Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 83: Victory on the battlefield! (Subscribe)
Outside Chao County, when Lu Jin's large banner and tens of thousands of red-turbaned soldiers appeared, Kang Maocai knew he had been tricked.

Lu Jin is not getting married, maybe even his marriage is fake, maybe he is trying to lure him into going to war, and the marriage is just a byproduct.
In order to lure him to send troops, this guy even went so far as to use the name of a wedding as an excuse and even reduced taxes for the people under his rule. He was really willing to spend the money.

But how could Lu Jin guarantee that he would send troops to attack Chao County?
Thinking of this, Kang Maocai suddenly remembered Sui Xueyi, the Luzhou scholar. He didn't dare to think any further. He was the man he had entrusted the city to. If even this man was a spy of Lu Jin, what would he do?
Soldiers from Chao County were still pouring out, and the infantry went out from the north gate, with companies and battalions as the basic units, so they would not be too chaotic when running.

Lu Jin has the city as his support, so he doesn't have to worry too much about the enemy getting around him. Therefore, he can abandon the rear formation and display a very wide front, which will create a great sense of oppression on the enemy in terms of momentum and the width of the battlefield.

Zhu Shou's regiment was in the west, Liao Yongan's third regiment was in the east, and the entire army was lined up facing north. In the front, each regiment had four combat battalions, arranged horizontally in sequence according to their numbers. The auxiliary battalions pushed large carts in a horizontal row, blocking the front of the combat battalions.

Each battalion has four companies, and each squad of 12 people is equipped with a large caravan. A company has 16 caravans to cover a large gun battle camp.

The cart has two wheels and is pushed forward by soldiers. The front is a large composite shield made of thick wooden boards, filled with mud in the middle (for fire prevention), and covered with thick bamboo strips on the outside. There are narrow horizontal holes on it that serve as observation windows or shooting holes. The cart can also be used for people to stand or carry goods.

This large shield is six feet wide and eight feet high. It has foldable crossbars made of wooden poles on both sides of the shield, from which "curtains", or arrow-proof curtains, can be hung.

The curtain is made of two layers of thick linen sewn together. Before fighting, it is soaked in mud and water and then hung on a folding horizontal bar. It is not only fireproof but also arrow-proof.

Why did ancient generals like to wear cloaks? That thing has many uses. It can keep you warm when it is cold and protect you from the sun when it is hot. Otherwise, the armor will be so hot that you can fry eggs in it. Although the cloak is just a piece of cloth, it can also protect you from arrows!

A layer of cloth certainly cannot block an arrow, but after the arrow penetrates the cloth, the tail feathers will get caught on the cloth. Cloth is soft and floats around. Even if the arrow can penetrate the cloth, the cloth will interfere with the arrow's trajectory.

It certainly can't stop arrows, but it can interfere with their trajectory.

The same principle applies to arrow-proof curtains.

The front shield of a chariot is only two meters wide. If it is made too large, it will be too heavy. However, horizontal bars can be propped up on both sides and cloth curtains can be hung on them, and the width can suddenly become six meters.

Not only can it provide effective cover for infantry, but most importantly, it is much lighter than a composite shield and is easy to store and replace. When there is no fighting, just remove the cloth and fold the pole back.

Outside the north gate of Chao County, on the battlefield, the front was lined up with the width of eight combat battalions. The first row was charioteers, and behind the charioteers were archers and javelin throwers temporarily loaned from the 3,000 men of the navy. Each shield cart even carried two baskets of stones for long-range attacks, and behind them were eight phalanxes of spearmen.

Ye Sheng and Zheng Yong each led a cavalry battalion and rushed out from the east and west gates. They did not form a battle formation for the time being, but cruised around the periphery of the formation to cover their own infantry in formation and prevent the enemy from launching a surprise attack when their formation was not yet formed.

Lu Jin's formation was slowly unfolding, and the generals on Kang Maocai's side all looked unhappy. They originally thought that it was a game of outnumbered troops bullying the weak, or a game of bullying like the last ambush on Zhao Pusheng.

But who knew that now it would become a head-on confrontation between the two armies. Just looking at the opponent's organization and the proficiency of the formation, it is not something that ordinary Red Scarfs like Sesame Li can compare with.

When the rows of shield carts in front were in place, two arrow-proof curtains suddenly extended from both sides of the large shields, like spreading wings.
It is conceivable that the other party was well prepared for such a carefully designed and built carriage.

In fact, Lu Jin had no choice. His soldiers had too low an armor rate, so he could only use chariots to provide cover. Otherwise, it would be too uncomfortable to be shot by the enemy's arrows.

When Li Jun saw the formation set up by Lu Jin, he knew that today's battle would be difficult, so he immediately ran to Kang Maocai and asked.

"Marshal, do we still want to fight this battle? It would be better to withdraw now before the battle begins."

Kang Maocai's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot and he shouted angrily.

"Retreat? Where to retreat? Look at how many people are there on the opposite side? Look at their red command flags, there are only two in total, which means there are only two such "regiments" here, but the guy named Lu on the opposite side has five such regiments.

"Looking at the situation today, the other side is clearly well prepared. Even if they released one in Lujiang and another to defend the city, there is at least one regiment that has not shown up. That regiment may be in Heyang or right behind us.

"If we retreat now, we will be attacked from both sides. Our retreat will become a rout, which is courting death!"

"What should we do then?" Li Jun really didn't want to have such a head-on confrontation between two evenly matched opponents.

"What else can we do? We are already here. If we don't fight today, we may not be able to leave. The enemy will not let us go easily. We don't have as many cavalry as the enemy right now. How can the infantry outrun the cavalry when retreating?
"Pass on my military order, and form a battle array. Li Jun will be the vanguard, Wang Ruheng and Ding Zhongrui, and you two will be on the left and right wings. Chen Hong will lead the army in the rear, and I will lead the civilian camp in the center."

"Yes." The generals under Kang Maocai could only obey the order reluctantly.

Kang Maocai also looked across with a grim expression, feeling extremely hateful.

He just said that Lu Jin might have another main force ambushing behind them, but there was another guess that he did not say, that was Sui Xueyi, who was stationed in Heyang and was entrusted with an important task by him.

If this person is Lu Jin's spy, I'm afraid even Heyang City will be lost this time.

What if they can’t enter the city even if they retreat?
Then Lu Jin led tens of thousands of main forces to chase after them. They were at the gate of their own house but couldn't enter the city. Their morale would collapse.
However, at this moment, something strange suddenly happened on the opposite side.

I saw a dozen cavalrymen coming from Wuwei and heading straight for Lu Jin's formation, shouting as they ran.

"Great victory! Great victory! Hua Qianhu completely wiped out the Wuwei navy, captured 3,000 enemies, and captured the enemy general Wu Xiangrong alive!"

"Great victory! Great victory! Hua Qianhu completely wiped out the Wuwei navy, captured 3,000 enemies, and captured the enemy general Wu Xiangrong alive!"

A dozen messengers carrying pennant flags shouted along the formation. Wherever they passed, the soldiers of the Shengwu Army were immediately surprised!
Unexpectedly, before the battle even started, the enemy had already been defeated. Their morale was immediately high, and they shouted "Victory! Victory!"

The voices became more and more uniform, and the morale of Kang Maocai's army on the opposite side was shaken.

This was not all. Among the dozen or so messengers, there was another man whose horse was dragging a person with a rope behind him, pulling a plow on the ground. It was Wu Xiangrong, the commander of the Wuwei navy.

The man was brought in at around four in the morning. Lu Jin took a look and found that his eyes were half blinded by sulfuric acid, which was almost impossible to cure in ancient times. He was not short of generals now, so he might as well contribute his last bit of value.

So there was this scene. The messenger with the message flag on his back dragged the man to the city and asked Lu Jin.

"General, this man is Wu Xiangrong, an enemy general of the Wuwei Navy. How should we deal with him?"

Lu Jin waved his hand and said, "Take it!"

"Yes!"

Then the sound of the drum changed, the signal flag was waving, and then Zheng Yong was seen riding a horse and marching forward.

Kang Maocai just saw a group of cavalry running from the east, with a man dragging behind them. After those cavalry shouted in front of Lu Jin's formation, the other side's formation started shouting "Victory", and he immediately felt ominous.

Is Wuwei to the east of Chao County?

Before he could figure out what was going on, another cavalry general appeared in front of the enemy's formation.

Kang Maocai initially thought that the other party had sent a young general to fight in single combat. The custom of fighting generals in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was not groundless. There was indeed a custom of fighting generals in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, but most of them were low-level lieutenant officers. A general like Guan Yu would definitely not do this.

In history, Zhu Yuanzhang once scolded Chang Yuchun, saying that you are the commander-in-chief, so don't bother to fight with those lieutenants.
But then, Kang Maocai discovered something was wrong.

Zheng Yong did not go to challenge them in a duel. Instead, he was dragging a person with a rope. It should be the one he had just dragged from the east. Zheng Yong dragged the person around the front of the formation for two laps.

Then, when he had enough fun, he cut the rope with a knife, rode his horse to the man and whipped him.

"Go away, your Marshal is right across the street, go back and suck my milk, I am kind-hearted, so I will let you go."

The man was dragged on the ground, his flesh and blood were blurred and filthy, his eyes seemed unable to open, he howled in pain after being whipped, tried hard to open his eyes to identify the direction, then got up and staggered towards Kang Maocai's formation.

Seeing that the other side was willing to release the person, Kang Maocai quickly asked the guards beside him, "Go and see who that is!"

"Yes!"

Wu Xiangrong stumbled towards Kang Maocai. Just when he was about to reach Kang Maocai's formation, Zheng Yong rode his horse past the front of the formation again, then bent his bow and shot an arrow through Wu Xiangrong's back.

Poor Wu Xiangrong, he was unable to crawl back to Kang Maocai's formation until his death.

Zheng Yong rode his horse back to his own formation with his bow in hand, showing off his might, which immediately caused cheers.

"Good archery!"

"General's sharpshooting!"

"Wan Sheng!"

Kang Maocai on the opposite side, however, turned pale. It turned out that the other party deliberately let people go and shot them in front of the formation. It was obvious that they came to humiliate them and undermine their morale.

A moment later, a personal soldier came to Kang Maocai carrying Wu Xiangrong's body and reported in a low voice.

"General, this is Wu Xiangrong, the commander of the Wuwei Navy."

Kang Maocai was shocked when he heard this. The commander was captured alive and brought here, which meant that the Wuwei navy had been annihilated. His goal of using the navy to contain the navy had not been achieved. In other words, whether it was Liao Yongan's Third Regiment that was attacking Lujiang, or Lu Jin's headquarters stationed in Luzhou, they could all use Chaohu as a convenient channel for rapid maneuvers.
His heart sank suddenly. Just now he was still thinking optimistically that the other party might have hidden a group behind him, but now it seems that the other party might be able to hide two groups behind him.

How is this played?
The morale of Kang Maocai's side was also a little bit wrong. Just now there was a cheer from the opposite side, and then they let someone come over and shot him dead in front of the formation. Although they didn't know him, they knew he must be a general on their side.

We haven't even started the match yet and we've already lost?
It would be strange if the morale could be so high.

On the top of Chao County City, Lu Jin's high-power monocular telescope was mounted on a tripod, and he was standing there observing Kang Maocai's formation.

Kang Maocai's formation was a very traditional square formation, divided into five armies: front, back, left, right and center. He placed 10,000 combat soldiers on the periphery and civilian laborers in the center. Many carts loaded with supplies, such as arrows and other baggage, were also in the formation, and were transported to the combat soldiers on the periphery by civilian laborers.

Kang Maocai had 10,000 combat soldiers, of which more than 4,000 were armored. The front of the army was very narrow, with three rows of armored soldiers and one row of sword and shield soldiers on the front, making the line very "thick".

The left and right armies on the flanks only had one row of armored soldiers, but there were sword and shield soldiers on the outermost layer to block them. The rear army had no armored soldiers at all, only large spears, which seemed to be used purely for defense, or after the armored soldiers broke through the enemy formation, the unarmored spearmen would follow up to expand the results of the battle.

Lu Jin immediately saw the characteristics of this formation. The front width was narrow and thick, which was called a high battle depth, which prevented the enemy from breaking through from the front. At the same time, this formation was also good for an entire army assault, because the front army was highly configured and the assault power was definitely very strong.

But the disadvantages are also obvious, the flanks are thin!

Moreover, the opponent's morale is low, while our morale is high. Lu Jin will not wait for the opponent to attack, he will take the initiative to attack!
"Pass on our military order. One regiment will attack the enemy's right wing from the west, while the third regiment will press forward.

"All troops attack!"

'Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!'

Two more chapters

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(End of this chapter)