Fang Zhong returned to Beibu Township on the night of September 16, 1003. At that time, there was not a single light in the entire northern township, as if the entire northern township was dead.

However, in the township guard school field in the northern township, the command room that blocked the windows with cotton cloth was full of people, and a closer look showed that the officers of the entire cavalry brigade at the level of company commander and above had arrived.

In fact, there were only about 20 people in the entire brigade, including the company commander. Even if you add staff officers, there are only more than 30 people, and the key is that this command room, which was originally only provided for the training of township guard troops, is too narrow. What's even worse is that the township guards in Beibu Township have not cleaned this place for a long time, and there are still stone grinding discs and other farm tools piled up in the corners of the houses -- the residents of Beibu Township have used this place as their backyard to store their farm tools......

When Fang Zhong walked into the command room, he saw Brigade Marshal Bao Shanhe losing his temper in front of a grinding plate: "Hurry up and carry this thing out for me and throw it away, damn it, who is responsible for cleaning up here?" Lao Tzu dismissed him! ”

The guards hurriedly stepped forward to remove everything that was in the way, and finally made some space. Some staff officers have quickly gathered soil into sand in the open space in the middle, fiddling with the sand table, and at the same time, the battle map has also been hung up...... As soon as he saw this posture, Fang Zhong suddenly understood—the defense work of the Northern Township was to be completed by the cavalry brigade?

Generally speaking, only the troops in charge of operations will occupy the command room, set up sand tables, hang up maps, and set up command centers. This is also the reason why the guards didn't care about cleaning the command room before - anyway, they are only responsible for building fortifications and early occupation, and they don't need them for the final defense, why are they so serious?

Fang Zhong could be regarded as having been in the army for more than a year, so he naturally understood these truths. But he didn't understand a little, didn't the previous military order say that the former division would defend here?

This is not only a question for Fang Zhong, but also for other officers.

"Don't fucking mention it. The palace marshal sent someone to reply, and the former division received the marshal's military order the day before yesterday and went to Luntai City to participate in the battle. Unexpectedly, Xingyuan later changed the military order. But when the front division received the military order, it was already almost in Shanshan, no, the front division was still running wildly on the straight road! When they arrive, not to mention the physical strength or anything, it is estimated that the Yue's people will be killed under their noses! Bao Shanhe explained depressedly.

Fang Renxu, who was also out of breath and ran back and forth for hundreds of miles, gasped and said to all the officers: "The palace marshal said that the second battle of the Tarim River valley has begun. The two legions of Situ Dianshuai and Du Dianshuai have all been bet, and the battle to decide the ownership of Dayue Prefecture has begun, and Yanqi City cannot afford to lose, so Dianshuai can no longer mobilize more troops to defend the northern township, so he can only wait for the former division to rush back. But. The palace marshal still asked the middle division and the rear division to send two men and horses to defend it, and it is expected to arrive at noon tomorrow. ”

Bao Shanhe stared at the sand table that was gradually taking shape. muttered in his mouth: "Two factions of each faction are a brigade of foot soldiers." We have 5,600 cavalry, 1,600 young men, and a total strength of 12,000 men...... Damn, so Lao Tzu was promoted to two levels on the ground for no reason and became a teacher?! ”

"Hahahaha!" The officers present were amused by the ridicule of their own brigade commanders.

Someone said loudly: "Why can't the commander? However, the brigade commander, the division commander, is not a pure soldier, there are infantry and cavalry. It's like a ragtag army. ”

"The miscellaneous army is the miscellaneous army, the most unworthy, and he is also a town marshal!" Others chimed in.

The crowd laughed again.

This is the first time Fang Renxu has seen Baoshanhe before the war, and he has to admit it. Baoshanhe usually does not say anything, but his prestige among the officers is not low, and a few simple words can mediate the dull mood of all the officers. Coupled with their ridicule of their own coach, it can be seen that they admit Baoshanhe. The First Army of Suzhou was reorganized in less than half a year, and it was indeed not easy for Baoshanhe to achieve this point.

For Fang Renxu, who was transferred from the palace marshal, he was a "guest" in the cavalry brigade after all, and when it came to his sense of identity, he might not be as good as Fang Zhongfang, who was recognized by everyone for his bravery.

However, this has no effect on Fang Renxu, the years of mixing in the rivers and lakes have already made Fang Renxu extremely tenacious, and there may be a little distance from not being shocked by honor and disgrace, but this atmosphere will not make him lose his temper.

After the officers finished laughing, Fang Renxu pointed to the sand table that had been set up, and said to Fang Zhong, who was also a servant: "Yong Di, you come to point out, where is the direction of the Yue people." ”

Fang Zhong stepped forward directly, picked up a sand table baton and pulled it all the way from Kelan Mountain to the Gobi demarcation point. Then he put the baton back.

Everyone was stunned, obviously confused.

Bao Shanhe was the first to ask: "That's how they rushed all the way?" No flanks, no divisions, no tactical cover? ”

Don't blame Bao Shanhe for asking. This kind of behavior of rushing from beginning to end, stretching for hundreds of miles, without any tactical cover and wing protection, can only exist at the battalion and company level, and the number of troops is insufficient. But the problem is that the Yue clan obviously has tens of thousands of horses, how can they be as rampage as stunned?

Fang Zhongdao: "Anyway, this is the situation I saw, there are no flanks, no division of troops, and no tactical cover...... Damn, if I had known that they were doing this in the first place, I had gathered my troops to fight them, and maybe those dozen brothers wouldn't have died so unjustly! ”

Speaking of which, Fang Zhong was obviously a little angry.

Also, no one expected that such a large-scale troop operation would not have the basic tactics of dividing troops, but rushed forward with a dull head, and suffered a big loss from the general tactical point of view, and when he assembled his troops, he had already missed the best time and place to charge, so he had no choice but to order a retreat, and at the same time cover the battlefield and prevent the enemy scouts from spreading.

The strange march route of the Yueshi caused a brief silence in the command room. It was Fang Renxu who interrupted the strange silence: "Cough, Brigade Marshal, I think there may be two reasons why the Yueshi people do this. ”

Bao Shanhe first said to another staff officer: "Immediately send someone to send this situation to the palace marshal." Then he said to the other party: "You are the chief of staff, you can talk about it." ”

All the officers looked at Fang Renxu, which made Fang Renxu feel valued, and unconsciously raised his voice: "First, the Yueshi people think that their own forces can crush us, so they plan to do it brutally and directly break down our defense line. Second. The people of the Yue clan have a last resort, and they want to fight quickly and slowly, trying to defeat us in this way. ”

There was silence again, and the officers looked at each other, but no one spoke.

Fang Zhong was puzzled and said, "This, what's the difference?" ”

In fact, this is also what Baoshanhe wants to ask. What's the difference? It's all the people of the Yue Clan who want to defeat us in the same way!

Fang Renxu suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart, and he suddenly realized that many officers in this cavalry brigade had actually just been promoted from the grassroots level. Including their brigade commanders, who were only grassroots regiments before, they didn't seem to be sensitive to these strategic things.

"Don't you hear what I mean? One was initiated by the Yueshi people, and the other was forced to do so by the Yueshi people. There is a difference between the two! Fang Renxu explained helplessly.

The officers still looked at each other, speechless. There were even some officers who looked at Fang Renxu like they were looking at with the expression of a fool. Maybe they're thinking. Isn't this little white face frightened by the Yue's people? Let's see what this is all about, and what is the difference between initiative and force? For us slashers. Isn't it the soldiers who will block the water and cover the earth?

Baoshanhe seems to have caught something. But he couldn't make up his mind, and asked Fang Renxu tentatively: "Well, that, do you mean that if there is a difference between the two, we can also have a different response?" ”

Fang Renxu said categorically: "There is no difference, the same is still to stick to the northern township!" ”

"Shh

"Cut!"

"You mallet!"

……

Immediately there was a boo.

It's all nonsense! I thought it was any different!

Fang Renxu finally realized what it was like to be so aggrieved that he vomited blood. Tell these guys who don't know how to strategize about such a profound thing. It's a bit of a struggle! Although the style of play is the same, if you study why the people of the Totsuki clan do this, then you can be flexible and how much you play when defending the northern township. How long to fight, what is the extent of each counterattack, is it to defeat the Yue people, or simply drag them here...... These are the keys to determining the final victory!

But the officers of the cavalry brigade did not care about this. From the depths, they didn't care, anyway, they were all fighting for life and death, eating the imperial grain of the Liu family, and fighting for the last drop of blood for this empire - sometimes, their thinking was so simple, that's it.

The grassroots regiment can be so simple, but Baoshanhe, as a brigade commander, cannot. Bao Shanhe was thinking about Fang Renxu's words very seriously, but for him, who had always liked to solve problems by force, this was obviously a bit difficult.

Ying Qi, who appointed Bao Shanhe as the commander of the cavalry brigade, obviously didn't realize that Bao Shanhe, who was born in heavy cavalry, was actually not good at strategic calculations, and if he was asked to command the cavalry to hedge against the enemy on the battlefield, he might be able to command in an orderly manner, but it would be a bit difficult for him to consider the problem from the overall strategic point of view.

Let's put it this way, the officers of Baoshanhe and the cavalry brigade, who have been transferred from the grassroots level, are good at tactics but short of strategy. But in the battlefield duel, only relying on tactics can only achieve a temporary victory, but in the long run, strategy is more important.

As for Fang Renxu, with his experience in walking the rivers and lakes, and the manager who served as a staff member in the Huainan Hou Mansion, he is much higher than these people in terms of strategic vision, but after all, he has only been in the army for more than a year, even if he can see some strategic-level problems, but when he implements them in practice and needs the support of tactical literacy, he is also a mess and is completely blind.

What's more, Fang Renxu couldn't be sure why the Yue people did this. This made this meeting in the command room finally come to an end without a problem--oh, it can't be said that there was no problem, at least Bao Shanhe divided the defensive areas of each department, and at the same time stipulated the reserves--he merged his own personal guard department and the guard department, and handed them over to Fang Zhong together, and appointed Fang Zhong as the commander of this super-organized department that combined the two departments.

Early the next morning, the scouts of the Yue clan had already arrived on the outskirts of the northern township, and sporadic battles had already begun. The scouts of the two armies began to fight each other on the outskirts of the northern township, sometimes four or five cavalry encounters, and the two sides exchanged arrows and crossbows, and then directly drew their swords to fight. Sometimes they shoot at each other at the company and platoon level, and then turn back to the border between the two armies...... The atmosphere of the battlefield is getting stronger and stronger.

A little bit of information from both sides was sent to the command centers of the two armies through scout encounters on an increasingly large scale.

Northern Township Guard Command Room.

"Brigade commander, one person was killed in the Zhongzi battalion, one enemy was shot, and a pair of enemy armor was collected, which was broken and there were no special circumstances."

"Brigade marshal. The first battalion of filial piety encountered the enemy, and the fierce battle lasted for a quarter of an hour, with three casualties and five enemy casualties. ”

"Brigade commander, a platoon of the Renzi battalion encountered the enemy in the woods to the east, and our side killed one person, the enemy killed two, and we also captured one of its prisoners, but then committed suicide."

……

Scout encounters are getting bigger. Casualties on both sides are also increasing, but not much useful information has been gathered. Baoshan He's helmet pierced through the armor, holding the war knife in his hand and sitting in front of the sand table, his thick eyebrows wrinkled into a Sichuan shape, and he raised his head from time to time to give orders to the staff officer. Command to respond to scout reports from various places.

Fang Renxu actively recorded the situation of each scout's encounter on the side, and would carefully inquire about the scouts who came to report back.

Little by little, time passed. When the sun is in the middle of the day. The four infantry soldiers sent by the middle and rear divisions finally arrived. At this time, the scope of the scout encounter had reached less than five miles from the northern township! The Great War is on the verge of breaking out!

The arrival of the foot soldiers made Baoshanhe breathe a sigh of relief. He immediately received the four commanders, and before he had time to be polite, he assigned them defensive areas, which were the fortified sites of the main roads in the northern township, and at the same time he drew out the cavalry from these places. Engage in increasingly brutal scout encounters.

Since there are tens of thousands of people in the Yue clan, Baoshanhe adopts a defensive scout battle, and any situation is a dip and leave, and there is no choice. You can do without the corpse of your scout, just get back the warrior nameplate. But the living mouth must not be captured by the locality. Any soldier sent to participate in a scout encounter must commit suicide as soon as he is wounded and captured, to prevent his own intelligence from leaking.

And Yue's scouts obviously received such a military order, so the two sides fought fiercely for a morning, but they didn't catch any of them alive. The situation on both sides can only be guessed, calculated, and estimated from the captured corpses -- and this is a test of the staff officer's level of speculation.

Of course, in a cavalry scout encounter, it is still easy to collect corpses, and it is not difficult for any well-trained cavalryman to retrieve the corpses of his comrades on a high-speed horse.

At the end of the morning, the Han army lost forty-six dead, fifty-seven seriously wounded, and more than 200 horses. This is not a good situation.

Just after Baoshanhe arranged the four infantry soldiers, Fang Renxu, who had been collecting and sorting out the scout information on the side, suddenly exclaimed loudly: "Brigade commander, I know, the Yue's people must have been forced to attack, they, they should be the remnants of the Yue's army who retreated from Beihai Prefecture!" ”

……

A grove ten miles away from the northern township -- the grove had now turned to ashes, with only a scorched branch, and the Han army had set a fire to the trees and burned them completely.

However, this is now the temporary headquarters of the Sixth Legion of the Yue Clan. Countless messages of scouts have also reached here. The information they obtained was actually similar to that of the Han army, and they also grabbed several corpses of the Han army, but because the nameplate on the corpse was taken away, there was no way to judge the number of the Han army.

Of course, this situation will become clearer and clearer as we get closer. Finally......

"Your Highness, the forward scouts arrived outside the northern countryside, and the Han army raised the number banner, it is the first army of Suzhou!" Nadabuyan ran to Kungong in a hurry. Abbas.

No wonder Nada Buyan was excited, the First Legion of Suzhou was a second-class legion, and in the first battle of the Tarim River Valley, it was also defeated by the Yueshi people, which was undoubtedly good news for the already exhausted Sixth Legion.

Kungong finally breathed a sigh of relief. It's better to know who your opponent is than to be in the same situation as before. He looked at Nada, who was a little excited, and said surprisingly, "It's hard work! ”

Nada Buyan was stunned for a moment, then smiled innocently, patted his chest and said: "Nada Buyan once swore to the Immortal Heaven that he would fight for the great cause of the Yue Clan King for the rest of his life!" It's not a big deal! ”

Kungong smiled, but didn't say anything, but pointed to the troops behind him and said: "Nada, although our army has 60,000 people, the only thing that can really fight is the forward department and the cavalry brigade behind me, and now you are the brigade commander of this cavalry brigade!" When the Han army is defeated, I will definitely apply to my father and make you a general! Even if it's a feudal marquis, he won't hesitate! ”

Nada Buyan's heart was shocked, this is not a small hand. Regardless of Kungun's mentality, Nadabuyan was quite grateful, and did not refuse, but bowed down and accepted the position of brigade commander.

And in fact, does Kungon really only have this amount of available troops? Of course not. However, it is true that there are not as many soldiers as 60,000, and more importantly, they lack cavalry. It is very common for war horses to be slaughtered to satisfy hunger when crossing the Jinshan-Tianshan mountain range, and up to now, the mounts of the entire Sixth Army are less than 10,000, and many horses have lost weight so badly that they are unbearable to fight, and can only be used as horses and reserve horses. And because the infantry can't have one weapon in their hands, they only have about 10,000 foot soldiers. Most of the armor was also torn. In fact, such an army is already a bit exhausted.

The appointment of Nadabuyan was also a helpless move. In the first battle of Zimu, Han Biao, the most loyal and daring under Kungong, was killed, and his sharpest war knife was like no blade. Nada Buyan is strong and brave, but he is a Huns, not a Yue, and Kungong has never dared to use it with confidence before. But now at this point, Kungong has no way to estimate the racial difference, and directly hand over the last cavalry brigade to him - at least Nadabuyan, who is a Hun, will not be able to surrender to the Han, and that is enough!

In less than three moments, the Yue's army finally arrived in the northern township, and the huge army formation of 60,000 people was facing the northern township that had been built into a military fortress.

60,000 remnants of the Yue clan VS 10,000 Han soldiers who were defeated by the Yue clan!

Who wins and who loses? (To be continued......)