Three Kingdoms

Hedong.

The sky is high and the clouds are light.

Guanqiu Xing led an army of more than 20,000 people and was marching northwest along the west bank of Fen River.

Of course, it is said to be one hundred thousand.

In this era, many people can't even write 1, 2, 3, 4, let alone distinguish the difference between 20,000 and 100,000.

A lot and really a lot are just different concepts.

There is nothing wrong with this saying that when there are tens of thousands of people, it becomes a vast city. If you don’t have much intuitive idea of ​​tens of thousands of people, you can refer to the train stations in big cities every year during the Chinese Spring Festival.

On the terrain where the plains and plateaus meet in Hedong, starting from Anyi and stretching back and forth for a distance of three or four miles, the entire army is in an egg shape, slightly larger in the north and narrower in the south. Because of the different types of arms and The different propulsion speeds of each one also show the layering like egg membrane, egg white and egg yolk, slowly moving towards Pingyang.

Stretching in front are naturally the scouts and sentinels sent out, bringing back the intelligence of detection in a steady stream, while the infantry of the front army follow these scouts, and then there are the guerrilla forces that can act at any time. A small part of the cavalry on the left wing of this part of the guerrilla force is also an infantry. For the right wing, the number is much smaller than that on the left wing, because not far to the right of Guanqiu Xing is the Fen River, and Pingyang It is located in the northwest, so it is normal to focus on the left wing.

Of course, according to the normal requirements of the Han army, rangers must be deployed on the left and right wings, so that the army can be fully expanded and there is no need to worry about the risk of being attacked by the enemy's flanks, but the problem is that even if they are together, Minato could barely scrape together a cavalry force of about a thousand men, plus about two hundred more as scouts. If it were further divided into left and right wings, it would be simply too thin to be used at all. Therefore, It can only be arranged according to the formation of complete infantry. As for the thousand cavalry, it will be used as a supplementary force for the front army and the middle army, just in case.

In the military system of the Han Dynasty, there has always been a distinction between regular soldiers and auxiliary soldiers. Generally speaking, it is one to one, but Guanqiu Xing cannot do that. If the private soldiers of the noble clans are also included, the most they can do is Barely one to two.

This is also a kind of helplessness. After all, the soldiers in the Sili area have been damaged a lot, especially when they need to fight head-on. Trained soldiers cannot be replenished in a short time. In addition, Hedong has always been in Fei Under covert surveillance, even recruitment is done in secret, let alone large-scale soldier training. Therefore, adding the two items together, it is already very difficult to gather more than 5,000 regular soldiers. .

As the army advances, the flags rise and fall. As the military formation slowly moves forward, the flags stretch into pieces. The Chinese army's banner advanced over this wilderness, and scouts came over from time to time to report the surrounding situation. Wu Qiu Xing was dressed in military uniform and sat firmly on his horse. He issued some orders from time to time and adjusted the pace of the army.

Tentative frictions and small-scale confrontations began yesterday.

According to the feedback from the scouts at the front, Beipingyang also had a small number of rangers deployed to the northeast of the river. When Guanqiu Xing led the army to advance, this part of the rangers broke camp and left. They were cruising ahead, seemingly looking for weaknesses in Guanqiu Xing's army, which really made Guanqiu Xing very unhappy.

However, with the hundreds of cavalrymen in Beipingyang, and the more than ten thousand troops who were strictly prohibited from marching slowly, especially Guanqiu Xing's strategy of preferring to go slower than revealing any flaws along the way, it only made Guanqiu Xing unhappy. , and cannot cause much damage to the army.

Guanqiu Xing's goal is very simple, that is, relying on the current number of troops, he can attack Pingyang openly and force Pingyang's defenders to fight under the city. The victory will be certain. Anyway, now, whether it is the few Bingbei cavalry roaming in front or the guard soldiers in Pingyang City, the relative number is less than that of Guanqiu Xing. Therefore, as long as there is a battle, Guanqiu Xing can use his troops liberally. With the above advantages, if you launch an attack directly, even if the opponent is brave, on such a relatively vast battlefield, it is enough to surround the opponent, and the soldiers will eventually kill him on the battlefield.

At the end of the day, the news came back from the scouts in front. There were still no soldiers coming out from the direction of Pingyang City. General Zhengxi's soldiers were still stationed in the city. They seemed to have given up on the fields outside the city and did not send anyone to guard or guard the fields. Do some other actions.

Guanqiu Xing breathed out slowly, looking much more relaxed.

This made Guanqiu Xing feel a little contempt for the Pingyang defenders. Since the troops were sparse, they had to at least fortify the walls and clear the country in order to have a chance of survival. Even if they had to destroy the farmland outside the city, they should not hesitate to do so, otherwise it would be considered safe. Zhuang He, what's the use if you can't protect the city?

What's more, if the attack is prolonged, wouldn't all the crops left outside the city become the food for Guanqiu Xing's army?

It's just that the injured scouts who retreated from time to time in front became the only unpleasant thing about Guanqiu Xing. The Zhengxi Cavalry is indeed too strong. These scouts under them are no match at all. They are defeated again and again in small-scale conflicts from time to time. Although the damage is not very big, the left The cumulative casualties of three and two on the right are quite annoying.

Guanqiu Xing looked at the sky. Although it was still early, he still ordered to set up camp. This place is about forty or fifty miles away from Pingyang, which is exactly about a day's distance. There is no problem in walking more, but for the sake of safety, it is also in line with the art of war to set up a stronghold here...

…………………………

A sharp whistle sounded outside the sparse forest.

"Found it! Here!" A group of cavalry scouts from Guanqiu Xing shouted excitedly, pointing to the small woods ahead.

In the past few days, Bingbei's cavalry scouts had really suffered a lot from Guanqiuxing's cavalry. As a result, Guanqiuxing's scout team grew larger and larger, from the original team of five to ten people, to three. Forty people, eventually spontaneously turned into about a hundred people gathered together in one place, trying to rely on the large number of people to capture the Bingbei scouts who had defeated them before.

This group of 100 cavalrymen met the Bingbei cavalry in front of a small forest.

Wuqiu Xing's cavalry team waved their swords excitedly, kicked their horses in the belly to speed up, and shouted: "Go up! Go up! We have more people! Kill them!"

"Is this the damn one that's been following us?"

"Damn it, I can finally vent my anger!"

More Guanqiu Xing cavalry saw that their side had the numerical advantage, and finally felt that they could feel proud, so they all drew their swords. Some of them felt that their bow skills were good, so they opened their bows and nocked arrows, preparing to attack these soldiers. The Northern Cavalry taught them a lesson...

The dozen or so cavalrymen and the northern cavalrymen were clearly outmatched, so they rushed out from the sparse grove, patted their horses and ran wildly.

Horse hooves were flying, and the two sides were running away and chasing each other at about the same speed.

The cavalrymen in Guanqiu Xing shouted excitedly, fully venting their grievances over the past two days.

Normally, the main task of a scout is not to kill the enemy, but to spy on the information while covering up the other's scout's infiltration. If the two sides fight, they usually leave as soon as they get involved. If the opponent escapes, in most cases they will not rush to pursue them.

But on the one hand, the quality of the cavalrymen who served as scouts in Guanqiu Xing was somewhat uneven. On the other hand, they had been suppressed by the Bingbei scouts for the past two days. Therefore, after finally gaining the upper hand, they all got carried away. In addition, both sides were rushing their horses, and their speed was not slow. Without paying attention, they chased the cavalry from the north for seven or eight miles.

"Woo..."

The sudden sound of horns obviously startled Guanqiu Xing's cavalry. When they followed the sound, they discovered that a cavalry formation had appeared from the flank at some point, and they were charging straight towards them. Above this group of cavalry, a tricolor flag was flying!

"Damn it! It's the cavalry from Zhengxi!"

"What should I do……"

"Run!"

"Turn around and attack!"

Different voices rang out in confusion, which made Guanqiu Xing's cavalry completely at a loss. After running forward for a certain distance according to the inertia, they were bumped in by the Bingbei cavalry who came out from the flank!

Zhang Lie shouted loudly, led the queue, and set up an arrow formation. He didn't care about the scattered arrows. At the moment of contact, with a "ha" sound, he raised his sword and slashed. Get down!

A wave of blood immediately burst out on the front line!

The pace of the cavalry battle, especially this small-scale battle, was extremely fast. Zhang Lie only remembered that he had only made less than ten cuts in total, and he had already penetrated Guanqiu Xing's cavalry formation and divided it into two. Half.

Zhang Lie, who had passed through the Wuqiu Xing array, shook off the blood on his sword and subconsciously glanced at the blade in his hand. He saw a small gap on the blade and couldn't help but frown. This seemed to be a cut on the blade. On some unlucky guy's head?

Or was it the result of a knife fight with a guy?

In this short battle, the losses to the Bingbei cavalry were as insignificant as the wear and tear on the sword in Zhang Lie's hand, and what was left behind was a pile of wreckage covered in blood and corpses...

"Quick, be quick with your hands and feet! Clean the battlefield!" Zhang Lie sheathed his sword and shouted in a loud voice, "Let's go lay some more bait and see if we can catch another big fish!"

…………………………

The scout team ahead suffered a sudden and massive loss, and Guanqiu Xing didn't get the news until the sun turned to the west and the camp was fully erected. This sudden unexpected situation forced him to dispatch the only cavalry series in his hand to the location of the incident to investigate.

Such a sudden attack surprised Guanqiu Xing. He had also imagined and calculated the combat power of the Zhengxi Cavalry, but he never expected that his own cavalry would be so fragile and that the gap between the two sides would be so obvious.

Although the number of scouts sent to the front was not large, there were still three to four hundred riders. Now there are only more than a hundred left. The rest were damaged in this afternoon, like a huge blister exposed to the sun. Although it looked colorful on the surface for a while, over time, it shattered with a "pop" sound...

There are still cavalry in Pingyang City?

How many more cavalry are there?

Will it pose a threat to the infantry of our own formation?

Although the information obtained by Guanqiu Xing from Hedong showed that there were indeed not many troops in Pingyang, and it was quite possible to defend the city in the city, it was absolutely impossible to divide the troops to attack, but the current situation was... It was like a loud slap on Guanqiu Xing's face, making him feel some burning pain.

What should I do if the only cavalry formation of more than a thousand people I have on hand cannot fight or even contain it?

Guanqiu Xing did not expect such a situation, just as he did not expect that the Zhengxi Cavalry's attack would be so fast and fierce. Before he could make arrangements and reactions, the dust had already settled. Seeing the embarrassed and frightened cavalrymen who had fled back, Guanqiu Xing could only endure it again and again. He only captured a few of the cavalry leaders and whipped them twenty times each, declaring that they would be punished by death and that they would be able to atone for their crimes. That’s it.

After that, people have to send some good medicine to them behind their backs, and comfort them with gentle words, so as to prevent these people from becoming resentful...

well.

Tired.

According to military law, those who kill soldiers for no reason like this should be held accountable, and normally they would be beheaded. But the problem is that if even these cavalry officers are killed, wouldn't there be no commander at all?

It was the first time that Guanqiu Xing had fought against the soldiers of Zhengxi. It was also the first time that he had seen the powerful attack power of Zhengxi's cavalry. Only then did he understand why Wang Yi had clearly assembled his troops, but still did not dare to march north. .

This is a powerful opponent.

Also an insidious opponent.

The previous small friction between the scouts was actually setting the stage for this afternoon's round. It was like a killer hiding in the night, taking advantage of Guanqiu's unpreparedness, to come up and stab him.

Although it was not immediately fatal, it obscured Wu Qiu Xing's eyes.

"Come here! Send the order! Strengthen camp patrols! Set up double sentries!" Guanqiu Xing frowned and ordered, "Also, please invite Gongye to come to the Chinese army's tent to discuss matters..."

Guanqiu Xing was still a little confused at first, wondering why Zheng Tai was so incompetent. He brought three or four times as many troops to attack Shaanxi, but he was killed so badly that he was running away. Now he understands a little, how can such a powerful soldier like Zheng Xi be used? , as long as the fighter aircraft is properly selected, it is indeed possible.

Zheng Tai's defeat was not entirely due to Zheng Tai's incompetence.

Now, Guanqiu Xing must be vigilant at all times and must not step into Zheng Tai's old path. He called Zheng Tai over to ask and understand in more detail what exactly happened, so that he could prepare in advance and make decisions. Corresponding precautions, if Pingyang's Zhengxi general wants to repeat his old tricks, he must be forced to walk around without food!