To fight or not to fight, that is the question.
Until now, Liu Cong had only received reinforcements. They were not the troops sent by Liu Jing and Butai, but two thousand cavalry who crossed east from the northern border of Xiayang County, Fengyi County.
This ferry is located in the northwest of Pishi County, Pingyang County.
The Pi family lived in Hejin County in later generations.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, because there was Longmen Mountain in the west of the county, it was renamed "Longmen County".
In the history of this county, the descendants of the Wang family from Taiyuan moved there, giving rise to the Longmen Wang family, which is relatively famous.
More than twenty miles northwest of the county town is Longmendu, one of the crossings of the Yellow River. This group of cavalry crossed the river from here.
The level of Longmendu is still a bit low.
It is possible to pass through the caravan, but it is a bit useless to pass through the large army. The reason is also very simple: the Yellow River has just left the Shanxi-Shaanxi Grand Canyon, and the water is rushing and the danger is greater.
The really good hydrological conditions are Pubanjin and Fenglingdu, but the latter is located in the south of Zhongtiao Mountain, and the other side of the ferry is the narrow river floodplain east of Tongguan. The army cannot deploy, and it is easy for people to be trapped in unfavorable terrain, leading to the annihilation of the entire army.
.
Generally speaking, only Kabanjin is suitable for passing the army.
After two thousand horses were replenished at Wang's manor, they originally planned to go south quietly. However, there were informants of the Jin army all over the border of Hedong. After being discovered by Wubao, it was easy for them to tip off the news. The march lost its surprise, so they had no choice but to go south honestly.
, traveled to Liu Cong’s camp in Wenxi County.
Liu Cong had a good impression of this army, and vaguely saw the elegance of the cavalry unit that followed him straight into the Jin army's formation during the Battle of Changping.
He knew the reason: he had won the battle in Guanzhong, developed his self-confidence, and had good equipment, so his morale was high.
But except for this troop, no other troops came.
At present, he only has 6,000 Forbidden Army infantry and cavalry, more than 15,000 young men, plus 2,000 new cavalry, a total of more than 23,000 people, which Liu Cong can gather in a short time.
All the troops are there.
If he was willing to wait a little longer, there would probably be 20,000 people who could come back for reinforcements.
But the problem is that the Jin army on the opposite side will also wait for reinforcements.
After two or three days of observation, spying, and prisoner torture, the thieves on the opposite side brought about 10,000 people to Hou Feihu.
More than 6,000 soldiers came from the direction of Anyi, making the total force 22,000 to 3,000.
But this is not all of his strength.
Liu Cong was absolutely sure that if he waited any longer, the other party would gather more troops, just like him.
If the other party wants to fight, then go ahead and fight, dilly-dallying, fussing over everything, like a bitch.
On November 29, both sides chose a relatively open wilderness with a tacit understanding and deployed their formations on the east and west sides.
****
The north wind howls and the grass withers.
The sun struggled to climb up into the sky, turning dark red without feeling a trace of heat, as if it was also forced to go on a battle.
Liu Cong withdrew his gaze, feeling a little depressed.
The Han army put up a large formation in the shape of a pin.
The protruding part in the center is six thousand infantry, of which the first two thousand are more elite and are iron-armored warriors, while the rear four thousand are uneven and not very elite.
There are two wings on the side and rear of the central formation, similar to the central army formation. There are a thousand elites in front of each, and three thousand miscellaneous soldiers are distributed in the back.
There are also ballistas scattered in front of the two wings and in the gaps between the small formations of the central army, and they are being pushed forward at this moment.
The archers are mostly distributed on the two wings, and there are fewer on the front. They are replaced by a large number of shieldmen.
This formation is very obvious. The central army attracts the main force of the Jin army, because they attack the most fiercely and have the strongest combat effectiveness. Then the smaller troops move forward quickly and attack from both sides.
An ancient and classic battle formation.
The drums were beating and it sounded a little dull.
Liu Cong couldn't find the warm-blooded feeling he had when the war drums were beating. He only felt that it was a little cold today, very cold, chilling to his bones.
The battle flags were flying.
If the wind direction changes slightly, the flag seems to break away from the flagpole and fly back.
As the army advanced, some young men on the left and right wings raised their hands to shield their eyes from the wind and sand.
Liu Cong's eyes twitched but he didn't say anything.
After blowing westward for a while, the wind direction changed suddenly and blew to the southeast again.
Some of the old men in the formation immediately stooped up, as if to block the biting cold wind that penetrated their necks.
Liu Cong subconsciously turned his gaze and looked at the Jin army formation opposite, his eyes wandering uncertainly, as if he was looking for their flaws and ugliness...
After seeing the large formation set up by the Huns, Hou Feihu thought about it and decided to "pay tribute" to Master Shao and use his favorite military formation: Yanyue Formation.
This formation is both offensive and defensive, and its core is also to attack the enemy's flank - mainly the left wing.
He could see that Liu Cong was also helpless. He had few elites and weak troops. No matter what formation he set up, it was useless. He could only fight to the death.
In fact, Liu Cong's best tactics are still the same as before, echelon defense and constant resistance.
But it may be that it didn't work in the end, or he was fed up. Coupled with the huge strategic disadvantage, he had to seize the only opportunity desperately and try to reverse the disadvantage in one battle.
This situation usually happens to gamblers who are desperate to lose and invest their last bit of money in the hope of recouping their losses, or at least making up a large part of their losses.
"Deploy the Yanyue Formation, with Yu An, the governor of the Xialou Tribe, as the right-wing warlord, and march out in a square formation of fifty steps."
"Take the Heijin army as the central army, and I will lead it personally."
"Take Wu Ya General Yang Quan as the left wing, and set up a formation fifty steps behind."
Standard oblique attack formation.
There are more than 3,000 soldiers on the right wing.
The Chinese army has more than 5,000 black soldiers.
There are more than 4,000 Yang family troops on the left.
There are also thousands of cavalry on both sides, arranged on the wings or in the rear, which have not yet been dispatched.
After the drum beat, flags were waving non-stop on the battlefield, which was dazzling.
The direction of the wind kept changing, blowing here and there.
The command vehicle moved forward slowly. In the strong wind, the corner of a flag blew towards him. Hou Feihu pushed it away and looked forward calmly, even indifferently.
As the soldiers marched forward in formation, sometimes dead branches and leaves would sweep in and hit the armor leaves head-on, making a slight sound.
The officers looked at the soldiers with evil eyes.
The soldiers held their heads high and continued to advance without any noise or commotion, just like statues.
There is no way, the conditioned reflex has been triggered by military sticks and horse whips. Whoever dares to move will not be able to beat you to death!
Hou Feihu gently rubbed his chin, his calm eyes scanning every corner of the enemy formation.
Master Shao once commented on him: He is good at calculation and likes to fight clever battles.
Wang Queer once commented on him: his methods of boosting morale before battle were insufficient.
Jin San said he looked like a dead person and his blood was cold.
When a normal person hears the beating of war drums, shouldn't his blood surge up?
When normal people see the densely distributed military formations and flags, shouldn't they feel so heroic?
Shouldn't normal people yell when they see blood splattering and flesh flying everywhere?
Hou Feihu didn’t.
He felt that he would not be excited, moved, angry, sad, or shed tears. Even among thousands of troops, he did not have that feeling of blood boiling. He was just constantly calculating: the enemy
Where is the flaw? Where is the enemy showing weakness? How to exploit this flaw?
Zhang Daniu once patted him on the shoulder and said that the battlefield must be heated up. One day, when you encounter an enemy who is obviously not as strong as you, has inferior equipment, and is not as well trained as you, your passion will suddenly burst out and he will break through your arms unreasonably.
With the formation, I knew that those calculations were useless.
Hou Feihu was doubtful about this. He had never encountered it before and did not dare to say dogmatically that it was impossible.
Will such a figure appear in the Huns formation today?
The sun gradually rose, and Hou Feihu felt a sense of warmth.
He looked up and saw that the sun was as red as blood, just right for killing people.
****
"嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘘嘚壣"", the sound of horse hooves sounded, coming from the Xiongnu formation.
Liu Cong finally couldn't bear it anymore and ordered the cavalry to be dispatched to shake the opponent's position.
Having fought many battles, he knew that the opponent was fierce and had high morale, making it clear that they were a powerful force.
Before walking, there was no chaos in the formation and no noise at all.
This kind of silent oppression has had a subtle impact on our own side.
The cavalry on the opposite side was also dispatched, and they seemed to be Jie people.
The cavalry of both sides started a determined fight on the left and right wings of the battlefield. Before the infantry engaged, the cavalry of both sides were already lying on the ground.
Half of the two thousand Imperial Guard cavalry were dispatched and outflanked them from the right rear.
Wearing iron armor and holding spears and halberds, these people marched forward bravely.
The cavalry was also dispatched on the opposite side. Judging from the flag, there was no doubt that it was to capture the army. There were more than a thousand cavalry in total.
Both sides slowly increased their horse speed, and then charged together.
Sure enough, just as Liu Cong expected, the army of soldiers on the opposite side were immediately dispersed.
The Forbidden Army cavalry continued to move forward, and hundreds of brave cavalry soldiers rushed up again, and were once again rushed to the ground.
Then there were hundreds of brave cavalry troops, and they were overwhelmed again.
Breaking three formations in a row! Liu Cong's face finally showed some blood.
There was finally some noise on the enemy's side, which made Liu Cong very satisfied. He thought that all of you were tough. It turns out that just like Tuoba Xianbei, if you rush in, you will die just like you and be in chaos.
The smoke and dust in the Jin army's rear formation became even bigger.
Many cavalrymen who were still resting and not planning to dispatch mounted their horses one after another.
Liu Quan, the general of Heqing Town, held a wooden pole and surrounded him with more than 3,000 cavalry. He fired his bows from left to right, hoping to repel the Han cavalry with his numerical superiority.
The previously dispersed capture army and valiant cavalry army slowly gathered together and launched another counterattack.
The Imperial Guard cavalry made a circle and slowly circled back to their own formation.
Liu Cong's face looked ugly again.
"Dong dong dong..."
"Woo——"
The drums and horns were shouting on the frontal battlefield, which quickly attracted Liu Cong's attention.
"Crash!" The Chinese infantry on the opposite side stopped and put their spears at their feet, then picked up their strong bows and raised them diagonally upwards.
"Woo——" The sound of the horn sounded again like a reminder.
"Buzz--" Liu Cong looked at the sky, and arrows like locusts were coming towards his face.
"Dah!" A feather arrow landed on the big shield, making a crisp yet somewhat dull sound.
"Ding!" The feather arrow landed on the iron armor, failing to penetrate deeply and trembling.
"Poof!" The arrows landed on the unarmored peasant soldiers, and screams continued, causing some commotion in the formation.
"Buzz--" The left and right wings of the Han army accelerated their pace, and more and more archers came out, also launching a round of projectiles.
The dense arrows fell into the Jin army's formation, causing small splashes of water, which soon returned to calm.
Liu Cong frowned.
I have long heard that the Silver Spear Army is the Shao thief's personal army. All members can draw bows and shoot arrows, all members can fight in close combat, and all members are wearing armor. Now it seems that this kind of projectile from a distance of a hundred paces is simply a pain to them.
itch.
Looking back at our own side, even if it was a projectile, there were still many unlucky ones who were injured or killed.
"Dong dong dong..." The sound of the drum attracted Liu Cong's attention.
As the infantry on both sides approached, their formations changed again.
Due to the rapid forward movement of the left and right wings, the large vertical formation slowly turned into a horizontal formation, and then tended to turn into an inverted vertical formation.
The Jin army on the opposite side still maintained a diagonal formation.
More than 3,000 soldiers were on the right wing, running the fastest and almost catching up with our left wing.
More than 5,000 soldiers are in the middle, this is the black army.
Thousands more people live on the left, at the very back.
Liu Cong has studied this formation.
Generally speaking, the black army is called the "month" and the left and right wings are called the "crescent moon".
When engaging in battle, based on the end of the month, the crescent is rotated to flank the enemy, hence the name "Moon Formation".
On the battlefield, there are actually not that many tricks. The core is "side attack", "circling behind" and so on.
The two sides lined up and attacked each other head-on. That would be too stupid. It is far less likely to collapse the enemy than a side attack.
"Huh——" Another strong wind came, making it difficult to open one's eyes.
The strong wind swept away and soon became calm.
Liu Cong opened his eyes and found that the soldiers on the opposite side had quickened their pace and rushed towards his left flank.
The battle officially begins.
Chapter completed!