Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 191: The Cavalry General with Both Archery and Halberd

The Anqing governor transferred reinforcements from various counties. After a simple reorganization, they were about to head to the battlefield north of Shahe. On the opposite side of them, the two regiments led by Lu Jin with more than 10,000 main forces were also ready to meet the enemy.

Both sides were well prepared, and the battle was about to break out, just waiting for the opportunity to cross the river tomorrow.

The next morning, at 2:15 pm, around 4:00 a.m., the sky was just beginning to show a hint of paleness. The Shengwu Army on the north bank of the Shahe River had already gotten up to make breakfast, and Lu Jin was also making final arrangements.

"Send the letter to Tongcheng. The enemy reinforcements are close at hand. There is no need for them to delay any longer. They should start the siege immediately."

"We sent someone to deliver the letter yesterday evening. If nothing unexpected happens, Commander Liao should have received the news by now." Cao Liangchen replied immediately.

Lu Jin nodded, and then arranged with several generals, "For today's battle, Commander Guo of the Eighth Regiment will be the commander-in-chief, and Miao Daheng will be the deputy commander. The artillery will be under my independent command. Remember?"

Guo Zixing and Miao Daheng were both stunned when they heard this. Since Lu Jin came in person, they never thought that they could command the battle independently. But they didn't expect that when the battle came, Lu Jin did not want the command this time.

Guo Zixing immediately declined, saying, "Since the commander-in-chief is here in person, I'd better take charge of the command."

Lu Jin only listened halfway before waving his hand and interrupting, "Nothing, I'm here to help this time. The battle plan and deployment were all made by Liao Yongan. I'm just worried that the enemy has too many troops, and I'm not too reassured. Also, the artillery is just being set up, so I need to test it in actual combat on the battlefield, so I brought the artillery team here to help you.

"So you should fight the way you should. Just as I said yesterday, attack only two sides and drive the enemy's defeated soldiers to the west. Pay attention to the speed of the chariots and infantry. Once the enemy's main formation collapses ahead of time, the infantry will immediately surpass the chariots and rush forward to meet the enemy. As long as the enemy formation collapses, all that's left is to pursue and annihilate them."

Guo Zixing naturally remembered the tactics that Lu Jin had given him, but he was still a little confused and asked, "Then I will take charge. What is the commander going to do?"

"Me? I will naturally follow the cavalry to meet the enemy first and find the right time for the artillery to fire." Lu Jin said as a matter of course.

Upon hearing this, Miao Daheng said anxiously, "No, in a war with tens of thousands of people, what's the point of the Marshal bringing only two hundred cavalry? If something goes wrong, how can we explain to Commander Liao?"

"What good or bad can it be? It's not like I haven't fought in a war before. That's it!"

After Lu Jin finished speaking, he immediately stood up and went to find his horse, not giving them a chance to refute. In fact, this was his last act of willfulness. This was probably the last battle fought by the Shengwu Army north of the Yangtze River. After crossing the river in the future, he probably would not have the opportunity to go to the battlefield in person again. This might be the last time Lu Jin would fight in person.

How could he let the sword, halberd, and gun set he had collected with great difficulty not see blood even once? Besides, he also needed to appear on the battlefield from time to time to maintain his prestige in the army.

And this Yaoguang BMW in front of us, it would be unfair to this horse if it couldn’t go to the battlefield once!

Lu Jin personally fed the horse beans and salt water and stroked the black mane on Yaoguang's neck. Yaoguang seemed to be affected by Lu Jin's emotions and pawed the ground with his hooves from time to time, appearing very excited.

Afterwards, Lu Jin checked the 200 cavalrymen who were about to follow him into battle, examined their weapons and armor one by one, and then called all the officers above the rank of squad leader to come before him and give them a lecture.

"Today we have two combat missions. First, we will fight against the enemy's vanguard and their cavalry. We will then see how the situation develops. If the enemy dares not cross the river, we will take the initiative to show weakness and retreat after a few attacks. If the enemy does not line up to meet the enemy after crossing the river, but instead continues to march, we will beat back their vanguard fiercely and let them know that we are not easy to mess with.

"The second one is, after the enemy troops have formed their battle array, we must try our best to cover our infantry troops in forming their battle array to meet the enemy and buy them time to form their battle array. After the infantry of both sides come into contact, we must also be responsible for protecting the artillery positions and never allow the enemy troops to get close to our artillery array!

"When you were training in Luzhou, you also had your horses desensitized to the sound of artillery fire. But I tell you, the sound of artillery fire today will be very loud. Control your mounts well and don't scare them. Do you understand?"

"I understand!" all the officers shouted in unison.

"Okay, then everyone should prepare. The vanguard and the follow-up troops will usually advance ten to thirty miles. Now the enemy camp is ten miles away on the other side of the river. When it gets light, we can see the enemy scouts. The cavalry doesn't have much time to prepare. Those who need to urinate should urinate now. Don't wait until we meet the enemy to shout this or that. Everyone should prepare."

"Yes." When everyone heard Lu Jin's last sentence, they all responded with laughter and left.

Only Ye Sheng still had that expressionless face, but he led his horse to Lu Jin and said, "My lord, don't worry. I will definitely protect you today. Now our army's morale is high and the development is advancing by leaps and bounds. The 100,000 brothers behind us are still waiting for you to lead us across the river and conquer the world. Please take care of yourself, my lord."

Lu Jin glanced at him and knew what Ye Sheng meant. It was really difficult for Ye Sheng, who was usually taciturn, to say such a long sentence.

He smiled and patted his shoulder, jokingly saying, "With you here, what do I have to be afraid of? Besides, you taught me how to ride and shoot and how to use a spear and a stick. You are half my master. Don't you know how good my martial arts are? Don't worry, I'm not a fool."

"Yeah." Ye Sheng nodded immediately. He also knew how powerful Lu Jin was. This lord's moves were average, but he was born with supernatural powers. Although not as exaggerated as the Overlord Lifting the Cauldron, he was also unmatched by ordinary people.

Moreover, the weapon that Lu Jin chose was the Fang Tian Ji. This kind of weapon that is naturally endowed with multiple functions, in the hands of Lu Jin, a man with natural supernatural powers, is like adding wings to a tiger, which just makes up for the weakness of Lu Jin's insufficient moves.

He was not worried about his martial arts, but he was afraid that Lu Jin would get too hot-blooded and act impulsively, which would be bad.

Ye Sheng also knew that with the current development trend, Lu Jin would probably not have the chance to fight in the battlefield soon. This might be Lu Jin's last time to fight in the battlefield. Obviously Lu Jin knew this, so he didn't dare to persuade Lu Jin not to go. He could only tell Lu Jin to be careful.

After feeding the warhorse with food and water, Lu Jin put on a saddle and other equipment for Yaoguang, and took the horse for a walk to warm it up. Ye Sheng also sent a squad of cavalry patrols to patrol and monitor the area near the wooden bridge.

About another hour later, at around six or seven in the morning, a cloud of dust rose from the opposite bank, and several riders rushed towards the wooden bridge. The vanguard of the Yuan army had finally arrived.

The two sides spotted each other across the wooden bridge at the first opportunity. There were only ten Shengwu Army riders on the north bank. Upon seeing this, they immediately blew the horn. A low humming sound rang out, instantly cheering up the army lurking around. The enemy is coming!
Zhang Desheng and Cao Liangchen, who were under Guo Zixing, were relatively calm. Wu Guobao and Lu Xian, who were under Miao Daheng, were more excited. They were both rookies who were on the battlefield for the first time. Fortunately, the main general Miao Daheng was calm enough. In addition, Han Qinglu, a general who was originally under Kang Maocai and was recruited by Lu Jin, had also seen big scenes, so he was not panicked. Miao Daheng waved his hand and ordered his men, "Tell the brothers not to make any noise and be careful to hide. If anyone shouts and is discovered by the enemy, I will chop off his head. No one is allowed to move before the sound of the cannon!"

"Yes." The messenger replied in a low voice and immediately turned and left.

Woohoo——

Listening to the occasional trumpet calls from outside, Ye Sheng, who was hiding behind the village, looked at Lu Jin and asked, "Marshal, what should we do now?"

"If we only hear the horn sound but don't see any human figures, the enemy will think that we have ambushes nearby. If that's the case, it would be bad. The enemy will be scared and won't dare to cross the river. You take four squads up first, and gather fifty cavalrymen to test the water." Lu Jin immediately made arrangements.

"Yes, follow me." Ye Sheng nodded to the four squad leaders behind him, then jumped on his horse, holding a long spear, and rushed out first. The forty riders behind him also rushed out, raising a large cloud of dust. This scene immediately made the face of Lu Chonglu, the vanguard of the Yuan army on the opposite bank, turn black.

Several scouts gathered around Lu Chonglu and asked nervously, "Captain, are the enemy soldiers coming? Is it Tongcheng?"

Lu Chonglu's face darkened. "Impossible. If Tongcheng had been captured, how could there only be a few dozen cavalrymen here? The bandits must have been unable to capture the city after a long siege, and were worried that the government troops would send reinforcements, so they sent scouts to keep watch here."

"So what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Chonglu asked again, "How far is the army from here?"

"Less than eight miles."

"Time is urgent. No matter what, we have to cross the river now, beat back these scouts, and search the area around the wooden bridge. We must not let these few dozen bandits block the army's path. Follow me and kill them! Make sure to capture a few alive and interrogate them for information!"

"Yes, go!"

Lu Chonglu kicked his horse and rushed towards the wooden bridge with more than a hundred cavalrymen. Ye Sheng on the opposite side immediately blew a bamboo whistle and waved his arm. He had no intention of confronting the opponent head-on and turned around and retreated with dozens of cavalrymen.

But they would not run very far, always staying at a distance that the Yuan army could not catch up with but could still see them. Once the Yuan army stopped chasing, Ye Sheng would not leave, but turn his horse around and follow them back. This move made the Yuan army vanguards very disgusted.

"Captain, the bandits are coming back again, what should we do?"

Lu Chonglu's face became increasingly darker. He felt that this group of Luzhou Red Turbans were too shameless. They neither fought nor ran away, and just kept circling around in front of him. However, the army was still marching. In an hour at most, they would definitely reach the river. By then, with such a group of people making trouble, how could the army cross the river?

So he said immediately, "The army will be here soon. We are the vanguard and must ensure that the army's path is unobstructed. Now we have more people and the bandits have fewer people. Don't they like to run? Encircle them from two directions and kill them!"

"it is good."

"Hoo~" The Yuan army cavalry also raised their spears, swords and bows, stood up on their stirrups, waved their weapons and made noisy sounds like the cries of monkeys, and then divided into two groups to encircle Ye Sheng's row.

Ye Sheng was a veteran after all, and he seemed calm. He led a row of soldiers to retreat while occupying advantageous terrain. Those who could shoot arrows kept shooting arrows at the pursuers behind him. The sound of vibrating bowstrings could be heard from time to time. In less than a moment, seven or eight Yuan soldiers were shot off their horses, and Ye Sheng also lost two men in the battle.

But what the Yuan army pursuers didn't know was that while they were the mantis stalking the cicada, there was also a oriole waiting nearby for an opportunity to strike.

Seeing that the enemy was encircling Ye Sheng from both wings, Lu Jin immediately waved his hand and sent out the second row. The fifty cavalrymen in the second row suddenly rushed out from the right rear side of the enemy's right wing. This position happened to be a blind spot for the enemy cavalry's shooting. After being bitten by the cavalrymen in the second row, they immediately fired arrows and shot arrows crazily in the enemy's blind spot on the right side.

More than thirty horse archers, each shot two or three arrows in the shortest time, and shot down more than twenty Yuan soldiers in the blink of an eye. Those who did not die after falling to the ground were also killed by the spear cavalry or sword cavalry following behind.

In addition to the fact that they were shot down by Ye Sheng's row of soldiers during the pursuit, one third of the Yuan army's 100-man vanguard cavalry was directly lost in battle. The Shengwu Army used the tactics of attacking in batches and concealed ambushes, and achieved great results with less than five casualties in the first battle.

The cavalry on Lu Chonglu's side were originally divided into two wings to outflank Ye Sheng, but his right wing was surrounded by the Shengwu Army and suffered huge casualties first. The original plan could no longer be completed, so this guy did not hesitate and immediately ordered someone to blow the horn, wanting to retreat, and then come back to fight back after completing the turn.

As for cavalry, their attacking style is to keep on moving around.

However, what frightened Lu Chonglu was that as soon as he blew the horn to retreat, the right wing, which originally had only a dozen riders left, instantly turned their horses' heads and prepared to retreat south. The execution was very timely, but as soon as they turned around, they immediately exposed their blind spot on the right rear side to Ye Sheng who was originally trapped in the middle.

The soldiers led by Ye Sheng were not polite and took this opportunity to fire their bows again. The dozen or so cavalrymen left on the right wing of the Yuan army were instantly killed. Half of the Yuan army's squadron of a hundred men that crossed the river had been destroyed in the battle.

The left wing led by Lu Chonglu himself was also retreating at this time, but he was sweating profusely, because in the blink of an eye, fifty cavalrymen from the Shengwu Army appeared from nowhere, circled from the west of him, and instantly appeared in his right rear blind spot. This was the third row that Lu Jin had just sent out.
When Lu Chonglu came to his senses, he looked around and found that the three groups of Red Scarf Cavalry had turned around. The first row led by Ye Sheng was chasing from the rear, the second row was chasing from the left, and the third row that just appeared was chasing from the right. The three rows of the Shengwu Army, 150 cavalry divided into three waves, had half-surrounded the remaining cavalry of Lu Chonglu in an inverted T-shape, and were still shooting arrows at the middle. It seemed that before they could escape back to the south bank of Shahe River, they would all be killed here.

At this moment, Lu Chonglu turned his head forward and suddenly found that the situation in front of him made him feel even more desperate. He saw a cavalry general with a bow in his left hand and a Fang Tian Hua Ji on his right shoulder, with fifty cavalrymen behind him, appearing on their way to escape south. They were blocking the wooden bridge and rushing towards them head-on. Seeing that they were about to be surrounded by the enemy on all sides, Lu Chonglu roared.

"Brothers, fight them. As many as can escape will be the best!"

(End of this chapter)