Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 325: Chase! Chase! Chase!
"The mountain roads are rugged and it's difficult to deploy heavy troops. It's better to wait for the infantry!"

When Zhang Yu was about to lead his troops to the mountain to fight, Wang Ling, considering that Zhang Yu was the ruler of Shanxi, hurriedly stood in front of Zhang Yu.

As soon as these words were spoken, the soldiers around who had dismounted and were about to follow Zhang Yu in the attack stopped what they were doing and wanted to see how Zhang Yu would react.

"Snapped!"

Zhang Yu whipped Wang Ling's back with a steel whip and said sternly, "When we wait for the infantry to arrive and attack, the enemy will have already built fortifications. If we don't attack them now, we will let Han Sui escape!"

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked straight at the steep mountain, pointed his whip at the mountain path, and said to his followers, "Those with shields hold their shields, those without shields hold their saddles, follow me and defeat the enemy."

"promise!"

Wang Ling gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, the enemy troops must leave strong soldiers to defend the place. I am willing to lead the troops as the vanguard."

Zhang Yu laughed loudly and said, "Mountain climbing requires a brave general. Now that the other generals have not arrived, I am the only one who can lead the soldiers. Yan Yun is a little weaker, so he can hold the shield and protect us."

Among the generals in Shanxi, most of them were outstanding in martial arts, but not many could be called fierce generals in hand-to-hand combat. Among them, except Xu Chu, Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun and others, Zhang Yu could be listed among them just for his archery skills.

In the past, he attacked and defeated the Hu tribe, attacked Kebi outside the border, and killed the Chanyu in the rainy night. These were all Zhang Yu's famous achievements before he started his army. However, due to his special status, he spent less time in the battlefield.

Now, when it's time to pursue and use military force, if Zhang Yu doesn't step forward, how can he inspire the soldiers?

It is difficult to change the situation by relying on the bravery of the commander in a large army. However, in a chaotic pursuit battle, the braver the commander is, the more likely he is to change the situation.

Of course, Wang Ling had considerations for fighting at the foot of a steep mountain. After all, his troops could not be deployed, and the enemy was defending on high ground. If something unexpected happened, Wang Ling would not be able to accept it.

"I am not as brave as you, but the terrain is complicated and different from horseback archery. Let me lead the troops to attack. If I cannot achieve any success, you can lead the troops to attack."

"Soldiers are expensive and quick!"

Zhang Yu only said four words and ignored Wang Ling's speech. Instead, he added a quiver to his belt, buckled the steel whip on his left waist, and held a bow and arrow in his hand.

At the same time, the three or four hundred cavalrymen who were accompanying him each put on their iron armor and cloth armor, and held weapons in their hands, such as shields, bows, spears, swords, etc. The shield riders stood silently in the front team, and the riders with bows and spears surrounded Zhang Yu, and a murderous atmosphere rose.

Seeing this, Wang Ling hurriedly took off the small shield on the horse's back and trotted in front of Zhang Yu to protect him.

"Climb the mountain and defeat the enemy!"

"kill!"

Soon, the soldiers under Song Jian's command on Madou Ridge discovered something unusual at the foot of the ridge. They saw that Zhang's soldiers were wearing helmets and armor, and many knights did not forget to wrap fur over their armor. The outer knights held a shield and saddle in one hand and a melee weapon such as a ring-handled knife or an iron whip in the other.

Although their equipment was heavy, the armored cavalrymen's steps were light and steady. Hundreds of them formed a formation that was both loose and orderly. It was obvious that these armored cavalrymen were all veterans of the battlefield.

"Your Majesty, our army has just reached Madou Ridge and the fortifications have not yet been repaired. We can only fight the enemy now."

Guo Yi from Jincheng looked worried and said to Song Jian.

Seeing that Zhang Yu was attacking and chasing fiercely and not giving him time to reorganize his troops, Song Jian secretly groaned in his heart.

Since he rebelled against the imperial court, he has fought with the Han army many times. In the past, whether it was Zhang Wen or Huangfu Song who led the troops, when they encountered them being defeated and retreating, the Han army generals would chase and kill them, but they would know when to stop and not pursue them too much.

But the Zhang Yu in front of them was like a wolf on the grassland, biting them all the way. It was too terrifying to meet such an enemy.

"Choose the elite archers in the army and shoot at him from a dangerous position to see if we can force Zhang Yu to retreat!" Song Jian said.

"promise!"

Soon, Guo Yi selected dozens of sharpshooters and led them personally to stop Zhang Yu.

Don't think that arrows are not very useful just because they can be blocked by armor and shields. In fact, excellent archers play a key role in battle. For example, at a long distance, a sharpshooter can kill an enemy warrior without any injury, which will cause damage to the enemy's morale.

For example, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Northern Dynasty often selected archers to be in the front, so as to shoot and kill the elite soldiers of the Southern Dynasty, so as to severely damage the morale of the enemy army, so as to facilitate the defeat of the enemy in one fell swoop. After all, there are few ordinary soldiers who are truly not afraid of death, and most of them are those who fish in troubled waters.

"Whoosh!"

The archers of the Song army on the mountain tried to shoot arrows to break up Zhang's army, but most of the arrows were blocked by shields and saddles. Only the arrows shot by the sharpshooters fell into the crowd. However, because Zhang's knights were wearing armor, no major casualties were caused.

"Whoosh!"

Wang Ling was suddenly hit by an arrow in the left shoulder. Fortunately, the arrow failed to penetrate due to the protection of the armor, but it still made Wang Ling cry out in pain.

"There are good archers among the enemy!" the armored cavalry in the front row shouted loudly.

Zhang Yu put an arrow on his bow and said sternly, "Archers should fight back with their bows, and shieldmen should charge forward. Zhang Ji has led his troops to the foot of the mountain and will join us in the fight."

When the subsequent troops saw Zhang Yu leading his troops to climb the mountain to fight, they dismounted and joined the battle. Several or dozens of people formed small teams and climbed up the mountain to provide support.

"Whoosh!"

Looking for an opportunity, Zhang Yu drew his bow and shot, and an arrow hit the cheek of the Song army archer hiding behind a tree. With a scream, the archer rolled down the mountain.

Under the leadership of Zhang Yu, the armored cavalry ignored the arrows. Except for the archers who shot back, the rest continued to bravely climb the slope and fight. Even Wang Ling fought with a shield. An armored cavalry took the lead and blocked the spear with his shield. He chopped the Song soldier's neck with a knife, and blood splattered. The Song soldier roared, threw away the spear and grabbed the armored cavalry's hand, while the surrounding Song soldiers stabbed him with two spears without mercy.

"Bah!"

The tip of the spear pierced the iron armor, and a spark flew from the smooth armor. The other spear hit the gap between the armor plates and pierced the abdomen along the gap. Even though the armor plates blocked it, the armored rider still screamed in pain.

"Whoosh!"

When Song Bing was about to exert force to pierce, an arrow broke through the air and hit Song Bing's lower cheek, causing Song Bing to lose strength immediately and groan in pain while covering his cheek.

The armored cavalry followed up and stepped forward to share the pressure with their companions. Seizing the opportunity, the armored cavalry killed the Song soldier in front of him with a knife, and then smashed the Song soldier who had just stabbed his abdomen with his shield. With a few bangs, the Song soldier was directly smashed to death.

After dealing with the enemy, the armored cavalry looked back and saw that the arrow was shot by their own lord. Their morale immediately soared. They pulled their spears out of the wound and seeing that the injury was not serious, they continued to fight forward.

After Zhang Yu shot an enemy archer to death, he saw that the two sides had already engaged in a melee, so he simply pulled out his steel horsewhip, found a Song army warrior who was eight feet tall, armored and good at shooting, then nimbly climbed up the high rock, used the force to jump, and swung the iron whip at the enemy's head.

The warriors of the Song army had high noses and deep eyes, and did not look like the Hu people from the northern border. Instead, they looked like the Hu people from the western regions. When they saw Zhang Yu waving his whip to attack them, they hurriedly blocked it with their bows.

"Snapped!"

The bow broke first, and the iron whip hit the arm of the Western Region Hu. In addition to the sound of metal collision, there was a faint sound of breaking bones.

"what!"

The Western Regions Hu cried out in pain, and Zhang Yu attacked them with a series of moves, hitting the Hu soldiers' helmets with his iron whip.

"Dang~"

The hard iron whip hit the helmet, and under the gravity, a dent was made on the helmet. Because the head was hit hard, Xiyu Hu fell down in a daze, and for a moment he didn't know whether he was dead or alive.

"Hu Tou is dead!"

Perhaps the Western Hu were brave warriors serving under the Song Dynasty, and now that they were whipped to death by Zhang Yu, it had already caused a great deterrent to his colleagues.

At the same time, Zhang Yu joined the enemy group and, relying on his strong iron armor, he whipped and beat them, causing the Song soldiers to flee in panic, completely disrupting the situation on the battlefield.

The Song army was mostly old and weak, and the sharpshooters selected by Guo Yi were already rare elites. However, they suffered many casualties in the battle with Zhang's army, and the Song army was in a rout after the fierce attack.

"kill!"

Seeing that the breakthrough had been made, Zhang Yu led the armored cavalry in pursuit along the mountain road, not giving the Song soldiers time to reorganize their army.

"General Guo is dead!"

During the pursuit, a wailing sound was heard at some point. It turned out that Guo Yi failed to retreat in time and was surrounded by the armored cavalry. He was hacked to death and died on the mountain road with his troops.

Led by the fleeing soldiers, thousands of Song troops, under the charge of three or four hundred armored soldiers, fled all over the mountains and plains, and did not even last an hour.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Song Jian fled with dozens of his troops over the mountains and across the ridges, taking a shortcut to Xingguo.

In ancient times, powerful armies were able to defeat a large enemy force several times their size with a small force. This is probably how it was!
"call!"

Zhang Yu leaned on his iron whip and looked at the Song soldiers surrendering in large numbers, and he couldn't help but feel angry.

The Song army's soldiers are all Longxi Han, Qiang and mixed Hu. Although the soldiers are old and weak, the elite among them are really brave. Fortunately, we did not give the Song army time to build fortifications. If we gave the Song army the opportunity to build fortifications, I don't know how much time it would have delayed.

"Your Majesty!"

Wang Ling simply bandaged his arm, came to see Zhang Yu, and asked, "There are more than a thousand captured soldiers. What should we do with them now?"

"Ok!"

Zhang Yu looked at the situation and said, "Yanyun, since you are injured, you can lead the troops to stay here, guard the prisoners, and wait for the follow-up supplies."

"My Lord, what is this?"

Zhang Yu walked down the mountain path and shouted, "The enemy who stayed behind to block the attack has been defeated. Now we should take advantage of the victory and pursue them!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Ling was stunned. Zhang Yu had not taken off his armor for three days since the pursuit at Qin Ting. He had not eaten a single grain of food when the pursuit ended this morning. After a fierce battle, he still wanted to pursue Han Sui. What kind of physical monster was this!

When Zhang Yu got on his horse, Zhang Ji hurriedly pulled the reins and said, "Your Excellency has already made great achievements by defeating the bandits and chasing them all the way here. If you continue to pursue them further, you may exhaust your energy. Besides, the soldiers are hungry and tired after traveling so far. It is better to stay here and wait until the soldiers and food are sufficient. Then, it will not be too late to advance north again!"

Zhang Yu pointed north with his iron whip and said to the exhausted soldiers, "Han Sui ran away because of lack of food. The soldiers are disunited and have no intention to fight. If we don't kill Han Sui, it will be difficult to achieve success. Soldiers say that opportunities can't be missed. If we stay and don't move forward, Han Sui will flee to Jincheng."

"Jincheng is thousands of miles away from Hanyang and three thousand miles away from Anyi. If we don't wipe out Han Sui and annihilate his troops, he will surely come back. Our army has pursued them to this point and will pacify all the counties on the right side of Long. But now we are exhausted and cannot move forward. This is a failure!"

"Leave a thousand men and the injured soldiers here, and the rest will follow me to pursue Han Sui!"

Seeing that their king was in high spirits, the tired and hungry soldiers stopped complaining and quietly packed up their equipment, preparing to follow Zhang Yu in pursuit.

(End of this chapter)