Chapter 509 Sheng Le’s Defeat
Baiguwu is located in the southeast of Yanshi, between the open valley between Luoshui and Songshan Mountains. It is an important passage to the east of Luoyang. Most of the large groups of people going east to and from Heluo must pass through here.
After receiving the order to go east to resist the enemy, He Lanxiang immediately led his elite cavalry to leave the southern city of Heyang and ford the Luoshui River. After entering Baiguwu, he sent out scouts to inspect the surrounding areas in the hope of discovering the enemy in advance and attacking them. Block.
The name of Baigu Valley is said to be because of the cypress trees planted all over the valleys, but it is also called Baigu because it is located in the transition zone between the Heluo Plain and the Songshan Mountains, so there are many ravines and valleys.
Therefore, it is not easy to accurately grasp the enemy's advance and retreat channels in this situation. If you want to attack the enemy before crossing, you only need to defend Baiguwu.
However, the specific strength of the enemy's army is not yet clear. In addition, once the enemy cannot be stopped here, the north bank of Luoshui will be unprotected, and the enemy can directly attack the south city of Heyang. In order to ensure the safety of the flanks of the river bridge, He Lanxiang hoped to intercept the enemy troops outside Baiguwu.
The scattered scouts quickly relayed the news that an organized enemy ranger was discovered on the east side of Goushi Mountain, more than 20 miles east of Baiguwu.
He Lanxiang was also surprised when he learned the news. He did not expect that the enemy would advance so quickly. Although the scouts reported that there were only more than a thousand enemies, it was obviously not enough to recapture Heyang with more than a thousand troops. It should only be one of the vanguard troops.
After pondering for a while, He Lanxiang bluntly sent out all his troops, hoping to hit the enemy unprepared and inflict heavy damage and even annihilate this group of troops, thereby causing a huge psychological shock to the enemy and making them afraid to advance easily again. This will buy more time for the armies in the rear.
Although the terrain near Baiguwu is rugged and ridged, the elevation changes up and down are not very big. Although it brings some trouble to the march, most places can be passed by horseback, but the speed is not too fast.
He Lanxiang's elite cavalry is not a powerful private group newly recruited and reorganized in Kansai in recent years. It is still mainly composed of Xianbei veterans with rich combat experience. Although the ravines they travel are rugged, they can still ensure the coordination of the formation.
When the group of people turned along the mountain stream into a slightly open river valley, they looked up and saw a simple temporary camp fence deep in the valley. The enemy soldiers inside the camp fence were also alert. The queues had begun to gather in the valley to prepare for the battle, but they were obviously in a panic due to the hasty encounter with the enemy, and there were even very few armored ones.
In addition to the hundreds of soldiers arrayed against the camp fence, there were also sounds of war horses neighing in the area blocked by dense vegetation on the other side of the river valley.
When He Lanxiang saw this scene, he felt something was wrong in his heart. He saw that except for the simple camp fence, almost everything else in the valley retained its original style, and he couldn't figure out the purpose of the enemy forwards stationed in this inaccessible valley. What exactly is it.
But now that the enemy was in front of him, He Lanxiang had no time to think about it. He immediately drew out his saber and pointed toward the valley ahead: "Charge! Wipe out all the enemy troops and leave no one alive!"
The Western Dynasty was poor and weak, and the prisoners captured in the war were still alive and could be used as slaves. However, since the enemy's situation was not yet completely clear, He Lanxiang did not want to be entangled with the enemy for too long, so he ordered that no capture be taken.
Following his orders, the soldiers rushed into the river valley on horseback and headed towards the opposite camp fence.
The so-called understanding that cavalry cannot rush into battle and break out of camp is just a stupid trick of ordinary people, a convenient method for those who do not know how to fight on paper. There are many variables in war, and of course it must be applied in specific situations. Moreover, charging with cavalry has always been one of the main tactics of Xianbei in the six towns. The townspeople who served as soldiers in these eras have rich combat experience accumulated and passed down from generation to generation, and they also have a kind of bravery in their bones.
With the first round of firing by the rangers, there were already people killed by arrows in the enemy formations in the camp. These enemy soldiers had simple weapons. Apart from knives and guns and other easy-to-carry weapons, other shields, etc. were very few in number. If it weren't for the fact that the military uniform he wore was that of the Eastern Army, he would have looked more like a bandit based on his shabby equipment.
Although the weapons are very crude, these people are by no means a mob. The enemy troops were stationed within the camp fence, but on the other side of the stream diagonally opposite there were hundreds of horsemen reining up their horses, waiting for battle.
As He Lanxiang's men and horses rushed to the front of the camp fence, the horses stamped their feet and the charge was suspended. However, the enemy cavalry in the array behind the stream started to charge: "Kill!"
Hundreds of cavalry soldiers each held their spears and plunged straight into the Western Wei cavalry formation in front of the camp fence. The long and sharp spear blades took advantage of the momentum of the horses and mercilessly penetrated into the bodies of the soldiers. The splashing blood dyed the entire stream red in an instant. But in this round of charge, dozens of knights died under the force of Zhang Feng!
He Lanxiang, who was supervising the battle at the mouth of the valley, frowned when he saw this scene. He immediately ordered the troops behind him to continue charging, and he himself and the other soldiers went straight into the valley to kill.
Thousands of men and horses poured into the river valley, immediately filling up all the space in the river valley. The counter-attack fighters from both sides separated and penetrated each other. There was no obvious coordination in the battle formation, and they each searched for the enemy within sight and within the reach of the blade. Fighting. If you move a little slower, even if you intend to raise your hands to surrender, the red-eyed enemy will be killed directly on the spot!
Such a brutal battle lasted for more than a quarter of an hour, but in the end, the advantage of the side with more people was more obvious. As the scattered enemies were gradually killed, more and more courageous enemies gave up their resistance, abandoned their weapons and surrendered, and were gradually driven into a corner within the camp fence.
By the time the battle was over, almost half of the enemy's body was dead on the spot, leaving more than 500 disabled people surrounded in a corner of the valley, trembling and begging to surrender. There were four to five hundred casualties on Helanxiang's side. Simply looking at the number of casualties could not even be considered a victory, but the final result of the battle was that the enemy army of thousands of people was completely eliminated.
Despite the order before the war to leave no one alive, seeing that the remaining enemy soldiers had completely surrendered, He Lanxiang did not order any more prisoners to be killed. Instead, his officers organized the prisoners and quickly cleaned the battlefield, while he himself interrogated them personally. Several commanders knew the enemy's situation.
"What? You are not the army from Hulao, but the defeated army from Luoxi before?"
The result of the interrogation surprised He Lanxiang. This group of troops was not attacking the enemy from the direction of Hulao, but the remnants of Xue Guyan's army that Li Boshan defeated at Qianjinyan in Luoxi many days ago.
The battle failed that night, and Xue Guyan's troops fled to all directions. One of them went east along Luoyang. Under the order of a general of Xue Guyan's tribe, they gathered the defeated troops along the way, forming such a force of thousands. The remnants of people.
They originally planned to enter Baiguwu and then cross Luoshui to return to Heyang Nancheng. As a result, when he was about to arrive at Baiguwu, he was shocked to hear that the southern city of Heyang had been lost. With no place to go, he had no choice but to stay here. He was hiding nearby for fear of being discovered by the Western Wei army in Heyang. However, he did not expect that he would eventually be captured by He Lanxiang. The dispatched scouts found out, and then ushered in this devastating disaster.
He Lanxiang originally thought that he could annihilate the enemy's forward to frighten his division, but he did not expect to make such an own goal. Although it was considered a hidden danger, it was completely different from his original goal, especially when the team rushed in and failed to hit it effectively. The target is in danger of being exposed.
"Retreat! Retreat to Baiguwu quickly!"
He Lanxiang was complaining in his heart. He was misled by Yu Wenhu. He heard Yu Wenhu bragging about how watertight the defense was, but he didn't even know that an enemy force of thousands of people was hidden nearby.
The large group of troops advanced and retreated inefficiently. He Lanxiang was afraid that the situation would get worse, so he sent his horse back to Heyang Nancheng to report the unexpected situation, and reminded Yu Wenhu to try to build a line of defense on the other side of Luoshui if possible. It is still unclear how much ability he will be able to use to block the enemy if he encounters an accident here. Naturally, he must be prepared with both hands.
On the way back, He Lanxiang was worried all the way, fearing that the team's whereabouts would be discovered by enemy scouts and they would be blocked halfway. But fortunately, the journey back to Baiguwu was uneventful. Seeing Guoguchengwu vaguely in sight, his hanging heart slowly dropped.
But when the front men and horses arrived in front of the city dock, many figures suddenly appeared on the city top, shooting arrows downwards while throwing corpses from the city top, and those corpses were clearly the defenders that He Lanxiang had arranged before.
"Master Lang, something serious has happened!"
He Lanxiang was a little dumbfounded when he saw this scene, and was so shocked that his thoughts paused, while the soldiers around him hurriedly defended him and retreated towards the sloping valley behind him.
The group of people fled for more than ten miles, and the troops and horses were exhausted, so they stopped. Eyes and ears from behind came to tell them that the enemy was not coming one after another. He Lanxiang frowned and sighed: "What's wrong! Maybe the one entering the city is the one." The enemy's scouts are forward, and if they can attack quickly at that time, they should be able to recapture the city! "
He Lanxiang had been out of shape ever since he discovered that he had attacked the wrong target. At this time, he realized that he had been too frightened before, and he couldn't help but feel even more annoyed. So he hurriedly sent his troops back to fight, hoping to catch up before the enemy's brigade arrived. Then capture Baiguwu back.
However, when his troops returned to a ravine near Baiguwu, drums and trumpets suddenly sounded on both sides of the ravine, flags waved, and countless ambush soldiers emerged. At the same time, under a large banner surrounded by soldiers directly in front, a soldier in uniform General Hu held up his sword and shouted: "But Zhu Hun Daoyuan is here. The thief will quickly dismount his horse and ask for surrender. May I spare your life!"
Seeing the enemy soldiers emerging from all directions, He Lanxiang was so frightened that his hands and feet were cold for a moment. He stopped making any comprehensive arrangements and just shouted loudly: "While the enemy's encirclement is not yet completed, break through the encirclement quickly and forward! But if you can break out of the enemy's encirclement, Sir, tell him the news about the enemy at Heqiao!"