PS: Uh, now in Nanjing, maybe two more days in Nanjing! After the Midyear Festival, I will go home, and I will be able to update it stably when the time comes! This chapter was made in an Internet café, please forgive me! There will be an update tomorrow, even if you go to an Internet café all night, you will get it out! Thank you for your continued support! By the way, if you can, please give me a ticket!

In the era of cold weapons, it was not the loud voice that commanded thousands of troops, but the flag.

Every thousand-man team will have a flag. In the army, whether it is cavalry or foot soldiers, regular soldiers and even auxiliary soldiers rely on the command of Daxu to advance and retreat. It can be said that Daxu is the soul of an army!

In order to facilitate the command, the generals usually stand under the Da Xu, and if the generals move, the Da Xu will also move with them! Of course, it is the same as not allowing the soldiers in the front row to turn back, and Daxu is not allowed to move easily under normal circumstances. Because Daxu represents the stability of the Chinese army, once it moves lightly, it is easy to say if it moves forward, but if it accidentally falls backwards, it will be a big trouble.

There is another reason why Daxu can not be moved lightly, that is, Daxu is generally made of hard iron shirt wood as a flagpole, and it is as thick as a sea bowl, as high as two zhang, weighing one hundred and twenty catties, if such a flag wants to move smoothly, it must be supported by two or three people. In the high-speed moving military column, the movement of the Daxu is extremely troublesome, so the Daxu will not move lightly.

After Han Shengzu, Daxu made simple modifications, especially in the cavalry formation, Daxu was not as cumbersome and mobile as before, and the main design made some improvements in the flagpole and flag lifting, making the whole Daxu more light and simple, but it was not light. As long as the mode of war does not change, there will be no substitute for the commanding role of Daxu. After the Holy Ancestor, the imperial army was invincible, and the generals also developed the habit of holding on to the firm and the strong, and charging forward with the Great Sword. In previous campaigns. This behavior of the imperial generals was undoubtedly a great boost to morale. But in this time......

"The moon floats the sea flag?! Hmph, it turned out to be the prince of the Yue clan pro-army! ”

The legion tent, the legion commander Hou Jian looked at the Yue's Daxu banner that was still bloodstained in front of him, and said, "It seems that the workmanship of this banner is not good, and the flagpole should not be made of iron shirt wood, otherwise how could it be broken by an arrow from the four-stone bow?" As he spoke, he picked up another banner, but it was the general banner of the Second Town of the Third Army of the Northern Frontier Front of the Han Dynasty. couldn't help but sigh lightly: "Alas, the general died in a hundred battles." The second town is not dishonoring the military prestige! Finally snatched the flag back! ”

"Palace, in the battle of Youshi, the two armies are considered to be attacking each other, but our rear division did not gain an advantage, but lost many soldiers. The second town has made a great deal of war here. Two hundred elite cavalry captured the Sixth Legion of the Yue Clan, but the commander of the second town was killed. In this regard. It has already neutralized the blow to the morale of the enemy troops from the capture of the flag of our army. How to decide on the next strategy? A major staff officer with a mustache glanced at Hou Jian cautiously and asked softly.

Hou Jian didn't answer him, he still looked at the two military flags and sighed, "Zhongxian." You said that capturing the flag is such a big thing, how should we give them credit? ”

The eight-character Hu staff officer saluted and said: "Palace Marshal, in the opinion of his subordinates, it is easy to describe the merits. The special editorial department is the marshal's heart, and now that it has made such a great achievement, it can finally be explained to some extent by the marshal......"

Hou Jian finally looked away from the military flag, looked at him, and said in a deep voice: "Zhongxian, among the many staff officers, you are the only one who knows my mind best. In your opinion, what should be done about this? ”

Baili Shu, the word Zhongxian, Yunzhou Kaicheng people's. Shaozhi did not learn, at the age of eighteen he joined the army with martial arts, stationed in Duxinzhou, and later supported Beihai, transferred to fight thousands of miles, and was promoted to lieutenant in five years. After the war, he immediately joined the First Class B Army of Beihai Prefecture and was the first assistant under Hou Jian. At the age of 30, he was promoted to major and re-entered the staff department of Zhaowu University for further study. After graduation, he returned to the First Class B Army in Beihai Prefecture and joined the General Staff Department of the Legion until now. Now Chinese New Year's Eve, he is a special major staff officer in the imperial army who first enlists and then studies.

Baili Shu looked at Hou Jian's eyes, knowing that this general, who had followed him for ten years, had already retreated at this moment.

In fact, at the beginning of receiving the attack of the Yueshi enemy army in the early morning, Hou Jian had a plan to retreat. As the staff officer of the famous "rabbit general" of the Han Dynasty, Baili Shu has the habit of designing and studying retreat plans whenever he goes to a place. When he learned that the Yueshi people suddenly launched an attack on the Han army, Baili Shu hurried to the legion's tent to retreat to Hou Jian, according to the previous plan, the third army could at least ensure that most of the supplies and troops could be safely withdrawn to Feiyun Castle, which was the closest to this place.

However, at this time, some other staff officers drawn from other corps in the general staff exercised "a veto" on Hou Jian and did not agree to withdraw the troops at this time. In this regard, Hou Jian was very angry, but he had no choice but to choose to stick to it cautiously.

The mutual restraint of the imperial military system was evident at this moment. Only then did Baili Shu remember that the Third Army Corps was a temporarily formed corps during the war, and the staff officers were also temporarily formed from various places. In the original staff headquarters of the First Army Corps in Beihai Prefecture, absolutely no one would question Hou Jian's order, let alone oppose his proposal of Baili Shu.

Having said that, if Hou Jian gave the order to retreat at the first time, would the Third Army be able to withdraw all of them according to Baili Shu's plan?

A hundred years later, when someone re-studied this campaign, compared the battle plans of the commanders of both sides, and came to the conclusion that it was okay! And it's a lot of success!

At the time of the Yue's attack, the encirclement was not tight, and it was entirely possible if the Third Army completely withdrew from Chagan Lake and moved to Feiyun Fort according to Hou Jian and Baili Shu's plan. It must be said that Hou Jian did have an extraordinary talent for retreating, and he was keenly aware that the Yue's people dared to launch an attack on the Han army, and it was the third army of the heavy army group, and he must have some support. That's why I chose to retreat at the first time. However, because of the "one-time veto" of the General Staff, the best opportunity to break through was delayed. The Battle of Shenshi and the Battle of Youshi, which were launched later, delayed the breakthrough time to some extent, giving the Yueshi people time to calmly surround the entire Third Legion. According to this judgment, the people of the country a hundred years later even have the urge to position the staff of the Third Army Corps at that time as historical sinners.

Of course, this is the study of posterity. And history is often hidden, just like the truth that "those who make peace are not necessarily cowardly, and those who fight are not necessarily brave". Posterity will be able to look down on the whole battle with omniscient and omnipotent eyes. But in the hearts of the Han army who were in Chaganhu at that time, it may not be as they thought. At least at that time, in the entire legion tent, only Hou Jian would choose to retreat. Even Baili Shu, in fact, from the bottom of his heart, may not agree to retreat - when did the invincible Han army run away without even fighting a serious battle? The reason why he made a retreat plan in advance was entirely out of his understanding and respect for Hou Jian, the general. This can be proved from the fact that the battle plans of the Battle of Shenshi and the Battle of Youshi were unanimously approved by the General Staff and submitted to Hou Jian's desk, which proves that Baili Shu was eager to fight from the bottom of his heart, not to retreat.

Although later generations called the battle plans of the Battle of Shenshi and the Battle of Youshi "one of the stupidest battle plans of the Han Empire for thousands of years". But at that time, it was the only best plan that met the wishes of the whole army, and even Hou Jian, the corps commander, could not stop it!

I have to say that sometimes, the truth of history is always so unexpected.

No further ado. In short, although the Battle of Shenshi and the Battle of Youshi had certain results, they also figured out the number and establishment of the Yueshi army in front of them. But the more so. The atmosphere of the whole legion's tent became heavier and heavier.

According to the two battles in which the troops were lost, the staff of the Third Army Corps learned that the enemy in the south was the Sixth and Seventh Army Corps of the Yue Clan, the enemy in the east was the Eighth Army Corps of the Yue Clan, and the enemy in the west was the Fourth Army Corps of the Yue Clan, with an estimated total strength of 100,000 troops! Before the expedition, the report of the defeat of the Ganzhou and Suzhou legions in the Tarim River valley had already been sorted out by the secret guards. In the hands of all the generals, among them are the mention of these four legions!

In the battle of the Tarim River Valley, the Sixth Army of the Yue Clan was the first to break through the defense line of the left flank of the Han army, and it was even more so. For the first time, Qin Wenguang, the commander of the First Army of Ganzhou at that time, was besieged. After that, it was the Sixth Legion of the Yue Clan that broke through Luntai City, forcing the Han army to break through in a hurry, and finally killed Qi Man, the commander of the First Legion of Suzhou. In the subsequent pursuit battle, the fourth, seventh, and eighth legions of the Yueshi clan were the main forces, and the fourth legion besieged and killed the commander of the second legion of Suzhou in Buning City, Cha Xuan...... It can be said that the four Yueshi legions in front of them are no strangers to the Han army, and they have a deep hatred! And these four legions are also the Yue's army that is least afraid of the Han army and dares to fight the Han army head-on!

It is worth mentioning that in the report of the First Army Corps in Ganzhou, it was emphasized that the commander of the Sixth Army of the Yue Clan was called Gong Kun? Abbas, the son of Zhang Sheng, the puppet emperor of the Yue clan, most of the soldiers were the veterans of the former Second Class Army of Dayuezhou, who were the most brave in battle, and took the lead in breaking through the Han defense line several times. However, the casualties were also the heaviest, which were later replenished. Because there is Gongkun? The existence of Abbas, so the Sixth Legion of the Yue Clan is also known as the Prince's Army! That's why Hou Jian would have such a sigh of emotion when he saw the military flag.

However, it is clear that the intelligence of the Han army has been greatly deviated. The titular commander of the Sixth Legion of the Yue Clan is indeed Gong Kun? Abbas, but in fact it was the Roman Sriwenson who commanded the Sixth Legion, and Gonkun as the commander? Abbas, at the moment, is being used as a front-line grassroots commander - this is something that even His Royal Highness Duke Hu could not have imagined!

The appearance of the Sixth Legion of the Yueshi made Hou Jian feel more dangerous, but after the Battle of Shenshi and the Battle of Youshi, Hou Jian was even more unable to retreat - not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't - if it was said that the Yue's people had not completed the siege before the Battle of Shenyou, after the battle, the Sixth Legion of the Yue's Clan had approached the legion's tent, and the encirclement had been completed, and retreating at this time would only lead to a real rout, and the Third Legion would be completely destroyed! As a general of the Han Empire, Hou Jian certainly couldn't make this choice.

But what should the Third Army do if it does not withdraw? The Yueshi people were surrounded on three sides, east, west and south, deliberately leaving the north, could it be that the third army ran to the north?

The more the enemy wants me to do something, the less I can't do it. This is a basic code of operations. Any military man who knows a rough military thing understands this. Hou Jian naturally could not choose to go north with the whole army, but he had already sent a ranger scout group to reconnoiter north, and if the enemy had an ambush, he would send someone back to inform him, and at the same time, the ranger scout was also tasked with informing the marshal's big tent.

In the case of no advance or retreat, Hou Jian can only choose to fight, or hold on! But for Hou Jian, who had a keen sense of smell on the battlefield, the Battle of Shenyou had completely proved that the four legions of the Yue clan in front of him had the strength to defeat the Third Legion, and he had to consider the final retreat or breakthrough. However, once retreating or breaking through, the Third Army will undoubtedly receive heavy losses, and even lead to a major crisis in the entire Northern Frontier Front, this responsibility is enough for Hou Jian to be sent to the Privy Council's military court, and then sentenced to death, thousands of years later, he will be scolded by others, and his mentor Zhuge Old Marshal will also bear the infamy of unknown people - Hou Jian does not want to bear it, and he can't bear this responsibility!

How to get rid of this responsibility is the most important question that Hou Jian has to think about now. And what he asked Baili Shu was also this.

As an old man who has followed Hou Jian for ten years, Baili Shu understood his thoughts the moment he looked at Hou Jian's eyes, so he said things like "The special editorial department is the marshal's heart and has made great contributions", the purpose is nothing more than to remind and tell Hou Jian that at this moment, if he wants to take responsibility, there is only one person who can help him, and that is His Royal Highness Duke Hu! The supreme commander of the entire Northern Frontier Front is him! If he gives an order, then all the decisions of the Third Army can be pushed to Hu Gong, and even if he is defeated at that time, no one can blame Hou Jian, this is the so-called sky falling and having a tall man on top.

As for how to get Hu Gong to agree to be this "wronged boss", Baili Shu also advised: "Only special editors! ”

The meaning is very clear, in the subsequent battle, the special editorial department, Hu Gong's heart, must not be damaged again, it is enough to make a great contribution to capture the flag, for this part, Hu Gong will not be too embarrassed for Hou Jian. Once nothing can be done, all troops can be abandoned, but the unique organization cannot. Again, the special editorial department is the meat of Duke Hu's heart - as for the reason, as mentioned earlier, Duke Hu has not served as the sacrificial wine of Zhaowu University for a long time, and every student who is about to graduate is the capital for him to compete with Duke Ying, Duke Zhi, Duke Liang and other dukes in the future, and he must not lose!

In addition to the special compilation department, Hou Jian also has a scruple, that is, the supply of millions of stone logistics grain and grass with the army. These supplies are also a top priority. If the Third Legion is defeated, and these heavy supplies are taken by the Yue Clan, then Hou Jian will not be able to take responsibility for it. Therefore, in order to get the right to dispose of these logistical baggage supplies, he must also ask for the "power to dispose of the battle" from Hu Gong!

For this reason, Baili Shu even suggested that Hou Jian exaggerate the battle losses, especially the battle losses of the rear division, in the military report to the marshal's big account, so as to obtain Hu Gong's approval. Of course, that's what happened later.

After the Battle of Shenyou on April 25, although the Yueshi people lost a large army, they killed a town commander of the Han army, and repelled the attack of the rear division of the Third Army in the east, and approached the land of the Third Army Corps in the south for twenty miles, which can be described as a great victory! However, Srivenson, the true commander of the Sixth Legion of the Yue Clan, was greatly frightened, and in the next two full days of the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh, he only ordered the army to surround him, but did not dare to order an attack. The inaction of the Yue's people in these two days is also a place that later generations of researchers are puzzled by, and after a hundred years of time has washed everything away, no one knows why the four legions of the Yue's clan did nothing for two whole days......

The Yue people did nothing, but it didn't mean that the Han army did nothing. Hou Jian, who had planned to usher in a fierce battle the next day, was pleasantly surprised to find that the enemy army had not attacked, and immediately ordered the whole army to move closer, abandon all the camps on the east bank of Chagan Lake, and move closer to the big tent of the legion, and gather on the west bank of Chagan Lake to strengthen the defense force. At the same time, the ranger scouts who reconnoitred to the north also reported that the Yueshi people had an ambush in the sand sea of the Zabu River fifty miles to the north, and the ranger scouts made a detour to the west for ten miles, and went north from a small canyon to contact the marshal of the Zabhan River. That small canyon may have been a small hole in the encirclement of the Yueshi people who were unfamiliar with the terrain. Of course, if the Third Army wanted to break through from there with great fanfare, soon this small canyon would be locked up, and it would be impossible for an army of tens of thousands of people to escape through this small canyon. However, when the people of the Yue Clan did not react, it was not bad to use this small canyon as a secret passage to contact the marshal's tent.

In this way, the two armies spent the most unquiet two days at Chagan Lake, until April 28, when the Yueshi suddenly sent a letter to the Han army inviting them to fight, which changed the whole quiet situation. (To be continued......)