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.
This is because in the era when there were no stirrups, a person riding on a horse could only rely on his strong and powerful legs to hold the horse's belly to stabilize his body shape. While he had to endure the bumps, he had to shoot with a bow and arrow.
Absolutely no one can do it.
People like Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan, Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu all came from the border areas and often interacted with grassland peoples and learned superb equestrian skills. Taishi Ci went to Liaodong to avoid disaster in his early years and learned a lot of riding skills in the Northeast, so he was able to rescue Kong Rong in Beihai.
When he was on horseback, he fired his bow from left to right and shot down the pursuers.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Today, times have changed. The invention of the stirrup has allowed the cavalry to no longer be limited to using the strength of their lower limbs to stabilize themselves. They only need to rely on the power of the horse to
By forming a fulcrum with your upper body, you can stabilize your body while the horse is running, and then draw the bow and shoot the arrow.
Although it is still difficult to reach the level of people like Taishi Ci, Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, Liu Bei, and Gongsun Zan, because these people are recorded in history. Not only can they shoot left and right bows on horseback, but they can also hit the target 100% of the time.
But when a round of arrows rains down, precision is not required.
Following Wen Chou's order, hundreds of cavalrymen began to run towards Sun Jian's formation in the distance. When they were about fifty or sixty steps closer, which was about 70 meters away, they stopped and immediately launched a round of projectiles.
.
The arrows rained down like a cloud covering the sky. The swordsman and shield hand were good enough to raise their shields, but many pikemen without shields suffered. No fewer than three to four hundred people were shot down by a row of arrows.
Wails filled the ground, and the formation was crumbling. Some soldiers wanted to escape, but were scolded by the surrounding officers.
Sun Jian frowned. These are the Danyang elite soldiers he brought out. They were recruited from Jiangdong. They are the most elite troops under his command. Every death means one is missing. Hundreds were lost to this round of arrows. I don't feel sorry for him.
is fake.
But now if the formation is dispersed immediately, the cavalry will start charging directly, and it will immediately become a one-sided massacre, so for the sake of the overall situation, necessary sacrifices have to be made.
Then came the second and third rounds, with arrows raining down continuously. Sun Jian's troops fell in droves, and the suppressed aura of death enveloped the entire battle formation.
Many soldiers were already trembling. This situation of being beaten and unable to fight back made people feel desperate.
When there were thousands of casualties, Sun Jian's army was about to collapse.
A large number of carriages rushed out from the gate of the camp in the distance.
Zu Mao, who was left behind to guard the camp, and Han Dang, who had delivered the order, were whipping the horses like crazy as they transported the baggage. The soldiers in the camp, driving thousands of baggage carts, rushed towards the Wen Chou cavalry in a mighty manner.
At this time, most of Wen Chou's cavalry had gathered and were arranging into formation, preparing to start a round of charge. Suddenly, they saw a large number of chariots rushing out of the enemy camp, and they were startled.
The reason why chariots were eliminated was because of insufficient mobility. However, mobility was no longer needed at this time. Almost seven or eight thousand cavalry were crowded together. It was almost impossible to use the mobility of the cavalry. The light cavalry turned around.
It takes a long time to start.
Wen Chou was so frightened that he immediately ordered the soldiers to spread out on both sides to prevent the chariots from hitting him. But it was so easy to separate immediately. To convey the order, he had to rely on the messengers to run all the way. Everyone dispersed and ran away almost instinctively.
However, some were fast and some were slow. Suddenly, the left and right sides were disconnected and collided with each other. Suddenly, the cavalry formation was thrown into chaos. Even Wen Chou himself was knocked dizzy by the collision.
In a moment, the baggage convoy came towards them like a torrent, and the cavalry formation became even more chaotic. A large number of cavalry were knocked over by the chariots, and there was a burst of chaos.
Seeing this, Sun Jian originally wanted to order his soldiers to attack, but suddenly he noticed that the cavalrymen who were shooting arrows in the distance had not left. They were originally archers in the cavalry, and there were about two to three thousand people who came to suppress Sun Jian.
If people attack now, they will be hit by them.
So Sun Jian immediately swallowed back the order for the entire army to attack and shouted loudly: "Withdraw!"
"withdraw!"
The order to retreat was sent to the entire army.
All the Sun soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and began to evacuate towards the camp.
Since there was a large-scale commotion in the cavalry formation, the cavalry archers, after leaving the battle formation, were located in the northeast of Sun Jian's formation, about a hundred feet away. At this time, they did not know whether to attack or retreat. They stopped and watched, at a loss.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Sun Jian's army withdrew like a tide and quickly returned to their camp. After Zu Mao and Han Dang rushed into the formation, they disrupted Wen Chou's formation, rushed out and led their troops to escape.
After losing nearly 2,000 men, Sun Jian returned to the camp. The morale of the army was low. He did not intend to stay for a long time, so he immediately led the remaining soldiers to escape from the west gate of the camp.
Although the Wen Chou Department was caught off guard by the baggage convoy, they only lost a few hundred riders. The main reason was that the entire formation was disrupted, and it would take a long time to reorganize the formation.
The most important thing is that Zu Maohan dropped all his baggage. After the soldiers driving the carriage rushed into the battle, they immediately jumped off the carriage and fled, throwing away their helmets and armor.
As a result, when Wen Chou's troops took a look, the baggage was scattered all over the ground. Food, grass, money, weapons, and armor were everywhere.
Immediately everyone began to dismount and collect supplies, with no intention of pursuing them.
If Sun Jian had ambushed several thousand men and horses under a nearby low slope at this time, he might be able to replicate Xun You's strategy of killing Wen Chou, but unfortunately he did not expect Wen Chou to attack, and there were no low slopes nearby, so he missed this opportunity.
opportunity.
But at least Sun Jian managed to escape and would not die on the battlefield!