Retreat is just an order, but it is definitely not something that can be done just by talking about it. Retreat in the face of battle, and you are still at a disadvantage. If you are not careful, it will turn into a huge rout, and the entire army will be annihilated.
However, the commander is Cao Cao after all, and the soldiers and horses under his command are no longer the mixed coalition forces on the Gushui River. For more than a year, they have fought thousands of miles and hundreds of battles, although it is not enough to build an army.
The army of the king is invincible in the world, but Cao Jun can still execute orders and prohibitions and advance and retreat in a well-founded manner.
Amidst the sound of golden drums and flags waving back and forth, the order to retreat was quickly conveyed to the entire army, and the retreat began.
Although it was a retreat, after receiving the order, the first order given by the generals on both wings was to counterattack, a large-scale counterattack!
Xia Houyuan personally led hundreds of personal guards and more than a thousand troops to launch a counterattack. He himself was very skilled in martial arts, and his personal guards were all well-trained elites of Cao's army. With the addition of more than a thousand troops, his combat power was certainly extraordinary.
As soon as they engaged in the battle, they blocked the fierce attack of the Youzhou Army, not only regaining the situation, but also pushing back the Youzhou Army's front line by more than ten steps.
It's not that Xia Houyuan is unwilling to obey orders. If he wants to retreat safely, he can't run around and be beaten. Otherwise, no matter how elite the troops are, they will collapse because their morale is getting lower and lower.
The so-called fight and then retreat, that's it.
"Every general will keep his position, hold down the formation, and retreat slowly according to the flag of the central army. Anyone who steps out of line will be beheaded! Anyone who makes loud noises and shakes the morale of the army will be beheaded! Anyone who disobeys orders will be beheaded!"
With the power of repelling the enemy troops, Xia Houyuan raised his voice and shouted.
The Cao army on the left wing had been beaten to a pulp. When they heard the withdrawal order from the central army, they were eager to leave this Shura field. However, the enemy army was pressing too hard and the rear army did not make room for it. There was no time to turn around. At this time, I felt
As soon as the pressure was relieved, they subconsciously turned around and ran away, but when they heard Xia Houyuan's strict order, they immediately felt awe-inspiring.
When the soldiers discovered that it was the general who had killed him personally, their morale, which had hit rock bottom, suddenly revived. They immediately obeyed the order and ran to the general's banner closest to them, and slowly retreated according to the instructions of the generals at all levels.
With this opening, Xia Houyuan did not hesitate to fight. The stagnation of the Youzhou Army's offensive was only temporary. Without breaking the enemy formation, the advantage achieved by relying on fresh troops would soon disappear. After being temporarily suppressed, the Youzhou Army's counterattack would only become more ferocious.
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Therefore, after achieving his goal, Xia Houyuan also gave up when he saw the opportunity, and retreated slowly with his army.
The Youzhou Army had already gained momentum and was willing to let the enemy leave. As soon as the offensive stalled for a moment, it quickly rebounded.
"Don't let Cao Cao go! Brothers, kill, kill!"
Tian Kai didn't expect that this battle would go so smoothly. Before anything happened, Cao Cao fled. Could it be that the Pengju brothers were really destined to be men of destiny, and their coercion had reached the point of frightening the enemy?
No matter how many doubts he had in his heart, it did not prevent him from pursuing the pursuit. The Youzhou infantry, which had always been bluffing and completely looked down upon by the lord, could perform like this, which surprised Tian Kai and made him feel proud at the same time.
Feel.
Being in charge of one side actually only looks good. Because Youzhou's military strength is tight, so since the Hebei War started, Tian Kai's subordinates only have infantry.
In the Battle of Jieqiao, the infantry was held back, and there was no eye-catching performance after that. They just used the human sea tactic when they were rushing to harvest Jizhou's autumn grain.
Tian Kai knew the contempt for infantry in Youzhou, and he received a lot of looks for it, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was used to leading cavalry, so he didn't know how to train infantry, and what was the importance of infantry combat?
Fortunately, with the help of Brother Pengju, I am finally feeling proud today.
Breaking Heishan and defeating Yuan Shu, Cao Cao is very powerful? It's useless. Wasn't he defeated by himself? Of course it mainly relied on the power of the Pengju brothers, but after this battle, his troops should also be formed, right?
First there were a few personal guards around him, and soon more people joined in. Tian Kai's excitement quickly infected the entire army, and the sound of killing was loud.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" The crowd was surging. Moreover, the crescent moons on both sides of the formation seemed to have turned into two scimitars, slashing viciously at the enemy formation with irresistible momentum. The right wing where Tian Kai was located was attacking particularly rapidly.
, he caught up behind Xia Houyuan in an instant.
"Raise your shield!" Xia Houyuan remained calm in the face of danger and raised his voice to give the order.
A group of shield bearers stepped out of the fresh army, holding up large shields, and resolutely faced the giant gun behind them.
"Fall!" Xia Houyuan's eyes quickly swept over the shield array, his expression solemn and filled with a hint of joy. No one knew whether his joy was for the integrity of the shield array or for these warriors who regarded death as home. Only his orders followed one after another.
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"Boom!" The shield hand raised the big oar high and slammed it downwards. The sharp shield tail broke through the hard soil in late autumn and stood firmly on the ground, as if a towering shield appeared out of thin air.
city wall.
"Raise the spear!" The orders continued. Behind the solid wall, another row of spear thrusts was poked out. The sharp spear points emitted a dark light, reflecting Senhan's murderous intention.
When Wang Yu saw this, he sighed and said: "As expected of Cao Cao, he is so organized when retreating from battle."
Since the beginning of the war, Wang Yu has been watching the enemy from behind. He did have a plan to fight, but Cao Cao retreated too quickly and decisively. Before Wang Yu could find the opportunity to fight, Cao Cao's army had already begun to retreat.
Although the victory was certain, Wang Yu was not as excited as Tian Kai. There was nothing to be excited about originally. Seeing how Cao Cao's army was advancing and retreating so well, it would be difficult to achieve much results in this battle, let alone keeping Cao Cao behind.
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"My lord, Xia Houyuan seems to be in trouble, why don't you let someone help Brother Fa Shi and capture this person?" Taishi Ci eagerly asked for a fight.
Although the battle with Dian Wei was enjoyable, the outcome was inconclusive, which made him very regretful. The right-wing offensive seemed to be blocked, so he hurriedly volunteered.
"No need." Wang Yu shook his head and said with a relaxed smile: "It's not like you haven't seen this move before. Isn't that what Qu Yi did in Long Minu's battle? Don't worry, this is a small battle. Isn't it difficult?
Don’t beat me French brother.”
"Hey, that's true." Tai Shici was a little disappointed, but he still nodded.
Xia Houyuan moved the team very quickly, setting up a line of defense between an advance and a retreat. It seemed that even if he did not retreat, he would have a chance to withstand Tian Kai's offensive. But in fact, the temporary defense line was very thin.
Without depth, it is impossible to fight in an array, and it is simply used to delay time.
How long it can be delayed does not depend on the formation, but the key is how strong the fighting spirit of the dead soldiers in the defense line is. In the battle of Longcuo, Qu Yi took the concept of fighting to the death to the extreme. With a remaining army, he forcefully delayed
There were two powerful armies, Jiefeng Camp and Youzhou Cavalry. Chunyu Qiong and others had a great chance of escaping, but they themselves were too unsatisfactory.
Theoretically speaking, as long as this kind of defense line is put down, valuable time can be bought. Both sides are mainly infantry troops with similar mobility. It is impossible to bypass the defense line and pursue the enemy, even if they really catch up.
Now, my own queue must have been destroyed. Facing an enemy that is fighting and retreating, it is really dangerous to mess up your queue.
Therefore, in this situation, we can only break through the defense lines one by one to see how many dead soldiers the enemy has available and how long the enemy's morale can last.
"Fight to the death! Die for the Lord!"
There were about three hundred dead soldiers who formed the defense line. In front of the overwhelming pursuers, they looked so small, like a rock in the big waves. They knew that they had no way out, and could even be said to be abandoned, but their fighting spirit was still there.
Without wavering at all, the leader of the army, Sima, personally held the shield and shouted the same order over and over again.
"Die for your lord!" All the troops responded in unison. They were private soldiers of the Cao and Xiahou families. For them, dying for a confidant is the greatest justice and the most authoritative truth!
In order to cover their lord's retreat, they were willing to die on the battlefield.
"Fight with all your might! Come with me and kill them all!" I don't know if he was also thinking of Qu Yi, but suddenly there was a bit of hatred in Tian Kai's roar.
"Oh!" The Youzhou Army adjusted their formation while pursuing fiercely, and their momentum became stronger and stronger.
"Boom!" The moment the two armies connected, there was a huge crash, and the shield hands of the two armies hit each other.
"Kaka..." Then, there was an obscure sound of friction. I suppressed the blood surge in my chest and abdomen caused by the impact. The shield hands of both armies desperately pushed the shields in front of them.
The Youzhou army wanted to overwhelm the opponent with force. They came with the power of victory and the strength of their numbers. The Cao army wanted to maintain the integrity of the battle line and buy more time for the retreating army, so that their sacrifices would have more meaning.
"Fight to the death, fight to the death, fight to the end!" This was the voice of Cao Jun. They followed the traditional rules and died for their lord. They knew that even if they died, the lord would give their wives, children, and children a peaceful life, and they would no longer be affected by the troubled times.
Threats and pain. They shouted righteously and impassionedly.
"Put rebellion, crusade rebellion, conquer rebellion and put an end to the chaos!" This is the roar of the Youzhou Army. They are not very clear about who started this war, but the reason why the Han Dynasty fell into troubled times is undoubtedly related to the powerful people of the family.
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When the land of Kyushu was starving and the hungry people had to rise up, the granaries were piled high with corn in the forts of the powerful men. The high protruding tips were like the crowns on the heads of the scholar-bureaucrats.
When Dong Zhuo was in chaos and the people of the capital were in dire straits, the noble princes were having a drinking party, singing and singing every night, and looting the surrounding areas of the camp into nothing.
When the champion princes fought with the Xiliang cavalry in Luoyang, and the fight was fierce, the princes were trying to undermine each other behind the safety, and finally staged scenes of cannibalism and annexation.
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The aristocratic wealthy family has indeed become rotten, and it’s time to step aside. The old rules and regulations are no longer effective!
Fighting side by side for many times made the Qingzhou and Youzhou armies closely intertwined. The new ideas spread in the Qingzhou Army also infected the Youzhou Army.
Both sides of the war know that they are fighting for justice.
But there is only one justice, and it always belongs to the winning side.
The morale of both sides was very strong, and the number of people became the key factor in determining victory or defeat. The defense line constructed by Cao Jun's dead soldiers was too thin. After holding on for several rounds, they finally could not withstand the overwhelming number of pursuing troops.
After another violent impact, a Cao Jun shieldman fell to the ground, with blood dripping from his mouth, nose, and tiger's mouth. No one went to help him, and no one paid attention to him, because the shield formation had already cracked a hole, and dozens of handles were
The spear was inserted through the opening, and several long axes were used to chop horizontally and vertically.
Everyone has to make a final struggle for life, so where is the time to pay attention to other people?
The rupture of the battle line soon caused a chain reaction, from cracks to cracks, and finally to pieces being destroyed. In fact, it only took a blink of an eye.
After the Axeman breaks into the shield formation, there is no longer any suspense about the overall situation.
Three hundred people fought to the death to gain a fifty-step buffer for Xia Houyuan. The sacrifice was huge, but it was far from enough to ensure safety.
Full of resentment and unwillingness, Xia Houyuan ordered again, and a second line of defense was formed on the spot. The army still retreated firmly but slowly...
The losses of the left wing were huge, but compared to the right wing, which was in a worse situation, this sacrifice was nothing.
Long before Cao Cao ordered the withdrawal, Lu Kuang's army had already retreated. It was a fantasy to expect them to fight and retreat in front of the powerful Qingzhou army.
After giving the order, the Jizhou army scrambled to retreat. All Lu Kuang could do was to slightly control the direction of the troops' escape to prevent them from running into friendly troops.
Lu Kuang knew very well that Cao Cao was ruthless. Even if a friendly army ran over to bump into his formation, they would still be shot to death. How many of the defeated soldiers died at the hands of the supervising team just now?
but……
While directing the defeated troops to flee, Lu Kuang looked back with a complicated look on his face. The person who advanced to meet the attack and cut off the rear of the army was none other than Cao Jun's supervising team.
The leader of the supervising team was Xiangben Colonel Du Song. This man was a well-known powerful man in Hulu County, Shanyang County. He was famous for being on the run for killing people when he was young.
Speaking of which, many of the mighty generals of the Three Kingdoms era had this experience. Guan Yu, Dian Wei, and Xu Shu all became famous for killing people. Even Taishi Ci became famous in Donglai after he caused a big disaster.
"Fire arrows, straight ahead, concentrate on firing!" Jun Song, wearing iron armor, stood in the center of the array, raising his sword and shouting.
The neighing sound of a volley of powerful bows sounded.
The mission of the Supervisory Team is not to fight in battle, but to create a huge deterrent effect on deserters in the shortest possible time, suppress fear with fear, and maintain the integrity of the battle line and order in the army. Therefore, their weapons are medium and long-range spears.
Mainly with bows and crossbows, rather than swords and axes that are good for fighting.
Such a combination is not conducive to combat. At the beginning of the battle, the dense array of spears and crossbows may be able to inflict a certain amount of damage on the enemy, but after the close combat, the spearmen will have no power to fight back. This is why the army is very
The reason why it is rarely composed of a single military branch.
It is not conducive to fighting in an array, but if you snipe with the determination to die and fight while retreating, this combination is very powerful. The concentrated shooting of bows and arrows is very powerful. Even if the enemy cannot be stopped, the dense spear array can withstand it.
Pursuit by a few skirmishers.
Several groups of Youzhou infantry got into a fight and pursued without waiting for orders. They suffered a big loss from this arrow and spear formation. First, nearly half of them were knocked down by the arrow rain. The sword and shield soldiers rushed in with their shields on their backs.
The enemy was in front of him, but he had no choice but to deal with the barrage of spears, so he could only end up in despair.
Of course, this alone cannot completely block the pursuer's attack.
The pentagonal plum blossom formation was used for skirmishing. Faced with hundreds of people forming a dense formation, there was of course no good solution. However, after the Youzhou army reorganized their ranks, it was the turn of Cao Jun's supervising team to bleed.
The revenge came quickly. Before the blood of the forward skirmishers was drained, a rain of arrows several times denser than Cao Jun's rear troops was covered... Above the head, in front of the enemy, and to the left and right, the screams of arrows continued!
The supervisory team, which mainly used spears, bows and arrows, was unobstructed and completely unable to cope with such an offensive. They could only rely on the cover of their comrades to trudge through the rain of arrows, and were shot down entirely. In the end,
Out of formation, they were submerged in the rolling tide of pursuing troops.
"Report...to my lord, Captain Du Song was killed in battle, and none of the troops under his command survived!"
"Report...to my lord, Captain Zhang Tao died in battle!"
Under the calm command of Cao Cao and his generals, Cao Cao's army marched step by step and retreated slowly, displaying the style of a strong army. However, this calmness was not without cost, as the continuous bad news continued.
The troops that cut off the rear basically ended up with the entire army being destroyed. And the troops that dared to take on the task of cutting off the rear, even if they were not direct descendants of the Cao family's private soldiers, were still relatively elite troops. Even in the three-month fake retreat with Yuan Shu,
In the battle of a hundred miles, a pursuit of six hundred miles, and a battle of thousands of miles, the number of elites lost may not be as many as today.
Each piece of bad news was like a knife, stabbing into Cao Cao's heart again and again.
Many generals were fighting and commanding on various fronts. Cao Cao was surrounded by only Dian Wei and Cao Hong as guards. Both of them were very loyal. Although they had doubts, they did not show it on their faces.
But a group of staff have been whispering. Although the situation on the right wing is very bad, it is not time for the entire army to retreat, right? To retreat suddenly at a stalemate in the battle situation is not to give victory to the enemy for nothing and leave the loss to the enemy.
Yourself?
How could the always shrewd lord make such a bad move?
Although they had doubts, no one offered advice. The war was still going on. Even if the execution was random, it would be better than everyone arguing with each other and delaying the battle. Although he was in the same party as Yuan Shao and Liu Dai, Cao Cao's
However, his value orientation is closer to that of Wang Yu. Most of the staff he recruits are more pragmatic and are all outstanding figures in the world. This fact can still be understood clearly.
The generals who commanded on various fronts had nothing to say. They followed orders and prohibited them. This was the most basic discipline. Cao Cao's army fought in Yan and Henan and was invincible. It was not just Cao Cao's strategy.
In this way, relying on constant efforts to survive, Cao's army was defeated and retreated to Leping City twenty miles away, whereupon the defeat was stopped.
In order to do their best, the Qingyou Allied Forces did not push too far, and set up camp five miles away, assuming a posture to besiege Leping.
Out of doubts about Cao Cao's decision, Cao Jun and the generals of the Jizhou army hurriedly settled their soldiers and concentrated them on the central army. (To be continued. Please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!)