In ancient times, marching and fighting was not a matter of rushing out in a swarm.
There is a lot of emphasis on arranging troops and formations.
The fact that Liu Bei was able to carry out a 700-mile camp in the Battle of Yiling actually shows that he was deficient in formation formation.
Chen Mu and Tian Feng can help him make up for this, using Sun Jian as the pioneer to detect the enemy's situation.
Then came the armies of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao on the left and right. The first army entered Songshan Mountain from the left and occupied the Songshan Highlands five miles south of Chenggao County. The first army was stationed along the bank of the Yellow River and stationed on the bank of the Sishui River northeast of Hulao Pass to provide support for the right army.
Others, Kong Ni, marched to Xin'an Township, five miles southeast of Chenggao County, Han Fu marched to Binshui, five miles east of Chenggao County, and Wang Kuang, Baoxin, Zhang Yang and others occupied Binshui outside the city.
The terrain of Hulao Pass is actually very complicated. It is located between the Yellow River and Songshan Mountain. It is surrounded by mountains to the south, a plain to the southeast, Sishui to the east, and across the river is the town of Sishui in later generations. At this time, it is an uninhabited forest.
, the surrounding trees are lush, the mountains are lush and green, the scenery is beautiful, but it is full of murderous intent.
Since the Yellow River is to the north and Sishui is to the east, the coalition forces can only be deployed on the plains to the south and southeast. This place is Gaoshan Town, the hometown of valves in later generations. The main force is deployed here, to the west and south
It is Songshan Mountain, with Hulao Pass to the north and Si River to the east.
All directions to the west are sealed off, and it looks like a desert, but in fact the Sishui River is not too deep. The army is stationed continuously, almost covering the entire Sishui River bank. According to the coalition's plan, a large number of pontoons will be built on both sides of the river.
, for the passage of the army.
The main forces of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan will be stationed in a hilly area three miles away from Hulao Pass. In later generations, this place was located south of the Yellow River Expressway. There were several villages and it was the closest place to Hulao Pass.
With so many armies advancing in unison, Hulao Pass was completely surrounded from almost all directions, and the various departments and units were well coordinated and acted as horns for each other, so they could support at any time and there was no chaos.
There are actually more than 200,000 coalition troops. As follow-up troops arrive one after another, the total strength is close to 230,000, and it is still increasing.
The other three roundabout troops took away 50,000 people. Now the total strength of the coalition forces is about 180,000, vast and vast as far as the eye can see.
However, the 180,000 troops seemed to be a lot, but after the division and deployment of Chen Mu, Tian Feng and other staff, they were already in an orderly manner. The various armies were commanded well, and the entire march was orderly and smooth.
But not long after the army set off, when all the troops had not arrived at the scheduled location, news of Sun Jian's defeat came, causing a commotion.
Sun Jian fought as fiercely as a tiger, so his pursuit was already very deep, reaching the Binshui River only five or six miles away from Hulao Pass.
The coalition forces had just set off at this time, and were at least thirty miles away from him. The situation of the forward was unknown.
As mentioned before, the vanguard army is used to explore the way for the army. Its actual function is the same as that of the horse scout, which is to clear obstacles for the army in the rear, detect the enemy's situation, and make judgments for the army in the rear.
So when the news of Sun Jian's defeat came, the coalition's offensive came to a halt because they didn't know how many troops were ambushed in front of them. They stopped in a short period of time and did not dare to continue moving forward as planned.
"Alliance leader!"
After Sun Jian's defeat, he ran for more than 20 miles in one breath. His shoulders were simply bandaged, and he ran back to the central army in a state of embarrassment. When he met Liu Bei, he was very ashamed and said: "I underestimated the enemy and rushed forward, and was ambushed by Dong's thieves. As a result, the army was defeated.
Please punish me, leader."
Liu Bei saw blood oozing from the white cloth on his shoulder, and quickly comforted him: "Wentai explored the way for the vanguard of the army and helped the army capture Xingyang. Your hard work has been great, how can you punish him? You are injured, go and rest first.
, there are still tough battles to be fought in the future, and we will have to leave it to Wen Tai."
Sun Jian was extremely grateful and thanked him: "Thank you so much, leader."
Chen Mu immediately asked: "Prefect Sun, I don't know how strong the enemy's troops are, where they are ambushing them, and what are your army's losses?"
Sun Jian replied: "The enemy army was ambushing by the Binshui River. The strength of the troops is not clear. It may be tens of thousands to ten thousand people. When our army was pursuing it, the front and rear troops were disconnected. When they crossed the river, they were shot by thousands of arrows. Later I gathered my troops.
Only about 5,000 people were killed, and more than 2,000 were killed, wounded or scattered."
Chen Mu then said to Liu Bei: "Brother, it seems that this force is just a small force sent by Dong Zhuo to block our vanguard army, not Dong Zhuo's main force. Now that all the armies are suspicious and unwilling to advance, we can send envoys to order them to continue setting off."
"good."
Liu Bei nodded and said to his personal guard commander Hu Ping: "Hu Ping, send messengers to let all armies continue to advance."
"only!"
Hu Ping took the order and left.
Hu Ping is the eldest son of Hu Zhi. He had already returned from the army and was serving the old man at home.
But when they heard that Liu Bei was going to rebel against Dong Zhuo, they, the earliest veterans who followed Liu Bei, immediately clamored to sacrifice their lives for Liu Bei.
Some veterans in their thirties are okay, but Hu Zhi is almost fifty, so it is naturally impossible to let him go to the battlefield again.
Therefore, the old man asked his eldest son Hu Ping to return to the army again. Now Hu Ping serves as the personal guard of the tent, and his younger son Hu Yong is a captain of the Xuanjia Heavy Cavalry. The old man is truly grateful to Liu Bei for saving his life.
Willing to give everything.
Liu Bei was naturally worried that his two sons would be gone, so it was safer to let Hu Ping stay with him.
Hu Ping went to convey the order, and then all armies advanced again.
After setting off again, there was no obstacle to the coalition's progress. Dong Zhuo's scouting horses retreated into Chenggao County when the coalition army arrived outside Hulao Pass. Xu Rong head-on attacked Sun Jian's vanguard army and also retreated back to Hulao Pass.
, dare not come out again.
During these fifty miles, 180,000 troops marched for a full day. Liu Bei's main force arrived outside Hulao Pass before dark. Together with Gongsun Zan's Youzhou cavalry, a total of 90,000 troops closed Hulao Pass like iron barrels.
Surrounded by groups, they helped other troops and the rear supply and auxiliary troops set up camp to buy time.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Even though Cao Cao was so awesome later, he was still just a minion when he was fighting against Dong. It was only because of his good relationship with Yuan Shao that he was able to speak in the coalition. His troops
There were only 5,000 people in total, and they cooperated with Wang Kuang, Bao Xin, Zhang Yang and others to station at the junction of the Yellow River and Si River and along the banks of Si River.
Yuan Shao, Kong Min, Han Fu, Sun Jian and others were stationed in Gaoshan Town south of Hulao Pass. Their combined army also numbered 50,000 to 60,000. If auxiliary troops were included, the troops outside Hulao Pass alone would be enough.
There are more than 400,000 people.
Liu Bei's main force faced Dong Zhuo's army in Hulao Pass at the front, while other troops behind him immediately stepped up their time to build camp fortifications.
For a time, the once desolate Si River and Bin River coast were now crowded with people, stretching for fifty miles from Xingyang to Chenggao. The banks of Si River and Bin River were densely packed with camps.
The horses were led to the river to drink water, the soldiers fetched water to make fires and make meals. Groups of auxiliary soldiers walked into Songshan Mountain, cutting down trees and building camps on the spot. Rows of fences were raised, and countless tents were erected. Everything was in order.
It was carried out in an orderly manner, and there was no confusion caused by the large number of people.
In Hulao Pass, although it was already approaching evening, Dong Zhuo could still see the boundless sea of people from a distance with the afterglow of the setting sun. Seeing this scene, his initial ambitions were immediately hit hard. Although he refused
The problem with Guan Guan is that he only has 50,000 men, and there is a huge disparity in the strength of the troops. The best result is to remain undefeated. It is extremely difficult to defeat the coalition forces.
At this moment, Dong Zhuo's previously suppressed idea of moving the capital suddenly arose again. He was already considering that it might be time to move the wealth and population of Luoyang to Guanzhong first, and then let his confidants guard Hangu Pass. If something goes wrong in Luoyang
, he immediately took the emperor and the ministers to abandon Luoyang and ran to Chang'an. This was a wise choice.
"Grand Master, although the coalition forces are huge, I think they are just a mob. Why not take advantage of the darkness and the coalition forces that have just arrived outside the city to launch a sneak attack without being heard of?"
Fan Chou saw that Xu Rong had made great achievements. As a veteran who had followed Dong Zhuo for a long time, Fan Chou was also disturbed in his heart.
"No."
Dong Zhuo shook his head, pointed in the direction of Liu Bei and said, "Did you see that they have been guarding against our sneak attack for a long time?"
The 90,000-strong army did not participate in the construction of the camp and were placed directly outside the city. It is self-evident what the meaning is.
Xu Rong said: "Now that we have defeated the vanguard of the Guandong Rats and defeated their energy, after they have settled down in the camp in two days, they will definitely call for battle outside the Pass. I think we should avoid their attack first and wait for ten days and a half.
, and if we go to fight again, their morale will no longer be high. If we can defeat their generals, our army's morale will surely be surging."
"good!"
Dong Zhuo nodded approvingly: "Give me an order. No matter how the formation is called outside the customs during this period, you are not allowed to fight. Do you hear me?"
"only!"
The generals should surrender their hands.
At that moment, Dong Zhuo returned to his residence in Chenggao County and summoned Li Ru and Yan Zhong to discuss the matter.
The three of them sat in rows, and Dong Zhuo pondered: "The coalition forces are powerful, and I want to move the capital to Chang'an. What do you think?"
Yan Zhong looked at Li Ru, who said: "Although Luoyang is dangerous, it is a place of death. Once it is conquered, there will be no way out. Chang'an is better."
"The words of literary excellence are exactly what I want to say."
Yan Zhong echoed, which translated means, "Me too."
In fact, moving the capital to Chang'an is a general trend and it is impossible to oppose it.
Because Luoyang is in a dangerous position, but once the world attacks it, it will be attacked from all sides and almost impossible to resist.
Once any of the passes is breached, it will immediately become a desperate situation. Only with Chang'an's open terrain and the danger of Hangu Pass, like the Qin State during the Warring States Period, occupying the middle of the pass and eyeing the world is a long-term solution.
"It's just that if you abandon the pass at this time, you will definitely be attacked from both sides. It is better to move all the gold, silver, jewelry, people and property of Luoyang to the pass first, leaving the Manchu ministers and emperor behind. If something goes wrong, leave a small number of people to guard the pass and the army
It’s not too late to retreat into Hangu Pass.”
Li Rusi thought.
This is the strategic arrangement. They need to retreat into Chang'an, but first they need to resist the offensive of the coalition forces before they have enough time to retreat. So even if they want to retreat now, it is not the right time, but step by step, not overnight.
"Well, this matter must be handled by me personally back to Luoyang. Hulao Pass will be handed over to Wen You and Cheng Han. You and Xu Rong will guard this pass and prevent the rats from Guandong from entering for at least half a year."
Dong Zhuo ordered: "Do you understand?"
"only!"
Li Ru and Yan Zhong agreed at the same time.
At that moment, Dong Zhuo returned to Luoyang the next day to deal with the matter of moving the capital, while Hulao Pass was hung up with a war-free card to avoid war.
The coalition forces also needed some time to set up camp, so the two sides entered a brief period of peace.
But everyone knows that this peaceful period will not last long, because the coalition forces will definitely cut down a large number of trees and manufacture siege equipment. A large-scale siege will begin soon. As for whether they can break through, it depends on the attack and defense of both sides.