Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Since the division of the North and the South, each has developed its own war system in accordance with the actual environment, forming a pattern of ships in the south and horses in the north.

It’s just that warships are not the only war equipment that the southerners rely on. Especially since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there has been no shortage of talented people to lead the army in the Northern Expedition. However, the north does not have as dense and smooth waterways as the south to use, so chariots have a certain carrying capacity. Tools that possess both ability and mobility as well as protection gained attention again.

Speaking of the exquisite use of chariots, the most amazing example is naturally the Queyue Formation when Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty Liu Yu defeated the elite cavalry army of the Northern Wei Dynasty. As a battle formation, the Queyue Formation certainly has strict restrictions on achieving a replica. Apart from Liu Yu's own record, it is difficult to find similar battle examples. However, the tactical idea of ​​using a car to defeat a rider is very worthy of reference.

Although the Western Wei Dynasty also had a very impressive cavalry establishment, especially after Li Tai defeated the Turks, he greatly improved his control over Monan and Longyou, which caused the Western Wei Dynasty's cavalry strength to surge even more in the past two years.

However, this time the Wei army came from afar to attack, and the most important task was to conquer the city and expand the territory. The demand for field operations was not too great. In addition, the route they traveled was rugged and mountainous, which further limited the cavalry power. Due to limitations in performance and logistical supplies, the cavalry force carried was not the main force in combat.

Especially in the current south of Wusu City, the Western Wei Dynasty could only mobilize more than 10,000 cavalry troops to fight, and its scale was far inferior to that of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Therefore, in this decisive battle, the biggest problem facing the Western Wei Dynasty was how to offset the mobility of the powerful cavalry of the Northern Qi Dynasty and the ability to control the battlefield established thereby. If this cannot be effectively controlled, then the Western Wei Dynasty will have lost more than half of this war before it even starts.

One of the reasons why Li Tai agreed to Gao Yang's decisive battle at the mouth of the Tongdan River was that the natural waterways of the Tongdan River and Zhuozhang River created obstacles for the cavalry to gallop on the battlefield. Relying on these two rivers, the Wei army at least did not have to face the embarrassing situation of being surrounded by enemy cavalry and besieged in the wilderness.

Of course, rivers cannot be relied on for long, especially since there is already a severe drought this summer. The estuary where Tongtan water flows into Zhuozhang water is considered to be the most abundant, but the width of the formed river is only a dozen feet or so.

Such a width is indeed an obstacle for ordinary people, but for the powerful Northern Qi army, it is really not a destiny. Once the battle officially begins, there will be various ways to cross the water.

Therefore, chariots became a major choice for Li Tai to limit the enemy's cavalry in this battle. After he captured Jiangling, he captured a large number of craftsmen related to the Southern Dynasties, which greatly improved the Western Wei's chariot manufacturing capabilities. Big improvement.

As early as the Hou Jing Rebellion in the old years, Li Tai used his chariot to fight the enemy when he went to the Heluo area with his army. Now that he has been supplemented by the technology and craftsmen of the Southern Dynasty, he has naturally become more professional.

When he entered the Qinshui Valley to fight before, he used chariots to temporarily form a camp, which was a small test of his skills. However, the battle under Yining City was not enough to display the full form of this chariot formation. Now that the decisive battle with Northern Qi was about to begin, naturally there was no need to hide any secrets.

At this time, there were hundreds of tanks on the battlefield, and they were not arranged in any fixed formation, but were parked in a haphazard manner on the battlefield. The wheels have been removed, and the specially made carriage has a large capacity. It is filled with earth and rocks excavated from the excavation trap, and there are ground nails fixed at the four corners. Although it is not rock-solid, it is difficult to shake easily.

The officers and soldiers of the Wei army in the chariot formation formed a small battle formation between twenty and thirty people. On the outermost side are soldiers holding spears and axes, on the two wings are warriors with swords and shields, and at the innermost side are crossbowmen.

This formation refers to many characteristics of southern tactics. It has a certain restraint effect on the cavalry power on the battlefield. When used together with chariots, the effect is even more outstanding.

The elite cavalry of the Qi army charged in fiercely. Faced with the arrangement of traps below and vehicle obstacles above, there was no good way to deal with it for a while. In order to maintain the speed and intensity of the impact, they can only drive into the car formation in separate lanes.

The charging battle formation that was originally condensed into a torrent was immediately divided into several tributaries by the car formation, and both the momentum and speed were greatly weakened. After losing these two blessings, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry brigade will also drop sharply.

"The east thief shall die!"

The commander of the formation here was Wang Jie, who had been stationed in eastern Han Dynasty for several years and fought many battles with the southerners. He was also very familiar with the tactic of using foot to defeat cavalry. When the enemy cavalry galloped into the formation, he led his troops to hide. Standing behind the chariot, he avoided the fierce impact of the enemy. When the enemy knight passed by, he jumped out from the side with a battle ax in his hand. With a loud roar, he slashed down with the broad-bladed battle ax, and the enemy knight fell. Before he could stop his momentum and counterattack, his men and horses were immediately torn apart!

The chariots placed haphazardly on the battlefield seem to be scattered and scattered, which makes people subconsciously despise them, thinking that they are not to be feared, and they can be easily broken through.

However, the existence of these chariots greatly restricted the routes and space for movement of the knights of the Qi Army. It also caused them to lose the calm changes of clutching, gathering and dispersing. The formations were divided and messy, and the blessings brought by the mounts and formations With nothing left, they can only rely on their respective combat qualities to start a fierce battle with the enemy troops in the car formation.

However, they were the only ones who fell into chaos. The Wei army did not fall into chaos, and their respective formations were still intact.

The long weapons in front are like the claws of beasts, stabbing and killing the enemy. The sword-and-shield warriors on both wings waved their shields to block the enemy's counterattacks, and at the same time slashed the horse's belly and feet with their swords, as well as those enemy soldiers who had fallen off their horses but were still struggling. As for the crossbowmen at the rear, they were leaning on the chariot behind them, and their robes were firmly protecting them in front. They only needed to control the crossbows and keep shooting at the enemy.

Although Qi Lianmeng had been in the army for half his life, he had little experience in fighting with the Southerners. He was suddenly faced with such a battle formation by the enemy and had no chance to defeat the enemy. After he entered the battle, he felt more and more the power of this battle formation that combined men and vehicles. Difficult.

He deliberately wanted to destroy the wall of the carriage, but the enemy soldiers next to the carriage were attacking with axes in front and back, making it difficult for him to stop beside the carriage for a long time. He could only jump away from the carriage and avoid the enemy's front to take a breather. However, But you still need to be on guard against the stray arrows flying everywhere.

"Don't stay in the thief formation, rush out!"

After staying in the enemy formation for a moment, Qi Lianmeng shouted loudly that this battle formation is really not conducive to the use of cavalry power. Continuing to fight here will only cause greater casualties. He must rush into the wilderness as soon as possible to resume the battle. Array.

Under Qi Lian's loud orders, and a group of Qi army soldiers who were trapped in the formation, they themselves felt that something was wrong and did not dare to fight in the formation anymore. They rushed towards the outside of the formation.

However, the Western Wei Dynasty did not lack war horses and cavalry in the Southern Dynasties. At the rear of the battle formation, He Ruodun had already led a thousand fine cavalry to prepare for the battle. When the soldiers of the Qi army got rid of all kinds of obstacles and finally rushed out of the car formation, they were attacked head-on by the Wei cavalry outside the formation before they had time to gather their troops.

When Qi Lianmeng finally broke out of the enemy's formation, he saw that his own soldiers had been rushed by the enemy and were completely defeated. He completely lost the unstoppable majestic momentum that he had when he launched an attack here. He felt very upset for a while. .

"Get closer to me and don't retreat! Quickly send an order to the troops behind to continue the attack. There are only a few thieves here, so we can still fight!"

Although the attack was greatly frustrated, Qi Lianmeng was still unwilling to admit defeat, and he also did not dare to do so, because His Majesty the Emperor personally supervised the battle. He took the lead in the first battle and then attacked without authorization, but ended up being defeated. If he retreated like this, His Majesty the Emperor would surely He was so angry that he would never let him off lightly.

Therefore, even if there was still a glimmer of hope, Qi Lianmeng did not dare to give up. While shouting loudly, he ordered his soldiers to move closer to him, and at the same time he mobilized his troops to urge reinforcements from the rear. At the same time, he also held a bow in his hand and kept snapping the string to kill the Wei soldiers who were chasing the Qi army on the battlefield.

"It turns out that the thieves are here. Surround them and capture and kill this beast!"

He Ruoden, who was leading his troops to charge, also noticed Qi Lianmeng shouting orders. His eyes lit up immediately, and he led hundreds of followers around him to gallop towards Qi Lianmeng.

Qilian Meng had outstanding arm strength and exquisite shooting skills. Although the soldiers were running around and the battle was unfavorable, he still tried his best to reverse the situation. He shot the bow from left to right. Every time an arrow was shot, an enemy would be killed, which also made the nearby Wei soldiers dare not He was too close, so more than a hundred random soldiers gathered around him again. Seeing that the organization was about to be re-formed, He Ruoden led hundreds of his disciples to rush towards it.

Seeing this scene, Qi Lianmeng opened his bow and clasped the string again, shooting straight at He Ruodun who was leading the way, and at the same time roared: "Thieves come and die!"

The powerful arrow struck in a flash, and He Ruoden was not spared. The arrow hit the shoulder socket where the armor was connected. His body trembled in pain and he almost fell off his horse, but he raised his hand after stabilizing his body. He broke the arrow and threw it on the ground, laughing loudly and saying: "The thief has exhausted his strength and the arrow can hardly be worn! It is the right time to capture and kill the thief general!"

The surrounding Wei army officers who were frightened by Qi Lianmeng's exquisite archery skills and did not dare to bully anyone heard this, were immediately inspired and immediately rushed forward with their horses.

Qi Lian suddenly saw this scene. Although he shot several arrows in a hurry, it was still difficult to stop the surging enemy force. As the knights of the Wei Army rushed forward, the formation that had just been gathered was scattered again, and several soldiers around him They were all picked to death by the enemy, and Qi Lian Mengbian was also surrounded by the enemy.

He abandoned his bow and held his sword in a dying struggle, barely resisting the fight for a moment. The war horse under his crotch was stabbed to death by a spear, and he fell to the ground with it. He saw several spears coming towards him. When he was about to die, he held his head and nodded loudly. He shouted: "I wish to surrender, I wish to surrender! Please spare my life, general!"

"Tie them up and send them to the central army! Continue to kill the enemy here!"

When He Ruodun rode his horse to this point, his shoulders and arms were stained red by the blood gushing from the arrow wounds, but after seeing the enemy general captured alive, he couldn't help but smile and immediately gave instructions loudly.