jdhmnovel Chapter 791 The War of Founding the Nation (1)
Chapter 791 The War of Founding the Nation (1)
With Liu Bei's order, 280,000 Han soldiers took their positions, ready to fight the Wei army to the death.
Liu Bei, clad in gleaming armor and wielding a double-edged sword, strode confidently onto the command platform, which stood three zhang high, surveying the surrounding area while ensuring his soldiers could see him at any time.
The general is the soul of the army. As long as the general is still alive, the army will not be defeated. As long as Liu Bei is alive, the soldiers will have their backbone and will not have any wild thoughts but will only move forward.
The soldiers watched Liu Bei ascend the platform, and then waited with him for the Wei army to attack.
The Wei army did not keep the Han army waiting long. At 8:45 AM, the vanguard army arrived at the front line on time.
The vanguard of the Wei army was Zhang He, who had fought against Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang at Baliwan. He led 30,000 vanguard troops to the front of the battle line, observed the situation, and decisively ordered: "Archers, fire all at once! Swordsmen and shieldmen, cover the chariot pushers as they advance and fill in the first trench."
Zhang He knew that Zhuge Liang liked to dig trenches, and he had suffered a great loss because of them at Baliwan last time. So this time he decided to learn from the lesson and advance steadily, filling in the trenches as he went. This was also the main reason why Cao Ren appointed him as the vanguard.
At Zhang He's command, the archers quickly stepped forward, lay flat, braced their feet against the bow, pulled the bowstring taut with both hands, and then released it, letting the arrows shoot mercilessly at the Han army.
Tens of thousands of arrows traced graceful parabolas in the air, raining down mercilessly on the Han army. The Han army had anticipated this, and many shields were quickly joined together to form a shield wall to block the arrows. At the same time, long spears were inserted through the gaps in the shields, turning the shield formation into a hedgehog.
At this point, the Wei cavalry would either not attack, or if they did, they would inevitably run into the spearhead and suffer severe head injuries.
Unfortunately, Zhang He did not intend to attack. Instead, he ordered his infantry to carry sacks on their backs and charge quickly under the cover of a hail of arrows. They rushed to the shield formation, threw the sacks out with all their might, and then retreated.
Tens of thousands of burlap sacks flew about, some thrown into the trenches, others landing on the shafts of shields and spears, causing the shafts to tilt downwards and even prying up parts of the shields.
Holding a gun is physically demanding; it's difficult to hold even normally, and it would be even more dangerous if a burlap sack were tied to the gun barrel.
The Wei army, however, had no such concerns. They frantically carried sacks to the trenches, quickly knocking down or burying the bamboo sticks inside.
As the saying goes, "A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit," and Zhang He indeed became much smarter after suffering a loss at Baliwan.
However, the Han army could not simply stand by and take the hits. After withstanding the first wave of arrows, they launched a counterattack, with countless arrows flying out from behind their shields and mercilessly striking the Wei army.
The Wei army was also prepared, and the shield soldiers quickly stepped forward to form a line to withstand the attack. Both sides were seasoned veterans who were well-versed in military strategy. They had read the military books and practiced the tactics that the other side had also read and practiced. It was as if they had been taught by the same master, and it was impossible to break their moves in a short time.
After nearly an hour of this exchange of fire, seeing that the trenches were almost filled, Zhang He decisively ordered an attack. Then, under the cover of archers, the Wei infantry charged towards the Han shield formation with battering rams that were longer than the Han spears. The battering rams smashed through the spears and slammed into the shield wall, knocking the Han shield bearers to the ground on the spot, causing a breach in the shield wall that nearly collapsed.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Wei army charged across the filled-in trenches and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Han army.
Zhao Yun was in charge of the first line of defense for the Han army. Seeing the Wei army rush across the trenches, he decisively adjusted his formation and began to fight and retreat to lure the Wei army deeper into the trenches.
Zhao Yun and Zhang He were old rivals, and in such a decisive battle, the two old men wouldn't be foolish enough to go and fight one-on-one. The main reason was that Zhang He didn't dare to, so they could only compete in command ability.
In this respect, Zhao Yun was slightly inferior to Zhang He, and his troop strength was also inferior to Zhang He's, so he quickly retreated to the second line of defense.
Seeing Zhao Yun retreat, Zhang He did not pursue him but instead ordered the army to retreat and readjust its deployment.
Based on the experience at Baliwan, there must be another trench ahead covered by wooden planks, which would be removed as soon as the Han army withdrew.
As expected, as the Han army retreated, the Wei army saw the wooden planks that had been removed.
Standing beside Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang waved his feather fan and looked at the rapidly shrinking Wei army, laughing, "Zhang He is indeed cautious, but isn't he underestimating us? Why does he think I would be so stupid as to use the same trick twice? Order the cavalry to attack and dampen the Wei army's arrogance."
Upon hearing the order, the messenger quickly waved the command flag. Guan Ping, who had been preparing for a long time, led three thousand cavalrymen past Zhao Yun's army and charged towards the Wei army. Only then did the Wei army realize, to their dismay, that the action of pulling out the wooden planks was a smokescreen, and there was no trench under the planks at all.
Unfortunately, it was too late to react now. The cavalry was too fast, and they rushed into the Wei army's face almost the instant the Wei army reacted. Moreover, the Wei army had concentrated its forces due to the retreat, unlike when they fought Zhao Yun, which was more loose. This gave the Han army the opportunity to gather and annihilate them.
Guan Ping led his cavalry to the front of the Wei army's formation but did not charge in. Instead, he raised his Zhuge Repeating Crossbow and pulled the trigger on the Wei army.
Three thousand cavalrymen, like Guan Ping, raised their crossbows and fired at the Wei army. Each crossbow had ten arrows in its casket, so three thousand men meant thirty thousand arrows. With so many arrows being unleashed in a very short time, the Wei army was instantly thrown into disarray, and Zhang He suffered a heavy loss due to being caught off guard.
Guan Ping did not linger in battle. He emptied his arrow quiver and quickly withdrew, giving the Wei army no chance to counterattack.
At the same time, Zhao Yun led his infantry to charge forward quickly and once again engaged the Wei army in battle.
The Wei army had just suffered a heavy loss, and their formation had been disrupted by Guan Ping. In their haste, they were no match for Zhao Yun, that beast, and were quickly forced into a retreat.
At this moment, Zhang He's excellent command ability was demonstrated. Under Zhao Yun's fierce attack, he quickly deployed a strategy of fighting and retreating, using this method of retreating to deplete Zhao Yun's strength to withstand Zhao Yun's fierce attack.
But don't forget that he was the vanguard, with the main force of the Wei army behind him. Moreover, the distance between him and the main force of the Wei army was less than five miles. This retreat was equivalent to retreating into the main force's formation.
When Cao Ren saw that Zhao Yun dared to attack, he was furious and decisively sent tens of thousands of cavalry to flank Zhao Yun from the left and right, trying to keep Zhao Yun at the front line. However, he forgot that his opponent was Zhuge Liang. Who was Zhuge Liang? How could he make such a mistake?
As Zhao Yun charged forward, Guan Ping led his cavalry to attack again, protecting Zhao Yun's left and right flanks. The father-in-law and son-in-law cooperated perfectly.
At the same time, the main force of the Han army also pressed forward. Judging from this situation, Zhuge Liang actually wanted to take the initiative to attack.
That's right, Zhuge Liang is going to attack this time. The reason for defending earlier was to make the Wei army mistakenly believe that they were the attackers. Now that the Han army is taking the initiative to attack, it can both disrupt the Wei army's morale and their deployment.
The Wei army thought they were the attackers, but ended up on the defensive. The sudden shift between offense and defense in such a short time was bound to make the Wei army feel uncomfortable and expose their weaknesses.
Similarly, since the Wei army was the attacking side, all the formations were arranged according to the attack plan. Now they had to switch from offense to defense. How could the formations of hundreds of thousands of people be adjusted in a short period of time?
Seeing the Han army pressing forward across the board, Cao Ren frowned and quickly realized the seriousness of the problem. After a brief moment of thought, he sneered, "Damn big-eared thief, despicable Zhuge Liang, do you think I will defend myself just because you are attacking? If so, you are underestimating me."
"Cao Zhang, lead your troops forward and drive Zhao Yun back!"