Chapter 981: First Volume_Chapter 981: Eagle of the Northern Di

First Volume_Chapter 981: Eagle of the Northern Di

Twenty li from the camp meant they had just made contact with the enemy army's encirclement; the tactical idea was to use the camp as a rear support and continuously harass the enemy's inner ring, making the enemy army wary of striking too hard and afraid to easily mass superior forces for a tactical encirclement.

Xu Mo gave the order again: "The remaining two thousand cavalry will harass the enemy's inner ring from the opposite direction!"

The two light cavalry corps struck out from the left and right, harassing the two farthest points of the encirclement. This way, to prevent gaps from appearing in the encirclement, the enemy army could not easily send reinforcements to both flanks at once; otherwise, the front and rear garrisons would become relatively weak and extremely vulnerable to a forced Beidi Siege Assault by the Beixi Expeditionary Brigade.

After dispatching the cavalry, Xu Mo gathered another two thousand infantry and steadily advanced along the Eastern Front to go support the guerrilla commandant.

The remaining troops held their position on the spot and continued to build the defensive line.

This tactical arrangement was not complicated, but its effect was very obvious.

Because the Xi Xian was being harassed by two thousand light cavalry, the enemy army could not send too much additional force to the Eastern Front in order to suppress these two thousand cavalry. Meanwhile, the guerrilla commandant harassing the Eastern Front relied on his light cavalry to engage the enemy army back and forth; once the enemy army pressed forward, the two thousand infantry arriving from the rear could deliver a sharp counterattack!

In other words, if the enemy army wanted to suppress the guerrilla commandant, they would have to send at least three thousand cavalry. But these three thousand cavalry would in turn be extremely vulnerable to attack by the rear infantry. To secure a victory, they would have to send five to six thousand cavalry, and adding the two thousand cavalry on the Xi Xian, that would be seven or eight thousand. Even if half the cavalry remained, continuing to consolidate the encirclement would no longer be realistic.

Therefore, based on Xu Mo's assessment, the enemy army had no more than two choices: either pursue the guerrilla commandant relentlessly, or adopt a war of attrition, doing their utmost to engage in a consumption war with the guerrilla commandant.

In fact, just as Xu Mo had predicted, the enemy army did not have many options. When the guerrilla commandant led his troops to close in, the Xiongying Brigade immediately dispatched three thousand light cavalry to intercept.

As a result, under the surveillance of the imperial spy's eyes, when the Xiongying Brigade cavalry were still five li from the guerrilla general, the guerrilla general had already given the order to break the whole into parts; the main force dispersed and, adopting small, flexible, mobile units, retreated toward the rear.

The Xiongying Brigade were all hundred-battle veterans and naturally saw at a glance that the Expeditionary Brigade cavalry had adopted a tactic of luring the enemy in deep. They immediately gave up the pursuit. But just as they turned their horses around, the dispersed small units of Expeditionary Brigade cavalry attacked from four directions, and from beyond a hundred steps away, continuously harassed them with bow and arrow.

The Xiongying Brigade was not thrown into disorder; they immediately organized a counterattack. But when the arrow rain overwhelmed the enemy, the Expeditionary Brigade cavalry once again relied on their mobility advantage and turned to retreat.

The enemy general simply gave the order to adopt the same method of small-unit cavalry combat, pressing forward in pursuit. Unfortunately, because two thousand infantry were stationed in the middle of the battlefield, the operating range of these small Xiongying Brigade cavalry units was greatly restricted. They did not dare approach the infantry formation lightly and could only engage the Expeditionary Brigade cavalry in a pursuit battle on the outer perimeter.

The Expeditionary Brigade cavalry, relying on these two thousand infantry as their anchor, fought back fiercely. If the enemy forces had numerical superiority, they would immediately withdraw toward the direction of the infantry formation.

This infantry formation, though only two thousand men, was like a nail driven into the battlefield.

In a direct confrontation, the infantry formation was not afraid of light cavalry in the first place; or rather, for light cavalry to dare recklessly launch a strong attack on infantry was purely a suicidal act.

If a light cavalry corps wanted to overcome infantry, they could only rely on frontal forces to apply pressure and pin them down, while cavalry harassed from the left and right to disrupt the infantry formation. Only once the infantry began to rout could the advantage of light cavalry be brought out.

But on the battlefield, there has never been a pure troop type counter; weapon and morale are the key factors that decide victory or defeat.

With the morale of the Beixi County soldiers, they naturally could not be crushed by cavalry. As long as their formation held, cavalry had no way to deal with them. Lacking infantry cooperation, the enemy could not even apply pressure on the Beixi Bu Zuo, let alone harass them in exchange for arrows—after all, a horse bow finds it very hard to gain an advantage against a step bow.

Moreover, the Expeditionary Brigade cavalry continuously withdrawing to the vicinity of the infantry formation would also cooperate in the defense, making these two thousand infantry even harder to shake.

By this point in the battle, the Xiongying Brigade commander leading the troops had already seen the disadvantage.

To crush the Expeditionary Brigade light cavalry, they first had to remove these two thousand infantry. But to destroy two thousand infantry, they would have to mass superior forces, which would in turn completely disrupt the encirclement deployment.

The enemy general could only send word to the rear at the first opportunity, reporting the predicament in full detail.

Xiongying Brigade Main General Wu Kang, upon learning of the fighting ahead, could not help but slightly furrow his brow: "According to the scouting report, the enemy Expeditionary Brigade's main general is suspected to be Xu Mo. It can now be basically confirmed that the enemy main general is Xu Mo."

"Having been suddenly attacked and encircled by our Xiongying Brigade, yet able to organize a defense within such a short time and even take the initiative to counterattack, even gaining the advantage on a section of the battlefield—such strategic vision and tactical experience could belong to none other than the First Talent of Beixi County."

"Truly a fine general personally trained by Qin Feng, as expected, he's a tough one to deal with!"

Wu Kang, who happened to be exactly fifty years old this year, had spent half his life on the battlefield. Even during the earlier fierce offensive and defensive battles within Liang Kingdom's territory, Wu Kang had still been able to lead the Xiongying Brigade to cut a bloody swath in all directions. In Wu Kang's view, let alone ordinary Liang Kingdom armies, even the elite troops under Qin Feng were nothing more than a window—pierced with a single poke.

But after such a long time, meeting in battle again, the valor of the Beixi troops had already far exceeded Wu Kang's expectations.

The world only knows that the Tianji Camp Guards stand unrivaled under heaven, yet does not know that the Beixi Expeditionary Brigade is the regular army capable of "delivering the decisive blow."

If the Beixi Expeditionary Brigade could be consumed, or even severely damaged, it would greatly relieve the pressure faced by the entire Great Di.

Wu Kang's gaze was utterly resolute: "We won't wait for Grand General Chen Si's main force. Beidi War Command: immediately engage the enemy Expeditionary Brigade in full-scale battle."

At these words, Deputy General Ma Dang hurriedly tried to dissuade him: "General, the enemy Expeditionary Brigade is strong in men and horses. Not only do they advance with divine speed, they also carry their own logistics battalion. Whether in open field battle or consumption war, they are extremely formidable. If we fight a full-scale battle, our army is likely to face enormous casualties."

Wu Kang waved his hand, directly cutting off Ma Dang's words, his attitude beyond doubt: "If we can exchange our army's losses for the survival of Great Di, it would still be a boundless merit!"

"Even if we kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred of our own, this battle must still be fought!"

"Once we lose the Expeditionary Brigade, that vanguard spearhead, it will certainly be far more difficult for the enemy army to breach the Ezhou defensive line again. And never mind that Qin Feng or whoever—as long as we hold out until next year's early spring and gather troops from all regions, we can regain the initiative."

"With our blood, we shall forge Great Di's final defensive line!"

"Let our comrades-in-arms march forward trampling over our bones, and we shall have no regrets."