At dawn, 80,000 of Liu Yong's troops had crossed the Yellow River and reached the north bank. With so many people crowded into Liyang Ferry, the whole scene seemed chaotic.
Liu Fang and Dong Li stood on a high place, looking at the crowded ferry. Liu Fang said: "General Dong, give the order to go down and transport the remaining 20,000 soldiers across the river. Immediately transport the baggage, and transport the armor first in front of you!"
As he spoke, he looked up at the horizon and said: "Try to get all the soldiers to wear armor before it gets dark, and then rush into Liyang, capture Liu Xiu alive, and annihilate Liu Xiujun outside the city!"
Dongli agreed and passed on Liu Fang's order.
Just as the remaining 20,000 Liu Yongjun were preparing to cross the river, suddenly, a sharp whistle came from outside Liyang Ferry. A loud arrow shot straight into the sky, and the whistle was long and sharp, spreading far away.
Liu Fang and the Dongli generals didn't understand what was going on and subconsciously looked up at the sky.
While they were in a daze, outside the ferry, there were shouts of murder and shouting. Liu Fang's body suddenly shook and he quickly asked: "What's going on outside? Why is there such a chaos?"
Dong Li and other generals also looked confused, not knowing what happened.
At this moment, a soldier ran over on horseback. When Liu Fang and others were approaching, he didn't bother to dismount his horse to report. He stepped on the horse and saluted, and said in a hurry: "General, something bad has happened. Many enemies have been killed outside the ferry."
military!"
"Ah?" Liu Fang and others all gasped. Everyone was surprised and looked at each other. Liu Fang asked: "How many people are there in the enemy army?"
"You can't see clearly. The enemy has a large number of troops, no less than tens of thousands!"
"This is nonsense! How can there be tens of thousands of enemy troops here in Liyang?"
Liu Fang raised his hand, grasped the hilt of the sword under his ribs, and scolded sternly: "After you have found out clearly, come back and report! If you dare to lie about the military situation again and disrupt the morale of our army, you will be killed without mercy!"
The soldier who reported the news trembled with fright, agreed with fear, turned around the dock, and ran out of the ferry.
During the period of marching towards Liyang, Liu Fang had been sending a large number of spies to inquire about Liyang's situation.
In the past month, although county soldiers from all counties in Wei County were massing towards Liyang, the daily casualties were also very high. The strength of Liu Xiu's army outside Liyang City never exceeded 10,000.
Now the soldiers below said that tens of thousands of enemy troops were attacking outside the ferry. Of course Liu Fang didn't believe it. Could it be that so many enemy troops fell from the sky?
In fact, the soldiers who reported the news did not lie. The number of Liu Xiu's troops attacking Liyang Ferry was indeed tens of thousands. What Liu Fang didn't know was that the situation he inquired about was just a show played by Liu Xiu and Li Yang.
Zhang Yi, Sun Cheng and their eight thousand subordinates were all captured alive. Liyang was not captured by them at all, and was still firmly controlled by Liu Xiu.
This month, Liu Xiu and Li Yang were fighting fiercely, but it was all an illusion.
The spies sent by Liu Fang did not dare to get too close to the battlefield. They could only hide in the distance and look from a distance. They could not see the specific situation on the battlefield clearly, they could only take a general look. Liu Xiujun's siege of Liyang,
There was fighting from morning to night every day, but the thunder was loud and the raindrops were light. The two sides did not really fight at all. Even the arrows shot had no arrowheads. The 'corpses' and 'wounded soldiers' who were carried down were also
Fake.
However, it is true that Liu Xiu mobilized county soldiers from various counties in Wei County to gather in Liyang. As batches of county soldiers arrived in Liyang, the strength of Liu Xiu's troops also increased from the original 20,000 to more than 40,000.
Public.
Liu Xiu's army attacking Liyang Ferry this time included 20,000 soldiers and horses from the Luoyang Capital Army under Liu Xiu's personal command, and the other 20,000 or so troops were from the Wei Jun Army led by Yao Qi.
Liu Xiu's troops fought from west to east, and Yaoqi's troops fought from east to west. The two armies had already formed a double-teaming trend towards Liyang Ferry.
In other words, Liyang Ferry was basically a trap that Liu Xiu and Yao Qi had already set, just waiting for Liu Yongjun to jump in.
As a result, the harvest this time was too great, and Liu Yong's army of 80,000 people rushed in at once, including Liu Yong's general, King Ning Liu Fang.
There is a huge difference in the strength of the two sides. Liu Xiu's side has more than 40,000 soldiers, while Liu Fang's side has more than 80,000 soldiers. The difference in strength between the two sides is nearly double.
Normally, in a head-on confrontation with such a huge disparity in military strength, the side with more people should have an absolute advantage, but the actual situation is exactly the opposite.
Liu Xiujun was waiting for work, and he was fully equipped and had strong soldiers and horses. On the other hand, Liu Yongjun's side, most of the soldiers did not even have armor, no helmets, no armor, and only held a spear in their hand.
Liu Xiu personally led the Luoyang capital army, forming a neat square formation and advancing forward. Liu Yong's army in Liyang ferry hurriedly came out to fight. The situation at the scene was that the generals could not find the soldiers, and the soldiers could not find the generals. They were just arrayed
This formation took a lot of effort.
Liu Yongjun didn't even stand in a complete formation, but Liu Xiujun had already advanced within the shooting range. The generals in the army shouted: "Open the bow, load the arrow!"
The archers in the army took off their long bows one after another, drew out their arrows, and twisted their bows to nock them.
"Fire the arrow——"
At the general's command, the archers fired their arrows in unison.
There was a buzzing sound in the ear, and a long array of arrows soared from the top of Liu Xiujun's head and flew into the air, like a large dark cloud. The arrow array drew a parabola in the air and roared as it crashed into Liu Yongjun's camp.
There was no shield or shield formation to block the arrows. Under Liu Xiujun's arrow formation, Liu Yongjun's soldiers were like living targets. Puff, puff, puff! The muffled sound of arrows hitting the flesh kept coming and going.
Some soldiers were like hedgehogs, with arrows stuck all over their bodies, falling to the ground, motionless. Some soldiers were injured by arrows but were not dead yet, lying on the ground, wailing desperately.
Just after this round of arrow formation came down, Liu Yongjun's front army formation became a mess.
The generals were either on foot or riding horses, shouting repeatedly: "Don't mess up! Don't mess up! Advance! Meet the enemy! All of you, face the enemy..."
While they were shouting continuously, Liu Xiujun's second round of arrow formation arrived again.
This time the distance between the two sides was closer, and Liu Xiujun's arrow array was more fierce. The arrows falling from the sky were like raindrops. Even some generals in Liu Yong's army were unable to dodge and were covered by the arrow array.
After the arrow array, there was almost no one left standing on the ground. It was like a thick layer of black grass had grown on the ground, covering the surface and also covering people's bodies.
Without the protection of the shield array, the enemy's arrow array directly hit the body, which was a complete massacre.
The soldiers of Liu Yongjun braved Liu Xiujun's arrow array and pushed forward. Every time Liu Xiujun's arrow array hit, it would cause huge casualties to Liu Yongjun. Where Liu Yongjun advanced, there were piles of corpses on the ground.
, it was terrible. After finally surviving Liu Xiujun's arrow formation, the front row soldiers of both sides collided. At this time, Liu Yongjun's casualties became even greater.
Liu Xiujun's front row of soldiers are composed of heavy shield soldiers at the front, followed by halberd soldiers, spear soldiers, and heavy shield soldiers. The shield formation can effectively resist the attack of the enemy on the opposite side, while the halberd soldiers and heavy shield soldiers at the back are
Spearmen can effectively kill and injure enemy troops.
Compared with Liu Xiujun, Liu Yongjun's side was completely made of flesh and blood. Most of the spears and halberds they thrust hit the shield, while the spears and halberds thrust by Liu Xiujun were
directly through their bodies.
As soon as the two sides came into contact, a row of people fell down on Liu Yongjun's side. Liu Xiujun's soldiers stepped over the enemy's corpses and kept pushing forward, pressing step by step. On the other hand, Liu Yongjun's soldiers on the opposite side fell one row after another.
Row.
Some people were killed on the spot, while others were injured and fell to the ground. However, they did not even have a chance to get up before they were trampled over by Liu Xiujun who was advancing. They were trampled to pieces and were no longer human.
There is no longer any suspense in such a battle, it is a completely one-sided situation.
On the battlefield, Liu Yongjun could not hold out for more than half an hour before he could no longer hold on. A large number of soldiers no longer obeyed the orders of the generals, or scattered like headless flies, or turned around and ran back.
As the saying goes, defeat is like a mountain. On the battlefield of head-on confrontation, once one of the parties has formed a rout, it will be too difficult to turn the tide and reverse the defeat, unless important factors that can change the entire battle suddenly occur on the battlefield.
Seeing that the enemy army in front was completely defeated, Liu Xiu ordered that while continuing to maintain his own formation, he would rush forward with all his strength, rush into the ferry, and annihilate all the enemy troops.
News of the defeat at the front continued to reach Liu Fang. At this time, Liu Fang was sweating like rain. He couldn't help but murmured: "Tens of thousands of enemy troops! Where did they come from? Where did they come from?
Where did it come from?"
Until now, Liu Fang's head was dizzy and he still didn't understand what happened.
Dong Li's face was pale and he was sweating more than Liu Fang. He stammered: "Prince Ning, our army... Our soldiers lack equipment and are unable to engage in a head-on confrontation with the enemy. It is better... to retreat first!"
"Retreat?" Liu Fang's eyes turned red when he heard the word retreat. He grabbed Dong Li's collar and asked, "Where to retreat?"
If they could retreat, he would have ordered the withdrawal long ago. The key problem is that now they have no way to retreat.
Behind them is the turbulent Yellow River. What's terrible is that their ships are still transporting the remaining 20,000 soldiers across the river.
The timing of Liu Xiujun's attack was perfect. At this time, Liu Yongjun's ship had just loaded the last batch of soldiers and was sailing towards the north bank.
Now Liu Yong's army on the north bank has been defeated. If the ship wants to pick them up, it must first transport the soldiers who have already boarded the ship back to the south bank, and then turn back to the north bank. The time wasted for this trip is only an hour or two.
?
Dongli was grabbed by Liu Fang's collar and said in a trembling voice: "Prince Ning, there is a boat on the shore... we can make a boat and escape..."
Liu Fang roared angrily, raised his leg and kicked Dong Li as far as he could. He gritted his teeth and said, "We can escape? But how can 80,000 soldiers escape?"
The 100,000 troops and horses Liu Yong gave him were drawn from Suiyang's last line of defense. In order to capture Wei County and capture Liu Xiu, Suiyang had torn down the last line of defense.
After paying such a high price, he left a hundred thousand troops in Liyang and fled back to Suiyang alone. How could he have the face to meet his elder brother? He would rather die in Liyang than escape back to Suiyang.
Positive.
Liu Fang stared at Dongli for a long time, then he glanced at the generals around him and said word by word: "In today's battle, we have no way out and can only fight to the death with the enemy. Anyone who dares to escape lightly will not blame me."
The king is ruthless!"
As he spoke, he drew out the sword from his side, his eyes almost flashing with fire.
Everyone present trembled with fright and hurriedly said in unison: "We are willing to follow King Ning and fight the enemy to the death!"
It is a pity that the equipment and combat power of the two sides are now very different, and this is no longer something that their personal will can change.
