Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 145: Long Soldiers Arranged in Formation

Amidst his thoughts, Liu Huai forced himself to focus on the battle situation in front of him. He saw the mighty armored cavalrymen holding eight-foot-long steel spears under the banner of Pushan wave their hands, and nearly a hundred armored cavalrymen spread out on the left and right wings, confronting the Khitan light cavalry from a distance, while the two hundred armored cavalrymen in the center dismounted one after another, picked up spears, shields, and short weapons and formed a battle array.

Soon, a square formation of armored soldiers with spears in front and swords and shields in the back was formed in front of the Xin army.

It was also a tradition of the Jin Dynasty for armored cavalry to dismount and fight on foot, so although the Tianping Army was a little nervous, they were not particularly surprised.

"The Jin thieves obviously want to form a formation with spears, break through our formation, and then attack with swords and shields, engaging in a melee." Liu Huai nodded.

Even in such a tired and chaotic situation, the Jin army commander was still able to maintain such judgment, which is indeed not easy.

Although Pushandharma cannot be said to know himself completely, he definitely knows his enemy to the best of his ability.

The biggest weakness of the Xin Army is that it has many new recruits. They can still rely on discipline to exert a certain combat effectiveness in the ranks, but in the melee that requires subjective initiative, the new recruits will often lose their composure and lead to the collapse of the entire army.

Xin Qiji, also aware of this, gave the order: "Xin Jingwei, take the armored soldiers and block the trench. Xin Yuanying, take your 300 light soldiers and spread out. Grab your fishing nets, machetes, and spears, and wait behind the trench. Do you know what to do?"

The two generals of the Xin Army bowed and led their troops out of the camp slightly, forming a battle line between the three trenches.

Among them, Xin Jingwei led 200 soldiers to form a battle array, blocking the troop transport passage between the trenches. They also placed deer antlers in front of them, looking like a weak hedgehog curled up, using its sharp spines to defend against the enemy.

Although the trench was only half a man deep and two steps wide, it was not a distance that a soldier could jump over, so the only defenders behind it were unarmored infantry armed with large shields, spears, and fishing nets.

Although Pushandama felt a little troubled when he saw the terrain, he also knew that morale must be boosted and not let down. At this point, the only way was to move forward.

"My men, follow me!"

Pushandarmo laid down his eight-foot-long steel spear, and took the lead with more than fifty spearmen and armored soldiers, forming three horizontal rows, and pressing forward along the troop transport passage between the trenches.

"Release the spear!"

Xin Jingwei also shouted orders and formed a strong formation in the back half of the troop transport passage which was more than 20 steps wide, also using spears against spears.

The two sides were like porcupines that loved each other but were covered in thorns. They approached each other cautiously in the misty drizzle.

Deer horns could only prevent cavalry raids, but it was difficult to suppress the infantry in formation. Soon, the Jin army came out and pushed the deer horns blocking the way into the trench. Although the Xin army also had armored soldiers who rushed forward and stabbed with long spears, they only forced back the Jin army and could not even kill them.

To put it bluntly, both sides were armored soldiers, and some even wore iron masks. They were not holding armor-piercing long weapons like axes and iron spikes, but only using ordinary 10-foot-long spears to poke each other. How could the winner be determined so quickly?

In fact, after the two sides officially engaged in battle, although there were loud shouts and screams, at most they just hit each other with spears and stabbed each other with spear tips.

The war quickly entered a phase of mutual attrition that was unbearable for all commanders.

In the face of layers of spearheads, the difference in martial arts strength brought about by training in the coldest and hottest days of winter and summer since childhood was quickly reduced, and the competition between the two sides changed from bravery to morale, endurance, discipline and a little luck.

Pushandharma's heart was torn as if by a knife.

He has elite armored cavalry under his command. Let alone exchanging one for one with these bandits, even if he exchanges one for three, he will suffer a great loss.

Gao Anren, who led the sword and shield soldiers, was also anxious. He wanted to join the battle, but the only way into the battle was blocked by the gun formations of both sides.

Some armored soldiers tried to cross the trench, but they were stabbed by the unarmored soldiers behind the trench with long spears. Several long spears stabbed at the same time, and although the Jurchen armored soldiers were not killed instantly, they were trapped in the trench and unable to stand up.

The Jurchen soldier trapped in the trench cried out for help. His comrades wanted to pull him up, but several fishing nets came towards them. Not only were the soldiers in the trench tied up tightly, but even a Jurchen soldier standing on the outside who tried to fight with a spear across the trench was covered over his head. After struggling for a few times, he lost his balance and fell into the trench.

At this time, the angry Jin army took out their oilcloth-wrapped bows and fired directly at the Xin army infantry across the trench. It should be said that the Jurchen bows were very reliable at close range. Soon, more than a dozen of the unarmored Xin army infantry were shot down, and the rest scattered, fleeing to the sides and behind them.

Gao Anren led more than ten soldiers and crossed the first trench with great difficulty. Just as they were about to bend their bows and draw their arrows, everyone discovered that in such a short period of time, the drizzle had soaked the hard bows. Although the glue did not come apart, the bowstrings had become soft and could not be used temporarily.

Behind the crooked second trench, there was a very wide third trench, and the infantry of the Xin Army even carried large shields for defense.

What awaited Gao Anren were more infantry, more spears, more large shields, and more fishing nets.

All this quickly made the Jin army soldiers lose the courage to cross the trenches and fight.

On the front battlefield where spears were piercing each other, two Jin soldiers in the front row saw their comrades' helmets being blown away, and then their carotid arteries were pierced by the spear tips. After blood spurted more than two feet high, they could no longer bear it.

They threw down their spears, one of them drew out the iron bone flower on his waist, and the other drew out the sharp wrist-cutting knife hidden in his arm armor. With red eyes, they crawled on the ground, passed quickly under the gun formation, and rushed to the front of the Xin army soldiers while cursing.

The soldiers of the Xin Army were indeed inexperienced. The vanguard was only concerned with fighting with the Jin Army, but when faced with the Jin Army that suddenly crawled over, they panicked and didn't even dare to let go of their spears. They didn't know how to respond for a moment.

The two Jin soldiers were determined to die if they failed. One of them swung his bone club around and smashed around, while the other simply pounced on the soldier in front of him, knocked him to the ground, and stabbed him with his wrist-cutting knife at his armpits, neck and other places that were difficult to protect with armor.

If Liu Huai could see this place through the rain, he would definitely feel that this scene was highly similar to the movie "Mercenary Legend" he had seen before traveling through time.

During the Thirty Years' War in Europe, since both sides had already mastered the use of spear phalanxes, methods to crack the spear phalanxes came into being.

In addition to methods such as cannons and cavalry, common practices include the giant swordsman sweeping through the army and the rat war that took place in this scene.

At this time, the Jin army was able to use tactics that would be used hundreds of years later. To put it bluntly, a desperate dog will jump over the wall. To put it nicely, life will always find a way out.

However, no matter whether they are great swordsmen or rat warriors, they are brave, but their biggest characteristic is that they die quickly.

The two Jin soldiers were quickly hit by iron maces and bone clubs. Each of them was hit more than ten times on average and was almost smashed into meat paste.

Although the vanguard of the Xin Army was only in chaos for a moment, Pushandharma still saw an opportunity. Under the desperate cover of his personal soldiers, he faced four spears stuck in his armor, swung his eight-foot-long steel spear and knocked the two armored soldiers in front of him to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, Pushandamo took advantage of the moment when the gun formation was slightly sparse, seized the opportunity, and strode forward again. He swept the steel spear across, forcing back several people in front of him, then turned around and threw the steel spear, knocking down several more soldiers. Then he calmly drew the hand knife and bone flower from his waist and started to kill wildly.

At this moment, Pushandharma, who was nearly two meters tall, looked majestic, like a god of war descending to earth.

The Jin army was greatly encouraged and shouted that they were willing to die for the prefect Pushan, and swarmed in along the path opened up by Pushan Damo.

The spear formation of the Xin army retreated a step, but still could not hold on. They retreated another step, and finally showed signs of being defeated.

At this critical moment, another drum sound was heard, and about fifty soldiers from the Xin army camp walked out of the camp gate and rushed to the battlefield.

Poor Pushandharma had just passed through the formation and had not even had time to catch his breath when he was killed by a soldier holding a long sword.

"Are you Pushandamo? I'll let you die knowingly. I'm Liu Huai from the Loyal Army. Don't make a false accusation before the King of Hell!"

Liu Huai controlled his pace and finished cursing when he arrived in front of Pushandharma. Without giving the other party a chance to retort, he swung his long sword and chopped off his head.

It can be said to be extremely unethical.

(End of this chapter)