Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 204, Yongding River Campaign (Part )
The battle continues.

The front hoof of a warhorse fell into a mud pit, and the grassland soldier on the horse fell down and plunged headfirst into the mud and water.

But soon, the grassland soldier climbed out of the mud and water and charged forward fearlessly.

An arrow shot and killed the soldier.

The horse stuck in the mud pit was struggling and screaming, unable to get out of the mud pit.

From behind, another cavalryman rushed over, trampling the horse's body in the mud with his horse's hooves, using the horse as a cushion.

Suddenly, a round of artillery fire came and shattered the cavalryman in mid-air.

Blood and flesh splattered everywhere, scattered in the turbid muddy water.

Liang Lie may have miscalculated.

Although he dug up the land and filled it with water, the fertility of the land was not affected.

Because the nourishment of flesh and blood will make the land more fertile.

Crops will grow more vigorously next year.

The grassland soldiers attacked the Huaiyin army's defense line with courage and flesh and blood.

"The leader has ordered that the grassland warriors must defeat the enemy!"

The grassland soldiers shouted, chanted ancient songs of unknown meaning, and rushed forward fearlessly.

The pits were filled with corpses, but the morale of the grassland soldiers remained undiminished. They roared and howled like ferocious beasts.

They are a nation that values the use of force and are like eagles soaring high above the grassland.

In contrast, the Huaiyin Army living in Zhongxia did not have such wildness.

Compared with this kind of crazy charge, the Huaiyin army is better at using formations to block the enemy's attack, using weapons to kill the enemy, and using various defensive fortifications to make up for their own shortcomings.

Liang Lie set up rows of chevaux de frise, deer horns, fences, and tripwires in front.

These defensive measures can greatly slow down the grassland people's attack.

A large number of Huaiyin troops were deployed to assist in the defense of each line of defense.

There are archers, sword and shield soldiers, spearmen, heavy armored soldiers who specialize in using sabers, and so on.

A grassland cavalryman rushed towards the chevaux de frise.

With a loud bang, the horses fell to the ground with a whine, and the grassland cavalry were thrown out in an instant.

The real chevaux de frise cannot be easily jumped over as shown in movies and TV dramas. There are sharp knife heads and spear blades installed on both ends of the chevaux de frise. Ordinary horses are basically unable to cross this obstacle. They will be stabbed in the legs or belly, causing great harm. The cavalry on the horse will also be thrown out and either die or be disabled.

Behind the chevaux de frise were the Huaiyin soldiers who were in formation. Relying on their formation and fortifications, they attacked the charging grassland cavalry.

In addition, there are a large number of trenches, circular trenches, rammed earth walls and other defenses.

There were artillery positions in the rear to provide cover, specifically targeting areas where cavalry were densely populated. This made the grassland people cautious and afraid to launch intensive charges.

A grassland cavalryman rushed over, and the heavy armored soldier chopped off the horse's legs with a saber. The sword and shield soldier cooperated with the heavy armored soldier and quickly killed the fallen cavalryman. Just as the two were happy, a cavalryman in the back suddenly shot an arrow, and the sword and shield soldier, who was proud of killing a grassland cavalryman just now, was instantly disappointed...

The cruelty of war was clearly revealed at this moment.

The grassland cavalry attacked fearlessly, destroying one line of defense after another with their lives.

Perhaps it has something to do with the harsh living environment. In terms of fearlessness and bravery, even many elite soldiers of the Huaiyin Army are not as good as the people of the grassland.

A day passed quickly, and both sides left thousands of corpses on the land.

The Huaiyin army suffered more than 1,200 casualties, nearly 1,300.

More than 1,500 steppe cavalrymen died, and if horses are counted, the number exceeded 3,000.

The losses on the Huaiyin Army's side were smaller, on the one hand due to the traps, and on the other hand due to the power of the artillery.

The battle was not over yet, and the soldiers on both sides were fighting while eating.

Smoke from cooking and gunpowder rose at the same time.

Not far away, a group of Huaiyin soldiers who had just retreated from the front line fell asleep.

As they lay there, they could still hear the rumbling of horse hooves on the ground. It was another attack by the grassland people.

The area where Liang Lie is located is not an isolated case.

The entire front was attacked by reinforcements from the grassland.

The situation is very tragic.

Some of these areas even failed to withstand the attacks of the grassland people and were defeated by the grassland army.

Fortunately, the two most important sections are still in the hands of the Huaiyin Army.

Although the grassland troops temporarily broke through some weak areas in the battle line, the Huaiyin troops in two sections quickly came to support and beat the grassland people back.

Zhang Yuan gradually deployed all his troops into the battlefield.

Holding the defense line tightly.

On the other side, Wei Xing pursued Huleileyong's army relentlessly and forced them to leave.

Hu Leleyong gritted his teeth and held on, but as time passed, his food and troops were rapidly decreasing. His soldiers had already started eating his horses. If he could not break the encirclement quickly, he would not be able to hold on.

At the same time, Zhai Xun ordered Zhou Shuan to lead 60,000 reinforcements to go around behind the grassland reinforcements and launch a second counter-encirclement.

Zhou Shuan took the order and went to provide assistance.

Zhou Shuan's mission this time was to support Zhang Yuan, surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements, and delay the subsequent reinforcements from the grassland.

The importance of his mission this time is no less than Zhang Yuan's.

The pressure we face is also increasing.

That's why Zhai Xun gave Zhou Shuan 60,000 troops.

Zhou Shuan naturally knew this very well.

The food and supplies had already been prepared, and Zhou Shuan led the army to set off quickly.

Not long after, the two tribal leaders on the grassland who were responsible for supporting Huleleyong learned that reinforcements from the Huaiyin Army were approaching.

The two were very frightened.

Currently, they and Huleileyong are attacking Zhang Yuan from both sides but have not been able to take him down after a long siege and have suffered heavy losses. If this reinforcement comes again, won't they be killed without a burial place?

The two men hurriedly asked for help from the capital and asked the capital to send troops for support.

At this time, as the two sides continued to fight on the front line, the battle area was already very close to the capital, so the capital soon received the news of the call for help from the front line.

Seeing Fang Yong sending so many troops into the battlefield, Kah Khan gritted his teeth and chose to follow suit without showing any weakness.

Soon, the two troops set out.

One unit was composed of two of the only three grassland tribes left under Kah Khan, with a total of more than 30,000 people.

The other was Deng Ren's army, which consisted of about 20,000 Han surrendered soldiers, in addition to the 10,000 grassland cavalry that had just been taken over from Bazan.

The two troops marched forward and backward.

Because Deng Ren's troops were mixed with the army, their marching speed was not as fast as that of the grassland troops.

The leaders of the two grassland troops were hostile to the Han people, and Deng Ren's slow march made them very dissatisfied.

One of them thought that Deng Ren was delaying the journey, so he asked Deng Ren to march faster.

Deng Ren naturally couldn't agree to this.

No matter how fast they are, how can infantry be faster than cavalry?

If the pursuit of speed exhausted the soldiers' physical strength, wouldn't they be defeated if they encountered the Huaiyin army?

The two were very dissatisfied when they saw that Deng Ren, a Han Chinese, dared to refuse their request. They thought that Deng Ren had ulterior motives and was deliberately delaying.

So they uttered a few harsh words, saying that they would report to the Khan, and then the two of them parted ways with Deng Ren and went to provide support alone.

(End of this chapter)