Li Yanzhi never expected that the vanguard of the captive cavalry would arrive at the outskirts of Lingju County so quickly. It was precisely because he had a certain understanding of the movements of the Zhao army that he ordered the main force to return to the county seat quickly, leaving behind the slow-moving baggage, and ordering it to return later. Unexpectedly, the vanguard of the thieves had already advanced to the periphery and brazenly launched a surprise attack on these baggage.

The worst result he expected was that the chariot auxiliaries were quickly routed or even completely annihilated by the thieves, and the hundreds of carts were burned by the enemy cavalry. From the soldier's previous report, he probably had an estimate of the size of these enemy cavalry. These were supposed to be the vanguard of the captives, and it was likely that they would cross the river in a group or a hundred, and then attack their own troops. While holding you back, you can do as much destruction and plunder as you can.

As a result, with the appearance of these captives and cavalry, there is no safe place in the county except for the county seat. Li Yanzhi expected that since he asked Xin Yan to transfer the households, he had definitely not had time to transfer the people in the villages outside the county. If the thieves were to attack these places, the consequences would be unimaginable. In the event of an attack on these unsuspecting villages, the inhabitants of the villages will inevitably be slaughtered by the thieves, who will also be able to capture large quantities of food from these villages, which will be used as military resources for the arrival of the main army.

This kind of bad situation is naturally not what Li Yanzhi wants to see. At the moment when the baggage was attacked, he was already planning in his heart how to adjust the deployment in order to temporarily cut off the black hand of the captive horseman.

However, the top priority was to defeat the group of captives who had attacked the baggage as soon as possible. Li Yanzhi tried to put his mind on the knife drawn in his right hand. His left hand held the reins of the horse as best he could, but the wound on his hand that had not yet healed was still aching. In his line of sight, the captives kept a dozen paces away from the chariot formation, still firing arrows into the chariot formation in a circle. The auxiliaries in the vehicle formation lacked powerful long-range projection weapons. In the face of such an arrogant provocation by the captive horse, he was almost powerless to fight back.

Li Yanzhi saw that his own auxiliaries in the chariot formation kept being hit by arrows and falling, but the bow and arrows of the captives continued to shoot into the chariot array, and his heart became more and more anxious. Although the horses were galloping closer and closer to the battle, he looked at the increasing casualties of the auxiliaries and thought that the horses were too slow.

Tao Heng held up a spear and followed closely to Li Yanzhi's right. And when they were more than 200 paces away, the captives finally realized the threat to them from the rushing cavalry. They no longer went around in a circle and fired arrows into the formation, but gradually gathered on the side of the formation, looking this way.

Looking at the gathered captives, Li Yanzhi made a rough estimate of the size of about 100 people. According to the normal mode of engagement, it should be your own side that first uses the horse charge to shoot a few rounds of arrows at these captives at a distance of fifty or sixty paces. The opposite side also uses a bow to shoot back. Then the two sides entered the sprint stage of more than a dozen steps, and then each drew their weapons to enter the white-knuckle battle.

It's just that Li Yanzhi was afraid that the diffuse shot of his cavalry would fall on the heads of the auxiliaries in the car formation, so he ordered not to use bows and arrows. In this way, more than 300 cavalrymen only held knives and guns and other hand-to-hand weapons, and rushed straight towards the gathered Hun cavalry.

When those captives saw that the Liangzhou cavalry that rushed forward far outnumbered them, they no longer intended to fight them. They turned their horses' heads one after another, and fired several rounds of arrows at the galloping Lingju horsemen from a distance of seventy or eighty paces. Then he rode away. Although those waves of arrows failed to cause any substantial losses to his cavalry, this feeling of powerlessness to hit the cotton still made Li Yanzhi feel extremely unhappy.

Tao Heng followed Li Yanzhi closely, and rode his horse together to pursue more than 100 steps, during which he continued to rain arrows on the enemy. However, the escaped captives always kept a distance of more than fifty paces from them. As a result, the rain of arrows from the cavalry failed to cause much damage to the cavalry.

After chasing two or three hundred paces, I saw that the captives had escaped into the mountains and forests. Li Yanzhi raised his hand, and his own horsemen reined in one after another. Each looked at the mountain forest that the captives had fled into unwillingly. Seeing Li Yanzhi and Tao Heng turning their horses back, the horsemen had to follow one after another.

At the chariot formation, the auxiliaries who had previously been defending the formation were already cleaning the battlefield with palpitations. Seeing that his own cavalry came to support and drove away the captive cavalry, he still did not bring enough security to these auxiliaries. They carried the wounded and fallen robes to one place in the chariot formation. The robes that died in battle were carried out of the car formation and placed in a row outside the formation.

After doing these things, the carts that had been in a circle were moved one after another. Reline in a queue and wait to hit the road back. Li Yanzhi rode his horse to the side of the convoy, looked at the auxiliary soldiers who were still busy, suddenly raised his whip, and asked an auxiliary soldier on the side: "Who led you and others to resist the enemy here?" ”

When he led his troops to rush to this point, he saw that these auxiliaries were holding on to this place based on the chariot formation. There is no shortage of praise for the generals of this auxiliary army. The baggage convoy, which was thought to be wiped out, surprisingly survived under this well-organized resistance. Although due to the lack of ranged weapons, it was not able to inflict any damage on the captive horse. However, Li Yanzhi felt that it was not easy for these auxiliaries to keep their baggage under such a sudden attack, and it was not wise to force them to kill the enemy.

When the auxiliary soldier heard Li Yanzhi asking, he raised his head and saw the commander of the army. I was also a little flustered for a while, hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Here we lead the escort baggage, and the one who forms a formation to resist the enemy is the king of the hundred generals......"

"Where will Wang Bairen be?" Li Yanzhi looked up at the crowd of auxiliaries who were still busy, and asked again.

The auxiliary soldier who was questioned raised his eyes and looked around, and finally saw a busy crowd of people who were still carrying the wounded soldiers to the cart loaded with baggage, and hurriedly pointed to that place, and said to Li Yanzhi: "Sima, there are people who are carrying the wounded over there, and among them is Wang Bairen. ”

Li Yanzhi lightly clamped the horse's belly between his legs, and rode his horse along the place pointed by the auxiliary. The auxiliaries who were busy or walking on the road avoided it one after another. After a while, Li Yanzhi had already walked to the front, and when the auxiliary soldiers who were still carrying the wounded saw it, one of them immediately walked to the front, and then hugged his fists and said: "Subordinate Wang Cheng, I have seen Li Sima." ”

"Fang is the one who commands your subordinate auxiliaries to defend against the enemy?" Li Yanzhi saw that Wang Cheng was of medium stature and looked honest and honest, and at the same time, he felt a little unbelievable.

"Yu Sima, his subordinates are mediocre in their talents, and their scheduling is ineffective, resulting in heavy casualties among the soldiers under his command...... Please follow the military discipline to punish the crimes of his subordinates, and admonish the generals......" Wang Cheng heard Li Yanzhi ask, and his heart was already worried. When he clenched his fists and knocked on the ground, he said in a deep voice.

"It's okay, it's okay." Li Yanzhi knelt on the horse's back, bent down and patted Wang Cheng's back, who was still kneeling on the ground, and said, "Get up." You led hundreds of auxiliary troops, and in the face of the surprise attack of the captive cavalry, it is a great achievement to be able to keep our army's baggage from losing. The heavy losses are to blame on me, it is because I have not thought carefully, and I have not equipped you and other auxiliaries with strong bows and crossbows, and it has nothing to do with you, so get up, and don't blame yourself. ”

When Wang Cheng heard this, he was surprised. He glanced up at Li Yanzhi gratefully, but saw that Li Yanzhi's face was as usual, so he made up his mind. He got up from the ground and stood on the side in front of Li Yanzhi's horse with his head slightly down. He thought that this time he would almost definitely die from this surprise attack on this wave of captives. Who would have expected that now Li Yanzhi led his troops to help, and this former majestic lieutenant general took the initiative to speak out to excuse him, and he was surprised and a little moved.

"How did you come up with the idea of using the car as a basis to resist the captive?" Li Yanzhi looked at the hundred generals in front of him with a solemn face, and asked.

"When my subordinates were in Guanzhong before, my father was a li. After the fall of Guanzhong, my father gathered in the township and fortified himself. Because of its remote location, it was lucky to survive. At the same time, the dock fort was strong, and even if the small group of captives attacked, they had to look far away and did not dare to approach. The only thing to worry about is that at the time of the autumn harvest, the villagers and civilians all go out to harvest grain. There is a smooth road in the countryside, and there is nothing to defend. My father imitated the rest of the dock forts, put dozens of small carts, set up a shield in front of the car to cover it, and placed a short spear in the middle of the car, if the captives approached, they could use a small wooden hammer to hit the short spears, and shoot the captives and riders ......"

"Even so, when the autumn harvest is in the countryside, the small captives do not dare to look in. The cavalry suddenly attacked, and in a hurry, his subordinates could only rely on the baggage vehicles to block the cavalry, and the subordinate sergeants held guns. However, there is a lack of bows and crossbows, and the captives have nothing to fear, and we are already out of support, but fortunately Sima came to the rescue, and we have to get out of trouble......"

Wang Cheng said that he had previously guarded against captives when he was in Guanzhong Wubao, and Li Yanzhi silently remembered it in his heart. In the future, if you are fighting between a relatively flat area and a large number of cavalry captives, this method may be used. You can make a special batch of vehicles, add a shield to defend, and place a bow or a short spear on it to shoot back at the captive and throw a bow and arrow.

He resisted the captives with iron-clad foot soldiers, although it was not the first in this era, but it was rare. In particular, this type of response is very dependent on external factors such as terrain. If a group of such well-defended vehicles can be used, combined with those elite ironclad infantry, the chances of victory against the enemy cavalry will undoubtedly be greatly increased.

Heavy infantry was used to respond to the onslaught of enemy cavalry, inflicting heavy casualties on enemy cavalry. Then, when the morale of the enemy's cavalry was sluggish and the formation was scattered, the elite light cavalry of his own side launched a fatal blow to the enemy, which was the military ideology that Li Yanzhi had always pursued and adhered to. At least from the perspective of Taniguchi's battle, although their own cavalry could not be used due to the terrain and the strength of the enemy cavalry, these ironclad infantry soldiers were completely invincible in dealing with the impact of the enemy cavalry and the fight to the death with the enemy.

"Wang Bairen will be guarding the fort in Guanzhong, originally self-sufficient, but what kind of sudden change did they come?" Li Yanzhi also recognized Wang Cheng's leading talent. It's just that he still has a puzzle in his heart, so he asked.

Wang Cheng sighed when he heard this: "A few years ago, the captives pacified Longxi, and on the way back to the division, a large number of captives often came to clear it. Many dock forts were broken one after another. The captured cavalry did not leave behind the dock fort chickens and dogs. Many small dock forts collectively took refuge under the big dock forts to survive. In March and April last year, the thieves broke through several nearby dock forts, and my father moved out of the township for fear of accidents, burned down the dock forts, and took food and goods with them, and went to shelter under the local dock forts of a wealthy family surnamed Ge......

Wang Chengyan said this, and the corners of his eyes were no longer sour: "Unexpectedly, the head of the family surnamed Ge betrayed his ancestors for glory, and secretly became a thief." When almost all the dock fort owners gathered under his command, he suddenly attacked one night, and ordered his troops to separate to capture the various small dock fort masters. My father was poisoned. I was outnumbered, wounded and fled to the stable. But it happened to meet this little girl. She sympathized with what was going on with me, and she hid me in the cellar and escaped. That night, the loyal soldiers of the subordinates of the lord of the dock fort were all slaughtered......"

After that, the little lady took advantage of the night to send me out of the dock fort, and I was all the way away. It took half a month to reach Longxi. When I happened to go to Liangzhou, I quietly followed. After that, he was selected by Zhou Bairen and became an auxiliary soldier. Previously, Li Sima chose the auxiliary soldiers to serve as the main soldiers, and I participated in it, and the Zhou Bairen will learn that my family had defended themselves in the fortress in Guanzhong before, and I was tested for swords, guns, bows and arrows, and the art of war, and then promoted me to the position of a hundred generals......"

Wang Cheng's story may not be unique in this troubled world. Li Yanzhi knew in his heart that if this troubled world did not end, such a drama would continue to be staged everywhere one day.

In troubled times, it doesn't matter whether loyalty or betrayal, justice or evil. Many people do not necessarily come from their own hearts, but are just helpless choices for survival.

It's just that in Wang Cheng's heart, the Ge family is already his enemy in life. The revenge of killing his father is not shared. Perhaps he joined the auxiliary army of Lingju County, and later actively turned into a regular soldier, because the belief in revenge in his heart supported him to do so. Li Yanzhi could see this emotion hidden deep in his heart from the eyes he looked at the southeast with hatred. It's just that Li Yanzhi himself doesn't know how to persuade him.

"Now in the army, I only hope that you can lead the troops well. If I can enter Longxi in the future and raise my whip to the east, I will find this big family surnamed Ge and give you the opportunity to kill your father's enemy! ”

When Wang Cheng heard this, a flash of brilliance suddenly appeared in his hateful eyes, he stared at Li Yanzhi tightly, looked at Li Yanzhi's calm and watery face, and looked at him without dodging. Only then did he know that in the heart of this little county Sima, there was such an ordinary wish. It's just that he himself remembered all the difficulties of Ridongxiang again, and his eyes gradually dimmed again.

"Sima, I am waiting for this life, but there is still hope to return to my homeland?" Wang Cheng was full of thoughts for a while, and he blurted out this sentence without knowing whether it was talking to himself or asking.

"If your heart is partial to the north, and you have no intention of going east, you will not be able to return to the old land for the rest of your life. But if you always think of going east and vow to clean up the dust, you can hope. After Li Yanzhi finished saying his emotion, he slowly turned his head to look at Wang Cheng: "Now that I have no help, it is very likely that I will be trapped in Lingju." It's just that if this is not the case, Liangzhou will fall into the hands of thieves, and the world will be so big that there will be no place for us! ”

Wang Cheng stuck the knife on the ground and looked at the road to the south in a daze. After a long time, he turned around and asked, "Sima, the wounded have been shipped, how will these war robes be buried?" ”

Li Yanzhi looked at the carts lined up in a row and full of loads, and said in a deep voice: "Choose two carts of camp tents and so on, throw them away, put on the remains of the dead robes, and transport them back to the county seat, and choose a place for burial." The carpenter of the workshop carved a tablet for the fallen soldiers, and then enshrined it in the Martyrs' Shrine. Enjoy the admiration of the people, and the incense will never end! ”

Wang Cheng was silent for a long time, and finally hugged his fists, looking excited: "Sima Yingming, his subordinates will do so." ”

Seeing two carts of tents and other things being unloaded and discarded on the side of the road, it didn't take long for a raging fire to ignite. Li Yanzhi's expression became more and more solemn. As the bodies of the dead were carried into the car one after another, the convoy, which had been staying for a long time, continued to set off.