In terms of official rank, Murong Yanzhao and Yuan Yan are of comparable status, both of them are the Taibao of the Inspectorate and the Commander of Jiezhen, and they have both led the forbidden army, and they both made great contributions during the Battle of Huainan. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info But in terms of background and qualifications, Murong Yanzhao was born in Hedong Jiangmen, and his qualifications are much deeper, and he served as a military colonel under the first emperor Guo Wei in the early Han Dynasty.

This time, the emperor ordered him to lead troops to support, the intention was obvious, that is, he hoped that he would cooperate with Yuan Yan and try to annihilate the Yelu Tart Lie Department to enter Juyong Pass, so as to completely cut off foreign aid, as long as this step is successful, then it will be a matter of time before you capture Youzhou City. Murong Yanzhao knew this in his heart, not to mention that when he set off in the morning, Wang Pu also reminded him again and again, so his marching speed was still very fast.

But now, Yuan Yan sent his second son, Yuan Tong, to inform him of a detour behind enemy lines, which was indeed an impeccable and good strategy. Murong Yanzhao hesitated for a while, but decided to do so, summoned Yuan Tong to come forward and inquire about the ratio of Liao army's strength and the siege battle, and then turned west after a short rest.

The 10,000 cavalry of Murong Yanzhao's department is now located thirty miles southeast of Changping County, and the turning point of Machikou, which must be passed to the west, is twenty-five miles southwest of Changping.

At the beginning of the unitary period, when the sun was setting in the west and the sky was approaching dusk, Murong Yanzhao led his troops to a barren mountain depression five miles south of Machikou, and ordered the whole army to rest and recuperate on the spot for dinner, intending to wait for the Liao army to collect troops and return to the camp at the beginning of the night and then bypass.

Tens of thousands of soldiers were undressed, leading their war horses to rest on the spot, and the sentry horses were released far away to guard the surroundings, Murong Yanzhao turned over and dismounted, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, and the ground seemed to tremble a little.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Get ready for battle! At this moment, the sentry horse that had just been sent out galloped back, and Lao Yuan shouted. As the sentry rode along, the soldiers hurriedly repacked the dry food and water bags they had just taken out, spontaneously turned over and mounted their horses to check their weapons, and drove the horses back into formation.

"What's going on?" Murong Yanzhao was taken aback, although he expected that this place might not be safe, he didn't expect to be discovered so soon.

"General Murong! The Liao army suddenly abandoned the city and did not fight, and went south of the city to approach Machikou, and its forward more than 5,000 horsemen had just rushed into the town and came to our side! ”

"Accidentally?" Murong Yanzhao suddenly realized, no wonder Yuan Tong said before that the Liao army was attacking the city for a whole day, and this was a fierce fight before leaving.

But it's very strange to think about it, throwing off the more than 30,000 soldiers of Yuan Yan in Changping, he Yelu Lie is not worried about the loss of Juyong Pass? Even if he enters Youzhou City, the back road foreign aid will still be cut off, isn't it useless? Could it be that there are reinforcements coming from outside the gate, and there is no fear in this way?

Murong Yanzhao thought of this, and was suddenly secretly frightened, and immediately ordered the front army to go north to seize the terrain and prepare for battle, and the Chinese army quickly marched in line to keep up, and asked his own soldiers to take out pen and ink, spread it on the trunk cage with a thin silk, and hurriedly wrote two military reports with a pen, and ordered one of his soldiers to be sent to Changping to Yuan Yan, and one to be sent to Lu Sitai.

Machikou belongs to the suburbs of Changping, is a small plain and hilly area, the town is located at the foot of the mountain on the flat land, a small river passes through the town, the southern suburbs of the town have a large area of farmland, wheat fields, Qianmo is connected, and occasionally there is a pond.

This kind of terrain is not suitable for cavalry combat, and there will be a lot of trouble when dismounting the horse column and foot formation, but at this time, the sentinels who always walk in front of the army have already engaged the Liao army in a small battle outside the town.

The selection criteria for cavalry soldiers are, first of all, a qualified infantryman, so there is no problem in infantry combat, and in some ways, it is just to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. Murong Yanzhao led his troops to the southern outskirts of the town, and the 2,500 men of the forward army really dismounted and lined up in the wheat field on the side of the road, shooting at the Liao army more than 100 paces apart.

Although the small cavalry of the Liao army wandered in the wheat field, they did not rush closer, and in the distance there were thousands of horsemen lined up in the forage field outside the town, and at this time they had entered a state of confrontation when the forward against the enemy was unknown and the Chinese army had not made a decision.

Murong Yanzhao's Chinese army stood on a slope, which only allowed more than 2,000 horsemen, and most of the rest were scattered in front and behind the slope, and the formation was scattered, which was ready to change the war horse to foot combat at any time. At the same time, the Liao army was three or four miles away to the north, and when it was far away, all it saw was a small black dot moving, and the main force was estimated to be still behind.

The two sides faced off in a small-scale battle for half an hour, the Liao army took the initiative to retreat north, Murong Yanzhao led his troops into the town of Machikou to arrange camping, and at the same time sent sentry cavalry to continue to keep an eye on the Liao army, and news came back in the evening. According to the information collation, it is probably that Yelu Tart Lie wanted to go south around the city, but Li Chuyun led the horse army out of the city to pursue, and the road ahead was blocked, and finally dragged Yelu Tart Lie to re-camp in Baihuagang, fifteen miles southwest of Changping County.

A little accident made the time for the decisive battle come, Yelu Tart Lie was completely blocked, in addition to retreating to Juyong Pass, he could only choose the decisive battle, and this is also what Zhou Jun is happy to see.

Baihuagang is not a tall mountain, just a small hill beam that is common in the north-south direction of the plain extending to the hilly area, the slope is naturally not large, there is no forest on the mountain of the sandstone terrain, and there is a little bit of tender green in the withered yellow grass all over the surface, and the yellow-green hue has been spread into the distance, and there is a large open wasteland.

In the early morning of the 22nd, when the sun had just jumped out of the horizon of the eastern sky, more than 35,000 Liao troops drove out of the camp, and formed under the Baihuagang Mountain Beam, with 20,000 foreign drags in the middle, and 15,000 Xijing Palace guards were divided into three parts, with 5,000 in front of the infantry formation, and the other 10,000 were listed on the mountain beam behind the side of the infantry formation.

At the same time as Yelu Tart Lie was arranging the formation, after the two men and horses of the Zhou army arrived nearby, they also advanced to the battlefield in a combat formation. Yuan Yan's division drove out of Changping, and the 20,000 infantry army was divided into eight large phalanxes based on battalion-level command, with the army as a unit, and each two armies were responsible for one aspect, and the four armies of the front, left, center, and right were lined up in four miles east of Shanliang.

Generally speaking, the front, left, and right armies are the hard shells of the central army, and the rear armies are generally weaker in combat strength, plus non-combatants, and civilian miscellaneous logistics baggage, etc., which are mainly used as reserves. However, the Chinese army is often a smaller version of the entire large array, but there are fewer soldier units, and it is not that there is no reserve without a rear army.

The 12,000 cavalry of the guard division Li Chuyun divided two armies to cover the flank of the infantry formation, and the other 7,000 cavalry were deployed as an independent force to the north of the mountain beam. At the same time, the 10,000 cavalry of Murong Yanzhao, the former secretary of the palace, also fought independently and were divided into four echelons, which were distributed in an arc to the southeast of Shanliang, forming a semi-encircled pattern against the Liao army's Yelu Tart Lie.

Due to the situation, according to local conditions, the terrain and the ratio of the forces of the two sides determine the way of arrangement, to now, both sides have figured out the data of the other side's troops, but how the combat power of horses and infantry needs to be fought to know.

Although there were several thousand more troops than the Liao army, Yuan Yan did not dare to be careless, and as soon as Murong Yanzhao's troops arrived on the battlefield, he immediately sent his second son Yuan Tong to negotiate with the Chinese army's combat strategy, so that they could cooperate in the battle at that time.