Chapter 1096 The Thief's Strength Has Ended

Since the division of the north and the south, each of them has developed its own war system in accordance with the actual environment, forming a pattern of southern ships and northern horses.

However, the war equipment relied on by the southerners is not only warships, especially since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there have been many heroes who led the army to the north, and the north does not have dense and unobstructed waterways like the south to use, so chariots, which have a certain carrying capacity and mobility, as well as protection, have gained attention.

Speaking of the exquisite use of chariots, the most amazing battle example is naturally the Queyue formation in which Emperor Wu of Song Liu Yu defeated the elite cavalry of the Northern Wei Dynasty. As a battle formation, the Queyue formation has relatively strict restrictions if it wants to be reproduced. In addition to Liu Yu's own record, it is difficult to find similar battle examples. However, the tactical idea of ​​using chariots to defeat cavalry is very worthy of reference.

Although the Western Wei Dynasty also had a very impressive cavalry organization, especially after Li Tai defeated the Turks, he greatly improved his control over the south of the desert and Longyou, which made the cavalry strength of the Western Wei Dynasty surge in the past two years.

However, the Wei army came from afar to attack, and the most important task was to conquer the city and expand the territory. The demand for field battles was not too great. In addition, the route itself was full of rugged mountain roads, which further limited the cavalry's strength and logistics supply. Therefore, the cavalry they brought was not the main force of the battle.

Especially in the south of Wusu City at the moment, the cavalry force that the Western Wei could gather and put into battle was only more than 10,000 people, which was far less than that of the Northern Qi.

Therefore, in this decisive battle, the biggest problem facing the Western Wei was how to offset the mobility of the powerful cavalry of the Northern Qi and the ability to control the battlefield established by it. If this point could not be effectively controlled, then the Western Wei would have lost more than half of the battle before it was fought.

One of the main reasons why Li Tai agreed to Gao Yang to fight a decisive battle at the mouth of the Tongdi River was that the natural waterways of the Tongdi River and the Zhuozhang River caused obstacles for the cavalry to gallop on the battlefield. Relying on these two rivers, the Wei army at least did not have to face the embarrassing situation of being surrounded and besieged by enemy cavalry in the wilderness.

Of course, the river channel cannot be relied on for long, especially since this summer has been a drought. The water flow from the Tongdi River to the Zhuozhang River is the most abundant, but the width of the river channel is only a dozen feet.

Such a width can be regarded as an obstacle for ordinary people, but it is not a punishment for the powerful Northern Qi army. As long as the battle officially starts, there will be various ways to cross the water.

Therefore, chariots have become a major choice for Li Tai to limit the enemy's cavalry in this battle. After he broke through Jiangling, he had captured a large number of craftsmen from the Southern Dynasty, which greatly improved the boat and car manufacturing capabilities of the Western Wei.

As early as the Hou Jing Rebellion in the old year, Li Tai had won the battle with the enemy with chariots when he went to the Heluo area with the army. Now that he has been supplemented by the technology and craftsmen of the Southern Dynasty, he has naturally become more professional.

Before entering the Qinshui River Valley to fight, he used chariots to temporarily set up camps and formations, which was a small test. However, the battle under Yining City was not enough to display the full form of this chariot formation. Now that the decisive battle with Northern Qi was underway, it was natural that it would no longer be hidden.

At this time, there were hundreds of chariots on the battlefield, not arranged in any fixed formation, but parked in a mess on the battlefield. The wheels had been removed, and the specially made carriages had a large capacity, filled with earth and rocks dug out from digging traps, and fixed with ground nails at the four corners. Although it was not as stable as a rock, it was difficult to shake easily.

The Wei army soldiers in the chariot formation formed a small battle formation of 20 to 30 people beside the chariots. The outermost were soldiers holding long spears and long axes, the two wings were sword and shield warriors, and the innermost were archers.

Such a formation referred to many characteristics of southern tactics, and it itself had a certain restraining effect on the cavalry on the battlefield. When used together with chariots, the effect was even more outstanding.

The elite cavalry of the Qi army rushed in with great momentum. Facing this arrangement with traps below and chariot barriers above, there was no good way to deal with it for a while. In order to maintain the speed and strength of the attack, they could only enter the chariot formation in different directions.

The charging battle formation that had originally condensed into a torrent was immediately divided into several tributaries by the chariot formation, and both the momentum and speed were greatly weakened. After losing these two points of blessing, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry brigade would also be sharply reduced.

"The Eastern thieves will die!"

The commander of the formation here is Wang Jie, who has been stationed in Handong for several years and has fought many battles with the southerners. He is also very familiar with the tactics of using infantry to defeat cavalry. When the enemy cavalry rushed into the formation, he led his troops to hide behind the chariot to avoid the fierce attack of the enemy. When the enemy knights passed by, he jumped out from the side with a battle axe in his hand, roared, and chopped down with a broad-bladed battle axe. The enemy cavalry had no time to stop and counterattack, and they were immediately torn apart!

The chariots placed in disorder on the battlefield seemed to be sparse and not in formation, which made people subconsciously despise them, thinking that they were not to be feared and could be easily penetrated and broken.

However, the existence of these chariots greatly restricted the routes and movement space of the Qi cavalry, and also made them lose the ability to separate and gather freely. The formation was divided and messy, and the benefits brought by the mounts and formations disappeared. They could only rely on their own combat skills to fight fiercely with the enemy in the chariot formation.

However, they were the only ones in the chaos, while the Wei army was not in the chaos, and their respective teams were still well organized.

The long weapons in front were like the claws of a beast, stabbing and killing the enemy. The sword and shield warriors on both wings waved their shields to block the enemy's arrows and counterattacks, while swinging their swords to chop the horses' bellies and feet, as well as those enemy soldiers who fell off their horses but were still struggling. As for the archers at the back, they were leaning on the chariots in the back, and their comrades in front were firmly protecting them. They only needed to hold the crossbows and keep shooting at the enemy.

Although Qi Lianmeng had been a soldier for half his life, he had little experience in fighting against the southerners. He was suddenly faced with such a battle formation of the enemy, and had no chance to break the enemy for a while. After he entered the formation, he felt more and more that this battle formation combining people and chariots was difficult to deal with.

He wanted to destroy the carriage wall, but the enemy soldiers' attacks from the front and back made it difficult for him to stay by the carriage for a long time. He could only jump away on his horse and avoid the enemy's front to catch his breath, but he still had to guard against the flying arrows.

"Don't stay in the enemy formation, charge, charge out!"

After staying in the enemy formation for a while, Qi Lianmeng shouted loudly. This battle formation was really not conducive to the use of cavalry power. Continuing to fight here would only cause greater casualties and losses. It was necessary to rush into the wilderness as soon as possible and reorganize the battle formation.

Under Qi Lianmeng's loud orders, and the Qi army soldiers trapped in the formation themselves had already realized that it was not good, they did not dare to fight in the formation anymore, and rushed out of the range of the carriage formation.

However, the Western Wei Dynasty was not the Southern Dynasty that lacked war horses and cavalry. Behind this battle formation, He Ruo Dun had already led a thousand elite cavalry with spears ready for battle. When the Qi army soldiers got rid of all kinds of obstacles and finally rushed out of the chariot formation, they were hit head-on by the Wei cavalry outside the formation before they could gather their troops.

When Qi Lianmeng finally rushed out of the enemy formation, he saw that his soldiers had been killed by the enemy and had thrown away their armor and weapons. They had lost the unstoppable momentum they had when they attacked here before. He was annoyed for a while.

"Come closer to me, don't flee! Quickly send a message to the troops behind to continue the attack. There are few bandits here, and we can still fight!"

Although the attack was greatly frustrated, Qi Lianmeng was still unwilling to admit defeat, and he didn't dare to do so, because His Majesty the Emperor personally supervised the battle here. He took the lead in the first battle and attacked without authorization, but ended up with a great defeat. If he retreated, His Majesty the Emperor would be furious and would never let him off easily.

Therefore, even if there was still a glimmer of hope, Qi Lianmeng did not dare to give up. He shouted loudly to the soldiers to get closer to him, and urged the rear reinforcements. At the same time, he also held a bow in his hand, constantly pulling the string to shoot the Wei army soldiers chasing the Qi army on the battlefield.

"So the enemy general is here, surround him and capture and kill this beast!"

He Ruo Dun, who was leading his troops to charge, also noticed Qi Lianmeng who was shouting and shouting. His eyes lit up immediately, and he led hundreds of soldiers around him to gallop towards Qi Lianmeng.

Qi Lianmeng had outstanding arm strength and exquisite shooting skills. Although the soldiers were running and the battle was unfavorable, he was still trying his best to turn the situation around. He shot the bow in his hand left and right. Every time an arrow was shot, an enemy would fall off the horse, which also made the nearby Wei army soldiers dare not get too close, so more than a hundred chaotic soldiers gathered around him again. Seeing that they were about to re-organize, He Ruo Dun had already led hundreds of soldiers to gallop here.

Seeing this, Qi Lianmeng drew his bow and shot at He Ruodun, who was leading the way, while shouting: "Come and die, thief!"

The arrow flashed and He Ruodun was not spared. The arrow went straight into the shoulder socket where the armor joined. He trembled in pain and almost fell off his horse. But after stabilizing his body, he raised his hand to break the arrow and threw it on the ground, laughing: "The thief is exhausted, and the arrow can't penetrate the clothes! It's time to capture and kill the thief!"

The surrounding Wei army soldiers who were intimidated by Qi Lianmeng's exquisite archery skills and dared not approach were greatly encouraged when they heard this, and immediately rushed up again on horseback.

Qi Lianmeng saw this scene and hastily shot several arrows, but it was still difficult to stop the surging enemy force. As the Wei army knights rushed forward, the formation that had just gathered was dispersed again. As several of his personal soldiers were stabbed to death by the enemy, Qi Lianmeng was also surrounded by the enemy.

He abandoned his bow and held a knife and struggled to death. He barely refused to fight for a moment, but the horse under his crotch was stabbed to death by a spear, and he fell to the ground with it. Seeing that several spears were all stabbed at him, he held his head and kowtowed loudly when he was dying: "I am willing to surrender, I am willing to surrender! Please spare my life, general!"

"Tie him up and send him to the central army! Continue to kill the enemy here!"

When He Ruodun rode here, his shoulders and arms were stained red with blood from the arrow wounds, but after seeing the enemy general captured alive, he couldn't help but smile and immediately gave a loud order.