"Oh?" Only then did Xiahou Yuan raise his head and look around, only to see that there was the same wilderness all around, only a river not far in front of him that blocked the way.

There is no bridge on the river, the river is not wide, it is only five or six zhang, and Xiahou Yuan saw from a distance that the scout who was exploring the road had already ridden into the water and was exploring the road, it seemed that the river was not deep, and it was completely possible to wade through.

"Which river is it?" Xiahou Yuan asked casually.

"General Huiyu, this is Yishui, and the downstream eventually flows into Surabaya, and finally into Huaishui. The river is not deep, and the shallow water can be ridden through. ”

Xiahou Yuan listened and nodded, it seems that the Han army wants to let himself into the city and then destroy it together.

After all, against light cavalry like yourself, it is more cost-effective to siege a city than to fight in the field.

I wonder when the follow-up troops of the lord will arrive? Forget it, as long as you can enter Tanxian County safely and soundly, your 20,000 elites will be dismounted as infantry, and they are all qualified musketeers.

Don't forget, they are tiger soldiers, and Guo Jia was strictly trained according to the double standard of being able to ride on a horse and be able to fight when getting off a horse.

Thinking of Guo Jia, Xiahou Yuan felt a pity that such a powerful figure died young.

"The order went down, the army did not move, and the forward battalion of 3,000 horsemen crossed the river first. If the forward battalion is safe, the other battalions will cross the river together. ”

So the Wei brigade stopped advancing, and only the 3,000 horsemen of the forward battalion stepped forward and crossed the Yishui smoothly according to the shallow river channel that the scouts had probed and the mark of the small red flag planted by the scouts in the water.

After going up to the opposite bank, the three thousand horsemen of the forward battalion were a hundred feet away from the river bank, and each of them spread out in a vigilant queue, carefully looking around.

Seeing that the forward battalion crossed the Yishui smoothly and nothing happened, Xiahou Yuan relieved himself to order the other battalions to cross the river together.

When Xiahou Yuan rode his horse down the river, he noticed that a large section of the soil above the waterline on the river bank was still wet, indicating that the water level here had only dropped recently.

Just when Xiahou Yuan was thinking wildly and believing in the reins, suddenly a trumpet sounded in the distant wilderness ahead, Xiahou Yuan often fought with the Han army, so he was naturally very familiar with it, this was the charge of the Han army.

He looked up into the distance and found that many black dots had suddenly appeared on the horizon, and when he got closer, he could clearly see that they were rows of Han infantry.

They were all dressed in black uniforms, each with a gun in both hands, lined up in a neat line, and strode with the same steps.

The place where they appeared was far away from five or six hundred zhang, so the forward battalion of the Wei army who crossed the river first did not find them, not to mention that the Han army had hidden in the trenches before.

These Han troops were lined up in three loose phalanxes, each with only three platoons of formations, each phalanx numbering about two thousand men, and these infantry happened to be a brigade of the Han army.

These vanguard battalions of the Wei army were also the elite of the Tiger Army, and they were not afraid to see the enemy, and they were the first to attack.

These 3,000 cavalrymen were also very experienced veterans, and they knew the power of the Han army's muskets, and when they attacked, they naturally lined up in a very loose formation.

Everyone bent down as much as they could, raised their shields, and hid their bodies behind them as much as possible.

They wanted to rush within range of their muskets before firing, but the cavalry horses were fast anyway, and the distance between the muskets on both sides should be about the same.

When the attack was launched, the distance between the two sides was 400 feet.

As a result, the Wei army had just charged about a hundred zhang, and the Han army on the opposite side came from the crisp sound of gunfire, which was different from the dull sound of the flintlock pistol, and the cavalry of the Wei army immediately fell in large pieces.

Xiahou Yuan saw it clearly, but he heard that some of the main forces of the Han army had been equipped with new muskets, which had not been encountered in Xiangyang before, but this time he saw it.

The first row of the three phalanxes of the Han army combined with 2,000 soldiers, while the Wei army was very loosely formed, with less than 1,000 horsemen in one row, and the cavalry also bowed down and erected small round shields as required.

As a result, three or four hundred horsemen were shot down in a wave of attack, and the Han army's hit rate was much higher than that of the old-fashioned flintlock muskets.

Moreover, the queue of the Han army is not as tight as it was when the flintlock pistol was used.

Xiahou Yuan could clearly see the Han troops lined up in three rows on his horse, the Han troops in the first row were lying on the ground, the second row was kneeling, and the third row was in a standing position.

And the Han army in the first row of lying down after shooting, did not have to retreat behind the second and third rows to reload the bullets, but could be loaded by lying on the ground, and the bullets were loaded from the back of the muskets, no wonder they could be loaded on their stomachs.

The speed of loading was also greatly improved, and the three rows of muskets took turns firing, much tighter than when the flintlock pistol, without pause, the rate of fire was amazing, and the range was even more amazing, and the shooting began at about 300 zhang.

If Xiahou Yuan knew that the Han army had put the Wei army within 300 zhang in order to improve the hit rate, in fact, the Ma's rifle could shoot outside 400 zhang, I don't know what he would be surprised about.

Seeing that the attack of the forward battalion was frustrated, Xiahou Yuan urged his subordinates who were crossing the river around him to speed up and go up to help early.

At this time, the Wei cavalry didn't care about the route that the scouts had explored, and moved to both sides one after another, swimming a little deeper!

Just as most of the Wei army was trudging through the river, there was a rumbling sound from the upper reaches of Yishui.

When Xiahou Yuan heard this voice, he was so frightened that his soul did not possess his body, this is the sound of rushing water, there will be no flood in this season.

The most worrying thing happened, the water level of Yishui fell so fast, and sure enough, someone was storing water upstream.

The Han army's serial plan is so vicious, I don't know if this is Ma Chao, Zhao Yun or Sima Yi's idea, nine times out of ten it is Sima Yi, right?

"Quick! Speed up, go ashore first, don't come down later, take a detour upstream, and see if there is any shallow water to cross the river! ”

On the bank of the river behind, there were still three or four thousand Wei cavalry who had not yet entered the water, seven or eight thousand cavalry were struggling in the middle of the river, and four or five thousand cavalry had just climbed to the opposite bank.

Sure enough, a huge flow of water rushed from the upstream direction, like a flood peak, and the speed of the water was still extremely fast, and the Wei army in the river did not have time to go ashore at all, and they were all impacted by the river.

In fact, the wave is not big, after all, Yishui is not a big river, and now is not a flood period, the main reason is that the Han army has a short time to store water, and it has not stored much water in two days.

Therefore, when this flood came, it only swept down many horses and soldiers who had not yet gained a firm foothold, and led them downstream.

Many people who stand in shallow places are only soaked in the rising river, which is not fatal, but the difficulty of crossing the river has greatly increased.

However, Sima Yi, who had made this plan, did not plan to expect this flood to change the situation of the battle, he just wanted to add some psychological pressure to the Wei army and delay the process of their crossing of the river.

(End of chapter)