Tiger Guards

Chapter 397 Progresses Rapidly

As the vanguard and suicide squads arrived at the battlefield, they lined up to drink water and eat dry rations.

Zhao Ji led more than a hundred cavalrymen around Ji Ling's eastern camp to the bank of the Ying River to observe the effect of the water attack.

The water level has already receded, and in such a short time, the effect of rinsing and damaging the ground and walls of the eastern camp is limited.

However, it wasn't without its gains. After the flood peak passed, it brought with it a large amount of silt from the mudflats, which is now accumulating in the low-lying area between Dongying and the riverbed.

There's no need to block the river; the remaining silt and mud alone can effectively separate Ji Ling's eastern and western camps, making it difficult for them to reinforce each other.

Let alone reinforcements, even fleeing soldiers would get stuck in it and find it difficult to make their way through.

"The bandits are already in dire straits!"

Zhao Ji made his judgment and spurred the officers around him. He violently pulled on the reins, turned his horse around, and shouted, "The day to defeat the enemy is today!"

The officers around him were also excited. Even from the upstream of the east bank, they could see that the walls of Ji Ling's western camp along the river were showing signs of collapse. In addition, the river was difficult to navigate. It was as if their more than 20,000 elite troops were attacking Ji Ling. How could they not win?

If Ji Ling were to engage in open field battles, even if it were just infantry formations entangled and strangled, both sides would have similar battlefield width and would not gain an advantage in any particular area.

Now that Ji Ling is determined to hold her ground, our side's key attack points will inevitably be attacked by superior and high-quality troops in a fierce charge.

The defending forces can naturally gather superior and high-quality troops at the attack points... But in field battles, if a certain army or battle formation collapses, other troops can step forward to take its place and provide support.

Offensive and defensive battles are different; the psychological defenses of the defending troops are their barriers.

Once the barriers are breached, morale will be shaken across the board.

If the defending troops are strong and resilient, they can immediately launch an orderly counterattack after recovering from this fluctuation in morale; however, if the defending troops are not determined and it is difficult for them to recover quickly, then the mutual influence will produce a chain reaction.

Especially when silt accumulates near the river, it can inspire the defending troops to fight with their backs to the river, but it can also accelerate the overall collapse of their fighting spirit!

If it were Chen Guo soldiers guarding the camp, even mid- to high-ranking military officers from Zhao Ji downwards would not dare to underestimate them.

Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Chen Guo's troops have not experienced any major setbacks. Although they lack brilliant achievements, they are generally of the standard for troops from prefectures and kingdoms. Even though their field combat ability is weak, they are strong in defense.

However, Ji Ling's troops were mainly from Huainan and Danyang. These soldiers had gone hungry for the past few years, and this winter and spring they were so hungry that they were dizzy and lightheaded. How strong could they be after a summer of rest and training?

Zhao Jijun's army was filled with arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, and their morale was high, making them appear overbearing.

When he returned to the front lines, twenty catapults had already begun to be assembled on the spot, and a total of seven attacking heavy infantry squares of a thousand men each had been lined up in a four-in-three formation.

Following the vanguard was the central army of 7,000 Guanzhong soldiers, five of whom were heavy infantry squares that armed themselves on the spot, while the remaining 2,000 pushed carts forward. They wore light armor, operated powerful crossbows, and would approach and fire under the cover of the carts.

The rear army's five battalions, totaling 10,000 men in fifteen battalions, had just arrived at the battlefield and were setting up camp around the wagons, not yet unloading the armor and weapons being transported on them.

As Zhao Ji led his cavalry through the enemy lines and arrived at the vanguard, Sima Jingchun, a member of the Qiang guerrilla force, greeted them: "Grand Marshal, shall our army follow the vanguard into battle?"

He was also temporarily mobilized by Jia Xu, and led the Qiang soldiers to follow Ximen Jian's troops into Luoyang.

The Qiang soldiers were warlike, and Jing Chun had no choice but to lead them to join the last participating force to leave Luoyang and arrive at the Central Plains battlefield.

The Xiongnu's loyal followers had long been the object of the envy of the Qiang people, who had gained merit, spoils, and rewards on the battlefields of the Central Plains.

Jia Xu's temporary conscription of Qiang volunteers was also intended to subdue several Qiang towns and detoxify them.

Several Qiang generals followed behind Jing Chun, all looking up at Zhao Ji with pure and sincere eyes, filled only with longing for battle.

Zhao Ji looked around at everyone, his gaze landing on Jing Chun's face: "Brother Wenqing, lead the Qiang soldiers to guard the catapults. When the vanguard's offensive is blocked, I will lead the central army to take over. Brother Wenqing, follow me."

"Here!"

Jing Chun responded loudly, raising his right fist high, his expression excited.

His Han and Qiang generals also raised their arms and shouted to Zhao Ji, announcing their enthusiasm.

Being able to follow Zhao Ji into battle is itself a manifestation of trust, and at the same time, it maximizes the probability of establishing merit.

Soon Zhao Ji arrived at the vanguard, where thirteen men, including the commanders, battalion commanders, and colonels of the seven thousand-man squads, assembled on horseback.

At this moment, dawn is breaking, and the orange sun is in its complete shape.

Once everyone had arrived, Zhao Ji looked at Li Ying and said, "Everything will proceed as planned."

"Take orders."

Li Ying was nominally the commander of the 1,000-man suicide squad, but he was actually the vanguard commander.

Li Ying returned to his respective camps on horseback and began directing his heavy infantry to push vehicles toward the defending army's fortifications.

Zhao Ji began donning heavy armor on the spot. Once over a hundred Tiger Warrior chariots had assembled, Zhao Ji saw that the four vanguard formations were only a hundred paces from the camp. He turned to the flag officer and shouted, "Beat the drums loudly to cheer them on!"

The flag officer immediately waved his long banner, and the sound of drums from near and far became even louder.

Amidst the thunderous drumbeats, the defending troops were the first to counterattack, unleashing a barrage of arrows into the sky, which rained down on the four thousand-man squads at the front.

The officers and soldiers in the front ranks of these thousand-man teams pushed and shoved the vehicles, which provided cover; the soldiers in the middle and rear ranks also carried shields and ignored the harassment of the arrow rain.

Despite the interference of the arrow rain, the advance of each formation varied in speed due to the undulating terrain, but under Li Ying's control, it still maintained a slow and orderly progress.

Two light crossbowmen convoys from Guanzhong escorted the catapults to the northeast corner of Ji Ling's camp. When they got within fifty or sixty paces, these crossbowmen, in groups of three to five, began to fire at the garrison inside the camp, using the vehicles for protection.

Among them were elite archers who specialized in sniping crossbowmen on walls fourteen or fifteen feet high, interfering with them and preventing them from accurately destroying the catapults.

The catapults, barely forming a line behind the archers' battle line, immediately began their attack, without employing any volley fire tactics. Each catapult launched a type of grease-soaked rattan fireball; throwing stones would have taken far too long to breach the walls.

By the time the catapults had breached a sufficient area of ​​wall, the sun had already risen, and the scorching heat was unfavorable for the soldiers' movements.

Therefore, Zhao Ji chose the relatively lightweight poison fireballs. One by one, the poison fireballs the size of a human head streaked across the sky, leaving trails of burning smoke in the air.

At this moment, the four thousand-man square formations of the vanguard were close to the city wall. Both sides were heavily armed archers, one relying on the wall and the other on vehicles, exchanging fire at close range, a contest of courage.

The wall was only three meters high. Some heavily armed spearmen and halberd-wielders, under the cover of their shield-bearer comrades, rushed down to the base of the wall and began to thrust and chisel.

After several heavy battering rams broke away from the formation and approached, they began to ram the wall. With just one impact, the wall collapsed!
Two hundred paces away, Zhao Ji watched the battle from afar and saw Li Ying begin to mobilize the rear three formations to advance. The rear three formations had no vehicles and could move easily.

Qiao Rui, the commander of the western camp, dared not appear on the wall. Instead, he mobilized detachments of 100 men each from a wooden platform in the camp to gradually deploy them onto the wall in an attempt to restore order to the chaotic and retreating garrison.

Yuan Shu had virtually no organized veteran soldiers under his command, meaning that... Yuan Shu's armies could only fight when the wind was favorable.

This was also determined by the special military system and conscription mechanism. Yuan Shu abandoned the household registration system and allowed powerful families to annex the registered households, and then imposed military service on the powerful families.

As a result, when powerful figures served as military officers, they were generally not tolerant of hard battles and were reluctant to expend their troops and private soldiers.

The unique military system of Sun Wu in the future will have some similarities with the military system of Yuan Shu.

At this moment, facing Zhao Ji's full-scale attack, the vanguard of 10,000 men alone suppressed the defending troops who had the advantage of shooting from their high ground.

Having acquired the Chen Kingdom's armory, Yuan Shu's forces were not lacking in armor and crossbows, but they lacked the resolve to fight to the death for Yuan Shu's cause!

After less than five rounds of close-quarters combat, Yuan's troops disappeared from the wall and rarely resurfaced.

But behind the walls, Yuan's archers continued to fire arrows, stray arrows flying everywhere.

In this situation, a total of twelve battering rams crashed into the wall undisturbed, collapsing section after section of the earthen wall.

Seeing this, Li Ying said to Han Shu, who was learning command, "Wenbai, I will immediately lead the daredevils into the camp. Please ask the Grand Marshal to send the central army."

Han Shu also observed the surroundings and realized that if the archers in the vanguard fired 12 or 13 more rounds at high intensity, their efficiency would decrease.

He nodded immediately: "Understood."

Han Shu turned to his former flag officer: "Wave the flag, raise the Red Tiger Battle Flag!"

"Here!"

The flag officer immediately waved his long banner, which belonged exclusively to Han Shu and was made of blue and red tassels, and shouted: "Raise the Red Tiger Battle Banner!"

Immediately, the flag bearers raised the white-based, red-edged, tiger-striped battle flags they carried. Upon seeing the red tiger battle flags rise, the two suicide squads immediately abandoned their bows and crossbows, and advanced towards the breach with spears and halberds.

Seeing Han Shu waving the flag, Zhao Ji turned to look at Yang Qiu and Zhang Heng, the commanders of the Guanzhong troops in the central army. Yang Qiu, holding a feathered whisk, waved his arm diagonally and shouted, "Advance!"

Seven thousand-person formations began their advance, without any vehicles, making the movement relatively swift.

Seeing the central army's actions, the Qiang soldiers guarding the catapults ignored Jing Chun's orders and swarmed around Jing Chun's battle flag, leaving the catapults and moving towards the center of the battlefield. Their ranks were disorganized as they searched for a breakthrough.

Upon arriving at the front lines, the Guanzhong soldiers immediately began to draw their bows and launch high-angle volleys, concentrating their fire on the rear of the gaps breached by several daredevil soldiers, intending to suppress and strike the defending troops' defensive formation.

Zhao Ji continued to observe the battle. The Guanzhong soldiers did not fire any volleys. Under the command of the officers of all ranks, who followed their combat experience, these veteran soldiers provided the greatest cover for the daredevils.

Meanwhile, five Tiger Infantry units of a thousand men each began to retreat through the gaps in the Guanzhong army, bringing with them various wounded soldiers.

Only after these 5,000 Tiger Infantry returned to Zhao Ji's side would Zhao Ji deploy 10,000 men from the five rear battalions.

As the sun rose higher, Zhao Ji ignored the reconnaissance reports from the front-line scouts and, seeing that the suicide squad was about to break into the camp, turned to the flag officer and said, "Order the Fifth Battalion to attack."

"Here!"

The flag officer acknowledged the order, turned to instruct the flag soldiers, and immediately the five divine beast totem battle flags symbolizing the five battalions were raised, facing diagonally forward.

Seeing this, the five captains who had completed their armor-wearing each led their troops and began to advance.

As the five battalions advanced past Zhao Ji's location, the Guanzhong soldiers and Qiang soldiers fighting on the front lines also began to break through the gap.

Seeing this, the five battalions accelerated their march uncontrollably.

The three battalions under Gou Huan, whose discipline was relatively poor, were the first to break away from the formation. The other battalions accelerated their advance, prompting the other units to do the same.

These ten thousand men, like five crimson tides or five crimson tridents, pierced straight towards Ji Lingdong's camp.

Within the camp, the eastern part was higher and the ground was dry, while the western part, facing the river, was muddy due to flooding, making it impossible to reorganize the routed soldiers and rebuild their positions.

As a result, when the retreating Yuan troops reached the western camp, they found it difficult to restore order, which exacerbated the chaos.

When Zhang He led his troops in, he saw that Yuan's troops inside the camp had completely collapsed, while the Guanzhong soldiers and daredevils threw short spears and shot Yuan's troops on the muddy ground in the west.

These bandits from Guanzhong remained as ferocious as ever, preferring to behead prisoners rather than capture them.

The camp was filled with Guanzhong soldiers searching the houses, and some of them had already begun cleaning up the battlefield.

Just as Zhang He spotted the location of Yuan Bing's main battle flag, the flag, which was about to fall, landed in the mud, and the flag bearers were quickly cut down by the daredevils.

When it comes to killing people, among all the armies in the world, these two suicide squads of a thousand men have the most experience in killing people.

(End of this chapter)