Chapter 24 Section five
Yang Keshi took a breath and quickly organized the team.He left a hundred soldiers to repair and defend the pontoon bridge and maintain the line of communication between the two banks.This is a very important task, but not very attractive, because at this time, everyone wants to follow the general to charge the battle and make great achievements in annihilating the enemy, and no one wants to stay to take on this logistical job .
Yang Keshi caught a glimpse of Li Xiaozhong among the first batch of soldiers who landed. "This is a person who can safely entrust the task to him." He thought happily.Immediately issue the command:
"Li Xiaozhong, you stay here to command my 100 soldiers of the third sentinel, guard the pontoon bridge, nothing will be lost. If there is any movement, send someone to contact and ask for instructions at any time."
Before waiting for Li Xiaozhong's reply, Yang Keshi left with a large group of people like lightning.
After only a very short period of time - exactly the same time as Yang Keshi organized his team - the Liao Army has readjusted its lineup and arranged a "Yueyan Formation".There is nothing mysterious about the so-called "Yueyan Formation", but the left and right wings embrace the river bank, and a part of the position in the middle is recessed inward, ready to suck the attacking Song army into the pincer-shaped encirclement at any time.This is a common sense combat arrangement.The Liao army, which had been dispersed by the Song army, quickly returned to their posts and lined up according to the designated positions. The lineup was very strict, as if a human wall had been erected on the bare flat ground just now.Although Yang Keshi has fought on the battlefield for a long time, he rarely encountered this kind of formation on the mountainous battlefield in the northwest.He didn't dare to be negligent, and personally took a part of his own soldiers to patrol around the formation, and couldn't help nodding his head and exclaiming:
"It can be rectified after the chaos, and it can't be chaotic in the face of danger. It really deserves to be a strong team. I will deal with him well."
The time left by the Song army to the Liao army and the space left by the Liao army to the Song army are very limited. The Liao army over there has just arranged their formation, and the Song army's attack here began.
Yang Keshi first sent Wu Ge to lead a group of troops to "taste the enemy". With the prestige of the enemy's landing in front of them, the group rushed straight to the central position of the Liao army.After a burst of fierce fighting and rushing, this part of the Liao army was forced back dozens of steps.
Wu Ge is the team leader of Jingyuan Road. He is not only courageous, but also has extraordinary strategies. Yang Keshi agreed to be a teacher and transferred him to take charge of the military camp.Although this transfer lowered his military rank by one level, in the eyes of the core members of the High Command, his worth tripled.Everyone recognizes that he is a talent that can be created, and given time, it is not difficult to reserve him as the choice of the country's leader.Now he found that although the Liao army retreated, it did not collapse.It is like a circle of elastic steel belt, which can withstand heavy pressure, bend once, and bounce back to its original place as soon as the pressure is relieved.This is clearly a formidable enemy.After completing the mission of the trial attack, these brave men swept back the position calmly.
Yang Keshi then ordered Gao Shixuan to lead a group of troops to make a second trial attack.Gao Shixuan chose a weak link in the enemy's formation, and rushed to the right of the center, where the troops were relatively thin.He himself was covered by a few personal soldiers wielding rattan chopping knives, drew his bow, aimed at the officers of the Liao army's front team and shot.
Gao Shixuan's bow and arrows were very reliable, and he shot down two or three Liao soldiers in a row.Then he shouted, trying to take advantage of the chaotic retreat of the Liao army and rush straight into the formation.The front team of the Liao army split up suddenly, and the archers in the second line stood out and shot arrows like locusts.They shoot arrows against arrows, many against few.Gao Shixuan was afraid that his subordinates would suffer, so he had to make an appointment to withdraw the troops. He was in the rear, turned around and shot down a Liao general, and retreated slowly.
According to Yang Keshi's experience, he has such elite soldiers, and with the momentum of thunder, he has only achieved limited results in the two trial attacks, and he can't break into the solid formation. This is obviously a tough battle.
The time factor is in the other party's favor.The vigor of the attack is like steaming steamed buns just out of the cage. The longer the delay, the more the heat will disappear, the stronger the enemy's position will be, and the hope of victory will become slimmer.Yang Keshi was anxious, but fortunately Li Xiaozhong guarded the pontoon bridge very effectively.Unmoved by the arrows of the Liao army, they quickly repaired the interruptions and firmly secured the communication lines, so that reinforcements from the rear could arrive in large numbers through the pontoon bridge.Yang Keshi deployed his troops briefly, reorganized the team, and concentrated the entire army. He still chose the enemy's weak link when Gao Shixuan broke out just now, and personally took the lead in the third real attack.
This is the last shock.It seems that not only this part, but the overall outcome today will be determined by this shock.
Their determination was so great, and their courage so strong, even if the Liao army's position was made of pure steel, it would have to be melted into molten iron.In terms of fighting will, their chief general Yang Keshi is an outstanding example of the whole army.
Yang Keshi wears a gleaming chain-swallowing beast-faced suanni armor all over his body.Some generals deliberately concealed themselves on the battlefield, dressing up like ordinary soldiers to avoid exposing their targets.Yang Keshi did the opposite. He deliberately highlighted the identity of the general, hoping to attract more enemies to him.This golden helmet and armor made the enemy know at a glance that he was the commander-in-chief of the whole army.And his mount is a battle-hardened white horse known as "Yizhang Xue". It's free ride.A personal soldier held a large flag embroidered with the word "Yang", black characters on a white background, trimmed with red satin, and hung with light yellow tassels.In addition, four personal soldiers closely guarded him, and they followed Yang Keshi and advanced forward. "Yizhangxue" galloped and galloped, raising dust all over the sky, and gusts of wind and thunder seemed to be aroused under the horse's hooves, holding their group in the air, like a sharpened dagger suddenly plunged into the Liao army's position.
Two or three thousand Song troops were led by several generals such as Wu Ge, Gao Shixuan, Ma Fuyan, and Wu Jie, the tenth deputy general of the Jingyuan Army who was specially dispatched to the front line of the East Route Army by Zhong Shidao, and others. At this time, the brothers Wu Lin and others followed the main general like a dragon and stirred into the depths of the Liao army's formation.This time, it was no longer like the two previous trial attacks that only penetrated into the surface layer of the Liao army and then stopped abruptly. Wherever the "Yang" banner flies, these brave generals will kill there.In the tense battle, amidst the turbulent wind and waves, the flag sank for a while, sometimes to the point of being completely invisible, and people's hearts also sank.Suddenly it appeared again, mixed with many colorful Liao army flags, raising and lowering each other, and people became excited.Then the "Yang" flag was raised higher, and the enemy's military flags were brushed down one after another, as if a brocade sail was driving a light boat forward with the wind, skimming the surrounding waves to both sides.People's hearts are even more excited.They swung their swords and swords, swung their swords and shields, and hit the heart of the Liao army, giving it a fatal blow.
The frontal Liao army couldn't stop the Song army's edge, so they adopted side-firing tactics.They retreated from the front, but rushed forward several times, trying to cut the Song army into several sections.Their tactics were partially successful, intercepting individual squads of Song troops outside Daliu.So here and there are small-scale individual battles.Some flowing circles squeezed back and forth in the depths of the cloud formation, from violent turbulence to a static state, and sometimes after a short period of rest, they oscillated again, indicating that some soldiers had been trapped in a tight siege, and after being fatally wounded, they were still working. In the final fight, we will never stop until the last drop of blood is shed.
The six teams of the Song Army have penetrated through several layers of the Liao Army, and have penetrated to the rear of the enemy's formation.Suddenly they found that some of their own people were besieged, and they turned around again, fighting to disperse them, and rescued the besieged soldiers from the siege.
The few soldiers who followed Yang Keshi in the charge were intercepted and surrounded by a strong Liao army in an instant.Yang Keshi missed them by mistake and lost them. He flew back immediately.At this time, his eyes and throat were full of fire. He saw that in the enemy's Bao Kingdom, two soldiers guarding the banner were chopped down on the ground, and the third one named Bao'er was a relative. The soldiers were also tied up by the enemy with a lasso.
Lasso, also known as "Pu Suo", is a unique skill honed by Khitan cavalry from long-term riding and actual combat.Originally, it was only used for lassoing horses. After dozens of steps, a soft rope was thrown out, and the slipknot on the upper end of the soft rope could trap the galloping horses, with a hundred shots.They later developed this stunt into an effective tactic in mounted combat.There is a steel hook attached to the noose. When fighting, the noose flies out from the horse. As long as the steel hook hooks the armor and flesh of the enemy's cavalry and pulls it easily, he can be lifted alive.The ancestors of the Khitan people captured three generals of the Tang Dynasty alive in a series of wars in the early Tang Dynasty.Now they used this effective weapon against Yang Keshi in the close-range melee.
Yang Keshi is worthy of being a battle-tested veteran. When he saw the flying rope being thrown, he dropped the iron mace in his hand without hesitation, pulled out the "Duanxi" sword from his waist, and swung it in the air. The rope was cut.Then several Liao generals came forward to gather Yang Keshi together, and a few lassoes flew from the sky like a few evil dragons with teeth and claws.Yang Keshi summoned up his supernatural power and waved his sword all over the place. He saw the shadow of the sword gleaming and the cold light shining, and cut off all the lassoes to the ground.A Liao general didn't know the heights, so he raised a three-edged steel spear and rushed forward to kill him. Unexpectedly, Yizhang Xue rushed to his side like a whirlwind, and he didn't have time to pull the steel spear back to protect himself , Yang Keshi had already snatched his horse's head, and swung his giant sword.Hack him obliquely on the horse.The panicked horse ran wildly in the battle array with half of his body on its back.The rest of the Liao soldiers, seeing Yang Keshi being so brave, uttered a cry, turned around and left.Yang Keshi's soldiers went up to rescue Leopard, raised Yang Keshi's iron mace, and drove away the remaining enemy troops, and this team joined the brigade again.
Sometimes the long dragon of the Song army advances in a straight line, and sometimes it marches in a tortuous way like the episode just happened. Sometimes it is resisted by the Liao army from several sides, and it has to fight separately, temporarily forming an irregular team. shape.But the general purpose of their forward advance has been changing. The big flag with the word "Yang" became their head, pointing out the course for their fleet and advancing through the waves.The dense enemy army became their target, and wherever there were still Liao troops fighting to the death, they would rush there to annihilate them.
The central position of Yanyue Formation carefully arranged by Yelu Dashi seems to be on the verge of being destroyed under Yang Keshi's attack.
The assault itself is not an end, but a means. The purpose it requires is to cause the enemy to retreat and chaos, so as to be decisively annihilated.With superhuman courage, the army of the Northern Song Dynasty paid a heavy price and blazed a trail of blood among thousands of troops. The corpses of a large number of troops, weapons, broken flagpoles, and military flags that tore the flag (after the victory, how many flags the opponent captured is an important basis for calculating the victory, but when the battle is tense, the soldiers practiced The flag passed by, and no one cared to pick it up), and retreated from the original position one after another.It seems that just adding a little more pressure can cause the enemy to retreat and chaos.The realization of a large-scale war of annihilation is imminent.
But by this time, the Northern Song Army itself had reached the point of being "exhausted after three drums".In a war, the subjective initiative of soldiers is of course very important, but the balance of objective forces still plays a decisive role.As far as this sudden attack is concerned, although the Song Army has exerted a high degree of subjective initiative, it is still at a disadvantage in terms of strength.What's more, the Liao army survived from death, and the battle was also very brave.Song Jun was suddenly paralyzed when he reached the last step of the peak due to premature exhaustion of all his strength.This is caused by an accidental factor, but in this case, even without this factor, there are various other factors that can lead to the reversal of the situation, and its occurrence is almost inevitable.
"what!"
Someone saw blood gushing out of Yang Keshi's boot, and couldn't help shouting palely, which became a signal of a reversal of the situation.
It turned out that Yang Keshi was shot by an arrow in the calf when he was rushing forward and fighting against Fang Yin.Enduring the severe pain, he pulled out the arrow himself without making a sound.A soldier who was fighting closely behind him saw it and wanted to come up to bandage him, but he also waved his hand to stop him.He knows how to inflate a burst, like a balloon, as long as there is a leak, it will deflate immediately.The whole process of this matter only took a very short moment. After that, the tense fighting and the belief in victory paralyzed his pain, and he himself had long since forgotten about it.Now someone suddenly exclaimed, and he felt unbearable pain. At the same time, he also found that the entire left foot, including the shin, was soaked in the pool of blood in the boot.He dismounted, sat down on a mound, took off his boots, poured out the purple blood and gore, pulled a cloth, and bandaged the wound.He regained his composure, leaned on the shoulder of a soldier, and stepped onto a high mound to observe the overall situation.He suddenly found that the left wing of the Liao army was outflanking their rear, and a large group of Tartar infantry was approaching the northern end of the pontoon bridge, trying to seize the pontoon bridge and cut off their retreat.The soldiers commanded by Li Xiaozhong were fighting with them there.Now that the Liao army has the possibility to counterattack, the breakthrough of the central position does not mean their collapse. Instead, they strengthen the left and right wings to counterattack, which will lead to a "turnaround" of the whole situation.Yang Keshi couldn't help but turn pale with shock.
His son-in-law, Ma Fuyan, galloped forward from behind to inquire about his injury.
"What is this little injury?" His cheeks suddenly trembled nervously, and even his whiskers seemed to fly.Pointing to the battle that took place around the pontoon bridge, he shouted sharply, "That's where the fatal wound is. Are you all blind and have never seen it?"
But the situation is much more serious than this, and suddenly someone shouted sharply:
"Hey, look over there."
The Liao army's right-wing troops opened up a new ferry in the river bank area two or three miles away from them, and used boats and rafts to carry large troops across the river.Regardless of great sacrifices, they bravely crossed under the intensive shooting of the Phoenix crossbow.Some of the braver Liao soldiers couldn't wait to use rafts and boats, and tried to swim lightly with men and horses.A few people sank, and a few made it to the middle stream smoothly.This attracted more people to follow and swim in, and immediately formed a swarm of swarms crossing the river.
This was the real turning point in the war.
The Yanyue Formation of the Liao Army did not exert its greatest magical effect until this time.Although the central position was breached and forced to withdraw to the second line, the reinforced units on the left and right flanks took courageous and decisive actions to attack the weak links of the Song army, threatening their lines of communication and rear bases.The problem facing the Song army now is no longer to continue to advance, but to retreat in a hurry to avoid the fate of being surrounded and completely annihilated.This decision came so naturally that it seemed to have become the common request of everyone, so the huge wave of attack suddenly turned into a rapid ebb.They retreated to the river in confusion, joined forces with the troops staying near the pontoon bridge, and withdrew to the south bank.
The left-wing troops of the Liao army and the remnants of the central position immediately followed, pressing on the retreating Song army.The Song army fought on their own, and Yang Keshi himself rushed to the bridge, cut off the rear himself, and covered the army to cross the river.But he found that the morale of the army was already in disarray, and it was difficult to organize an effective blocking battle to stop the enemy's pursuit.Some of the soldiers in the disordered ranks got on the pontoon first, but more people were blocked by the soldiers crowded around the bridge. They shouted, made noise, and crowded around chaotically. Going to fight against the Liao army together, on the contrary, hindered the battle and hindered myself from successfully boarding the pontoon bridge.
Only Yang Keshi's personal soldiers fought together with the remaining troops.Their strength had also been dispersed long ago, and they were cut into pieces by the Liao army, surrounded and killed them section by section.Their numbers dwindled rapidly.Yang Keshi watched them fall one by one in the battle——Yang Keshi was so familiar with this group of soldiers, he could not only call everyone by their names, or affectionately call them by their nicknames, but also understand their abilities. , martial arts, strengths, shortcomings, know their family background and family situation, and are familiar with everyone's voice and smile.They can talk and laugh casually even in front of him on weekdays. This is because they have an unusual and special relationship, rather than a general relationship between subordinates and subordinates.Seeing them falling down one by one now, Yang Keshi felt a sharp pain like amputating part of his limbs.Compared with this severe pain, the arrow wound on his calf was nothing.
The mathematics on the battlefield is a special kind of mathematics: when 500 soldiers are combined into one force, they can deal with 10,000 enemy troops, but when they are scattered and fight independently, one person can only fight against them. The role of one person, even in one-on-one combat, can often be defeated.Mechanics on the battlefield is also a special kind of mechanics.The same five hundred soldiers, when they took advantage of the victory and advanced, they were unstoppable, and when they retreated, the situation was completely reversed, and a large number of them were killed by the Liao army.At this time, they all knew that the war had been lost, and they lost hope of victory, but they still fought bravely to the end.This is because there is a belief supporting them: if they can contain the Liao army for a while, more comrades in arms may escape the pontoon bridge.These soldiers of Commander Yang usually enjoy privileges that other fighters do not enjoy. When they are in danger, they should fulfill a greater obligation, and would rather exchange their lives for the lives of many comrades in arms.This thought is tragic.The deaths of the soldiers are honorable deaths, and now their wish is to die in front of Commander Yang, so that he can see with his own eyes that he has lived up to the training, expectations and education of the commander for many years, and finally becomes a national memorial.They never let themselves be wounded in the back unless the enemy came around and gave them an unsuspecting shot.
This is the maximum effectiveness that a feudal patriarchal army can exert.
The tragic psychology of the soldiers affected the general.This confident leader is not willing to admit that he is a loser when he is idle.But when countless realities are indisputably presented in front of him, forcing him to accept this conclusion painfully, he not only loses the confidence to overcome, but also loses the will to continue living.
When he was resisting desperately at the pontoon ferry, a familiar voice rang in his ears:
"Commander Yang is going back to the South Bank, you are needed there."
Two infantrymen entangled Yang Keshi and attacked him with short knives, preventing him from using his long skills as a cavalry general.The man helped him cut down one infantryman, drove another away, and gave him some breathing room.Yang Keshi was still waiting for the sudden horse to catch up and kill him. The man grabbed his bridle and said:
"Commander Yang, hurry back to the south bank! I will wait here to defend against the enemy and prevent the pontoon bridge from falling, so as to ensure that the army retreats safely. Commander Yang can go back safely!"
Facing the dazzling sunset, Yang Keshi didn't recognize him after looking at him for a long time, and completely forgot about his appointment just now.Later, I suddenly recognized it, as if I had met a relative, and I was moved and said:
"Li Xiaozhong, I didn't expect you to be here to help me."
"The end will be here to guard the commander."
"Li Xiaozhong, retreat quickly!" Yang Keshi said kindly in a gentle voice that was not in harmony with his seven-foot body and one hundred and eighty-jin weight, "Today our army suffered a crushing defeat. On both sides of the strait, I have very few soldiers left, what face do I have to go back to see Jiangdong's elders?" A burst of hot tears suddenly seeped from his tiger eyes, "I might as well fight with the fans on the land on the north bank of the river If you die together, you will still be a ghost. When you go back, pass on my words to Mr. Xiaozhong Jinglue."
"Winning or losing is a common matter for military strategists. Why did the commander make such a despicable statement? It's just that the overall situation is critical now, and the commander has to look at the situation and make overall plans before making progress." Li Xiaozhong suddenly rushed out and intercepted a horse that had lost its owner. He rode on his war horse, and pointed the tip of his knife at Nan'an Road, "Leader, let's take a look there."
Through this melee area, through the chaotic retreat on the pontoon bridge, Yang Keshi could see clearly that the Liao Army's right-wing troops had successfully crossed the river and killed them on the south bank.The Phoenix Crossbow has lost its effectiveness at close range.The Song army retreated in a hurry, and the formation was in chaos.When Yang Keshi saw this situation, he couldn't help pointing his fingers, filled with anger, and said angrily:
"This old man Zhao De is so useless. He surrendered his position and put Fanzi ashore without even a single battle. In this way, it would be a dead end for my soldiers to go back. Wouldn't it be a hindrance to the overall situation?"
"The commander is so angry! If the commander dies here, the armies on both sides of the strait will return and die together, which will delay the overall situation even more!" The more critical the situation is, the more calm Li Xiaozhong appears.He waved the tip of his knife, looked around, and analyzed calmly, "The enemy troops on the north bank of the river are as numerous as hedgehogs, trying to prevent me from retreating south. The enemy troops crossing the river have landed in swarms again, and they are rampant. It is necessary to encircle the south entrance of the pontoon bridge, so that I cannot advance or retreat." He paused for Yang Keshi to see the situation clearly and clear up the confused thoughts in his mind, and then suggested, "In my opinion, the commander must be in a hurry and cross the river immediately Go back to replace Zhao Tongzhi and personally command the whole army in Henan to fight to the death, and try to protect the back. Here, the last general waits for a loan from the river, and fights desperately. Every point is every point, and every moment is every moment. At least to cover thousands of robes Go back and connect the two ends to survive.”
Li Xiaozhong's suggestion was very timely.The arduous task on the south bank re-inspired Yang Keshi's ambition. When he thought that it would be much more difficult to carry out the new combat mission and take care of the overall situation than staying on the north bank and dying, he calmed down and gave up fighting to die. thoughts, generously said:
"Since that's the case, I'll retreat back to try my best to protect the rear." Only now did he recall the order that he was given to command the remaining troops just now from Li Xiaozhong, who had been fighting for a long time, was covered in blood, and still maintained a strong will to fight.Yang Keshi immediately took out a small triangular command flag, handed it to Li Xiaozhong and said, "This command flag is reserved for you, and the fight on the river bank here is under your command."
Li Xiaozhong took over the command flag, without saying a word, he immediately rushed to organize an effective blocking battle.
In the final stage of the war, both sides of Hebei and Henan were in a mess.Neither side achieved a final decisive victory.
As expected, Li Xiaozhong lived up to Yang Keshi's expectations. He fought on the north bank for a long time, step by step, ensured the waterway, and gradually covered the soldiers and wounded left on the north bank to cross the river. Finally, he also grabbed a ferry to ferry back to the south bank.
At this time, the sky was dark and the twilight was falling everywhere. The Liao and Song soldiers were exhausted after a whole day of fierce fighting. Both sides were unprepared, and it was impossible to continue the night battle.As soon as Yang Keshi waited for the remnants of the north and south banks to meet up, he fought and retreated to meet Yao Pingzhong's Xihe army who came to meet him, broke away from the battle, and retreated to the second line.The Liao army accepted as soon as they saw a good deal. They saw that Yang Keshi had a fresh army to support him, so they didn't dare to fight hard again.In the sound of gold, in the shadow of swords and swords, and in the shouts of both sides, the famous Battle of Langoudian ended.
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