The conversation between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao ended on bad terms, and they each returned to their own military formations.
Yuan Shao looked at the tall city wall behind Cao's army and temporarily gave up the idea of attacking the city. Because Yuan Shao was only the vanguard who had arrived in Guandu, and all the siege equipment, grain, grass and baggage were still on their way behind.
Cao Cao had many powerful generals who were good at fighting on the battlefield, and Yuan Shao's Yan Liang and Wen Chou, who were best at fighting alone, died in battle, so Yuan Shao had no idea of sending generals to fight alone.
Attacking the city doesn't work, and challenging in front of the formation doesn't work, so you have to find something to do, right?
Otherwise, if the vanguard is left alone just after arriving, the military morale and morale that he has finally built up will be slowly worn away.
Thinking about this, Yuan Shao thought to himself: "Since we are all here, it is better to have a fight. Even if it is to explore Cao Cao's background, it would be good."
After Yuan Shao returned to his extremely luxurious chariot, he finally made up his mind and ordered to the generals: "Order Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead the cavalry to fight, while Jiang Yiqu and Chun Yuqiong will lead the heavy infantry and archers to push forward and suppress it!"
"Here!" The generals took the order and left.
Yuan Shao's calm tone contained raging anger.
"Cao Amo, how could I, Yuan Benchu, lose to you? How could I lose to you?!" Yuan Shao had always looked down on Cao Cao's background, and even looked down on the black dwarf who always loved to brag in front of Cai Zhaoji.
But now, Cao Cao not only overwhelms himself in official position, but also brings Cai Zhaoji into his house, and his career and love actually overshadow him. How can I bear it?!
At the beginning, Yuan Shao, as the big brother, gave Cao Cao countless help and support, but there is a saying that is good, "I hope you live well, but you can't be better than me"!
Therefore, when Cao Cao gradually gained momentum to surpass himself, Yuan Shao's unwillingness, anger and humiliation slowly burst out.
This is the human nature of the human heart.
...
Although this battle is just a trial, if we can win the first battle, it will definitely have a great boost to morale.
After Yuan Shao issued the order, various troops began to mobilize one after another.
Among Yuan's troops, apart from the Xianden camp established by Qu Yi, the most powerful one now is the foreign cavalry who have just surrendered.
This group of foreign cavalry, mainly composed of Wuhuan people, mixed with Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qiang people, etc., is extremely brave, good at sudden shooting, and extremely difficult to deal with.
At this moment, this 50,000-strong foreign cavalry, commanded by Zhang He and Gao Lan respectively, took the lead in the battle!
When Cao Cao saw Yuan Shao's army forming two groups of cavalry, he shouted loudly: "The crossbowmen are out! Archers, prepare!"
After the order was issued, the messenger standing on the carriage began to wave the flag quickly.
The sound of the war drums on both sides gradually became more rapid. After the three drums were completed, Yuan Jun's cavalry was almost rushing to the front of Cao Jun's formation!
There is no doubt that there are horse pits scattered all over the hundred steps in front of Cao's army.
Between the horse pits, there were countless iron caltrops. These were the tricks Lu Yan used to deal with the Xiliang cavalry.
To deal with this kind of light cavalry that cannot be circumvented, horse traps, iron caltrops, serial crossbowmen, and dozing pikemen seem to be enough.
Zhang He Gao Lan's cavalry was still two hundred steps away from Cao Jun.
Cao Jun's infantry formation suddenly opened a series of cracks. Numerous holding ten-shot repeating crossbows that have been improved several times and become smaller and lighter, but more powerful, standing or kneeling, are deployed among the shield and spear infantry.
In front of the battle.
Since there was a city wall behind Cao Jun, Zhang He and Gao Lan's light cavalry were unable to carry out a surprise attack around the rear. They could only attack Cao Jun's formation from the front and both sides.
When the cavalry reached a distance of 120 steps, shouts of "Fire arrows!" came from the Cao army's formation!
Cao Jun's crossbowmen began to pull the triggers frantically, while the archers drew their bowstrings full, pointed diagonally into the air, and fired thousands of arrows!
The crossbowmen dealt with the cavalry, while the archers dealt with the crossbowmen and archers located behind Yuan Shao's cavalry.
Horse traps have natural restraints on cavalry, and are easy to dig with almost no cost.
Gu Mao
Caltrops are small, good at hiding, and are also a powerful weapon against cavalry.
The cavalry at the forefront had already entered the horse trap and caltrop trap area.
There was a Yuan Jun cavalryman who suddenly felt his horse leaning forward suddenly, and then there was a numbing sound of bones breaking!
Or the horse that was running suddenly bounced up, or fell directly to the ground, and suddenly a series of sounds began to sound.
"Crack!"
"Plop!"
“Bang!!”
"ah!"
Countless sounds of falling to the ground, sounds of broken bones and screams were heard. In just an instant, nearly a thousand of Yuan's cavalry fell to the ground.
However, the losses of these men also filled the trap, and their sacrifice allowed the cavalry in the rear to move forward smoothly.
Then, after finally breaking through the area of the horse trap and the iron caltrops, Yuan Jun's cavalry suddenly heard another "Buzz! Buzz!" sound!
"Change!"
Zhang He reacted quickly, but as soon as he said his words, a burst of "puff" and screams sounded one after another.
It was the sound of crossbow arrows hitting flesh,
The cavalrymen under Zhang He Gaolan were falling down in pieces like harvested wheat!
Zhang He Gao Lan saw the fierce firepower of Cao Jun's crossbowmen, so he immediately gave the order and turned around to make a large arc.
During this period,
Zhang He, the foreign cavalry under Gao Lan, demonstrated the strongest killing skill among the cavalry, mounted shooting!
"Tu tu tu tu!"
"Whoosh whoosh!"
The most effective killing range of the improved ten-shot repeating crossbow is seventy steps.
However, Yuan Jun's cavalry fought in a roundabout way at a distance of about 80 paces, and by the way, they used inertia to launch the bows and arrows in their hands into Cao Jun's crossbowmen formation.
Cao's army's crossbowmen were all lightly armored and had no defensive shields. A wave of arrows were thrown down, causing heavy losses immediately.
Seeing that the mounted archery was effective, Zhang He Gao Lan's two cavalrymen began to use their mobility to continuously detour, launch, and detour again, which brought the characteristics of the cavalry to the extreme.
The crossbowmen of Cao's army were suppressed by their range and suffered heavy losses, while the arrows of the archers could not hit the light cavalry that came and went like the wind.
After Zhao Yun saw it, he immediately clenched his fists, gritted his silver teeth, and squeezed out a few words: "The riding shooting of the alien cavalry!"
Lu Yan had only seen such large-scale mounted shooting in games and TV in the past, but when he saw it now, he was immediately shocked.
Liu Bei and others had only seen Baima Yicong slinging down foreigners before, but they didn't think they were that strong. Now that they saw their own members being slingshotted by Yuan Jun, they felt for themselves, "The archers are so perverted!"
Under the attack of several waves of arrows, Cao Jun's crossbowmen not only lost their firepower, but also suffered heavy losses, and finally had to retreat to the formation early.
"As expected of Zhang He and Gao Lan who were able to defeat and recruit foreign cavalry...these two are much better than Yan Liangwen Chou!" Cao Cao couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Yan Liang and Wen Chou only had the courage of an ordinary man. Maybe Yan Liang could lead an army in battle, but in the end he was still a reckless man who underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly.
But Zhang He and Gao Lan were different. Not only were they superb in martial arts, they were also wise and brave, and good at commanding troops.