Battle
On the fourth day of the fourth month of 632 BC, the rival forces met.
The battle commenced with the advance of both wings of the Jin army. The Chu right wing was reckoned to be the weakest and Xu Chen, commander of the Jin left wing, attacked. Xu armoured his chariot horses with tiger skins and launched an urgent, vigorous assault on the Chu right wing. The attack was rapidly successful, scattering and demolishing the enemy wing completely.
The Jin left then became a holding force, fixing the Chu center and preventing it from attacking the Jin centre or aiding the Chu left wing, since in either case the Jin left would have taken it in the flank and rear. Meanwhile Hu Mao's Jin right wing had skirmished with the enemy, faked a retreat and carried with them the two great banners of the Jin commander-in-chief himself. The Chu left, made up of levies from the states of Shen and Xi, thought that the Jin right wing had lost and Ziyu ordered a pursuit. A contingent of chariots under Luan Zhi swept in front and dragged tree branches to raise a dust cloud and thereby obscure the movements of Hu Mao's men who were circling and reforming.
The Jin left aided by the Jin center continued to maintain their positions against the Chu center. Though the Jin centre was temporarily disordered by an intense whirlwind, it was effective in preventing the Chu center from supporting its left wing. As the Chu left advanced, it was caught in the flank by Duke Wen's bodyguards, composed of the sons of noble clansmen and sons of his close followers and thus flanked by the Jin central army. Meanwhile the entire force of the Jin right wing completed its recircling and was supported on its right by Luan Zhi's chariots to join the assault. The Chu left was completely destroyed. Seeing both his wings enveloped, Ziyu ordered a general retreat.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Chengpu
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