Chapter 223

The sound of horseshoes broke the quiet morning in Shanhai County, and two fast horses galloped down the commercial street. The cavalry came to Xuanwu Gate and shouted: "Quickly open the city gate, there is an urgent military situation!"

Those guarding the Xuanwu Gate were also soldiers of the city defense battalion. Seeing that the other party was a colleague in charge of guarding the north gate, they dared not neglect and immediately ordered the gate to be opened.

Passing through the Xuanwu Gate, the cavalry split into two. A cavalryman turned left and turned into the barracks. Another cavalryman galloped all the way and headed straight for Houfu. When they arrived at the Hou Mansion, the cavalry dismounted and slapped the gate of the Hou Mansion: "Open the door, open the door quickly!"

The doorman opened the door, "Who is knocking?"

"Hurry up and take me to see Junhou, there is an urgent military situation!" The cavalry said anxiously. The guard didn't dare to neglect, so he asked the messenger to wait in the hall, then turned around and ran towards the backyard.

After receiving the report, Ouyang Shuo hurried to the conference hall.

"Report to your lord, an early warning signal has been sent from the camp in the west of the city." The messenger said succinctly.

Ouyang Shuo was startled, a bad premonition came to his mind, and before he could think about it, he immediately issued an order: "Order the defense battalions in the city to be in place and return to their respective posts; order the northern battalion and the eastern battalion to gather troops and be on standby at any time. ; Order the first battalion of the North Sea Fleet to go to the base camp, and the territory has entered a second-level alert state."

"Here!" The orderly retreated immediately.

At this time, the personal guard camp stationed in Wuyingyuan was also alarmed, and Wang Feng, the battalion officer, dressed neatly, rushed to the meeting hall and waited for orders. Ouyang Shuo didn't hesitate, and ordered: "Assemble the team and follow me to help the camp in the west of the city."

"Here!"

Ouyang Shuo returned to the main courtyard, quickly put on the bright light armor, carried the fine iron spear, returned to the front courtyard, and rushed to the Wuying courtyard. In the Martial Arts Academy, the personal guard battalion has been assembled.

When setting off, Ge Hongliang, Director of Military Affairs, rushed over. Ouyang Shuo rode on a green horse and ordered: "Director Ge, you are in the base camp, and you are in charge of dispatching the north camp, the east camp and the Beihai Fleet, and are ready to reinforce the west camp at any time." Now that the enemy's situation is unknown, Ouyang Shuo is not Dare to mobilize the army rashly.

"Here!" Ge Hongliang responded.

Ouyang Shuo stopped hesitating and shouted loudly: "Guardian, let's go!"

Daying in the west of the city is a full 60 kilometers away from Shanhai County. Ouyang Shuo didn't dare to slack off, and ordered the personal guard camp to march in a hurry, and had breakfast directly on horseback, trying to reach the camp in the west of the city in the shortest possible time.

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Camp west of the city.

Because of the limited space in the camp, the Shapo Army, which had the superiority in strength, did not want to fight with the opponent in the barracks, and ordered the troops to withdraw from the barracks in an orderly manner while gathering.

Shi Wansui was also busy gathering the remnants, and the two sides distanced themselves with a tacit understanding and re-arranged. By the time all the coalition forces withdrew from the barracks, the first brigade had already assembled.

"Marshal Lu, what should we do next?" Zheng Shihu of the first battalion asked.

The other four officers also looked at Shi Wansui, waiting for his decision.

Shi Wansui was calm, and analyzed calmly: "The enemy's strength is twice that of ours. We are outnumbered, so we can only defend passively and wait for reinforcements to arrive."

The commander of the fourth battalion, Zhao Yan, suddenly said: "Brigade Commander, just now we fought, the final officer observed carefully. Although the enemy is numerous and powerful, the soldiers are not strong. We are not powerless. The distance between the camps The base camp is 60 kilometers long, and the general is worried that the enemy will burn our camp before reinforcements arrive. Why don’t we take the initiative to attack and use offense as defense.” The soldiers of the first brigade not only had high ranks, but also passed through With the double bonuses of super generals Shi Wansui and Shang Ding, the fighting power is not comparable to that of Shabajun.

What Zhao Yan saw, of course Shi Wansui also noticed that with the strength of the first brigade, it was not that they were incapable of fighting. He was just worried that such a head-on confrontation would cause huge casualties.

"Brigade Commander, let's fight! This battle is too suffocating, and people have bullied them to the door. Now the morale is high, and the army's morale is available. Standing and waiting for reinforcements will actually lower morale. I'm afraid it's not a long-term strategy." Li Mingliang, the battalion commander of the third battalion, spoke out in support of Zhao Yan's point of view and asked to fight.

Shi Wansui was stunned, and looked at the five battalion officers one by one. Their eyes were already burning with flames of war, waiting for Shi Wansui's order.

Shi Wansui finally made up his mind: "Okay, let's fight with them. We can't destroy the military power of Shanhai County. Let the enemy see what an elite army is."

"Here!" All the soldiers responded in unison.

The soldiers of the first brigade walked out of the camp one by one in an orderly formation. In the lead is the fifth battalion of archers, responsible for suppressing the enemy's long-range firepower; followed by the first and second battalions, they are the backbone of the Chinese army; the left wing is the third battalion cavalry battalion, the right wing It was the 4th Battalion of Spearmen.

The battle situation was about to break out, and neither side hesitated to attack the other side at the same time.

Backed by the barracks, the first brigade took the defensive position first. After the enemy entered the range, the fifth battalion was the first to show its power, and wave after wave of arrows rained down on the enemy.

The tactic of killing the army is to use cavalry to break through the defense line of the first brigade, followed by the sword and shield soldiers following the cavalry, and the archers provide distant fire support in the rear.

Facing the light cavalry charging at high speed, the Fifth Battalion only had time to fire two rounds of arrow rain before they had to spread out to both sides, vacating the middle position, and then retreated. The first and second battalions behind immediately plugged in, erected shields in front of the formation, and prepared to meet the charge of the cavalry.

This is a contest of spear and shield.

The light cavalry was like a torrent, pressing towards the front of the formation with overwhelming momentum. The mountain barbarians could clearly see the white air exhaled from the horse's nose. The cavalryman's long spear had already been raised, and the tip of the spear was flashing with a menacing cold light, wanting to choose and devour someone.

The two battalions, Shihu and Shibao, were standing at the front of the line, and they shouted in a deep voice, "Block!"

"Drink!" The elite mountain warriors shouted in unison, while using the shield in their hands to resist the charging cavalry; at the same time, the Tang knife in their right hand slashed down and flashed in the air A ray of white light went straight to the leg of the horse with the weakest protection.

The cavalry is like hitting a steel wall, penetrating the first floor, and the second floor, penetrating the second floor, and the third floor. The heavy infantry that was hit was like an iron can being violently hit with a hammer, the shield was broken, the armor was stepped on as a chest, and it sank at a speed visible to the naked eye. The cavalry who followed were trampled into meat sauce. Flesh and blood slowly seeped out along the completely deformed stepper armor, and flowed to the ground under his feet. Under the action of the huge inertia brought by the high-speed charge, the cold light of the spear pierced through the hard infantry armor, mercilessly harvesting fresh lives one by one.

By the third floor, the cavalry had become unsustainable and could no longer attack.

The torrent of steel began to complete the encirclement. They stepped on the corpses of their companions, and with vengeful anger, they waved the swords in their hands. The legs of the horses were cut off and they fell to the ground. The knight on the horse, before he had time to adjust his posture, was chopped into two pieces in the chest by the sword and shield soldiers surrounding him.

The offensive and defensive positions are switched, and the unstoppable attacker becomes the target of slaughter in an instant.

The cavalry tried to fight back with their spears, but unfortunately they didn't have the inertia brought by the huge impact. The spears stabbed by the cavalry's own strength often failed when they encountered the infantry armor with excellent protection capabilities.

After the heavy infantry trapped the enemy's cavalry, Li Mingliang, the commander of the third battalion, finally started to move. He drew out his sword, swung it forward vigorously, and shouted: "Cavalry battalion, charge!"

"Kill!" Countless Tang knives came out of their sheaths, exuding a compelling murderous intent.

The cavalry battalion turned to the left, suddenly bypassed the opponent's sword and shield soldiers, and went straight to the enemy's rear. Behind the coalition forces, the unprepared archer troops only had time to shoot a wave of arrows before they were pierced by cavalry riding green clam horses. Archers who only wore simple leather armor were powerless to stop the cavalry's impact.

The third battalion was wantonly interspersed among the archers, and the swords in the hands of the cavalry let out a bloodthirsty roar. The light of the sword flashed, and often a head fell to the ground. The archer's position instantly turned into a purgatory on earth. The enemy is often killed by a knife before it has time to scream. The cavalry battalion is like a highly efficient harvester, mercilessly harvesting the lives of the enemy. The severed heads rolled all over the ground, were trampled by war horses, sank into the mud, their brains burst apart, mixed with the mud and grass, and they could no longer be distinguished from each other.

The archers were attacked, and the coalition commander Sha Pojun had no choice but to order the sword and shield troops who were following the cavalry to cover up the past, and to allocate part of their troops to the rear for reinforcements.

If the cavalry of the coalition army is a sharp knife, then the sword and shield soldiers who follow it are a kitchen knife. It looks ordinary, but its lethality is amazing. Taking advantage of the opportunity when the heavy infantry and the cavalry battalion were entangled, like a pack of hungry wolves, they sneaked up and killed them, causing the first and second battalions to be attacked immediately.

Originally, this was an excellent opportunity to attack. If the command is correct, it is really possible to wipe out the first and second battalions. Unfortunately, the sudden retreat of the third battalion forced some sword and shield soldiers to retreat to assist the archers in defense. At the same time, the fourth battalion, which had been standing still, suddenly rushed up obliquely, broke into the position of the sword and shield soldiers, and used the spear in their hands to buy time for the first and second battalions.

For a while, the battle situation fell into a stalemate, and both sides had already invested all their troops. Everyone is racing against time. If the coalition forces can encircle and kill the first and second battalions, then the victory is sealed.

On the contrary, if the coalition forces cannot deal with the heavy infantry of the first brigade before the third battalion wipes out the archers, and wait until the third battalion inserts from the rear, then the end of the world will be waiting for the coalition forces.

Intense killing cries resounded over the camp. When the battle was at its most intense, Shi Wansui had to put down his command and go to the battlefield in person to buy time for the hoplites.

At this moment, there was the sound of rumbling horseshoes in the distance, and a flag was fluttering in the wind. The golden dragon on the flag was shining golden light against the sun.