The Great Wei Forbidden Army in Cao Zhen's hands is no longer the same concept as the Great Wei Forbidden Army that participated in the Guanzhong Defense War five years ago.
The Great Wei Forbidden Army five years ago had extremely strong combat effectiveness. In a one-on-one situation, it could almost crush the county soldiers. To deal with the Great Wei Forbidden Army, it was necessary to encircle and suppress it with more than twice the strength of the county soldiers. Only then can we win the battle.
Even the newly formed Northern Han Army and the Wudang Fei Army were unable to defeat the Wei Imperial Army in a one-on-one situation.
But unfortunately, during the Guanzhong defensive battle five years ago, due to various factors, the Wei Imperial Army was defeated by Cao Zhen and Guo Huailang at the banks of the Wei River and at the foot of Huaili City. The 50,000-strong combat force , the Wei imperial army that finally retreated to the pass was only more than 10,000 people.
In every sense of the word, it was a traumatic loss.
The Great Wei Forbidden Army currently under the command of Cao Zhen was trained on the basis of more than 10,000 people by redeploying and expanding soldiers from various counties. Its combat effectiveness is completely different from that of the Great Wei Forbidden Army five years ago.
Otherwise, Zhang Xi would not be able to attack the Wei army now. With the same force, Cao Zhen could even directly counterattack Zhang Xi.
But even so, the Wei Forbidden Army, even if it is rebuilt, still has very high requirements for the quality of its soldiers. However, in terms of combat literacy and combat experience, it is indeed not as strong as the previous Forbidden Army.
Therefore, despite a series of unfavorable factors such as withdrawals, defeats, and insufficient food and grass in the army, the new Wei forbidden army commanded by Cao Zhen was still able to defend against the attack of the Yongzhou County soldiers commanded by Zhang Xi.
As a result, Zhang Xi's goal of repelling Cao Zhen's army through head-on confrontation and breaking into Tongguan to rescue Tongguan was already difficult to achieve.
In fact, when the fight reached this point, Zhang Xi was already considering whether to temporarily withdraw his troops and make a truce today, return to camp to rest, and then think of a solution tomorrow.
After all, Zhao Yun was stopped by the Wei army's divided troops. For a while, he was unable to launch an assault on the weak defense positions of the Wei army. His own initiative was blocked by Cao Zhen's troops. No matter how you look at it, it seems that the purpose of today's battle cannot be achieved.
Continuing to fight is nothing more than a waste of troops and futile battle damage.
But just when Zhang Xi was about to order the entire army to retreat and slowly break away from Cao Zhen's troops, sudden changes occurred on the battlefield.
It's not Zhang Xi's side. Both sides in Zhang Xi's side played more cautiously and couldn't do many tricks in a face-to-face confrontation. It was Zhao Yun who achieved a breakthrough effect.
The reason is that there are people who are nearly seventy years old and can still activate Wushuang.
At the beginning of today's battle, Zhao Yun led five thousand cavalry to appear on the flank of the Wei army, attracting the Wei army's attention.
After a while, Zhao Yun saw 8,000 light cavalry and nearly 10,000 soldiers of the Wei army coming towards him. It was obvious that they were the Wei army who had been mobilized to prevent him from launching a flank attack.
Mobilizing Wei troops to adjust their defenses was indeed Zhao Yun's purpose, but seeing so many Wei troops being mobilized gave Zhao Yun a headache.
No matter what, it would be impossible for Zhao Yun to lead five thousand cavalry to confront so many combined infantry and cavalry troops.
After all, Zhao Yun's Liangzhou cavalry is not complete at this time. The three thousand heavy cavalry have changed their leather armor into light cavalry. Their assault capability has dropped more than a little, and there are not enough rangers to protect the flanks.
Therefore, Zhao Yun's choice was to start the cavalry to speed up and fight in a roundabout way to avoid direct contact with the enemy as much as possible.
Of course, it is difficult to avoid the eight thousand light cavalry, but at least they cannot give the ten thousand infantry a chance to set up defenses to stop them.
Therefore, Zhao Yun began to wander around the battlefield, looking for more suitable opportunities before joining the battlefield.
At this time, Han De, who commanded the cavalry, and Dai Ling, who commanded the infantry, had some minor differences.
What Dai Ling meant was that regardless of Zhao Yun's direction of action, as long as they covered the flanks, Zhao Yun could wander around the edge of the battlefield as he pleased. Their goal was not to annihilate the cavalry anyway.
But Han De, who commanded the cavalry, believed that this cavalry could not be allowed to act recklessly. This cavalry was always the biggest threat to the Wei army.
If the Shu thieves did not have the support of this cavalry, the 10,000 infantrymen alone would not be enough to pose any threat to the army. Because of the existence of this cavalry, they would have to contain more than half of the 40,000 army to deal with it.
Under normal circumstances, this would not be a big problem, but now, the army is short of food and fodder, and must quickly conquer Tongguan. If you leave this cavalry alone and always pose a threat to the flanks of the main force attacking the city, it will not be a good thing for you and others. Son.
There is no time to spend with this cavalry.
Therefore, what Han De means is that he will lead the cavalry to attack on the initiative to attract this Shu thieves cavalry, and then lead and command the infantry to cooperate with him, trying to surround and strangle this cavalry. Even if he cannot surround them all, as long as he can effectively kill the enemy, It is also good to weaken the enemy's combat effectiveness.
After all, the opponent only has 5,000 troops. As long as they cause enough damage to the enemy and prevent the cavalry from forming the power of a group charge, the next battle will be much easier to fight.
Dai Ling thought for a moment and felt that what Hande said made sense. After all, the threat from the cavalry was real.
But the question is, can it really block the opponent? That's the cavalry! ! !
Although the leader didn't know much about cavalry command, he also knew that the speed of the cavalry was obvious, and it was very difficult to block the cavalry.
In this regard, Hande believes that it is possible to do it.
Actually, Hande doesn't know much about cavalry command. Like Wang Chang, he is half-experienced in cavalry. He knows a little about cavalry, but he is not particularly proficient in it.
Therefore, Hande believed that he had 8,000 light cavalry on hand, and the speed was not slow. Although his morale was a bit low due to the previous defeat, he still had a lot of troops.
As long as he commands the light cavalry to entangle the Shu thieves' cavalry and delay the opponent's wandering rhythm and time, and Dai Ling leads 10,000 infantry to surround them and try to block all exits, where can this cavalry go? ? !
It can be seen that Han De really doesn't understand cavalry command very well. His combat thinking is between cavalry command and infantry command. He jumps back and forth repeatedly and is not even at Wang Chang's level.
But unfortunately, Dai Ling knew less about cavalry command than Hande. If we think purely from the perspective of infantry command, Hande's approach is actually not without possibility of success.
After all, there are really many of them.
The two laymen discussed it for a while and decided to adopt this combat plan. Then Zhao Yun saw Han De leading eight thousand cavalry and charging towards him.
Although Zhao Yun couldn't understand the purpose of Han De's charge, as a veteran cavalry commander, Zhao Yun faced this situation without even thinking about it. He led his cavalry legion and started to circle the battlefield. Running around with Hande's cavalry regiment.
However, it was not running without purpose, but leading Hande's cavalry regiment farther and farther away from Dai Ling's infantry regiment.
At this time, Dai Ling, who was at the rear, also discovered this problem.
The cavalry was so fast that in the blink of an eye, the two armies were far apart, making it impossible for the infantry to keep up quickly.
In this case, even if Han De really fought with Zhao Yun, it would still take a long time for the infantry to rush over and encircle Zhao Yun's cavalry.
This is because the front of Tongguan is a preset battlefield, and Zhao Yun does not dare to run too far away from Tongguan, otherwise Han De will be hung up by Zhao Yun and he will not know where to run.
But after widening the distance from the infantry regiment, Zhao Yun felt that he had achieved his combat goal, and immediately ordered the cavalry to turn around and prepare for battle.
As for Hande, because he was not proficient in cavalry command, although Hande could barely maintain the cavalry's pursuit formation, the formation was already somewhat scattered.
The most terrible thing is that when Han De saw Zhao Yun starting to gather the assault formation, he did not order his cavalry to form a formation as well. Instead, he waited until Zhao Yun's cavalry began to charge before he realized what Zhao Yun was going to do.
On the battlefield, such a moment of hesitation can be fatal.
When Han De ordered the entire army to assemble in formation and prepare to confront Zhao Yun's cavalry, Zhao Yun's cavalry had already reached less than a hundred steps in front of the Wei cavalry.
This distance was simply not enough time for the cavalry to form a formation. The Wei army's cavalry could only rely on their personal combat experience to find space for a charge on this battlefield. The Wei army's offensive formation was basically broken up by the cavalry charge commanded by Zhao Yun.
After a confrontation, Han De actually still had a chance to adjust. After all, as he said, the Wei army's cavalry had many people. A single charge could break up the Wei army's formation, but it could not completely defeat the Wei army's cavalry's fighting will.
At this time, as long as Han De ordered to assemble his troops in time and have a second battle with Zhao Yun's cavalry, he might not necessarily lose.
Hande did not stretch his hips this time. Although he failed to deal with it the first time, the military order was issued very timely this time. He also began to gather the cavalry and assumed the posture of a cavalry charge.
But, absolutely no, no, Han De chose to be directly in front of the cavalry, as an arrow, and also launched a charge against the enemy cavalry.
Actually, this approach of general cavalry commanders is not wrong. After all, what the cavalry emphasizes is "the brave one wins when two armies meet." It is common for cavalry commanders to command the charge in front of the cavalry.
But the problem is that when a general commander leads troops into formation, he only moves his command position forward and leads the cavalry in front of the cavalry, while he is still surrounded by cavalry guards.
But Hande himself understood that when a general leads the troops into battle, he stands at the front of all the cavalry, using himself as an arrow to charge directly at the enemy.
This subtle command error, coupled with the fact that the cavalry commander opposite him who was about to launch a charge called Zhao Yun, became obvious.
Facing the forward attack of the Liangzhou cavalry, Hande showed his bravery, killing three cavalry in a row, and rushed over. But soon, Hande fell into the siege of the Liangzhou cavalry, and was in a hurry and surrounded by dangers.
Seeing that Hande was about to be besieged and killed by the Liangzhou cavalry, Zhao Yun was kinder and respected Hande's courage. After all, he was a general who dared to stand at the forefront of the cavalry and charge. Although he was a bit brainless, he was at least courageous.
Zhao Yun couldn't bear to see Hande die miserably under the beating of ordinary cavalry soldiers. He saw the right opportunity and approached Hande, stabbed Hande directly in the neck, and dragged him off the horse.
At least it gave Hande some dignity.
Then, Zhao Yun began to command his cavalry regiment and charged back and forth against the Wei cavalry.
Cao Wei's cavalry, which lost its cavalry commander again, quickly collapsed and fled in all directions after being repeatedly charged back and forth by the Liangzhou cavalry commanded by Zhao Yun before the infantry could rush to respond.
And Zhao Yun, like a god of death at this time, personally led his cavalry to pursue the Wei cavalry, constantly harvesting the lives of the Wei cavalry.
The changes on the battlefield came at this time.
(End of chapter)
