Chapter 69: Field Battle 2

  Ye Xuan prepared to defend stubbornly first, waiting for the Golden Army's morale to be severely damaged before turning defense into offense and giving those arrogant Golden Soldiers a show.

  This effect is due to the rigorous training of the Ye family army in peacetime. The Ye family army changed formations with order and precision, without any noise or disorder in their ranks.

  With the sound of the gong, when the Jin army was still over 200 steps away, Sun Yu's right vanguard had already formed their array. They were mostly arranged in a circular formation at the front, with each soldier standing according to the position indicated by the banner. When the drumbeat sounded for the third time, everyone took up their positions, with crossbows, swords and spears, shields and other weapons at the ready! Hundreds of officers and soldiers suddenly shouted in unison: "Protect, protect, protect!" The sound was deafening. They shouted three times, then stood still and silent.

  Sun Yu's left horn array was formed on the left side of the circular formation. The soldiers stood in step, each taking their position, and after they opened up, all the crossbow shields took a combat stance, shouting "Tut, tut, tut" three times, standing still and motionless.

  Very soon, Chen Fei's battalion on the right flank also formed up and they shouted in unison "He, Jiang, He"

  After the entire circular formation was completed, all the soldiers shouted in unison "Kill, kill, kill" three times. After a loud crash from the central army department, the entire circular formation fell silent instantly, and all the soldiers were waiting in strict array. Not a single sound came out.

  Ye Xuan stood in the center of the formation, looking around. At this time, a large circular array had already been laid out around him.

  It's called a circular array, but it's not quite suitable. It should be called a square and round array. In front of the circular array facing the Jin army's large array, Sun Yu's unit laid down a straight edge with a small square array. At the very front were forty-five crossbowmen from Sun Yu's right wing division, divided into three rows standing solemnly, each row consisting of fifteen men.

  Each crossbowman was fully armored, and Ye Xuan brought more than 650 sets of armor. There were over 660 men in the three shifts, almost everyone could get a set of armor. Although the armor was good or bad, having armor was better than not having any.

  Behind the three rows of crossbowmen, there were two rows of long spearmen, formed by the long spearmen of the Right Vanguard First Unit. Each of them held a shield in their hands, becoming gun-shield soldiers. Protecting the front line from the sharp arrows shot by the Golden Soldiers. The squad leader of each small team was actually in charge of thirty gun-shield soldiers here, which were divided into two rows.

  Behind them, Officer Zhao Jie of the Right Vanguard led his two guards and a flag bearer. A drummer directed here.

  On both sides of these two rows of shield-bearing soldiers, there were thirty crossbowmen at each corner, fifteen on each side, also divided into three rows.

  In Ye Xuan's calculation, at the connection of each watchtower in the circular formation, a part of the crossbowmen from each watchtower was left behind. In this way, the crossbowmen could be protected by the long spear soldiers, and after they finished firing, they could retreat back into the formation. After reloading, they would charge to the connection again to shoot.

  These crossbowmen who have finished shooting. After entering the formation, they can also put down their crossbows and draw their swords to serve as reserve troops.

  The three rows of crossbowmen at the very front were no exception.

  The crossbowmen and spearmen in this area are under the command of Zhao Jiebin, the officer of the Right Vanguard Division, who also takes orders from the Central Army Command.

  Behind the gun shield soldiers, there is a combat formation composed of right sentinel teams B and C long gun soldiers. They are arranged in four rows, with two rows per team, without holding shields. The flag bearers and officers of the upper two teams have seventy people in total. The long gun soldiers of the right sentinel team C are at the end, they not only prepare for battle but also consider being used as a reserve team, which depends on how the war situation develops.

  In ancient times, soldiers were arrayed in formation. Between soldier and soldier, between row and row, they could not be packed too tightly. A certain interval had to be left so that various weapons could be wielded and formations changed. Each Shunxiangbao soldier occupied about one step of space. Thus the three infantry companies of the Right Vanguard of the Han Dynasty formed a small square formation, over twenty meters long, with nine rows of soldiers arrayed in it.

  Look at Sun Yu's division on the left and Chen Fei's division on the right, they are similarly arranged, only their formation is slightly more sloppy, not as square as Sun Yu's division.

  In the right wing of Sun Yu, there were four teams: A, B, C and D. Except for teams A, B and C which were deployed here, team D was transferred to the last side of the circular array. Along with it, the A team of Sun Yu's left wing and the B team of Chen Fei's rear wing were also transferred.

  Jin troops used the central route to attack, with pincer movements on both wings and rear. Chuan Erzhou was where their cavalry was stationed every year, without any defensive measures in place. The enemy's forces were strong and numerous, which also made it advantageous for them to counterattack.

  Ye's army had 249 soldiers in each battalion, including the team leader and squad leader. There were also guards, flag bearers, drummers, totaling 60 people. Among them, there were 50 combat soldiers, with half being fire-tipped spear soldiers and the other half being long spear soldiers.

  After the battle yesterday, both Sun Yu's and Chen Fei's units were undermanned. Sun Yu's left vanguard had lost 49 men, with the first squad of the left vanguard suffering even more severe casualties, leaving only 200 men in his vanguard. Chen Fei's rear guard had lost 25 men, with the second squad of the rear guard also suffering significant casualties, leaving only 224 men in his vanguard.

  To maintain the combat effectiveness of both wings, the left and right sentries could only withdraw the most heavily damaged troops from their respective sentries and deploy them to the rear of the circular formation. As a result, there were fewer than 160 soldiers in the rear of the circular formation, including officers, guards, and flag bearers. Among them, there were only 50 crossbowmen from the Divine Machinery Corps. Only 20 crossbowmen were deployed on the outermost part of the circular formation, while the remaining 30 men were distributed evenly between the two corners.

  However, within the circular formation, there were Ye Xuan's eight guards. There were also nearly forty Night Collectors, who could be used as a general reserve and as support troops for each side of the circular formation. In the rear position of this circular formation, Zhen Fu Chi Da Cheng was also commanding the battle, with several Feng Ji military officers guarding beside him.

  Ye Xuan looked around, seeing the flags of each outpost and team standing solemnly, with all the soldiers already in position. Each person tightly grasped their weapons, waiting for the next battle.

  The speed of the formation was so fast, thanks to the strict array training of the Ye family army in peacetime. So it didn't take much time for the Ye family army to change from three unconnected small squares to a circular formation, just between a few drums, before the Jin army had entered within two hundred steps. The Ye family army had already completed the transformation.

  Inside each side of the circular formation, General Sun Yu, Chen Fei, Su Zhong, Captain Zhao Jie and Yang Xiao were all leading their own guards and flag bearers to direct the battle, with extremely self-satisfied expressions on their faces.

  Obviously very satisfied with the speed of their own vanguard formation. However, Ye Xuan still felt unsatisfied and believed that the actual change in formation of the Ye family army should be even faster.