The Xiongnu chief saw his hundreds of light cavalry being ambushed by the opponent's ambush. Most of them were killed or injured in a few encounters. The remaining people had to flee back in a hurry, feeling cold in their hearts.
The other party came prepared!
He hurriedly ordered the front troops to get out of the center and allowed his light cavalry to escape back. At the same time, he ordered the soldiers in the rear to push all the carts to the front of the formation and block the entrance of the valley.
This is the chariot formation method used by the Han army that he learned in the North. He blocked the chariot in front of the formation to prevent the opponent's cavalry from charging into the formation.
He also ordered the Huns soldiers to drive hundreds of captured women into the gaps between the carriages as another layer of buffer.
Hundreds of women were crying and crouching on the ground, surrounded by Huns soldiers watching eagerly to prevent them from escaping.
After the carriage, the Xiongnu chief ordered people to fire arrows continuously to prevent the cavalry of Yuan Xi and Zhao soldiers from approaching.
At this time, Qu Yi did not pursue the Huns' retreating troops and rushed into the formation rashly. Instead, he let his heavy cavalry return to the formation.
If our own infantry fails to follow up with support in time, the cavalry will be entangled by the opponent and lose speed. In the end, they will be surrounded and annihilated by the opponent.
Qu Yi squinted his eyes and saw that all the Huns' light cavalry had fled into the formation. He was thinking about how to break the formation. At this time, Yuan Xi came over on horseback and said, "The formation has been set up on the opposite side. How to deal with it?"
Qu Yi looked at the mouth of the valley and said, "If you don't care about the lives of those women, you can suppress them with bows and arrows first. I will lead my troops to forcefully break in. The young master will then ask the infantry to follow."
At this time, Zhao Yun did not pursue him, but also called his men back. Qu Yi's words reached his ears. After hearing this, Zhao Yun's expression changed slightly.
He stared at Yuan Xi closely, watching how Yuan Xi answered.
Zhao Yun had a ruler in his heart. As a Jizhou native, he abandoned Yuan Shao and joined Gongsun Zan for his own reasons.
When Zhao Yun defected to Gongsun Zan, his reason was that "the discussion in the lower state should be based on the benevolent government."
Gongsun Zan heard this and thought that Zhao Yun's words meant that he could implement benevolent government better than Yuan Shao.
But in fact, Gongsun Zan has always been warlike. For many years, he has consistently advocated a killing policy in border areas, advocating the use of force to solve problems, and even used troops to rob people due to lack of food.
Yuan Shao's policies in Jizhou were much milder than Gongsun Zan's. They mostly focused on recuperating with the people, which can be said to be more popular among the people.
Regarding Zhao Yun's words, Gongsun Zan probably felt that Zhao Yun was telling lies. Although he took him under his command, he still doesn't trust Zhao Yun very much.
However, Zhao Yun has a secret in his heart.
When he defected to Youzhou, he didn't go there for Gongsun Zan, but because he wanted to defect to Gongsun Zan's immediate boss at the time, Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou!
Liu Yu is an authentic clan member of the Han Dynasty. In his early years, he promoted Xiaolian to serve as a Cao official, and was promoted to a county official. Because of his outstanding political achievements, he was appointed as the governor of Youzhou.
During this period, he implemented benevolent policies in Youzhou, persuaded the people to farm, opened the market in Shanggu to trade with foreigners, and mined the salt and iron mines in Yuyang to obtain income, which enabled more than a million people from Qingzhou and Xuzhou to live and work in peace and contentment here, which won the hearts of the people. .
Zhao Yun had the ambition to restore the Han Dynasty, and he was pursuing this goal from beginning to end.
In other words, what he really wanted to follow was Liu Yu.
However, a few months ago, something happened that made Zhao Yun extremely frustrated.
Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan attacked each other and were defeated and killed.
At this time, Zhao Yun served as the chief cavalryman under Liu Bei, which could be regarded as a means for Gongsun Zan to win over Liu Bei, but Zhao Yun had already moved on, so Zhao Yun planned to leave Gongsun Zan on the pretext of his brother's death and seek refuge with the benevolence and righteousness who could revive the Han Dynasty. Lord.
In fact, Liu Bei's attitude towards the restoration of the Han Dynasty was still very vague at this time. In the eyes of scholars at this time, Cao Cao was even ranked ahead of Liu Bei because he had joined the anti-Dong coalition.
It was not until seven years later that Cao Cao used the emperor to control the princes and exercise arbitrary power. Zhao Yun then turned to Liu Bei and devoted his life to the great cause of conquering Wei and restoring the Han Dynasty.
At this time, Liu Bei was looking for a piece of his own territory and went to Xuzhou to help Tao Qian. Perhaps Gongsun Zan saw the signs of Liu Bei's independence, but asked Zhao Yun to lead the army to attack Beixin City, which was also a test for Zhao Yun.
However, what Yuan Xicheng said touched Zhao Yun.
Liu Yuquan knows something, what should he do?
By helping Gongsun Zan, is he helping Zhou to commit evil?
The Xiongnu plundered and tortured the Han people, should we take action?
Therefore, Zhao Yun risked being dealt with by military law and agreed to this rather absurd bet.
Now that Zhao Yun heard what Qu Yi said, he immediately turned his head. He wanted to see whether this Yuan Xi was just trying to gain fame or reputation, or whether he really meant what he said!
If the other party really had the idea of implementing benevolence and righteousness, they would not let the cavalry attack the children of the Han family.
But if he fails to do so, he will not only bear the risk of heavy casualties among his soldiers, but also bear the consequences of the failure of the bet with Zhao Yun.
How will he choose?
You must know that when Liu Yu attacked Gongsun Zan, he was too benevolent and pedantic. He actually said, "Don't hurt too many people, just kill Gongsun Zan." He also cherished the people's houses and ordered not to burn the city, which made his soldiers restrained. Gongsun Zan found an opportunity to counterattack, and was defeated and killed.
In these troubled times, being too benevolent or too cruel is not a way to protect yourself. The situation at Taniguchi is now a dilemma.
If it were Zhao Yun himself, he wouldn't know what to choose!
Yuan Xi didn't know that Zhao Yun was paying attention to him. He stared at the mouth of the valley in the distance, thought for a while, and said, "You can't just rush in."
Zhao Yun listened in the distance and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Yuan Xi's idea is very simple. If word spreads about this, his reputation will be ruined.
Reputation is extremely useful in this world, even if you are pretending, you have to pretend.
What's more, if a horse tramples on a Han woman, he really can't do it.
But in this case, he had to think of a proper way to break the formation. He didn't want the hard-trained soldiers to die needlessly.
After hearing this, Qu Yi said: "In this case, as time goes on, things may change."
Yuan Xi said: "Let's go back to the woods first."
Qu Yi hesitated and said: "But in this case, if Zhao Yun takes the opportunity to take action, we will probably lose the bet."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said flatly: "He is not that kind of person."
He wanted to conquer Zhao Yun, and gaining his recognition and loyalty was by no means as simple as winning or losing on the battlefield.
When Zhao Yun heard this, his body was shocked. Yuan Xi and he were strangers, how could he know him so well?
Yuan Xi saw the other party using Han women as human shields, looking confident and confident. He was filled with anger and shouted: "Before we leave, chop off the heads of all our wild dogs!"
Qu Yi immediately commanded his infantry to chop off the heads of the corpses of the Hunshou cavalry with their Huanshou swords.
When the Huns soldiers saw it from a distance, they immediately let out an angry roar and wanted to rush out to fight, but were stopped by General Hu.
The Xiongnu chief looked gloomy as he watched the other party take the head and then retreated into the woods and disappeared.
Now it was his turn to be in a dilemma.
To advance, you have to pass through the woods. It is difficult to maintain the formation while marching, and there is a high possibility of being ambushed.
If you retreat, you will have to go back to the valley, sluggish and unable to go to Bingzhou.
If the opponent is really Gongsun Zan's army and Yuan Shao's army, they must be just the vanguard. What if reinforcements arrive and surround us?
A raid south that was originally going smoothly has now lost nearly a hundred elite soldiers. How could it turn into this?
The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became. He couldn't help but roar, and slashed the long knife in his hand, splitting the head of a Han woman next to him in half. The women's cries became even louder.
At this time, in the woods, Yuan Xijun and Zhao Yunjun were counting their heads respectively. Qu Yi's heavy cavalry were surprised to find that Zhao Yun had killed a dozen more people than his side!
Although this was related to the fact that Zhao Yun rushed into the enemy camp and killed the general of the Xiongnu right army, leaving the opponent leaderless, this result still made them feel frustrated.
They had just seen that in the battle just now, Zhao Yun not only had extremely accurate bows and arrows, but also had terrifying marksmanship, and he also commanded his men to use their arms and fingers like an arm. It was obvious that he was leading his troops well!
No wonder Yuan Ergongzi was so wary of Zhao Yun at the top of the city!
That was not because he was timid and cautious, but because he had seen Zhao Yun’s strength in advance!
Thinking of this, they felt ashamed of their confusion about Yuan Xi.
At the same time, their confidence in Yuan Xi has become much stronger.
At this time, Yuan Xi understood that if he didn't try his best, he would never be able to defeat Zhao Yun!
