On the north bank of Zishui, the Xi infantry and cavalry of the brigade had already left the temporary camp, spread out in a mighty way, and began to line up a strict formation behind Xiao Gan and the others.

The knights on the banks of the river also rode their horses back and forth, and let out a series of hurried whistles with a little sorrow. Some of the war horses also urged them to step into the river, gradually splashing, and making a dense sound of treading water. On the other side of the water, there was the same sound, the same sound of horses treading and whistling. This is the sound made by the Xiangzhou cavalry led by Yue He when they were scouting and guarding along the river.

The Xiangzhou army, which has repeatedly fought in the north, is now more and more like an elite army, not only the fortress tactics are becoming more and more mature, but also after absorbing a part of the remnants of Gao Yu, it has gained the ability to fight in the field, and even the level of cavalry has also risen.

Yue He, who was dressed in half-body armor, was now patrolling the south bank of the Zihe River with dozens of little bullies in Xiangzhou who could barely shoot bows and arrows on the back of galloping horses. About half an hour ago, they spotted the noise of troops and horses on the other side of the river, obscured by a thick fog. On the one hand, he sent people to warn the Xiangzhou army in the nearby camp, and on the other hand, he drove his horse to run on the south bank of Zishui, making a noise, so that the other party would mistakenly think that there were also soldiers and horses on the south bank of the Zishui River. In this way, the Liao people would not dare to wade across the water before the fog cleared, and the nearby Xiangzhou army could also have time to deploy calmly.

The morning fog had lightened a little at this time, and on the north bank of Zishui, I saw dozens of Liao cavalry suddenly appearing in the fog!

These cavalry are undoubtedly the long-distance horses in the Liao army. Yue He didn't suffer less. The essence of these Liao cavalry took the light route of the grassland cavalry, with only a thin leather armor and body, and could not fight hand-to-hand combat. The war horse under the crotch, the mane is long and messy, and at a glance you can see that it is not the kind of stable war horse that needs to be carefully cared for, but a steppe horse that is freed on the prairie. However, compared to ordinary prairie horses, they are unusually superb, and they are obviously one in a hundred good horses. Each Liao man carried a stubborn horn bow in his hand, five or six quivers hung on both sides of the saddle, and the only weapon used for melee combat was a curved saber. However, they rarely engage in close combat with the enemy, and they are all accurate and ruthless in riding and archery to deal with the opponent.

After a few months of battling with Wu Haogu's elite cavalry, their tactics also improved, and they did not shoot people with bows and arrows (Wu Haogu's light cavalry also had half a pair of armor), but shot the opponent's tall horses first. So Yue He was also unlucky, and there were no two good horses in the past few days! That's all his private property! Moreover, since Ji Yi stepped down as the transfer envoy of the Hebei capital, the hands of the Xiangzhou army have become tighter and tighter, and the cavalry who lost their horses in the battle could not get a few dollars in subsidies.

Although I am reluctant to lose my horse, the battle that should be fought must be carried out!

On both sides of the riverbank, the elite cavalry of both sides were colliding with each other, all of them already holding bows and crossbows. After a while, the morning fog almost dissipated, and if Yue He and the others avoided the battle, the Liao people's Yuanjiao Zima would be able to explore the depth of the Zihe River and find a shoal that could be crossed.

This river is not a large river with abundant water, and there are many shallow places, so it is easy to wade. At present, the Xiangzhou army has not completed the construction of fortresses along the Zishui line, and once the Liao army crosses the river, the Zishui defense line will be broken through.

As soon as the water breaks, the city of Zhending Mansion will be exposed to the Liao army!

At that time, Han Xiaoxuan would have to choose between the field battle that he was unfamiliar with and the stubborn defense of the fortress. Now Han Xiaoxuan has only three generals in his hands Xiangzhou Army and two generals Zhendingfu Road New Army, the latter's combat effectiveness is very problematic, and the former is also a defeated army. The field battle is really uncertain, and if you defend the city, how many cities can only be defended by five people?

The contest between the light cavalry of the two sides began with a rain of arrows fired at almost the same time. The sound of feather arrows breaking through the air swished, and Yue He's subordinates scattered along the riverbank, listing a long front. Because across the river, the two sides only threw feather arrows from a distance, which did not have much lethality to the armored knights. However, among the cavalry under Yue He, there are still people who are equipped with Tianjin crossbows, which can shoot accurately at a long distance, but after many defeats, Tianjin crossbows have lost a lot and have not been replenished, so they can't do a crossbow per person, and only about ten percent of them still have crossbows to use. For the rest, only the most common soft bows are available.

The cavalry did not use the same bow as the infantry, and there was no way to equip a bow that was too long, only a shorter recurve bow, that is, a riding bow. But they didn't have the money to equip themselves with horn bows, and the buffalo horn bows were not only expensive, but also took a long time to make, and it was impossible to equip the little bullies in Xiangzhou. But the Liao people's distant horses are a stubborn sheep's horn bow! No matter how much the overlord of the steppe falls, it will not reach the point where he can't even get together his horns.

Although the horn bow is not as good as the buffalo horn bow, it is still much stronger than the soft bow laminated by bamboo and wood. Moreover, in terms of horseback archery technology, Yue and them are not as good as the Liao people's distant horses. Because of the distance, Yue and them could only shoot fixed shots (that is, stop the war horses), while the other party could still throw feather arrows while running back and forth, and the accuracy was not bad.

Of course, it was much easier to shoot at a moving target than at a fixed one, so the battle between the mounted bows was quickly decided. As the screams of the war horse after being hit by an arrow sounded one after another, Yue He's cavalry finally couldn't support it and had to retreat backwards.

But they didn't retreat too far, but twenty or thirty steps back. The array was re-pulled out on the banks of the river.

The Liao people's Yuanzhu Zima took the opportunity to start looking for a suitable place to cross the river, which was nothing more than to see where the water flow was sluggish and slow. Under the shouts of the officer leading the team, the Yuan Blocker began to divide into several teams, rode his horse into the river, his body hidden behind the horse's neck, to avoid the opponent's arrows, and then rushed straight towards the opposite bank!

Yue He hurriedly dispatched his subordinates, and also divided them into several groups, and went to the corresponding position to shoot arrows to intercept! Dozens of bowstrings continued to change from full to missing, pouring out waves of arrows head-on. The horses that ventured to cross the river were soon shot by arrows and were shot on their backs. But the rest of the warriors are still moving on!

Xiao Gan watched his knights fall into the water one by one, splashing a large team, but there was no expression on his face, just watching more cavalry rush into the water and try to advance towards the opposite bank. Oh, and it's not the real cavalry who follows the pathfinder into the water, but the mounted infantry!

The task of the distant horses was to find the way, and these Xi infantry on horseback were used to seize the beach. As long as the Song brigade arrives, grab the south bank of Zishui. Xiao Gan was sure to defeat Han Xiaoxuan's Xiangzhou army south of Zishui again.

As long as the Xiangzhou army is forced back to Zhending Mansion City, Xiao Gan will be able to launch the next round of military operations, bypass Zhending Mansion City, and assault Jingcheng Pass is in danger!

At this moment, it is about ten miles away from the shores of Zishui, where fighting is taking place. In a fortified fort built like a castle, the infantry of the brigade was ready to go, but they were waiting to go.

Because there is a controversy going on in the Chinese military tent. The controversy occurred between Han Xiaoxuan and Zhou Yunqing and Wu Song.

Zhou Yunqing is the son of Zhou Tong, Zhou Feiyan's elder brother, who once followed Wu Haogu when Jiehe Shang City was first established. Later, because his sister became Zhao Ji's person, she also followed Tengda and became a royal weapon, and then became the head of the model new army and the head of the Kaifeng Infantry Academy. Not long ago, he was sent by Zhao Ji to the Xiangzhou Army and became the chief military aircraft.

Wu Song was in the collapse of Gao Yu's department, with a group of people to break through to Xiangzhou, immediately got Han Xiaoxuan's reuse, first made a general, after a few days of the battle of Zishui, and because of the defeat but not collapse, was promoted to Zhending Road soldiers and horses Du Yu Marquis (the table is still on the way, the official appointment has not been issued).

After the news of the Liao army's attempt to cross the water came, Han Xiaoxuan, Zhou Yunqing, and Wu Song began to argue because of the question of whether to fight or leave.

What sparked the controversy were two contradictory commands. One is Tao Jiefu's order, let keep the water. One is that after the battle on the north bank of Zishui, Zhao Ji issued an order to the Xiangzhou Army through the Military Machinery Division, asking the Xiangzhou Army to resolutely avoid field battles.

But now, if you want to hold the water, you have to fight in the field! If you want to avoid a field battle, you can only watch the Liao people cross the river.

And now the Liao army, which is preparing to cross the water, has a strong ability to fight on foot, and if the Xiangzhou army is defeated, they will not take the opportunity to storm the city of Zhendingfu.

Therefore, Han Xiaoxuan and Zhou Yunqing both advocated avoiding the war, and only Wu Song wanted to concentrate the Xiangzhou army of three generals and fight another battle with the opponent - no matter whether he won or lost, he could achieve the goal of thwarting his intentions by consuming the strength of the Liao.

"Group practice, Liaogou has crossed the river, crossed the river!"

Before the argument between the three of them could be concluded, a Xiao Colonel, a close confidant of Han Xiaoxuan, suddenly ran over and shouted outside the tent.

"Liaogou is here? How many? ”

Hearing this, Han Xiaoxuan hurriedly recruited people into the account.

The little colonel's voice was a little quieter: "...... During the regimental training, General Yue sent people to report that about 10,000 Liao men and horses had crossed the water and were lining up on the south bank of the water. ”

Han Xiaoxuan's face stiffened, and he said in a deep voice: "The backwater array is asking for a decisive battle!" Our army is newly defeated, its morale is low, and it can no longer be reluctantly engaged. Command the troops to hold the barracks! In addition, the rocket order was released to take back all the ranger hard detectives to Dazhai. ”

Han Xiaoxuan had actually made up his mind a long time ago!

The Xiangzhou Army must preserve its strength, because the new Hebei Metropolitan Transit Envoy is not as generous as Ji Yi, and will not continue to provide Tianjin-made weapons to supplement the Xiangzhou Army. Therefore, the Xiangzhou army can only live a careful life, and if it can not fight a decisive battle, it will not fight a decisive battle.

As for the Liao people who went south...... As long as you bite their tails and don't let them go to attack Zhendingfu, there will be no big problem.

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