The army has not moved, and food and grass have gone first. Chen Cheng has made a lot of preparations for this expedition. In addition to building military stations from Hongnong to Henan and stocking up a lot of supplies, he also sent people to dredge the Luoshui River and built roads along the way.
There are several docks. In addition, Yang Xiu was sent to Nanyang in advance to serve as the governor, so that he could have an extra supply route and buy some grain from Jingzhou.
Although he has prepared millions of stones of food, Chen Cheng has always been prepared to "prepare the enemy with a wide margin". You can prepare it in advance and not use it, but you can never say that it will not be needed when the time comes.
Xu Rong and Lu Fang are both making rapid progress. The former has been stationed in Henan for two years and has already sent people to clearly understand the conditions of Yanzhou's roads, rivers, etc. In the staff office of the Second Army, they placed
A huge, well-made sand table with even larger villages marked on it.
Although Lu Fang took command temporarily and was not as well prepared as Xu Rong, but with Yan Xiang, a person who was familiar with the situation in Yuzhou, the progress was very fast. In comparison, Chen Cheng's troops who had pushed all the way in Yanzhou seemed to be much slower.
There were basically only two things he did. One was to send cavalry to cover the battlefield and prevent the enemy from knowing how many people he had brought with him. The other was to pack up most of the local scholars and powerful men and send them to the Western Regions.
.
In every county, except for one or two poor families, all the wise and foolish people went to the Western Regions to travel. And it was the kind of travel that you could not come back for all year round. In future generations, I don’t know how many people would be envious. If it weren’t for
When I organize my own people to transport food and grass, those from poor families and subordinate staff will also be packed out.
While Chen Cheng's troops in the middle were advancing unhurriedly, Xu Rong's army had already penetrated half of Yanzhou and arrived near Dongjun. Here, they encountered the blocking troops of Chun Yuqiong and Yuan Tan. Xu Rong's troops totaled more than 40,000 men.
The main force was 5,000 people from the Second Army and 10,000 government soldiers brought from Xiliang and Guanzhong. The rest were cavalry recruited from the Sanhe area and infantry from Hongnong and Henan.
Yang Feng, the governor of Hedong, and Lu Bu, the captain of Hanoi, also brought thousands of cavalry to serve under Xu Rong. Although Zhang Yang, the governor of Hanoi, did not dare to offend Yuan Shao, he did not dare to resist after the court ordered him, so he sent the elite cavalry to
He gave it to Lu Bu and asked him to take it to Yanzhou to fight.
Xu Rong also has many Xiliang cavalry under his command, so he can take a lot of initiative on the battlefield, but the eight squatting tiger cannons he brought have never been used. After hearing that the front line finally appeared
After capturing the enemy's large force, Xu Rong immediately deployed his troops and led his cavalry forward for reconnaissance.
Although Chunyu Qiong is not a first-rate general, he is experienced in the battlefield. He also sent out rangers to find out the enemy's situation. The first time Xiliang Iron Cavalry and Jizhou Armored Cavalry fought, it was in Yanzhou.
On the border, the cavalry from both sides chased each other and fought with each other. Soon, the Xiliang cavalry drove away the Hebei cavalry and seized most of the information control on the battlefield.
In this kind of small-scale cavalry battle, the Xiliang cavalry, which is more numerous and better equipped, has always had the advantage. Moreover, Lu Bu and Xu Rong personally led the elite cavalry, so the Jizhou cavalry
They were quickly defeated. However, before withdrawing from the battlefield, Chunyu Qiong's cavalry still obtained enough information.
"Xu Rong's army has about 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers, which is about the same as us," Yuan Tan Fenran said: "We should take the initiative to attack and annihilate the enemy!"
Chunyu Qiong was a little hesitant, "But the lord ordered us to just block the enemy. If we go into battle rashly, I'm afraid the lord will be unhappy."
Yuan Tan said with a smile: "Don't you know what my father is like? As long as you win the battle, there will only be rewards and no blame! Even if my father blames you, just let me take the responsibility!"
Chunyu Qiong immediately became interested. Yuan Tan urgently needed results to prove himself, so why not him? When he first arrived in Hebei, he was still Yuan Shao's close comrade-in-arms. After a few years, Yuan Tan has now been reduced to the point where Yuan Shao has no one to send him.
The point of playing.
Both of them had the need to make great achievements, so they hit it off immediately and threw Yuan Shao's blessings out of the blue. They did not enter the city to defend, but directly set up their formation outside Puyang City, preparing for a battle with the enemy!
Xu Rong took Lu Bu to conduct reconnaissance near Puyang. He was overjoyed when he saw that the Hebei Army had already deployed. Although he brought eight squatting tiger cannons, the power of those small cannons was not enough, so they could only be used in field battles.
It will come in handy. If the enemy hides in the city, these small cannons will not be able to knock on the gate of Puyang City.
If you bypass a fortified city with heavy troops stationed in it, the supply line will be completely exposed to the enemy's attack range. This is a very dangerous behavior. It's okay when things go well, but once the situation reverses, the entire army will be wiped out if the lone army penetrates deep.
There is a lot of danger. He has a lot of cavalry under his command, so there is no need to worry about the danger of annihilation. However, those infantry are also elites who have been trained hard and cannot be thrown to the enemy casually.
Before, he was still considering whether the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry would retreat directly into Puyang City after being expelled. Now, it's better. The enemy did not huddle in the city, but set up camp outside the city, and chose a position from the camp.
It is not difficult to see that the enemy does not want to be a force to defend, but intends to engage in a decisive battle in the wild.
This plays right into Xu Rong’s plan!
Xu Rong led the cavalry around Chunyu Qiong's tribe for a certain distance. He was even more happy when he saw that the other party did not spend a lot of effort to dig trenches or build strong fortresses. They were wandering around here, and they had already been captured.
Chunyu Qiong's army saw a soldier and horse quietly coming out from somewhere, preparing to go around to the rear and eat these Xiliang thieves who did not know whether to live or die.
But how can things be so easy? Xu Rong is a general who can stand on his own, and Lu Bu is also a general who is good at cavalry combat. Before the soldiers and horses around them were in place, they were discovered by Xu Rong and others. After receiving the message from the scouting horse,
After receiving the information, Lu Bu asked Xu Rong for a fight. He held Fang Tian's painted halberd, sat on the back of the red rabbit horse, and said proudly: "How can these Hebei people know how to fight? General, please let me lead the troops to defeat them!"
They were out for reconnaissance, so they only brought two to three hundred cavalry. The troops that came around from the flanks had thousands of people. However, both Lu Bu and Xu Rong felt that they only needed to rely on the few hundred cavalry in their hands.
The cavalry can defeat the enemy.
Xu Rong nodded and said: "This place is too close to the enemy's camp. Just defeat it. Don't be reluctant to fight!"
So this small-scale cavalry was divided into two wings, led by Lu Bu and Xu Rong respectively, and rushed towards the enemy army that appeared on the flank. The cavalry moved quickly and soon appeared in front of the enemy. Chunyu Qiong was in a marching column.
The army was caught off guard and was severely beaten by Lu Bu's troops, and then cut off by Xu Rong. They soon fell into chaos.
When Lu Bu rode the red rabbit horse and trampled back and forth among the infantry formations, Chunyu Qiong's army collapsed. Then Lu Bu held Fang Tian Huaji and beheaded the enemy general. Xu Rong ordered the soldiers to blow the horn and kill them.
Lu Bu, who felt inspired, was summoned back.
"happy!"
Lu Bu was covered in blood, with a bloody head hanging under the horse's neck. The expression on his face was very happy, as if he had just had a good time.
Xu Rong asked: "Who was the enemy general you killed?"
Lu Bu said nonchalantly: "He's just a general with no name, no matter who he is!"
The battle started here, and Yuan Tan immediately rushed out with more troops and horses. But when he arrived, he only saw the figures of Xu Rong and Lu Bu walking away. The eldest son of Yuan Shao was using a whip on horseback.
He randomly whipped the defeated soldiers and cursed: "You have several times more troops than the enemy, so you can still be defeated? Are you pigs? Pigs are smarter than you!"
The beaten soldiers rolled around in pain. An officer replied tremblingly: "The enemy general is Lu Bu. He is extremely brave, so he is defeated!"
Yuan Tan sneered and said contemptuously: "Who is Lu Bu? I am the legitimate son of the Yuan family, and I am countless times more noble than that warrior from Bingzhou! I will behead him on the battlefield in the future!"
Lu Bu once dominated Guanzhong and established a great reputation on the battlefield, so Yuan Tan knew about his deeds. However, he knew that Yuan Tan looked down upon a loser like Lu Bu. He...
.....Well, if Cao Cao hadn't been too treacherous, how could he, Mr. Yuan, have been driven back to Yecheng? This is of course not the same thing as Lu Bu's!
After Xu Rong and Lu Bu defeated an enemy unit, the morale of the army was greatly boosted. Xu Rong's army was mainly composed of Sanhe cavalry and Sili's government soldiers and county soldiers. They were not as brave as the Xiliang cavalry under Lu Fang's command, nor as strong as the Xiliang cavalry under Lu Fang.
The cadets under Chen Cheng were so enthusiastic. With a small victory today, their morale has obviously improved a lot.
Xu Rong had 40,000 troops. When he came all the way, he left thousands of people stationed in cities in various places. Now he only has more than 35,000 people left. These more than 30,000 people are on both sides of a creek.
They were stationed on the side, and the company and camp were several miles long.
Ever since they were in the North, the Xiliang Army had to build very strong defenses every time they set up camp, and this time was no exception. While the rangers continued to cover the battlefield and create a fog of war for the enemy, Xu Rong's army used the
Using tools such as shovels and hacksaws, several sizable camps were quickly established.
During the day the next day, the reinforcement work continued, and it was not until evening that the reinforcement work was completed. Although the camp is still very crude and its defense power is far from comparable to that of a tall and generous city, it already has sufficient
of defense.
If an enemy comes to attack, unless they have various siege equipment, they will definitely hit their heads and bleed.
This is what is said in the art of war: first make yourself invincible, and then you can win.
After building the camp, Xu Rong finally marched forward with his troops and horses, breaking up the formation in the wild and preparing for a decisive battle with Chunyu Qiong's tribe. Yuan Tan had been waiting for two days and heard that the enemy had finally emerged from the turtle shell.
When he came out, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. He immediately found Chunyu Qiong and asked him to quickly lead his troops and horses out to fight. Otherwise, if time went by, the enemy would retreat again.
But as soon as he entered the Chinese army's tent, Yuan Tan smelled the strong smell of alcohol.
