Gongsun Du's determination cannot be said to be shaky, but the evolution of the current situation never relies on personal will.
At this time, on the south bank of the Xiaoliao River, there were probably more than 50,000 soldiers from both sides gathered, plus their respective disciples and servants. It can be said that there was a huge crowd of people, densely packed.
How big is the land from Xiangping to the south bank of Xiaoliao River? It is about 150 hectares, but the eastern half of it is mountainous, and then extends to places like Sarhu.
In other words, the place where Gongsun Du's Liaodong army camped was about 75 hectares of Kuandian, which was almost the size of 80 standard football fields.
And in such a small place, it is not easy to let 50,000 people engage in a decisive battle.
Therefore, the decisive battle planned by Gongsundu did not come true. On the contrary, it was the small roving troops from both sides who took the lead in launching the battle.
…
Guan Ping led his team to run wildly.
Under the iron mask, he was breathing heavily, feeling hot and irritable, but there was still a trace of fanaticism.
Guan Ping used his mace to blow up a Zahu who rushed towards him in despair, and then continued to charge forward with his team without stopping.
At this time, they were running on a dirt road. This was a dirt road that had been used by local people for generations to collect firewood. It was better than nothing.
On both sides of the dirt road, there are pits and shacks everywhere, making the land full of pits.
These were dug by the Sushen people in the Changbai Mountains. They were still living in caves, digging caves wherever they marched.
Behind these Tukang are tents, which are the camps of Han people, Fuyu people and other ethnic groups.
Guan Ping and his team ran into such a camp, chaotic and dirty.
The intrusion of Guan Ping and the others also caused the stagnant water to boil. Countless disciples and soldiers did not even see the appearance of this group of Taishan soldiers, so they ran wildly in the camp and howled.
Too many people were shouting, it was like thunder and a roar of people.
Guan Ping was shouting crazily, but because the howling in the camp was too loud, the officials behind him couldn't hear clearly at all.
But they all understood what Guan Ping meant, which was to rush forward!
Not to kill the enemy, but to protect ourselves.
These veterans of the Taishan Army who had been fighting for many years reacted immediately when they saw the scene in front of them.
This is Yingxiao!
In this crazy and chaotic crowd, these Taishan soldiers can only protect themselves.
And obviously, this is what Guan Ping meant.
Without stopping all the way, he led his team to a Luzhai area and immediately formed a fortification here.
The long soldiers of Guan Ping's team had long been abandoned in the chaos. They could only temporarily hold the wooden spears beside the Luzhai for defense, while the others rested behind.
So tired, so tired.
Not only the fatigue of wearing iron armor, but also the fatigue of high nervous tension. Now that they have reached this safe zone, these people have to sit down if they can't hold on any longer.
Guan Ping immediately shouted:
"Don't sit down, stand up and take a few steps slowly."
Sit down immediately after strenuous exercise and don't think about standing up again.
These veterans who have fought for a long time also understand this truth, but their instinct overwhelms their reason. Now that there is an order from the captain, they can only grit their teeth and persist.
After Guan Ping stabilized his brothers, he couldn't help but take another look inside the camp.
This is truly a hell on earth.
Those with loose hair pushed those with loose hair, and those with loose hair stepped on those with broken hair. Once the old, young and infirm fell to the ground, they could no longer get up. After being trampled by countless people, they became mixed with the soil.
There were also some who ran madly to the Luzhai area of Guanping. They tried to rush in with red eyes, and then were pierced through the chest by the wooden spears of the Guanping brothers.
This meal of thorns directly brought these people back to their senses, and then they dispersed.
But Guan Ping and the others could only do this, and they did not expect that they would accidentally run into this huge camp.
All they could do was wait for the troops from behind to continue arriving.
I don’t know how long it took, but the sun was so hot that people fell asleep. The camp was full of overturned tents and wood, feces and urine were flowing everywhere, and the whole camp was full of fishy stench.
At this time, a huge black current finally came from the flat ground to the west.
Seeing the flag of this black stream, Guan Ping's men shouted excitedly. Perhaps in order to echo the shouts, this black stream began to erupt with high-pitched drums and horns.
This is a large and rigorous coalition of horse and infantry. In the middle is the armored heavy step, carrying a five-meter-long infantry on its shoulders, like a moving forest.
On both sides of them were the slow-moving cavalry. These people either had small flags on their backs or carried five-color flags on their shoulders, fluttering in the wind. From time to time, some knights would run forward after receiving a certain order, and then converge to a certain place. .
At this time, the cavalry unit, which received a certain signal, began to speed up their horses, first breaking away from the formation, then surpassing the infantry's front formation, and running towards the camp where Guan Ping was located.
The Taishan Army's assault cavalry attacks!
Seeing this scene, Guan Ping Shiwu from Luzhai District shouted loudly.
Suddenly Lao Gao turned pale and shouted quickly:
"Hurry up and raise our team flag! The other side won't recognize us!"
With Lao Gao's reminder, several guard flags quickly took out the team flag from the package, then put it on a wooden spear and raised it.
On the dusty camp, an apricot-yellow flag slowly rose. It was like a strange color in the wilderness, leading the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry in the direction of selecting the front.
Countless war horses held their heads high, fluttering feathers were everywhere, the enemy was wailing, and no one could stop the charge of the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry.
Dust was flying throughout the process, and Guan Ping and others in Luzhai District could not see clearly the details of what happened in the camp. Only the continuous screams hinted at the killing.
I don't know how long I waited, but when the deafening sound of horse hooves gradually faded away, when the screams in my ears gradually became clearer, Guan Ping and others' vision finally became clear.
There were corpses everywhere, and some of the disciples who were still struggling to death were trying to claw their way out of the corpses.
Guan Ping walked out of Luzhai District first and stepped on the hardened land, feeling a little heavy in his heart.
This was the first time Guan Ping had seen such a big war. This feeling of insignificance hit him, making him understand for the first time what war meant.
Lao Gao behind him was much more indifferent. Even in this purgatory, he still looked through some odds and ends on the ground when he had time.
Seeing Lao Gao rummaging around, the officials behind him began to follow suit.
Soon they had a harvest. They found a pile of animal skins under a torn tent, including wolves, tigers, leopards, etc.
Lao Gao handed the best-looking piece of tiger skin to Guan Ping. Seeing that Guan Ping didn't raise his hand, he thought he didn't understand.
So Lao Gao explained:
"Commander, we are different now from the past. In the past, all seizures were attributed, but now we allow those private trophies to be ours. So don't worry, take it."
Guan Ping nodded and unfolded the tiger skin. He saw that it was a huge adult tiger. There was no hair on the whole body, and there was no damage at all. This shows how much effort it took to hunt this tiger back then.
Seeing Guan Ping watching, Lao Gao praised:
"A tiger hunter must be a sharpshooter. The arrow must penetrate through the eye and kill with one blow to have such a good appearance. Tsk tsk."
Guan Ping understood that Lao Gao and the two tut-tuts were just lamenting that such warriors who hunted tigers also died in the galloping of thousands of horses, without even a whole body.
At this moment, Guan Ping suddenly remembered a question he had asked Guan Yu when he was learning martial arts with his father years ago:
"Father, are your martial arts the strongest in the world?"
At that time, Guan Yu smiled and said:
"It is true that the art of fatherhood has few rivals in the world. But our king is inhumane. It can be said that for three generations, there has never been anyone who can compare with him."
Just when Guan Ping was about to worship, Guan Yu was silent for a while and suddenly said an intriguing word:
"It's difficult to talk about ability alone, so it's often said that literature doesn't come first and martial arts doesn't come second. But why does the world praise my father's martial arts? Could it be that my father really defeated all the martial arts people in the world? Otherwise, it’s just because my father has stirred up waves of trouble in this world, and everyone knows it. And there are many warriors who are good at fighting, but their abilities are lost due to various reasons. This is something we must not know!"
At this moment, looking at this tiger skin and thinking of his father's words, Guan Ping had some realization.
Yes, just like this warrior who hunted tigers, if he had been born in Han Dynasty, in Jiangmen, he might have been famous all over the world, but what about here? He was just an ordinary hunter, and no one knew his life or death in the end.
Guan Ping rolled up the tiger skin and decided to keep it as a warning to himself.
At this time, Guan Ping felt a deep urgency for the first time to leave his name in history.
At this time, a rustling sound came from a broken tent not far away.
Guan Ping immediately pulled out the knife and asked everyone to be quiet.
After a while, the rustling sound became louder, and then a wooden board was opened, revealing that there was a hole hidden inside.
Then four Sushen men carefully got out of the hole, but when they found themselves surrounded by a circle of Han soldiers, the four men froze.
Lao Gao glanced at Guan Ping and saw that he didn't speak, so he waved to Xiao Zhao and the others to bend their bows and shoot these four people to death.
When the four Sushen people saw this, they screamed in panic, but Guan Ping remained unmoved. After all, these were the first-level skills of his brothers.
Just when Guan Ping was about to let go, suddenly a very lame, but still understandable voice came:
"Nobles of the Han people,... spare... spare our lives. We are all poor people in the mountains, poor people, we don't want to die!"
Guan Ping narrowed his eyes, and then he saw that the person who said this was a Sushen man who was being guarded in the middle. He felt moved in his heart, and then he put his hand down.
Just when these four people were desperate, a string of hemp rope was suddenly thrown from their heads, and Guan Ping's cold voice came:
"Bind yourself."
The other three Sushen people were still in a daze, but the middle one was already overjoyed:
"Thank you, noble man, and kowtow to you."
Then he neatly tied himself up with the other three people, and finally smiled innocently at Guan Ping.