Yancheng County and Liucheng County are about 100 miles apart, this area is stacked with mountains, hills and valleys, canyons are intertwined, ravines are vertical and horizontal, only small pieces of flat land between mountains and impact plains along the river, known as 'seven mountains, one water and two fields', a large area of wilderness is covered by forests, only a small plain area is reclaimed, and there are villages distributed.

On a hill about fifty miles away from Yancheng County, several Sui army scouts watched a mighty team under the mountain in the woods, and there was a 'high' word on the team's banner, which should be the army of Gao Kaidao, with more than 20,000 people, sharp swords and spears, and shining armor, which could be seen to be an elite army.

After observing for a while, the Sui cavalry immediately turned their horses and ran down the hill, and they took another shortcut to Yancheng County.

Zhang Xuan received a report from the cavalry at noon and found the main force of Gao Kaidao's army, about 25,600 people.

In the room, Zhang Xuan marked the location of Gao Kaidao's army on the map, which is currently about thirty miles away from them, and Luo Shixin next to him asked the scout who reported the news: "How many cavalry are there, and how is the equipment?" ”

The scout brigade commander bowed down and said: "Commander Qiqi and generals, there are not many enemy cavalry, only a few hundred, it should belong to the category of sentry posts, there is no formal cavalry, but the infantry equipment is quite elite, compared with the Xiaoguo army, except for the lack of war horses, the rest of the equipment is exactly the same, it is more elite than us, the morale is also good, the marching team is very neat, and it is by no means a rabble." ”

Zhang Xuan frowned slightly, and it didn't seem to be quite consistent with what he imagined, Ge Qian's remnants actually turned into an elite army, and for a while, Zhang Xuan was silent.

At this time, Li Jing said slowly: "I think the general doesn't have to worry too much, well-equipped does not mean that the army is brave and good at fighting, Gao Kaidao has not been able to capture Liucheng County for a month." And there are only thousands of defenders in Liucheng County, and the rest are people who are temporarily organized, so it can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the Gao Kaidao army is not strong, we should not be confused by the other party's illusion, as the marshal said, delaying the decisive battle time is not good for us. It is likely to attract reinforcements from Goguryeo, and the commander must make up his mind. ”

Zhang Xuan nodded slowly, Li Jing was right, this was the war he chose, even if he failed, he would have to fight, and hesitation would affect morale.

"Pass my orders, the army is ready to attack!" Jang Hyun finally gave the order to attack

'Woo-'

The low sound of trumpets sounded in the field, and the dull and rhythmic sound of drums echoed through the Sui army, a great battle whose outcome was not yet known. Despite Jang Hyun's thorough preparations, for the first time, he could not predict the outcome of this battle, and they could only go all out.

In the open field, the two armies were arrayed separately, the Sui army was a two-wing formation, the Chinese army was 4,000 people, and there were 3,000 people on each side for the left and right wings, and Zhang Xuan personally sat in charge of the Chinese army. The left wing is Luo Shixin, and the right wing is Su Dingfang. The army is neat and murderous.

And Gao Kaidao's army was also on the left and right flanks, but he had the advantage in numbers, and all had an additional reinforcement army of 5,000 people, and the Chinese army was 10,000 people, commanded by Gao Kaidao himself. The main general of the left wing is called Han Zhiming, and the main general of the right wing is called He Baisheng, both of whom are Gao Kaidao's henchmen, and each leads 5,000 troops as the left and right wings.

In terms of weapons, the weapons of both sides are similar. They are all composed of spear troops and sword and shield armies, which are the standard weapons of the Sui army, but the Gao Kaidao army has an advantage in armor, they are all Mingguang armor, and the Sui army is only equipped with Mingguang armor for officers above the brigade commander, and ordinary soldiers are basically leather armor.

However, Zhang Xuan also has two secret weapons hidden, one is the heavy armored infantry composed of 500 people, which is one of Zhang Xutuo's legacies, and is currently being put into battle for the first time by Zhang Xuan, they are located in the Chinese army, and they are also a killer weapon of Zhang Xuan.

In addition, Zhang Xuan also deployed a secret weapon, that is, Pei Xingyan's 3,000 cavalry, which is Zhang Xuan's infantry and cavalry joint combat method, first hiding the cavalry, the two sides fought fiercely to the critical moment, and the cavalry killed and crushed the other party, this tactic played a huge role in the battle against Dou Jiande.

Gao Kaidao looked coldly at the Sui army opposite, the number of the opponent's army was far inferior to his own, he had an absolute advantage in strength, which was also the fundamental reason why he had no scruples to fight a decisive battle with the Sui army, the other party only had 10,000 people, this was his chance to defeat Zhang Xuan and become famous in the world.

"King, there are no crossbowmen on the other side!" A spy rushed forward and shouted.

Gao Kaidao looked up to the sky and laughed, pulled out his sword and shouted: "Attack!" ”

'Boom! Boom! Boom! The earth-shattering drum sounded.

The offensive of Gao Kaidao's army was launched suddenly, and the 20,000 troops were divided into three large formations, overwhelmingly killing the Sui army, and the shouts, roars, and galloping hooves of horses resounded throughout the field.

Under the banner, there was still no movement in the Sui army camp, but behind the banner, five thousand Sui soldiers began to quickly change their weapons, they put their spears on the ground, took off the longbow from behind them, drew out a piece of arrows, stretched out the bow and set the arrows, the long arrows were obliquely upward at a 45-degree angle, and the sharp wolf tooth arrows flashed with cold light.

Zhang Xuan rode on a horse, watching the 20,000 thieves swept in the distance, and the 10,000 Chinese army was like a turbulent wave, undulating and galloping in the field, Zhang Xuan's eyes also showed a cold smile, he had long abandoned the simple Libo and blood fighting, in addition to the soldier's ability to fight on the battlefield, he also paid attention to the use of tactics and strategies.

He has dealt with all kinds of bandits in the past nine years, and he has long been familiar with the characteristics of the bandits' operations.

As long as the morale of the bandits is effectively weakened, their combat effectiveness will be drastically reduced as their morale fades, and bow and arrow shooting is undoubtedly the best means of combat.

Behind him, Qin Yong was a little nervous, and he reminded Zhang Xuan in a low voice: "Great Shuai, the thief army has entered two hundred steps!" ”

Jang Hyun nodded, their tactics had been fully trained and they would never miss.

The dust was flying, the yellow mist was all over the sky, and the army of the high open road was getting closer and closer, two hundred, one hundred and fifty, one hundred and twenty, one hundred steps...... It's getting closer to the longbow's killing range.

At this moment, the bow array of the Sui army was launched, and in a burst of war drums, the battle flags covering the archers in the first row all lay down, and a series of strong winds sounded, and five thousand arrows rose into the air, forming a dense rain of arrows in the air, making a strange sound, and whistling towards the head of the thief army.

The thousands of thieves who were running at the front suddenly turned on their backs, and the long arrows shot through the helmets, and the heads were shot through in an instant, although the Mingguang armor effectively protected the vital points of the soldiers, but the arms, thighs, necks, and faces that were not covered by the armor became the targets of the arrows.

Hundreds of war horses mixed with the team were also shot, neighing and falling, crushing the soldiers on the horses under them, and a rain of arrows killed and injured more than 600 soldiers, which frustrated the crazy arrogance of the Gao Kaidao army.

Their attack did not stop, they continued to kill the Sui army camp, at this time, the second wave of arrow rain hit again, and another group of people turned on their horses, at this moment, their forward troops were less than fifty steps away from the Sui army camp.

"Shoot again!"

Zhang Xuan shouted loudly, he knew very well in his heart that he could shoot three rounds in training, and he could shoot through the armor within fifty steps.

The most critical third round of arrow arrays of the Sui army was launched, a drum sounded, five thousand longbows were fired at the same time, and a dense rain of arrows rose into the air, forming a long black arrow cloud in the air, which instantly turned into black dots, overwhelmingly shooting towards the thief army.

The crossbow arrows of the Sui army dominate the world, not only the range is long, but also the strength is strong, within fifty steps, even the Mingguang armor can not resist, especially when thrown from the air, the arrows have their own gravity when they fall, so that the Mingguang armor of the Gao Kaidao soldiers has become an ornament.

The arrows roared like raindrops, so dense that people couldn't breathe, the long arrows sneered and fell, the powerful and heavy armor-piercing arrows pierced the leather armor of the infantry, the soldiers fell to the ground with arrows one after another, and the wails were all over the field, and the soldiers who opened the road were like crops destroyed by the storm, falling one by one, blood splashed, one by one died tragically in the wail, the morale of the enemy army faded sharply, and they began to waver, retreat, and flee in all directions, as if the strong wind blew through the dark clouds, and the clouds dispersed in an instant.

"Retreat!" Gao Kaidao saw that the soldiers suffered heavy casualties and had to order a retreat, and the thief army retreated like a tide.

The first wave of the attack of Gao Kaidao's army was disintegrated, and they were dealt a heavy blow, and the Sui army fired only three rounds of arrows, and the 20,000 army was reduced by one and a half, and nearly 3,000 were killed and wounded.

Gao Kaidao, who was watching the battle in the back, gasped, he learned Zhang Xuan's changeable tactics for the first time, from spearmen to archers, the army's training was far better than his own, he finally understood why Zhang Xuan's army could win a hundred battles, it was in training, the training of various tactics could be played to the fullest on the ever-changing battlefield, which made Gao Kaidao's confidence begin to decline rapidly.

The confidence of the main general Gao Kaidao had still faded, not to mention the ordinary soldiers, the originally high morale quickly faded under the strong bow and arrow of the Sui army, and the slogan of killing the enemy that had been shouted as loud as a mountain just now also disappeared, and everyone was anxiously considering their own way of retreat.

Most of these soldiers were ordinary peasants from Hebei who wanted to come to Liaodong to make a windfall, but now in the face of the powerful Zhang Xuan army, how to save their lives is their top priority. (To be continued.) )