Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 474: The White Robe Army’s Finale

Since ancient times, famous generals have had an intuition when leading troops.

Just by looking at the enemy's deployment, you can calculate the enemy's strength.

This is what Sun Tzu said in the Art of War: "To estimate the enemy's strength and to win the battle, to calculate the dangers and difficulties, the distance and the nearness, is the way of a superior general."

Seeing the puzzled looks on his left and right, Erzhu Rong said:
"The battle of Ji County a few years ago was a desperate battle for these southern soldiers. They had no way to retreat, and the only way was to fight to the death."

"At that time, our army had fought many battles and had not had any rest. There was also an epidemic among the troops, and morale was low. That's why I bypassed Ji County and crossed the river to take Luoyang."

"But today is different. Hulao is backed by Xingyang, the gateway to Henan. It is easy to retreat to the south from Henan. The enemy soldiers now have a way to retreat, and they are worse off than before."

"Moreover, the White Robe Army is also cavalry. Cavalry is good at charging into battle, not at forming camps and fighting defensive battles. The camps below Hulao Pass are connected, so Chen Qingzhi must have understood that the morale of his army was not good, so he formed a camp and defended it to the death."

"Looking at the Southern Army's formation today, it seems to be slacking off, and the enemy commanders are all afraid. We will definitely be able to defeat the enemy today."

After Erzhu Rong finished his instructions, he ordered a few "Erzhus" to lead the cavalry to charge into the enemy's formation, while he himself led the reserve troops to hold the line and began to attack Chen Qianzhi's fortress under Hulao Pass.

Although they are both known as dangerous passes, not all dangerous passes are the same, and dangerous passes are also divided into different levels.

Tongguan, Shanhaiguan, Yubicheng, Diaoyucheng and other passes are truly super dangerous passes. These passes are located in places close to mountains and rivers, and are built on terraces that are higher than the ordinary ground. The soldiers have no place to climb at all, and this terrace is more difficult to attack than any man-made city wall.

What makes people despair is that there is a city wall on the plateau, and guarding such a dangerous pass is relatively simple. You just need to hide in the city and compete with the enemy in endurance and material consumption.

But Hulao Pass is not.

Although Hulao Pass is close to the Yellow River and Mangshan Mountain, it is not a dead stop.

When we say Hulao Pass is a gateway, it is more of a "gate". This pass has a very important strategic significance for controlling the Yellow River waterway. In the Battle of Hulao Pass in the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin controlled Hulao Pass, which prevented Dou Jiande from transporting supplies to Luoyang City to support Wang Shichong.

But as a fortress itself, Hulao Pass is not that dangerous.

Therefore, Chen Qingzhi chose to set up camps outside the city, hoping to use these lines of defense to delay Erzhu Rong and wear down the morale of his army.

There was another reason why Chen Qianzhi did not choose to defend the city to the death, and that was the low morale of the white-robed army under his command.

This cannot be entirely attributed to Chen Qianzhi.

After all, the White Robe Army lacked the motivation to march north.

Today is no longer the era of the early Eastern Jin Dynasty when Zu Ti rose up and danced upon hearing the cock-crow.

Nor was it the era of the later Southern Song Dynasty when "When the royal army conquers the Central Plains, don't forget to inform your father during the family sacrifice."

The north and the south have been divided for hundreds of years, and the differences between people in the south and the north are like those between foreign countries.

It was a strange thing to let the soldiers of Southern Liang fight to the death for a puppet emperor of Northern Wei.

Not to mention that Emperor Yuan Hao did not treat Chen Qingzhi well. Apart from giving him a free official position, he even did not allow the White Robe Army to be stationed in Luoyang.

He was even more stingy in rewarding the White Robe Army.

Every time the army was in a good mood, they missed their families even more. After the New Year, there was an even stronger desire to return to the south. Some officers even suggested to Chen Qingzhi that it would be better to return to Jiankang with the spoils. After all, the mission of the Bodhisattva Emperor was to escort Yuan Hao to Luoyang to ascend the throne. In fact, this goal had already been achieved.

Chen Qingzhi could only use military law to deal with those officers who publicly suggested returning to the south, but facing the increasingly strong sentiment of returning to the south in the army, Chen Qingzhi was also a famous general, and he knew that it would be impossible to defend the city for a long time in this way.

Defending a city is a long-term war of attrition, and the despair faced by the defenders is dozens of times that of normal combat.

Therefore, Chen Qianzhi set up a camp outside the city, hoping to boost morale through one or two victories and then fight a stalemate with Erzhu Rong.

There was nothing wrong with the strategies of both sides, but Chen Qianzhi still underestimated the soldiers' desire to return home.

Until the morning, the White Robe Army fought back and forth with Erzhu Rong's vanguard army, and it could even be said that they were not at a disadvantage.

However, as the battle became more intense and casualties gradually increased, the White Robe Army's defense line began to waver.

Just when Chen Qianzhi ordered his men to beat the drums, preparing to send the rear troops to press forward for support.

It was not known whether the drummer did it on purpose or by accident, but the drumbeat for the march turned into the drumbeat for the retreat.

As the drums of retreat sounded, the front line that had been able to hold out suddenly began to suffer a large-scale collapse!

Chen Qianzhi immediately discovered the problem. He ordered his guards to kill the drummer and beat the drums again to signal the march. He then rode on a white horse and tried to lead the rear army to provide support himself.

But this is when the cruelty of high-end games is revealed.

The Southern Dynasty didn’t know why, but several famous generals in a row had poor health.

So was Wei Rui, and so was Chen Qingzhi.

After the Chinese New Year, Chen Qianzhi's health became worse.

In the past, when commanding a battle, Chen Qianzhi only needed to sit in the center of the army and issue military orders.

But this is a high-end game, and the opponent is Erzhu Rong.

In high-end games, any mistake can become a fatal flaw.

In fact, the information on the battlefield is very mixed. Even in modern battlefields where point-to-point communication has been achieved, superiors sometimes cannot accurately transmit orders to the front line, not to mention ancient warfare.

When you are really on a battlefield where thousands of people are fighting for life and death, the soldiers on the front line often cannot hear the sound of the drums clearly.

More often than not, they act in accordance with the actions of their comrades around them.

When the comrades around us advance, we all advance together; when the comrades around us retreat, we all retreat.

Therefore, the commander-in-chief's flag becomes very important. Officers follow the commander-in-chief's flag and soldiers follow the officers. This is the most basic order on the battlefield.

If Chen Qianzhi was commanding at the front line, he would only need to order the drums to move forward if there was a mistake in the military drums. When the soldiers saw the flags, they would naturally correct the wrong drum command.

However, due to health reasons, he was unable to personally command the troops at the front line.

Erzhu Rong's situation was completely the opposite.

In terms of age, Erzhu Rong was ten years younger than Chen Qingzhi. Moreover, Erzhu Rong had been learning martial arts since he was a child and grew up on horseback. He personally commanded every battle.

Erzhu Rong was a top cavalry general who could kill the enemy with one blow as long as the enemy showed a flaw.

When he discovered the chaos in Chen Qianzhi's army, Erzhu Rong immediately ordered his general flag forward and led the reserve troops to charge towards the chaotic area in Chen Qianzhi's army.

Chen Qianzhi also discovered his flaw, but at this time he no longer had the strength to ride a horse and command the battle. He ordered the soldiers to carry him to the battlefield, and then ordered the soldiers to tie his white robe to the top of the flag, and called on the soldiers to form a formation again.

"Chen Qingzhi is worthy of the title of famous general!"

Erzhu Rong looked at Chen Qingzhi's troops who had restored order, and could only sigh that it was no wonder that Chen Qingzhi had fought his way into Luoyang. It was indeed an exciting thing to be able to fight against a famous general of such a level!

But a smile appeared on Erzhu Rong's lips. Although Chen Qianzhi's reaction was not slow, when a large army fights, this is often the only thing that matters.

You make fewer mistakes than others, and when others make mistakes you seize their flaws and use them to expand your achievements.

Erzhu Rong took advantage of the small flaw in the chaotic formation of Chen Qianzhi's army and tore a hole in Chen Qianzhi's army. Then the wound began to ooze pus and break, and blood continued to be lost from the wound.

Chen Qingzhi was sitting on a stretcher. He knew very well that he could not let Erzhu Rong open up a gap. Once his army was divided, those troops that did not receive his orders would quickly collapse, and Erzhu Rong's troops would have an absolute advantage.

Therefore, Erzhu Rong also ordered his soldiers to continuously block the gap and prevent Erzhu Rong's cavalry from breaking through.

This battle can be said to be a match between two evenly matched opponents. Both sides have put in all their life's learning and put all their energy into the battle.

The importance of physical condition and age is also reflected at this time.

When commanding the battle until the afternoon, Erzhu Rong was still in high spirits and even became more courageous as the battle went on.

But Chen Qingzhi on the stretcher could no longer hold on. His face was ashen, he was exhausted, and he even gasped while giving orders.

After another hour, when the sun began to set, Chen Qianzhi finally couldn't hold on any longer. He spat out a mouthful of blood and almost fainted.

Chen Qingzhi's personal soldiers quickly surrounded him. Chen Qingzhi looked at the sun and said weakly:

"God doesn't give me that!"

If we hold out for another hour, when the sun sets, Erzhu Rong will also retreat. If we fall at that time, we can save the team today.

But he fell down at this moment, and there was still an hour before the sun set, which was enough time for Erzhu Rong to annihilate the White Robe Army.

Chen Qingzhi also made a decision quickly.

There is no way to continue this battle.

In this case, the combat goal becomes how to preserve the army.

Chen Qingzhi said to his confidants:
"It is my honor to be with you all today."

"Order the beetles to move forward and fight to the death!"

If an order to retreat was given at this time, the entire army would collapse. Chen Qianzhi could only gamble now, and that was whether he could hold out until dark.

It’s a pity that Erzhu Rong did not give Chen Qianzhi this opportunity.

When Chen Qingzhi counterattacked, Erzhu Rong was overjoyed.

In this battle, Chen Qianzhi had been on the defensive the whole time. He suddenly changed his normal behavior and moved forward. He must have encountered an unexpected situation.

You are in an advantageous position. If the enemy changes its formation hastily, you just need to keep attacking fiercely, and the enemy will reveal more flaws.

When Chen Qingzhi saw that Erzhu Rong remained unmoved and still insisted on leading his troops to attack, he knew that the situation was hopeless. He continued to command for another half an hour, but eventually he could not hold on any longer, vomited blood and passed out.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the troops could only protect Chen Qianzhi and flee the battlefield.

After this battle, the White Robes became a legend.

My grandma passed away, so I’m taking a day off tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)