In half a day, the Zhongshan Army launched more than ten charges, with two or three thousand casualties. More than a thousand people fell to the position and could not come back, but they were unable to break through Gao Shun's position.

The loss was too great, and the generals of the former army dared not attack again. The troops were private soldiers, and the capital for their survival. Too much casualties would seriously weaken their voice, and no one was willing to sacrifice in vain. They sent the news to the central army and asked Liu Bei to give instructions, in fact, they hoped that the substitution would consume Gao Shun's troops and arrows, so that they could have time to treat the wounded and reduce losses.

When Liu Bei and Sima Yi were also surprised to learn that the casualties were so great, they ordered people to call a few military marquis who participated in the war to ask for details. The military marquis were defeated, and some were injured. They were very depressed and could not explain the situation at that time. Liu Bei was very angry and almost cursed. He never dared to overestimate these Hedong marquis, but he didn't expect that they were so stupid and didn't know why they suffered losses.

Fortunately, Sima Yi was careful, asked repeatedly, referenced each other, and finally pieced together the truth.

Gao Shun was not a simple defense, but a defensive counterattack. He only controlled the range of the counterattack within a distance of fifty steps in front of the formation, and used the characteristics of the location and the training of the soldiers to form a local overwhelming advantage. Due to the terrain, the Zhongshan Army could only send hundreds of people to attack at a time, and Gao Shun could send two to three times the number of people to defend, and used the height of the earth to form an attack, forcing the soldiers of the Zhongshan Army to either become the target of the crossbowmen on the post or face the strong counterattack of the infantry under the post, which was difficult to take into account, and suffered heavy casualties.

In addition to arranging infantry counterattacks under the post, Gao Shun also had a good grasp of the details, almost exerting his own advantages to the extreme, and also took advantage of the disadvantage of insufficient training and lack of real field experience in the Hedong Qun, which further widened the gap between the two sides.

Sima Yi was also surprised to come to this conclusion and had to re-examine Gao Shun, the opponent. Gao Shun may not have much knowledge, but he has rich experience in the battlefield and is meticulous in mind, so he cannot be regarded as an ordinary warrior.

After listening to Sima Yi's analysis, Liu Bei also changed his face, felt uneasy, and wondered if Sima Yi was angry and went to another extreme after being frustrated, and he looked at Gao Shun too strongly. After thinking for a while, he decided to go to the front line in person and try it with his own central army. The central army's equipment and training were far superior to ordinary soldiers, and had rich combat experience, which was definitely not comparable to the Hedong Qu.

Considering that Jiang Qin's troops were also elite, Liu Bei chose the position where Gao Shun was responsible. He believed that even if he encountered a trapped camp, his central army would not be at a disadvantage.

After observing the actual terrain, Sima Yi had a more intuitive feeling about the analysis just now. He told Liu Bei that Gao Shun was good and could be used. The crossbowman, the swordsman, and the spearman cooperated with each other and had obvious advantages within thirty steps. To offset this advantage, he could only send enough troops to press forward, fight in one go, attack continuously, and consume their physical strength and arrows. If attacks in batches, it would be equivalent to sending them to kill, and there was basically no chance of success before the arrows were consumed. The troops on both sides were four to one, but the casualties reached more than ten to one, which was very unfavorable to their own side.

Liu Bei agreed and ordered more crossbowmen to be mobilized, and many heavy shields were concentrated, and two thousand central infantrymen were transferred to the front line to prepare for a strong attack. He also ordered the generals on the right to stop the attack and form a defensive position to prevent Jiang Qin from taking advantage of the gap to attack.

Seeing Liu Bei's central army's battle flag appearing in front of the formation, thousands of soldiers with neat armor stood behind him, Jiang Qin immediately issued a banner to remind Gao Shun to be careful. He had told Gao Shun about the relationship between Liu Bei and the King of Wu, and also said that Liu Bei learned about the King of Wu everywhere, but he was worried that Gao Shun would not pay enough attention to it and suffered Liu Bei's losses. The disparity in troops and was surrounded by heavy troops on the other side. His morale was very important, and the major losses were even more unbearable.

Gao Shun also saw Liu Bei's battle flag and did not dare to be careless. While replying to Jiang Qin, he squinted his eyes and looked at the battle flag two or three hundred steps away. Looking at the figures of Liu Bei and the elite central army under the battle flag, he smiled slightly. After fighting for a long time, Liu Bei took the battle in person. It seemed that he was really anxious, afraid that Lu Su from Anyi City would chase him out and cut him out of the city.

With so much difference in military strength, Liu Bei is still so nervous. He is really afraid of the Wu army and the King of Wu. But even though he is so afraid, he still refuses to give up and refuses to bow down and surrender, which is a temporary hero.

Seeing Liu Bei mobilizing the crossbowman and preparing a big shield, Gao Shun knew that he and his subordinates were about to face a fierce battle. Sometimes the stupid way was the best way. When the dense crowds of people squeezed over, no matter how good the martial arts were, they would not be useful. They could only bite each other like wild animals. No matter how elite soldiers were, they would soon be exhausted and then killed.

It seems that although Liu Bei is afraid of the King of Wu and the Wu army, he is still cruel enough when facing other people. He does not attack Jiang Qin and concentrates his troops to attack me. He must have regarded me as a soft persimmon and wants to use my first-level sacrificial flag.

Gao Shun sneered in his heart, began to issue orders, adjust tactics, and at the same time ordered the cavalry to prepare. When changing the formation, a large number of soldiers changed positions, and there were also many civilians mixed in, which was very easy to cause chaos, which was a good opportunity for cavalry assault. He was condescending and could see clearly that Liu Bei did not have many cavalry around him, which was a very obvious flaw, so it would be a pity.

Liu Bei clearly had more than 10,000 cavalry, why were there only two or three hundred cavalry around him? Gao Shun couldn't understand the reason, but he couldn't see more Zhongshan cavalry within his sight. Even if there was danger, he would try it. He just took care of the cavalry generals and did not target Liu Bei, so as not to be entangled. Once the situation changes, withdraw immediately to avoid unnecessary casualties.

It would be great if Zhang Liao was there. With his ability, he would definitely be able to grasp the right measure.

Gao Shun looked at the distant position without blinking, and ordered people to shake flags and beat drums. All the war drums were beaten, making the momentum very large to conceal the sound of horse hooves when the cavalry attacked.

Hearing the deafening sound of war drums on the ground, Liu Bei was a little nervous, worried that Gao Shun would launch a counterattack first. He ordered the personal guard battalion to be vigilant and defend intensively to avoid being raided by cavalry. Gao Shun was a subordinate of Lu Bu and was familiar with the use of cavalry. He was condescending, and he could definitely see that there was insufficient number of cavalry around him. If he sent cavalry to raid the central army, he would be very dangerous.

Sima Yi was both excited and nervous. The first time he came to the battlefield, two or three thousand people were distributed within a few hundred steps, with flags waving, war drums thunder, and soldiers running back and forth. Recently, people were shouting at the top of their voices. This feeling was something that could not be felt when sitting in the study. Seeing the soldiers changing their formations and about to launch a new attack, there was an indescribable stimulation.

At this moment, his mount suddenly became uneasy, raised his neck, and took two steps back, and the horse's hooves were digging the loess. Sima Yi became nervous, and he tied the reins hard, making a "whisper" sound from his mouth to comfort the war horse, but it failed. Just when he was anxious, Liu Bei's war horse also had an abnormality. Liu Bei, who was listening to a messenger who had just arrived, raised his head, glanced at it, and suddenly shouted loudly.

"Caval!" Then he ordered repeatedly. "Personal guards, personal guards, prepare to fight back!"

When Sima Yi heard the word "cavalry", he felt a little sad. He wanted to stand up while stepping on the stirrups so that he could see it more clearly, but his mount was uneasy and his riding skills were not good enough. He could only barely sit firmly and dare not stand up. Besides, although he was much taller than ordinary people, there were several battle flags swaying in front of him, so it was difficult to see the situation ahead.

Just when Sima Yi was anxious, Liu Bei shouted again: "No, they went to the crossbowman."

Sima Yi's mind buzzed, his heartbeat as fast as a war drum, and his blood surged on his head. The things he had been worried about finally happened. Liu Bei left almost all his cavalry in Gushan, with only three hundred personal guards beside him, in order to protect Liu Bei himself and had no spare energy to fight Gao Shun's cavalry. Without cavalry to fight, it is difficult to ensure safety only by the infantry themselves, unless there is a solid position.

Changing the array is the most dangerous time, and Gao Shun seized this opportunity.

In a blink of an eye, the entire battlefield was in chaos, and screams came one after another. Sima Yi held his breath, kicked the horse forward a few steps, and returned to Liu Bei. He happened to see the tails of a team of cavalry flashing on the hillside. He could not see the cavalry, but he could see the rolling smoke and dust kicked by the horse's hooves soaring into the sky, passing straight through the front, and killing the moving crossbowmen.

The infantrymen in the front line planned to intercept, but the cavalry was too fast. Before they could get in place, the cavalry had already passed through the gap between them. Dozens of faster infantrymen were knocked down by war horses, picked up by spears, and chopped down by long swords. The crossbowmen on the hillside grabbed the gap that the infantry had moved, and shot out a dense rain of arrows, interspersed with dozens of mud bombs thrown by attacking and catapults. These mud bombs were made of filling loess with straw bags, smashed on the ground or shield, and a loud bang. The loess in the straw bags flew away, making people unable to open their eyes and unable to breathe.

Seeing the tacit cooperation between Gao Shun's cavalry and crossbowmen, Sima Yi complained. Liu Bei might have chosen the wrong opponent this time. Gao Shun's subordinates may not be as good as the Wu army, but they are definitely not weak brigades. Not only are they much stronger than the Hedong Ququ, but they are not inferior to the main force of the Zhongshan Army led by Liu Bei.

We were all deceived by Gao Shun. Our advantages were not as great as we imagined. Hedong Bend lacked training and practical experience. He could still win by number when facing ordinary opponents. Faced with these well-trained elites and cunning opponents, they not only couldn't help, but instead became a burden. It was not accidental, but inevitable that they had not made any contributions after siege of Anyi for so long.
Chapter completed!