Chapter 92 The Best Motivational Tactic

  It's not an exaggeration to say that Yang is stupid. Let's first look at the comparison of the military strength between the two sides. As the defender, Taishi Ci had 3,000 soldiers, including 500 cavalrymen. In general, these 500 cavalrymen would not be used for defense. Their main role was to patrol the thirty-mile official road from Yin Wind Valley to Lang Meng County.

  That is to say, in this 500-step defense line, Taishi Ci's available troops were 2,500 people, with an average of five soldiers guarding each step, and the defense was extremely strict.

  As for Yang Yu, the attacking side, he also had 3,000 troops, including 1,000 cavalry. Similarly, these 1,000 cavalry could not be used to attack Taishi Ci's built walls, a wall as high as one person, war horses can't jump over it at all. Therefore, Yang Yu actually only had 2,000 soldiers available to attack Taishi Ci.

  Fighting is nothing more than heaven's timing, geographical advantage, and harmony among people. Let's talk about heaven's timing first; there's not much to say about this as everyone starts from the same line.

  To say nothing of the geographical advantages, Taishi Ci undoubtedly holds an absolute advantage.

  In the end, it was a matter of human feelings. In this regard, Taishi Ci had a significant advantage. Not to mention the number of people, at least the soldiers under Taishi Ci's command were his own, and they listened to him and followed his orders. Yang Chou, on the other hand, was a surrendered general of Zhang Yang, and his soldiers did not have much faith in him.

  It must be explained that Zhang Yang's dispatch of 3,000 troops to rescue Langmen County is also understandable and not a bad move. There were originally over 1,000 garrison troops in Langmen County, plus the able-bodied men who could assist in the battle, making it easy to gather 1,500 people. If Yang's 3,000 relief troops can safely arrive at Langmen County, the defenders of Langmen will increase to 4,500 people. In this case, Li Chong will absolutely not be able to take Langmen County in a short period of time.

  At the time of the stalemate between the two sides, Zhang Yang can dispatch a second support army to launch a pincer attack and defeat Li Chong.

  But unfortunately, Li Chong's action was much faster than Zhang Yang had imagined. Without any preparation, he immediately dispatched troops to Langmen County and caught Zhang Yang off guard.

  Yang Chou had thought of crossing the mountains to rescue Lang Meng, but after taking a closer look at the terrain, he immediately gave up on the idea. The mountains on both sides of the valley were extremely steep, and warhorses could not climb them at all. Infantrymen might be able to climb with great difficulty, but even if they managed to climb over the high mountains on both sides, the soldiers would definitely be exhausted, and by the time they reached Lang Meng, it would be a suicidal mission.

  To say that we can rest on the mountain and recover our strength is simply a fantasy. Climbing such a mountain ridge, it's already impressive if one has enough physical strength to make it up there, let alone carrying tents, dry rations, and other cold-weather gear. Spending the night in the open on the mountain without freezing to death is largely thanks to heaven's mercy.

  Yang Chou stood in front of the wooden wall, scolding loudly for a while. He scolded Tai Shi Ci until he was covered in bruises, but Tai Shi Ci just smiled and listened quietly. When Yang Chou had almost finished scolding, he said coldly: "Yang Chou, since you hate me so much, come on! I won't bully you. Let's have a big fight for 300 rounds, how about it?"

  Yang Chou was suddenly enraged. To say nothing of three hundred rounds, he would be lucky to last thirty rounds with Taishi Ci.

  Yang Feng, filled with righteous indignation, immediately gave the order: "The entire army will charge forward. Whoever beheads Taishi Ci will be promoted three ranks!"

  The soldiers under Taishi Ci's command were all relaxed and didn't have the slightest appearance of an impending major battle. They really weren't afraid, as their side had the numerical advantage, plus they had defensive works to protect them. The archers who were first to take action had already nocked their arrows and assumed the stance for shooting.

  Seeing the enemy army approaching within fifty paces, Taishi Ci shouted loudly: "Release arrows..."

  In an instant, more than a hundred feathered arrows whizzed out, drawing an arc in the sky and falling into the enemy crowd, shooting down over twenty enemy soldiers.

  The archers in Yang Chongjun's army also began to counterattack with bows and arrows, and the feathered arrows flew back and forth in the air, with soldiers who were hit screaming and falling to the ground from time to time.

  However, Li Chong's soldiers were hit by arrows very rarely, they had fortifications to protect them, and those who were hit were only about one-tenth of the enemy, at a distance of fifty or sixty steps, enough for archers to shoot three times. After killing nearly a hundred enemy soldiers, Taishi Ci's archers immediately withdrew from the battlefield, leaving the front line to the long spearman.

  And these archers did not completely exit the battlefield, they stood in the back, starting to shoot at a 45-degree angle, of course this shooting method has a lower accuracy rate, can only rely on dense arrow rain to win, otherwise it's either a wave of arrow rain shoots into an empty space, wasting arrows for nothing, or some poor devil gets shot into a porcupine.

  A man-high wooden wall, with a smaller height difference inside, just enough to expose the upper body of Taishi Ci's soldiers, who can freely thrust out their long spears.

  Seeing the enemy troops rushing to the front, "Kill..." The soldiers under Taishi Ci's command shouted in unison, their long spears stabbing out in a neat and orderly manner. In an instant, they were stabbed until blood splattered everywhere, and cries of agony echoed continuously. Occasionally, some enemy soldiers managed to dodge the long spears and climb up the smooth wooden walls, but before they could steady themselves, they had their heads chopped off by the steel blades interspersed among the long spears.

  "For every two enemies you kill, you will be rewarded with a live sheep." Taishi Ci shouted loudly.

  The soldiers rested for a night, and one by one they were in high spirits again. As soon as they heard that there would be rewards for killing the enemy, they became excited, just like they had taken stimulants. They killed with abandon, forgetting everything else. Some of the fierce soldiers even took off their helmets and armor, fighting bare-chested.

  "Alas!" Taishi Ci gazed at the soldiers who were like starving ghosts and sighed: "The cattle we seized last time didn't have any fodder to eat, they're all going to starve to death. Let your families raise them instead!"

  These soldiers had no idea of Taishi Ci's sinister intentions, and one by one their eyes turned red as they looked at the enemy army, just like seeing their own sheep, and they couldn't wait to jump out of the wooden wall and start a big killing spree.

  It's not that these people didn't value human life, but at that time society was like this. After several years of natural disasters and man-made calamities, for a mouthful of food, ordinary people could rise up in revolt. In Zhang Jue's Yellow Turban Army, there were even cases of cannibalism. These people were really scared by hunger, not to mention the thought of eating meat. If it weren't for Taishi Ci frequently plundering the Xianbei people, Li Chong and his men would have found it hard to get a mouthful of meat.

  Money moves people's hearts. In a chaotic world, food is more effective than any slogan. What about serving the country and the people, saving the common folk from water and fire? None of these are as real as a piece of meat.

  The defending army had an absolute advantage in strength, and with the explosion of morale, Yang Chou's army was immediately defeated and retreated in disarray.

  "Pursue!" Taishi Ci saw Yang Yu's army retreating and immediately ordered a pursuit. The situation on the battlefield was clear at a glance, and even an idiot could see that Yang Yu was not pretending to be defeated. How could Taishi Ci let go of this opportunity?

  As soon as Taishi Ci's voice fell, more than a hundred soldiers jumped down from the wall with steel knives and chased after the enemy in a near-frenzied manner. No way, the main force that killed the enemy just now was not them, and the few small fish and shrimp that got away were not enough to fill everyone's teeth, adding up to no more than five sheep.

  So, these swordsmen had long been restless and impatient, and as soon as they heard the order to charge, they ran swiftly, their steel blades flashing in the air with a loud whooshing sound, as if they would not rest until they took someone's head.