Chapter 1338: Defeating Songjiang

Chapter 1338: Defeating Songjiang

On the north bank of the Songjiang River, horseshoes thundered and arrows fell like locusts. On the south bank, the camp position converted from the Hangdai was covered with a whole layer of fallen arrows. The officers and soldiers of Lieutenant Wu in the position could only huddle behind the bunker, unable to raise their heads at all. .

At a river bend more than ten feet away from the camp, a pontoon bridge built with rafts has been formed. The heavily armed Tang Army soldiers filed southward from the pontoon bridge and immediately formed troops outside the camp.

At this time, the cavalry shooting offensive on the north bank also temporarily came to an end, and the knights dismounted to rest. In the past half hour, they have been maintaining high-intensity long-range fire coverage on the south bank. Two thousand knights shot several arrows empty with a single arrow, and tens of thousands of arrows were tilted in the position on the other bank. , which is also a big burden for them.

The reason why the Tang Army invested such a large amount of soldiers, horses and equipment to attack here is because this position is an important connection point between the upper and lower Songjiang defense lines. As long as this is captured, the Songjiang defense line will no longer be able to take care of both ends and can be broken down separately.

Guarding this key position was Chen Qian's fierce general Luo Ya, who was always known for his bravery. However, due to the fierce firepower of the Tang army, there was almost no chance to fight the enemy in the first half of the battle. He could huddle in his position and watch helplessly as the enemy built a pontoon bridge on the lower tidal flat and surged southward.

At this time, the enemy's offensive on the other side finally stopped. Although a group of enemy troops had already crossed the river and formed formation, Luo Ya was still unafraid. He stood up from his position, kicked away the fallen arrows around him, and looked around the position. The sergeants shouted: "The Tang army does not hesitate to use force, but the force behind it will decline. As long as it can hold its position, reinforcements will arrive soon! Men and women, rise up to meet the enemy, let these foreign invaders know that our children from Wuzhong are brave and unyielding!"

At Luo Ya's call, the garrison officers and soldiers in the camp also stood up one after another and organized their formations in the camp. Hundreds of crossbowmen filled the line with crossbows, while Luo Ya personally led thousands of sturdy soldiers. He resolutely rushed out of the position and went straight to the Tang Army's formation on the opposite side.

"This thief general is very brave. He will be captured later. Can I ask if he will surrender?"

The person responsible for attacking the position here was Tang general Yu Wenxin. When he saw that the enemy general was weak, he dared to leave the formation and attack. Although he knew in his heart that this was a helpless move by the opponent to avoid being covered by the arrow formation later. But this courage is indeed commendable, Yu Wenxin said with a smile.

While talking, the military formations of both sides had collided. Due to the limited carrying capacity of the pontoon bridge itself, the Tang army that crossed the river to the other side had no heavy armor and was mostly light-armored. However, the Wuzhong Division and Brigade on the opposite side was not very well-armed. There was no obvious difference in the armed forces between them, and the number of troops involved in the battle was similar. , the only things that compete are skills, combat power and fighting spirit.

The Tang Army had just completed the unification of the north not long ago. Although the Huainan Division was not the main force in destroying Qi, they knew that the country was powerful and looked down upon the Wuzhong Division in their hearts. But when the actual battle began, they discovered that the Wuzhong sergeants were also very tough, often resorting to risk-taking tactics. At the beginning of the battle, they used their ferocious momentum to force the Tang army back more than ten feet. .

"Cheer up! Fight seriously and don't let the enemy laugh!"

Yu Wenxin arranged the battle formation in a relatively wide and sparse manner at the beginning. After the battle began, he realized that the enemy's combat power should not be underestimated. When he put away his contempt, he hurriedly ordered his troops to adjust the formation during the battle, from the original square and wide formation. The formation was transformed into a sagittal battle formation with a small enemy area and strong penetration. He himself served as the sagittal front, standing at the front of the queue to withstand the enemy's ferocious offensive, giving the rear troops time to change formations.

Since the offensive of Luo Ya and the troops around him were resisted by the Tang army in the front line, Sergeant Yu Zhuwuzhong failed to seize the time to move forward and fight closely, giving the Tang army the opportunity to adjust their battle formation. As the Tang Army's battle formation was adjusted, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. Under the leadership of Yu Wenxin, the Tang Army's formation was able to move forward and fight back.

Unlike the Wu Zhong Division Brigade, which was only inspired by the bravery of its general, the Tang Army's officers and men had more even combat qualities and worked together more tacitly. When the soldiers in the front formation were forcing back the enemy formation, the sergeants in the rear naturally joined in and took the opportunity to open up the enemy's gap and expand it, causing the enemy formation to retreat across the board.

Luo Ya holds a sword in one hand and a spear in the other, and he keeps sweeping and slashing. Wherever his sword and spear reach, it is difficult for enemies to get close to him. He is really brave and powerful.

However, the Tang general Yu Wenxin was not a weakling either. He was also among the best among the brave young men in the country. When he saw that Luo Ya was so tough and formidable, he personally stepped forward to fight. He held a long sword in both hands and roared towards Luo Ya. Luo's teeth were chopped in front of his face.

Luo Yaben was holding the sword in one hand and wanted to block it. When he saw the cold wind on the opponent's sword, he was suddenly startled. He hurriedly dropped the sword in his other hand and held the sword pole in both hands. At this time, the opponent's long knife had also been slashed down, and the indestructible blade directly penetrated the tree pole.

Luo Ya felt as if he was struck by lightning between his hands. The flesh of the tiger's mouth that was tightly holding the pole suddenly exploded and blood flowed out. Then he flew backwards uncontrollably into his own army formation, staggering. He staggered back a few feet before he regained his footing.

Yu Wenxin was waiting to take advantage of the situation and move forward to strike again, but the powerful crossbow arrows from the enemy's formation were fired directly at his own formation. Since his soldiers had no armor protection, they could only lead their troops to retreat, giving the enemy a huge blow. Take the opportunity to return to the formation and repair.

More than a thousand soldiers from Wuzhong went to the battle. After a fierce battle, only six or seven hundred people successfully retreated to the position. Nearly a hundred people died directly in the battle with the enemy. Many others could not hold on under the enemy's counterattack and retreated from the battle and scattered on various sides. Such an astonishing loss also made Luo Ya pale. He did not dare to go out to fight the enemy easily. Next, he just ordered his troops to hold the position and wait for the support of the left and right divisions.

These Wuzhong soldiers no longer went out to obstruct, which made it easier for the Tang army to act. Yuwen Xin led his troops back to the vicinity of the floating bridge and continued to reinforce the floating bridge, so that more people, horses and equipment could come south smoothly.

During this period, there were also Wuzhong divisions and brigades who heard the news and rushed over, but when they saw the terrifying scene of falling arrows in the position and the corpses outside the formation, those soldiers did not dare to get too close. They just led their troops to wander around the surrounding area, trying to scare away the enemy.

But such an approach was obviously ineffective for the Tang army, which had been through many battles, and even exposed its own weakness. As a well-organized cavalry team of the Tang army came from the south of the floating bridge, the situation on the battlefield changed again. This Tang army light cavalry team of several hundred people rushed directly to the enemy divisions cruising nearby.

"Don't drive the enemy away, drive them towards the enemy formation!"

The commander of this cavalry team was the young general Yang Su. Although Yang Su was not very old, he had been trained in the Three Guards for several years. He was skilled in archery and horse riding. He had also followed the battle to destroy Qi. Although he did not have many meritorious deeds, he had accumulated considerable combat experience.

He saw that the Wuzhong division was not very mobile, so he planned to drive away these Wuzhong soldiers and let them break through their own army. He led his troops to flexibly move among these Wu soldiers. A few hundred people intercepted and controlled several Wu troops of thousands of people nearby, and drove these enemies directly towards the enemy formation with his riding and archery skills.

Although the enemy formation here had complete defenses of trenches and camps inside and outside, and there were crossbowmen with strong attack power guarding the front line, when facing thousands of panicked and hastily fleeing troops, those crossbowmen could not bear to shoot arrows and kill them, and could only let these troops rush into the battle formation.

However, before these people had a firm foothold after entering the formation, Yang Su in the rear had already led his troops to approach the front of the formation, constantly drawing bows and throwing arrows, causing chaos in the enemy formation.

"Yang Lang is really brave!"

Even though Yuwen Xin himself had a high opinion of himself, when he saw that Yang Su had only relied on a few hundred light cavalry to mess up thousands of enemies, he couldn't help but raise his hand to praise Yang Su, and then took advantage of the opportunity created by Yang Su to lead his troops to rush into the enemy formation.

The Songjiang defense line is one of the most important arrangements for guarding Wuxing. The Wuzhong divisions and brigades have been deployed on this defense line for nearly two months. Many camps and garrisons have been set up along the river, and more than 20,000 divisions and brigades have been deployed in the east-west area of ​​more than ten miles, including the elite troops of Chen Qian's headquarters who have been commanded for many years.

In Chen Qian's view, even if the Tang army marches south in large numbers, the Songjiang defense line is enough to intercept and resist the Tang army for ten days, buying enough time for the divisions and brigades on the Great Wall.

However, after the Tang army in Jingkou arrived in Wujun, they launched a tentative attack on the entire Songjiang line. The attack on the first day was repelled by the flexible cooperation of the defenders on the defense line.

However, when the Tang army returned the next day, they launched a feint attack on the left and right to contain the enemy, and then concentrated on attacking the central camp with 3,000 infantry and cavalry. This time, the defense line that Chen Qian had high hopes for was broken through in less than half a day. Even with the urgent assistance of the troops on both wings, the central camp was inevitably lost. Three thousand Wuzhong soldiers died here, including the brave general Luo Ya, Wuxing native Shen Tai and several other generals.

With the loss of the central camp, the so-called Songjiang defense line no longer existed. This defense line, which had been carefully managed for a long time and had high hopes, actually intercepted the Tang army from the south for less than two days.

After the defense line was broken, Chen Qian's general Qian Daozhi led the remaining defeated troops to evacuate in the direction of the Great Wall in a hurry, while Tang general Ruo Ruofeng led his troops closely behind, chasing the defeated army while occupying several cities such as Wucheng and Jiaxing in Wuxing County.

For a time, more than half of the counties and towns in Wuxing were owned by the Tang army, and only some village tyrants and strongholds between these cities were still preserved. However, these manors and fortresses were only for self-protection. They had neither the ability nor the intention to support King Linchuan within the Great Wall, which made Chen Qian's troops within the Great Wall gradually isolated and trapped.