The circular array is definitely the oldest formation in ancient China, the origin can even be traced back to the matriarchal society, after thousands of years of repeated evolution and improvement in the ancient pre-Qin period, to the end of the Qin era, this formation has been quite mature, and it is also a kind of battle formation that the armies are quite familiar with and common.

The biggest advantage of the circle formation is the obvious weakness, even if the enemy is attacked in all directions at the same time, it will not show flaws, basically it will not give the enemy a chance to break the formation easily, the disadvantage is that the attack power and movement ability are relatively poor, unless the formation changes, it is generally difficult to attack, it is difficult to form a fatal threat to the enemy.

As an old man of the Qin army who has experienced countless wars, Zhang Han of course knows very well that the circle formation of the Chu army is difficult to break, but there is no way, the circle formation of the Chu army blocked the eastward advance of the Qin army, and if he wants to move the camp to the north gate of Lu County to get food, the Qin army must first break through the circle formation of the Chu army. And if the Qin army can do this, it will immediately reverse the situation on the battlefield in Luxian, let the Qin army completely gain the upper hand, and even break the enemy in one fell swoop and severely damage the main force of the Chu army. Therefore, even though he was a little apprehensive in his heart, Zhang Han still mustered up the courage and let the main force of the Qin army quickly line up a mixed formation, and resolutely urged the army to attack.

The defense is too strong, only sending infantry or cavalry to launch an attack will inevitably suffer huge losses, Zhang Han, who knows this well, can only sacrifice the heavy chariots of the Qin army, first line up more than 100 heavy chariots pulled by four chariots in front of the battle, and let the infantry follow behind, and then beat the war drums, raise the command flag, and urge the army to attack.

There is no doubt that the Qin army has just entered the firing range, of course, the soldiers of the Chu army immediately suppressed the charge of the Qin army with overwhelming crossbow arrows, a team of soldiers of the Chu army held strong crossbows, took turns to squat and kneel and stand and shoot, through the Wangshan as much as possible to aim at the Qin army chariot rushing to the horse, and shoot a sharp feather arrow at the Qin army chariot, although the Qin army's chariots and war horses are protected by armor, but the Chu army's crossbow arrows are too dense, and the accuracy is quite high, even if it is blind by luck, There were still many feathered arrows that hit the cheeks of the rooks and the heads and legs of the horses without armor protection, and the people shouted that the horses neighed, and the injuries continued to die.

The vitality of the war horse is tenacious, even if many war horses were injured by feather arrows, the Qin army chariot that launched the charge at the same time still quickly narrowed the distance with the Chu army's round formation, and it seemed that it could rely on inertia and weight to crush the Chu army soldiers in the front row, but at this time, the Chu army command platform in the circle array waved the flag, and the Chu army infantry who were kneeling on one knee in the front row suddenly raised their spears one after another, and the spear tail pillar ground, the tip of the spear was obliquely raised to meet the enemy, and the bright spear tip was aimed at the Qin army chariot that rushed head-on, and at the same time, the Chu army crossbowmen in the back column seized the time to desperately release the arrows, shoot the feather arrows at the Qin army's chariot at close range as much as possible, desperately sharing the pressure for the former teammates.

The moment that decided the direction of the war occurred, although the dense spears of the Chu army were all pointed at the chariot of the Qin army, but the inertia of the chariot pulled by the four war horses was so huge, even if many of the war horses were pierced by the spears, but the huge inertia of the heavy chariot still directly knocked many Chu soldiers into the air and crushed to death, and countless soldiers screamed and the neighing sound of the war horses suddenly rose to the sky in front of the battle.

Zhang Han in the distance clenched his fists, because Zhang Han knew very well that whether the self-army could successfully defeat the Chu army's round formation could only depend on the result of the impact of heavy chariots. And Xiang Liang, who was in the middle of the Chu army's round array, looked relaxed, because Xiang Liang also knew very well that it was indeed impossible to block the impact of the Qin army's heavy chariots by relying on the spear alone, and the front team of the self-army would definitely suffer a lot of casualties under the impact of the Qin army's chariots, but no matter how good the Qin army's chariot control skills were, after being pierced through the body by the spear, there must be countless Qin army war horses that would raise their hooves and neigh, counteracting the inertia and impact force by themselves, and the Qin army's chariot could completely defeat the Chu army's circular formation, but it was definitely pitiful!

After being pierced through the body by the spear of the Chu army, countless Qin army war horses lost control and stood up, letting out a dying scream, counteracting countless inertia for the Chu army officers and soldiers, and the heavy convoy of the Qin army was forced to stop advancing after just disrupting the three or four rows of horizontal formations of the Chu army, and had to lean on the Qin infantry that was following behind to rush up to help the battle. Zhang Han's face was gloomy when he saw it, and Xiang Liang smiled more relaxedly, knowing that it was impossible for the Qin army to succeed in this charge.

The melee unfolded in an instant, and the soldiers in the front row of the chaotic Chu army kept in mind their usual training habits, and immediately waved their weapons to kill the Qin army chariots on the chariot, and at the same time fought hand-to-hand with the Qin infantry that followed, shouting and desperately beckoning their weapons to the enemy, and the Chu soldiers who were not disrupted fought in formation, covering each other while fighting with the Qin chariots on the chariots, and methodically slaughtering the Qin chariots who had fallen into the enemy group.

The chariot attack failed to succeed, and the battlefield situation inevitably fell into a stalemate, and the Qin infantry that followed could not mess with the Chu army column, but could only subconsciously extend to the two wings along the position of the Chu army, but the more it extended to the two wings, the more the Qin army was subjected to the greater resistance, and the Chu soldiers who fought in the queue relied on each other's mutual cover, wielding their spears fiercely and fighting Ge, stabbing the Qin soldiers who came to the door with blood splashing, screaming and falling to the ground continuously, no matter how the Qin soldiers sacrificed their lives to fight, it was difficult to move forward an inch. The more dead activities could not shake the position of the Chu army, on the contrary, they were killed and wounded heavily, and the corpses were all over the ground.

Since the formation of the army, the main force of the Zhang Han army, which is mainly composed of Lishan prisoners, is the first time to encounter an opponent who is good at formation warfare, the chariot can not move, the infantry is even more impulsive, even if the reinforcements are added, it is still useless, under the panic in the heart, the soldiers of the Qin army were even once killed by the Chu army and forced to retreat, and the front team of the Chu army, which was previously disrupted by the chariot, took the opportunity to reorganize the team, and once again lined up a dense horizontal team to fight bravely, which further shattered the hope of the Qin army to break the formation.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Han could only quickly send troops back to the north of the Chu army's circular formation, and once again used the chariot soldiers as the vanguard to attack the Chu army's circular formation, but like the frontal impact, relying on the impact of heavy chariots, the Qin army's chariot soldiers did disrupt several Chu army's front rows, but after the inertia and impact were counteracted, the battlefield situation was immediately pulled into a stalemate by the Chu army.

Cold sweat appeared on Zhang Han's forehead, and the generals of the Qin army were also anxious, and the generals of the Qin army around Zhang Han kept suggesting that Zhang Han strengthen the attack, Zhang Han thought about it for a long time, and then played the banner, ordering the Qin army to increase the front and impact the south side of the Chu army's circular formation, and at the same time play the flag, so that the Qin army, which had been frontally impacted, temporarily retreated, set up a long shield and shot with a bow and crossbow.

The reaction of the Chu army was far faster than Zhang Han imagined, the front team had just retreated, and a team of Chu troops immediately strode forward with a long shield, pouring out of the intermittent column of the Chu army, and quickly set up a long shield in the front row, covering the crossbowmen behind to release arrows to suppress, and the infantry all knelt on one knee to take the opportunity to rest, the movements were neat and fast, not under the Qin army at all, completely shattering Zhang Han's vain attempt to use the bow and crossbow to shoot the hope of the army column.

The shock tactics of heavy chariots had proved difficult to work, and the Qin army's offensive tactics against the southern side of the Chu army's circle formation had to be adjusted, and they were forced to switch to a long shield in front, with the soldiers and cats following behind, trotting towards the Chu army's round formation. It's a pity that Xiang Liang didn't even blink his eyelids, and when the flag waved, the Chu army archers inside the circle immediately strengthened the southern line, throwing feather arrows to suppress the Qin army, and the Qin army's long shield could only block the strong crossbow fired from the front, but it couldn't block the bows and arrows that were thrown in, and the casualties were extremely large, even if they barely rushed to the front of the Chu army's round array, they could not tear apart the Chu army's dense circle array.

The situation on the battlefield became more and more stalemate, the Qin army repeatedly attacked, fought fiercely for more than an hour, and never shook the Chu army's position, and was blocked by the death on the outside of the Chu army's round formation, with heavy casualties but in vain, Zhang Han's face was grim, and after thinking about it repeatedly, he suddenly gritted his teeth, and ordered to dispatch five thousand Longxi elites, so that they could carry two hundred heavy chariots back to the back of the Chu army's round formation, in a vain attempt to rely on the impact of the chariots and the strong combat effectiveness of the Longxi elite to tear the Chu army's round formation from behind.

Xiang Liang's reaction made Zhang Han almost vomit blood, just saw the Qin army detour behind his own army, Xiang Liang waved the flag, and the inside of the Chu army's circle array quickly rushed out of a group of infantry, carrying sharp stakes and trotting to the back of the Chu army's round array, and actually quickly established countless rejection horses behind the Chu army's round array, effectively counteracting the powerful impact of the Qin army's heavy chariots behind the Chu army's round array. At the same time, Xiang Liang also said with a smile: "Zhang Han Xiao'er, the next time you dispatch the elite, remember to be hidden, and dispatch so many chariots to detour behind me in one breath, the old man no longer knows that you have sent elite soldiers, then the old man has lived in vain for so many years." ”

Cold sweat flowed more on Zhang Han's head, and he saw from a distance that there were not many rejections behind the Chu army's round formation, and it did not completely block the Qin army's chariot from impacting the road, Zhang Han still gritted his teeth and swallowed back the order to withdraw the elite of Longxi, and the elite of the Qin army, who had returned to the Chu army's round formation, also resolutely launched a charge behind the Chu army, whose road had been blocked for most of the time, in accordance with the previous order.

Once invincible on the battlefield of counterinsurgency, the elite of Longxi finally kicked the iron plate this time, affected by the rejection of horses, forced to put into the battlefield in batches of heavy chariots of the Qin army just disrupted part of the queue behind the Chu army's round formation, Longxi elite followed up, and immediately encountered the stubborn resistance of the Chu army, even if it relied on experience and combat effectiveness to achieve more results than other friendly forces, it also somewhat shook some of the Chu army's positions, but as the war continued, Xiang Liang skillfully strengthened the troops behind, but the battlefield was still gradually pulled into a stalemate by the Chu army.

At this time, seeing that the physical strength of the army on the front line had declined seriously, Zhang Han also had to rotate the army in front, but seizing the gap between the rotation of the army of the Qin army, Xiang Liang also immediately rotated the troops on the periphery of the round formation, so that the fresh army stepped forward and continued to reach the offensive of the Qin army.

Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it was close to Shenshi, but the circle of the Chu army was still standing, and the Qin army, which had been repeatedly attacked, gradually showed fatigue, and before Zhang Han ordered the rotation of the army, the Qin army on the northern front was forced to retreat and regroup. Xiang Liang saw the opportunity to wave the order flag, and the cavalry of the Chu army in ambush Xiang Guan's department immediately came out of the formation, and rushed behind the retreating Qin army. The soldiers of the Chu army cheered like thunder, and their morale rose again, but the soldiers of the Qin army were in an uproar, and their morale dropped sharply.

"Take Liang Chao down, push him to the front of the battle and cut it on the spot!"

Tie Qing ordered the execution of the commander of the Northern Front who had embarrassed him, and Zhang Han, whose face was even darker, pondered for a long time, and shouted: "Raise the banner, withdraw all the troops in front, and reorganize the team!" ”

"General, withdrawing the army at this time has a great impact on morale?" Sima Xin hurriedly reminded: "Reorganize the team and launch an attack again, I'm afraid we will only be more difficult to attack." ”

"Still a fart?" Zhang Han shouted angrily: "Xiang Liang's old thief is so tightly guarded, what hope do we have to break through the thief formation?" It's time to fight, and when it gets dark, it's hard for us to retreat! ”

Seeing that Zhang Han was in a bad mood, Sima Xin didn't dare to say anything more, and the soldiers next to him obediently waved their flags and beckoned the Qin army in front to withdraw to their own formation and return to the team. As a result, when the flag waved, the Qin army, which had been unable to conquer for a long time, hurriedly withdrew to the main formation, Xiang Liang sneered when he saw it, and said: "It's quite smart, I know what restraint is." Wave the flag and change into a phalanx! ”

According to Xiang Liang's order, the Chu army order flag was waved immediately, and the Chu army teams immediately changed their formations, and quickly changed the circle formation into a phalanx that was more conducive to attack but weaker in defense, but unfortunately Zhang Han refused to be fooled, and after withdrawing the front-line army, he hurriedly reorganized the team, and immediately retreated to the northwest with the army, preparing to retreat to a distant place to camp overnight, and then find a way to move to the city of Luxian tomorrow to get food.

Zhang Han made an extremely wise choice, because just when the Qin army began to retreat, the direction of the west of the flawed hill suddenly covered the sky, and a group of Chu cavalry quickly killed, fortunately, the Qin army had withdrawn the attacking army and rearranged the formation, so it was not rushed by the Chu cavalry led by Xiang Yu from behind, even if Xiang Liang immediately sent troops to reinforce, the Qin army could still fight and retreat, and slowly withdrew to the northwest to protect the grain and grass under the condition of not suffering much loss.

This pursuit battle lasted until it was slightly dark, and the Qin army's team was not disturbed by life or death, and they were afraid that the Qin army would take the opportunity to counterattack after dark, so the Chu army's pursuers could only quickly withdraw to their own formation and return to the south bank to rest with the main force crossing the river. However, even so, the main force of the Chu army still won a field battle in a dignified manner, which not only severely damaged the Qin army's attacking troops, but also destroyed many heavy chariots of the Qin army, seriously weakened the Qin army's formation combat ability, and shattered the myth of the invincibility of Zhang Han's army in one fell swoop, which greatly encouraged the morale of the army.

After the defeat, the Qin army camp was almost silent, everywhere was the sound of the painful moans of the wounded soldiers, and everywhere were the dejected Qin army soldiers, Zhang Han was even more pale in the makeshift tent, and he was always silent. Sima Xin, Dong Peng and others were afraid that Zhang Han would be worried about his health, so they all persuaded: "General, victory or defeat is just a common thing in soldiers, so there is no need to worry so much." Moreover, although our army suffered a small setback today, the loss of the army was not big after all, and its vitality was not injured, and it could still find Xiang Liang for revenge in the future. ”

Zhang Han didn't say a word, and only said after a long time: "If you want to find Xiang Liang's old thief for revenge, I'm afraid it's not so easy, he won today, and successfully rescued his thief army, morale will inevitably be greatly boosted, and if we launch a decisive battle in the future, our situation will only be more unfavorable." ”

"But we're not left behind." Sima Xin persuaded again: "As long as we find a way to pull the army to the city of Lu County and obtain the supply of grain and grass in the city, we can be in an invincible position, first exhaust the old thief of Xiangliang to the old man, and then highlight the strange soldiers like in Xiangyi, and turn the tide of the battle in one fell swoop." ”

"It's not that easy, let's not say that it is difficult for Xiang Liang's old thief to be fooled again, even if it is head-on, we may not be able to consume the thief soldiers." Zhang Han was still in a depressed mood, and said: "Don't forget, the traitors have a gallop to replenish grain and grass, and it is convenient to transport grain, and if we want to transport grain and grass from the rear of Puyang to the front line to supply the army, we can only take the narrow county road, which is not only difficult to transport grain, but also may be harassed and threatened by the traitors at any time." ”

Sima Xin, Dong Fei and the others didn't dare to speak, Zhang Han thought about it for a long time, and then gritted his teeth and said: "We can't stay in Lu County, we are too disadvantaged to confront and fight the thief army here, we must retreat as soon as possible, retreat to the battlefield that is beneficial to us, and then fight with the old thief Xiang Liang." ”

"The Admiral wants to withdraw?" Dong Fei listened to it for a while, and hurriedly said: "Then what about our troops in Zou County and Lu County?" The army of Zou County is okay to say, there are few people to move, and there is a gallop road to directly withdraw to Puyang, but what about the army of Lu County? Not only did they have a large number of people to fight at the target, but they also had to retreat with the grain and grass in the city, so it was impossible to shake off the pursuit of the traitors. ”

"It's okay, there's a way to fix them." Zhang Han said word by word: "Let Shicheng give up the grain and grass in Lu County, retreat with the army lightly, and come over overnight to meet our main force." ”

"Give up the grain and grass in Lu County?" Sima Xin and Dong Peng were taken aback together, and hurriedly said, "General, how can you give up the grain and grass?" Even if Shi Cheng is allowed to abandon the city and retreat overnight, he should burn the grain and grass in the city with a fire? ”

"Can't burn, once the burning is over, the traitor will definitely send troops to chase him immediately, he abandoned the city and walked north overnight, it is difficult not to eat defeat, at this time, we can no longer take care of grain and grass, we can only give priority to the preservation of the army." Zhang Han shook his head, and said gloomily: "And it is not without purpose for me to leave the grain and grass to Xiang Liang's old thief." ”

The poisonous snake devoured his wrist, the strong man broke his arm, Zhang Han resolutely abandoned the hand of the grain protection soldiers, not only deceived Xiang Liang and the generals of the Chu army who were exhausted after the decisive battle, but also deceived Xiang Kang and Zhou Shu and others who were responsible for the defense of the Chu army camp tonight, because they had not found any abnormal movements, or when it was all dark the next day, Xiang Kang, who was in charge of the night vigil, was stunned to receive the scout report, saying that the Qin army in Lu County had abandoned the city overnight, and also left all the grain and grass that Zhang Han had hoarded in Lu County City to the Chu army.

"I'm kind of obedient to Zhang Handpifu." Xiang Kang sighed with great admiration: "I can't imagine that Zhang Han, a horseman, is willing to leave all the grain and grass in Lu County to us in order to protect the army, even if it is replaced by me, I am afraid I will not be able to make up my mind." ”

"General Right, Zhang Han deliberately didn't burn the grain and grass in the city, I'm afraid it's not just for the purpose of covering the retreat of his army." Uncle Zhou pointed out: "Maybe he has ulterior motives and other purposes. ”

"Other purposes?" Xiang Kang blinked his eyes, and suddenly said: "Yes, there are other purposes, our army won the battle, and rescued the trapped division to boost morale, and in addition, a large amount of grain and grass in Lu County was selected in vain, so that we can continue to transport grain to the north, my uncle will definitely take advantage of the victory to pursue, and will be led by Zhang Handpuff." ”

"That's what it should be." Uncle Zhou nodded, and said: "Although as far as the current situation is concerned, it is natural for us to take advantage of the victory to pursue the attack, and it is not very dangerous, but the further we go north, the farther away from the rear, the battle will only become more and more difficult to fight. ”

Xiang Kang didn't answer, because Xiang Kang knew very well that if he wanted to persuade Xiang Liang to withdraw his troops to Pengcheng, Xiang Liang would not listen to him anyway, so the only thing Xiang Kang could do at present was to try to remind Xiang Liang to be careful, and not to repeat the mistakes of the past, so that the Qin army would suddenly reverse the situation as if it was in Xiangyi.