Upon hearing Feng Liao speak of “If commanders cherish their own lives, how can they expect their soldiers to fight with dedication,” Han Duan felt his blood stirring with excitement. That very night, he pulled Han Chengmeng and Chen Zhiyong along to catch up with the main force, following his uncle Han Daoming and his father Han Daochang as they marched westward.
Han Duan had even specially stripped the armor off a household soldier to wear himself, wanting to display the martial prowess of the Han family’s younger generation before thousands upon thousands of troops.
However, to ensure the westward march’s rhythm remained undisrupted, not only were several hundred reconnaissance cavalry scattered on the northern flank for vigilance, but Han Qian and the other mounted commanders could only travel along the northern side through farmland that had lain fallow for two or three years, pitted and uneven.
Sitting astride his horse, wearing forty to fifty pounds of lamellar armor, with a longbow and quiver hanging from both sides of his saddle, traveling across the rough, uneven farmland—Han Duan not only had to be careful his horse didn’t stumble and throw him, but also had to watch that he wasn’t knocked or bumped by the long lance hanging from his saddle. After traveling through the night like this, he finally understood just how arduous night marching truly was.
When dawn began to break on the horizon, Han Duan felt as though his entire skeletal frame had come apart. He wanted nothing more than to find a haystack where he could collapse flat on his back in comfort.
At that moment, Guo Que galloped back through the morning mist with several riders to report that over two thousand enemy cavalry had assembled overnight to the southeast of Chuzhou.
“Zhao Mingting still refuses to give up after all. He wants to test our strength—truly a troublesome adversary!” Han Qian dismounted and had Han Donghu take out the map, spreading it across the horse’s back to examine it carefully with Zhou Dan, Feng Xuan, and the other commanders.
From their current position to where the enemy cavalry had assembled was over twenty li, with flat plains stretching between them.
At this distance, there were no terrain obstacles between the two forces.
Even the several shallow, narrow streams in the area had frozen solid during these last days of the second year of Yanyou—it was clear that the enemy cavalry outside Chuzhou was taking advantage of the terrain’s convenience, intent on engaging them in battle.
Of course, these streams were no more than three feet deep. Even without the ice, they wouldn’t prevent enemy cavalry from charging directly through the water.
After marching through the night, Han Qian had spoken very little. However, before crossing the river, Han Duan and the others had learned that the enemy commander currently leading three thousand cavalry to monitor Chuzhou was the original Shouzhou Army’s Zhongli garrison commander and naval forces leader, Zhao Mingting.
Currently, the Liang general Chen Kun had led over twenty thousand Liang Army infantry into Zhongli. Before the streams and rivers of the Jianghuai region thawed, the Louchuan Navy’s warships temporarily had no way to move south. As the vanguard general designated by Xu Mingzhen, Zhao Mingting had led three thousand cavalry through Mopan Valley ten days earlier to operate near Chuzhou, mainly to monitor and contain the southern fugitive remnants in Wujian Mountain and prevent the Chuzhou garrison from attempting to break out, waiting until their forces in the rear could reorganize and move forward to encircle and annihilate them.
Han Qian’s delay in leading his troops to Tingzi Mountain until now was not due to arrogance, but because reassembling the former Left Guangde Army remnants into battalions required time, and developing the combat effectiveness to withstand enemy cavalry charges in open terrain could not be achieved overnight.
Yesterday, they had detected that the enemy had over ten thousand cavalry and infantry moving from Zhongli and Chaozhou toward Chuzhou territory, forcing Han Qian to make corresponding military deployments. Otherwise, Han Qian had hoped for more time to remain in Tangyi to organize and equip his forces.
Han Daoming and Han Daochang knew that battlefield matters were not their forte, so they stood on the periphery watching how Han Qian and his men deployed troops and issued commands. When Han Duan and the others saw that even Guo Que, He Liufeng, and other former Han family servants had the qualifications to crowd around Han Qian to discuss the upcoming battle plan while they couldn’t squeeze in, they felt somewhat displeased.
Han Duan turned to gaze toward the southern bank of the Chu River. The blue-black ridge of Daci Mountain seemed like a coiled dragon lying dormant in the thin mist, but they were still over thirty li from their destination—the post station at the eastern foot of Tingzi Mountain.
Han Qian’s group quickly formulated a response plan. As the various commanders returned to their respective units, teams of soldiers moved with extreme speed into the wilderness to the north, forming defensive formations north of the official road that were staggered, orderly, and clearly layered.
However, after traveling light through the night, the vast majority of soldiers couldn’t hide the fatigue and exhaustion on their faces.
“Are we engaging enemy cavalry in open battle here?” Han Duan looked at the terrain with no cover on either side. Though he had never had the opportunity to command troops in battle, he seriously doubted whether five thousand infantry with simple equipment could withstand an attack from two thousand enemy cavalry on this completely exposed ground.
Behind them was the Chu River, over a hundred zhang wide and still unfrozen at this point. Once the enemy cavalry broke through to their center, retreat would be impossible.
Moreover, even if they could temporarily hold off the enemy cavalry’s assault by relying on their numerical advantage, being delayed and unable to advance or retreat in this wilderness would put them in an extremely unfavorable situation.
The enemy still had over ten thousand infantry and cavalry rapidly advancing from Chaozhou to the west and Yongyang to the north. Once delayed long enough for large enemy forces to surround them from the west and north, wouldn’t they still face inevitable defeat?
Han Duan felt somewhat anxious and thought to himself that had he known this would happen, he should have volunteered to stay in Tangyi to keep an eye on Han Jun.
Han Qian left Chen Jingzhou and Feng Liao to accompany Han Daoming and Han Daochang at the rear of the formation. Surrounded by Han Donghu, Xi Fa’er, and other guards, he moved among the various units, talking with soldiers as they gradually entered their defensive positions, encouraging their morale for brave combat.
In his heart, Han Duan could only hope that Han Qian and his commanders wouldn’t disgrace their reputation, and that the enemy forces, intimidated by Han Qian’s prestige, would merely probe forward tentatively without actually daring to test their strength.
Han Qian soon returned to the rear formation with Zhou Dan and the others. From his conversation with Guo Que and the other reconnaissance commanders, Han Duan learned that the two thousand enemy cavalry over ten li away had already divided into three groups arranged in a triangular formation advancing toward them. It was clear that even if this battle was meant as a probe, the enemy was committing full force.
Han Daoming also grew restless and walked over to ask Han Qian, “They usually say infantry needs at least three times the numerical advantage to defeat cavalry in open battle. Before enemy reinforcements arrive, are you confident you can rout the enemy’s vanguard cavalry?”
Han Daoming knew that merely holding the formation without being scattered or routed by enemy cavalry didn’t mean they had escaped danger. The main concern was preventing the enemy’s vanguard cavalry from pinning them down unable to advance or retreat. Whether they could inflict serious damage on the first wave of attacking enemy cavalry was absolutely critical.
“During the Southern Song Dynasty, Liu Yu created the Crescent Moon Formation, deploying war chariots along riverbanks in battle, which brought him great renown. However, this tactical method wasn’t widely adopted by later generations due to lacking the necessary conditions,” Han Qian gazed at the thin mist drifting across the wilderness and said, “Whether this tactical method can effectively contain enemy cavalry’s assault charges still needs to be verified through actual combat…”
Han Duan had also read military texts in his leisure time and knew the Crescent Moon Formation’s foundation lay in war chariots and large crossbows. He was about to question how Han Qian could deploy a Crescent Moon Formation with only five thousand infantry with simple equipment when he saw a flotilla breaking through the mist from the east, approaching their position.
The warships in this flotilla were all relatively small—apparently specialized for convenient operation in the Chu River—but equipped with both sails and oars, flying the banners of the Xuzhou Naval Camp, moving extremely fast through the morning mist.
After the flotilla drew near, the sailors and oarsmen aboard unhesitatingly jumped into the ice-cold shallow water, dragging the vessels as close to shore as possible and setting up gangplanks. Soon, light war chariots were being hauled onto the riverbank, then quickly extending northward from both flanks of the shore defense formation.
Each light war chariot was surrounded by over ten men. The chariots were mounted with giant shields and bed crossbows, with over ten long spears protruding through gaps in the grid panels to prevent enemy cavalry from charging directly to the chariot fronts. The light infantry surrounding the chariots for combat wore neither particularly sturdy nor heavy armor, but all carried powerful crossbows and short blades.
Naturally, as the war chariots extended northward, they didn’t form isolated formations but rather groups of seven or eight chariots each, integrating into the defensive infantry formations already established on the outer perimeter and flanks.
By this time, the enemy cavalry had closed to within three or four li. Some cavalry had already accelerated into a charge that seemed to blot out the sky as they bore down. Though they noticed the unusual activity on this side, they were unwilling to abandon their already-launched charge. Horse hooves kicked up residual snow and dust, like waves of flesh and blood surging forward.
The sound of arrows slicing through air was like howling wind.
The concentrated volley caught the enemy cavalry off guard, with over ten riders on the left forward flank shot from their horses, causing that flank’s charging formation to immediately scatter into disarray…
Han Qian led everyone on horseback up a five or six zhang high earthen mound to observe the battle on the outer perimeter.
The two units led by Dou Rong and He Liufeng, positioned on the forward flanks directly facing the brunt of the enemy cavalry assault, though small in number, were all elite members of the Chishan Association who had been among the earliest to establish themselves at Baiti Ridge since early June.
These forces had been assembled and organized for the longest time, were fully equipped with arms and armor, and coordinated with the landed war chariots. Their defensive positions held extremely firm, currently managing to contain the enemy cavalry’s harassment attacks on the outer perimeter while protecting the Jiangzhou soldiers—who had relatively weaker combat effectiveness and fighting spirit—on the inner flanks.
Seeing they couldn’t achieve a quick breakthrough, the enemy cavalry didn’t blindly assault but neither did they withdraw. Instead, they circled around both flanks, occasionally sending out small cavalry detachments to provoke and harass, attempting to find gaps and weaknesses favorable for large cavalry forces to rapidly penetrate and outflank.
Though their numbers were more than double the enemy’s, the surrounding enemy forces were all cavalry. Their wild galloping stirred up residual snow and dust swirling across the wilderness, creating an earth-shaking spectacle.
Han Qian furrowed his brow slightly and said to Zhou Dan and the others, “Zhao Mingting has some skill serving as chief spy for the rebel empress, but his ability to command troops in battle is also formidable. From the looks of things, if they can’t find a good opportunity to assault, they probably intend to delay the battle until their infantry reinforcements from Chaozhou arrive…”
Though cavalry had disadvantages on the battlefield—being more severely constrained by terrain, having looser formations that were harder to stabilize—compared to these shortcomings, cavalry’s advantages were even more prominent.
Soldiers mounted high on horseback had greater striking range, stronger assault capability, and the mobility of cavalry was primarily used for rapid flanking maneuvers to achieve division and encirclement of enemy forces.
Setting aside the Liang Army’s main cavalry forces, in the nearly twenty years since Great Chu’s founding, the only organized cavalry unit had fallen into Xu Mingzhen’s hands. For Great Chu to rebuild another cavalry force now would be exceedingly difficult.
When Han Qian decided to establish a defensive line at Tangyi, the first tactical consideration was how to counter the advantage of the Shouzhou Army and Liang Army cavalry ranging freely across the Jianghuai plains.
The pure Crescent Moon Formation, relying on war chariots and powerful bows and crossbows to form defensive arrays, naturally didn’t fear cavalry assaults. But Zhao Mingting was clearly no weak opponent.
He wasn’t foolish enough to directly send two thousand cavalry charging to tear through their defensive formation. Instead, he tried to pin them down here as much as possible, obviously waiting for their main infantry forces to arrive from Chaozhou. At that point, they could use denser, more heavily fortified infantry formations to approach the Crescent Moon Formation, then find gaps to execute cavalry charges.
Han Daoming and Han Duan were most worried about precisely this possibility.
“Should we try to extend the formation westward in staggered fashion?” Zhou Dan suggested.
“I think this terrain all around is excellent. We’ll establish camp right here. We’re not going to Tingzi Mountain for now!” Han Qian said.
“Establish camp here?” Han Daoming surveyed the wilderness. Within his field of vision, aside from a few abandoned villages, only Daci Mountain across the Chu River eleven or twelve li to the south offered any usable terrain. If they were to choose a location for camp, wouldn’t it be better to withdraw to the southern bank of the Chu River? At least there, the Chu River could block enemy harassment, no?