On the frontal spear formation battlefield, although the Yi Province Militia had a larger number of soldiers, the Fifth Battalion and Sixth Battalion were mostly composed of new recruits with insufficient experience.
Therefore, the encirclement strategy of the Flying Geese Formation did not work immediately, and the tactics were not well executed.
The spear formations of both sides have temporarily reached a stalemate, and in some localized areas, the Yi Province Militia is even showing signs of being routed!
Xu Jing promptly reminded Wu Shuangren to mobilize the reserve team, sending out small squads from time to time to fill the gaps that were about to be breached.
Of course, in some places the elite troops of the Yi Province Militia had the upper hand and were on the verge of breaking through the Mount Liang formation.
Xu Jing would also promptly send Wu Shuangren's reserve team to reinforce the area, hoping to find a breakthrough in the local area.
The same situation applies to the swordsmen and shieldmen fighting on the left and right flanks; in some places, reserves need to be deployed to hold them off.
On the Mount Liang side, Lu Yulin, with Wu Yan's assistance, was also deploying troops and sending out reserves continuously.
The two commanders traded blows, each responding to the other's moves!
Wu Shuangren took the opportunity to learn from Xu Jing's command strategies and absorb valuable experience.
Gradually, on this battlefield of spearmen, the Yi Province Militia, whose numbers nearly doubled, finally gained the upper hand and began to suppress the Mount Liang spearmen!
At the rear of the battle line, Wu Yan remained calm and showed no signs of panic.
He waved his goose feather fan. "It's time for Commander Guan to move."
Although the Mount Liang forces were a few thousand fewer than their opponents, they had a huge advantage: they had more cavalry!
In Wu Yan's view, Mount Liang's addition of several hundred cavalrymen was enough to make up for the numerical disadvantage of only a few thousand men, and could even give them the initiative in the battle.
With the order given, Guan Sheng led the Mount Liang cavalry in a charge!
The horses' hooves thundered, dust flew, and it looked as if two yellow dragons had appeared out of nowhere on the earth!
Guan Sheng once again divided the more than 1,000 Mount Liang cavalry into two groups, with more than 500 riders on each side.
He led more than 500 cavalrymen to the left flank, taking the initiative to attack the cavalry of the Yi Province Militia, while the remaining 500 cavalrymen rushed to the right flank.
Wu Dongrong and Liao Yu led their cavalry battalion, keeping a close eye on the opposing cavalry. Seeing Guan Sheng leading over five hundred riders to charge, Wu Dongrong spurred his horse and led the cavalry battalion into action.
Light cavalry were not meant for direct charges, so Wu Dongrong led his cavalry contingent around an arc, deliberately creating some distance between themselves and the Yi Province Militia's battle formation.
As expected, Guan Sheng did not charge into the battle formation of the Yi Province Militia, but instead led the Mount Liang cavalry in pursuit.
Both sides knew perfectly well that Guan Sheng's goal was to entangle the Yi Province Militia's cavalry, preventing him from harassing the Yi Province Militia's battle formation, and also preventing Wu Dongrong from leading his cavalry to harass Mount Liang's battle formation.
Of course, if given the chance, Guan Sheng also wanted to avenge being tricked by the other side last time and seize the opportunity to severely damage this Yi Province Militia cavalry!
On the other side, the remaining 500-plus Mount Liang cavalry were not disturbed at all. They circled around in an arc, heading towards the rear of the Yi Province Militia battle formation, intending to attack directly from behind!
This is the advantage that cavalry brings.
The side with more cavalry has greater initiative on the battlefield and can choose to attack the opponent's weak points!
Through the exchange just now, Wu Yan had already figured out that Wu Shuangren must have placed the more than two thousand Rong Province troops at the rear of the battle formation.
Therefore, Wu Yan told Guan Sheng to have the right-wing cavalry bypass the enemy lines.
He didn't believe that the cowardly Rong Province cavalry could withstand the charge of hundreds of cavalrymen without fleeing in disarray.
Upon seeing a Mount Liang cavalry unit attempting to flank them, Wu Shuangren preemptively ordered the two Rong Province Battalion battalions at the rear of the battle formation to turn around and form a semi-circular defensive formation. He also instructed Liao Dayong to lead the archer brigade to retreat to the center of the semi-circle.
This formation is called the Crescent Moon Formation, and like the Flying Geese Formation, it is a relatively common and practical battle formation.
Soldiers formed a defensive perimeter with spears on the outside, while archers continuously fired arrows from the inner perimeter to defend against enemy attacks.
From the very beginning of training, Xu Jing knew that the two battalions from Rong Province were not capable of serving as the main attackers, so he had them practice the Crescent Moon Formation.
Although they appeared somewhat flustered, the two Rong Province Battalion managed to set up the Crescent Moon Formation before the Mount Liang cavalry arrived.
More than 500 Mount Liang cavalrymen, arranged in rows of over 100, spread out their formation and charged at two Rong Province Battalion Militia Private from several hundred paces away.
The yellow sand rolls on, its momentum overwhelming!
The sound of horses' hooves grew closer, and the Militia Private of both Rong Province Battalion could clearly feel the ground shaking.
These Mount Liang cavalrymen, each weighing nearly a thousand catties including the rider, horse, and armor, galloped at high speed from afar, crashing straight into us!
The visual impact and psychological pressure are simply too strong!
These local militia and brave men from Rong Province had faced similar charges when they were in Rong Province.
No team could hold out; the crowds scattered before the enemy cavalry even reached them.
Every place was failing; no local militia or village brigade could withstand the Mount Liang forces.
Before arriving in Yi Province, the Rong Province people present all thought it was normal to lose to Mount Liang, and that it was normal for them to be unable to defeat them.
So they lost their wealth, their hometown, and their dignity.
But when they arrived in Yi Province, they witnessed firsthand how people repeatedly defeated the Mount Liang forces!
The once invincible enemy has become a victim of someone else's blade.
That person told them that Mount Liang was nothing special.
That person promised them that he would help them drive away the bandits from Mount Liang and restore peace to their hometown!
Last night, when the two battalion commanders and several deputy battalion commanders from Rong Province brought the news back, the more than two thousand men in the two Rong Province Battalion were all burning with a fire in their hearts!
Many people couldn't sleep last night.
They were thinking about today's battle, and they were also thinking about the future.
Ahead, the Mount Liang cavalry were only an arrow's length away from the Crescent Moon Formation.
The familiar sense of fear returned, and memories of past failures flooded back.
"No refund! No refund! No refund!!!"
Some people's legs were trembling, and they kept shouting in their hearts.
Someone shouted it out loud.
The archer brigade in the center of the battle formation fired first, with the arrows landing within fifty paces in front of the formation, preventing the charging Mount Liang cavalry from getting too close to fire.
Soon, the Mount Liang cavalry swept to the right in front of the Crescent Moon Formation, and the riders on horseback fired arrows into the battle formation.
As the arrows rained down, the ranks of the two Rong Province Battalion stirred.
Some fell, wounded by arrows; others shouted and steadied themselves.
Next, more than 500 Mount Liang cavalrymen fired in waves, with volleys of arrows raining down, some hitting the shields in the front ranks and others hitting the archers in the center.
After several volleys of arrows, the Crescent Moon Formation formed by the two Rong Province Battalion was somewhat disturbed, but the formation eventually stabilized!
Upon seeing this, the Mount Liang general in charge decisively ordered his troops to close in and fire, allowing the cavalry to charge even closer.
Although this method would result in being killed by the enemy's arrows, it could also inflict effective damage on the enemy.
He didn't believe the enemy could remain calm once these Rong Province people actually shed blood and suffered increased casualties.
As the Mount Liang cavalry drew closer, some arrows struck the armored riders.
Some were struck by arrows and fell from their horses, while others continued their charge even after being hit by arrows.
When they got within ten paces, the mounted cavalrymen fired arrows at the Rong Province Militia Private in front of them with powerful crossbows or bows.
Arrows whistled through the shields, wounding or killing the Militia Private behind them!
After blood was drawn, the battle formation did indeed weaken in some places, and even riots broke out!
However, these issues quickly subsided and did not cause widespread chaos or large-scale disruptions in certain areas.
Wu Shuangren was also keeping a close eye on the battlefield and was prepared to throw all his reserves into it.
However, he was pleased that the two Rong Province Battalion had done very well so far!
While the Mount Liang cavalry's repeated close-range firing caused casualties to their own side, the crossbow bolts fired from the battle formation also inflicted considerable damage on these cavalrymen!
Warhorses collapsed to the ground, neighing, their blood staining the earth red. Some wounded cavalrymen struggled to their feet or turned to flee.
They were quickly shot down one by one by skilled crossbowmen or archers!
After suffering forty or fifty casualties, the commander of this Mount Liang cavalry force had to admit that he could not quickly break through the enemy's lines.
They can either shift their focus and look for a breakthrough elsewhere.
The only options are to continue the battle until the enemy runs out of crossbow bolts, or to exhaust the strength of the enemy archers.
Only when the opponent is unable to retaliate can we attempt to break their formation.
Soon, the battle report reached Lu Yulin and Wu Yan.
How could this be?!
Wu Yan found it hard to believe.
He couldn't understand why those two thousand-plus men, who were clearly no match for Rong Province, had suddenly become so resilient in Wu Shuangren's hands.
Even if Wu Shuangren is highly skilled at training troops, it's only been a little over half a month. How could he possibly transform these people so completely?
"Send word to the right-wing cavalry to return and attack the enemy's front lines!"
Lu Yulin has already issued the order.
If the right-wing cavalry can successfully break through the enemy's rear and completely disrupt their entire battle formation, then the battle is over.
However, the cavalry on the right wing failed to achieve any success, while the Mount Liang vanguard, with its more than two thousand spearmen, was on the verge of collapse!
As soon as Lu Yulin gave the order, the more than 500 Mount Liang cavalry on the right flank quickly withdrew and circled around to the right of the spear formation in front of the Yi Province Militia.
The Yi Province Militia quickly responded, with a battalion of over four thousand spearmen splitting off from the right flank to form a defensive line, blocking the oncoming Mount Liang cavalry.
Shields were attached to each other, with spears extending outwards.
The most important Flying Geese Formation is the strength of the two flanks, so Wu Shuangren placed his First Battalion and Second Battalion on the left and right flanks.
At this moment, the troop formation was changed in time, and what stood in front of the Mount Liang cavalry was First Battalion of elite troops!
Wu Shuangren had already ordered Liao Dayong to lead the crossbow battalion to rush forward from the rear to support the First Battalion.
The Mount Liang cavalry ultimately failed to gain any advantage, but at least they relieved the pressure on the front lines.
"I'll lead the charge!"
Seeing that the right-wing cavalry had still failed to achieve any success, Lu Yulin was becoming increasingly impatient.
His greatest pride was never his wisdom or battlefield tactics, but his personal martial arts skills!
Although he was the Grand Marshal of the entire army when he led the troops south to Yi Province, in reality, he could entrust the tasks of troop deployment and troop allocation to Wu Yan when the troops were actually on the battlefield.
Lu Yulin's true strength lies in leading an elite force like a sharp knife straight into the enemy ranks, tearing open gaps with his personal martial prowess!
So when he saw that the battle had reached a stalemate, he wanted to lead his men out to break the deadlock.
For Mount Liang, a place with many skilled fighters, this was their most proficient and effective tactic!
"No rush, let's wait a bit longer."
Wu Yan shook his head.
He knew that Wu Shuangren still had a heavy infantry unit, which must be the last trump card the enemy had left to break the deadlock!
When two armies are locked in a stalemate, the battle comes down to their respective reserves.
Wu Yan wanted to wait for Wu Shuangren to make the first move. He needed to see where the opponent would place their piece before letting Lu Yulin lead the last elite troops out to fight.
On the other side, on the high platform.
Wu Shuangren stared intently at the battlefield, gripping his long-handled broadsword tightly.
"Mount Liang must have reserved a most elite force, ready to be led by a master warrior to break through the stalemate at a crucial moment!"
"What you need to do is wait for the other side to make the first move, observe their movements, and then lead your men out to attack. This way, we'll have the best chance of winning!"
These are the words Xu Jing said to Wu Shuangren.
Therefore, Wu Shuangren, who always leads from the front, has remained silent until now and has not yet made a move.
On the battlefield, the sounds of battle were deafening, and the number of corpses on the ground was increasing.
Both sides are waiting for the other to give way first, waiting for the moment to deliver the final blow.
167 Man and horse as one, dragons battle in the wild (Large Chapter)