July 25, early morning hour.

Tian Xin stood on the command tower of a building ship warship with a sword and halberd, and at this time the smoke and mist gradually dissipated, and what appeared in front of the Jingzhou army was Pinglu City after the Cao army was deployed.

Luo Qiong, who was familiar with the surrounding geography beside him, raised his hand and pointed to the large flat terrain between Pinglu City and Fancheng and said: "This is the ancient Han River channel, and the terrain is flat and suitable for the formation of the two armies. ”

Sure enough, the Liyi general Pang De's department was a 7,000-foot cavalry of the Chinese army, and its western front was the 5,000-strong Jingbei Army under the command of Fu Fang and Hu Xiu; Its eastern front is 3,000 Runan soldiers under the Manchu Pet Department, and more than 1,000 healthy horsemen are commanded by the Xiao general Niu Jin.

The Cao army was about two miles away from the river bank, and there was enough space for the Jingzhou army to land and array.

The Cao army participated in the battle with more than 18,000 troops, which was all the mobile forces of the Cao army in Jingzhou; In addition to these, there are only Nanyang County, who is responsible for suppression, and Lu Changpingdi, who guards Xiangyang County.

The initiative in this decisive battle lies in the Jingzhou Army, and the Cao Army is passively responding.

Another building ship warship, the Governor of the Navy Zhao Ti was full of spirits: "Cao Zixiao has to fight, if he avoids the war and shows weakness, Jingbei County will change banners in an instant." ”

Guan Yu has another opinion: "Otherwise, Cao Zixiao Xiangyang was defeated before, and Guy was slow to send reinforcements because of Pang De, which made Cao Zixiao's Hannan army defeated." Pang De was born as a general, and his brother is still serving in Yizhou, even if Cao Ren has the intention to avoid this battle, Pang De will fight with me to prove his innocence. ”

Hearing him say this, Zhao Lei knew that he had lost against Pound.

Guan Yu looked around the battlefield, this is not an ideal battlefield, there is never a truly ideal battlefield, and in general it is not very bad. The battle area was at least one mile away from the river bank, and the heavy crossbows and bed crossbows on the naval warships were difficult to support the battle, and the low-lying terrain was not conducive to the galloping of the Northern Army.

But Pound had to fight, and he needed a battle to prove his loyalty.

Cao Ren didn't want to fight, but because of the situation in Jingbei, he had to fight, and he couldn't show weakness.

Only by capturing Pinglu City can he seal the Han River together with the solid city on the south bank, and can he become the northwest fence besieging Xiangyang.

Pang De rode a strong white horse, looking at the various formations of the Jingzhou army that continued to land, converge, and array, and he summoned two generals, Dong Heng and Yang Ang, to convey the military order: "The generals of Fancheng are suspicious of us, but I am the grace of the country, and I am serving the death." I want to attack Guan Yu myself, and if I don't kill him this year, he will kill me too. ”

Yang Ang commanded the old soldiers in Hanzhong, Dong Heng led the old soldiers in Liangzhou, and the two families and Pang De's family were hostages in Yecheng.

Pang De pointed to the friendly forces on the left and right to assign combat missions: "The army of Jingbei is not trustworthy and useless. The Thousand Cavalry of the Full Pet Department and the Niu Jin Institute cannot be used as help, which is intended to guard against our army, not to help the war. Therefore, I will lead Jian Jian to ride straight to Guan Yu's main formation, if he wants to ask questions before the battle, just gather the strength of everyone to shoot in one fell swoop. ”

"You two will divide the headquarters for my left and right wings, and march slowly in formation to receive my return to the formation. If I shoot and wound Guan Yu, I will join forces with me to attack and break the enemy's army on the north of the shore. ”

After Pang De made the detailed arrangement, he listened to Dong Heng ask: "The two of us should take the general back to this formation, what should Pinglu City do?" ”

"It's just a small city in Pinglu, there is no danger to rely on, and it's not a pity to abandon it. If you want to hold on to this city, you have to lose thousands of elites. The generals of Fan Cheng can understand their own opinions, but Guan Yu is on the side, and they are unwilling to show weak words. ”

Pound's tone was indifferent and asked, "What other questions?" ”

Dong Heng and Yang Ang arched their hands: "No more." ”

In the position of the western front of the Jingzhou Army, Tian Xin wore a set of captured and urgently repaired full-body fish scale iron basin collar armor, wearing an iron helmet, this armor alone weighed nearly 100 Han catties, the Han sword hung on his waist on all sides, and the halberd on his right arm stood in front of the battle, and three battle flags fluttered behind him: Ping Thief Zhonglang General Guan, Southern Commander Tian, and Fengyi Captain Tian.

The position on the eastern front was in charge of the Marine Corps of the Marine Division supervised by Zhao Lei, and the middle road was more than 3,000 people from Guan Yu's headquarters.

Almost at the same time, it may also be that Guan Yu and Pang De did not show weakness to each other, and when they saw the other party marching, they also ordered their own side to advance.

The head of the Cao army's western front, which was in charge of Nanxiang Taishou Fu Fang, he was dressed in gilt silver fish scales and armor, and the scout flew to report: "Fu Jun, Tian Xiao, the southern lieutenant, is in front of our army's formation; And there is a battle flag surnamed Fengyi Lieutenant, I don't know the source of this department. ”

"Slow down the march, stand firm before engaging the enemy, and do not attack the enemy first. Wait for it to attack, and thwart its sharp momentum with a strong formation! ”

Fu Fang turned his head to look around at the military officials on both sides, and shouted sharply: "Those who violate the order will be killed!" ”

He rectified the marching array and slowed down, causing the more than 2,000 people of Yang Ang's division on the western front of the Chinese army assigned by Pang De to come later and surpass the soldiers of Nanxiang County.

Seeing that the army of Jingbei was really slack, what was expected, Pang De and Yang Ang didn't care.

In the distance, Fancheng, Cao Ren watched the battle.

Seeing that Pang De personally led more than 1,000 horsemen to rush straight to Guan Yu's main formation like a torrent, he pressed the left hand holding the hilt of the sword, sometimes clenching and sometimes stretching.

"Doh."

A stray arrow hit the breastplate of Guan Yu's gilded Mingguang armor, and the stray arrow was easily bounced away, and Guan Yu's face was expressionless.

In his sight, the bows and crossbows of the two sides shot at each other, and more than 1,000 horsemen led by Pang De suffered a big loss, and people could be seen everywhere turning on their backs, and about 100 horses were shot down with bows and crossbows.

Pound De rushed to Guan Yu's front of the formation and turned eastward under the support of Xiaorui's personal horsemen, clamped the horse between his legs, drew a bow, and shot an arrow at Guan Yu's front door, and drove the horse gallop without looking.

Guan Yu's forehead leaned back sharply in the moment he loosened the strings, and he regained his foothold surrounded by his own soldiers, only to see that he was hit by an arrow in his helmet, and the arrow cluster did not enter the hairpin on the top of the helmet.

Because Guan Yu was hit by an arrow, the middle road officials were shaken.

After Guan Yu stood firm, he raised his hand to pull out the arrow himself, but he didn't pull it out, broke the arrow with great force, and skimmed it to his feet: "Spread out, be sure to let the whole army know that I am fine!" ”

Tian Xin watched from afar, and he was also relieved.

At this time, it was only more than 100 steps away from Yang Ang's department, and Tian Xin saw that the sergeants of Yang Ang's department were all painted with white powder, which looked weird.

Relevant memories told him that this was the characteristic of the Hanzhong Corps: ghost pawns.

That is, the militia and local soldiers recruited and apportioned from every household of those who believe in the Tao of the Heavenly Master call themselves ghosts; Its military officials are called ghost officials.

Sure enough, in the array of ghost pawns, I saw some ghost officials holding similar mourning sticks and wearing long pointed crowned hats like black and white impermanence. Similarly, these ghost officials are also painted with white powder, and they can't see their facial features and expressions.

Guan Ping said loudly at this time: "Xiaoxian, Pang De led the knights to the east, and there was no cavalry on the west line." I want to lead the knight to attack Yang Ang in a roundabout way, and I also ask Xiao to choose the opportunity to participate in the battle and attack Yang Ang with me! ”

"Whoa!"

Tian Xin held the halberd high, Guan Ping lightly kicked the horse's belly and turned around the west to go around the back of the formation, the two wings of the formation, the knights behind the formation turned their horses' heads one after another, followed Guan Ping from the rear of the formation to the east, and marched from the east side of Yang Ang's department, almost at the same time Tian Xin led more than 1,800 foot soldiers to rush to Yang Ang's front.

Yang Ang could only engage in the battle, and watched as more than 700 horsemen under the command of Guan Ping interspersed from his side, calmly reorganizing the array behind him, and then launched a charge.

On the one hand, Tian Xin led the sharp soldiers to break through the Yang Ang battle flag, and on the other side, Guan Ping waved the horse sword in his hand, and also led a team of horsemen to gallop through the Yang Ang battle flag.

Seeing the courage of the Jingzhou army, Fu Fang, who was close at hand, watched Yang Ang fall into a bitter battle, and watched Yang Ang's battle flag being cut down.

He faintly heard 'the commander of the beheader Fufeng Tianxin', and then the Jingzhou army cheered in unison, and the cries were like thunder.

Fu Fangzheng hesitated whether to retreat, he didn't want to make a fuss behind the formation, he turned his head to see that his rear soldiers were retreating, like collapsed building blocks, and soon his personal guards also led his horse to run back, for fear that Guan Ping's cavalry would turn around and chase them.

Fu Fang fled without a fight for a while, and Hu Xiu, the Jingzhou assassin in the rear of Fu Fang, showed hesitation on his face, galloped out of the battle and shouted: "General Zuo is benevolent, everyone thinks of returning like a hundred rivers into the sea!" I want to raise troops to respond to the general situation, what do you think!"