Ming Dynasty: Evolution from snake to national guardian beast

Chapter 118 The battle is determined

"Your Highness King Yan, Geng Bingwen has left the camp."

Wu Feng stood next to Zhu Di and reported Geng Bingwen's movements to Zhu Di.

Since Zhang Bao returned to Geng Bingwen's camp the day before yesterday, Geng Bingwen had indeed shrunk all his troops and stationed them on the north bank of the Hutuo River.

As for why we did not return to the south bank, but chose to form an array with our backs to the water, the reason is simple.

Geng Bingwen never thought that he would lose. He was afraid that Zhu Xi insisted on the camp and did not dare to go out to fight with himself.

If the army retreats to the south bank, but Zhu Di takes this opportunity to defend the north bank, then it will be extremely difficult for the imperial army to cross the river again.

Although tens of thousands of troops in Xiongxian and Minzhou have now been lost, Geng Bingwen believes that Zhu Di only has a mere 100,000 troops and is no match for his 200,000 troops.

Therefore, after hearing the message from Zhang Bao, Geng Bingwen recharged his batteries, and until today, the army set off and reached Zhending City.

This time Geng Bingwen is bound to crush Zhu Di to pieces.

On Zhu Di's side, he had already received the news of Geng Bingwen's departure for the decisive battle through various sentries, and he was ecstatic in his heart.

He has been waiting for so many days for this opportunity.

Immediately, Zhu Di ordered the entire army to set off and join Geng Bingwen in hunting under Zhending City.

The two sides each had 200,000 troops, with a total of 400,000 troops. They set off the formation on the Great Plain of Hebei and began to approach slowly.

Zhang Yu, as Zhu Di's first general, stood beside Zhu Di and asked softly:

"Your Majesty, there is something unknown at the end of the day."

"speak!"

Zhu Di is in a good mood today.

Zhang Yu said:

"A few days ago, it was clear that Zhang Bao had revealed Geng Bingwen's flaws. Why didn't the prince take advantage of the situation to attack and defeat Geng Bingwen in one fell swoop?"

"Do we have to wait until today to dispatch the army to annihilate Geng Bingwen?"

"Does the prince think that the sneak attack is too shameful and he must defeat Geng Bingwen in an upright manner on the battlefield?"

When Zhu Di heard this, he burst out laughing:

"Hahaha, soldiers are crafty, how could I be so pedantic?"

"The reason why I didn't send troops to raid Geng Bingwen a few days ago is because Geng Bingwen's soldiers were too scattered."

"Once defeated, Geng Bingwen is likely to flee with most of his soldiers."

"I'm not afraid that he will concentrate all his efforts on me, but I'm afraid that he will spread out too much and I won't be able to catch him!"

"Now they have a battle of 200,000 people, and there is no way to retreat behind them. In this way, our army can capture them all."

Zhang Yu was stunned when he heard this.

How confident does King Yan have to be in himself to say such domineering words?

Before the fight even started, he knew he would win, and for fear that the other party would escape, Zhu Di even deliberately gave the other party a chance to concentrate his forces.

Zhang Yu suddenly fell silent, deeply impressed by Zhu Di's courage.

While the two were talking, the armies of both sides were already in formation twenty miles south of Zhending City.

The two sides were about a stone's throw away from each other, and according to the rules of the battlefield, there must be some exchange of words before the fight started.

Geng Bingwen directly sent out the fierce general Ping An, stood in front of the formation and shouted loudly:

"King Yan, you were originally a vassal king of the imperial court, but now you dare to openly raise an army to cause chaos. What crime should you be punished for?"

"Now that the imperial army has arrived, please dismount immediately and surrender. The imperial court will spare your life for the sake of your parents, wives and children."

"Otherwise, once the fighting starts, you will all become rebellious thieves. Not only will the family members and children be affected, but even the nine clans will be implicated by you."

Zhu Di sent general Zhang Yu to scold the formation.

Zhang Yu was not only highly skilled in martial arts, but also highly strategic. He was much higher than Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu.

When Zhang Yu walked to the front of the two armies, he scolded the treacherous officials in the court for their perverse behavior:

"Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, Fang Xiaoru and others are all traitors. They instigated the royal family's feelings and forced the vassal king to death. This is a serious crime."

"Nowadays, all the vassal kings are the emperor's uncles, but these treacherous ministers are inciting the emperor to kill his uncle. They are really treacherous ministers who are harming the country."

"Wang Ye's troops were for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, but also in accordance with the training of Emperor Taizu Gao, not rebellion."

"You are helping the tyrants to commit evil. You are the rebels." The two sides were shouting and quarreling in front of the formation. After burning incense, neither of them obeyed the other. As a result, they both retreated to their own formation, and the battle ended. From this moment on, it officially broke out.

Geng Bingwen looked down on Zhu Di, so he naturally took the lead in initiating political advancement.

He directly ordered Ping'an to be the vanguard of the Chinese army and lead the army to attack Zhu Di's Chinese army array.

Qu Neng and his son were the vanguard of the right army and attacked Zhu Di's left army array.

The array on the left is mainly defensive, with Zhang Bao in charge.

Geng Bingwen personally sat in the Central Army and coordinated the overall situation.

Under Geng Bingwen's command, the soldiers of the Southern Army began to carry their shields.

Move forward slowly.

The Yan army also began to fire arrows under Zhu Di's order.

In an instant, arrows flew like locusts, flying as heavy as mountains, and flesh and blood flew across the battlefield.

Among the Southern Army, people kept falling to the ground after being hit by arrows. However, under the leadership of Ping An, the Southern Army soldiers firmly and slowly approached the Yan Army carrying their shields.

With the advancement, the Southern Army also began to release the crossbow towards the Yan Army.

The sky seemed to be covered with arrows, blocking out the sun.

People in the formations of both armies were shot constantly, and then fell to the ground with a muffled sound.

After a long wait, the Southern Army finally approached the Yan Army's position, and then Ping An roared and took the lead in attacking the Yan Army's position.

Spears are like a forest. Whether it is the Southern Army or the Yan Army, their fighting methods are very similar.

In military battles, both sides were fighting hand-to-hand, with spears constantly stabbing each other.

When someone in the front row died in battle, someone from the back row would jump on top and continue stabbing at the opponent with their spears.

At this time, dodging in the battle formation is actually of little use, because you don't know how many spears you will face.

Therefore, when fighting hand to hand, it depends on the morale, courage, combat power, and willpower of both sides. In addition, there are weapons and armor.

The weapon is sharp and easy to use, so it can naturally chop or stab more people to death.

And if the armor is hard, it can block one or two more stabs. Don't underestimate these one or two times. There are tens of thousands of people on the battlefield, and the total number is ten to twenty thousand times.

If you can kill one person once, the role of this armor is comparable to tens of thousands of troops.

The armor used by the Confederate army was made of iron, and some of these soldiers were guardsmen. They all prepared their own armor, and it was common for them to cut corners.

The Yan army used steel that was smelted in a blast furnace by Bai Chu, and in order to rebel, Zhu Di would never allow anyone to cheat, so everything was guaranteed.

In this confrontation between the two sides, the gap immediately became apparent.

Often the Confederate army had to save two or three stabs to kill a Yan army, but the Yan army stabbed the Confederate army with steel spears, just like cutting tofu, which was simple and labor-saving.

In just an instant, the Confederate army suffered heavy casualties.

If it weren't for Ping'an at the front, they would rather die than retreat. I'm afraid that the Chinese forward array has begun to waver.

Seeing the situation on the stage, he naturally noticed that he was wrong. He didn't think about it. In order to stabilize his feet, Geng Bingwen sent 30,000 preparations to support the front line of the Central Army.

They were afraid that the front line of the Chinese army would collapse, causing the entire army to collapse.

With the addition of reinforcements, Ping An finally stabilized its position and even continued to push the front forward.

It's just that his opponent was Zhang Yu, and he was not one of his kind. When Zhang Yu saw the retreat of King Yan's army, he was furious. He took the lead in the charge and counterattacked twice in a row to repel the attack of the southern army.

The two sides launched a fierce tug -of -war on the front line. They were dead at all times, and the blood followed the gully, slowly staining the Luohe River.

However, during this stalemate, a sudden change occurred outside the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)