Xu Kang led nearly 2,000 soldiers all the way south. Due to the presence of infantry, the army did not move very fast. After arriving at Xiaquyang, they had to rest for a night before continuing south.

When Xu Kang took out Zhang Jiao's token outside Quyang City, Zhang Bao immediately held a grand welcome ceremony with the generals in the city, and even held a special dinner in the evening to entertain Xu Kang and his generals.

When Xu Kang was drunk with wine, he asked Zhang Bao to provide a boat to cross the river. Zhang Bao naturally agreed with patting his chest.

The next day, Xu Kang was waiting for news from Zhang Bao in his temporary camp. Unexpectedly, at noon, he suddenly saw that the whole of Xiaquyang was in a hurry. He sent someone to inquire and found out that there were officers and soldiers coming to attack the city. Zhang Bao was about to organize manpower.

Go out of the city to fight.

Xu Kang secretly thought that it was bad luck, couldn't these officers and soldiers come a day late? When he left, he could fight as much as he wanted. Why did he have to fight while he was there?

But now is not the time to blame others. Xu Kang immediately informed Zang Ba to organize his troops and prepare to go to war at any time. He himself took Guan Yu to Zhang Bao's tent to listen to him. After all, he was on his territory, and he was entertaining many people.

So enthusiastic, I can't help but express it.

Zhang Bao was very surprised by Xu Kang's arrival. When Xu Kang said that he was willing to contribute to the war, he even smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, our army will definitely defeat the official army this time. Your mission is to go

I'm on an envoy to Qingzhou, how can I let anything happen to you here? But since you're here, come with me and I'll let you watch a good show."

Seeing Zhang Bao's confidence, Xu Kang was very curious about where his confidence came from, so naturally he would not postpone it.

The 30,000 Yellow Turban army was quickly assembled, arranged into three square formations outside the city as required, and quickly marched into the battlefield.

The Central Army is usually the main force, consisting of Zhang Jiao's 3,000 Yellow Turban warriors and 7,000 Yellow Turban elite soldiers, and is personally led by Zhang Bao's deputy general Gao Sheng.

On both wings are a yellow turban phalanx of ten thousand people, with mediocre combat power and used as cannon fodder during charges.

As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, Zhang Bao naturally did not need to personally wear armor and charge into battle. Instead, he took Xu Kang to a hill beside the battlefield. 2,000 soldiers had been escorted around the hill to ensure that they would not be attacked by the officers and soldiers.

A surprise attack by troops.

The location on the top of the hill was obviously carefully chosen. Looking down from here, you can clearly see the entire battlefield.

An army of 30,000 people was seen, densely packed like ants, covering a space of several miles in radius, and their momentum was truly astonishing.

The formation of the official army was far less large than that of the Yellow Turban Army, with only more than 10,000 people. It grew in strips and was spread out widely. The formation was not close-knit, making it impossible for the official army to compete with the Yellow Turban Army from above.

Soon, a temporary commander's platform appeared behind the officers and soldiers. A large flag with the word "Yuan" written on it was erected. Under the flagpole stood several generals. They could not see their faces clearly because they were too far away, but they were still impressed.

It gives people a feeling of power.

Xu Kang asked curiously: "Who is the commander-in-chief of the army?"

Zhang Bao thought for a while and said: "It seems to be Yuan Shao, the general of the Tiger Guard, a dandy who rose through the ranks because of his family background."

When Xu Kang heard that it was Yuan Shao, he was so frightened that he almost screamed. This Yuan Shao had been the leader of the 18th Alliance against the Dong princes, and had also been the overlord of the north. All these honors could not be obtained by just saying a word of family background. Of course, now

I'm afraid even Yuan Shao himself didn't believe this, so he wisely chose to shut up.

Seeing that both sides had already set up their formations, Zhang Bao waved his hand and said, "Let the left and right wings press forward first."

The messenger said "yes" and quickly exited. Of course, it was impossible to run down the mountain and then run to the two army formations to deliver the order. Instead, he directly found the flag bearers on the mountain and ordered them to deliver the signal in flag language.

Xu Kang looked at it with envy. He had never seen flag soldiers in Zhuo County. The army in the Central Plains was indeed not on the same level as his border troops. After returning, he must let his subordinates learn these flags.

After the banners were fluttered, drums suddenly beat loudly on the left and right wings. With the rumbling drums, 20,000 infantrymen quickly approached.

As the distance got closer and closer, the 20,000 Yellow Turban soldiers no longer cared about their formation, but shouted and rushed forward crazily.

At 100 steps, a strange sound of "Weng" suddenly came from the army camp, and then arrows fell from the sky like raindrops towards the Yellow Turban Army's charging formation.

The huge formation of the Yellow Turban Army seemed to have hit an invisible wall, and their heads were immediately knocked to pieces and bleeding. However, the Yellow Turban Army continued forward, roaring and rushing through the wall of rain arrows.

At 50 steps, the archers began to retreat, and the formation of the army suddenly changed. The large and sparse phalanx turned into small and extremely compact phalanxes.

This is the formation most commonly used by the defending side when infantry encounters - the "fish scale formation".

The two teams finally collided, and the Yellow Turban soldiers seemed to break through the defense of the official army in one fell swoop and rushed into the interior of the official army.

But in fact, this is the secret of the fish scale array.

The Yellow Turban soldiers who rushed into the formation of the army were surprised to find that they were surrounded by officers and soldiers on all sides. Originally, their side should have had the advantage in terms of numbers, but now it seemed that there were countless more officers and soldiers.

Moreover, the spearmen, sword and shield soldiers of the army cover each other and cooperate tacitly. When one side attacks, the other side can take the opportunity to rest. This makes the formation of the army look like a murderous meat grinder. No matter how many yellow scarf soldiers are filled in, they can all be killed.

He tore it apart.

Xu Kang finally saw the importance of ancient formations. Although the number of people in the last battle between Zhang Jiao and Lu Zhi was much larger than now. But at that time, he participated in the battle as one of them, and he was not involved at all.

There is no sense of taking over the whole situation like now.

Xu Kang looked at Guan Yu and saw that he also had a shocked and thoughtful expression. He couldn't help but regret not bringing Zang Ba and others with him. What a great learning opportunity this was.

Although the Yellow Turban Army still had a numerical advantage on the battlefield, it was obvious that if the fight continued like this, the official army would definitely win in the end.

Zhang Bao finally couldn't help but launch the order again, and finally 10,000 people, Gao Sheng's main force, pressed forward.

When Gao Sheng's army was about to come into contact with the official army, Zhang Bao suddenly ordered someone to fly a black flag.

In an instant, a thunder sounded, and a cloud of black smoke suddenly appeared from the side and rear of the army. The black smoke covered an area of ​​nearly 1 mile, with thunder rolling inside, the sound of killing shaking, and countless strange ghosts flashing vaguely, as if they were about to attack at any time.

Break out.

What frightened the officers and soldiers even more was that this black smoke seemed to be movable and was slowly pressing towards them.

Finally, I don't know who shouted "Ghost" first. Fear instantly enveloped the nearest officers and soldiers. One person retreated first, causing a group of soldiers to start retreating, and then the entire formation began to become chaotic.

But at this time, the Taiping Dao soldiers were pressing forward. There was chaos everywhere and everyone was affected by it. Finally, the formations of all the officers and soldiers began to collapse.

Yuan Shao also discovered this situation, and after several attempts to suppress the enemy had no effect, he had no choice but to order a retreat.

Xu Kang once again saw the excellent physical fitness of the officers and soldiers. They could run much faster than the Yellow Turban Army, and even gradually opened up a distance from the Yellow Turban pursuers while escaping.

At the same time, Xu Kang regretted it. If his cavalry were so good here, how many kills could he have won?

No matter what, Zhang Bao did win a great victory over the official army.

Xu Kang was very curious about the black smoke that suddenly appeared in his house, and hurriedly asked what was going on.

Zhang Bao laughed and said: "This is such a magic method that I thought about for a long time. Don't those high officials in the imperial court always tell others that we use magic methods to confuse people? Today I will use this magic method to harm them.

, let them have a taste of its power. However, this spell cannot be explained clearly, and it will not work once it is said."

Xu Kang looked at Zhang Bao who was as happy as a child and felt funny. This was completely different from the calmness that Zhang Bao always displayed in Zhang Jiao's tent.

In the commander's tent of the army camp, the failure of the army made Yuan Shao so angry that he almost vomited blood, but it also calmed down his heated head. It seemed that the Yellow Turban thieves were not just a group of rude and uncivilized warriors, but they actually came up with such a plan.

A trick to disrupt the formation of the army.

Every time the officers and soldiers were able to defeat the Yellow Turbans with a small number, it was not because the quality of the officers and soldiers was really higher than the Yellow Turbans. It was because the formation coordination of the officers and soldiers was far beyond what a group of temporarily recruited farmers could match.

It is through the matching of formations that the officers and soldiers give full play to the strengths of each soldier in the army to improve the overall combat effectiveness of the army. But if this formation is disrupted, then the officers and soldiers will be in trouble when faced with the superior strength of the Yellow Turban thieves.

It's hard to resist.

"Report, Liu Bei asked for a meeting outside the tent. He said he had thought of a way to break the Yellow Turban bandits' magic."

Yuan Shao immediately said: "Please come in quickly."

"Liu Bei, a common man, has met General Yuan." The person who came in was Liu Bei from Zhuoxian County with a big face and arms stretched over his shoulders.

It turns out that after the fall of Fanyang City, Liu Bei did go to Qijun in Qingzhou to seek refuge with Gong Jing. Later, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban bandits surrounded Linzi City with several soldiers and horses. It was he who led 2,000 ambush troops to break out and break the siege of Linzi.

However, after this battle, several groups of Yellow Turban bandits dispersed and there were no more Yellow Turban thieves in Qi County. Gong Jing also had no right to go to other counties to quell the chaos, which made him feel that there was no place for heroes.

At this time, Liu Bei heard about the news that his teacher Lu Zhi was leading troops to fight against the Yellow Turban bandits, so he resigned from Gong Jing and took his soldiers to Jizhou to join Lu Zhi.

The purpose is naturally to make more contributions so that he can have the qualifications to advance in the future when the world is pacified.

However, Lu Zhi did not keep him, but assigned him to Yuan Shao's camp.

Yuan Shao knew that he was Lu Zhi's disciple and treated him very politely. Seeing him come in, Yuan Shao hurriedly gave way and said: "Xuande, there is no need to be polite. Please sit down quickly. I wonder if you have anything to teach me."

Liu Bei said with a smile: "The method I mentioned should be something adults can think of, which is to use the blood of a black dog to break the magic."

Yuan Shao frowned and said: "Does Xuande really think that Zhang Bao, the thief, can't use demon magic? Those are just some deception methods to disturb the morale of our troops and disrupt our formation. How can black dog blood be useful?"

Liu Bei smiled bitterly and said: "Of course my subordinates know, but the soldiers don't."

Yuan Shao sighed and said: "Yes, this is where I am in trouble. If I say it clearly, no one will believe it."

Liu Bei said: "So we need to let the soldiers know that we have a way to break Zhang Bao's magic. In this way, there is no need to say anything, and morale will naturally be stable."
Chapter completed!