Cao Cao did not object to Guo Jia's conclusion, and patted the war horse under his crotch, "But, Fengxiao, although their intentions are obvious, we don't have any effective means to crack it, but we can only fight head-on according to their assumptions, and the outcome is not yet known!" ”

Hearing Cao Cao say this, Guo Jia also felt ashamed, and he coughed a few times, "Cough, lord, it's Guo Jia who is incompetent and can't relieve your sorrows." The power of the firearms of the Central Army is really difficult to resist. ”

"I heard that the last time Lu Bu personally went to Jingzhou to invite this Zhuge Liang, there was another encounter with Liu Bei and Wei Yan on the way back. The spies reported that the Central Army had used a new type of firearm, called a flintlock pistol. ”

Cao Cao nodded, "I also read this information, saying that this flintlock pistol, the sound is huge, and there is smoke when fired, the power is greater than that of a repeater, and the range is also farther than that of a repeater, but the loading speed is quite slow." ”

Guo Jia pandered: "I don't know how the Central Army developed so many firearms?" Is that Ma Jun really so powerful? ”

Cao Cao smiled, "Fengxiao doesn't have to blame himself too much, the strength of our army is not as good as the Central Army, and it is already the credit of Fengxiao and the military advisors to maintain the current situation, and you can't be arrogant." ”

"I heard that Ma Jun was brought back to Bingzhou from Luoyang by name when Lu Bu and Ding Yuan first entered Beijing, and I don't know how they learned about Ma Jun's talent."

"At that time, Yuan Benchu and I were both officials in Luoyang, and we didn't know Ma Jun, and there were too many things in Lu Bu that we couldn't understand and couldn't figure out."

Guo Jia continued: "I don't know if they brought flintlock pistols this time, I heard that the Eastern Wu Navy also encountered the mortars of the Central Army in the battle of public security." ”

"According to our intelligence, they are only equipped with one artillery battalion per division, so if there are three divisions of the Central Army here, there should be two artillery battalions. I think their cavalry is probably already moving to our rear by now, you see, my lord, what to do next? ”

"Well, I also feel that their cavalry is behind us, waiting for an opportunity. Their cavalry numbers are about the same as ours, and their combat effectiveness is much better, and that is their special operations division, not an ordinary cavalry division. ”

"I think we still need to attack forward, Wanxian is determined to win, and I've been worried about the safety of the boss! He hasn't heard from him. ”

Guo Jia replied: "In that case, then let's attack from the front!" Try out the new offensive tactics, let General Cao Zhang lead 20,000 cavalry to guard behind him, and General Le Jin to command the attack. ”

Cao Cao nodded in agreement, and Guo Jia began to give orders in a loud voice, and he asked Le Jin to lead 20,000 Cao troops to start the attack.

Cao Jun's so-called new tactics were to spread out the original dense formation, increasing the distance between the two men by one or two times.

And a platoon of hoplites, followed by a platoon of crossbowmen, followed by a platoon of hoplites, then a platoon of spearmen, and behind him a platoon of heavy infantry.

These heavy infantry were armed with large shields, and out of 20,000 infantry, there were as many as 10,000 heavy infantry.

Their large shields have been improved like all of their armor, especially the large shield, which is made of a mixture of multiple layers of materials that are resistant to both repeaters and shampling.

The armor was also thickened, and the chain armor was removed and replaced back with plate armor, and the quality of the steel was improved.

These were originally intended to defend against mortars, but it should also be effective to defend against grenades.

Cao's army formed a novel formation, spread out as much as possible, and attacked forward in a skirmish line.

The Rongsan Brigade attached great importance to Cao's army, and when they came up, they used the artillery battalion that had been hidden and unused just now, and used mortars to welcome them.

When it was more than 200 zhang, the mortar began to attack from a distance.

The sparse formation, having heard the sound of shells, roughly judged the landing point.

The formation changed, and the two rows of hoplites in front and back used large shields to protect the crossbowmen or spearmen in the middle, and all three of them hid behind the two large shields.

Combined, the mortar is significantly less effective, but the attack speed becomes slower in order to avoid shells.

Zhang Liao, Zhuge Liang, and Pang Tong hid on a small dirt hill not far from the position of the Rong Third Brigade.

In this era, commanding operations still requires commanders to be on the front line, and the ever-changing battle situation requires timely adjustment of tactics.

Zhang Liao looked at Cao Jun's offensive formation and methods of dodging shells, and couldn't help but nod, "Cao Cao and Guo Jia still manage the army well, and they thought of an effective countermeasure so quickly. ”

"The artillery battalion was ordered to stop firing, put the enemy within range of the repeaters and ballistas, and fire shells. As long as their crossbowmen are involved, the mortars will still be effective, and they will not be as good at shooting as we are against repeaters! ”

The mortar attack stopped, and the battlefield was suddenly quiet.

Cao Jun, who didn't know why, thought that the Central Army's artillery shells had run out, and immediately accelerated the pace of the attack.

Even Le Jin, who commanded the attack, thought that he had thrown all 20,000 Cao troops into the attack.

However, the frontal width of the attack is limited, so by the last eighty zhang, the front and back, left and right, little by little, densed again.

The large crossbow arrows of the Lianzhu ballista are still very powerful, and they can break a large shield with almost one shot.

Ballista shooters are all selected, nine out of ten, eight out of ten shots is still a common thing!

Finally, after reaching the last seventy zhang or so, Cao's crossbowmen could finally use their repeaters to return fire, and they all stood up straight from behind the hoplites, and tried to cast their repeaters at the central army on the hill.

Unfortunately, at the front of the Central Army was also a row of square shields, which blocked most of the crossbow arrows.

At this moment, the sound of "bang bang" sounded again, and the mortar began to shell again, and many crossbowmen were slashed through various parts of their bodies by the fragments of the exploding shells before they could hide behind the big shield.

Immediately after that, the Central Army on the hill actually began to attack and advance, quickly shortening the distance between them.

The mortar attack also tacitly began to shift to the depth of Cao's army, which is the coordinated tactics of infantry and artillery in sorties.

At the age of thirty, the hoplites of the Central Army stopped, erected their shields on the ground, and threw grenades at Cao's army together with the spearmen.

They deliberately pulled the grenades and then delayed them for a few seconds before throwing them, many of which exploded above Cao Jun's head.

Cao Jun's shoddy helmet couldn't effectively protect himself at all, not to mention that some people's helmets were still leather.

They are not like the Central Army, which has begun to issue new helmets, a type of helmet, specifically for protection against artillery shells and grenade fragments, and is developing a new type of helmet that protects against lead bullets fired from flintlock pistols.