Chapter 281: Strategizing [Subscribe]

In early June, the temperature in Yecheng gradually increased.

At noon, outside the study, Dian Wei sat at the door eating donkey tendons.

Xu Chu closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, but he was actually mobilizing the power in his body to circulate the Qi in his body.

In the study, Cao Cao was lost in thought as he focused on the giant bird and watched the battlefield in the north from afar.

When he turned his thoughts to the big bird's body, he felt dazed for a moment.

The perspective changes to looking down from the sky.

A battlefield stretching for miles appeared before our eyes.

Looking down from the air, the two armies were facing each other with battle flags fluttering.

The murderous aura is so overwhelming that it makes people's heart frightened.

The Xianbei people's central army had 26,000 to 27,000 men, and the left and right guards on each wing, forming a goose shape, had 5,000 men each.

The three rows of troops were pointed directly at the Cao army on the opposite side.

Most of the Xianbei troops were light cavalry.

Their combat characteristics are the pursuit of flexibility and the ability to constantly change formations.

The number of Cao's troops was similar, with the central army arranged in a square formation.

The guards on both wings were also small square formations.

Zhang Liao led the charge personally.

On the opposite side, Tuobo Xiongdu's vanguard also came out to meet them.

The two sides went from a standoff to a light cavalry attack.

Cao Cao was watching the battle from a distance when he heard footsteps outside the study.

After the imperial guards passed the message, Cai Yong came in from outside.

"A good son-in-law."

"Brother Bojie."

Strange dialogue and identity.

One is called Xianxu and the other is called brother, their generations don't match at all.

Afterwards, Yu Wen, Zhang Zhongjing, Hua Tuo, Tong Yuan and Zhang Huai came in together.

There are quite a lot of people.

"During this period, the northern border was at war with the Xianbei?" Cai Yong asked.

Cao Cao suddenly understood why he came here.

During the reign of Emperor Ling, Cai Yong served in the court. He witnessed the period when Tan Shihuai unified the Xianbei and launched large-scale invasions and looting against the Han Dynasty.

In that year, Cai Yong also submitted many memorials on related matters.

He had always been resentful of the humiliation of the Han Dynasty by the Xianbei, and was particularly concerned about the outcome of the war with the Xianbei.

Several other people came with similar intentions.

The Han people's cohesion and sense of shared destiny seem to be innate.

Anyone with a little knowledge will be very concerned about the outcome of a war with a foreign race.

"You came at the right time. The front line is fighting with the Xianbei army!"

Cao Cao stretched out his hand and beckoned.

The dragon of luck rushed into the national seal beside it.

In the national seal, in the chaotic white mist, the shadow of a giant bird suddenly appeared.

The big bird controlled by Cao Cao seemed to be absorbed into the national seal.

The purple halo emitted by the rise and fall of the imperial seal actually reflected the scene of the enemy and our side fighting on the northern border, like a projection in the void.

Several people were immediately cheered up.

The national seal is connected to the destiny of heaven and earth and can overlook the mountains and rivers. With the integration of the giant bird controlled by the spirit and soul, the magical scene before our eyes comes into being.

In the projection, the Xianbei cavalry rushed out from both wings of the main formation with great momentum.

Judging from riding skills alone, few cavalrymen can compare with the grassland tribes.

They have been born and raised with horses, and the familiarity between them is like an extension of their bodies.

Some cavalrymen could even rest by rising and falling with the movement of their horses after falling asleep.

Riding has become almost instinctive for them.

Therefore, the Xianbei people were very confident that the Han army was no match for them in a light cavalry battle.

However, the Xiongnu at that time were more powerful than the Xianbei, but they were defeated by the Han army.

The Xiongnu's troops were like frost and snow, while the Han's troops were like the sun and the moon. This was once widely sung.

The Han army's cavalry once pursued the enemy to the north, defeated the nomads, drove the Xiongnu out of the grasslands, and defeated them to pieces.

A small number of them surrendered to the Han Dynasty, while the rest were forced to migrate westward to bully Westerners, and later caused several large-scale wars in the West.

What ultimately determines the outcome of a war is wisdom, the depth of war created by productivity, and even the level of advancement of armaments.

Horsemanship, cavalry, is just one aspect.

At this time, the Xianbei cavalry suddenly accelerated and rushed up from the sloping angle of engagement, trying to tear open Zhang Liao's cavalry formation.

In Zhang Liao's hand, the tip of the halberd jumped out of the void and killed a Xianbei soldier with one strike.

On the flank, another Xianbei cavalryman swung his sword along the halberd and slashed at Zhang Liao's hand.

But Gao Shun, who was standing beside Zhang Liao, was faster. He hit the opponent on the shoulder blade with his long hammer, then raised his foot and kicked him off the horse.

The sound of weapons clashing was as dense as a sudden rain at the moment of the battle.

The Xianbei soldiers constantly adjusted their entry points for charging within a small area.

Their fighting style was to surround the Han army, making full use of the flexibility of their war horses and rarely engaging in head-on contact.

Their tactics are very similar to those of a wolf pack. If they can't defeat the opponent head-on, they will attack from the side. If they can't defeat the opponent from the side, they will attack from the rear, looking for the opponent's weaknesses and tearing them apart and devouring them.

But they soon discovered that this tactic did not work against the current Cao army.

The military power and luck gathered around Zhang Liao rolled forward like a tide, or like a giant spear, riding the wind and waves, breaking through the enemy cavalry blocking the way, and advancing at an astonishing speed.

The Xianzhen Camp was originally heavy infantry.

But as we all know, the famous heavy infantry in history were able to mount and dismount, and switch between heavy infantry and heavy cavalry freely.

The heavy cavalry and the light cavalry are mutually restraining.

The light cavalry of the grassland tribes, facing the heavy cavalry like a mobile fortress, was like a mouse pulling a tortoise, and they had no way to attack. No matter how the Xianbei people tore at them, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun led the Xianzhen Camp, only looking at the general's flag, and launched a stab!

The heavy cavalry formed a formation, and the attack of the light cavalry was immediately suppressed.

Boom boom boom!
The Xianzhen Camp was in the enemy's army, crushing forward like a tank. The sheer size of the heavy cavalry was enough to break through the Xianbei soldiers' resistance.

Wherever they passed, there was a mess of blood and flesh; even the war horses were swept up and trampled into meat paste.

In the study, Cai Yong and others were in high spirits and quite excited.

"These heavy cavalry are a huge investment, and it's worth the money to see them during the battle."

battlefield.

Tuo Boxiongdu's eyes were sharp: "The Han people's princes have just stopped fighting, and they have well-equipped heavy cavalry!"

After Toboben started the battle, he kept observing the surroundings of the battlefield:

"Great Chief, Murong was ambushed and shot last year. After returning, he repeatedly reminded us that the Han army has a strong crossbow force with amazing power."

"The crossbow is the best weapon the Han people have against us. Why didn't they use crossbowmen in this battle?"

Tuo Bo Xiong Du: “Crossbow shooting can only be effective when our formation is dense.

We have deployed scouts on the outskirts of the battlefield, so if there are any changes, we can respond in time."

"Send out the troops from the left line and attack the enemy's rear!"

Seeing that they were not at an advantage on the front battlefield, Tuo Boxiong ordered a change in the attack method.

Tuo Boben pleaded, "Chief, let me go!"

After a while, Tuoboben personally led the troops, attacked from the flank, and rushed to the rear of Cao's army.

This is the classic tactic of the Xianbei, not to engage in a head-on fight with the Han army.

Take advantage of the cavalry's gathering and dispersion to attack and destroy the Han army's formation.

Cao Cao was thousands of miles away, watching the battle. When he saw Tuo Boben charging from the flank, he immediately sent an order using the communication bead:
"Gongming, go to the rear, shoot crossbows quickly, and attack the enemy!"

Gongming is Xu Huang.

He received the order, and a team of shield soldiers rushed out from the rear of Cao's army, standing on the periphery with large shields.

The crossbowmen and spearmen in the back row lined up in rows to repel the enemy.

Crossbow arrows rained down, and spears formed a forest.

Before Tuoboben's men could get forward, they were suppressed by crossbows. Seeing the opposite side's spear formation sticking out from behind the big shield, they had no chance whether they were near or far, and could only return empty-handed.

There wasn't much fancy stuff going on when an army of tens of thousands of people faced off.

What is being compared is the usual training, command, equipment and morale.

Cao Cao deliberately let his troops fight hard battles, meet each other on a narrow road, fight bravely, and build up a fighting spirit.

The two sides started fighting at noon, and by the afternoon, tens of thousands of troops were pressing forward in waves like rolling wheels.

Zhang Liao once led his troops to the location of Tuobo Xiongdu's flag.

Tuo Boxiong was shocked and ordered a retreat.

As soon as he retreated, the Han army mobilized new troops to press forward and intensify the offensive.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry led by Cao Chun and Cao Hong came like a tide from several miles away.

The Xianbei also had an ambush force that showed up to join the battle.

The battle expanded again.

Seeing that it was difficult to determine the winner and it was getting dark, Tuo Boxiong was the first to order his troops to withdraw, planning to fight again the next day.

The Xianbei light cavalry came and went freely, listened to the battle calls, and when retreating, they still maintained the ability to counterattack and cover each other.

They gathered together, intertwined and quickly withdrew from the battlefield.

The Cao army in the rear had a strange reaction.

Zhang Liao was in the middle, with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry on both wings, following at a distance, not chasing in a hurry, but not stopping the fighting either.

The Xianbei did not evacuate to the north deep in the grassland, but chose to advance eastward, waiting and watching to see if the Han army would catch up with them.

At this moment, Tuobo Xiongdu and Tuobo Ben both felt a sense of alert.

"The Han army still has an ambush!"

Cao's army did have another ambush, which was right in front of the Xianbei people, blocking them head-on.

When the Xianbei retreated, their troops gathered and their formation became tight, lying in ambush on their retreat route were the powerful crossbowmen who had never been seen!
After a winter of hibernation, Qu Yi's crossbowmen expanded to more than 800 people, from the original more than 7,000 to the current 8,000 people!

When the two sides were fighting, eight thousand crossbowmen arrived at the east side and set up an ambush.

Cao Cao arranged the battlefield, the direction of his troops, and the distribution of his scouts.

From a bird's eye view, he grasped the overall situation and accurately predicted the direction of the enemy's evacuation. This is why the unexpected crossbow ambush at this moment ambushed the retreating Xianbei soldiers.

Usually, crossbowmen are used at the beginning of a war to shoot and kill the enemy, boost the morale of their own troops, and gain the upper hand.

Cao Cao did the opposite.

When the Xianbei troops withdrew and relaxed a little, he used the crossbowmen as a backup and started a new round of fighting.

When the Xianbei scouts saw the densely packed crossbowmen sitting on the ground ahead from afar, Qu Yi waved the command flag in his hand.

On the battlefield, arrows immediately rained down!

One volley of arrows, eight thousand.

The Xianbei's retreating troops were attacked head-on, and many soldiers and horses fell in an instant.

Tuo Boxiongdu ordered his troops to split to the sides and disperse their formation.

As for the strong crossbow army, Taishi Ci sighed.

If the Xianbei people came to attack the crossbow army, he would lead his troops to meet them, and the Xianbei would fall into another trap of theirs.

The opposing commander apparently judged that Cao's army had some protection against the crossbowmen, so he ordered the cavalry to retreat to both sides, thus avoiding Taishi Ci's ambush.

However, the cavalry split to the side, and the flank of the column was exposed.

The crossbowmen did not need Qu Yi's orders. Under the command of the command flag, they were already pedaling their bows and shooting with crossbows again and again.

In the rear, Zhang Liao's troops also pressed forward.

Tuo Boxiong's scalp tingled.

His retreat was turning into a rout!

Cao Cao predicted the direction of the enemy's retreat, which was a means of planning and winning the battle thousands of miles away.

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(End of this chapter)