Qin Official

More than 20 elephants came running wildly. The scene was really shocking. Each of the giant animals strode forward, with four legs like beams, and big ears on both sides like cattail fans. They roared loudly, like a fast-moving high wall. The scene was Extremely terrifying.

Facing these giant beasts with long noses and fangs, the soldiers in the front row of the Qin army's array turned green and white. They could only feel the ground shaking slightly. The pebbles on the river beach even danced, and they could no longer hold the spears steadily. …

If Han Xin hadn't lined up with his back to the water and everyone had no way to retreat, I'm afraid someone would have dropped their weapons and run away.

After all, thousands and hundreds of years have passed since the last time the Central Plains countries fought with elephants, but the fear of humans who are taller than themselves is rooted in their hearts and passed down from generation to generation.

Only Han Xin, looking at the elephants appearing in the distance, did not panic, but smiled.

"Sure enough, it's here!"

As a military strategist who emphasizes "plan first and then fight", how could the Marquis of Changnan be unprepared for this?

At a meeting held in Nanning, the Marquis of Changnan asked his subordinates to offer suggestions and discuss how to deal with war elephants, the Luoyue people's trump card.

Lu Jiaxian, who was familiar with classics, talked eloquently. He cited classics and said that the climate in the north was warmer. When elephants were still roaming in Henan, King Zhou of Shang had tamed these giant beasts and used them to conquer Dongyi.

But that was more than a thousand years ago. There is only one sentence left in the history books. It also said that during the Eastern Campaign, Duke Zhou threw all kinds of beasts into the battlefield. It sounds like fantasy...

"Driving away all the ferocious beasts, including leopards, rhinoceros and elephants, to support their might?"

So the Marquis of Changnan asked Lu Jia: "The people of Yin and Zhou are so powerful, can they still ride on the five-color sacred ox, the black-spotted tiger, the black-spotted tiger, the black unicorn, and the elk to fight?"

Everyone didn't understand Heifu's cold joke, so this article was published.

It is also said that during the Spring and Autumn War between Wu and Chu, when the King of Chu evacuated the capital of Ying, he drove the elephants domesticated by the royal family to hinder the Wu army, tied reeds to the tails of the elephants and lit them on fire. division.

However, that was just taking advantage of the frightened elephants, not fighting with them. So strictly speaking, the conquest of Baiyue was the first time that the Central Plains had collided with this army.

In the first Qin-Vietnam War, the morale of the Cangwu Army, which was already low, was frightened by these behemoths. The horses were frightened when they saw the elephants, and the infantry even became weak in the legs. As a result, the Luo people rode elephants into the formation. They killed everyone in all directions. Their long trunks gently rolled up people, and then they fell to the point where they vomited blood. The huge elephant hooves stepped on people and shattered them to pieces. Although not many people were actually killed, it caused great panic. The Luo people took the opportunity to cover up the killing, and the Qin army was defeated and collapsed.

But after careful analysis, Changnan Hou believed that the Luo people's elephant soldiers were not as terrible as imagined.

The Hellenistic countries west of Congling have already mastered elephant fighting, engaging hundreds of animals at a time, and there was even a historic showdown between African forest elephants and Asian elephants.

Although Luo Yue has tamed the Asian elephants in the forest, the technology trees for armor and tactics have not been updated yet. There is no elephant carriage or saddle on the war elephant's back. He only has a driver to tie himself to the elephant's back, and no one can stand next to him. .

Therefore, Heifu believed that Luo Yue's war elephant did not cause much damage, and its real power was to intimidate the Qin soldiers and break through the military formation.

It's definitely not possible to be tough. The average army can't even withstand the pressure of cavalry and chariot charges, let alone elephants? Furthermore, the crazy elephant has rough skin and thick blood. If it rushes into the dense phalanx, it will definitely cause huge damage.

Finally, after brainstorming among his staff and subordinates, Changnanhou picked out a few reliable strategies and handed them over to Han Xin.

"There are seven or eight ways to defeat the enemy. You can just pick one or two according to local conditions!"

Therefore, when the enemy troops were approaching in a herd, charging in a single line, with the new soldiers frightened and the old soldiers trembling with fear, Han Xin methodically ordered the Qin army to change the dense square formation into a dispersed formation and get out of the way in the middle. A road that allows the back line to come forward with their long-prepared "killer weapon".

It turned out to be dozens of mules that screamed loudly. They were driven by the soldiers to the front row. They were chewing beans in their mouths and continued to excrete and defecate. The stench was terrible...

Chen Ying stared at Han Xin as if he were a fool: "Han Sima, are you planning to use these mules to stop the elephants?"

Mules were bred as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. They are timid and dull, far less intelligent than horses and donkeys, but they are more tolerant, can endure hardships and bear heavy loads, are more obedient, and are not picky about food. When the Qin Dynasty destroyed the Six Kingdoms, they were often used as pack animals. .

Chen Ying only described the power of the elephant soldiers in the general shogunate, but he did not know what method he had arranged to break them. I had always been curious before, although when fighting in the south, mules were good at climbing up mountains and were more suitable than horses for carrying grain and supplies. But this time the boat division went upstream, so there was no need to dedicate several boats to load mules, right?

Now he was shocked to realize that Han Sima was planning to use mules to deal with elephants?

"One thing brings down another thing."

Han Xin was full of confidence, but Chen Ying found it ridiculous. At this moment, the few horses in the army were frightened and uneasy. The mules were even more timid. How could they defeat the giant elephant?

Chen Ying could only murmur: "First he let the fleet leave, then he turned his back, and now it's like this again. It's crazy. This Han Sima is really crazy..."

But in the blink of an eye, the elephant herd had approached more than a hundred steps away. Without any delay, Han Xin immediately ordered: "Light the fire!"

Only then did Chen Ying realize that these mules had a large bundle of flammable dry straw tied tightly to their backs. When the fire started, they started running around like crazy.

But because the Qin army raised their spears again, the mule had no way to retreat and could only run in the direction of the elephant, with blazing flames on its back, thick smoke rising, and a huge panic. Call……

These poor mules should become the first victims of the elephant, right? Chen Ying sighed and thought.

But a surprising scene occurred. When the mules released by the Qin army approached the elephants, the more than 20 mighty elephants, whether they were afraid of the flames or frightened by the mules' sharp shouts, did not stop. Listening to the driver's words again, they formed a position and scattered in all directions, either running diagonally towards the river, or turning around and running away...

"this……"

Chen Ying was stunned. He didn't expect that the seemingly invincible Xiang Zhen would be charged by a group of mules.

Not only Chen Ying, but the entire Qin army array, those Qin soldiers who were originally frightened, not only were not afraid anymore, but instead burst into laughter.

He looks like a giant, but turns out to be a coward!

"Have you ever heard of the Fire Bull Formation?"

Han Xin pointed to the croaking mules between the Qin army and the Yue people and said to Chen Ying:

"The people of Qi relied on hundreds of cattle, tied reeds to their tails and filled them with oil, lit them with fire, and rushed into Yan's formation. As a result, they defeated Yan's army. It's the same now. This is my idea. It can be called 'Fire Mule Formation' . Elephants are afraid of fire and easily frightened. It is said that the elephants tamed by the South Vietnamese are even afraid of pigs braying. This mule brays much louder than that..."

However, only half of the elephants that were scared away by the mules ran far away, and a few of the elephants ran away for a while, and then were manipulated by their drivers to turn their heads and continue to charge towards the Qin army.

But this time, the Qin soldiers no longer had the previous fear. Now that they knew that elephants were afraid of fire, the crossbow soldiers used smoke arrows.

Smoke arrows, also known as rockets, are the sharp weapons used by Mohists to defend the city. Qin Mo has been in Qin for hundreds of years, so why would the Qin army not be able to use them? For a moment, the smoke arrows were like rain, and they were shot in front of and on the elephants that rushed over. Although the elephant's skin was thick and could not be killed, the smoke arrows covered with a layer of rosin stuck into the body and burned, and burned away the elephant's remaining energy. mind.

They became crazy and began to spin in circles, shaking their bodies, trying to extinguish the flames on their bodies. In the end, they threw the driver down and trampled him to death. Then they regarded the Qin formation that was constantly firing smoke arrows as a dangerous path and turned around. , rushing towards the Luo people and Ou people who were following behind!

Seeing the elephants turning against each other, the Ou people and Luo people crowded at the entrance of the river beach either ran to give way, or bravely stepped forward with bamboo spears to kill the elephants. As a result, after seeing blood, they became even more crazy. They raised their proboscis and giant feet and killed in all directions, trampling on their own army. For a time, Luo Ou suffered heavy casualties and was defeated.

War elephants were once the Luo people's trump card to defeat the powerful Qin army, but now, they were devoured by them and became the beginning of their collapse.

"Sure enough, one thing brings down another thing!"

Chen Ying laughed heartily, laughing at the Luo people who finally reaped the consequences. He also laughed at the stupidity of the captain of Cangwu County before. Why didn't he think of such a simple but ingenious idea?

"This is just one of Changnan Hou's seven or eight elephant-breaking tactics."

Han Xin sighed, and then issued an even crazier order:

"The whole army is forward, surround the Luo people!"

"Surrounded?"

Chen Ying was startled again.

"Five thousand people surrounding thirty thousand people?"

Although it sounds incredible, after repelling the elephant herd and the morale of the Qin army became high, they no longer questioned the young Sima's words. The spear changed from flat to diagonal, took steps, stepped on the pebbles on the river beach, and headed towards Luo Luo. The Ou coalition forces advance!

Chen Ying was among them. Just when he was wondering how to encircle him, there was another movement behind the Luo Ou coalition forces that had just defeated the Mad Elephant!

A Qin army of more than a thousand men appeared behind them as if descending from heaven, catching the Yue people by surprise.

Chen Ying was surprised and delighted: "Which army is that? When did Sima arrange the follow-up move?"

"Of course it's the fleet that Sima Weiyang just 'escaped' from."

Han Xin laughed loudly. It turned out that this was Wei Yang who had left half an hour ago. He took more than a thousand rowing soldiers and landed on the other side of the U-shaped river beach, and broke into Ou Luo's line from the flank. Behind, the target of the attack is King Luo's conspicuous giant feather fan!

This is also the reason why Han Xin chose this place to lure the Luo people. The Qin army, which totaled less than six thousand, really surrounded the thirty thousand Ou Luo coalition army!

That's why he said that this battle seems difficult, but in fact it is easy. There is no need to draw the sword at all!

As King Luo's feather fan fell, various tribes of the Luo people began to mix up, while the Ou people saw that the situation was not good and began to withdraw from the battlefield.

"Kill! Chase them to death! Kill as many as you can."

Han Xin threw down the war drum, boarded the chariot, and pointed to the road ahead with high spirits.

"For the new recruits, this battle is a battle to make achievements and become famous."

"For the old soldier, this battle is a battle of revenge and revenge."

"But no matter what, this will be the last battle! If we win, we won't be far from going home!"

…

In the battle of Jin Nanshui, due to the clever use of the "Fire Mule Formation" and smoke arrows, the elephant herds turned back, King Luo died, Lord Ou fled, and nearly 20,000 Yue people were killed or injured, and the rest also fled in all directions and slipped into the forest. , no longer dared to show their heads, the Ouluo Alliance was scattered and disintegrated.

The Qin army suffered less than a thousand casualties and arranged for the fleet to take the wounded soldiers back to report the victory. Han Xin took three to four thousand people back to Linchen, where they once docked, and came to the old battlefield of the last war...

In that battle, three thousand Qin soldiers fell here alone, and in the ensuing defeat, more than five thousand people fell.

Returning to his old place, Five Hundred Lord Chen Ying was in a daze. Only two years had passed. Broken flagpoles could still be found everywhere on the battlefields of the past, but the military flags had been torn back by the Luo people and used as cloth. The remaining weapons and armor were gone. Omission.

"Really like a flock of crows."

Chen Ying cursed, but these crows, in addition to armored soldiers, also hunted for human heads and hung them at home as an honor. Only damaged heads would be spared. They would even cut and roast their flesh, on the grounds that eating the enemy's flesh would allow them to inherit their power. Such barbaric behavior is truly outrageous...

Fortunately, the crows have dispersed and it is dawn.

According to the Luo people's prisoners, they found the place where the Luo people abandoned the bodies of Qin soldiers. Two years later, weeds had grown wildly here, but there was still a faint smell in the air. Pushing aside the dense vines, Chen Ying discovered A mountain of bones...

Numerous bones filled the ravine, which was shocking. If you looked carefully, you could see that most of them were headless. The grass was full of wolf droppings. Jackals must have visited this place frequently in the past two years.

"The Marquis of Changnan promised that when the corpses of the soldiers who died in the battle are found, even if it takes a year and a half, they will send people to dig out their bones and transport them back to Nanning for burial in the Loyalist Cemetery, where they will be laid on tombstones with their names engraved on them. The soul is back, but there are so many corpses. How can we find our fellow villagers?"

An old man who had followed Chen Ying from Dongyang County sighed. No fewer than ten people in their village died here, and their corpses may be mixed among the thousands of bones.

Chen Ying said, "Didn't the Marquis of Changnan say that? We have left home, but the Southern Expedition Army is the home of 300,000 soldiers and civilians. The officers and men of the Southern Expedition Army, regardless of their place of origin, are all brothers!"

Chen Ying pointed to the pile of bones: "It's the same with them. Since they have become one, they don't distinguish between you and me, so just pick them all up."

As he spoke, he pushed aside the long weeds, stepped forward, and scared away countless centipedes and millipedes. Then he knelt on the ground and drove away the black ants crawling on a cracked skull. However, he saw that the skin, flesh, and brain had all been destroyed. Eat short.

"It's really miserable for you to have such a big hole in your head, but you're lucky that Luo Ren didn't break the skull, so I could find you."

Chen Ying stared at the empty eye sockets, sighed, picked up the skull, wrapped it in a linen bag, held it in his arms, and bowed his head heavily to the corpses of Qin soldiers scattered throughout the ravine. , already choked with sobs:

"Brother, your expedition is over!"

…

ps: What a risk, I finally finished writing it today without setting a flag.