Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 957

If the opponent occupies the Dafengkou, then they can only attack the enemy army in a horizontal formation from the road in a column. Although this is not impossible, it may increase the difficulty of attacking.

"At least one thousand, coming towards us from the opposite road. I can't see the exact number, and it's a little more than two miles away from the mountain."

"The whole army marches quickly." Yang Yanqing yelled, and immediately led his bodyguards to gallop on horseback. The soldiers of the second infantry brigade, wearing helmets and weapons, rushed forward all the way.

When Ma Lijun and Liu Zhisheng arrived at the destination panting with the engineering battalion and the trebuchet company, a battalion of the Second Infantry Brigade had already deployed behind the mountain, forming a horizontal formation, and the soldiers of the other three infantry battalions were sitting on the ground, making the last move. Rest before the battle.All the sixteen giant crossbow gun squads in the whole brigade have already carried 32 giant crossbow gun parts on the ridges on both sides, started to assemble giant crossbow guns, and deployed giant crossbow gun positions.

The engineer battalion and the trebuchet company had no time to rest, so they moved and assembled the trebuchet parts according to the instructions of the staff sent by Yang Yanqing, and then deployed the trebuchet company position.

"The deputy head of the army really hit the spot. These Tubo soldiers should be a stronghold set up by the Tubo people to transport grain and grass in front. The Tubo grain and grass team that we killed during the day did not arrive on time, so they came to meet them by the way. I checked." Lu Fengyun walked down the ridge, put away the binoculars leisurely, and said to Yang Yanqing.

Yang Yanqing said with a smile: "Their marching speed is too slow. But I don't know how many people there are. Our army doesn't need to approach the forest on the opposite side, we just need to guard this ridge. Also, if their number is small, you can also Don't be in a hurry to expose all our troops, so as not to scare them away."

Lu Fengyun said solemnly: "Don't worry, the deputy commander, as long as our Second Infantry Brigade fights against the Tibetans in this terrain, the general will have confidence in how many Tibetans will come and die."

At this time, the sky was already bright, and the field of vision was already clear. The officers and soldiers of the engineer battalion stood behind, discussing the situation ahead nervously and curiously.At the same time, the company commander of the catapult company was arguing that several catapult parts were too large, and the catapult positions Yang Yanqing had chosen for them were on the hillsides on both sides, and they were so anxious that they couldn't lift it up.

After a while, it seemed that Yang Yanqing's order came from the ridge. The infantry battalion that was on guard just now retreated to rest, and the pike infantry of the other infantry battalion that had been resting on this side of the hill before stood up one after another. Went up to the high ground and then across the front line.It gradually disappeared from the field of vision of the engineer battalion commander Ma Lijun, and finally he could only see countless gun barrels and gun heads poking out from the horizon, pointing densely at the sky.On the other side of the hill where the Tubo people couldn't see, the three infantry battalions continued to sit and rest, and at the foot of the hill, people from each company's fire squad had already started cooking.

After a while, the 250 spear points of the infantry battalion sank neatly for a few times, one batch at a time, below the horizon, and then the rest also fell forward. In a blink of an eye, Ma Lijun even A gun was also out of sight.He couldn't help muttering to himself: "It's started, the Tubo dog is coming up."

In fact, the senior engineer battalion commander was wrong again.Yang Yanqing just asked the pikemen in the front row to step forward for a while, and then asked the soldiers to lay down their pikes so as not to affect the shooting of the giant crossbowmen behind and the infantry in the rear rows.

The Tubo army on the opposite side seemed to be very shocked by what happened to the Hexiangfu army here, and they seemed to be aware of the value of the terrain here, but since the Xiangfu army had already deployed, they couldn't come out to form an array.Yang Yanqing watched coldly as his opponent put on his armor and drew his sword on the road, preparing for battle in a mess.

After the Tubo army finished putting on their armor, they scattered directly into the woods on both sides of the road.Yang Yanqing knew that they planned to line up in the woods.Then jump out and fight.This attempt made Yang Yanqing just sneer, and forming an array in the woods would not only waste time.And it would be a waste of energy. Everyone in the Second Brigade of Qinglong Legion Infantry kept a terrible silence, watching the opponent's figure gradually emerge from the forest obliquely below, and there was still a seven-seven distance between the Qinglong Legion infantry line that had walked down the half hillside. About ten steps away.

Of course, the giant crossbow gun and the catapult were already able to kill the enemy at such a distance, but Yang Yanqing did not order the catapult and the giant catapult to attack in order not to scare the Tubo army away.

After seeing the Tubo people's attempt to attack from a long distance, Yang Yanqing ordered everyone to kneel down.Some feathered arrows were thrown from the opposite side, and many of these thrown feathered arrows hit the spear infantry of the Qinglong Army, but they were unable to penetrate the steel armor and iron armor of the Xiangfu Army at all, and they just made some clanging noises helplessly. .

"Giant crossbow. Gun, rear fast crossbow, shoot at the same time!"

The 32 giant crossbows and guns on the top of the mountain and the last few rows of fast crossbowmen in the infantry phalanx launched a salvo. Amid the buzzing sound of breaking through the air, there was a series of screams from the edge of the woods more than 70 steps away. Many Tubo troops fell to the ground, making the sound of heavy bodies hitting the ground.

"Quick crossbowman, shoot!" Because this time we are fighting behind enemy lines, without a train team, it is difficult to replenish weapons after consumption, and the number of giant crossbow guns is limited, so after the first wave of test firing, Yang Yanqing no longer let the giant crossbow Crossbow. Gun firing.

A total of [-] fast crossbows from the second and third rows of the infantry phalanx fired again. Heart-piercing screams sounded at the junction of the forest and the stream again, and more Tubo troops fell to the ground. Because the quick crossbow is fired in four bursts, the people who were hit to the torso by the crossbow arrows of the Xiangfu army often had three or four crossbow arrows all over their bodies. Some of them swallowed their last breath quickly, and the rest were seriously injured all over the ground. Tumbling, helplessly making the sound of dying pain.

After two shots, Yang Yanqing noticed that the opponent seemed to hesitate, at this moment, the fast crossbow of the Xiangfu army fired a third volley.The enemies in the field of vision seem to retreat in a hurry.On the opposite side of Yang Yanqing, a Tubo soldier seemed to be drunk, staggered a few times under the watchful eyes of the Xiangfu army, then turned around and hugged a big tree, slowly, slowly Sitting down on the ground, he left a long, broad red scar on the trunk as he moved his hand holding the tree down.

There was a mess of shouts on the Tubo army's position, and after a while there were figures shaking in the woods on the opposite side. The Xiangfu army waited patiently. This time, the Tubo army seemed to have realized that their bows and armor defenses were too different from those of the Azure Dragon Army. Big, the long-range attack is too disadvantageous, so I don't plan to shoot at the Xiangfu army again. They paused at the edge of the forest, and then emerged from the entire dividing line.

Countless pairs of feet stepped across the stream, and the Tubo army held up their shields in front of them, and pressed forward in a dark manner towards the Xiangfu army. It seemed that they only had more than 1000 people, which was smaller than the infantry battalion of the Qinglong Army that was lining up to fight. Three or four hundred more.And this is why these Tubo people still did not retreat after losing two or three hundred people in a long-range attack just now.

Yang Yanqing no longer commanded the battle in person, but handed it over to Lu Fengyun, the brigade commander. Lu Fengyun simply handed over the specific command to Zhang Jianghe, the commander of the [-]st Infantry Battalion who was currently fighting.

Following Zhang Jianghe's order, the [-] Kuainu in the two rows behind fired another volley.At the same time, the pikemen in the first two rows also stood up after this volley, ready to start hand-to-hand combat with the support of the quick crossbow.

Under the roar of the Tubo people, the hand-to-hand combat began the next moment, and the sound of killing and screams sounded at the same time. The densely packed iron spears from the Qinglong Legion stabbed four times. Even if the Tubo people had shields to defend, more than 400 people died , while the infantry battalion of the Qinglong Army only killed more than 30 people.

The battle ended quickly. The Tubo army left more than 400 dead bodies and more than 100 wounded. The remaining [-] to [-] Tubo troops fled into the woods under the leadership of the commanding general. The first battalion carried out another pursuit with a fast crossbow, knocking down a group of Tubo troops running behind.

Corpses were scattered all over the hillside, spreading from halfway up the mountain to the stream, and now there are more than a dozen Tubo soldiers pouring into the stream, dyeing the originally clear river water with a few wisps of light red.

The first two rows on the mountainside consisted of more than 400 infantry and a battalion of infantry with spears lined up in a neat horizontal line. The spears in their hands were densely packed like a jungle. The three rows behind them held spears in their left hands and more than 700 infantry with single-handed crossbows also recovered. Standing at attention, all of them looked forward with their crossbows upright.

Yang Yanqing estimated that there were originally 40 to [-] Tubo soldiers on the opposite side. The entire battle took less than half an hour. The opponent dropped nearly [-] corpses, but only caused more than [-] casualties to the Xiangfu army.The first two defeats of the Tibetans were caused by quick crossbow salvos, and there was no need for hand-to-hand combat.

Yang Yanqing looked at the steel armor on the soldiers and the helmets on their heads, as well as the pure steel tips of the iron guns in their hands and the fast crossbow in their hands, and said: "When we occupy the time and place, the Tubo people should fight in the field. The weapons and equipment are not our opponents at all."

"In fact, these Tubo people are not bad in individual combat. They won easily just now. It's because their armor can't stop our quick crossbow at all." Lu Fengyun said.

"I heard from the intelligence report of the Ministry of Security that the Song Dynasty supported the Tubo people with a lot of armor and weapons, but they were obviously equipped for the Tubo troops who attacked Gaizhu City and defended Lanzhou City. If these Tubo troops who are in charge of food and grass in the rear can wear With Song Army's armor and Song Army's bow and arrow, our battle just now would not have been so easy." Yang Yanqing thought for a while and said.

(End of this chapter)