There are many types of flags in the past dynasties, which not only change from time to time, but also lack systematization. That is, in terms of military flags, there are different names such as 旆, 旃, 旌, banner, 旝, 麾, building, 旐, 纛 and so on, and the shape and quality are also different.

Some of these flags are universal, while others are exclusive to a general or institution, such as the famous "Suyu Banner", which, although considered a military flag, is actually controlled by Shangshu Province and used to announce the king's order to stop fighting. For example, Sima Wei, the king of Chu, made a rebellion and killed Sima Liang and Wei Xuan, but Emperor Hui didn't know at the time, compared to Tianming, he used Zhang Hua's strategy to send the general of the palace to take the palace palm out of the palace and say to everyone: "The king of Chu is overbearing!" The rebels all released their troops and left, and Sima Wei was captured.

The beast is a legendary beast of righteousness, "the white tiger is not a living thing, and the virtue of faith should be answered", its tiger body and head, white matter and black text, tail long over the body - it is estimated that it evolved from the white tiger. Later generations said that Su Yu is a panda, this is not right, how can a panda have a long tail? Not all black and white creatures are pandas.

However, in the four battalions of the "Wind Forest Volcano" built by Pei, the "Wulin Battalion" set up a blue-bottomed flower flag, and the flower was a panda, anyway, the vast majority of Xuzhou soldiers had never seen that thing, and they didn't know what kind of virtue this kind of creature actually was...... So after entering Guanzhong, each battalion was reorganized, and this flag was abolished - it seems that there was this thing in the Qinling Mountains originally, what if someone happened to have seen it?

If Su Yu is a panda, this kind of flag pattern is not even suitable for Pei Cai, let alone Gao Le.

Pulling back and saying that Pei should not only reorganize the three armies of the Great Sima, that is, simplify and unify the banners, except for the Great Sima Honor Guard or Lala Miscellaneous, and the flowers, birds, fish and insects on the flag, the flags in the army are only divided into four types: the military flag, the general flag, the flag of the proclamation and the commander-in-chief. The military flag is divided into five colors, only the word "Jin" is written, and the levels are distinguished by different sizes. The official position and name of each general will be written in the flag book; The proclamation banner is multi-colored and patterned, but it is not used when marching; The Commander-in-Chief Daxu symbolizes the main camp, the tallest, but in fact it is a banner - that is, a long drooping flag.

So Chen An got up early in the morning, there was a sergeant to report, he immediately went to the city and looked, only to see the five-color "Jin" flag appeared on the horizon, when a white general flag appeared, look at the approaching, then the book "Fuwei General Yao" words - Yao Yizhong because of the work of breaking stones, only to be awarded the five-grade Fuwei general.

Chen An couldn't help but be surprised - Xiao Yao came so quickly! He said in his heart that I was fortunate that I took Jiexiu City, otherwise I would not have gained nothing after a few days of hard work? The credit is still Xiaoyao's......

After the two armies met, he learned that it had only taken three days for Liu Yang, Yao Yizhong and others to attack Zhang Xiong's fortress.

——————————

On the first day, Yao Yizhong tried to attack the enemy's fort, but it was imminent, and the fort was immediately shot with arrows, making it difficult for the Jin soldiers to approach. Yao Yizhong drove his soldiers and climbed bravely, but before he went up the mountain road, he was stabbed by dozens of spears in the forts on the left and right, because the road was narrow, the Jin soldiers in the front had almost nowhere to hide, and the shields were not fully covered, and the spears could not be stabbed back - the other party had the fortress wall as protection - and more than a dozen corpses fell in a short time, and the rest retreated in embarrassment.

It was originally a trial attack, so Yao Yizhong did not waste the lives of his soldiers, but only fought two meals before and after, and there were less than 100 casualties, so he took the initiative to retreat. came back to discuss with Liu Yang, Beigong Chun and other generals, saying that looking at today's situation, Zhang Xiong's command is still good, and the morale of the army is not high, but it has not reached the point of collapse when it encounters the enemy, and if our army attacks strongly, it will inevitably suffer heavy losses. He said that if it is too late to build a ladder, then give me five days to prepare for the damage of three or five thousand people, and I will take Zhang Xiong's head to offer!

Three or five thousand people, that is already thirty percent of the Jin army, this level of battle damage, but no one can make up their minds. And as far as theory is concerned, the army in the era of cold weapons, no matter how strong the organization is, and the losses reach two or three percent, will basically collapse......

Beigong Chunnai shook his head and said: "Hugh said that three or five thousand is too much, I am confused by the empty camp, it is already two or three days late, if there are another five days, I am afraid that Shi Hu can run back and forth between Xiu and Jinyang...... If they return to the back of the mountain and set up a formation, even if our army conquers the fortress in front of the mountain, it will be useless after all! ”

Liu Yang smiled bitterly: "I repeatedly stopped Chen An, but unfortunately he didn't listen to persuasion." If he does not go from the path to the west river, we will not be able to overcome the fortress when we enter, and we will retreat by ourselves; Since he has gone north from the small road, he must overcome this base, and he will be able to receive his 500 troops and return to Taiyuan......"

Yao Yizhong said otherwise, let's make a feint attack on Zhang Xiong first, wait for General Chen to copy him, and then try to attack, right? Liu Yang waved his hand and said that they should go down and rest, and wait for me to think about it for a night.

On the evening of the same day, he wandered around the tent, repeatedly calculating, but never came up with a good plan. The next day, he confronted the enemy and refused to fight—of course he couldn't let Yao Yizhong throw thousands of soldiers and horses—until the evening of this day, Liu Yang suddenly had some ideas, so he summoned Lu Songduo into the tent and consulted with him, saying that this is so, can you see it?

On the third day, about the beginning of the end of Mao, the drum sounded, the Jin village opened, and then the armor was distinct, galloped out of hundreds of armored horses, and when they reached the place of an arrow in front of the mountain, they pulled the saddle and dismounted, and walked forward after the formation. The armor cavalry was originally iron and thick armor, and the chest, shoulders and other important parts were also inlaid with metal parts, which had strong protection, and Liu Yang even made him replace the cavalry with a small shield for arming and defense, and the shield was covered with skin, which was enough to cover most of the body.

The armor cavalry in the front row and on both sides stand shields to protect their bodies, holding eight spears in their hands, while the inner armor horses hold their shields high to cover the top, holding short soldiers. In addition, in the middle of every two rows of armored horsemen, there is also a row of crossbowmen...... In the eyes of the soldiers on the fort, I saw the Jin people's dense array lined up against the wall, the pace was uniform, like a giant beast, the front and the top were all covered by a big shield, and the arrows could not penetrate, and its momentum was really amazing.

If Pei should be here, he would definitely applaud Liu Yang's impromptu idea, and said secretly: "Isn't this the Roman tortoise formation?!" ”

The tortoise array, the real name "tortoise array", or "shield tortoise", was widely known in later generations because of the film and television films related to ancient Rome, but in fact, in addition to the ancient Roman army at that time, their enemies Gaul, Germanic and other barbarians would also use it - because the technical difficulty is not high, since you have seen it, you can naturally imitate it.

The principle of the turtle formation is very simple, that is, the dense phalanx increases the shield body, but the main role is not field warfare, but is used to overcome fortifications. This array of powerful protection can weaken the power of the enemy's projectile weapons; Slow movement will not have much of a negative effect in the face of immovable walls and fortresses; The shield was used as a wall, which was convenient for the soldiers behind the battle to carry out civil engineering works such as fortification and trenching, and Elik's fortress, and even the infantry could step on the shield turtle to build a ladder to climb the wall. Of course, if you are outnumbered in the field and only want a temporary defense, you can also temporarily use the turtle formation.

The turtle-shaped formation of the ancient Roman army was quite famous at that time, mainly because their infantry was highly trained, could be covered with large shields, and could not waver for a long time in the face of the enemy's rain of arrows; At the same time, depending on special circumstances, it can also quickly change formations, and the inboard infantry is better at stabbing the incoming enemy through the gap with a short sword - barbarians such as Gaul and Germanic are estimated to be difficult to do, so they can only be used as wall envoys, not field battles.

The reason why Liu Yang was able to come up with this trick was not because Pei Gai had given him any inspiration, but because he got inspiration from Lu Songduo. Previously, Lu Songduo said, my armored cavalry, I only need to take off the heavy armor, then it will become a light horse? Including Hu Zun, the art of riding and archery is not weaker than ordinary light cavalry. Based on this, Liu Yang suddenly thought: If the first cavalry dismounts, isn't it a heavy infantry......

The number of heavy infantry in the Jin army is not much, and it is even less used in clusters, mainly because the weapon-making process in these years is low, unless it is an important general, it is not worth wasting too good equipment to enhance the protection - the input and output are not proportional at all. In particular, the heavily armored infantry consumes too much physical strength and moves slowly, just like the so-called "riding iron" in later Japan, which is a useless thing.

But this is not to say that the heavy infantry is completely useless, but the occasions where it can be left to its own deed, are relatively rare. Previously, Lu Songduo led the mounted cavalry to attack the Zhao army led by Shi Shengsuo, and after the first battle was successful, and the enemy base was directly pressed, Lu Songduo, "Bald Shen" and others still felt that they were not satisfied, so they did not ask Liu Yang for instructions, and took the initiative to dismount and fight, and even tried to climb the base. Liu Yang was also inspired by this - can A get off the horse and go to climb the mountain?

The key is that the training degree of armored cavalry is very high, and everyone chooses to grow up and burly people, tempered day and night, even if they are not heavily armoured, they can easily be ten on the battlefield. And the organization is also strong, driving the war horses, and can still line up the wall in a uniform manner, let alone dismount and form a step formation?

If it weren't for these armored cavalry, but for other Jin soldiers, even if they were elite in the army, and were granted large shields and heavy armor, it would be a fool's dream to form a tight and solid phalanx without going through many days of training in advance.

What's more, Liu Yang suddenly thought about it. Originally, he didn't dare to use the armor to ride easily, because he knew that it was the meat of the Governor's heart, for fear that the loss would be greater, and he would be reprimanded by the Governor, and it was more likely that he was silent and hated in his heart. However, before allowing Lu Songduo to unload his armor and change to light cavalry to hunt and kill Guo Tai, he had already lost more than 20 armored cavalry and twice the number of good horses, anyway, they had already been trampled up, and as soon as the precedent was set, the psychological defense line naturally collapsed.

- People are like this, like having a heavy treasure, afraid of damage, unwilling to be with others, but as long as it is really just a matter of being lent once, the second or third time someone will borrow it, it will be much easier to talk......

Liu Yangxin said, this ministry is directly under the Metropolitan Governor, and it is temporarily assigned to my command, if I don't use it, I don't know who will fall into the hands of anyone in the future...... If it was Zhen Suilai, he would not be as precious as me, and he might be put to death...... Rather than cheapen that brute in the future, why don't I make a few good trips first!

So he ordered Lu Song to form a foot formation, and to practice a little in the camp, and the next morning he rode out on horseback—in order to save his strength—and when he reached the front of the mountain, he dismounted and formed a formation, and it was really like a giant tortoise, and he slowly climbed to the enemy base. Arrows were fired from the mountains and fortresses, but none of them could penetrate the large shield, and occasionally leaked through the gaps, and the heavy armor of the armored cavalry was enough to cover it. If you can still bear heavy injuries in this situation, you can only sigh that this person is covered with dark clouds, and the luck is too bad.

Seeing the approaching mountain road, the soldiers on the fort panicked, and under the command of Zhang Xiong, they began to throw wood and stones downward. However, because the fortress is not a city wall, the space on it is limited, and the giant wood is naturally unusable, and the soldiers have limited power to throw stones, and they cannot penetrate the large shield raised above their heads by armored cavalry - fortunately, these armored cavalry are all strong people, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to carry them if they are replaced by ordinary Jin soldiers.

Heavy armor and increased shields, and there is no war horse to assist in the load, the physical burden on the armored horse is quite large, if the mountain road is steeper, it will be difficult to climb. Fortunately, the south of the mountain is actually not very steep, the mountain road has been trampled on horses for many years, and it is quite hard, basically flat, although the speed of the turtle-shaped array is slow, but step by step, there is almost no resistance, and it is gradually approaching the fortresses on both sides.

Liu Yang personally beat the drums behind the battle, and used the drum beat to direct the cavalry to advance, and then saw that the soldiers on the fort began to panic, and all their attention was attracted by the less than 200 armored cavalry and their followers—the width of the mountain road is limited, so it is naturally impossible and unnecessary to scatter all the 400 armored cavalry out to set up a formation—so he ordered Yao Yizhong to lead the light troops forward, and even threw bows and arrows at the fort to try to suppress the Zhao soldiers.

Zhang Xiong saw that this "big turtle" seemed to be approaching step by step without any damage, and hurriedly ordered the soldiers to raise their spears and stab. At that time, the riding spear was mostly about one zhang eight feet, so it was called "zhang eight snake spear" (the snake spear originally referred to the spear as thin and long, like a long snake, and it was really not as later generations thought, to forge the spearhead like a golden snake sword), about equal to four meters five in later generations. The spears used by the infantry were up to two feet long, but it was basically impossible to exceed five meters in later generations - if the spear was more than three times human, it would be useless. It's just that such spears are only used in infantry to form formations to resist cavalry charges, and those that are really commonly equipped and can flexibly stab are often not as long as riding spears.

Moreover, the infantry spear is generally short and blunt, and can not be compared with the riding spear, especially Pei Cai's imitation of the "lance" of Xianbei, so the soldiers use spears to stab the turtle-shaped formation, although it is easy to hit, but often can not penetrate the wooden shield, as for the gap and enter, it is estimated that non-spear masters can not be. And even if it's really pierced, how can the people inside still have heavy armor......

Although it is not easy to hit the enemy because of the protection of the fortress wall, it is not easy to hit the enemy, but the spear is long and sharp, once it is stabbed, it will inevitably die through the chest and abdomen.

At this time, the turtle-shaped array was already close to the fortress, and the fortress was not very high—especially when the Jin people occupied it, it was not completed, and it was not covered with a roof, but it was actually just a circle of earth enclosures—and the soldiers were bound to no longer be able to shoot with bows and arrows. Therefore, as soon as Liu Yang's drum beat changed after the battle, the wooden shield that originally covered the roof was flipped over, revealing the crossbow inside, and a feather shot straight upward.

While stabbing and shooting, they continued to advance, and the soldiers who were in front of them to block the mountain road could not be stopped at all, and they retreated one after another. Immediately the short-handed, armoured horsemen lined up on the inner side, abandoned their shields, and burst into the fort, or broadswords, or long knives, or iron-headed clubs, and everywhere the flesh and blood flew everywhere, and they were all invincible.

The turtle-shaped formation was really moving too slowly, and by this time, Yao Yizhong had already led thousands of infantry behind him......