novelAbuy Chapter 129 Initial Defeat Reported
Chapter 129 Initial Defeat Reported
"The messenger didn't sleep for two nights, one horse died from exhaustion, and the other was foaming at the mouth, but he finally brought the letter back."
Madam Gao said with relief, "Although your father suffered a defeat, thankfully he is unharmed."
"What the hell? You made me worry for nothing."
Hearing his mother's words, Gao Huaide secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had been mentally prepared, and it was good that it wasn't the worst outcome. He muttered something to himself and picked up the letter to read it.
The letter began with a few everyday words of greeting and concern for his family, which Gao Huaide glanced over and skipped.
"Tens of thousands of Khitan troops have suddenly arrived. Fu Yanqing and I will lead the left and right flanks of cavalry into battle. The outcome is unpredictable..."
The next two lines of text were covered up with ink and their contents were illegible. Gao Xingzhou seemed to want to write something, but then felt it was inappropriate.
"The Khitans used a cunning trick to lure the royal army, which suffered a defeat. The main force of the cavalry was unharmed, but the infantry suffered heavy casualties."
This sentence was clearly written by Gao Xingzhou after the war. Gao Huaide wanted to know the specific details of the battle, but his father glossed over it and instead expressed a sentiment.
"The Han dynasty had the Xiongnu, the Tang dynasty had the Turks, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Uyghurs, and now the Khitan. The northern grasslands have never lacked hegemons, yet they could never subdue the Central Plains. Why is that?"
"Hexi, Hetao, and Yanyun are all the bulwarks and barriers of the Central Plains. Good generals and strong crossbowmen guard the key places, and trusted ministers and elite soldiers are ready to fight anyone. Even if the Di and Hu people have the right time and produce one or two outstanding individuals, they are destined to only be able to plunder and become bandits."
Most of the letter, even those recounting defeats, is written in neat, upright strokes, as precise and orderly as Gao Xingzhou himself. Only the last two lines are slightly hasty, revealing his chaotic state of mind when he wrote them.
"With the advantage of terrain intact and a strong army still intact, although the initial battle was lost, it can still be recovered. The Khitan ruler has led the entire nation's army south; his ambition is far from small. How can Shi Jingtang lure him in?"
"I fear that some, in their desperate search for survival, will betray their country and invite trouble, leading to a repeat of the War of the Eight Princes and the chaos of the Five Barbarian Invasions..."
Gao Huaide read the letter over and over again before he could bear to put it down.
The fate of a defeated army, as demonstrated by Li Yichao and Li Yiyin with the lives of their entire clan, was due to the Dingnan Army's lack of strategic depth. The current dynasty, however, possesses a deep foundation; its strength in Youyan, Hebei, Henan, Qingxu, and even Guanzhong has not yet been challenged.
"Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war," he comforted himself, but regretted that his father hadn't clearly explained how the battle was lost.
Zhang Jingda's military report to the imperial court detailed the course of the defeat.
……
The 15th day of the 9th month of the 3rd year of the Qingtai era (1731), Xin Chou year.
On an inauspicious day, an evil wind will rise.
The day before, Yelü Deguang led his army to Taiyuan and set up camp at Hubeikou in Fenbei.
There were originally a thousand men stationed at this place, but after Zhang Wandi defected, the government troops did not send troops to garrison it again, and it was easily occupied by the Khitan army.
5:00 AM (卯时).
Zhang Jingda, the commander-in-chief of the Taiyuan campaign, ordered all units to mobilize troops to meet the Khitan army.
Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing led more than 10,000 cavalrymen from the left and right wings out to fight;
Generals Zhang Jingda, Yang Guangyuan, An Shenqi, and others advanced with 50,000 infantrymen and arrayed themselves at the foot of the mountain northwest of the city.
Zhang Yanqi left several thousand men to guard the camp and defend against the troops in Taiyuan City.
With the deployment complete, the two armies faced off across the Fen River.
The Khitan army had more than 200,000 warhorses, stretching across the plains as far as the eye could see, their formations seemingly endless.
Under the trampling of nearly a million iron hooves, the earth trembled and shook, and the Fen River was also affected, with ripples spreading across its surface.
Most mounted knights shaved their heads and wore braids, with their hair loose and their robes fastened on the left. They came from the main households of the Khitan.
The number of people who changed their household registration from non-Han to non-Han was even greater. They served as auxiliary soldiers for various ethnic groups such as the Wugu, Uyghur, Xi, Dangxiang, Bohai, and Jurchen, as well as for capturing and subjugating Han people.
In the second year of the Tianfu era of the Tang Dynasty, Yelü Abaoji invaded Daibei and Hedong for the first time, conquering nine prefectures and capturing 95,000 prisoners, who were brought back to the north and settled in Longhua Prefecture.
Over the past thirty years, a generation has grown up.
These children, born in a foreign land, returned to the homeland of their ancestors, only to be labeled as invaders and provided support to the Khitans in their battles. Their feelings are unknown.
The Central Plains cavalry was only one-eleventh the size of the enemy's force. Originally, ten thousand cavalrymen would have been a magnificent sight, but compared to the enemy, they immediately paled in comparison, their formation lacking in both breadth and depth.
However, in terms of combat prowess, only the most elite Khitan army, the Great Tent Pishi Army, could rival them. Every officer and knight was clad in gleaming armor, and the red tassels on their helmets resembled flames that danced incessantly in the howling winds of the Taihang Mountains.
Chen Shi (7-9 AM).
"Attack!"
As the drums and horns sounded, the cavalry on both flanks, like two thin, sharp blades drawn from their sheaths, plunged straight into the opposite side!
Seeing the Han cavalry approaching with overwhelming force, Yelü Deguang realized that once the formation was breached, it would surely collapse. With a wave of his hand, he dispatched two equal groups of men to break away from the main formation and meet them head-on.
Commander of the Khitan vanguard was Yelü Wa. He was of noble birth; his grandfather, Yelü Shilu, was Abaoji's third uncle, and his father, Yelü Wansi, was the Southern Court Yilijin, a position he now held.
Among the eight tribes of Abaoji's Yaolian tribe, the most powerful, the Diela tribe, consisted of the Five Courts and the Six Courts, also known as the Northern and Southern Courts. Yilijin means leader, and she controlled the military and political affairs of her tribe.
Yelü Wa was in his early forties and was hailed as a potential minister. He was Yelü Deguang's cousin by seniority and also held the position of Tiyin.
The position of Tiyin was in charge of the royal family's household registration, etiquette, and education. It was equivalent to the position of the Minister of the Imperial Clan in the Central Plains and placed great emphasis on lineage and birth.
On the battlefield, identities are all illusions; the strong prevail and the weak are defeated, and only strength reveals the true nature of the matter.
A high-speed steel jungle crashed violently into the intercepting torrent!
"The world seemed to stand still. Everything before my eyes was chaotic and confusing. My ears were ringing. All sorts of sounds were intertwined, making it impossible to see or hear clearly."
After returning to his homeland, Yelü Wa described the situation to his younger brother, who was more than thirty years younger than him.
The knight and his warhorse, weighing over 500 pounds and clad in 50-pound iron armor, collided at full speed. In the instant, their lives turned into a cloud of blood mist and shattered remains. Broken weapons and shattered armor plates were first thrown into the air and then fell to the dust.
One rider, ten riders, a hundred riders, one layer, one row, one area, they crashed into their opponents without stopping, until they smashed through them, shattered them, and left them in a mess.
"Brother, who won this duel?"
Eleven-year-old Yelü Xiuge blinked and asked curiously. (Note 1)
"In the end, our race won the great battle."
Yelü Wa still felt lingering fear when he recalled that Central Plains cavalry force that had fought against overwhelming odds.
"But in the initial head-on cavalry engagement, our army actually lost."
The autumn sun casts its golden light on the iron, and the dust of battle cannot conceal its cold gleam. Brave warriors risk their lives to crush the Khitan cavalry formation!
Gao Xingzhou led the Imperial Guards and Zhangsheng Cavalry, while Fu Yanqing led the Northern Expeditionary Cavalry, each with more than 5,000 riders. They moved swiftly and fiercely, and the Khitan vanguard could not withstand them and retreated to their own lines.
"Don't chase after them."
Gao Xingzhou did not pursue the enemy after their defeat: "The battle has just begun, and the main force of the Khitan has not yet moved. It is not advisable to pursue them too deeply."
Fu Yanqing issued the same military order, instructing his subordinates to rest temporarily and focus on restoring their strength and stamina.
In the pre-battle military discussion, it was concluded that the Khitan army had come from afar and had not had time to rest before engaging in battle, and that their momentum could not be sustained.
The plan is to use cavalry to engage the Khitan army, which outnumbers them several times over, in a protracted battle until the enemy is exhausted and about to retreat. Then, the entire army will launch a general offensive, which will surely lead to victory.
If this battle is won, Hedong will have no more external support, and it will be questionable whether Yelü Deguang can escape unscathed or even flee Yanmen Pass. The throne of the grassland overlord may change hands.
However, this tactic requires the cavalry to undertake a series of tasks, including preemptive strikes, containment of offensives, decisive battles to defeat the enemy, and pursuit of the fleeing enemy. They bear a heavy burden and must carefully manage every bit of their strength.
Gao Xingzhou accepted the order and only made one request.
"Infantry are the anvil, cavalry are the hammer; with repeated blows, the enemy will surely be crushed. However, once the anvil is moved, the hammer-anvil tactic will no longer hold. I urge the commander to hold the main force steady and provide support for my cavalry."
"You're overthinking it. Just lead your troops to kill the enemy."
Zhang Jingda had great confidence in his troops: "With my command of the infantry, they will be as immovable as a mountain."
9:00 AM (巳时).
The Khitan army reorganized its ranks and shifted its attack focus to the infantry that had formed a horizontal line against the mountain.
Zhang Jingda was not exaggerating. He ordered his infantry to cut down trees to make deer antlers, with each person holding one branch. When they stopped, they would form a fence to block the Khitan cavalry's charge. This was the same tactic that Fu Cunshen used to defeat Yelü Abaoji.
The Khitan army dared not charge head-on into the enemy lines, but instead drove their horses around the palisade, harassing the enemy formation with mounted archery as they passed by.
The government troops responded with a barrage of arrows, a rain of arrows covering the sky.
Faced with the strong infantry formation backed by the cliff, the Khitan cavalry could not outflank them, nor could they gain an advantage in a direct firefight. Despite their attempts to lure and entice them, Zhang Jingda remained unmoved.
Noon and late afternoon.
Over two hours, the Khitan army launched more than ten attacks in succession.
The generals fought bravely, and with cavalry harassing them from the flanks, the enemy had no chance to break through. Wave after wave surged forward, washing over the enemy and then receding, unable to penetrate the hard rocks. (Note 2)
Shen Shi (3-5 PM).
As the sun gradually set, the battle, which had lasted from dawn to dusk, had continued for half a day, a full five hours.
Everything proceeded as planned in the pre-war military agreement. The government troops withstood the Khitan army's offensive, and when the enemy could no longer endure it and retreated, a counterattack could be launched.
If nothing unexpected happens, the first battle will end in a victory for the government forces, or at least a draw.
However, the battlefield is always full of unexpected events.
As the art of war says, "Military tactics are like water, which has no constant shape." He who can adapt to the enemy's changes and achieve victory is called a master strategist.
Zhang Jingda, whose nickname was Shengtie, was stubborn and rigid; adaptability in the face of the enemy was not his forte.