Yuan Xi's ability to charge in battle may not be as good as that of second- and third-rate generals.
But he has one specialty.
Defense.
This was forced out of him in Beixin City. Although he seemed to have achieved nothing in those three years, it gave him a lot of valuable experience.
Under the urging of their leader, the soldiers of the Montenegrin Army scrambled one by one to climb over the wooden wall that was as high as one person. Before they could stand firm, they were nailed to the wall with spears.
This height was carefully calculated. It was difficult for soldiers wearing armor and long soldiers to climb in. The first batch of people who came in were all lightly dressed and carrying short knives. They were severely restrained by the spears of the Youzhou army.
With just this one encounter, the hundreds of Black Mountain vanguard soldiers who climbed over the wall were completely wiped out.
Yuan Xi commanded the soldiers around him to hook the fallen Montenegrin soldiers with long spears to prevent the piles of corpses.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Yu Digen quickly ordered the soldiers to retreat and let them run around the wooden wall to find weak points.
As soon as the Montenegrin soldiers turned around and ran, feather arrows or spears were shot out from the large and small arrow holes in the wooden wall. The Montenegrin soldiers were caught off guard and fell down one after another screaming and injured. land.
When Yu Digen saw it, his blood surged. Before he went up the mountain, he never thought that the encounter in the mountains would turn into an offensive and defensive battle for the camp!
How did you come up with such a disgusting strategy?
This was the first time he faced the Yuan family's fierce tiger in person, and he suddenly realized that the Youzhou Army he led was completely different from what he expected. He had fought many battles in his life, but he had never seen anyone take over. He used this turtle strategy before the war!
Yuan Xi saw that the Black Mountain Army outside was in a panic, and thought that this was not a problem of the quality of the soldiers, but a difference in logistics and equipment.
The so-called trench warfare in later generations, to put it bluntly, is the use of bunkers to cover up and form an uneven suppression of the attacking enemy.
It is not that there were no such tactics in the Han Dynasty. The chariot formation used by Yuan Xi before was one of them.
But most of the time, a large amount of equipment is needed to form this situation. The reason why it is rarely used in field battles is because making equipment and cutting wood require a large number of tools and craftsmen. Without sufficient preparation, it is difficult to see the effect.
The simple barracks that Yuan Xi is using now actually require a lot of manpower and material resources. Normally, so many barracks cannot be built in a few days.
But Yuan Xi did it.
If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. When it comes to tools, he streamlines his troops and streamlines his administration, controlling the number of troops under his command to less than ten thousand people, in order to use the saved money and food expenses on preparing a large number of tools.
From saws and axes for logging to iron picks for digging, other princes would rather use these precious irons to make more spears.
However, Yuan Xi did not care about the cost and gave each soldier at least two tools. In this way, the entire army mobilized to dig soil and cut trees, so that they could build a simple camp in just a day or two.
The matter of craftsmen was placed on the daily training of soldiers.
Soldiers not only have to train in marching and fighting, but also learn literacy and skills. They discuss and learn in units of soldiers every day. In this way, every soldier has basic apprentice knowledge and skills, and is able to make war tools. To stand alone.
This is the purpose of Yuan Xi's military training. It is not only to strengthen his body and practice martial arts, but also to enlighten his mind.
Some generals like to find loyal and honest soldiers, but don't like soldiers who are too brainy, fearing that they will be too stubborn to be disciplined, but Yuan Xi doesn't think so.
Such soldiers can only execute orders mechanically. On a battlefield where communication basically relies on shouting, if the organization is broken up, they can easily become headless flies, causing the situation to collapse.
Yuan Xi felt that since people were born with a brain, it would be a pity not to make good use of it.
It is obviously unrealistic to ask him to receive formal education for a few years, learn a few words, and master a few skills like a real craftsman.
But it’s actually not difficult to do one thing first.
Let them develop the habit of independent thinking.
When Yuan Xi first trained his troops, he made a request to the soldiers.
Think carefully about the purpose of each order given by the general during military training.
If you don't understand, go back and discuss it with each other until you can come up with an answer that convinces others.
In fact, even if Yuan Xi's question is answered by scholars who are proficient in the art of war, they may not be able to answer it correctly. There is no standard answer to this kind of question.
But Yuan Xi's purpose is to let the soldiers develop the habit of thinking, and now it seems that the results have been seen on the battlefield.
For example, using obstacles and terrain to kill enemies, cooperating with teammates to contain them, and attacking according to the enemy's weak points, these soldiers don't even need to be directed by anyone. These soldiers will naturally look for opportunities to do it.
They are verifying the knowledge gained through military training on the battlefield to improve their combat effectiveness!
Yu Digen also began to realize that something was wrong. This Youzhou army was extremely cunning and treacherous. Those who could make sneak attacks would never fight head-on, and those who could take advantage would never let go of the opportunity.
If this continues, all of our first army will be ruined here!
He could only hope that a cavalry team led by Huang Long from the southeast could sneak up on the enemy and solve his current predicament!
But he would not have thought at this time that Huanglong's cavalry, which came out of the Black Mountain from the trail and wanted to cut off the Youzhou Army Food Road, had already encountered Yan Rou's cavalry.
The two sides were fighting inextricably at this time, fighting together in a melee. Huanglong was already at a disadvantage and had no time to take care of himself. Let alone cutting off the food road, even escaping unscathed became a luxury!
Huang Long rode on his horse and used a wooden shield to block the arrows fired by the opponent. He was extremely frustrated.
How could the other party know the route of his cavalry and lay an ambush in advance?
Yuan Xi saw that Yu Digen's side was already in chaos, and thought that if this situation continued, this battle would be completely won.
He had already learned that the Black Mountain Army had another cavalry group coming out of the mountain from the southern path. In response, he sent Yan Rou to intercept them in advance.
The most important part of war is intelligence.
Know yourself and your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger. This has been the wisdom of military strategists for thousands of years.
For Yuan Xi, who had already started the layout, not only had the Montenegrin army been infiltrated into a sieve, but many of the Montenegrin generals had his spies.
Most of these people were remnants of Taiping Dao who believed in prophecies. After Yuan Xi promised them some illusory things, information about the Black Mountain Army came out like snow flakes.
Therefore, the information about Yu Digen and Huanglong had been known to Yuan Xi in advance, so he waited and led them into a trap.
Less than half an hour later, Yu Digen's soldiers gradually began to lose their strength and fell one after another in the hail of guns and arrows. The remaining people could only look for trees to cover their bodies in panic, and their morale became increasingly low.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Yuan Xi ordered Tian Yu to open the camp, let the soldiers line up and leave the camp, and equip them to give Yu Digen the final blow.
Suddenly a sharp whistle sounded in the distance.
Yuan Xi had a bad premonition, so he climbed onto the wooden platform, took out his telescope and looked at the mountains in the distance.
When he could clearly see the mountains in the distance, his expression became serious.
The woods were crowded with people, and they were densely packed with reflections from the tips of weapons. At a glance, there were probably nearly ten thousand people on the hills!
Montenegro reinforcements!
This came too fast!
As soon as the flag on the mountain in the middle was displayed, the soldiers of the Montenegrin Army on several mountains shouted in unison, and the mountains and plains surrounded the mountain where Yuan Xi was!
When Yuan Xi saw it, he thought to himself that this was a trick.
Since he has planted an informant on the other side, the other side can naturally give false information. After all, Montenegro is the other side's home field.
Looking at this posture, someone on the Montenegrin Army's side has concentrated its superior forces and is ready to eat him.
Yuan Xi's face became solemn. The Black Mountain Army had been fighting Yuan Shao for so many years, so they were definitely not ordinary people. Now the situation has changed.
Seeing the soldiers on the opposite side rushing down from the mountain like a torrent and surrounding Yuan Xi, Yuan Xi knew that if his side was surrounded, it would be difficult!
At this time, Yu Digen had taken the opportunity to retreat down the mountain with less than half of his remaining troops. He cursed loudly and called on the Black Mountain leaders to attack the mountain together to avenge Yuan Xi's arrow!
Tian Yu stepped back and said, "Master, do you want...?"
Yuan Xi heard this and said, "Wait a minute."
"Let them fight a few waves first to test their quality."
After hearing this, Tian Yu said, "I'll go."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Brother Laotian, please be careful in everything. If something goes wrong, you will return to the camp."
Tian Yu nodded and led his troops to form an array in front of the camp.
Several leaders gathered together at the foot of the mountain, including Lei Gong, Dahong and others, and the leader was Yang Feng!
She led the army behind, leaving only Yu Digen to explore the way. Once the enemy was lured out, she was ready to attack with the entire army and annihilate them!
Lei Gong's voice was loud and he laughed loudly and said: "I let you take the credit and you will suffer a loss!"
Yu Digen looked disgraced and said angrily: "Damn, it's really difficult to deal with the other side."
"I will take revenge with my own hands later!"
This time, in less than half an hour, six to seven hundred of his subordinates were killed. These were all his direct soldiers, which made him extremely distressed.
Dahong laughed and said: "You still have as many soldiers as you can, so let's take a rest."
"This time I heard that the ferocious tiger is also in the camp. Watching Lei Gong and I destroy the camp, I will bring my head to Leader Yang!"
As he spoke, he glanced at the leader, Yang Feng.
Yang Feng put up the awning with her hands, squinted at the Youzhou Army arraying on the mountain, and said, "That's not quite right."
"They are about to be surrounded by us, how can they still have the guts to come out and challenge them?"
"It seems that their formation is also very strange."
Lei Gong heard this and said: "They are just bluffing!"
"Setting up a stronghold on the mountain is already a taboo for military strategists. Even if we surround them without attacking them, they will die of thirst sooner or later!"
Dahong quickly patted his chest and said to Yang Feng: "No need to surround them, I will lead an army myself and go up the mountain to kill them all!"
Everyone has known for a long time that Dahong has been trying to show off in front of Yang Feng all these years, and they are thinking that Leader Yang is just afraid that he is interested in Mr. Zhang Yan. Don't you know?
They were happy to watch the show, and Lei Gong smiled and said: "Well, I will give this song to you."
"But if you lose, I'm going to pick peaches."
When he said this, Dahong felt even more exposed and shouted: "What kind of ferocious tiger comes to our territory, no matter it is a dragon or a tiger, it must lie down cross-legged!"
"Watch me capture the ferocious tiger alive, cramp it and skin it!"
Yang Feng squinted her eyes. She also wanted to see the details of this legendary fierce tiger. She also didn't understand why the other party would set up a stronghold on the mountain?
You know, there is a lack of water in the mountains, which is a taboo for military strategists. What are the other parties’ considerations?
She said to Dahong: "You can go up if you want. You don't need to tell me."
After hearing this, Dahong hit his chest a few times and said with a smile: "Look at me!"
When Yuan Xi saw the Montenegrin Army soldiers starting to climb the mountain, he thought it was a good idea to practice military training, so it was just an appetizer.
(End of chapter)
