Chapter 906: Blockade
Just as Huangfu Chaobo's army began to speed up, Ji Bao and Li Gui's 30,000 troops had already confronted Huang Wudie's troops who stayed behind to block the enemy. Although there were 5,000 cavalrymen to assist, Huang Wudie did not underestimate the enemy and just confronted Yuan Shu's army from a distance.
As long as Yuan Shu's army did not move, she would not order the soldiers to fight; when Ji Bao and Li Gui began to attack tentatively, the 5,000 cavalrymen were ready to move on the side, causing Yuan Shu's army to stop again.
After the two sides confronted each other for nearly an hour, Ji Ling's messenger and more than 3,000 temporarily formed cavalry also appeared in the north of the battlefield. The general leading the troops was a trusted general of Ji Ling, and soon they joined Ji Bao's army.
With the addition of more than 3,000 cavalrymen, Ji Bao and the others gained confidence. The arrival of the cavalry at least allowed them to fight the infantry with peace of mind without worrying about the enemy's cavalry coming to attack at any time.
After the three of them discussed for a while, Ji Bao began to prepare to attack the coalition forces. As the drums sounded in the army, the remaining 7,000 heavy infantry vanguards of the two armies and 10,000 city guards were distributed on both sides of the heavy infantry, and the remaining 10,000 troops followed closely as the central army and began to attack Huang Wudie's troops.
At this time, the Andong Army had only more than 80,000 soldiers and horses, plus less than 90,000 craftsmen and civilians. Excluding the 6,000 troops of Zhang He's army, there were not many soldiers and horses that could be mobilized.
Therefore, Huangfu Chaobo did not arrange too many troops to be responsible for the rear. Huang Wudie's army had only more than 20,000 people in total, including 5,000 cavalry, more than 4,000 combat soldiers of the Huben Camp, plus 4,000 Yuanrong crossbowmen of the Guards Army, and 10,000 guards.
Originally, these troops were enough to contain the 30,000 troops of Ji Bao and Li Gui, but the 3,000 cavalry sent by Ji Ling broke this balance. So after seeing the 3,000 cavalry arrive at the battlefield, Huang Wudie ordered the army to prepare for defense. She was ordered to stop the pursuers for an hour, but only half an hour had passed.
Seeing that the Yuan Shu army on the opposite side began to attack, Huang Wudie ordered the army to prepare for battle. Huang Wudie's army put the battle soldiers in front, with 10,000 guards distributed on both sides of the battle camp, 4,000 Yuanrong crossbowmen behind the battle soldiers, and 5,000 cavalry distributed on both sides of the infantry formation, staring at the Yuan Shu army on the opposite side.
Seeing that the Yuan Shu army actually dispatched all its troops without leaving any backup, Huang Wudie's true situation became a little solemn. She knew that her troops were at a disadvantage and her only advantage was the cavalry. A few years ago, she had seen Ji Ling's heavy infantry, which was said to have been trained for less than a year. At this time, the heavy infantry of Yuan Shu's army had been trained for at least two or three years.
Don't look at the fact that the 5,000 heavy infantry were killed and routed in the main camp just now. You should know that the soldiers fighting against them were the soldiers of the Iron Wall Camp, which was second only to the Xianzhen Camp. They were tenth-level infantry, but her own combat battalion did not have that ability.
After a little thought, she ordered: "Tell the crossbowmen to prepare for shooting, and push Yuan Shu's army back 50 steps before attacking. Tell General Hu Yan that when the battle comes, don't worry about my infantry, first concentrate on annihilating the opponent's cavalry, and then return to support the infantry."
With her order, more than 10,000 An Dong troops began to wait in formation, quietly waiting for Yuan Shu's army to approach.
In the Yuan Shu army formation, Ji Bao looked at the coalition forces opposite with a cold face. He was originally going to lead the army to charge, but Li Gui disagreed. Both of them were Ji Ling's personal generals. However, Ji Bao's identity was more special. He was a relative of Ji Ling, and Li Gui was Ji Ling's personal soldier. Therefore, Li Gui stopped Ji Bao's request to lead the army to charge. In the end, the general who led the heavy infantry to charge was replaced by Li Gui, and Ji Bao led the troops to follow up.
With Ji Bao's order, the 30,000 troops slowly approached the coalition forces. The vanguard general Li Gui also held a breath of anger in his chest. One of the reasons for his failure last time was that the defeated soldiers on the top of the city disrupted his formation, and the overwhelming rain of arrows suddenly came, which caught his 4,000 heavy infantry off guard.
At this time, the elite of the Anton Army just seized this chaotic moment, and thousands of elites suddenly rushed out, leaving his heavy infantry no time to re-form. The follow-up light infantry elite followed closely, which eventually led to the defeat of his army.
The defeated soldiers, arrow rain and elite timely assault were the reasons for the defeat of Li Gui's army, so Li Gui was extremely angry. This time he had seen the coalition forces blocking his army, and there were no elite soldiers as before, so Li Gui felt that his chance to avenge his previous shame had come.
Seeing that his army was less than 150 steps away from the coalition forces, Li Gui ordered loudly: "Heavy infantry pay attention to defend against the opponent's arrows, maintain formation, save energy, and approach slowly!"
When the infantry of both sides gradually approached, the cavalry had already started to engage in battle. The cavalry commander was also a confidant of Ji Ling. He received an order to eliminate as many cavalry of the coalition forces as possible to eliminate the threat of cavalry for the subsequent battles of the army. So from the beginning, he led more than 3,000 cavalry directly to the cavalry on one side of the coalition forces.
Because the coalition cavalry was divided into two groups, guarding both sides of the army, he wanted to use his superior forces to annihilate more coalition cavalry as much as possible before the cavalry on the other side could react.
But what made him anxious was that the enemy cavalry seemed unwilling to fight him head-on. When the cavalry of both sides were about a hundred steps apart, the enemy cavalry began to shoot arrows at him. After a round of arrows, the cavalry turned around and ran towards the east of the battlefield. In desperation, Yuan Shu's cavalry was ready to turn and attack the infantry on the right wing of the coalition army. Who knew that the cavalry, who had run far away, turned their horses around again and surrounded them, launching horse shooting at Yuan Shu's cavalry from behind.
At this time, the cavalry on the left wing of the coalition army had begun to go around the infantry and outflank the Yuan Shu cavalry. The cavalry general of Yuan Shu's army knew that if he did not annihilate or cripple a part of the enemy's cavalry first, then the next battle would be troublesome. So, he immediately ordered the cavalry to turn again and chase the cavalry on the right wing of the coalition army.
Seeing Yuan Shu's cavalry chasing him, Hu Yan knew that his chance had come. With a whistle, he led the right cavalry to the east and headed straight for the wilderness. He planned to divert Yuan Shu's cavalry, and then annihilate them with the left cavalry, and then return to support Huang Wudie's infantry.
The cavalry of both sides chased each other and soon disappeared from the sight of the infantry.