After the cavalry was restrained by Liu Bei's hollow phalanx, Yang Feng sent an artillery battalion and large infantry to attack Liu Bei's army.
In terms of artillery, Daqian had the advantage. Daqian's artillery was powerful, had a long range, and was numerous in number, which was far beyond what Liu Bei's army could match.
So Yang Feng pushed hundreds of artillery pieces to the forefront of the army. When Liu Bei's army reached the artillery range, Yang Feng immediately issued an order to bomb the Han army. The artillery battalion continued to bombard Liu Bei's army's phalanx.
"Boom, boom, boom!" Amidst the indiscriminate bombardment of bursts of artillery, Liu Bei's army suffered heavy casualties. Each of the hollow phalanxes of spears was opened up by the artillery, and the battlefield was filled with smoke.
But Yang Feng never expected that Liu Bei had no intention of competing with Da Gan for the power of long-range artillery.
Even though his army suffered heavy casualties under the bombardment of artillery, Liu Bei still allowed his army to withstand the bombardment of artillery and continue to approach Yang Feng's army.
Liu Bei's hollow square formation can minimize the lethality of artillery and reduce the losses of the army. The Jingzhou army relied on such tactics regardless of casualties to keep getting closer to Yang Feng's army. It forced Yang Feng to give up all the army's advantages. When the armies of both sides approached 10 steps, Liu Bei's army charged forward across the board. The soldiers from both sides were strangled together. The artillery could no longer exert its power. The two sides engaged in the most brutal hand-to-hand combat.
This battle was extremely brutal. Soldiers on both sides continued to fall, and the land was stained with blood.
Yang Feng's soldiers were elite and had excellent tactics, and they continued to fight in the face of the Jingzhou Army's advantage, which was several times larger. The cavalry of the Daqian Army continued to intersperse around Liu Bei's army. The 50,000 cavalry were divided into multiple routes and continuously attacked Liu Bei's army. In the weak area, they wanted to cooperate with Yang Feng's infantry to completely divide and outflank the Jingzhou Army's hundreds of thousands of troops, gather them together, and annihilate them.
The Jingzhou Army on the battlefield did not show weakness. Under the command of generals such as Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, they took advantage of the strength of their numbers and the bravery of the generals to continuously behead senior officers of the Daqian Army. , Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan and other generals all made gains.
Especially Zhang Feiyong was unstoppable. He killed five military princes, two army commanders and a captain of Daqian army one after another. He then broke through the Daqian army formation opposite him and almost cut off Yang Feng's army in the middle.
Facing Zhang Fei who was so brave and unstoppable, Yang Feng could only keep moving his central army closer, increasing the density of defense to withstand the Han army's onslaught of attacks. At the same time, he issued orders to prohibit the senior generals of the Datian Army from charging. At the forefront.
He also ordered Duan Peng's cavalry to continuously attack the Jingzhou Army's square formation, hoping to use the mobility and impact of the cavalry to defeat Liu Bei's army.
The two sides fought fiercely back and forth for a whole day. Although Liu Bei had more than twice the military advantage, the bravery of his generals was unmatched by the large army.
However, as the fighting time prolonged, the physical fitness and equipment advantages of the Daqian Army soldiers gradually became apparent. The manpower and strength of the Jingzhou Army soldiers were gradually consumed in this day's fierce battle. The offensive gradually declined, and several square formations were destroyed. Qian's cavalry was overwhelmed, and the soldiers continued to flee.
It seemed that Liu Bei would be defeated in this battle. At this moment, the sound of fierce war drums suddenly came from the southeast of the battlefield.
The sudden arrival of a large army surprised both Liu Bei and Yang Feng. They had no idea whether this army was an enemy or a friend.
But soon Yang Feng saw the Chinese character flag and Guan character flag of this army through the telescope.
He was shocked and said: "This is Guan Yu's army, hurry up and withdraw the troops!"
But by this time, it was too late for Yang Fengmin and Jin to withdraw their troops. Guan Yu's 30,000-strong army suddenly rushed into the battlefield and directly attacked the flank of Da Gan's army.
The soldiers of Daqian Army, who had been fighting fiercely for a day, were already exhausted. When they discovered the arrival of reinforcements from the Han army, their morale plummeted. They were unable to withstand Guan Yu's fierce attack. Soon, several battalions of soldiers were defeated.
Faced with such an unexpected attack, Yang Feng could only command the army to retreat quickly, and at the same time ordered Duan Peng's cavalry to contain the main force of the Han army and cooperate with the army to withdraw from the battlefield.
Liu Bei finally encountered an opportunity to defeat the large army, so he was naturally unwilling to let Yang Feng's army withdraw from the battlefield.
After Liu Bei and Guan Yu's army joined forces, the army covered them all up and tried to keep Yang Feng's army completely on the battlefield.
However, Duan Peng's cavalry continued to hinder the Han army's pursuit on the periphery. After Yang Feng's army completely withdrew from the battlefield, Duan Peng led his men to withdraw directly from the battlefield.
Facing the rapidly retreating cavalry, Liu Bei and Guan Yu could only watch them retreat.
Under the setting sun, Liu Bei looked at the Daqian army withdrawing from the battlefield and said helplessly: "Without the cavalry, even if we defeat the Daqian army, it will be difficult to continue to expand the results."
"On the contrary, even if the Dagan Army is defeated, if they have cavalry, they can easily withdraw from the battlefield. This is too detrimental to us!"
Zhang Fei, who was covered in blood, heard Liu Bei's words and said: "After this battle is over, we will return to Jingzhou and piece it together to see if we can put together a battalion of cavalry."
In this era, most of the villages in the Han Dynasty still had a large manor economic system. This system basically served the powerful clans. Therefore, each Wubao had war horses trained by the noble clans. Of course, the war horses were raised in the hinterland of the Central Plains. Naturally, they are not as majestic as those on the grassland, and their numbers are also relatively scarce.
If they cross the Yangtze River, the northern war horses will basically not survive, and the southern war horses are not much different from donkeys. This is why Liu Bei has never reorganized the cavalry.
Zhao Yun said helplessly: "Even if we get these cavalry, we don't have room to raise horses? Jiangnan can't raise the horses in the north!"
Zhang Fei said: "This is not simple. We can just set up the racecourse in Nanyang County. Now Jiangnan is about to be attacked by Daqian. Nanyang County must be fortified and the people must be evacuated to the south of the Yangtze River! In this way, Nanyang Isn’t the county the best place to raise horses?”
Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "What my third brother said makes sense. After this battle is over, the imperial court should rebuild the factory and horse farm!"
At this time, Guan Yu came over. I looked at Liu Bei and said excitedly: "Brother!"
Liu Bei looked at Guan Yu and said excitedly: "If my second brother had not provided timely support this time, I would have been defeated again. My second brother is the biggest hero in this battle!"
Guan Yu said excitedly: "My little brother just happened to meet me at the right time. The greatest result of this battle is yours, big brother."
After Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and others chatted for a while, Yuan Ji brought the results of the war. The Han army suffered more than 30,000 casualties, while the Daqian army left 13,000 corpses on the battlefield!
Liu Bei said helplessly: "In this battle, we won the reputation but lost the strength. It can only be regarded as a loss for both sides."