Three Kingdoms

Among Guanqiu Xing's army, the soldiers and grassroots generals in each camp were eagerly issuing orders while looking eagerly at the Chinese camp, anxiously waiting for Guanqiu Xing's order to fight, defend, or Is there any other arrangement? The unknown of all this makes people feel uneasy.

Humans are an extremely strange animal. Perhaps it is the habits engraved in genes tens of thousands of years ago that allow humans to understand that in dangerous moments, only by gathering together in one place and using the power of a team can they better cope with difficulties. Even though there were many dissatisfactions and complaints, when the danger came, everyone still hoped that Guanqiu Xing could lead all the soldiers and gather together to face the swords and guns of the Zhengxi soldiers. Although there may have been conflicts of one kind or another between the main soldiers and the auxiliary soldiers before, as long as the order is given, the conflicts between individuals will be covered up under the collective will, at least until the battle is completed. .

When the rear camp was noisy and chaotic and was suddenly attacked by the Zhengxi Cavalry, many soldiers who had been in the battle formation were naturally touched. They were already gathering in one place with their swords and guns, waiting for the order from the army. After a while, he went to the back camp to rescue...

I don’t know how long I waited, but the flag of the Central Army Commander’s military order finally came.

Everyone raised their heads, trying to figure out what the flag meant. The middle-level generals who suddenly understood the meaning slowly lowered their heads, and then some waved their hands and silently told the soldiers to go back, while some just yelled: "What the hell!" !Aren’t we planning to have a rear camp? Do we still need food, grass and baggage? What kind of military order is this?!"

Of course, the reaction of the soldiers was a little slower than that of the leading general. After all, not all soldiers could understand the meaning of the flag immediately, but there was an even greater commotion immediately. In the ranks, voices of shouting and cursing were accompanied by confusion and confusion. He started: "The rear camp is gone, what should we do with the food and grass? I haven't received today's rations yet! Damn it, what are we going to eat today? If we don't save the rear camp, the entire army will not move? Can those rotten scum of the rear camp hold on?" If we can’t defend it anymore, why don’t we just go and chew the soil?”

The sounds of chaos resounded one after another in the camp, and then there was an uproar.

Among the Zhengxi infantry array slowly approaching Pingyang City, Xun Chen, surrounded by guards, stared intently at the movements of the Guanqiuxing camp. When he heard the uproar, he couldn't help but be startled, and then laughed. He stood up, pointed at Guanqiu Xing's camp and said, "It's easy for such an incompetent person to defeat the enemy!"

Xun Chen was a little worried at first, because his attack this time was actually not the original plan, but was forced out by Guan Qiu Xing.

Wuqiu Xing suddenly sent troops to surround Taoshan, and there was a fight. Although it was not clear what the specific situation was, it seemed that something was not good from the city wall.

This made Xun Chen very embarrassed and troubled. He did not expect that Guanqiu Xing would be so reckless, nor did he expect that someone would dare to risk offending many gentry students to cause trouble...

This is just like the warlords in later generations. Even the most bastard warlords, not many people would be stupid enough to directly order the massacre of some universities. After all, in this era, those who can afford to study are not people from poor families. He might be involved with some important person. It is normal for noble families to marry each other. Therefore, without checking the three generations of ancestors, who knows that the beautiful and pure school girl has actually been that person for a long time? The boss has appointed his sister-in-law...

Xun Chen felt that this might be a ploy by Guanqiu Xing to lure him out of Pingyang City, but the problem was that he couldn't sit idly by on Taoshan Mountain, otherwise he wouldn't be able to bear anything, so That was the reason for this midnight raid.

In fact, at the beginning, Xun Chen transferred two thousand cavalry from Yinshan Mountain, commanded by Zhang Lie and Zhang Xiu, and hid them in Baibo Valley. At that time, Baibo claimed that there were one hundred thousand soldiers hidden in the valley, but now there are only one or two thousand cavalry hidden there. Of course it doesn’t take much effort.

In Xun Chen's plan, the cavalry attack on the camp was actually a feint. His focus was Taoshan. He had to confirm the situation in Taoshan and invite the Cai family back to Pingyang if necessary...

Yes, it's "please".

Xun Chen was originally unwilling to do this. On the one hand, he felt that with Cai Yong's reputation, no one would dare to touch him. On the other hand, because Mr. Cai Yong refused, he was not easy to force himself. But now it is clear that Guanqiu Xing has some undesirable thoughts about Taoshan. Naturally, Cai's safety needs to be more vigilant.

Therefore, in Xun Chen's plan, the cavalry raid was originally meant to make some gains if possible. If not, it was just to attract attention and cover the soldiers heading to Taoshan.

But I didn't expect that Guanqiu Xing didn't seem to be preparing to rescue the rear camp!

How could Xun Chen give up this great gift so easily?

The Guanqiu Xinghou camp on the side of the Fen River was in a state of ruins and chaos. The whole camp was filled with fireworks, and the ground was a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Although there were many soldiers in Guanqiu Xinghou's camp, the number was several times that of the cavalry sent by Xun Chen, but the problem was that there were loopholes in the defense from the beginning. Although the back camp has set up a wooden fence for the village wall, as well as some things such as horse and deer antlers, no deep ditch has been dug outside the camp. At the same time, perhaps due to lack of time, a thick layer of thick paint has not been painted on the wooden fence of the village wall. Yellow mud to prevent fire...

Therefore, when Zhang Xiu led his cavalry to pour kerosene and launch rockets into the camp, the wall that had not been properly protected from fire quickly burst into flames. Under the double smoke and flames, the wall that could have been relied on was The archers who were shooting couldn't stand at all, so there was no way to talk about any external counterattack.

Even so, it can actually be redeemed.

Because although the village wall is burning, it is originally made of relatively strong wood and will not be burned down for a while. It blocks the soldiers guarding the village and also blocks the horseshoes of Zhang Xiu and other cavalry. As long as Guanqiu is happy, By sending reinforcements, Zhang Xiu and others can naturally be driven away.

Although the cavalry attack power is strong, Xun Chen also needs such a cavalry to maintain the deterrent force against Guanqiu Xing. It is impossible to ignore the losses of the cavalry and Guanqiu Xing's infantry before Fei Qian, the general of Zhengxi, arrives. To exchange pawns, you even need to guard against Guanqiu Xing's cavalry of less than a thousand men. Although their combat effectiveness is not very good, they are still cavalry after all, and they still have mobility.

As a result, after waiting for a long time, there was no movement at all in the entire Chinese army camp in Guanqiuxing...

Is this what happened?

The baggage of 20,000 people is not one or two, nor is it a pile or two. There are all kinds of items. In the Han Dynasty without cranes, it was impossible to stack them high. Therefore, it occupied an extremely large area, up to the entire rear camp. They were all packed to the brim, and with the addition of four thousand people, the camp was naturally filled with a variety of items and everything. Naturally, it couldn't be fireproof and isolated like the warehouses of later generations.

When Zhang Xiu led his cavalry and started to set fire around the camp, they only burned the walls of the camp at first, but gradually the sparks and flames got out of control, and they began to run around under the blow of the night wind. Amidst the chaos among the auxiliary soldiers and farmers, I don’t know when fires of all sizes began to appear in the camp. When these fires started to burn, they once again increased the level of panic in the rear camp!

The messy stacking of materials made it even more difficult to put out the fire. In the panic, some people even knocked over the hay pile!

The dozen or so large tanks of water originally stored in the camp were not enough, but at the beginning they were used to splash the flames on the walls of the camp, but the flames were mixed with kerosene. It couldn't be wiped out by water, but it spread along the water! Now when the fire started in the camp, I found that there was no reserve in the tank, so I had to run to the Fenshui River to fetch buckets of water!

After coming and going, even if I fetched a full bucket of water from the Fen River, it would be so sloshing when I came back that half a bucket was left. Not to mention that the number of wooden buckets was far from enough. Even if I added some Wooden spoons and the like are just a drop in the bucket, and splashing water on them will not help at all. Many people can only watch the flames getting bigger and bigger, swallowing more and more other items...

I don't know when, someone suddenly shouted in the camp of Guanqiu Xinghou, and then some people opened the gate of the camp and fled. They were just civilian men recruited or assigned from Heluo, Hongnong, and Hedong. There was no preparation for war in the first place, and before facing a purgatory-like scene, collapse became inevitable.

Seeing an opportunity, Zhang Xiu immediately rushed into the camp on horseback!

In the battle formation, only a few people actually died from swords and guns. Even in the Changping Battle of the Pre-Qin Dynasty, although the killing of 400,000 people is a bit exaggerated, it also shows that even in such a huge battle, death in battle is only a possibility. Only one-tenth, the rest either collapsed or were trapped and killed, just like a fortress is often easiest to break from the inside. When the camp gate of Guanqiuxing's rear camp was opened by farmers and handymen, in fact, this A local victory or defeat is already determined.

Zhang Xiu led the cavalry into the camp, paying no attention to the civilian laborers who were running around, throwing flammable objects everywhere, and chased and killed the remaining soldiers who had some order.

Those civilian laborers who had not fled were already panic-stricken and uneasy and reluctantly stayed in the array of the Guanqiu Xinghou camp. When Zhang Xiu led the cavalry to break in, the men and horses were all dressed in blood-red and rushed in. They rushed left and right crazily. At the sudden moment, these civilians, who accounted for about half of the rear camp, suddenly collapsed and started running aimlessly on the battlefield, shouting.

And those transport officials who were supposed to restrain and lead them, the civilian commanders and so on in the various rear camps east of Heluo and Heluo, were no better than these farmers working hard, and were even worse!

Hundreds of people collapse at the same time, and the situation becomes impossible to deal with. Just like the subway with a huge flow of people in later generations, when the panicked civilian laborers start running around, even if there are calm people among them, they cannot resist the crowds. Even those who want to leave the station will be killed again alive. Just like pushing back into the subway car, some of the regular soldiers and auxiliary soldiers in the rear camp, who didn't have much courage in the first place, didn't have the intention to take a closer look at how many enemy troops were coming. Anyway, they only knew how to flee subconsciously. Everyone turned around and ran away. Many of them had the same goal, which was the village gate on the other side that was not yet burning!

More and more fires were rising, and the smoke was everywhere, blocking people's sight. They could only hear the thundering hooves of Zhang Xiu's cavalry who kept rushing in, galloping between the camps!

Could it be that the screams that rang out only increased the anxiety of the collapsed crowd. At the next moment, a torch thrown from nowhere hit the crowd, and also hit the tall grain and grass bags stacked on the side!

The smoke was filled with the same danger for Zhang Xiu and others. After all, the flow of people was crazy, and his cavalry was mixed in. In addition, the rear camp had a lot of materials, so it was difficult to run. If they accidentally bumped into, fell, or even were killed It is not impossible for the swarming crowd to overthrow and trample both men and horses, but at the moment I don’t have much to worry about. There is no risk in getting into the battle formation. The role of the cavalry is to disrupt attacks and disrupt. Now there is such a great opportunity. If Zhang Xiu didn't catch him, even he would slap himself in the face.

The weather is not a problem, and the lack of cavalry is not a particularly serious problem. As long as Guanqiu Xing can calmly analyze the battlefield situation and weigh the pros and cons, even if he endures the risk that some soldiers will be attacked by the Zhengxi cavalry, teams will fight against each other. They drove out of the camp under cover and marched slowly in formation. It was nothing more than a head-to-head fight with Xun Chen's Pingyang soldiers in the early morning. Even though there were more casualties, Guanqiu Xing's army generally won. , so it is still unclear who will win and who will lose...

However, Guangqiu Xing thought that the rear camp could hold out for at least an hour or two, at least until dawn, so he ordered each battalion to hold on and wait for daylight to clearly see the military situation in Pingyang before starting the battle. Although on the surface, It is relatively safe, but in fact, the opportunity has been lost. In addition, once the rear camp is lost, the flames of burning material and food will rise into the sky. Even if they want to go out at this time, they will lose their original morale.

Guanqiu Xing thought that even if the rear camp was lost, it would only be a loss of some ordnance materials. Pingyang was not far from Anyi and the journey was not difficult. If it was not possible, he would go to Linfen Pishi and other counties to search for food and grass. I don't believe it...

As long as he holds the army in hand and does not let Xun Chen from Pingyang take advantage of it, it will be fine. But what Guanqiu Xing did not expect was that giving up the rear camp and most of the army's baggage would have a negative impact on the entire army. The most fatal blow is to shake the military morale!

An army watched helplessly as its own compatriots were being attacked, and then did not dare to rescue them even close at hand. As a general and soldier in this army, who would be willing to fight to the death in future battles?

If it weren't for Guanqiu Xing, who seemed to be still sitting in the Chinese army's camp, if there weren't Zhengxi cavalry cruising around, whistling back and forth, if it weren't for the sky not getting clear at this moment, and the early morning mist covering the fields, maybe When Guanqiu raises his troops and has begun to lose military morale, some people will sneak out of the camp, collapse and flee south!

"Drumming! Drumming!" Xun Chen shouted loudly, "Hold more torches! Make the noise louder! Move forward twenty steps!" The rumbling drums sounded in the wilderness, seeming to clear the autumn morning mist. It started to move forward, spreading outward in circles, and in conjunction with the galloping horses in front of the Guanqiu Xing camp, the troops of more than 3,000 people suddenly created a momentum of nearly 10,000 people...

In the camp in Guanqiu Xing, people thought that Xun Chen was about to launch a general attack, so they panicked and started running on the walls of the camp, shouting, but they did not expect that after a while, Xun Chen quietly issued a second order. : "Here comes! Send an order to all the school captains, and after ringing the war drums three times, withdraw the troops and return to the city..."

"Alas..." Xun Chen looked at the situation in front of him and sighed softly. After all, he was only forced by Guan Qiu Xing to launch an early attack. It was not easy to achieve the current results. He should not be too greedy. "If General It would be great if the troops are also here..."