed extremely abrupt.

However, what was even more abrupt was the muffled thunder coming from the west, south and north.

When the cavalry led by Yaligu began to turn, a group of Jing army cavalry appeared in front of them, with about two thousand horses.

Two Jing army cavalry units also appeared in the west and south, and the situation reversed instantly.

There is no doubt that the previous encounter between the Feiyu Army and the more than a thousand Jing Army cavalry was a conspiracy set up in advance by Pucha, the deputy commander of Nanjing Road.

Over the past half month, the Feiyu Army, led by Huangfu Yu, has been cruising around, trying their best to drive away the small groups of enemy troops that crossed the border to harass, but their whereabouts obviously could not escape the surveillance of the Jing Army. When Huangfu Yu led his troops to Changshou County for supplies, a simple but effective ambush circle was quietly formed.

Yaligu led more than a thousand cavalrymen and waited in the north of Changshou County, deliberately letting Huangfu Yu catch him by the tail. In order to make it more realistic, he even sacrificed the lives of more than two hundred cavalrymen, just to arouse the fighting spirit in Huangfu Yu's heart and allow him to catch up with him relentlessly.

The ambush site was not within the territory of Jing State, because Pucha could not determine whether the Feiyu Army would directly cross the border, so he set the ambush point near the border.

"General, there is a vacancy in the east!"

The captain raised his hand and pointed to the east.

The Feiyu Army had already slowed down to a very low speed at this moment. Facing the sudden large number of enemy troops, the soldiers did not show any fear or panic on their faces. Even though the enemy's strength was at least twice theirs, these young Daqi men were still calm enough, and each of them held the weapon tightly in his hand.

"Encircle three and leave one?"

Huangfu Yu smiled coldly and looked around.

The Jing Army cavalry from the west and south were approaching rapidly, while the nearly 1,000 Jing Army cavalry in the front had already turned around and were about to meet up with the 2,000 reinforcements behind them.

Only in the east there was no sign of Jingjun cavalry.

Generally speaking, "surround three sides and leave one side open" is a tactic that the party with the advantage likes to use. This does not give the other side a way out, but forces them to switch from passive defense to active retreat. Once chaos occurs during the retreat, it will turn into a rout and massacre.

However, this is effective for infantry but not necessarily for cavalry, because the biggest advantage of cavalry is high mobility, which makes it less likely to get into such a chaotic situation.

As the commander-in-chief, Huangfu Yu's wisest choice at this moment was to lead his troops to withdraw from the east before the enemy surrounded him.

His eyes fell on the hillside to the northwest, and then he shouted loudly: "All soldiers, follow me up the mountain!"

The order spread instantly. Although the soldiers of Feiyu Army were full of confusion, when the flag began to move, everyone followed it without hesitation.

The three thousand riders suddenly accelerated and rushed towards the hillside like a whirlwind.

The mountain was not very high, estimated to be only about three hundred feet high. The Feiyu Army soldiers quickly climbed up and soon reached the mountainside.

At this moment, four cavalry units of the Jing army, totaling 7,000 people, arrived at the valley. Looking at the Feiyu army, which did not choose to escape to the east but went directly up the mountain, the four generals showed solemn expressions at the same time.

The soldiers of Feiyu Army were extremely agile. They quickly dismounted and set up a defense line on the mountainside. Although the mountain was not steep, the Feiyu Army already had the advantage of being high above, so if the Jing Army rashly attacked the mountain at this time, it would definitely suffer heavy losses.

The Jing army cavalrymen surrounded the mountain more than 20 feet away. The four generals rode their horses side by side and looked up the mountain. Yaligu frowned and said, "What is Huangfu Yu doing? Why doesn't he go east?"

Another general said calmly: "Any experienced general knows the principle of surrounding three sides and leaving one side. Huangfu Yu was once Li Tianrun's personal soldier, so he should be able to see through this. It's just that his decisiveness really surprised me."

This man was over thirty years old, named Yan Hu. He was one of Pucha's trusted generals and the main general in charge of commanding this encirclement battle.

Yaligu then asked, "General, should our army attack the mountain next?"

"Not urgent."

Yan Hu, who had been through many battles, said calmly, "The enemy's morale is high right now. If we attack them head-on, we will have to pay a huge price. Although the enemy had been resupplied in Changshou County yesterday, they still won't carry too much supplies. They can only last for two or three days at most. If they don't want to starve to death, they can only go down the mountain to seek survival. Besides, our goal this time is not just these three thousand people. Whether they stay in Gushan or flee eastward, they will eventually fall into our trap."

Yaligu and the other two generals nodded, and then under Yanhu's command, they began to direct their subordinates to build positions.

On top of Lonely Mountain, the soldiers of the Feiyu Army were doing their own work silently and attentively.

They had no prior preparation and it was impossible for them to create a defense line out of nothing, so they could only rely on the terrain to build a barrier.

If the Jing army attacks the mountain directly, the Feiyu army's greatest reliance will be the more than 400 strong archers in the army. The sharp arrows in their hands can be used from a high position to inflict heavy casualties on the Jing army.

The soldiers took off their quivers and handed them over to more than 400 archers. These people formed a temporary line of defense and observed the situation below the mountain indifferently.

On a large rock halfway up the mountain, Huangfu Yu and three captains stood side by side.

Captain Cui Pu said: "General, fortunately there is plenty of grass on the mountain, so the horses can still eat, and there is spring water for drinking, but our soldiers don't have much dry food with them, and it can only last for three days at most."

Huangfu Yu nodded slightly, his expression still calm, and said slowly: "What do you think Jing Jun's back-up plan is?"

Everyone looked at each other, and another lieutenant Zhang Wanzhong said, "General, according to the intelligence we obtained earlier, the total number of troops of the Jing army that crossed the border to harass us is about 10,000. There are at least 7,000 cavalrymen at the foot of the mountain now. They... they must want to eat up our 3,000 soldiers and then leave. This place is still within the border, and the defenders everywhere will definitely receive the news. We only need to hold on for two days, and reinforcements will definitely arrive."

Huangfu Yu turned his head and looked at him, then suddenly asked, "Are you afraid of death?"

Zhang Wanzhong was startled, then shook his head and said, "Of course I'm not afraid!"

"Just don't be afraid of death."

Huangfu Yu smiled slightly, and then said calmly: "Pass the order, our army will hold on the mountain for two days, and the soldiers will take turns to rest and recuperate. The enemy should not dare to attack the mountain rashly. After two days, I will lead everyone to rush down the mountain and start a decisive battle with the Jing Army cavalry below. I will lead the way and will definitely live and die with you all."

His tone was still calm, with hardly any ups and downs, but his eyes were as firm as a rock.

The three lieutenants said in unison: "Yes, sir!"

(End of this chapter)