My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 715 If we don't fight a decisive battle, our prestige will be lost
Most of the soldiers under Zhang Yi's command were from the same ethnic group as him, and they had a good foundation of trust in each other.

Therefore, his command was quite smooth and effective. Once an order was given, the soldiers quickly carried it out.

The Old Man and Qiang soldiers, wearing cloth armor, holding round shields and new battle axes made with the sandwich steel method, blocked the formation and brandished their weapons to fight back.

The archers in the army were also wearing cloth armor and they all climbed onto the grain carts and drew their bows and arrows.

Seeing the enemy rushing up and just entering the range, Zhang Yi gave the order to shoot. Officers at all levels issued the order in a very short time, and the rain of arrows immediately flew towards the enemy like a dense black cloud.

The native barbarians of Zangke on the opposite side were naturally slower to react than Zhang Yi's troops because they were in the process of charging. It was impossible for them to suddenly stop their formation and line up to shoot at Zhang Yi's troops.

So they could only fight on their own. Some barbarians stopped halfway through their charge and drew their bows to shoot back, but the arrows were very sparse.

Even if this kind of shooting tactics were used in the battle between the princes in the Central Plains, it would be unimaginable.

The charging formations of the Central Plains princes' armies were all much denser. If one dared to stop shooting arrows halfway through the charge, he would most likely be directly knocked down and trampled by his comrades in the back row.

That is to say, the Nanman army mostly used short weapons, did not have dense arrays of long spears, and their formation was loose when charging, which allowed them to act so recklessly.

After two or three short bursts of arrows were fired at each other, the two sides entered into close combat.

Zhang Yi's front-line soldiers and archers, because they generally wore cloth armor, had an overwhelming advantage in defense.

Seventy to eighty percent of the poisonous arrows shot by Zhu Wen's Zangke barbarians missed their targets, and of the remaining two to three percent that were on target, at least ninety percent were completely blocked by armor.

Only a few arrows that hit the gaps between the armor and had enough force and the right angle were able to penetrate the thick linen and pierce into the flesh.

In contrast, although the arrows shot by Zhang Yi's troops were not poisoned, they caused much more direct casualties. The Zangke barbarians generally had no armor, and were killed or injured if they were shot. There were screams for a while, and soldiers often fell in the middle of the charge.

But until now, Zhu Wen, the commander of the barbarian soldiers, had not discovered the problem. He knew that his troops were at least three to five times that of Zhang Yi and could withstand such consumption.

Barbarians had to rely on fearless charging to quickly engage the enemy. Lacking armor, it was normal for them to be killed by arrows during the charge. As long as they entered a melee, they still had a chance.

"Don't stop! Charge with all your might! Attack the Han army's grain train from the left and right wings! We can win by engaging them in hand-to-hand combat!" Zhu Wen climbed to a high place to look at the battle situation and couldn't help but roar loudly.

The flag-bearing officer next to him also ordered his soldiers to wave flags and shout, using flags to convey the major general's orders.

Soon, the two armies collided with each other, and then they started chopping swords and axes, and swinging hammers at each other. For a moment, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and broken limbs and arms were everywhere. Both sides were fighting for their lives.

Because of the rugged hills in Qianzhong, it is not conducive for the army to deploy in battle array, the battlefield terrain here appears to be relatively fragmented.

The Han army's grain team was still like several winding snakes until the moment they were surrounded. Normally, such a situation would be very dangerous for the party being ambushed.

As the two sides approached, the battle lines became jagged and soon it became a situation where you were in me and I was in you.

The fragmented terrain also greatly reduced the usefulness of weapons such as spears and halberds, and they could no longer fight shoulder to shoulder with their comrades in a dense formation to meet the enemy.

In the traditional armies of the Qiang and Sou people, they basically did not use long weapons such as spears and halberds to fight, but only short weapons such as swords, axes, hammers and even maces.

But at this moment, although at least 80% of the soldiers under Zhang Yi were equipped with short weapons, there were also about 20% halberd soldiers mixed in.

As the fighting continued, Zhu Wen's Zangke barbarian troops soon felt tremendous pressure.

The fighting power of the more than 2,000 Han soldiers on the opposite side was incredible. Even when they were surrounded and beaten by the Zangke barbarians who had several times the number of soldiers, they still fought back with ease.

The quality standard of each sword made of fine steel is to be able to cut through a thick and hard bamboo tube filled with iron sand.

Those broad-bladed battle axes made with the sandwich steel method are even sharper and more swifter. They are not too heavy to swing, yet can exert maximum force and power.

When the weapons of both sides clashed, many strong Zangke barbarian soldiers tried to use the hard wooden handles of their weapons based on their experience to block the enemy's axes.

However, most of the blocking actions made based on experience failed to hit the wooden handle with the wooden handle, but were instead swept by the enemy's widened axe blade, and their own wooden handle was directly broken into two pieces.

At the same time, even if the Zangke barbarians were agile and could occasionally stab the enemy with their sabers, the terrifying defensive coverage of the cloth armor on the Han soldiers was enough to make the saber attacks almost useless.

Only hammers and maces can barely cause effective damage.

"How come these cloths are so tough? They are harder to cut than the toughest leather armor! This is impossible! Ugh..."

Following the desperate cries of pain, many of the uninformed Zangke barbarians were in despair. They simply could not understand how those armors that looked like linen clothes could have such strong defensive power.

Aren't the sophisticated armors of this era designed to show off their shiny side first, to flaunt their power and scare off the enemy?

In comparison, this despicable act of pretending to be weak is clearly "playing dumb to gain advantage" to lure the enemy over and then kill them!
This form of combat is extremely effective in destroying the morale of the side that has been attacking unsuccessfully.

As the fighting continued, two other advantages of the Han soldiers under Zhang Yi gradually emerged.

Because the front row of sword and shield soldiers and axe and shield soldiers are strong enough, the Han army's halberd soldiers in the second and third rows can also easily find their positions and then suddenly give a fierce blow to the opposite Zangke barbarian soldiers.

The long spear would suddenly stab swiftly, or the horizontal blade would sweep and cut erratically, often reaping the defenseless Zangke barbarians, making Zhu Wen's troops suffer terribly.

The ratio of long and short weapons and the tactical coordination were all taught by Gan Ning to generals at all levels, including Zhang Yi, during pre-war training.

The effect of using it at this moment is extremely good.

Of course, the original source of this tactic was not Gan Ning, but was still inevitably related to the Zhuge brothers, especially Zhuge Jin.

This is not surprising. After all, as a time traveler, Zhuge Jin has more than a thousand years of military experience than people at that time. Zhuge Jin's understanding of the combat tactics of southern mountain soldiers is far more thorough than that of other people of the same period.

Zhuge Jin knew very well that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, mountain soldiers mainly used short weapons to fight. The biggest reason was that spears and halberds were too vulnerable to close combat by the enemy when they could not be arranged in a tight side-by-side formation in complex terrain.

The length advantage of spears and halberds is absolute, but if the spear or halberd shafts are too long, they will be completely useless when the enemy holds them close to you. If there are no comrades to cover each other, you will be at the mercy of the enemy.

However, generals in later generations had already thought of a solution to this problem. Qi Jiguang's Mandarin Duck Formation allowed wolf-whip soldiers, long spear soldiers and short weapons to fight together, so that the short weapons could protect the spear and halberd soldiers from being attacked closely in complex terrain.

Previously, Liu Bei's camp's opponents rarely had southern armies that were also composed entirely of mountain soldiers and short-armed troops.

There were similar scenes when they fought against the Shanyue people in the Huangshan Mountains in the early years. But at that time, Liu Bei's army was still in the early stages of its career, without such a complex and complete military industrial system, and it could not pay attention to too fine coordination of arms and weapons.

This time, after Liu Bei's camp had fully developed, it was a rare opportunity for them to fight against the mountain barbarians who were only armed with short weapons.

In this case, what's wrong with learning some of the advantages of Qi Jiguang's Mandarin Duck Formation and combining them with today's actual situation?

Zhuge Jin certainly would not insist on using wolf-whip soldiers and long spear soldiers, but his unified suggestion of "in the mountain short-weapon troops, 20% of long spear soldiers should be used as the back row" was beneficial without any cost.

After the proposal for this tactical deployment was issued, soldiers at all levels did not spend long in training and coordination, but initial results have been achieved.

At this moment, he was put to practical use in Zhang Yi's hands and became famous in one battle.

……

"How could these Han troops be so tenacious? They didn't show any signs of weakness even when they were outnumbered by three to five times ours? Instead, they killed so many of our soldiers and forced them to retreat. What tribes are these troops from? It's really shameful!"

Zhu Wen supervised the battle on the hillside for a long time. Seeing his soldiers gradually losing their strength, his anxiety naturally became more and more intense and more and more incomprehensible.

He even issued a number of harsh threats, saying that he would severely punish those tribes that advanced lightly and retreated easily.

Faced with his criticism, several tribes that had just been defeated and were about to reorganize their teams were also in great pain.

One of the tribal chieftains had just fought in the battle and was injured. At this moment, relying on the fact that his face was still covered in blood and that he had made no contributions, he bravely explained to Zhu Wen:
"Major General! We have tried our best! The Han army on the other side is really elite and incomparable! Moreover, our pre-war intelligence was also wrong. In the past, when the Han people marched into Zangke and transported grain across the Yelang Mountains, they relied on oxen and donkeys to carry the grain, and even people carried it on their shoulders!
But today's enemy army has plenty of chariots and sticks, and there are so many two-wheeled small food carts. As soon as we set out to ambush them, the enemy immediately surrounded the chariots. The enemy's rear row is equipped with long spears, which is very tricky. They can also use the chariots as cover to stab from the back row. It is really hard to resist! "

Faced with his subordinates' crying complaints, Zhu Wen finally realized how much of an advantage the enemy had gained in the tactical details.

His face became increasingly grim and he was in a completely difficult situation.

At the beginning of the battle just now, he vaguely realized that there were some details that were wrong, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Besides, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot, so he didn't want to figure it out anymore and just rushed forward.

Now that he had calmed down and reviewed the situation, he had to admit that the enemy had many more carts and staffs than the Han army grain teams he had encountered in the past when they were transporting grain within the territory of Zangke County.
This, combined with the enemy's superior halberd soldiers and archers, results in a combined combat effectiveness far exceeding the sum of one plus one being greater than two.

Under normal circumstances, the terrain near Yelang Mountain is too complex, and large ox carts and donkey carts have poor passability, so carts cannot be pushed on the mountain roads here.

However, Zhang Yi's grain transport team used the "wooden ox and flowing horse" invented by the Zhuge brothers during the Battle of Hanzhong a few years ago, which was a two-wheeled cart with a brake lever, similar to the wheelbarrow used to transport cement on construction sites in later generations.

The biggest advantage of this type of vehicle over ordinary ox-drawn carts is that it is not afraid of not being able to stop the vehicle when going downhill, and it is not afraid of rolling downhill due to inertia and rolling faster and faster. As long as the brake lever is pushed into the ground, it can stop on any steep slope.

This equipment was later further improved by the Zhuge brothers, who added arrow shields and used it to bulldoze and fill in moats during sieges. It had been wreaking havoc on battlefields throughout the Central Plains for three or four years. If a general of the Cao army saw this thing, he would not have found it strange.

But the problem is that this is Zangke County.

The knowledge of those southern barbarian tribes is much more narrow than that of Cao's generals on the Central Plains battlefield.

The things that were used in the Hanzhong battlefield five years ago and seen in the Central Plains battlefield four years ago, the "arrogant" barbarian king in the Zangke Mountains still doesn't know about it.

Thus, the Han army took advantage of the "chariot formation and the long-halberd soldiers in the back row" advantage. With so many advantages stacked together, Zhu Wen's barbarians, even though they had a five-fold advantage in numbers, were still like the waves of the Yellow River hitting the mainstay of the river, and they made no progress except breaking into pieces.

Finally, several barbarian armed forces could not hold on under Zhang Yi's resolute counterattack and collapsed and retreated.

Seeing that the turning point was coming, Zhang Yi finally made up his mind and gathered a reserve force. Every soldier wielded a new battle axe forged by the clamped steel method. Led directly by his childhood friend and colleague Gong Lu, they launched a counterattack in the direction that had been observed in advance, which was the hillside where Zhu Wen's flag formation was located.

Although Zhang Yi is young, his talent for military affairs has gradually become apparent.

When he was deploying the troops, he was fully aware that the halberd soldiers were not suitable for pursuit battles in this mountainous environment and could only be used for defensive counterattacks.

Therefore, this counterattack force did not have any halberd soldiers, and was composed entirely of axe and shield soldiers. There were even a few warriors who used heavy long-handled axes that were several feet longer, which could be wielded with both hands, and their power and attack range were extraordinary.

This counterattack force made entirely of steel axes was suddenly thrown into the battlefield when both sides were in a stalemate and the attacking side was exhausted. Its destructive power was truly astonishing.

A group of axe soldiers rushed forward with great force, hacking at anyone they saw. The Zangke barbarians who blocked their path were all defeated in an instant, and those who insisted on blocking their way were also killed.

Broken limbs and arms, chopped-off wooden handles of weapons, heads with helmets and brains chopped off, and torsos split in two from shoulders to waist were scattered all along the way from valley to hillside.

The Zangke barbarian army, which lacked sturdy armor, was quickly killed and cut into a bloody path.

"General, run away! The enemy general named Zhang is coming to kill us!"

Several officers of Zhu Wen's uncle generation finally became scared, fearing that their young master would die here and would have a hard time explaining to Zhu Bao when they returned, so they hurriedly dragged Zhu Wen onto his horse and fled.

All the enemies did not know Zhang Yi's name until the moment of their defeat. They only judged from the flags on the opposite side that he was a military commander or captain with the surname Zhang.

As Zhu Wen's flag formation retreated, the remaining barbarians naturally lost their backbone and fled in the direction they came.

Zhang Yi led his troops to pursue the enemy for more than ten miles, but in the end, due to the complex terrain, he did not dare to pursue further and had to give up while he was ahead.

"Stop chasing! Transporting grain is important. Hurry up and gather the troops and count the grain carts to see if there are any losses. Transport them to Guangtan County first! General Yan is currently besieging Guangtan County, and we cannot afford to have any shortage of grain!"

Following Zhang Yi's orders, the troops regrouped and counted their losses.

Although some people were killed or injured, resulting in insufficient auxiliary soldiers to push the carts, they could still rely on temporarily captured enemy soldiers, disarm them, and use them to transport food to make up for the shortage of personnel.

All the Han soldiers, even those who were originally auxiliary troops, were forced to take up arms and temporarily change to the role of escorts, leaving only the prisoners to push the carts.

……

The news that Zhang Yi had robbed food and defeated the enemy's small force soon reached the front line of Guangtan County.

Yan Yan, who was attacking the city, was overjoyed when he heard the news. He said that after Zhang Yi arrived with the grain, he would report his military achievements in detail to General Gan.

At this moment, Gan Ning was leading his field troops, bypassing Guangtan County and continuing eastward, seeking a decisive battle with Zhu Bao's main force.

The military supervisor Zhang Song was weak and in poor health. He could not withstand the long-term field battles and forced marches, so he was left behind in Guangtan County by Gan Ning and stationed with Yan Yan.

Anyway, when Gan Ning was fighting a mobile war, the opportunity was fleeting, so he didn't need the military supervisor to be around all the time to give him advice. If there was any major military change, Zhang Song could write a letter and send a secret envoy to contact Gan Ning at the front line at any time, so that his plan would not be delayed.

However, since Zhu Bao had made up his mind to drag out Gan Ning's efforts and wait for his food supply to be damaged before fighting again, he would naturally not be easily caught by Gan Ning.

As for Guangtan County, although the county town was not very strong, Yan Yan had just arrived from afar and was not fully prepared.

Such a raid of hundreds of miles deep into enemy territory, especially in mountainous areas, made it impossible to carry siege weapons with the army. All the equipment needed for the attack had to be temporarily built on site by cutting down trees.

Once the defending troops firmly hold their ground, it would be easy to hold out for more than half a month.

It was under such circumstances that Zhang Yi sent the victory report to Yan Yan and Zhang Song. This good news naturally inspired the whole army, and the haze of not being able to fight for many days was completely swept away.

Yan Yan quickly thought about whether he could use this good news to adjust his own strategic deployment, gain more overall advantages, and force the enemy into a decisive battle more quickly.

To this end, he immediately sought out Zhang Song, with whom he had worked for many years, and asked for his advice without reservation:

"Zhang Yi was able to defeat over 10,000 enemies and capture thousands of prisoners. This is truly remarkable! General Gan is now asking Zhu Bao for a decisive battle but is denied. The enemy defending Guangtan County is also holding its ground and refusing to fight. Ziqiao, in your opinion, can our army use this great victory to force Zhu Bao into a decisive battle as soon as possible?"

Zhang Song did not express his opinion rashly, but thought about it carefully first, analyzed the victory report sent by Zhang Yi, and personally asked the messenger many details, especially asking the messenger, "whether Sima Zhang had interrogated the captured enemy officers in time and found out the full strategic intention of the enemy's action."

The messenger gave an affirmative answer to this question and repeated what he had heard in as much detail as possible.

After all, Zhang Yi would not write these things in the victory report. When Zhang Yi arrived in person with the food and fodder in two days, Zhang Song could ask Zhang Yi directly or even ask the prisoners directly if he wanted to know anything.

After Zhang Song collected as much information as possible, he stroked his beard and pondered:

"It seems that Zhu Bao's intention is not to avoid fighting blindly and wait for our army to attack Guangtan and Qilan. He just wants to avoid fighting temporarily, so that our army will be exhausted, lack food, and lose morale. In the end, he will still kill us and fight a decisive battle in the field.

Because if he wanted to maintain a long-term stalemate and defend the city, he wouldn't be so eager to cut off our food supply and could take his time.

Moreover, if he wants to defend the city for a long time, he can't just leave this little force in Guangtan County. Otherwise, as long as our army captures Guangtan County, even if there is not much food in the county, it will definitely be enough to support it for a month or so. What's the point of him cutting off the food supply?"

Zhang Song first pointed out Zhu Bao's intention in a few concise sentences.

The city of Zangke is too fragile to be defended for a long time. Even if all efforts are made to avoid the war, it can only delay the war for a month or so, and eventually a decisive battle will have to be fought in the field.

The only difference is how tired and short-changed the enemies coming from afar can be made during these few months.

After listening to this concise summary, Yan Yan stroked his long gray beard, pondered for a while, and nodded slightly.

This is indeed the case.

After figuring it out, Yan Yan's heart moved, and he asked tentatively: "Then our army will eventually rely on besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements, and dragging the city until Guangtan County is about to fall, so that Zhu Bao will have to come to the rescue and finally fight a decisive battle with our army?"

Zhang Song frowned, thought for a moment, then relaxed his brows and waved his hand casually: "That's not necessary. After all, if we attack Guangtan County by force and attack to the point where the city is about to fall and the remaining food in the city is about to fall into our hands, it will also cost a lot of money and there will be many casualties.

Now that Zhang Yi has defeated the enemy's grain-robbing division, our army can take advantage of this opportunity to stir up trouble and spread propaganda, and divide our troops to intimidate the surrounding remote mountain tribes, forcing their chieftains to return to the rule of the imperial court and break away from Zhu Bao.

When encountering those who refuse to surrender, let’s take the example of Zhang Yi’s war, saying that anyone who obeys Zhu Bao will be used as a pawn by Zhu Bao to consume the elite troops of the imperial court.

The imperial army only needed a few thousand men to easily defeat Zhu Bao's army of tens of thousands. Those who followed Zhu Bao would be sacrificed in vain sooner or later, and there would be no good result.

Once the surrounding tribes were frightened by our army's victory in the first battle and came out to surrender one after another, Zhu Bao would naturally become unable to sit still.

These tribal barbarian kings can escape, but they cannot escape the temple. The young and strong warriors of the tribe can follow him to fight, but the old, weak, women and children cannot. As long as more and more tribes are afraid to surrender, Zhu Bao can only take the initiative to seek a quick victory. "

When Yan Yan heard this, his eyes became brighter and brighter.

He felt more and more that Zhang Yi had fought this battle at the right time. It was not that his killing of several thousand enemies was valuable, but the key was that he helped General Gan and his own side establish their prestige just right.

This was a crushing victory of the Han army with fewer troops over more troops, which happened right in front of the eyes of the Zangke tribes. After the news spread, it served as a great example to the tribes that were originally in doubt about the forced landing.

After understanding these principles, Yan Yan and Zhang Song quickly wrote a joint letter, attached Zhang Yi's victory report, and quickly sent it to Gan Ning, explaining this new strategy to force Zhu Bao to fight.

However, two days later, Gan Ning, who was chasing Zhu Bao in the mountains and could not catch up with him, finally received the victory news and offered suggestions.

Gan Ning was also overjoyed. He said that he would reward Zhang Yi handsomely and replied to Zhang Song that everything could be done according to his plan.

Soon, Yan Yan divided the siege troops left in Guangtan County into several small groups to intimidate and force some surrounding tribes to surrender, using the example of Zhang Yi's great victory to intimidate those cowardly chiefs who were sitting on the fence.

Finally, within just seven or eight days, the first group of local tribes, frightened by the rapid advance of the Han army, chose to send people to Gan Ning's army to surrender, indicating that they had been coerced and deceived by Zhu Bao before, and were not truly against the court.

Gan Ning let Zhang Song take full charge of the task of pacifying and surrendering the people, and also take charge of propaganda work, to spread the news that "more and more local tribes feel that Zhu Bao is unreliable and are turning to the light again."

There is no doubt that Zhang Song's propaganda was aimed at Zhu Bao, with the purpose of letting Zhu Bao know the bad news as soon as possible and causing him to panic.

Zhang Song’s propaganda was not in vain. After just a few days, Zhu Bao could no longer sit still.

“I never thought that my son would lose thousands of soldiers while robbing grain. Such a small defeat would be seized upon by Gan Ning and Zhang Song, who would make such a big fuss about it and destroy my prestige!
As of now, if I don’t fight a decisive battle with Gan Ning, I’m afraid that within ten days, my prestige among the various tribes in Zangke will be completely destroyed! ”

When Zhu Bao thought of this, he gnashed with hatred and the lines on his cheeks twitched uncontrollably.

Finally, he overcame his fear, slapped the table in front of him, stood up angrily, drew his sword and announced to the generals around him:
"I have made up my mind! The whole army should rest here and stop chasing Gan Ning around the mountains! From today on, we should reward the soldiers and encourage the people. When Gan Ning's main force catches up, we will turn around and fight him here! Who will take over Zangke County depends on this battle!"

Although the generals had been somewhat depressed recently, they gritted their teeth and agreed to the battle, seeing that the local emperor of the county, whom they had always respected, had spoken and that success or failure would depend on this battle.

Anyway, it’s a fight whether you stick your head out or hide your head, so let’s fight this battle first and then talk about it.

If it really doesn't work, the law will not hold everyone responsible, and the blame for the rebellion will all be on Zhu Bao.

Everyone was no longer bound by the laws of the court and had to pay taxes and serve in the army.

"We will follow the king's orders! We will fight to the death together!"

(End of this chapter)