On the uneven path that stretched from Heyin City to the Acropolis, the plantain stubbornly resisted the force of the wheels, and its unyielding body was trampled by a pair of feet, forgetting to sway, and growing close to the ground, but it lived longer than those tall plants and trees. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Chen Jian stood on the car, unconsciously looking at the plantain that was trampled by the horse's hooves, thinking about what to do after the victory.

Behind him were a dozen oxen and horses pulling the cart, and the contents of the carriage were mysterious, covered with a layer of linen dyed with tree paint, and a layer of bark to protect against rain and moisture.

The soldiers of the Forces nouvelles clinged to these vehicles, forbidding anyone to approach, and in those days of training in the uninhabited mountains, they saw the horror of these weapons. But this weapon is in their own hands, so the more terrible the better, the terrible makes them very cherished and vigilant, they don't want to be those beaten and crushed straw men during training in the mountains.

These men had been walking for ten days, and had traveled nearly four hundred miles, and before that they were already approaching the people of Xijon, and the pace was even slower than before.

The baggage soldiers who were transporting food in the back no longer carried grain from Heyin City to this side, but followed behind the troops with a small amount of food.

Originally, he could walk forty miles a day, but now he can only walk more than twenty miles, and some small troops of Xirong people began to harass along the way, and Chen Jian also searched as much as possible in some valleys and densely wooded places before passing.

Echeng and Xia Cheng sent troops together, Chen Jian did not have the right to command the Echeng army, the two sides could only negotiate the battle, and neither wanted to hand over the most important authority to others, even if they swore an oath.

"How far have you come?"

In a car behind him, the soldier in charge of counting looked at the symbol he had drawn and said, "I have walked three hundred and eighty miles." ”

The wheels of that car had wooden teeth on them, and the small copper gears on them were driven by the rotation of the gears to determine the number of revolutions of the wheels and the distance traveled.

Three hundred and eighty miles, and no more than seventy or eighty miles is the Acropolis, seeing that it is still early, Chen Jian stopped the car and shouted wolf skin.

"You take the riders and harass the Sijon. If possible, send a few men to storm the Acropolis, tell the Acropolis that we are coming, and by the way, let them gather the forces they can concentrate and prepare for the battle. It doesn't matter if you can't rush in, but you must make the Xijon people feel the threat of cavalry. ”

Wolf Piqi said: "If we hide the cavalry, and when we fight the Xijon people, we rely on the speed of the cavalry to shake their flanks, and they are difficult to defend against, wouldn't it be better?" ”

Jian Chen smiled: "This time, the cavalry is not the protagonist...... Just like the scene performed by the stone chest, the man is important, but not the main character, and so is your rider. ”

Wolfskin was a little disappointed, but still asked, "What should I do?" Or rather, what am I going to do, what do I want to do with the people of Sijon? ”

"Let the Sijon people find that the horses are very fast, and can easily go around the side and back; And let them know that the war horse can impact, let them understand that they can resist the impact of the war horse by standing together in a dense manner, it is best to rush them once, and let them stand as densely as possible. ”

Wolf Skin thought for a moment, nodded and said, "I see." ”

After he left with the scouts on guard, Jian Chen asked the team to stop, discussed with Eyue, and decided to rest here today.

Before the sun set, Wolfskin sent someone back to tell Jian Chen that he had met the Xirong people.

The man sent back replied: "In the afternoon we met a small group of Xijon people, who were a little afraid of our war horses and wanted to run. Half of the wolfskins went around behind them, and after a single charge with javelins and spears, they scattered and fled. The wolf skin didn't chase after us, and after taking us to regroup, he found that the Xijon people had already sent troops, and it was only more than 20 miles away from us. ”

After listening to the report, E Yue said: "It seems that the Xirong people are worried about attacking their back after the decisive battle under the Acropolis, and they have probably divided some people to surround the Acropolis, and the vast majority of them have arrived here and want to defeat us first?" ”

"That's how it should be."

Jian Chen agreed with Eyue's opinion and asked the rider, "How many people are there in Xirong?" ”

"There were four or five thousand men, and we saw from afar that the wolf skins had deliberately led us around the side a few times, and they stopped and shot us with bows and arrows, and there were quite a few of them, dressed in all kinds of animal skins, and their faces were smeared with ochre, as if there were some wild beasts in the mountains."

"How did they deal with seeing you go around?"

"The archers are in front, the rest of the men are in dense formations, and the line is very thick and dense, and we can't break through. They moved very slowly, and when they saw that we were circling and did not pursue, they stopped there. Wolfskin said that these people must have fought a lot of battles, and they also had some beast tail fur as banners, and they also had horns, and they were not the kind of tribe that messed around. ”

After asking a few more questions, Jian Chen asked him to rest first, it seems that the number of Xirong people is far more than six or seven thousand, counting the number of slaves who take up arms, those slaves may not be able to fight in formation, but it is still possible to surround the acropolis.

"It seems that we will meet the people of Sijon the day after tomorrow at the latest. Will they fight with us? Or will it stick to it? If we get stuck in a valley or something, we won't be able to hold on for long. ”

Jian Chen shook his head, saying that he didn't know either.

Early the next morning, before the mist had lifted, a scout sent out brought back a Xijon man, dressed in silk clothes about the same as a plunder, not a captive, but a messenger sent by the Sijon.

The messenger had a terrible scar on his face, which made the corners of his mouth look rather hideous.

The envoy knew the language of the river, and after finding Chen Jian and E Yue, he said bluntly: "The leader sent me to ask you if you want to be our enemy?" If so, I have a few words for the two chiefs. ”

Chen Jian found that his words were good, his words were very clear, although his hair was scattered, some of his manners did not look like Xijon people, and he was a little strange, so he nodded and said, "Tell me." ”

The man bowed and said: "The Acropolis and Xirong are blood feuds, they have been fighting for more than ten years, the leader's father died at the hands of the Acropolis, and many people have been robbed as slaves. ”

"You two tribes are far away from the Acropolis, and there is nothing good to rescue the Acropolis, and it will also cause us resentment, and the enmity against the Acropolis will be added to you."

"If you two tribes join us in attacking the Acropolis, then we can have half of the population of the Acropolis. You have come from the river to the north, and we swear never to cross it. ”

"Hua has been dead for twenty years, and no one has kept the agreement of those relatives and barbarians, and even if they don't obey, there is no punishment. Some tribes on the south bank of the river also asked the rest of the tribes of Xijon to borrow soldiers to attack their former relatives, and instead of punishment, they expanded their land and population. As a leader, you should not think about your own tribe and make other tribes stronger, which is not right. ”

Jian Chen shook his head and said, "These words of yours can't convince me. The Acropolis is a brother to us, and even if you say that some tribes do not keep their original oath, we will still keep it. And those tribes who do not keep their oaths, if they have the opportunity in the future, I will also attack them and let them know the cost of not keeping their oaths. ”

The man snorted and said, "Brothers? I heard the slaves who escaped from the Acropolis say, "Your surname is Ji, but there is no surname Ji among the seventy-one relatives who swore an oath, and you are not brothers." ”

Jian Chen blushed slightly, with Xia Cheng's current identity, this excuse does have the meaning of pulling tiger skin to make a big banner. Fortunately, Eyue continued: "My surname is E." I can still afford the words of brothers and relatives. ”

The man nodded and said, "Indeed, Silk Zhi'e is indeed the seventy-one relatives who swore an oath at the beginning. But even if they are relatives and brothers, what can they do? I used to be the one who wore my hair tied and wore a jade jue around my waist, but my own brother exiled me and even tried to kill me, so I ran away to Xijon. Aren't the relatives who swear an oath better than their own brothers? If this is true of brothers, how much more of these sworn relatives? ”

He raised his head and looked at Jian Chen and Eyue, Eyue seemed to be recalling some distant past, looking at the messenger's scarred face, he didn't know what he remembered, he glanced at this person in a little surprise, but he didn't speak, he probably guessed who it was or what kind of story it was, but it didn't matter.

Jian Chen did not recall, nor was he qualified to recall, but he said categorically: "There is no need to say anything more, we have sworn before the expedition that we will not withdraw our troops." ”

The man nodded, bowed and said, "Since this is the case, then in the future, your two surnames Ji and E will be the sworn enemies of the Xirong people, and the blood of our descendants will be stained with each other's swords and will never be washed away." If you want to fight, then you will fight. Fifteen miles to the south, the land is open, just enough to be used as a battlefield, so that the blood can flow out earlier, and the heaven and earth can decide victory or defeat. ”

After he finished speaking, he turned around and left, and several people wanted to stop him, but Jian Chen waved his hand and said, "Let him go back." ”

E Yue sneered: "This kind of person forgets his bloodline, do you pity him?" ”

"It's not."

"That should kill him. I am afraid that the methods of the Xijon people to plant millet, military formations, horns, etc., were also passed down by him. I know who he is, but I don't pity him. ”

Chen Jian laughed and said: "He has hatred in his heart, hatred is the only reliance on his life, and the hope of revenge is those Xirong people." Kill him, and the hatred disappears with his death; It would be more interesting not to kill him, to let him see his hope of revenge turn to ashes under the attack of you and me, than to kill him. Since he said that tomorrow's decisive battle, he ordered to go down, eat bacon tonight, eat a full meal, and fight tomorrow to meet Xirong! ”

The herald gave the order, and the camp was thunderous, and Chen Jian turned back to E Yue and said, "What he can teach the people of Xirong has already been taught." The rest of the Xijon people couldn't learn even if they wanted to. It doesn't matter if you kill him or not. ”

E Yue sighed, and then asked, "The Xirong people asked me to wait for tomorrow's decisive battle, but what tricks do they have?" ”

Chen Jian called the scout, and the scout recalled: "Fifteen miles away is indeed a flat land, but there is a swamp and silt in the west, and a rocky mountain in the east, so it is impossible to ambush the army, and it seems that there can be no trickery. ”

When E Yue was still frowning and thinking, Jian Chen smiled and said, "Don't think about it, asking us to fight tomorrow is the biggest trick." ”

"How?"

"There are many people in Xijon, but there are few of us, and we are tired of the expedition. However, we have horses, swamps to the west, and rocky mountains to the east, and neither side can ambush the troops, and the cavalry cannot maneuver around the rear, so they can only charge and kill in formation. There are many of them, they don't need any tricks, and being able to fight with us in a dignified manner is the biggest trick. ”

E Yue said abruptly: "The battle of the valley, the battle of Yangguan, these two battles Ji Xia won a big victory, and I have heard a lot. In the battle of the valley, Ji Xia used ambush soldiers in the woods, and in the battle of Yangguan, he used wolf skins and others as bait, but Ji Xia led people to attack the flanks and rear of the grassland tribes. Both battles used tricks, and this time the battlefield selected by Xirong was difficult to use, and it was impossible to raid around the rear, so it could only rely on the army to fight and bleed......"

He sighed and said: "The soldiers of you and I are brave, and Ji Xia has eight chariots, and the battlefield impact may not be invincible, but we don't have chariots, and we can only guard Ji Xia's flank, and we have to rely on Ji Xia to attack the Xirong people." ”

Jian Chen smiled and nodded, "It should be like this." ”

E Yue was stunned, but she didn't expect Jian Chen to agree so happily, but she felt a little strange in her heart. In the first two battles, Chen Jian used the method of ambushing troops to go around the rear or concentrate his troops to break through on the front line. But this time, the battlefield chosen by the Xijon people could not use these methods, it was obvious that it was necessary to rely on the number of people to fight a war of attrition, and the same casualties were five or six hundred, and the Xijon people were still able to fight, but the two cities were afraid that they would collapse......

"How will Ji Xia fight this battle?"

The art of war is constantly improving with the times, this era has not experienced the world of great disputes among the nations, and strategic ideas such as attacking the east and attacking the west, encircling Wei and saving Zhao have not appeared, and the war between the two sides is still the mainstream.

Because even a long march is a great test for the army of this era, and there are almost no cities with such organizational power, and it is difficult for either side to go on a long expedition, and after the battle of the covenant, the decisive battles such as the three drums will continue for a long time, until the strife of the nations will evolve into all kinds of tricks and tricks for hundreds of years.

Early the next morning, when the army of Xia and E had advanced ten miles, the scouts in front reported that a few miles away was the army of the Xijon people.

Chen Jian let the team rest first, and he and E Yue took some riders to see the battlefield, and I have to say that the Xirong people made a very wise choice and made the best use of their strengths and avoided their weaknesses.

There are many of them, there is no need for ambushes or tricks, as long as Xia Cheng and their army array can be attacked into a war of attrition, it is the biggest advantage for the Xirong people, and they can minimize the uncertainties.

A few days ago, when the wolf took the scout to reconnoitre, I was afraid that these Xijon people had realized the terrible battlefield mobility of the cavalry.

On an open battlefield, in order to guard against the maneuver of cavalry, it is definitely necessary to reserve a large number of troops to prepare in the flanks and rear, and the number of troops stacked on the front line will be reduced.

Unless the cavalry is eliminated, no brainy leader in the flank reserve will be easily used, but it takes cavalry to destroy these cavalry, and they don't.

So they chose such a terrain for a decisive battle, and the swamps to the west ensured that the cavalry could not maneuver in a large area, but could only assault head-on; The rocky hills to the east also ensure that there would be no ambushes coming out of the woods.

In this way, the two sides can only impact the front, compete in numbers and the will to fight, and the hatred of the Xijon people is also a will, and it can be said that the time and place are favorable, and they are occupied.

Originally, Chen Jian's plan was to let the wolf skin and the cavalry to deter the other side, so that the Xijon people could not put all the troops on the front line, so that the number of people on the contact surface of the two sides would be about the same, and before their own cavalry was not expelled from the battlefield, the Xijon people could only fight the battle in front of them into a refueling tactic, and did not dare to use those reserves that guarded against the cavalry.

With the rapid mobility of the cavalry, two hundred cavalry was enough to pry the six or seven hundred infantry on the opposite side and could not participate in a frontal assault, and these six or seven hundred men could not be a temporary army that would be scattered in one rush. Put a bunch of weak-willed makeshift armies guarding the flanks and rear, and it's easy to have a big rout.

It's a pity that the Xijon people cleverly resolved Chen Jian's plan by choosing the battlefield, Chen Jian stood on the stone and looked at the Xijon people's military formation, and shook his head secretly.

The Sijon divided their army into nine directions, each of which numbered about five hundred, or exactly four thousand five hundred.

The front of the entire battlefield was about fifteen hundred paces wide, because there was no need to worry about the cavalry going around, and the Xijon people concentrated their troops on the first line.

On the eastern side of the hill there were two armies, about a thousand men. The two sides in the middle are also thousands. The main force was concentrated in the west, and it could be seen from a distance that the Daxu and banners of the leaders of the Xijon people were concentrated in the direction of the swamp.

The military formation is quite neat, it is indeed not the kind of cave tribe that is chaotic, and the weapons are also complete, although there is no bronze, but stone tools can also arm the army. Spears, spears, stone axes, wooden shields, bows and arrows were all available, and there was a faint sound of bull horns, and the soldiers of the Xijon people shouted in unison.

E Yue looked at us for a while and said, "It seems that the Xirong people are preparing to break through us from the west?" ”

"It should be, they are numerous, and the people in the east and in the middle seem to them to be enough to withstand our onslaught. At this time, it is already noon, if it is in the afternoon, the sun is setting in the west, if they can break through from the west to the east, we will face the sun, there will always be some impact. ”

Chen Jian looked at it for a while and said, "When we send troops from the two cities, we can't do our own thing. The leader of Eyue is to lead your men close to the hillside and guard our east side, but to advance and retreat to the beat of our drums. ”

There were not many enemies in the east, and E Yue said secretly: "Ji Xia is ready to rely on the thousand people in Xia Cheng to fight against the thousands of people on the other side?" ”

He didn't know what Chen Jian was going to do, but there was nothing bad about this proposal for him, and he also knew that it was impossible for two people to fight separately in this battle, Chen Jian's proposal was obviously reasonable, and even Xia Cheng shared a lot of pressure, which made him very convinced, so he nodded and said: "Ji Xia, don't worry, you and I swear in front of our ancestors, we will never retreat in advance." But Xia Cheng can fight well, and there are bronze soldiers, so I can only rely on you to defeat the enemy. There are no bronze soldiers in Echeng, but there are hundreds of warriors who will guard your left flank and follow the sound of your drums. ”

After the agreement, Chen Jian sent a few people who could understand the meaning of Xia Cheng's drums to Eyue's side, and the people from the two cities began to organize the team.

The soldiers threw away their food and baggage, dressed themselves and prepared their weapons.

The 800 men in Echeng were on the left side of Chen Jian, and Chen Jian placed the shock army composed of the new army and the subordinate farmers in the center, and the number was not much, adding up to only more than 300 people. The rest of Xia Cheng's army was concentrated on the west side, near the swamp.

While the soldiers in Echeng were still discussing the number of people on the other side, the new army, which was very close to them, was already preparing to line up with the sound of drums, and they were in unison.

The drums sounded, and the captains checked the weapons and armor of their comrades, and the archers checked whether their bowstrings were tight and the number of feathered arrows was missing.

Although the Xia Cheng army near the swamp was not a new army, most of them were also Chinese people who trained in their spare time, and their weapons were all bronze and neatly arranged.

Although there is still some voice of speech on the other side of Echeng, the military formation is neat, and even if there are no bronze weapons, it is still a very powerful tribal army in this era.

It was very tacitly on par with Xia Cheng's army, but with the beating of war drums and bone flutes, the gap between the two sides gradually appeared.

Chen Jian insisted that Xia Cheng's soldiers needed to advance according to the beat of the drum, and after more than a year of training, Xia Cheng's army could already achieve fifteen to twenty paces and still keep a whole team in order.

E Yue was also restraining her own people, but when she saw the neat pace of Xia Cheng's army, she began to feel a little envious in her heart.

The neat pace is not just for seeing, even if you rely on stones to fight, you can still be level after twenty steps, and it can be regarded as a strong army.

"No wonder Huang'er praised Xia Cheng's army, it was indeed different. It seems that I am right, if the battle is fought on flat ground, even if the Acropolis is not ambushed by the Xijon people, those soldiers who have been fighting for many years are still there, but I am afraid that they will not be able to defeat Xia Cheng. As for us, I'm afraid it's even worse...... But in two years, Xia Cheng can be like this, what if it is ten or twenty years later? ”

In addition to envy, E Yue was a little curious, because he was curious that the sackcloth and bark on the carriage all the way were finally lifted.

He saw Chen Jian distribute some pottery gourds or pottery balls to some tall and powerful soldiers, and a gray-black thread protruded from the outside of those pottery balls or stone balls.

There were also a few people carrying a long hemp rope on their backs, and the hemp rope was burning slowly. It's not strange that hemp rope can burn, but the strange thing is that these hemp ropes burn very slowly, but they don't go out.

There were a couple of carriages at the back, or rather not carriages, but only a pair of wheels, on which lay a pine tree, which seemed to be attached, and which seemed to be discarded after a single use, for there were many of these pines pulled by the carriages behind.

The pine is surrounded by a layer of copper, and a round hole has been dug in the heart of the pine, which is thinner than the whole pine.

Copper wasn't used much, but the entire wooden hoop was tightly shut, and there were two people behind him carrying the same pine, as if ready to replace it at any time.

The man behind took out some gravel wrapped in sackcloth from the carriage, and some black powder, which was all rationed and did not seem to be much.

She watched curiously as the new army in Xia Cheng filled the black powder into the round hole in the pine, and then filled the gravel.

On the last wagon, there were several pots of charcoal, and the charcoal inside was glowing red.

In addition to charcoal, there are also several slender sticks of iron that Xia Cheng called in the clay pot, with a curved hook at one end, and they are burned red in the brazier.

And at the end of those pines, there is a small hole, and those red-hot iron hooks seem to be just right to stuff in.

Eyue was pretty sure it was pine, not bronze; And guess that these pines will be replaced once they are used up, otherwise there are only a few sets of wheels, but there are many more pines; He could even guess that the red-hot hooks were stuffed into a small hole in the tail of the pine.

But...... What exactly are these things?

Is it for war? (To be continued.) )