The Chu army's encampment was in an unnamed village.
"Surround them with ten men... Good! Order the central army to continue resting, and send three thousand cavalry from the rear to accompany me into battle!" Xiang Yu decisively gave the order after hearing the scout's report.
"Here you go!"
...
No matter how secretive the movement of 100,000 troops was, it was impossible to escape the detection of the Chu army scouts. Apart from the unclear military situation in the south, Xiang Yu already knew the strength of the troops in the northwest and east.
Even if no enemy activity was detected to the south, Xiang Yu could deduce that Guan Ying's cavalry would definitely circle around to the south to encircle them.
To be fair, this kind of encirclement formation is good against infantry, which has poor mobility, but it is not so effective against Xiang Yu's army, which is all cavalry, unless it can be kept in the dark by the Chu army.
In fact, in order to avoid being discovered by the Chu army in advance, Guan Ying deliberately took a longer detour to the south, intending to quickly advance when the other three routes had completed their encirclement.
With one side missing from the encirclement, the Chu army's attempt to break out to the south would have resulted in them running into Guan Ying's 20,000 cavalry. With 20,000 cavalry at his disposal, Guan Ying could easily entangle Xiang Yu's forces and even pursue and gradually erode their strength.
But was Xiang Yu the kind of person who would run away if he saw a large number of enemy soldiers surrounding him?
Even if we were to run, it should be called a strategic retreat, and we should first tear off a piece of the enemy's flesh.
To strike unexpectedly and catch the enemy off guard was a tactic often used by Xiang Yu. If you dare to surround me, I dare to attack you!
Hao Jiu now understands this deeply. Faced with the crisis of being surrounded from all sides, Xiang Yu's first thought was to take the initiative to attack. In his view, this crisis contained an opportunity for war.
Rumble rumble...
Without any attempt at concealment, Xiang Yu led three thousand elite cavalry straight to the Huainan army in the north.
Hao Hu stared intently at the approaching dark cloud in the distance, swallowing hard. Xiang Yu had actually chosen to counterattack at this moment? This… this…
After a moment of distraction, Hao Hu issued two orders that were quite self-serving: "The Jiujiang Army shall form ranks to meet the enemy! The entire Huainan Army shall form ranks and retreat!"
However, the newly appointed commander of the central army in Jiujiang instinctively ignored the preceding words, ordering the entire army to retreat in formation!
Although Hao Hu was the temporary commander of the Northern Route Allied Army, he brought only new recruits. If he really fell out with the Jiujiang Army, he might not be able to gain any advantage. He could only order a quick retreat. As long as they retreated faster than the Jiujiang Army, there should be no problem, right?
Indeed, the Huainan army retreated faster than the Jiujiang army because their formation was not well maintained and they were almost in a rout.
Hao Hu knew that as long as he could successfully retreat to the Jiujiang army camp, he would be safe. Xiang Yu would never dare to attack the camp, otherwise he would surely be surrounded and killed there.
But Xiang Yu was leading a cavalry force! On this plain, how could infantry possibly outrun cavalry?
"Quickly, retreat!" Hao Hu breathed a slight sigh of relief as he watched the Jiujiang army gradually being pushed back. If they run too slowly, don't blame this general for being ruthless.
However, Xiang Yu's order instantly shattered Hao Hu's illusions: "All archers, prepare! Aim at the Huainan army and fire with full force!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Arrows rained down with a whooshing sound, and the Huainan army suffered heavy losses.
The commander of the central army in Jiujiang sneered, "Xiang Yu once said, 'We are all of the same root, why are we so eager to harm each other?' How could he possibly attack us? The entire army, accelerate your retreat!"
That's right. Xiang Yu's initial plan was to attack only the Huainan army and not the Jiujiang army. Even if the Jiujiang army attacked them, the Chu army would only fight the Huainan army.
It wasn't just because of the bond between the Jiujiang army and the Jiujiang army, but also to let Liu Ji know the deep affection between the Jiujiang army and Xiang Yu, so that Liu Ji wouldn't dare to give the Jiujiang army too much power, lest the two armies meet in a life-or-death situation in the future, which would be beneficial to everyone.
It is said that when the Chu army withdrew from the Jiujiang army camp, they took away a lot of arrows and provisions with them, and they were too embarrassed to leave the Huainan army to fight the Jiujiang army.
Thus, the Huainan army met a tragic end.
After two waves of arrows, the Huainan army suffered more than half its casualties, its formation was long gone, and it was scattered and routed. The Chu cavalry chased after them and slaughtered them.
Hao Hu regretted it as he ran, wondering why he hadn't stayed in the Huainan army camp and had come here instead!
Xiang Yu spotted the enemy general's leader fleeing in panic on horseback, drew his bow and released the arrow instantly. However, halfway through the flight, a guard of the enemy general happened to change course and took the arrow for the general.
"The entire army shall cease pursuit and march westward with me!" Xiang Yu knew that the east was entirely occupied by the Jiujiang army, so he paid no heed to it.
Meanwhile, the Jiujiang army, which was encircling from the east, changed course to support the northern army after learning that Xiang Yu had taken the initiative to attack the northern army and specifically targeted the Huainan army. However, they slowed down their advance even further. Only a fool would go to Xiang Yu to die and would also be branded as a fratricidal enemy.
As Xiang Yu said, the situation of the Chu army was not good. It was understandable that the Jiujiang army would lay down their weapons and surrender in order to save their lives. It was also understandable that they would be coerced by the Han army to attack the Chu army. However, it was wrong for them to fight the Chu army to the death when they were not coerced and could have easily let the enemy go.
Under the current circumstances, the Chu army and the Jiujiang army still have this tacit understanding. After all, the Chu army has already successfully broken through half of the encirclement, and Liu Ji may not be able to defeat Xiang Yu.
Moreover, the tens of thousands of Jiujiang soldiers who did not leave with Xiang Yu were not as loyal to Zhou Yin and Liu Ji as Zhou Yin claimed; they were simply there to survive.
On the other hand, after learning that Xiang Yu was attacking the northern army, Liu Jia immediately ordered the entire army to rush to support him. However, there was a problem: the Jiujiang army had originally been assigned to the southern side.
However, the battle has unexpectedly taken place in the north, so even if Liu Jia wanted to use the 10,000 Jiujiang soldiers as cannon fodder, he couldn't. Due to the urgent military situation, Liu Jia could only use his own 20,000 troops to hold the line first.
"Quickly! Immediately notify the Jiujiang Army and General Guan Ying to rush to their aid!" Liu Jia did not believe that the mere 80,000 troops from the northwest, east, and west routes could surround and kill Xiang Yu. Moreover, by the time they and the eastern route army arrived, it was hard to say how many of the 20,000 troops from the northern route would still be left.
However, Liu Jia was clearly overthinking things, because Xiang Yu suddenly abandoned his attack on the northern army and headed straight for his western army.
Twenty thousand men seemed to have the upper hand against three thousand, but the problem was that the three thousand were elite cavalry led by Xiang Yu!
"All troops, fire freely!" Xiang Yu ordered immediately upon seeing the banners of the Han army and Liu Jia.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Arrows rose like locusts, then fell like rain!
Ahhh...
The screams of Liu Jia's army erupted instantly. The shield soldiers raised their shields to block the attack, but many more had no way to escape.
Xiang Yu did not lead his cavalry directly into the enemy formation because the enemy's formation was well-preserved and clearly not comparable to the Huainan New Army.
However, the Chu cavalry's offensive did not stop. After firing a volley of arrows, the cavalry split to the left and right, ran in an arc to create distance from the enemy, and charged again to hurl arrows.
By repeating this process, the Chu army remained outside the enemy's attack range, yet was still able to inflict effective casualties on the enemy.
Hao Jiu couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "Isn't this the legendary kite tactic?"
Xiang Yu was planning to let Liu Jia's 20,000 troops die on the spot!
Chapter 35: A Decisive Strike
After several waves of arrows, Liu Jia finally couldn't hold on any longer. His formation began to fall into disarray, and most of the remaining troops huddled under their shields, not daring to move.
At this moment, Xiang Yu changed his tactics, no longer needing to retreat, and continued to rain down arrows.
Liu Jia tried his best to command under the cover of several large shields, but the army could only be passively attacked and was already in a state of collapse. However, no reinforcements from other directions could be seen!
Little did he know that Hao Hu's northern army had already retreated to the Jiujiang army camp, while the eastern Jiujiang army had gone north to support the battlefield just north and was treating the wounded soldiers of the Huainan army there!
As for Guan Ying's southern army, they had just arrived at the designated encirclement point two miles south of the nameless village when Xiang Yu took the initiative and launched an attack ahead of schedule, completely disrupting Guan Ying's plans.
Whether it was a four-sided encirclement or a three-sided encirclement with one side missing, it had all become a pipe dream. Guan Ying was ultimately a step below Han Xin.
Of course, Guan Ying was also tricked by the Huainan Army and the Jiujiang Army. If their two armies had fought as hard as Liu Jia, the encirclement strategy could have played a role to some extent.
Guan Ying's original intention was to use the 80,000 infantrymen to deplete the Chu army's manpower, and then have a decisive battle between Xiang Yu's cavalry and cavalry.
But now, the 80,000 troops have only exhausted the physical strength of the Chu army and Xiang Yu.
"General Guan Ying! Quickly send troops to rescue General Liu Jia! The Huainan Army and the Jiujiang Army are either nowhere to be found or are dragging their feet. We can only rely on the Han Army itself!" The junior officer of Liu Jia's army, who came to ask for help, kowtowed on the ground.
Guan Ying was now in a dilemma. According to the information gathered by the scouts, Xiang Yu still had several thousand cavalrymen in Wuming Village, and only a portion of them were attacking Liu Jia.
He now has three options. One is to send the entire army to support Liu Jia and surround and kill Xiang Yu there, but he must let the Chu army in Wuming Village go.
Secondly, regardless of Liu Jia, the entire army should surround and annihilate the Chu army left behind in Wuming Village, and then deal with Xiang Yu's Chu army. Xiang Yu is very likely to lead his army back to reinforce, thus saving Liu Jia while completely annihilating the Chu cavalry.
Thirdly, he also divided his troops, with half going to rescue Liu Jia and the other half to encircle and annihilate the Chu army in the nameless village. Both sides had the advantage in strength, so victory would not be difficult, but it was still not enough to completely annihilate the Chu army.
To be fair, Guan Ying preferred the second option, but the problem was that abandoning Liu Jia would inevitably incur his resentment. Moreover, Liu Jia was Liu Ji's distant cousin and was valued by Liu Ji, so it would be inappropriate not to rescue him.
If things really turn out as I expect, and Xiang Yu returns with his army to reinforce Wuming Village after learning it's besieged, that would be great. But what if he doesn't?
Even the Chu army in the nameless village wasn't surrounded?
This had clearly become a high-stakes gamble, and the key to victory lay in Xiang Yu's response and attitude. This made Guan Ying feel quite frustrated, but speed was of the essence in war, and any further hesitation would likely only lead to Liu Jia's death.
"Send out 10,000 cavalry to support Liu Jia, and the rest to immediately surround the Chu army in Wuming Village!" Guan Ying finally decided to take the safest third option.
With Xiang Yu personally commanding Liu Jia's forces, sending too few troops would likely be insufficient. Only 10,000 cavalry combined with Liu Jia's 20,000 infantry would offer any hope of annihilating Xiang Yu's Chu army.
Although the remaining 10,000 cavalrymen had some difficulty annihilating the Chu army in Wuming Village, once they surrounded them, it wouldn't be easy for the Chu army to break out. Once Liu Jia dealt with Xiang Yu or annihilated most of him, it would be much easier to turn around and wipe out the Chu army in Wuming Village.
Soon, Guan Ying's cavalry army split into two groups and acted independently. The moment the 10,000 cavalrymen successfully surrounded the nameless village from both sides, Guan Ying breathed a long sigh of relief. He was really afraid that this Chu cavalry would break out of the encirclement prematurely.
In the nameless village, Yu Ji once again donned that ill-fitting armor, while Xiang Han and Xiang Guan each led a thousand soldiers to defend the village's various entrances and exits.
Although the village lacks defensive fortifications such as city walls, the ravines, dense forests, houses, courtyards, low walls, fences, and other structures can all be used as cover.
Most importantly, the Chu army had no shortage of arrows and provisions, which was the source of Xiang Yu's confidence to stay in Wuming Village.
After Guan Ying besieged the nameless village, he began a probing attack. If he could conquer and annihilate the Chu army left behind, he might be able to end the Chu-Han Contention ahead of schedule.
"Charge!" Guan Ying gave the order, and thousands of cavalrymen immediately rushed forward, only to be met with arrows from the Chu army.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
The Chu cavalry had many skilled archers who could shoot accurately even on horseback, let alone on flat ground.
After leaving behind hundreds of corpses, the cavalrymen sent by Guan Ying to attack retreated.
"Pass down the order: the entire army shall shoot them with bows and arrows!" Guan Ying issued the order again.
In fact, Guan Ying's cavalry army was modeled after Xiang Yu's cavalry, and their equipment was similar. However, Guan Ying's cavalrymen were basically not skilled in mounted archery and could only fire arrows when dismounted or when their horses were still.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
As the arrows rained down, most of the Chu soldiers hid behind cover, afraid to show their faces, with only a few daring to fight back.
After several waves of arrows, Guan Ying sent his troops to charge again, but they were shot back by the Chu army.
Guan Ying was heartbroken. Although his cavalrymen didn't even know how to shoot on horseback, they were all carefully selected, and it was a real pity that they all died like this.
Guan Ying sighed inwardly. If only his army had several large shields, but unfortunately he didn't. So he had to temporarily abandon the attack and wait for the infantry reinforcements to arrive before launching another attack.
I suppose those ten thousand cavalrymen have already joined up with Liu Jia? If only we could crush Xiang Yu's army in one fell swoop...
At this time, the 10,000 cavalrymen sent by Guan Ying to support Liu Jia did arrive at the battlefield where Liu Jia had previously fought with Xiang Yu, but all they found were corpses and wounded soldiers everywhere!
"Where is he?" Zhang Meng, a trusted general under Guan Ying, looked around.
Suddenly, Colonel Liu Jiajun heard faint sounds of battle coming from the northwest. He immediately realized, "Reporting to General Zhang, General Liu must be retreating towards the main camp. Judging from the sound, the fighting hasn't stopped yet. Let's go and provide support!"
"Chase!" Zhang Meng waved his hand, his face full of disdain. Twenty thousand troops had actually been driven away by a few thousand men. Otherwise, they would have already surrounded Xiang Yu.
...