Tao Kan and Liu Cang camped for several miles and confronted each other from afar.

On the second day of the encounter between the two sides, Liu Cang preemptively launched an attack, and according to the practice at this time, he also specially sent someone to give Tao Kan a war letter.

In fact, the tradition left over from the ancient war, such as the Book of War, is almost meaningless in such a situation - the two sides are enemy countries, and I have already penetrated into the territory of you, and the company camp is facing each other, is it here to sit-in and demonstrate? How can you not fight, and why notify in advance? However, Liu Cang's self-respecting identity and self-proclaimed as a dignified array and a teacher of the king must be followed; In addition, he also wanted to take the opportunity to submit the war report to briefly explore the reality of the Jin army.

Of course, the Jin people will not lead the subordinates to walk through the camps, or let you "travel freely" to visit casually - and it is not Zhou Yu to open the "group of heroes" - but from the Yuanmen to the commander's tent, experienced people can get a glimpse of many facts from the arrangements along the way: including whether the enemy is well-equipped, whether the morale is strong, whether the soldiers are brave, and so on.

Then, when meeting the enemy's commander and asking for a reply, he can also find out whether he is brave or cowardly through the other party's expression and words, and whether he has confidence in this battle.

However, under normal circumstances, the other side will also discharge the bravest soldiers, with the best weapons in hand, and welcome in the middle of the way—or surveillance—if the messenger has no strategy and little knowledge, he will often be confused. Therefore, Liu Cang specially sent Wang Yan, a close confidant of the army, to ask to see Tao Kan. Theoretically speaking, the risk factor of sending a threatening letter or a letter of persuasion is relatively large, and there is no danger of life if you just challenge it.

- Naturally, people should also be divided. Liu Cang also sent secret agents to collect information on Pei Jun, and he had some understanding of the personalities and tempers of the main generals below Pei Cai. If the enemy in person is Zhen Sui, it is estimated that Liu Cang will not dare to send Wang Yan, who knows what the barbarian will do......

Wang Yan reported to the door and entered, met Tao Kan, and presented Liu Cang's handwriting. Tao Kan read the book, and his first impression was: This Hu Er wrote a good hand...... His face sank like water, without joy or fear, and only after reading it did he raise his eyes and glance at Wang Yan, and asked in a deep voice: "It is customary to write a war book, and make an appointment for a decisive battle, but what you said in the book is that you will fight in a few moments - Liu Cang is so eager that he can't wait for a day or two?" Thou shalt wait for grain, but thou shalt not come to it enough. ”

Hu Jun's lack of food and straw could not be concealed from others. The year before the loss of Henan, last year was a big locust, this year is just a normal year, plus at the beginning of the year, he also cooperated with Shi Hu to move troops to the north to collect Xihe County, and the grain and straw materials in the treasury are quite insufficient. Da Situ Liu Li once advised Liu Cang, saying that if it is necessary to send troops, it is best to limit the number to less than 40,000, so that - "It may be available to lose until the beginning of spring." ”

But Liu Cang vetoed this suggestion, saying: "Although I have not confronted Pei Gai head-on, but he can destroy his younger brother (Liu Fu) in Yanshi, Dali can retreat Liu Yao, and Zu Shizhi is willing to live under him, is he an ordinary person?" It is expected that there will be no less than 40,000 soldiers and horses under his command, and if our army is similar to it, the odds of victory are unpredictable. Fighting with its two tigers, it takes time and grain in vain, but it is rare to find an inch of land, so it is better to destroy it in one fell swoop with the momentum of thunder. If you can get several cities in Guanzhong and take the grain stored there, there is no risk of retreating from the army. ”

Therefore, he ordered an army of 70,000, and also arranged troops and horses to defend the north bank of the Yellow River, so that he was overstretched, and he summoned Shi Hu in desperation - don't be idle, you can come and help.

Therefore, Tao Kan said today: "You are waiting for grain, but you don't have enough to come." Wang Yan didn't hide it, but replied: "Sun Ziyun: 'The wise general eats the enemy, eats the enemy for one minute, and serves me for twenty minutes; One stone, when I have twenty stones. 'My military rations are all in Guanzhong, so my crown prince led his army to fetch them. The land of the country, can not be hung out for a long time, the soldiers are brave, can not make the labor in the battle, I am good to fight, and Junli slow to fight, this is common, what is strange? ”

Tao Kan mentioned the corner of his mouth slightly, and said to Wang Yan: "Under the whole world, is it not the land of my Jin, the shore of the land, the minister of my Jin, Hu'er usurped, and Ande is called the country?" I have my own food, but I am afraid that it is not easy to get it. Then he picked up the pen, and at the end of the book, he approved the word "can" and threw it back to Wang Yan.

He has few soldiers and weak strength, waiting for reinforcements, and he could have not allowed a decisive battle, but the problem is not allowed, he Liu Cang will still come? If you are in danger, the deep ditch is high, and you can close the village without fighting, such as Sima Yi resisting Zhuge Liang in Longshang, but now the terrain is very flat, Tao Kan is also not long after coming, it is impossible to build a strong barracks, and because of the small number of soldiers and the army is not thick, once forced to the front of the base by the enemy, it is likely to be beaten through. So there was no way, so I had to follow the rhythm of the other party for the time being.

Wang Yan returned to see Liu Cang, reported what he saw, and said: "The Jin people are quite brave and sharp, and they have the law to set up camps, and the Taoshi is not happy or fearless, not arrogant, and is a fierce enemy, Your Highness should not ignore it." Liu Cang said that I know, but with today's situation, no matter whether the enemy is brave or cowardly, only by striving forward can we open up the situation. Beat the drums and send troops immediately.

As soon as the drums sounded here, the Jin camp immediately beat the war drums, and Tao Kan left half of the soldiers and horses to defend the base, and he took half of it and went out of the camp to rebel.

Tao Kan ordered Lu Yan to be the Chinese army, Mo Huaizhong was in the east of the water, Dong Biao was in the west of the mountain, and he himself boarded the building car and looked at it from a high position. The number of Hu troops on the other side is huge, and it is naturally impossible to pour out of the nest, Liu Cang immediately ordered the left cavalry general Qiao Tai to be in the center, the Anxi general Liu Ya to be on the left, and the general Hu Yan of Dangjin to implement the right, and the army slowly left the camp.

The drums beat and the two armies marched forward slowly, and then the archers shot their positions, each standing at a distance of about one hundred and fifty paces, and then forming a line. Taking advantage of the fact that the formation was still uneven, Qiao Tai personally sent seven hundred elite cavalry, and rushed diagonally to Dong Biao's left flank.

Most of this cavalry are the elite of Tu Ge and the Huns, everyone is wearing armor, all of them are carrying bows and spears, and in the sound of horses' hooves, they are surging towards the Jin formation. In the Jin formation, the archers released arrows one after another, trying to block the enemy's momentum, but the cavalry was too fast, and shooting at high-speed moving targets was not something that ordinary soldiers could easily do, so two rounds of arrow rain in a row yielded very little.

Dong Biao was still in formation, and it was absolutely difficult for Hu Biao to rush at this time, so in desperation, he had to send out a sentry cavalry - but there were only more than 200 cavalry - to block it. The cavalry of both sides approached, each drew his bow and shot at each other, and several of each rider fell to the ground with arrows - in the queue galloping, those who fell to the ground basically did not survive.

Qiao Tai secretly said in his heart: "The Jin people are really different from the past, this ride is very sharp!" ”

The key is that he has never been to Hexi, and in the past he only fought with the Jin people on both sides of the middle reaches of the Yellow River, knowing that as long as the morale does not disperse, the Jin army's infantry formation is not easy to destroy, but for the Jin cavalry, he basically does not pay attention to it. And now Pei Gai is both in Guanzhong, and the opportunity to obtain the grassland and recruit the Northwest Jian Jian has greatly increased, plus he split the "Liangzhou Horse" and sent many Liangzhou elite cavalry to various battalions as instructors, after more than a year of training, the cavalry under his command is very different from the past.

Qiao Tai also understood this truth, and said in his heart: "The Jin horse I saw today has the three-point brilliance of the 'Liangzhou Horse', which shows that the crown prince is planning very much, and the destruction of the Jin must first take Guanxi, if it can't cut off its way to obtain a good horse, that is, to go down to Henan, it will be difficult for a long time." ”

The two cavalry did not collide head-on, and the Jin cavalry basically remained parallel to the Hu cavalry, slowly pressing, and did not let the Hu cavalry get close to their own array. This position is actually less than fifty steps away from the Jin formation, Hu has more cavalry and less Jin cavalry, Hu Lie is long and Jin Column is short, there are many people who show their figures, and they are directly shot by the archers in the Jin formation. Although you can shoot with a bow and arrow, and the number of cavalry shot by the Jin people is very small, it is a threat after all.

Qiao Tai gave an order, and the cavalry was divided, and some of them continued to shoot parallel to the Jin cavalry, and the other part left the Jin cavalry to rush into the Jin formation. But relying on the cavalry to block it, Dong Biao had the opportunity to transfer enough archers to the front of the formation, and then mixed with some spearmen to cover it, Hu Qi looked closer, but he didn't dare to rush hard, and was forced to turn an extra corner, or retreated.

The time was not long, Qiao Tai led Hu Cai to leave the left flank of the Jin army, rushed to the front of the Chinese army, and Lu Yan also sent cavalry to rebel; Then they rushed to the right flank. In this way, he went around in a big circle, and finally left twenty or thirty corpses behind and returned to his own position. Liu Cang stepped forward and asked Qiao Tai, "How?" ”

Qiao Tai replied: "The left and center of the Jin people seem to have no gaps to take advantage of, but their right flank is slightly sluggish when mobilized...... Liu Cang said well-"You can secretly increase the troops on my left flank, so that Liu Anxi can take the lead in breaking the enemy." ”

Qiao Tai asked, "Do you have to do nothing?" Liu Cang smiled and shook his head: "If Tao Kan is a soldier, he can deceive me, but now there are few soldiers, and he only stubbornly defends, why do you cheat?" Turning his head and asking left and right: "What is the right formation of the Jin people...... Someone replied: "Look at the banner, it is the general Mo Huaizhong." Liu Cang said: "I have never heard of the name of this thief, and it is not difficult to break." ”

Mo Huaizhong is indeed not well-known in the Pei army - the most vigilant of the Hu people is Zhen Sui of the three armies of Yongguan, Liu Yetang of Pei Gai's right-hand man, Su Jun of the sole side, and Lu He and Xiong Yizhi who destroyed Liu Yi on the bank of the gutter, etc., even Wang Ze and Xie Feng are far ahead of Mo Huaizhong. Because Mo Huaizhong is indeed not good at war, plus he is good at being a man, he is not inconspicuous, does not show water, and does not have the habit of rushing to the head like Zhen Sui - the only time he took the initiative to ask for an order was probably only to defeat Liu Yue by lining up the mud with water under Dali City - and his reputation as a general is also easy to be despised.

The original meaning of "material officer" is to distinguish the material properties and use it, which was originally a reserve military service system at the end of the Warring States Period, and the Han Dynasty began to set up material officer generals, who also mainly led reserve soldiers. The Jin Dynasty took this position as a general miscellaneous name, and it was only five or six grades at the beginning, and it was even reduced to nine grades in the Southern Dynasty, and it was completely reduced to the name of middle and lower-level military officials.

So as soon as you hear the name of the general of the material officer, you will wonder if this person is bringing a reserve soldier, definitely not an elite, right? Indeed, the "Pengshan Right Battalion" led by Mo Huaizhong was originally ranked lower in the Pei Jun sequence, and it may be slightly stronger than Li Yi's "Bashang Battalion".

Therefore, Liu Cang set the main attack direction as the right flank of the Jin army, and after the two sides officially fought, they were short-handed, and he soon quietly mixed hundreds of his own troops into the left flank, handed over to the command of Liu Ya, the general of Anxi, and stormed Mo Huaizhong's array, and Mo Huaizhong gradually became a little unbearable.

Because of the narrow terrain, the number of troops invested by both sides on the frontal battlefield is similar, and the victory or defeat depends on how the generals are dispatched, whether the soldiers are brave or cowardly, and whether the array is complete, and there are not too many tricks to play. However, Qiao Tai led the cavalry to charge the enemy first, and really did not have the luxury of falling into the enemy's formation, the main purpose was three: first, to try the enemy's courage and cowardice, second, to spy on whether the enemy's formation was flawed, and third, to disrupt the rhythm of the enemy's formation, or to delay the time for the completion of the battle.

He came prepared, and before he crossed the Jin formation, the Jin army was forced to temporarily mobilize cavalry, archers, and spearmen to stop it, and the pace of the original formation was inevitably affected. Therefore, when the two armies were hedged, the Hu formation was finished, and the Jin formation was still slightly uneven, and when the fierce battle was fierce, the evil results were first manifested on the right flank.

Seeing that Hu Jun had smashed his own front lines one after another and cut them one by one, Mo Huaizhong knew that it was not good, and hurriedly personally raised his spear to the front line to supervise the battle - although he was slightly lacking in training and command, his courage was still strong, and after all, he was not the same as Gao Le, Xiong Yi and others. Liu Ya saw it from a distance in the army, and immediately took off her bow, put on a carving feather, and shot an arrow at Mo Huaizhong.

Liu Ya is a nobleman and a general of Hu Zhong, skilled in archery and horses, especially good at shooting, although the distance of this arrow is more than 100 steps, and the head in front of him is shaking, and the equipment is fluttering, he is confident that he can hit it. But who would have thought that Mo Huaizhong was lucky, the arrow came to the front of him, and just fell from a high arc, and he didn't know where to suddenly raise a spear, no coincidence, just open-Mo Huaizhong himself didn't even notice it at all.

Liu Ya couldn't help gritting her teeth and hating, and hurriedly fired another arrow, but Mo Huaizhong unconsciously avoided it. Liu Ya took the third arrow, looked at the sky and prayed, and said secretly: "If this thief is really blessed by the heavens, and the three arrows miss, I won't shoot." "With a struggle on his left arm, he opened his bow like a full moon, and when he aimed again, he shot an arrow.

It is estimated that Mo Huaizhong's luck has finally run out, this arrow hit his body, he couldn't help screaming, he fell off his horse on his back, and the subordinates hurriedly surrounded him to cover him and dragged him back to the camp.

Liu Ya was overjoyed, took the bow, and immediately swung his army forward. The general in the Jin formation fell from his horse with an arrow, causing morale to fall, the formation to be chaotic, and he was forced to retreat again and again. In the crisis, Tao Kan saw it from the building car, and hurriedly sent a new army, each holding a sword and spear to line up behind the defeated army, and then let the defeated soldiers and stopped Liu Ya's department head-on.

Liu Ya charged three times in a row, but could not defeat this Jin army, and then the defeated Jin army also reorganized and returned to help again.

The two armies fought from the early afternoon until the afternoon, and seeing that the red sun was about to set in the west, they had to withdraw their troops - because the physical strength of the front-line soldiers was almost exhausted.

Although the number of Hu troops is sufficient, Liu Cangda can derive reinforcements, but the problem battlefield is relatively narrow, and it is inconvenient for you to replace the soldiers who are still fighting. Although he was eager to break the enemy, he really didn't want to take such an unnecessary risk.

After half a day of fierce fighting, the casualties were counted, which was not too much. Tao Kan got out of the car with a calm face, returned to the big tent, and asked first: "How is General Mo?" ”