While commanding the entire army to advance slowly, Zhang Yan ordered Zhang Liao and the other generals Gao Shun to arrive quickly. He had a premonition that a big battle might occur today.

So, while thinking about it, Zhang Yan sent someone to Lihu and asked Bao Xun to lead the 50,000 militia disguised as regular troops to join him. As for whether to participate in the battle or not, it must be seen as the situation develops.

Xu Chu led two thousand iron chain horses to advance forward. In this era where cold weapons were the main ones, the iron chain horses were like tanks from later generations, rushing around without any scruples.

The road gradually became wider, and Xu Chu also changed his original deployment and advanced forward with a row of 100 people. The torrent of steel composed of twenty rows of iron chains and horses was like a rolling mountain. Anyone or thing blocking the route would be ruthlessly crushed.

Wen Chou suffered a loss and did not dare to directly confront the iron chain horse formation, but for a moment, he couldn't think of any way. The only thing he could do was to avoid fighting, continue to retreat, and wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

Because behind the iron chain horse formation, thousands of infantry were mostly crossbowmen. Even if they wanted to detour from the flank, they would probably not be able to achieve their goal with these crossbowmen.

In Wen Chou's opinion, Yan Liang must have underestimated the enemy too much, so he was wiped out by the enemy and was wiped out. He would not be as stupid as Yan Liang, at least he would not fight head-on, because his troops were pitifully few, and he had to wait for the arrival of the army and fight Zhang Yan together after the army arrived.

Soon, Wen Chou retreated to Xiancheng, which was a smaller military fortress. Wen Chou did not dare to enter the city, for fear of being surrounded by the enemy, and continued to retreat.

When Zhang Yan learned that he had arrived in Xiancheng, he ordered Xu Chu to lead his army into Xiancheng. His troops were small. If Yuan Shao really led the army to confront him head-on, if there was a fortress, it would be beneficial for Zhang Yan to confront him.

So, Xu Chu no longer chased Wen Chou, but entered Xiancheng. Then, Zhang Yan's army entered the city one after another, gathered in Xiancheng, closed the city gates and began to prepare for defense.

Wen Chou saw that Zhang Yan no longer chased and retreated, but stayed outside Xiancheng, quietly observing Zhang Yan's army's every move, and waiting for Yuan Shao's army to arrive here.

About a quarter of an hour later, Zhang He led an army of 10,000 to come first, and exchanged a few greetings with Wen Chou. After learning that Yan Liang's entire army was wiped out, he was also surprised.

Immediately afterwards, Yuan Shao led the generals to arrive one after another, joining forces with Wen Chou and Zhang He, and the subsequent army also arrived one after another, only two miles away from Xiancheng.

After seeing Yuan Shao, Wen Chou immediately reported to Yuan Shao that Zhang Yan's army had a very powerful cavalry, locking all the horses together with iron chains, and the cavalry on the horses were fully armed, and the armor had very strong defense. He could not penetrate the gun, could not cut the knife, and could not shoot the arrows. Even Yan Liang was defeated by this kind of battle formation, and he was almost surrounded.

After hearing these words, Yuan Shao frowned tightly, turned his head to Tian Feng and said, "Military advisor, do you have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"

Tian Feng pondered for a moment and said, "Lord, my subordinates have never seen this iron chain horse formation before, and I don't know how powerful it is. It is better to send a team of people to fight under Xiancheng City and fight with the iron chain horse formation for a while. My subordinates watch from the side to see if there are any shortcomings in this iron chain horse formation, so that we can prescribe the right medicine."

Yuan Shao immediately said to Wen Chou: "Do you dare to fight the iron chain horse formation again?"

Wen Chou immediately clasped his fists and said, "The last general is willing to go. However, the last general's subordinates are all elite troops in the army. If they go to die at this time, they will probably damage our army's strength. It is better to draw a military force from the rear army and give it to the last general's command and let them try the final result."

Yuan Shao nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. This time you go to fight is undoubtedly going to die. Your subordinates are elites of the Jizhou Army and are all cavalry. If you go to die, it is not worth it. So, I will give you three thousand infantrymen, and you will lead them to try it out. You don't have to participate in the battle, you can just command behind you. Once you encounter something wrong, you will withdraw immediately."

"Here!" Wen Chou said with his fists.

So, Yuan Shao immediately asked someone to draw out three thousand infantry from the rear army and handed them all to Wen Chou commander.

Wen Chou brought these three thousand infantry soldiers to the outside of Xiancheng in a mighty manner, and stopped about three hundred steps away from Xiancheng.

The range of bows and arrows in the army is up to 200 steps. Those with excessive force can only have a range of 250 steps using strong bows and hard crossbows. Wen Chou stays the troops at 300 steps, which can be said to be an extremely safe distance.

The gate of Xiancheng was closed, but the city tower was full of people. It was approaching dusk, and the sky was still covered with layers of haze. Without the sun, there would be no afterglow of the setting sun. The cold wind whistled in the wilderness, making people feel biting cold.

Although it was the end of the first month, the weather still had no call for warming. And judging by the cloudy sky, it seemed that there would be heavy snow.

Zhang Yan stood on the city tower and looked at the densely packed Yuan Shao's army outside Xiancheng, and tens of thousands of troops stretched out several miles away.

Under the city, Wen Chou led three thousand infantry soldiers to fight, and he single-handedly snatched the iron chains and chained horse formations. Zhang Yan sneered and said lightly: "Overbial power!"

"Lord, let General Mo lead the iron chain horse formation to fight. Wen Chou ran too fast before, and now General Mo would never let him run away again." General Xu Chu of Tiger Ben clasped his fists and said.

Zhang Yan nodded and said to Xu Chu: "You can go, but please remember that your responsibility is to command the entire army, not to kill the enemy in battle. Whether Wen Chou is alive or dead is determined by the battlefield. You must not leave the army and duel with Wen Chou alone. The key to the victory or defeat of the iron chain horse formation is teamwork. If you are a soldier, you will not be able to exert its strength at all."

"I will keep it in mind!" Xu Chu said.

Zhang Yan waved his hand and said, "Go."

Although Xu Chu did not belong to the personal guards, but was a general who led the first army alone, Zhang Yan once asked Xu Chu, Zhao Yun and Xu Sheng to participate in the training together, and also gave them the method of commanding the iron chain horse formation.

Therefore, Xu Chu was able to command the iron chain chain horse formation so familiarly. The fighting general was only one word different from the famous general, but it was a world of difference.

Xu Chu is very skilled in martial arts, likes to fight one-on-one, and is also a cruel character who is invincible to fight. He is an absolute battle general.

But a real famous general does not only depend on the level of martial arts, but on the analysis of the battlefield situation and how to command battles and win the war.

In this way, Xu Chu was completely out of reach for famous generals, but fighting generals like him are an indispensable role in the army and will be a brave soldier. This is the best interpretation.

In Zhang Yan's army, there were many generals who were very skilled in martial arts and were very good at leading the war, such as Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Yu Jin, Zang Ba, Gao Shun and others. These were all famous generals at that time. They were not only skilled in martial arts, but also had brilliant achievements.

In contrast, Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, Xu Chu, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai and others are all first-class generals. They have very few opportunities to lead the army in real life. Most of them act as the commanders of the personal guards and are responsible for protecting the lord.

Of course, there is another person in Zhang Yan's army that should not be ignored, that is, Lu Meng, who was promoted to the lieutenant. This person is still young and has not yet demonstrated his extraordinary ability. But in the near future, Zhang Yan firmly believes that this young man named Lu Meng will definitely emit the light he deserves.

In addition, there are many literati who can lead the army alone to fight, and Chen Deng is a typical example. In official history, when Chen Deng was the prefect of Guangling, he defeated Sun Quan's army with fewer and twice, which shows his ability to use troops. Unfortunately, Chen Deng was not Cao Cao's direct subordinate at that time, nor was he valued by Cao Cao. In addition, he died young, otherwise he would have made a strong contribution in history.

The gate of Xiancheng slowly opened, and Xu Chu led a chain of iron chains to drive out of the city, with only one thousand people in a good formation below the city. And there were two thousand crossbowmen following them.

Wen Chou suddenly became cautious when he saw the enemy appear. He looked back at the three thousand soldiers who were ready to try and were eager to try, and felt a sense of sadness in his heart.

These soldiers undoubtedly went to die. If they knew they were going to die, would they still be so excited?

"Is his defeated general Wen Chou in front?" Xu Chu suddenly shouted loudly.

Wen Chou was pulled back to reality by this thunderous voice, turned his head and said, in the steel torrent composed of armored cavalry opposite, someone shouted.

Xu Chu then shouted: "I am Xu Chu, the general of the Great Han Dynasty. I was chasing you before, but do you have the courage to come and fight?"

Wen Chou was also angry inside. In front of so many people, he actually said that he was a defeated general under his command. Although he was angry, he also knew the other party's strength. Moreover, this time he came to fight to let Tian Feng see the flaws of the iron chain horse formation. Even if he was angry, he had to endure it.

Wen Chou said loudly: "Stop talking big. In the previous battle, I didn't want to fight you, otherwise I would definitely teach you that the bones will not exist. This time I will kill your brother without leaving any armor!"

"I'm so arrogant!" Xu Chu sneered and moved the mace in his hand forward. One hundred iron-armored cavalry lined up began to move forward slowly, from slow to fast, and gradually rushed forward.

The first row rushed out about thirty steps, and the second row continued to rush out, and the third row and the fourth row came out one after another.

Seeing this, Wen Chou immediately waved his spear and shouted loudly: "It's time to make contributions today, and you're going to fight!"

With Wen Chou's order, the three thousand infantrymen suddenly howled, made a series of shouts, and rushed towards the chain of horse formations that were rushing towards. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!