If it weren't for the fact that Zu Dabi was Zu Dale's younger brother, Fei Yizai and Zu Jie, who were both from the Liaodong system, would be completely unwilling to leave Luoyang and bypass Chuxian County to come to Baocheng. The instructions left by Hong Chengchou before leaving were very simple: defense first, hold on until the situation in northern Shaanxi is stable, and wait for the main force to come to help.

But Zu Dabi is not a person who guards himself, he first defeated Hao Shaoqi in Xianxian, and then went around Baocheng to win a series of battles, almost completely wiped out Wu Dading in the vicinity of Baocheng to run all the strongholds, past experience told him that this is the best opportunity to take Baocheng.

In addition to the 1,500 horse army under his own command, Fei Yizai and Zu Jie stationed in Lüyang had 2,500 and 1,000 people respectively, of which Zu Jie had nearly half of the horse army under his hand.

Zu Dabi was good at field warfare, but he was suffering from the fact that the horse army could not attack the city, he wrote a letter to Fei and Zu two generals in Luoyang overnight, soft grinding and hard bubbles, and finally said that the two of them helped each other, Fei Yizai smoked more than 1,000 firearms battalions, and Zu Jie sent 500 horse troops. These two people led the team in person, and they gave Zu Dabi, the head of the Liaodong Army, face, and the rendezvous with Zu Dabi was completed in less than a day.

Fei and Zu saw Zu Dabi and knew that just one day ago, the situation in Baocheng changed abruptly, and Wu Dading, the head of the canal, was expelled overnight, and it is not clear where it is. After the turmoil, the thieves and thieves in Baocheng had no owner, and many factions in the city had great differences about the next destination, one of them had a positive heart, and after discussion, they decided to surrender to the official army, and sent people to contact Zu Dabi, expressing their willingness to provide convenience for Zu Dabi. This also directly contributed to Zu Dabi's determination to take Baocheng.

Hearing this reason, Fei and Zu, who were originally still playing drums in their stomachs, were a lot more down-to-earth, and the officers and soldiers of 3,000 people were supposed to stay in Jiweng Mountain to rest for a day before setting off.

Zu Dabi didn't think much about it, but just notified Fei Yizai and Zu Jie, and brought his own soldiers and horses first.

Baocheng County is located on the main road, over the years of repeated wars, coupled with the late county commander He Yongxi's strategy of clearing the wall, the vegetation around the city for two or three miles has almost been cut down, and the location of the city is low, so it has become a flat ground.

The scouts raised a series of alarms when they were ten miles into the city, saying that they had detected a large force outside the city. Zu Dabi didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when he entered the five miles and the alarms came, Zu Dabi felt that something was wrong. He ordered the Ma army to slow down the pace, while waiting for the follow-up Fei Yizai and Zu Jie, and on the other hand, he also stepped up his exploration of the truth in Baocheng.

Baocheng is indeed prepared.

To be exact, the main force of the Zhao battalion has been deployed there. At this moment, thousands of soldiers were all spread out on the vast plain outside the city, leaning against the city, quietly waiting for the arrival of the official army.

When Zu Dabi clearly saw the closed gate of Baocheng and a layer of black lines looming on the horizon, he was sure that he had been put in a position. Looking at this situation, what is the internal response, in fact, I want to earn myself to come here. Looking at the rows of thieves, he didn't believe that this was the honor guard that Baocheng used to welcome him.

He didn't care, though. After so many years of fighting, he knows the importance of staying behind. He is not stupid, and he can guess that there is a high probability that the news from Baocheng is false, which is why he repeatedly asked Fei Yizai and Zu Jie of Luoyang to come to help in the war - whether it is true or false. It's best if it's true, even if it's fake, he can rely on his own strength to make the fake show real.

Don't count on anyone else on the battlefield, no one can be relied on except yourself.

Zu Dabi looked at the horse for a moment, and basically determined the situation outside the city, and as the flag of his central army began to shake sharply, the 1,500 horse army began to gather to one side. At the same time, on the walls of Baocheng, the neatly draped Xiong Wanjian gave an order, and the crossbowmen who had already prepared began to release arrows outside the battlements, trying to force Zu Dabi's army to the other side. And the main force of Zhao Ying, like a pine forest, still did not move.

Fei Yizai and Zu Jie's troops quickly gathered, and they also ate knife head rice for decades, and when they saw this formation, they knew it. But they didn't say anything - now that the decision has come out, you have to be prepared for contingencies. Although he was a little dissatisfied in his heart, he couldn't spread it to Zu Dabi, after all, the other party was powerful in Liaodong, and the generals who came out of Liaodong, which one didn't regard the ancestral family in Liaodong as the backer of his career? It doesn't matter if you suffer a temporary loss, the bad luck of saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing for a lifetime is really lacking in heart.

Zu Dabi's horse army closed to the east, and the volleys of arrows from the western wall did not inflict any damage on them. But Zu Dabi has never been a master who is willing to suffer dumb losses, under his instructions, Fei Yizai drew more than ten small cannons and began to bombard the city indiscriminately. This was supposed to be a retaliatory counterattack, and the gunners didn't even aim before firing the guns. Although most of the cannonballs swept through the city perfectly and fell into the middle of nowhere, there were also three or two who happened to hit the battlements and enemy towers, and the huge roar and flying rubble immediately killed the arrogance of Xiong Wanjian and others in the city.

Zu Jie jumped off the horse, walked through the bustling crowd, got in front of Zu Dabi and asked, "Zongzhen, how to fight?" As he spoke, he was surrounded by galloping horses or galloping soldiers, and the noise of the noise and the clashing of the armor pieces was so loud that it was difficult to hear the speech of the other side at a distance. But after so many years in the army, Zu Dabi knew what Zu Jie's mouth was expressing at a glance, he made a gesture, and the five fingers of his right hand were put together, Zu Jie saw it, nodded, shouted, and disappeared into the crowd.

The outpost of Zhao Ying in the distance saw that the flag in the Zu Dabi array began to wave, and reported the news to Zhao Dangshi, Zhao Dangshi immediately went up, looked at himself for a long time, and said: "The enemy army will move, let the front line be ready." Based on the description of the outpost and his own observations, he roughly judged Zu Dabi's combat intentions: looking at the trend of more than 1,500 cavalry gathering in the middle, Zu Dabi's first wave of attack was likely to directly attack the middle formation. Although this method is simple and crude, it can be said that it has been tried and tested. Thinking that Cao Wenzhao is also a good player at using this trick, it seems that these generals born in the Guanning department really have a lot in common.

There were a total of 3,000 officers and troops here, and Zu Dabi gathered all his 1,500 people in the middle road. On the west side was Fei Yizai's 1,000 men, which were divided into two parts, one part suppressed the raids on Baocheng, and the other part was on standby. And Zu Jie's five hundred horsemen were placed in front of Fei Yi's Zaibu as a cover, and also as a backup for Zu Dabi's department.

At the same time that Zu Dabi was preparing to attack, at the forefront of Zhao's formation, Bai Jiaolong and Wu Mingfeng also received Zhao Dangshi's pre-battle order.

Zhao Ying arrived at Baocheng half a day early, through the analysis of the cavalry tactics of the previous official army, Zhao Dangshi and all the generals believed that Zu Dabi, who had won for a long time and was defeated, was likely to follow the old style of play, so Zhao Ying's deployment this time was very targeted, that is, to lay out a formation to prevent the middle from being broken through.

Generally speaking, Bai Jiaolong, the former division of the middle battalion, and Wu Mingfeng, the rear division, each led a total of 2,000 people from their headquarters to form the first line of defense, and their soldiers were the most elite and fierce warriors of the Zhao battalion, and their courage was not only manifested in combat effectiveness, but also in the firmness of will. After that, Guo Hutou, the former division of the front battalion, and Bai Wang, the rear division, each drew 500 people, a total of 1,000 people to form the second line of defense, in addition, Guo Hutou and Bai Wang also had 500 people each distributed on both sides, and the 1,000 people on both sides were all armed with firearms. After that, there were more than 1,000 people from Li Yanyi, the former commander of the battalion, and Zhao Dangshi and others also lived here to command. Han Gon was in the rear with a thousand horsemen, and it was originally a good choice to place the horse army on the flank, but considering the strong strength of the horse army of Zu Dabi and other departments, Zhao Dangshi finally chose to focus on defense, leaving Han Gon to stay behind and wait for the opportunity to move. At the end of the entire formation were Zhang Miaoshou's 1,500 people, these were the "elites" selected from his battalion, but after all, there was a lack of understanding, and Zhao Dangshi was unwilling to put them in too critical positions, so he let Zhang Miaoshou press the formation in the rear. The above totaled more than 6,500 infantry and more than 1,000 cavalry, and in the face of Zu Dabi's 1,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry was at least in an absolute advantage in numbers.

Hou Dagui and Xu Hui stood on both sides of Zhao Dangshi with solemn faces, Zhao Dangshi looked into the distance and asked: "The official army will move, the two of you see it, what is the chance of our army's victory?" ”

Hou Dagui blurted out: "Our army has been preparing for a long time, Zu Dabi hits the stone with an egg, and our army will win!" ”

Xu Hui pursed his lips and shook his head: "The outcome is unpredictable, and it should be in the number of five or five." ”

Hou Dagui was extremely displeased, and complained: "Old Xu, you will fall into your own prestige and grow the ambition of others." ”

Xu Hui didn't look at him, looked ahead and said: "Zu Dabi is a veteran general on the battlefield, he has a good reputation, and he is very good at commanding troops on the battlefield, not the kind of mediocre generals who can be compared." I'm afraid that our formation is too rigid, and there are few mobile preparations, and once there is a change, it will be difficult to deal with it randomly. ”

Hou Dagui held back his anger and said, "What is too dead? This formation is seamless, and Cao Wenzhao died in this formation in the past, you know. ”

Xu Hui said disapprovingly: "That's because the mountain road was narrow and difficult to expand at that time, but now the plain is vast, and the cavalry can gallop to their heart's content, and the variables are still unknown!" ”

Zhao Dangshi listened to the two of them talking, but he was actually a little anxious. Xu Hui is worthy of being an old man, and he can see the crux of the problem at a glance. In fact, as he said, Zhao Ying's formation this time is quite conservative, and it looks solid on the surface, but if something goes wrong, there is no possibility of change at all. The generals, according to the time and place, used this method to deal with Cao Wenzhao at that time because of the help of the location, but it is difficult to say that it is perfect when it is used now. If Zu Dabi is a mediocre talent, it just so happens that he is an excellent general with great experience, Zhao Dangshi is very worried that he will have any unexpected moves, and at that time, Zhao Ying's bloated formation will not have time to change, and if he is caught, the situation is likely to be irreparable.

However, the reason for this formation is really out of reality, if Qin Jinxiao and Hao Shaoqi are both there, Zhao Dangshi can completely change the way of playing, but after seeing the strength of these cavalry from Liaodong, Zhao Dangshi really did not dare to put his middle lane on the table as a bet. You know, if the middle lane is broken, the consequences will be absolutely catastrophic.

The lesser of two evils, Zhao Dangshi could only sacrifice the mobility of the army to make up for the security shortcomings.

At this time, Han Gon in the rear sent someone to ask for instructions, saying that he was willing to lead people to the positions of the two wings—it seems that he also saw the shortcomings of his own army. The reason why Han Gon was allowed to stay behind with the horse army was mainly because he could not have an advantage in the face of Zu Dabi and others, and now it seems that Zu Dabi did not expect that there was still a horse army in the rear of Zhao Ying.

Zhao Dangshi immediately made a decision, and asked Han Gon to lead the horse army to the west, and somehow, he had a premonition that the key to the victory or defeat of this time was likely to fall on the body of this thousand horsemen.

On the opposite side, the horn sounded again and again, and Li Yanyi, who was personally commanding the battle, couldn't help but swallow his saliva. This was the first time he played for the Zhao battalion, and it was also the first time he faced the iron cavalry of the official army in a field battle. It was a moment he had dreamed of for a long time, but he was a little frightened and helpless. However, when he saw the immovable embroidered "Zhao" handsome flag not far away, and at the same time remembered which person he remembered in his heart, a sense of courage suddenly arose. He never thought he would be weaker than others, and this time was no different.