Chapter 225: Decisive Battle with Youyun (16)
The Zhou army set a fire at Nanshankou, and more than 30 Khitan archers were burned to death. For an army of thousands, the death of more than 30 people was only a wound to the skin, far from reaching the point of injury.
However, the Khitan army suffered repeated setbacks in the small Nanshankou. First, the chief general Jia Xingu was burned to death by a fire. However, the Zhou army's position was as stable as Mount Tai. This reality made the Khitan army lose its attack.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark, Dako had to stop the attack in disappointment. There were only a thousand soldiers who stayed at the foot of the mountain to guard the war horses. Dako was always uneasy and led his army back to the foot of the mountain. The purpose of the Zhou army was to defend Gubeikou, and Dako was not afraid of them running away.
After the Khitan army retreated, the Zhou army took the opportunity to climb over the wooden fence and moved all the trees cut down by the Khitan soldiers with all their efforts into the wooden fence. These trees that were paved were cut down from the mountain. They were solid and wet. Although they were burned by fire, they did not burn thoroughly and were still extremely solid. These logs became the wooden fence of the Zhou army's second line of defense at Nanshankou.
During the first day of the battle at Nanshankou, more than 20 soldiers in the Zhou army were injured by arrows, and four were killed by arrows, with casualties far less than those of the Khitan army. After winning the battle, the imperial guards guarding Nanshankou were in a very good mood. Although the food with some musty taste was not so delicious, the joy of defeating the fierce Khitan army made the soldiers forget the roughness of supper.
Late at night, the sound of digging the ground, digging the ground, snoring, the singing of insects all over the mountain, and the howling of wolves in the distance, forming a strange harmony.
Wang Tengxiang's face was as calm as usual, but there was a huge rock in his heart, which was difficult to express his feelings: Gubeikou is a place that must be fought for by military strategists, and the Khitans will definitely seize this strategic place that is related to life and death at all costs.
Generals who can command troops to win battles are always respected. Ning and Zhao military envoys looked at Wang Tengxiang with a little awe, and followed Wang Tengxiang with all their eyes.
"Enter Ning Army Envoy. The Khitans did not hurt their muscles in this battle, but they just retreated temporarily. There will definitely be a hard fight tomorrow. You must be fully prepared." Wang Tengxiang pointed to the second trench and said: "The trees cut down by the Khitan Army are mostly about four or five meters. This trench can be slightly wider. If it exceeds seven meters, it will be difficult for the Khitans to build a wooden bridge."
Ning Jun Envoy was originally a white man. After a day of battle, sweat, dust and smoke turned him into a black face. He raised his chest and said, "The Khitans are good at riding and shooting, but they are not as good as us in terms of infantry battles. At this time, we have gained all the advantages. Even if the Khitans sink 100,000 soldiers, they cannot pass through Nanshankou."
The Zhao army commander was guarding Beishankou. He was already itchy when he was unable to participate in the daytime battle. He couldn't wait to say, "The Ning army commander must be a little tired after fighting for a day. I will just let me defend Nanshankou tomorrow. The day after tomorrow I will hand Nanshankou back to Ning army commander one day, which is fair to both of us." Ning army commander knew the warlike temper of Zhao army commander, and smiled slightly. He did not answer. Wang Tengxiang looked at Zhao army commander indifferently and said seriously: "Don't worry about the lack of war. The Khitan army going north will arrive soon. Your task is to firmly guard Beishankou and never be careless. Now you have time to transform the fortifications of Beishankou."
The next morning, just dawned. The Khitan sergeant from the brigade appeared at Nanshankou. General Dako saw that the trees were removed from the trenches, and he cursed angrily.
The Khitan army had strict discipline and had lost its commander. If it could not capture Gubeikou, Dako would be unable to escape and die, so his temper would naturally become a little bigger.
Just when the Khitan soldiers entered the mountain to log wood again, the 10,000 Youzhou cavalry led by Yelu Hongshan also arrived at Gubeikou. Yelu Hongshan heard that the brave general Jiaxingu died in the small Nanshankou. He was shocked and angry. After checking the Zhou army's positions in person, Yelu Hongshan ordered the attack to stop. He sent a thousand soldiers down the mountain and found some shovels and wheelbarrows. Then the Khitan soldiers braved arrows and used wheelbarrows to load the wheelbarrows with a full amount of soil and poured them into the trench. Although the trench was very wide and deep, the length was very short. At the end of the night, dozens of Khitan soldiers were injured and killed, and the trench was filled.
While filling the soil, hundreds of soldiers from the Khitan army went to the mountain to cut down trees and quickly built more than 20 simple wooden ladders.
In the evening, Yelu Hongshan personally issued an attack order.
The trench had been filled, and the Khitans rushed directly to the wooden fence with wooden ladders. Strangely, the Zhou army did not conduct any blockade at all.
When Wang Tengxiang stood on the wooden platform and saw the deployment of the Khitan sergeants, he knew that the first wooden fence was difficult to defend. After laying down the mechanism, he ordered the Zhou army to retreat to the second trench to defend. When the first group of Khitan sergeants exposed their bodies from behind the wooden fence, the Zhou army crossbowmen guarding the second trench fired arrows frantically. The dense and accurate iron arrows made a cry for death and rushed towards the Zhou army climbing up the wooden fence. Countless Khitan sergeants screamed and fell down the wooden ladder.
The wooden fence in Nanshankou is not wide, so they can only drive more than twenty wooden ladders, which means that there are only twenty Khitan soldiers who climb more than three meters high every time. These twenty Khitan soldiers became the living targets of Zhou army's crossbowmen. Although the subsequent Khitan soldiers were holding leather shields, when they successfully climbed over the fence, they encountered more intensive shooting.
Seeing more and more soldiers climbing over the wooden fence, Yelu Hongshan's tense face finally slowed down. Suddenly, a huge fire ignited behind the wooden fence, and then countless miserable screams came.
From the wooden fence to the second trench, there were many branches on the ground, which were poured with turbulent oil. More and more Khitan soldiers crossed the wooden fence, but were blocked from the second trench and squeezed into a pile on the not-wide area. At this time, it was getting late, and the arrow branches of the Zhou army were as dense as raindrops. These Khitan soldiers did not notice the strangeness on the ground at all. After the Zhou army's rockets came, the Khitan soldiers were as if they had entered the alchemy furnace of the Taishang Laojun, and were surrounded by raging fire in the blink of an eye.
In the fire, many Khitan soldiers jumped into the second trench, with sharpened wooden stakes arranged in the trench. These Khitan soldiers who were indifferent to the road were pierced by the pointed wooden stakes and their intestines were rotten.
This fire finally ignited a thick wooden fence covered with mud, and the first line of defense at Nanshankou was completely lost.
Dako was once a general of Yelu Dahong. When he saw Yelu Dahong, he seemed to want to continue the attack. He quickly stepped forward and said, "This Zhou general is full of tricks. If we break in rashly, we are afraid that the losses will be great. It is better to wait until dawn to see the situation inside clearly and not attack again."
Yelu Hongshan was still unwilling to accept it, but what Dako said was indeed reasonable, so he said angrily: "When you break through the military camp, you will definitely cut these military camps into pieces."
After a long time, the fire gradually faded.
That night, the Khitan army did not return to the foot of the mountain, but camped at Nanshankou. The Nanshankou was narrow, and the Khitan camp winded along the path, which was several miles long. The moonlight was so bright that night that the path was clear, and the Khitan soldiers who had been fighting for a long time quickly fell asleep. The scorching smell on the ground did not affect the sleep of these young soldiers.
In the second half of the night, several soldiers who were disguised as armored soldiers panted and arrived at Nanshan Pass.
After hearing the report, Yelu Hongshan's face changed: "The Zhou army is attacking the camp at the foot of the mountain." Because the cavalry could not play a role in attacking Nanshankou, Yelu Hongshan left 10,000 war horses at the foot of the mountain. He left a total of 4,000 soldiers to guard these war horses. It was precisely because the camp at the foot of the mountain that Yelu Hongshan was not worried about the safety of the horses, so he set up camp on the mountain.
War horses were the lifeblood of the Khitan cavalry. When they learned that the Zhou army was attacking the military camp at the foot of the mountain, they ran quickly down the mountain regardless of the unevenness of the mountain road.
When the Khitan army went down the mountain to rescue, the battle at the foot of the mountain was coming to an end. The Zhou army that attacked the Khitan camp was the 4,000 infantry led by Yuan Yan, commander of Longjiedu.
After crossing the Juma River, the 4,000 infantry troops followed Wang Tengxiang's cavalry and headed towards Gubeikou. According to the information obtained in advance, the 40,000 Khitan soldiers in Youzhou all contracted in the city. Except for the 4,000 cavalry stationed in Qingshui River, there was no other main force of the Khitan army outside the city. Therefore, the cavalry and the 4,000 infantry under Wang Tengxiang did not hide and headed straight to Gubeikou. During the raid, the superiority of the cavalry's maneuverability and flexibility was fully revealed. Wang Tengxiang's cavalry left Yuan Yan's infantry behind far behind.
When Yuan Yan's troops arrived at Gubeikou, they found that the Khitan army had gathered on the Gubeikou Mountain Road.
Yuan Yan was a small general. Although he was short, he was very bold and outstanding among the many military governors. When he learned that there were countless war horses in the Khitan barracks at the foot of the mountain, his eyes immediately shone. Soon after dark, fires rose everywhere on the mountain, and Yuan Yan's four thousand infantrymen quietly touched the Khitan barracks.
After Gubeikou was in Youzhou, it was actually considered to be the rear. The Khitan guards with 4,000 troops were a bit careless. The defense of the Khitan military camp was much simpler than that of Wang Tengxiang's military camp, or it was not considered defense at all. They just installed a circle of simple fences to enclose the war horses.
After the Zhou army killed the sentry, they successfully entered the Khitan military camp.
A sleepy Khitan soldier was convenient outside the tent when he suddenly found a large group of black shadows appearing in front of him with his hands and feet. He was shocked in his heart, and the surging urine was immediately scared back. "Zhou army attacked the camp." Just after shouting these four words, a waist knife flew over from the darkness, and inserted it accurately and ruthlessly into his face.
There were 4,000 troops left in the Khitan camp, which was not inferior to the Zhou army in terms of number. However, the Zhou army did not know how many Khitans were in the military camp, so they were very motivated and rushed towards the Khitan army without moving forward, and caught the Khitans off guard.
Fierce hand-to-hand combat soon appeared everywhere in the military camps. These Khitan troops were all cavalry. At this time, as infantry, they were inferior to the Zhou army's imperial guards in terms of fighting skills, weapons and equipment. The Khitan troops rushed to fight, did not understand the enemy's situation, and lacked organized resistance. The Zhou army quickly gained the upper hand in the battle.
As the saying goes, the defeat was like a mountain of fall, and the Khitan army was soon chaotic by the Zhou army. In the dark, Khitan soldiers who saw that the situation was not good were crossing the wooden fences and avoiding the mountains. Only more than 200 Khitan troops were resisting tenaciously in the northwest corner.
The army led by Yuan Yan was an infantryman, and only he and his fifty guards were cavalrymen, but he also dismounted to fight in order to attack the camp. After the Zhou army completely controlled the battle situation, Yuan Yan had a preliminary understanding of the entire battlefield situation and couldn't help but secretly complain in his heart that if he had known earlier that there were thousands of Khitan soldiers in the Khitan military camp, he would not have attacked the camp at all. Now, by chance, he had successfully captured the Khitan military camp.
Tens of thousands of war horses in the camp were all surrounded by wooden railings after wooden railings. Although the horse's reins were tied to the wooden railings, they were already alarmed, but they could not escape.
Yuan Yan stood by the horse railing, opened his mouth wide, and looked at the smooth and smooth war horses in the moonlight. "I've got rich, I've got rich this time." He gently flipped over the wooden railing and led a war horse, hoping to hold this beautiful and strong war horse in his arms.
Yuan Yan excitedly said to his guards: "What are you doing when you are stunned? Come in and lead the horses." The guards then realized that they moved out of the wooden railing, rode on the war horses, and rushed out with Yuan Yan. Yuan Yan rode his horses and ran in the camp and shouted: "Get the war horses quickly."
War horses were too short for the army of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The Longjie army had 20,000 people and only 3,000 cavalry. Therefore, when the soldiers saw so many fat and strong war horses, they were like the rich man who saw gold ingots and could no longer take their eyes off.
When Yuan Yan rushed to the northwest corner with his excited cavalry, the final resistance of the Khitan soldiers was also disintegrated.
Huang Liu was much calmer when he joined the army. He began to trouble the troops without waiting for Yuan Yan's order.
After the troops gathered together, Yuan Yan asked Huang Liu quietly, "How many casualties are we?" "About 3,000 people gathered together?" Yuan Yan said without blinking his eyelids, "Kill all the seriously injured people who cannot move." Huang Liu and more than 20 personal guards quietly carried out the mission.
"Today we won a big victory and robbed the war horses of the Khitan cavalry. You guys, you are now a cavalry, and each of them needs two war horses." Yuan Yan knew that there was a Khitan army on the mountain, and this fight would definitely alarm the Khitans. As soon as the war ended, the work began to arrange a retreat.
After the order, the soldiers of Zhou army rode on the Khitan army with joy. Yuan Yan saw that more than 300 soldiers were standing still, and asked loudly: "Why don't you ride a horse?" A sergeant replied with shame: "I can't ride a horse." Yuan Yan raised his voice and asked the group of soldiers, saying: "You can't ride a horse?" After receiving a positive answer, Yuan Yan said, "Ha, ha" and said, "Hey, he can't even ride a horse. Since he can't ride a horse, you can open all the wooden railings and cut off the horse's reins. After we retreat, we can set a torch to burn the camp."
Chapter completed!