At the foot of Jiangling City, the battle between Sun and Liu's coalition forces and Cao's army has reached a fever pitch.
Cao Ren's cavalry had already reached Zhou Yu's central army and was temporarily blocked by the wall of fire. The cavalry could not cross the wall of fire to attack Zhou Yu's central army on the hillside, but they could run around the wall of fire, ride and shoot, and attack with bows and arrows.
Although the effect is not great, it is at least somewhat lethal. As long as the fire of the fire wall weakens a little, Cao Renjun's cavalry will try to cross the ravine and kill directly up the slope.
Cao Ren's side was also attacked by the "Beggars Army" led by Zhang Fei and was in a terrible state.
After half an hour of fighting, Zhang Feijun only had more than 600 capable soldiers left, and Cao Jun's army of 3,000 soldiers now only had about 2,000 soldiers left.
That is to say, both sides were elites, otherwise the formation would have collapsed and dispersed.
But even so, Cao Ren still fought very hard.
Previously, Cao Renjun was beaten by Zhang Feijun in a battle of two thousand against five hundred. Now the ratio has dropped to one to three, so he must continue to be beaten by Zhang Feijun.
Fighting in these days is not a numbers game. It is impossible to win a battle until the number of soldiers on one side reaches zero.
Cao Ren's army used more troops to fight against fewer troops, but was actually killed and injured nearly a thousand people by the opponent. The blow to morale was huge.
Therefore, although Zhang Fei had fewer soldiers, Cao Ren's army was the worst in terms of morale.
Cao Renjun is currently holding on with one breath. Once he cannot hold on with this breath, or continues to suffer casualties like this, Cao Renjun will collapse sooner or later.
Of course Cao Ren also knew this, so he was now anxious to get angry. He even led his own soldiers to the front line to boost morale by leading by example, telling Cao Jun that he was still the commander-in-chief, so that everyone could cheer up and hold on. .
As a result, Cao Ren was stabbed in the arm by Zhang Fei and had to retreat to the central army in embarrassment.
Zhang Fei was also happy. If Cao Ren had stayed in the Chinese army, Zhang Fei would have had to spend time and effort to attack this guy all the way. Well, just come out of the Chinese army to fight. Wouldn't this be a doorstep?
It was only because of Cao Ren's good martial arts that Zhang Fei was not killed instantly, otherwise the battle would have ended on the spot.
But the problem is that Cao Ren was injured and retreated to the Chinese army. This once again hit the morale of Cao Ren's Chinese army and caused the Chinese army's formation to be greatly shaken. Zhang Fei took the opportunity to find an opening and kill in.
Now Cao Ren didn't dare to hold on like this anymore. Don't look back. His cavalry didn't kill Zhou Yu, but he was killed by Zhang Fei.
At that moment, Cao Ren changed his decision and no longer fought head-on with Zhang Feijun. Instead, he ordered two strong men, Niu Jin and Chen Jiao, to quickly return to the aid of the Chinese army and buy time with Jiangdong's army.
Now Jiangdong's army is attacking his own central army, and no one returns to help Zhou Yu.
In this case, he will shrink his troops and defend with all his strength. As long as the wall of fire of Zhou Yu's central army is extinguished, his cavalry can take advantage of the situation and charge up the hillside to eliminate Zhou Yu.
In this way, he will win in the end, and Jiangdong's army will retreat.
After Cao Ren ordered to shrink the defense, the three armies of Sun and Liu allied forces finally converged in front of Cao Ren's central army after a fight.
Cao Ren commanded the army to fight and retreat at the same time. He slowly formed a circular formation for defense as he marched, and backed up to the west gate of Jiangling City to delay time.
Of course, if the remaining Cao troops in Jiangling City shoot arrows at this time, they will probably be able to severely attack the Sun and Liu coalition forces. But after this, Cao Ren will never go to the battlefield again, and he cannot afford to lose that person.
This is a battle, not an ordinary siege.
On weekdays, sieges and field battles all rely on strategies, and any method that is immoral or not can be used, but it will affect the reputation at most.
But a fight won't work.
Although people in this era are no longer as "simple" as they were in the Spring and Autumn Period. They will no longer salute each other before a fight, and they will not point to the end, but they still retain some of the Spring and Autumn Period's concept of honor and disgrace, and will not easily break the bottom line. Well behaved.
Therefore, the battle is still fought by these people below the city. The defenders of Jiangling City can only watch and cannot even go out of the city to provide support.
Fortunately, after Cao Ren returned to defend, he finally stabilized his position. Even Zhang Feijun was temporarily blocked by Cao Ren's army. For a while, it was really impossible to break through Cao Ren's army's circular defense.
Cao Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the direction of Zhou Yu's army from a distance, hoping that his cavalry could kill Zhou Yu and end the decisive battle.
Zhou Yu also cannot let his remaining troops come to support him. Rules are rules. The consequences of losing his reputation these days are very serious. Zhou Yu will change from a famous general in the world to a villain that everyone reviles.
But Zhou Yu was a little anxious now.
The front attack has been slow to go smoothly, but on our side, the fire is almost burning.
There was no other way, so Zhou Yu had to order his personal guards to prepare for battle. If that didn't work, he would have to go into battle himself and kill the enemy.
Zhou Yu was also a military commander. Although later generations praised him as a "feather fan and silk scarf" and a scribe, Zhou Yu himself was not low in military force and had taken the lead in fighting.
But... after all, the opponent is a cavalry.
Zhou Yu was unsure at this moment and could only hope that his own army would break through Cao Ren's army before the fire weakened.
Even if you can't kill Cao Ren and force Cao Ren to retreat to Jiangling City, you can still count yourself as a winner.
The Sun and Liu coalition forces in front were busy attacking Cao Ren's middle army, while Zhou Yu frowned and began to direct the remaining 300 soldiers to defend. It would be good to put out simple antlers and other things first. Even if it could block the cavalry and delay a little time, it would be good.
As for Zhang Xi, this would make him drive towards Zhou Yu's central army with a hundred soldiers and thirty carts.
This is not because Zhang Xi is slow, but because it is inconvenient to dismantle the vehicle array, and in order to ensure combat effectiveness, Zhang Xi dare not not bring the vehicle array.
Even soldiers who have trained in the Yuanyang Formation will not be any better than ordinary soldiers when faced with a cavalry assault.
Before the invention of the machine gun, everyone was equal before the cavalry.
Therefore, Zhang Xi hurriedly hurriedly arrived at the left front of the slope where Zhou Yu's army was before the wall of fire weakened.
Then Zhang Xi ordered his soldiers to form a circular formation immediately and wait under the slope of Zhou Yu's army.
When Zhang Xi formed a formation, Cao Renjun's cavalry actually saw it, but the cavalry leader obviously didn't understand why Zhang Xi formed a formation at the foot of the hillside. In addition, Zhang Xi brought a hundred people, so It's really not much of a reinforcement.
The order of Cao Jun's cavalry was to attack Zhou Yu's central army. As long as Zhou Yu remained motionless on the hillside, the cavalry leader did not bother to care about Zhang Xi's formation of one hundred people and chariots.
In this way, Jiangdong's army in the front was stepping up its attack on Cao Ren's middle army, while Cao Ren's cavalry in the rear was waiting for the fire to weaken or even be extinguished.
After all, Cao Ren was able to hold on for long enough. The fire on Zhou Yu's side gradually weakened, and Cao's cavalry began to try to urge their horses to cross the ravine and attack Zhou Yu's army on the hillside.
Zhou Yu didn't panic at this time, because he also saw Zhang Xi's supporting troops.
Zhou Yu's original plan was to take advantage of the slope to force Cao's cavalry to attack from their backs and reduce the cavalry's impact speed.
He used deer antlers to form a simple defensive position on the top of the slope, and used bows and arrows to kill the enemy and try to delay as much time as possible.
But it's different now. Zhang Xi came to meet him and brought a car formation.
Zhou Yu had seen the defensive capabilities of these chariot formations. Although Zhang Xi brought few soldiers and few chariot formations, blocking the 600 cavalry should be more effective than his own antlers formation.
But as the fire gradually weakened, more and more Cao Jun's cavalry crossed the ravine and came to the foot of the hillside.
When Zhou Yu saw this situation, he immediately ordered the entire army to shoot out all the arrows, so that Cao Cao's cavalry did not dare to easily form a formation to attack.
After shooting the last arrows, Zhou Yu ordered the entire army to retreat, downhill from the rear, and retreated to Zhang Xi's chariot formation.
Cao Ren's cavalry were hit by a hail of arrows, and they could only scatter and dodge. They did not dare to form a formation easily. Even when the arrows stopped, they did not dare to organize an attack immediately. They were afraid that as soon as they formed a formation, Zhou Yu would attack again. A shower of arrows.
But after waiting for a while, I found that there were no arrows shooting down the hillside at all.
The cavalry leader did not dare to waste time at this time. His master was still being beaten, so he gritted his teeth and decided to immediately form a formation and attack up the hillside despite the casualties.
But when the cavalry climbed to the top of the hillside and found an empty camp, Zhou Yu led his soldiers and had already retreated to the hillside. Their goal was Zhang Xi's vehicle formation.
Now the cavalry leader finally understood why Zhang Xi formed a car formation at the foot of the hillside. It turned out that he was here to meet Zhou Yu.
The cavalry leader suddenly became anxious. After finally waiting for the fire to be extinguished, he attacked up the hillside, only to find that Zhou Yu was about to run away.
No matter what the formation was at the moment, he ordered the cavalry to swoop down and pursue the whole army. They must chase Zhou Yu before Zhou Yu enters the chariot formation.
But after all, Zhou Yu is also the commander of the first army, and as a general, he also has horses.
If it weren't for taking care of the three hundred infantry around him, Zhou Yu would have run into Zhang Xi's car formation long ago.
Cao Jun's cavalry just paused and attacked up the mountain again, wasting a lot of time. Although they were chasing downhill now and had a speed advantage, they still failed to intercept Zhou Yu, allowing Zhou Yu to successfully enter Zhang Xi's car. Array.
It was just a pity for the three hundred soldiers who followed Zhou Yu.
Although Zhou Yu tried his best to be careful, the cavalry was too fast and it was downhill. In the end, Zhou Yu could not take care of them all. He only brought more than a hundred people into Zhang Xi's chariot formation, leaving more than a hundred people. , Zhou Yu could only watch them disperse in all directions and be slaughtered by the cavalry.
Zhou Yu blamed himself for this, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was not only responsible for these 300 people, but also for the thousands of coalition troops ahead who were still attacking Cao Ren's army.
Therefore, Zhou Yu quickly cheered up and began to calmly direct the car formation, relying on the car formation formed by Zhang Xi to continue to delay time.
At this time, the attack from the front gradually entered the time to determine the winner.
Of the one thousand sergeants commanded by Zhang Fei, there are now less than five hundred left.
And it was these five hundred people, led by Zhang Fei, who penetrated all the way and finally reached the center of the circular formation, gradually approaching Cao Ren's central army.
At this time, Ling Tong and Chen Wu of the Jiangdong Army also followed Zhang Feijun and got in through the gap, gradually widening the gap and allowing more Jiangdong Army to enter through the gap and attack Cao Ren's central army. .
At this time, Cao Ren was already considering whether he should admit defeat and command the remaining thousands of soldiers to retreat to Jiangling City to preserve the strength to defend the city in the future.
Just before Cao Ren made his decision, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed.
Zhou Yu's handsome flag fell.
On the battlefield, if a commander's flag falls to the ground, it naturally means that the commander retreats or is killed. All Jiangdong soldiers know that their commander is not just sitting back and watching the show unharmed, he is also being besieged by cavalry.
As soon as Cao Ren saw Zhou Yu's flag fell, he naturally thought that his cavalry had made a contribution, and immediately ordered to take this opportunity to shout that Zhou Yu was dead, destroy the opponent's morale, and at the same time launch a full-scale counterattack.
But even after Cao Ren made this adjustment, no concrete results were seen yet. Zhou Yu's flag was raised again.
Now it was the turn of the generals of Jiangdong Army to make noise, telling everyone that Zhou Yu was still there, and encouraging everyone to fight bravely against the enemy.
That depressed Cao Ren, I just adjusted the formation.
(End of chapter)
