It's an amazing battle, it's a glorious battle, it's an incomparable battle, it's a near-miraculous battle.
This is the pinnacle of Xiang Yu's eight-year military career, an unprecedented miracle in the history of world warfare - the Battle of Pengcheng.
In March, Chengyang (now Juxian County, Shandong) spring rain continued, in a blink of an eye, Xiang Yu had spent three months in Qidi, the rebellion in Qidi had not been quelled, Liu Ji had broken the contract and went out of the customs, gathered nearly 600,000 princes in Luoyang, and attacked Pengcheng under the banner of avenging Emperor Yi. Almost all the princes of the land of the Three Jin Dynasty rebelled against Chu, and Yingbu, the king of Jiujiang who was sealed by Xiang Yu, and his father-in-law, Wu Rui, the king of Hengshan, also sat on the mountain to watch the tiger fight, with an ambiguous attitude. Poor Xiang Yu is obviously the best actor, but the limelight was completely stolen by Liu Ji, the best supporting actor, and the 600,000 extras have all become Liu Ji's fans.
In the current situation, the eighteen princes and kings that Xiang Yu had sealed back then had either betrayed or remained neutral, which was simply using Xiang Yu as the former tyrannical Qin.
In other words, in just one month, Xiang Yu has changed from the overlord of the world to the public enemy of the world. And Xichu, the world's first hegemonic country with hundreds of thousands of troops, also lost its capital and was on the verge of extinction. This may be unique in the entire history of China.
However, in the face of such a critical situation, the irritable Xiang Yu calmed down unexpectedly, it was the blue sky before the storm, and the sky was high and cloudy before the nuclear bomb.
Xiang Yu fought more than 70 battles in his short life, except for the last battle before his death, all of them were victories, but at that time, no one in the world thought that Xiang Yu could win this war, because Liu Ji had nearly 600,000 troops, and Xiang Yu only had 100,000 at hand, and they were scattered all over Sanqi to quell the rebellion, and there were not many mobile troops that could be mobilized; And if it drags on, the Chu army will cut off the logistics more passively, and what's worse is that the families of the Chu army are all in Pengcheng, and the army is in chaos, and I am afraid that they will all have to flee and collapse before they can fight back. Everyone should know the tragedy of Guan Yu's defeat in Maicheng during the Three Kingdoms, and the main reason is that the families of Guan Yu's army are under the control of Jiangling Lumeng, and the logistics are cut off, so this battle cannot be fought at all.
However, Xiang Yu is not Guan Yu. In fact, Xiang Yu's wit and courage in a desperate situation, as well as his control over his army, were far superior to that of the Martial Saint. So in this extremely bad situation, Xiang Yu made a decision that shocked the world: ordered the generals under his command to remain silent and lead the army to continue to pacify Sanqi; And he led 30,000 elite cavalry, held several days' rations, and traveled day and night, rushing to give them a thunderous blow when the princes' army had just entered Pengcheng and was the most proud and lax!
Terrible courage, crazy plans, the art of war that is almost **!
Because stirrups and Takahashi saddles had not yet been invented at this time (see Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang), cavalry had always been only an auxiliary arm in the Central Plains (unable to free hands). Not only did the number rarely exceed 10,000 men, but they usually fought in conjunction with infantry and vehicles, and rarely served as a solo battle (Note 1), let alone a thousand-mile raid.
Therefore, the Chu army blitzed Pengcheng with 30,000 cavalry, which was an astonishing feat of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu. You must know that the Han army at the same time did not even have a decent cavalry unit at this time! However, Xiang Yu was able to forcibly upgrade the role of cavalry from an auxiliary branch to the absolute main force of major battles in just a few years, and this tactical ability is unparalleled, from King Zhao Wuling, who planned to attack Qin with cavalry more than 100 years ago and failed to make the trip, to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who used the world's strength to defeat the Huns with cavalry a hundred years later, and to Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian general who defeated the Romans with a mixed infantry and cavalry army (36,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry) at the same time, all had to shout a "service" word to Xiang Yu!
Xiang Yu is from Chudi, and his 30,000 cavalry are from **? Some of the Yue cavalry from the south, that is, the mountain cavalry of the Baiyue people, and later Emperor Wu had the post of Yue cavalry captain among the eight captains; The other part comes from the Qin Great Wall Corps captured in the Julu War, there are many cavalry in the Qin Great Wall Corps, and especially the Lou Fu cavalry is the most refined, Lou Fu belongs to the nomadic people outside the Saiwai, and the Warring States Period and "Donghu", "Lin Hu" and called Sanhu, Sanhu is famous for being good at riding and shooting, when Zhao Wuling Wang Hu Fu rode and shoot, it is to find Sanhu to learn the art of apprenticeship. In the "Historical Records", it is also recorded that a large number of "Lou Fu generals" in the Chu army, such as the record of Guan Ying alone, he killed a total of 17 Lou Fu generals in the Chu army, and these people should be the generals who commanded the Lou Fu cavalry (this also shows from another side that Xiang Yu did not surrender to the Qin army in Xin'an). In addition, Ding Fu, who ranked fifth among the eighteen meritorious marquis of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, was also born in Lou Fu.
From the composition of Xiang Yu's cavalry, we can also know that most of the cavalry troops that Xiang Yu returned to support were Biansai Qin, Hu and Baiyue people in the south, and their families were probably not in Pengcheng, so they were not flustered because Pengcheng was occupied, but thought that this was a good opportunity to receive meritorious rewards and curry favor with the high-level. Of course, the middle and high-level cavalry generals of Xiang Yu's group should still be Chu people and Jiangdong people, but they have been fighting with Xiang Yu for a long time, and they are extremely confident in Xiang Yu's ability, so they will not have the slightest fear.
Chengyang is only more than 270 kilometers away from Pengcheng, and the soldiers are fast and the military situation is like fire, but Xiang Yu's cavalry did not rush to take the shortest straight line of Lanling, but after arriving in Qiyang, they suddenly entered the Junhe River valley westward, secretly passed through the Luzhong Mountains until Lu County (Note 2), and then suddenly turned southward, skillfully interspersed with the weak area of the coalition army, crossed Huling (now Yutai County, Shandong Province), penetrated directly into the southwest back of Pengcheng, and arrived at Xiao County (now Xiao County, Anwei Province, fifty or sixty miles southwest of Pengcheng), like a sharp blade. Quietly resisted the back of the princes' coalition army.
This decision is not something that ordinary commanders dare to make, in case it is discovered in advance by the alliance of princes, Xiang Yu's 30,000 cavalry cannot have any other outcome except being surrounded and annihilated.
But Xiang Yu dared, he just guessed that Liu Ji couldn't think of this, so he made this crazy decision.
Who would have thought that Xiang Yu, who was still in Qi a few days ago to command the counterinsurgency, could sneak to Chu quietly. Even if someone finds that they want to go to Pengcheng to report, they only have two legs, and they are not as fast as Xiang Yu's cavalry.
Sure enough, after Liu Ji occupied Pengcheng, he only built defensive barriers on the east and north lines to defend the Chu army from Qidi to the south, and then set up a wine meeting, I don't know what year it is. He never expected that Xiang Yu had already laid an ambush in his southwest rear, quietly looking at him who was complacent, his eyes full of disdain.
After arriving in Xiao County, Xiang Yu became more confident, because he was not hindered by anything along the way, which shows that although the princes' coalition army occupied Pengcheng, Dingtao, Lucheng, Yangxia, Zou County, Bianqiu, Dangxian, Xiayi and other core cities of Western Chu, Chu has not changed, and the majority of Chu people still support Xiang Yu politically. The military is the continuation of politics, and the Chu army will win this battle!
At dawn one day in April 205 BC, when the princes' army was still whispering in their sleep, Xiang Yu's 30,000 ironclad knights had already set out and went straight to Pengcheng without stopping.
After the battle of Julu that year, Xiang Yu's military genius has been recognized by the world, but after all, the battle of Julu is only 100,000 against 400,000, and there are 200,000 princes to respond. But this time, Xiang Yu faced the 600,000 princes' army with 30,000 cavalry alone, or that sentence, unless someone crossed the line and equipped each Chu soldier with a machine gun, who could believe that the final victor was actually Xiang Yu?
But this math problem can't be counted that way. Ten cavalry may not be able to defeat twenty infantry, but a thousand cavalry can definitely defeat thousands. When the number of cavalry phalanx reaches 30,000, its deterrent effect on the infantry will be very terrifying. Because at that time, no one had ever seen more than 30,000 cavalry formations, and thousands of horses were galloping, only in people's dreams.
What's more, all of Xiang Yu's 30,000 cavalry are not afraid of death; And the 600,000 infantry of the alliance of the princes are all afraid of death.
Therefore, when the 600,000 death-fearing princes under Pengcheng City were woken up by the sound of horses' hooves, and found that a red sea of Chu cavalry in front of them was rushing towards them endlessly, they couldn't help but be frightened, and after barely resisting for half a day, they were blown up and collapsed towards Pengcheng.
At the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there were only a handful of 10,000 households in the world, and even if Pengcheng was the capital of Western Chu, I believe that the city would not be very big, and suddenly hundreds of thousands of defeated troops would pour in, and its crowded situation can be imagined. Although it was almost noon, Liu Ji had just woken up from a hangover, and when he heard the noise outside, he *** walked to the window to see. This look is terrible, Pengcheng is full of defeated soldiers from various countries who are panicking, and the scene is even more chaotic than the college student talent recruitment fair.
Liu Ji heard the chaotic army clearly shouting: "The overlord is coming, the overlord is coming, run, ......."”
At this time, Liu Ji's general Fan Hao rushed in and said in a panic: "The Chu army has come to the city, the king, please go to the city as soon as possible to defend the palace." ”
Liu Ji sat down on the ground: "How fast is the Chu army? ”
Liu Ji asked Fan Xu, and Fan Xu asked who was going, and the two had to stare at each other with big eyes.
They soon discovered that in the current situation, it was impossible to gather men and horses to hold the city. Hundreds of thousands of defeated troops outside the city poured into the city, the soldiers could not find the captain, the commander could not find the chief, the commander could not find the team rate, the team rate could not find the commander, the commander could not find the marquis, the marquis could not find the captain, the lieutenant could not find the general, the general could not find the princes and kings, the information transmission and command system collapsed, how could this battle continue!
Liu Ji let out a long sigh and ordered: "Open the city gate four times, and each army will break through by different routes." Ah Baby, prepare the car, and the widow will also go for the plan! ”
Ah Ying is Liu Ji's chauffeur servant Xiahou Ying, the ancestor of Cao Cao's clan during the Three Kingdoms.
Liu Ji is a master of strategy and strategy, but he is obviously too far behind Xiang Yu in terms of tactical command, Han Xin once said that he can only command 100,000 soldiers, and he can't control it if he has more, but also.
Now let's take a look at the map. You will find that Pengcheng is not only a place of four battles, but also a place of death. Its city is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and it is only hundreds of miles away from Pingchuan in the west, and it can go west to Liang and Song. At the same time, the water is blocked on three sides, and Bian, Si is the pool, and the south can be opened to traffic and horses. Such terrain is suitable for sticking, and can only be held, if you abandon the city and flee, it will be blocked by the river on three sides, and it will be a dead end, I believe that Xiang Yu chose this place as the capital, and he never thought that he would abandon the city and flee.
But this time, the alliance of princes had to flee, one was that Pengcheng was cramped, and it could not accommodate 600,000 troops at all, and the second was that the Suishui logistics supply line in Xiao County in the west had also been cut off by Xiang Yu, and there was only one way to die.
Of course, escaping in such a dead place can only die faster.
The direction of Xiang Yu's attack was from west to east, and the princes' army could only flee in three directions: east, north, and south. Seeing this, Xiang Yu did not enter the city, but directly divided the 30,000 Chu army into three and pursued them separately.
30,000 people chased and killed 600,000, which is ridiculously tight.
As a result, the princes' army, which fled to the north and east, did not run far before they encountered a water barrier and had no boat to cross, so they had to turn back and engage in battle.
A few years later, there was a man named Han Xin (he was still in Guanzhong at this time to destroy the rest of Zhang Han), and he led more than 10,000 newly recruited weak soldiers to fight against the water, breaking the Zhao army of 200,000.
However, Han Xin is not something that anyone can do, and the incompetent have only a dead end when they encounter a backwater battle.
The poor princes' army, trembling, stood beside the wind and water, and watched Xiang Yu's ironclad cavalry already lined up in a dense impact formation and rushed towards them.
In the Qin and Han dynasties, the stirrup had not yet been invented, so the impact speed of the cavalry was not as fast as that of later generations, but when the cavalry of 10,000 people was densely pressed forward by the phalanx, the power was amazing enough, asking who in the world could be the front, not to mention the princes' army whose courage had been lost.
As a result, after the first battle, more than 100,000 princes' troops were either killed on the shore of the water, or they were forced into the rolling waves, drifting with the tide, and their dreams were broken.
Liu Ji's direct Han army, which fled south into the mountains, also suffered the same fate, they were caught up by 10,000 cavalry led by Xiang Yu himself on the shore of Suishui east of Lingbi (now south of Huaibei City, Anhui), the two armies faced each other, the Han soldiers continued to retreat, the Chu cavalry continued to press, the Han soldiers could not resist, the front retreated, then the array retreated, a burst of pressure, row by row were squeezed into the Suishui. The corpses of hundreds of thousands of Han soldiers were loaded and floated, and finally piled up into a meat dam, so that the water did not flow, forming a dammed lake.
Coupled with the hundreds of thousands of princes who died in front of them, nearly 300,000 young lives became lonely ghosts in one day, making cannon fodder for the foundation of the Han Dynasty. Woohoo, alas!
These 300,000 wild ghosts are all good young people, if they weren't born in troubled times, they would marry wives and have children, men and women weave, and live a quiet and peaceful life, but now they have only lost Qingqing's life because of the grievances and ambitions of Liu Xiang and the others. Woohoo, alas!
At dusk, the war around Pengcheng had basically ended, and 30,000 Chu troops gathered on the bank of Suishui, with three layers inside and outside, and surrounded the remaining 10,000 remnants of Liu Ji's regiment in an impenetrable manner.
Looking at the Suishui River at sunset, Liu Ji felt for the first time what the remnant sun is like blood and what is the end of the road.
No, I'm not reconciled, I can't just admit defeat, I'm the son of the Red Emperor, I'm the messenger of God, I'm the earth's load, I'm the destiny of heaven, none of you can kill me!
Liu Ji shouted an order to the remaining remnants of the more than 10,000 remnants of the army: "Today's battle has no advance or retreat, I am invincible, and those who are behind will be killed!" ”
With an order, Fan Xu, Zhou Bo and other generals then held long swords and went to the front line to supervise the battle.
More than 10,000 Han troops launched a crazy counterattack against the Chu army at the time of life and death, they rushed into the Chu array regardless of their lives, and some grabbed the spear of the Chu horse, dragged it off the horse and stabbed it to death with a short sword; Some ran under Chu's horse and stabbed the horse's belly. All of a sudden, the Chu cavalry fell off their horses one after another, and the battle situation seemed to have taken a turn for the better.
Seeing this, Xiang Yu suddenly laughed: "Okay, good, it seems that Liu Ji still has some backbone, it's interesting to fight like this!" Then he turned around and ordered his soldiers to hang a dog flag representing a bow and crossbow on the command platform.
Although the Chu people got on the horse, they did not forget the tradition of good archery handed down by the first god of the Great Chu hundreds of years ago, and the ten thousand Chu riders put the spear on the horse, took out the longbow on their backs, bent the bow and arrows, and shot towards the Han soldiers together.
I only heard a loud bang, and ten thousand arrows were fired in unison, and a huge shadow covered the sky and the Han array. I only heard the ...... of the babblingAfter a few showers of arrows, more than half of the Han soldiers fell suddenly, and Fan Hao and Zhou Bo also had an arrow in their arms, so they had no choice but to retreat temporarily.
There are less than 1,000 remnants of the army left, and the battle spirit is lost, and there is no one to rescue, Liu Ji is really dead this time, unless there is heavenly help.
Countless memories poured into Liu Ji's heart, from Peixian to Xue County, from Pengcheng to Bashang, from Hongmen to Hanzhong, from Sanqin and back to Pengcheng, Liu Ji only felt that his life had turned a big circle in the world, and everything returned to the original point. In the end, it was just a walk from the world to heaven, and then from heaven to hell, and when I woke up, everything was empty, and everything was just a big dream.
Am I really God's destiny? If that's the case, God, why haven't you come to my aid?
God heard Liu Ji's affectionate call, and really came to save him!
In the summer of 205 B.C., a sandstorm that mostly occurred in northern China near the desert area in winter and spring, miraculously erupted in the mountainous areas of northern Jiangsu, the wind rolled up dark clouds, swept from the northwest direction, for a time, the battlefield was filled with black fog, yellow dust was stuffed, the house was lifted, the trees were destroyed, the sky was dark, the sand and stones were flying, the two armies of Chu and Han were blown to the east and west, you can't look at me, I can't look at you, even if King Xiang has the power to pull out the mountain, but he can't help the hurricane to strike.
The wind stopped, the sand dispersed, Xiang Yu slowly opened his eyes, and found that the Han army on the battlefield had disappeared cleanly.
If you don't leave now, when will you stay?
Yes, Liu Ji ran away, and he can still escape in such a situation, I can only say that he may really have divine help.
Can a boiled duck actually fly? Xiang Yu jumped like thunder, and immediately ordered his generals Ji Bu, Zhong Liwu, and Ding Gong to lead 3,000 troops each, and pursued them overnight to search for Liu Ji.
Note 1: In Li Mu's famous battle to encircle and annihilate the Xiongnu, the number of cavalry was only 13,000, and its main force was still "100,000 people", that is, 100,000 people who opened their bows. At the Battle of Cannae in the West at the same time as Xiang Yu, Carthage defeated the most critical cavalry of Rome, and the number was only 8,000.
Note 2: In fact, at that time, Zou County, Xue County, and Lucheng were all occupied by the Fan Hao Han army, but Lucheng, which is now Qufu, Shandong Province, was the place where Xiang Yu was first sealed (King Chu Huai sealed Xiang Yu as the Duke of Lu), and was absolutely loyal to Xiang Yu, so his people helped Xiang Yu pass quickly.