Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 361
Zhou Yin and Zhou Da Sima had strong soldiers and were leading the way when they retreated, so they could ignore the Uncle Zhou Corps of the Han Army. The [-] Jibei Army was not only obviously inferior to the Uncle Zhou Corps of the Han Army in terms of strength, but also was led by Zhou Yin and Zhou Da Sima at the rear. As long as there was a slight difference, no one would dare to predict the consequences.

Because of this, of course the Jibei Army withdrew very carefully. In addition to carefully maintaining the distance from the Western Chu Army’s northern front corps, it also paid great attention to the retreat formation of its own army. After chasing and killing, a large number of scouts were also sent to closely monitor the movement behind and the sides of the road, not daring to underestimate the enemy.

It's not bad, Dongyuan and Julu's road are located in the North China Plain, and at the same time far away from the Taihang Mountains in the west, the terrain is quite open. Just be careful that the Han army goes around and interspersed from the flanks, the pressure is not so great that it is unbearable.At the same time, the Han army was obviously wary of the sudden retreat of the anti-Han coalition forces to lure the enemy deliberately, and did not dare to send troops in a hurry to pursue them. It was only after going south for more than forty miles that Tian Xin received a report from the scouts, saying that the Han army had finally sent troops. Launched a pursuit.

Carrying too much military supplies to the south, the distance of about forty miles is certainly not safe enough, so in case of emergency, Tian Xin can only send someone to send the movement of the Han army to the front to report to Zhou Yin. Fortunately, Zhou Yin He also quickly gave a clear answer, telling the Jibei Army to retreat with peace of mind. If the Jibei Army is really caught up, he will definitely send troops to reinforce it.

"I hope you will keep your word as before, and don't let me be with you at a critical moment."

After muttering something quietly, Tian Xin could only continue to lead the Jibei Army to retreat to the south, and when it was dark, he personally arranged the night defense of the campsite, and connected the baggage vehicles with ropes to form a temporary guard camp. For the fortifications, reliable generals were arranged to lead the elite troops to take turns to watch the night, and then the soldiers were allowed to rest overnight.However, even so, when it was around midnight, Tian Xin worked tirelessly, got up and led the army to patrol the camp in person, fulfilling the duty of a qualified general.

It was still not bad, and there was nothing to say all night, and then it was close to noon the next day, when the Jibei Army retreated south to the vicinity of Yuanshi, an urgent report came from the scouts from the north, saying that the Han Army cavalry had chased them nearby. There was also a large group of Han infantry following, Tian Xin did not dare to neglect, in addition to ordering the army to prepare for battle, he also sent someone to contact Zhou Yin early, asking Zhou Yin to be ready to send troops to help his own army.

After noon, about [-] cavalrymen of the Han army chased behind the Jinbei army first. The Jibei army immediately stopped retreating and formed a formation to fight. As soon as they saw the Han army cavalry approaching, they immediately suppressed it with a volley of strong bows and crossbows. Therefore, the cavalry of the Han army who fought on horseback did not dare to rush into the strong infantry formation of the Jibei Army. Fortunately, the formation of the Jibei Army was tight, the array was neat, and there were no flaws in the flanks and back, so the detours of the Han cavalry became futile and a waste of horse energy.

After a while, the infantry brigade of the Han army, which numbered about [-], also chased up. Under the command of Ling Jing, the general of the Han army who was in charge of the pursuit, they also launched a tentative attack on the Jinbei army's position with great impoliteness. Then they quickly concentrated their forces to attack the right wing of the Jibei Army. At the same time, the cavalry of the Han Army also came from the side and attacked the right wing of the Jibei Army from two directions in the northeast. Because he was on the defensive, he was at a disadvantage on the scene.

Seeing that the Han army invested [-] infantry to attack the right flank of the own army, leaving only [-] troops in the formation, and through scouting, it was confirmed that the main force of the Han army was still far away, and it was absolutely impossible to rush to the battlefield quickly. Tian Xin, who is also a veteran of the battlefield He decisively made adjustments, ordered the left-wing soldiers to step forward, attack the Han army's rear to contain the enemy, and mobilized the Chinese army to reinforce the left-wing battlefield, and quickly reversed the battlefield situation to Jinbei army's main attack and Han army's main defense.

After such fierce fighting for a period of time, the sound of rumbling horseshoes came from the south of the battlefield. More than 3000 western Chu cavalry rode their horses to come for reinforcements. The soldiers of the Han army and the Han army fled together, and fled to the north in a mess. The cavalry of the Han army was also forced to provoke the important task of the rear. Chase down the despicable rats of the Han army who can't beat them and run away.

After all, it was on the way to retreat, and at the same time, the main force of the Han army must be heading south, so Tian Xin decisively ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops after chasing after five or six miles. The cavalry of the Western Chu Army chased for fifteen or six miles in one breath, and then withdrew their troops.At the same time, Tian Xin was secretly relieved that during this period, the main force of the Western Chu Army not only stopped retreating southward, and did not leave the Jibei Army behind, but also sent an infantry brigade to reinforce the Jibei Army after the cavalry. The Northern Army is absolutely benevolent.

There is also something that makes Tian Xin happy. After the battle, the Jibei Army only killed about [-] soldiers before and after the battle, but the number of heads of the Han Army that was cut down was as many as [-]. At the same time, they also captured The golden drum, a weapon discarded by many defeated Han troops, was a rewarding victory.

The cavalry of the Western Chu Army also made gains. When they retreated to the front of the Jibei Army, many of the cavalry of the Western Chu Army had their heads hanging from their waists. Lai Guang, the cavalry general of the Western Chu Army who led the troops, also had a bright guard in his hand. With a saber in his hand, he smiled brightly, "Finally, I have snatched a saber used by the bandit cavalry. It will be much easier to fight cavalry against Lao Tzu in the future."

After talking happily, Lai Guang said to Tian Xin again: "General Tian, ​​can you rest assured this time? Our Western Chu Army keeps what we say, and we promised not to leave you alone, and we will definitely do what we say. "

"Thank you, General Lai, for your hard work." Tian Xin cupped his hands sincerely to thank him, and then said, "General Lai, please thank Da Sima on my behalf, and say that our Jibei Army will definitely stop the Han bandits from chasing soldiers with all our strength, and never It will give the Han thieves the opportunity to rush ahead and attack your back."

Lai Guang readily agreed, and then happily led the Western Chu cavalry back to the team to hand over orders. Tian Xin also hurriedly led the Jibei Army to continue southward, and retreated in the direction of Julu with the Western Chu Army.But after this incident, seeing that the Han army was not as terrifying as imagined in the field battle, and seeing that the Western Chu army was so clear about righteousness, they would immediately turn back to rescue them in case of danger, and the soldiers of the Jibei Army were also determined. , morale was greatly boosted, and the voices of complaints that were still common before also disappeared a lot.

On the evening of the same day, Lu Kuang's troops of the Han Army, who took turns forward, caught up with the Jibei Army again, and fought a contact battle with the Jibei Army. The impact still failed to succeed, and it still failed to shake the Jinbei Army's position. Then when the Western Chu Army came back for reinforcements again, the Han Army could only retreat and escape quickly, and did not dare to stay to die. Fearing that the Han army would take advantage of the night to set up an ambush, they decisively withdrew their troops before chasing them far, and temporarily spared the Han army's life.

In the morning of the next day, the unwilling Han army made a comeback and caught up with the Jibei army for the third time. The soldiers of the army were excited. This time, before the Western Chu army came to reinforce them, they directly defeated the Han army with a single counterattack. The Han army threw away their flags and drums and rushed away. The army immediately launched a pursuit.

"Ming Jin!"

At the critical moment, Tian Xin, who has a cautious personality, saw something was wrong, and immediately decisively ordered Ming Jin to withdraw the troops. As a result, after the gong rang, the soldiers of the Jibei Army had no choice but to stop, and the general of the Jibei Army next to him also asked Tian Xin strangely : "General, we have clearly won the battle, and we are about to take advantage of the victory to expand the results of the victory. Why did you order Mingjin?"

"The Han bandits lost too quickly this time, obviously deceitful." Tian Xin explained, and then said: "Do you remember the way to the north? About ten miles to the north, there are many hills and forests on both sides of the road, so it is easier to set up an ambush , if we take the risk of pursuing them, we may be ambushed by Han bandits."

The general woke up, and quickly praised Tian Xin for his brilliance and martial arts. After hearing Tian Xin's explanation, the Western Chu army who came later also agreed with Tian Xin's explanation. The Jibei Army scouts also quickly sent a report, saying that after the Han army was defeated, they just fled north blindly and did not turn back to lure the enemy. The dangerous area is actually empty, and there is no ambush hiding a single soldier.

Of course, the generals of the Jibei Army did not dare to say anything more. After knowing the situation, Zhou Yin, the coach of the Western Chu Army, sent someone to complain to Tian Xin, saying that Tian Xin should not be too cautious and timid. Missed it, and told Tian Xin to just kill the enemy with peace of mind. Even if he was in danger, the Western Chu army would definitely come to rescue him with all his strength. He also fought a decisive battle in the field with the lingering Han army, and taught Uncle Zhou who didn't know the heights of heaven and earth. ordinary man.Tian Xin was ashamed, and could only promise to promise.

It's a pity that Tian Xin has no chance to save face. Because of the consecutive defeats in the pursuit, the Han army did not dare to catch up with the Jibei army to die that day, and did not dare to stand in front of the Jibei army at night. Luckily, Tian Xin didn't really care about it. He also carefully arranged the defense work at night before he dared to lie down and rest in peace.

It has been three days in a row that Tian Xin has been worried and frightened, and has not had a good rest. After finally lying down, Tian Xin naturally fell asleep very quickly. Because of the victory, the Jibei Army has been greatly relaxed psychologically, and their spirits are no longer so tense and vigilant, so it didn't take long. The soldiers of the Jibei Army also fought with eyelids one after another, and quietly fell asleep.

Faced with such a situation, at the beginning there were still some loyal generals of the Jibei Army who were in charge, but as time went on, the night became darker and darker, and even these generals of the Jibei Army couldn't help but fight. Nap—after all, the Han army rats are vulnerable, and the invincible Jibei army soldiers don't need to be so nervous and careful.

God has no eyes, so naturally, in the middle of the night, a group of black shadows sneaked up near the camp of the Jibei Army, and under the cover of night, they directly touched the side of the Jinbei Army's convoy. It was the silent use of a knife to cut the ropes connecting the transportation vehicles—don’t tell me why you don’t use iron chains. With the iron and steel smelting technology and production capacity of this era, even the Han army who uses ground steel weapons can’t afford it. Lots of chains.

After cutting the rope, it is of course much easier to push the baggage vehicles away, and what is even more outrageous is that because of being too sound asleep, the group of black men have already pushed a dozen or twenty baggage vehicles away. A large opening more than ten feet wide was opened in the campsite of the Jibei Army, and none of the soldiers of the Jibei Army discovered this situation.The group of black shadows took advantage of the heat and took the opportunity to push away more baggage vehicles...

"Boom!"

The sudden explosion of gunpowder awakened many sleeping soldiers of the Jibei Army, and then, before the awakened soldiers of the Jibei Army could figure out what had happened, the sound of killing had already begun. Soaring into the sky, countless cavalrymen of the Han army with their horseshoes wrapped in cloth galloped wildly, holding their sharp sabers aloft, and rushed directly into the Jibei army camp from the gap opened before, slashing and killing those who were caught off guard like melons and vegetables. Soldiers of the Jibei Army.

A large group of cavalry rushed directly in front of them. The generals and soldiers of the Jibei Army who were awakened just now were of course no match for the Han Army cavalry. Many people had not even had time to see the appearance of the enemy clearly, or their necks had already been cut by the Han Army cavalry saber Driven away, or directly knocked down and trampled by the horses of the Han cavalry, more soldiers of the Jibei Army fled subconsciously.

That’s not to mention, under the command of General Yang Xi of the Han Army, the cavalry of the Han Army were still heading straight for Tian Xin’s banner in the chaotic army. Tian Xin, who had just mounted his horse in a hurry, was shocked when he saw it, and hurriedly ordered the troops around him to form formation Intercepting, but before the Jibei Army in the chaos formed a dense formation, the Han cavalry rushed to the vicinity, and almost effortlessly dispersed the soldiers of the Jibei Army who were still in a hurry. Arrived in front of Tian Xin.

At the juncture of life and death, even Tian Xin, who had a relatively calm and cautious personality, lost his mind. In order to survive, Tian Xin didn't even have time to issue an order to retreat, so he immediately turned his horse's head and ran south to the camp where there were no enemies. In a panic, he escaped directly from the camp of the Jibei Army, and gave up the control and command of the Jibei Army by himself.And because of the lack of light, although the cavalry of the Han army failed to catch up with Tian Xin who was fleeing for his life on horseback, they chopped down Tian Xin's flag bearer with a single knife, causing Tian Xin's commander-in-chief to fall to the ground and disappear, and the soldiers of the Jibei Army were completely defeated. Lost backbone.

The Jibei Army, which lost its command, was naturally scattered, and could no longer condense into a group, and formed a formation to compete with the Han cavalry. The experienced Han cavalry took the opportunity to disrupt and follow Yang Xi's banner Charged left and right in the camp of the Jibei Army, as if entering a no-man's land, killed the soldiers of the Jibei Army until they were howling ghosts and wolves, and their corpses were all over the ground. The soldiers of the Jibei Army who were trying to resist were scattered one after another, and the soldiers of the Jibei Army were defeated one after another. The defeat was already completely doomed.

Under such circumstances, countless soldiers of the Jibei Army had of course already started fleeing from the camp, yelling and burrowing into the dark ground where no one was alive. There were fewer and fewer soldiers of the Jibei Army, and the Han cavalry stepped up their attack, slashing and killing the soldiers of the Jibei Army who had not yet left the camp, setting fire to more food and grass supplies of the Jibei Army, and then charging out of the camp to pursue The enemy outside the camp has a large group of defeated soldiers, desperately expanding the results of the battle.

At this time, Tian Xin, who was the first to escape from the camp, had gradually calmed down. Looking back at the group of defeated soldiers from the army who had fled out of the camp, Tian Xin couldn't help but slapped himself twice, and cursed that he was a coward. The little mouse, and then mustered up his courage, yelled at the defeated crowd of the Jibei Army, "I am Tian Xin! I am your general Tian Xin! Come closer to me! Come closer to me! Hold on, Xi Chu The army will come to save us soon! Come to save us soon!"

People shouted horses, and the sound of killing shook the sky. Of course, Tian Xin's shouts were like throwing a handful of sand in the sea. The rout of the northern army rushed past him.What's worse, because of the largest number of defeated Jinbei troops in this area, the cavalry of the Han army who came out of the camp to pursue them came directly to this side.

"General, let's go! Go to the Western Chu Army for help!"

Several soldiers pulled Tian Xin and shouted. Tian Xin wanted to persist at first, but when he saw the cavalry of the Han army approaching again, Tian Xin could only yell unwillingly, and then turned around and headed south to the west. He fled for his life in the direction of the Chu army camp, crying loudly while running, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me? If I persist, how could we lose so badly? How could we lose so badly?"

At this time, seeing the flames rising from the camp of the Jibei Army, Zhou Yin, the commander of the Western Chu Army, also immediately understood that the Jibei Army was in danger, and quickly ordered Xiang Guan to gather [-] paces and ride out of the camp, and hurried to the north for more than ten miles The reinforcements from the camp of the Northern Army in Waiji soon ran into Tian Xin who was fleeing on horseback. After learning what had happened, Xiang Guan yelled in anger, and immediately urged the army to rush forward to meet and kill Han cavalry.

The invincible Western Chu army is always unstoppable in field battles, even the Han cavalry with high morale is no exception. As soon as they fought with the Western Chu army, the Han cavalry who did not want to fight head-on immediately turned around and left. Xiang Guan urged the troops to pursue with all their might, red-eyed and determined to avenge the friendly troops. Not only did they chase directly to the camp of the Jibei Army, which was already full of fire and smoke, but they also directly crossed the camp and continued to pursue the cavalry of the Han Army without letting go.

"Kill!"

The sudden change occurred again. After crossing the Jinbei army camp and chasing for seven or eight miles, in the last darkness before dawn, suddenly the torches on both sides of the road were like stars. The cavalry of the Han army, who had escaped faster than rabbits before, immediately turned around and fought back, joining hands with the ambush soldiers to attack the Western Chu army's pursuers on three sides.The Western Chu army was in chaos, and Xiang Guan yelled in disbelief, "Ambush? How is that possible? The Han bandits are so calm. There are still troops ambushing nearby, but they haven't entered the battlefield?"

It takes a long line to catch big fish. The hard work and patience of the Han army's ambush finally paid off. Relying on a surprise attack, the Han army defeated the Western Chu army's pursuers again eight miles away from the north of the Jibei army camp. Killed many of the [-] Western Chu troops who went north to pursue them. Among the Xiang family's children, Xiang Guan, who was the last to leave Xiang Kang's side, was injured in the battle. He could only escape from the battlefield from the east with a few hundred riders. The defeated soldiers fled in all directions, and the Han army did not pursue them. They just withdrew quickly before the main force of the Western Chu army sent reinforcements again, and did not give the angry Western Chu army any chance of revenge.

The news of both the surprise attack and the ambush was victorious. Of course, it was soon reported that the main force of the Han army was hiding in front of Uncle Zhou and others far to the north. Can't wait to say to Uncle Zhou: "General, the Xichu bandit army must be mad now, or take this opportunity, let's quickly launch a decisive battle with the Xichu bandit army, and kill the main force of the Xichu bandit army in one battle. , and then go south and join hands with our reinforcements to kill the rest of the bandits!"

"Don't worry." Uncle Zhou smiled and shook his head, and said: "With our current strength, we are indeed sure to fight the Xichu bandit army head-on. But in front, there is a place that is more suitable for us to fight the Xichu bandit army. It will allow us to have greater confidence in killing the main force of the Western Chu thieves at the lowest cost. We cannot miss such a good battlefield, so we have to wait for the Western Chu thieves to withdraw there, and then we will have a decisive battle with them."

"Where?" Chong Da asked quickly.

Uncle Zhou smiled, and used his finger to randomly point on the map in front of him. When Chongda and the others hurriedly looked at it, they saw that the place Uncle Zhou pointed was a small village called Bairen, and in Bairen's Next to it, there is a large river called Sishui, which cuts off the southward retreat of the Western Chu Army.

PS: On the historical map of the Western Han Dynasty, there are two rivers called Jishui and Weishui to the north of Sishui, which can cut off the southward route of the Western Chu army. However, it does not exist. Considering the frequent earthquakes in the Western Han Dynasty, which changed the direction and flow of many mountains and rivers, the author uses the map of the Qin Dynasty, and the geographical setting is that Jishui and Weishui do not exist, or they are just small rivers that can be ignored. .

(End of this chapter)