Yiyang County is more than 50 miles southeast of Xiangguo County and 40 miles northeast of Handan City. www.biquge.info In the Warring States Period, Yiyang County was an important city of Zhao State, and the letter palace in Yiyang City was an important palace of King Zhao. Zhao Guofan's reception of kings, VIPs, festivals, and state proceedings was mostly held in the letter palace.

With the unification of the Qin State and the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the importance of Yiyang gradually decreased, and it gradually became an important branch of Handan City. The letter palace has long been dilapidated, and has become a residential and military camp in Yiyang County.

There are 3,600 households in Yiyang, with a population of more than 14,700, of which there are 1,100 households in the city, with a population of more than 4,300 and 300 soldiers. Hearing that the thieves in Xiangguo County paid a down salary of 2,000 rebels to attack Yiyang, Yi Yangling and Wei urgently summoned the heads of the wealthy clans in the county to discuss and resist the rebels together.

So in just two days, Yiyang County was clear, and more than 8,000 people gathered in the city, 700 soldiers, among which the people of the countryside also gathered in the courtyards of a few big wealthy families. There are less than 1,000 people scattered among the wild people and mountain people.

Two days later, I came to the outskirts of Yiyang County, and the fields were barren and desolate. Pay looked at Yi Yang City a few miles away, and asked, "Who is this Yi Yang Ling, who is so vicious?" ”

When Cheng Zhang was in Handan for a long time, he knew something about Yiyang County, so he said: "Yiyang Ling's name is Cheng Lian, and the county lieutenant's name is Geng Wu, both of whom are from Ye County, Wei County. ”

Fu Yuan nodded and said: "These two people are so decisive and simple, although Yi Yang is small, it is also difficult." The order was given and the attack on Handan was diverted. ”

Cheng Zhang was shocked and persuaded: "Big brother, turn around to attack Handan, not to mention that Handan City is difficult, but with Yi Yang on the side, our army's grain route is also worried about being cut off." ”

Pay said with a smile: "It's okay, it's okay, the mountain people have their own clever plan, and they ordered the teams of the army to disperse, and the sentry detectives need to hype that I will lead tens of thousands of troops to attack Handan, so that Liu Amnesty, the king of Zhao in Handan City, will quickly open the door to welcome the surrender." If you don't obey, on the day the city is broken, the two clans of King Zhao and King Zhao will all be killed, and no one will be left. ”

Within a day, all the people in Handan City knew that the thieves of Xiangguo County would make a down payment, and they would lead the traitors of Xiangguo, Bairen, and Zhongqiu counties, as well as a part of Changshan County, with a total of tens of thousands of troops to Handan. Liu Yu, the king of Zhao, was terrified and consulted with the minister of Zhao to order Yi Yang to send troops to attack the paid rebels.

Yiyang Lieutenant Geng Wu was helpless, and wanted to wait for the thief army to come, fight in Yiyang City, and destroy the thieves together with the people. I didn't want the thief to turn to Handan. Geng Wu had no choice but to discuss with the county commander Cheng Lian, and decided to send 500 troops and leave 200 to defend the city. Cheng Jian urgently summoned 800 young men to defend the city, and his heart was a little calm.

Geng Wu knew that there was only one traitor in Xiangguo County, and there were no tens of thousands of people, but after Liu Yu, the king of Zhao, was afraid of being lost, he forced Yi Yang to send troops to attack and harass the rebels. Although Geng Wu could guess that this was a strategy for thieves to attack the west, Liu Yu, the king of Zhao, was the clan after all, and he was still the king of Zhao, and although his rights were small, he had to lead the army to go according to the order.

Geng Wu was not afraid to fight against the thieves, but he was afraid that the thieves would be in ambush and be deceived. So he was cautious all the way, and sent more sentries to find out whether the thieves were ambushed on the way to Handan. I didn't want to travel more than ten miles, but a sentry reported that the thieves were in formation ten miles away, and they wanted to invite Geng Wu to lead the troops to a battle.

Geng Wuqi said: "How many thieves are there. ”

The sentinel replied: "Lieutenant Yu, the thieves have an army of 1,200 people, and there is a small village five miles behind the formation, among which there are hundreds of people left behind, which should be the location of the thieves' food storage." ”

Geng Wu muttered to himself: "In this way, all the two thousand men and horses of the thieves are all over there, and there is no ambush along the way?" ”

The sentry said, "Lieutenant, there is indeed no sign of an ambush along the way. ”

Geng Wu didn't know what the thief was, but he decided to take a look. The 1,200-strong rebels were ordinary people who believed in the Taiping Tao not long ago. I don't know the changes in the military formation, and I don't know the way to kill. For Geng Wu, this can only be regarded as a number worthy of a battle, so he is not afraid. An hour later, Geng Wu led the army to the battlefield set by the thieves.

Geng Wu jumped on horseback and looked around two hundred paces away from the thief army. I saw that there were flat fields for miles around, and the wheat that had just passed the winter had begun to grow, and there were countless bits of green in the fields. The thieves tried their best to set up a formation in the wilderness away from the fields, Geng Wu couldn't help but nod again and again when he saw it, the thief who cherished the peasants so much was not a great evildoer. Yi Yang's strategy of clearing the wilderness was a bit too much. If the battle is won, it is better to summon him and forgive him.

Look at the thief army formation, 1,200 people, a total of 11 small formations, except for the Chinese army has 200 people, each formation is only 100 people, divided into goose-shaped herringbone formations. Each column was divided into five columns, each with twenty men, crowded next to each other. Each formation was twenty paces apart, and the two formations at the largest opening were one hundred and twenty paces apart.

Geng Wu was taken aback, this goose-shaped herringbone formation is a kind of formation used to outflank and detour, which can give full play to the advantages of the thieves and soldiers.

Looking at the weapons of the thief army, there are 400 sword and shield soldiers and 400 spearmen, crossed and rowed. There were 200 archers, but they were placed in the large array of the Chinese army. Hey? The two formations next to the Chinese army were 200 thieves armed with three-zhang long wooden sticks, why is this?

Geng Wu finally smiled after watching the formation. This thief leader may know a little about the art of battle formation, but if he doesn't understand it, then he will die. If the geese-shaped formation has a majority of archers, it can be placed on both flanks and shoot a large number of soldiers in the middle of the formation. Then the Chinese army blocked, and the wing head closed again, and all the besieged soldiers could be swallowed in one bite.

But the thieves have few archers, but they are still placed in the large array of the Chinese army. In other words, if the army has attacked quickly, there is no need to care too much about the soldiers surrounded by the two wings of the thieves. In addition, the thieves' army is weak, and they only need to move forward with one heart, they can break through the thieves' formation, divide one in half, or cut the generals to capture the flag, and win the battle.

Geng Wu didn't have to fight the thieves, but when he saw this opportunity to win, he didn't like it, so he immediately ordered to form a formation on the spot. First pick out fifty soldiers who dare to fight to the death, wear double layers of leather armor, and hold swords and shields in front of the battle. The two Qu commanders were ordered to lead 100 people to protect the left and right, and Geng Wu personally led 250 people to follow the soldiers who dared to fight and died, and did not leave a rear army, so they prepared to fight and charge.

The war drums sounded, Geng Wu led the army slowly, and the thieves also sounded the war drums, but after only five steps, the formation of the thief army was scattered, so they had to stop and re-array. After another five steps, they had to re-line again, and the thieves simply did not leave, waiting for the officers and soldiers to come to the door.

Geng Wu secretly said that it was a pity that the thieves were so chaotic, if there were already thirty or fifty cavalry in the army. As long as the foot soldiers are in front to attract the thieves' large array, the cavalry can surround the middle army behind the thieves, and there is no need to enter the formation to rush and kill, and the thieves can be defeated. It's a pity that the army only has ten war horses, and its strength is too small to succeed in this strategy.

The two armies were close to each other, and it was not until the officers and soldiers entered the formation of the thieves forty paces that the archers of the thieves in the army shot sparse arrows in a panic. The 50 officers and soldiers who dared to fight to the death shouted and rushed forward with swords and shields. The two curved officers and soldiers on both flanks spread out separately, swords, shields and spears were protected, bows and arrows were fired to stop the thieves who wanted to encircle, Geng Wu waved his spear, and 250 officers and soldiers surged forward after the soldiers who dared to fight and died, shouting and killing in all directions.

The thief army formation was a little disjointed, and although the two formations at the head of the wing were encircled, the several bandit soldiers on the two wings could not brave the momentum of bows and arrows to squeeze the living space of the officers and soldiers in the middle. At this time, the fifty soldiers who dared to fight were already twenty steps closer to the thief army, and they were about to break through into the archers of the thief army.

Without a bang, the fifty soldiers who dared to die in front of them suddenly disappeared, and a pit with a length of 20 paces and a width of 20 feet and a depth of two zhang suddenly appeared on the battlefield. Many Chinese officers and soldiers also fell into the pit by surprise, and Geng Wu hurriedly reined in his horse, and then fought with his arms with his long guns, so as to avoid the disaster of falling into the pit.

In this moment alone, nearly 100 officers and men fell into the pit. Unlike the panicked officers and soldiers, the thieves on the periphery roared with joy, and the previous fear of death and arrows was completely gone, and they all bravely moved forward to fight and drive away, pushing all the officers and soldiers into the pit.

Geng Wu was shocked and hurriedly commanded his soldiers to break through, but the soldiers who dared to fight were all in the pit, and there were two hundred thieves outside the pit who kept beating with long sticks, and they couldn't get out of the pit. The courage of the officers and soldiers outside the pit has been lost, and the thieves who are surrounded by them, and the arrows shot indiscriminately above their heads, are unable to break through at all.

Geng Wu couldn't, so he had to order four guards wearing iron armor and broadswords to ride their horses out of the way, and he followed closely with his own spear. The five horsemen and horses together were brave, and the protection of the iron armor was good, and after a period of killing, they finally broke out of the siege of the thieves. He didn't dare to look around, and frantically beat his horse and fled south.

Most of the 500 officers and soldiers were captured alive, and only a few dozen were killed. At this point, the Taiping Dao Guardian Army in Xiangguo County once again had 500 complete sets of weapons.

That night, pay the salary and deceive the city, the Taiping Dao dare to die to seize the door to defend it, and the army pressed together, fought for nearly an hour, drove away the county commander Cheng Lian, and finally captured the county seat of Yiyang County.

After the seizure of the city, the salary was paid and the method of Xiangguo County was used to open the official warehouse to relieve the poor, and then the people who had taken refuge in the city were ordered to return to the countryside to prepare for spring ploughing. After a set of means of loving the people and protecting the people, the people of Yiyang County already had a lot of good feelings about Taiping Dao, and after this time, they supported it even more, and there were no less than thousands of people who joined the army. In addition, many officers and soldiers surrendered, so far the number of paid troops under his command has reached 3,500.

After paying salaries, several wealthy villages in Yiyang County were closed and insisted on, and each gave 500 stone of grain and grass, so they were let go and ignored. The wealthy families thought about it again and again, and heard that the situation of the wealthy families in Xiangguo County was not bad, so they all agreed to the order to pay salaries, opened the village to welcome the surrender, and waited for the victory between the Taiping Road and the Han family.

Five days later, Yiyang County had been decided, and Luoding was paid to guard Yiyang County, and then commanded an army of 3,500 to march towards Handan. Everywhere he went, the wind roared, and the township pavilion fled, all the way to the outside of Handan City without hindrance.