Liyang is located on the north bank of the Yellow River, at the junction of Jizhou, Yanzhou and Sili. It is the southernmost county town of Wei County and the entire Jizhou.

In the old version of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" TV series, when Cao Cao was crying at Yuan Shao's grave, he once said about "The Message to Discuss Cao": "When this article was spread to Xudu, I had a headache and was bedridden. After reading this article,

My hair stood on end, I was covered in cold sweat, and my head suddenly recovered from the wind, so I could lead an army of two hundred thousand to march into Liyang to resist Yuan Shao and fight to the death!"

Although the lines are very domineering, Boss Cao actually did not go north to Liyang, because at that time Yuan Shao had already marched south, crossing the river from Yanjin Baima and other ferries to attack coastal towns, and Liyang already belonged to the rear area.

Therefore, as the forward center of Jizhou's attack, Liyang's strategic location is extremely important. Whether attacking from Yanzhou or Henan County, it must pass through this place. Otherwise, we can only cross the Yellow River and attack from Hanoi County, which is inevitable

It takes a long detour.

Sun Jian started from Yuzhou, went north through Yingchuan County, entered Henan County, then Zhongmou County, went north to Yuanwu County, passed the jujube that had been an alliance between the eighteen princes to fight against Dong, and entered Yanjin Ferry. After crossing the river,

We arrived at Liyang County.

Due to the lack of large-scale siege equipment, although Sun Jian had arrived in Liyang for more than half a month, he had not yet entered the city. His supply of food and grass was allocated by Henan Yin, so it was still sufficient and he was in a stalemate.

On this day, it was approaching the Mid-Autumn Festival outside Liyang City, and the weather was still hot. Sun Jian was sitting on a high oar on a hill outside the camp, looking at the city in the distance. There were soldiers holding parasols next to him.

But even so, many generals, including Sun Jian himself, took off their armor due to the rising temperatures caused by the Little Ice Age, stood with their hands on their hips, and watched with their breasts exposed.

In front of the city, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and others were calling for formation just a stone's throw away, but the defenders in the city were determined not to fight. They hung up their no-war signs and refused to scold them no matter how hard they scolded them.

Everyone was so hot that they were sweating profusely, and they had no choice. Han Dang, who was beside him, said to Sun Jian: "Ming Gong, the enemy just won't come out. It seems that it is impossible to force them to fight decisively. We should first build a large number of siege equipment, and then attack all sides.

Siege.”

"Um."

Sun Jian nodded: "There are not many troops in the city. We directly use the trench to cross the moat, and then use the ladder to climb up. We will be surrounded on all sides. They will definitely have no time to take care of us."

"It's a pity that Liyang is an important town and the city is relatively high. If it were shorter, it would have been breached long ago."

Han Dang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said regretfully.

The geographical location of Liyang is actually very important. On the other side of the river is Baima County, where Yan Liang died. There is a ferry crossing the river here. Then about a hundred miles to the southwest, there is the Yanjin ferry. It can be said that cars from Sili, Yanzhou and Yuzhou travel north and south.

An important transportation hub for Ma Tongchang.

In addition, after Wang Fen and Yuan Shao came to power, it became a bridgehead for Jizhou to fight against hostile forces. Therefore, Liyang City was built on the scale of a county government office and was located on the edge of the Yellow River. A moat was drawn from the Yellow River, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

.

Although there were only three to four thousand people in the city, it would be difficult to break through if a force were to attack. Even if Sun Jian was eager to show his loyalty to the court and wanted to attack Yuan Shao, he would have to temporarily cease his activities.

Making siege equipment was a big project. He came all the way from Yuzhou and naturally couldn't bring anything with him, so he had to camp where he was and prepare to attack the city after the equipment was built.

And just when Sun Jian was about to let Cheng Pu and Huang Gai come back and the army retreated to the camp, suddenly several cavalrymen rushed over. Several of them looked anxious and looked back behind them from time to time. On the vast plain in the distance in the north, there was billowing dust and smoke, and there seemed to be something.

Thousands of troops and horses swept in.

"Ming Gong, something happened, Ming Gong!"

The cavalry was stopped at the outskirts, and after being identified as scouting at the Sun Jiajun post thirty miles to the north, they were quickly brought to Sun Jian.

The captain of the scout team knelt on one knee in front of Sun Jian and reported: "There are a large number of cavalry coming towards us from the north."

"What?"

Sun Jian asked in surprise: "Whose flag is it?"

"There is a text written on it."

The scout said: "It should be Wen Chou, the brave general from Hebei!"

Han Dang immediately said: "Ming Gong, Wen Chou is in charge of Yuan Shao's over ten thousand Qingqi. I'm afraid he wants to repel us first and lift the siege of Liyang, and then go north to attack General Guan."

Sun Jian hurriedly said: "Quickly, order the soldiers to withdraw their troops and retreat to the camp, relying on the camp for defense."

"only!"

The ordering soldiers hurriedly went to ring the golden bell. In a moment, the clanging sound shocked the entire battlefield. Cheng Pu and Huang Gai were still calling for formation outside the city. Although they heard the golden sound and did not know the situation, they immediately led the troops to retreat.

Sun Jian's army did not move in full force. Cheng Pu and Huang Gai each led two thousand men to form a formation outside the city. Sun Jian personally led three thousand men to press the formation about half a mile behind, about one mile away from the city.

Their camp is about three miles away from the city, which means that even if the army retreats now, they still have to run more than 800 meters to get back.

But just as they were retreating like a tide, the billowing dust and smoke from the north had already hit. Sun Jian stood on the high oar of the earth wall and watched. Below him, his soldiers were still retreating in an orderly manner. In the distance, about five or six miles away, on the horizon,

Countless black spots have appeared at the end.

It only takes three or four minutes for a normal person to run two miles. However, a war horse can run at an average speed of twenty kilometers per hour, and it takes about three or four minutes to run five or six miles. Moreover, when it sprints, it is much faster than a human.

But Sun Jian couldn't let his soldiers run back directly, because the formation would be too chaotic, everyone was wearing armor, and if the speed was not uniform, it might cause a stampede.

Not to mention that Sun Jian is also a veteran who has led troops in wars for many years. Even modern people who have watched a marathon should know that when thousands of people are crowded together, it is impossible to increase the speed and can only move forward slowly.

And at least no one in the marathon wears armor and carries weapons, but in the army everyone wears armor and carries weapons. Once you run, you may injure your comrades around you if you are not careful.

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! So Sun Jian could only order the soldiers to arrange themselves into battle formations. Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and himself formed a total of three square formations and turned back together.

Walk slowly towards the rear military camp.

It must be said that this order was very crucial and almost saved Sun Jian's own life.

Because Sun Jian had 7,000 troops outside the camp, if he directly ordered everyone to run back, the soldiers would run faster or slower. The 7,000 people would be in a dark and crowded place, and the entrance to the camp was relatively narrow, so it was impossible for them all to pass through at once.

By the time everyone reaches the entrance of the camp, the enemy cavalry will have basically arrived. In this way, the people in front are rushing into the camp and the people behind are squeezing in, which may cause the effect of "rolling back the bead curtain".

The casualties caused by the stampede were the second largest. Wen Chou only needed to send out cavalry, one on the left and the other as a hedge, or shoot a round of bows and arrows from the flanks, or even launch a pincer offensive, and he could easily annihilate all of Sun Jian's surrounding army, including 3,000 people in the camp.

, and can’t make any waves.

Now Sun Jian ordered the soldiers to form a battle formation and retreat slowly. When encountering cavalry in the plains and wild fields, the winning rate is indeed very low, but at least there is still room for resistance. It will not be like when everyone is blocked at the entrance of the camp, and there is no chance to fight back.

nothing.

The soldiers retreated step by step. Sun Jian had already got off the high oar. He was riding on his horse and looked at the countless black figures on the horizon in the distance. He only heard the thunderous sound of horse hooves from far to near. It was obvious that it would soon be over.

He rushed to the front of the formation, pondered for a moment, and said to Han Dang beside him: "We can't retreat now. We all have to form a formation. If we continue to move forward, everyone will die if the cavalry charges. I heard that all Jizhou cavalry are horse archers."

Skilled people, good at horseback riding, and also good at bows and arrows. If Na Wen Chou hangs us behind us and only shoots arrows without attacking, it will be troublesome. I think of a way, you go to the camp now and take all our carriages with us

come out."

"Drawing a baggage carriage?"

Han Dang was surprised and said: "Did Duke Ming plan to use these things to stop the cavalry? But in this case, it will be too late."

Sun Jian shook his head and said: "No, Lord Yi, do you remember? We once followed Duke Zhang to Xiliang to attack Han Sui. Han Sui's tens of thousands of cavalry rushed into the battle, which was beyond the power of manpower to resist. So I plan to attack Han Sui when the enemy launches

When attacking, let the baggage carriages make a surprise attack on the enemy's position to disrupt their offensive posture."

"I see."

After receiving the order, Han Dang immediately galloped towards the camp.

Sun Jian issued a military order to the entire army, asking the soldiers to form a circular defensive formation with their spears outside and their swords and shields in hand for cover.

Over there, Huang Gai and Cheng Pu's troops were located on Sun Jian's flank. Since there was a certain distance between the two sides, Sun Jian stopped in advance and waited for them instead of waiting until they were closer to his own camp before forming a formation on the same spot.

This resulted in Sun Jian's troops actually still being one mile away from the camp. When Huang Gai Cheng Pu's troops moved toward him and the seven thousand men were close together, the enemy came.

On the vast land, the scorching sun was shining brightly. The thunderous cavalry rolled up dust all over the sky. Wen Chou led a large group of cavalry to arrive in front of the formation and stopped.

Of course, so many cavalrymen do not rush forward together. Wen Chou has been in charge of the cavalry for many years, and he still understands some basic common sense. When the entire cavalry team is on the road, they basically move forward in small groups, and the largest group can only have so many cavalry units.

Just a few hundred riders.

So in fact, despite the thunderous galloping in the wilderness, these are just Wen Chou's forward troops. There are a total of four or five cavalry teams, more than a thousand people, and there are thousands of cavalry scattered on the vast land behind.

, keep moving forward at a constant speed.

Grassland and plain areas are the areas where cavalry are best at. Dispersing actions will prevent cavalry from colliding with each other. More importantly, galloping can easily cause the formation of the team to be scattered. Only by spreading out first can you move in different areas.

Stop somewhere, regroup, and launch a charge.

Soon, when the forward cavalry stopped about a mile away, more cavalry behind also began to slow down. The hundreds of cavalry holding general flags in the formation slowly moved behind the forward cavalry in all directions.

The soldiers immediately gathered around and converged towards the central flag.

"General, why did Sun Jian form a formation in the wild?"

While the cavalry were still gathering, Wen Chou's deputy general Wang Bi looked around and was surprised to see Sun Jian walking out of the camp.

However, Wen Chou saw the gate of Liyang City open in the distance, and the soldiers inside were coming out to assemble. He said clearly: "This must be Sun Jian who happens to be attacking Liyang. He didn't expect that we would arrive here and have no time to return to camp to defend."

"This is General Tianshu."

Wang Bi said happily: "Sun Jian has not returned to the camp. If he fights our cavalry in the wild, he will definitely die."

"Um."

Wen Chou nodded and said to the flag bearer: "Wave the flag, order the soldiers to gather quickly, let the cavalry and archery team attack them with bows and arrows, and then launch a surprise attack."

"only!"

Wang Bi went to convey the order.

Before the emergence of stirrups, people who could shoot arrows accurately while running on horseback were rare even in the entire late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms.

According to the records of "Book of the Later Han" and "Three Kingdoms", only a few people such as Liu Bei of Youzhou, Gongsun Zan, Dong Zhuo of Xiliang, Lu Bu of Bingzhou, Taishi Ci of Qingzhou had such ability, and even Huang Zhong was only an archer on land.

, instead of riding on horseback and firing the bow left and right.
To be continued...