The topography of Laishui County is high in the west and in the east, just at the junction of the Taihang Mountains and the Jizhong Plain, the west is mountainous, the middle is hilly and undulating, and the terrain in the east is gradually flattened, and it is an endless vast plain to Zhuoxian.

The 50,000 Sui army only rested for one night in Laishui County, and the next morning, the 50,000 army rapidly advanced eastward, and at noon, the army set up a large camp about ten miles away from Zhuo County, and a lookout tower as high as three zhang was built in front of the big camp, and on the high tower, Yang Yuanqing was looking at the enemy camp in the distance.

Xue Wanche's army was not stationed in the county seat, but erected a camp fence on the left side of the county seat and surrounded a square camp, judging from the size of the camp, there should be only more than 20,000 people.

Qin Qiong next to him said: "Zhuoxian County is tall, the city wall is wide, according to our scout report, there are also more than a dozen large warehouses built in it, and the grain storage is abundant, which is very suitable for defending the city and resisting the war, but Xue Wanche did not garrison the army in the city, which is a bit strange." ”

"Not surprising!"

Yang Yuanqing said lightly: "I have a good relationship with their brothers, my brother Wan Jun is good at defending, and my brother Wan Che is good at attacking, the former prince Zhao once jokingly called their brothers both offensive and defensive, Xue Wanche stationed the camp outside the city, obviously he wants to fight with us, only 20,000 people actually want to attack with my 50,000 army, what is his justification?" ”

"Heavy Armor Iron Rider!" Qin Qiong blurted out.

On the other side, Xie Yingdeng said a little strangely: "The five thousand heavily armored cavalry are Luo Yi's treasures at the bottom of the box, and he didn't bring them back to Youzhou, which is really strange." ”

Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "Actually, it's not strange. Luo Yi didn't want to put the main battlefield in Youzhou, he only had Zhuo County, Yuyang and Anle County, the most important thing was Zhuo County, he wanted to block us on the front line of Zhuo County, so he didn't withdraw the heavy cavalry, but we advanced too fast, and Luo Yi's reinforcements didn't have time to dispatch. This is also Xue Wanche's last resort, once he enters the city, he will form a siege to help. His heavy cavalry also did not play to the advantage. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and said, "Where is General Wang?" ”

Wang Junkuo was standing not far behind Yang Yuanqing, and he immediately stepped forward. He bowed down and said, "Humble duty!" ”

"You can lead 10,000 infantry to the enemy camp to challenge, and use more bows and crossbows to suppress the enemy army!"

"Obedience!"

Yang Yuanqing ordered again: "General Xie can lead 5,000 cavalry to cover the infantry, if the strength is not good, withdraw immediately, and do not fall in love with the battle." ”

Xie Yingdeng also bowed down and said, "Obey!" ”

The two generals ordered to leave, Yang Yuanqing smiled, and said to Qin Qiong: "The Youzhou army doesn't want Zhuo County, we want it, Shu Bao can take 10,000 people to capture Zhuo County at night." ”……

'Boom! Boom! Boom! The drums of war rang in the Sui army camp, and the camp gate opened. Groups of crossbowmen, archers, spearmen, and sword and shield men marched out of the camp in turn, and then 5,000 cavalry rushed out from the other side, and the soldiers were divided into two lines, guarding the infantry on either side.

Yang Yuanqing watched the movement of the enemy camp from the high platform. The enemy's camp was ten miles away, the weather was clear, and the sight was exceptionally clear.

There were 20,000 troops in the camp of the Youzhou army, but the number was 25,000, because the 5,000 heavy armored cavalry were each equipped with a groom, and there was a horse to carry the armor of the cavalry.

With the Sui army out of the camp challenge. The door of the Youzhou military camp opened, Xue Wanche personally led 20,000 troops out of the nest, 10,000 infantry, 5,000 heavy cavalry and 5,000 light cavalry, all of which were the elite army of Youzhou, his army was lined up in a formation a mile in front of the camp, 5,000 heavy armored cavalry was located in front of the team, the soldiers had finished wearing their armor, they stood next to the war horse and waited for orders, and 5,000 light cavalry were on the side of the heavy armored cavalry, their task was to cover and cooperate with the heavy armored cavalry to fight.

The 10,000 infantry is behind the cavalry, and after the heavy cavalry breaks through the enemy's formation, they will cover and kill, and the three armies have cooperated with the battle many times, and have repeatedly defeated Dou Jiande's army, and have rich experience.

The two armies were facing each other one mile apart, Xue Wanche saw that the Sui army had lined up the formation, the crossbowmen were in front, the archers were in the center, the pikemen were in the back, and there were cavalry guards on both sides, he couldn't help but sneer, this formation is useful for ordinary cavalry, but it has no meaning for heavy armored cavalry!

"Heavy cavalry mounted!"

Xue Wanche gave an order, and the drums in the Youzhou army sounded, and the horseman immediately stepped forward to assist the heavily armored soldiers to get on their horses and connect the men and horses as one.

Five thousand heavy armored cavalry Huo Di raised the horse lance, the lance thorns are like a forest, the momentum is extremely powerful, even Yang Yuanqing, who stood on the observation tower to watch the battle, couldn't help but secretly admire, it is worthy of the armored cavalry built by the Great Sui with the strength of the country, the five thousand horse lances do not know how many thousands of craftsmen's efforts will be consumed, if he can't get this heavy armored cavalry, it is really intolerable.

With the dense sound of drums, the five thousand heavily armored iron horsemen shouted and suddenly launched, they were in a row of 100 people, holding a horse lance in their right hand and a horse shield in their left hand, and the horse's hooves were galloping and powerful, and they were killing the Sui army a mile away with an unstoppable force.

Wang Junkuo also became nervous, he felt the strength of this heavily armored iron cavalry, his 10,000 infantry was not an opponent at all, "Crossbowmen prepare!" He shouted, his eyes fierce as he approached.

"Shoot!"

Two thousand crossbowmen were the first to fire, they still used the seven-stone rhubarb crossbow, in groups of two, a thousand crossbow arrows shot towards the heavy armored cavalry one hundred and fifty steps away like a storm, only a clanging sound was heard, only a dozen ironclad war horses were shot and fell to the ground, and the rest of the heavy armored cavalry was not damaged.

The crossbowmen quickly joined forces to wind up, one soldier held a crossbow, and a soldier released an arrow, this time with two feet and four inches of armor-piercing iron arrows, the arrows were like elongated spindles, streamlined, made of fine iron, extremely sharp, and could shoot through any armor, with a bang, a thousand iron crossbow arrows shot like a black cloud towards the heavy cavalry a hundred paces away.

The heavy armored cavalry also seemed to feel the strength of this round of arrow array, they raised their shields at the same time, only to hear a click, the shield was pierced by iron arrows, and they were shattered, but the shield also removed half of the strong power of the iron arrows, a thousand iron arrows did not cause much damage to people, but the war horses could not withstand the strong penetration of iron arrows, more than 70 war horses in the first row were shot through the horse armor by iron arrows, and they neighed to the ground, and many iron horses were tripped behind, and there was a slight confusion in the heavy armored iron horses.

At this time, the five thousand Youzhou light cavalry guarding on both sides rushed out and rushed towards the bow and crossbow army of the Sui army, Xie Yingdeng shouted an order, and the cavalry on both wings of the Sui army also suddenly killed, slashing with swords, striking each other with spears, and the two cavalry teams were in one place.

The Youzhou light cavalry was killed to cover the heavy cavalry to reorganize the team, and for a moment, with a horn sounding, the Youzhou light cavalry quickly withdrew to both sides, and the heavy armored iron cavalry rushed towards the Sui cavalry and infantry like a mountain and a sea.

'When! While! While! The bell of withdrawal rang in the camp of the Sui army, and the 15,000 Sui army retreated like a tide, and the Sui army covered the infantry retreat in the back, and launched an offensive against the heavy armored cavalry from all directions, at this time 5,000 Youzhou cavalry covered up again, and the two sides fought in the wilderness, and the Sui cavalry was defeated by the combined strangulation of the light and heavy cavalry of the other side, and was killed and retreated.

Xie Yingden saw that the infantry had withdrawn, and he yelled, "Withdraw!" ”

Five thousand cavalry quickly withdrew from the battlefield, escorting the Sui infantry to the camp to flee, Youzhou light and heavy cavalry tail chase, chased out of three miles and then gradually stopped, heavy cavalry dismounted, they led the horses, under the escort of five thousand Youzhou light cavalry returned to the camp.

Yang Yuanqing stood on the observation tower, his eyes were firmly fixed on the heavy armored cavalry, his eyes gradually narrowed, he knew how to deal with the heavy armored cavalry.

At this moment, several scout cavalry rushed from the south, Yang Yuanqing looked at their hurried figures, and felt a little bad in his heart, and after a moment, a soldier ran up to the lookout tower, knelt down on one knee and reported, "Chief Qiqi, Dou Jiande's 100,000 army entered Zhuo County from Hejian County, and it has crossed the Juma River and is killing in the direction of Zhuo County, only fifty miles away from us. ”

This news surprised Yang Yuanqing, when did Dou Dejian form an alliance with Luo Yi again, he looked at Zhuo County in the distance, his brows furrowed, this unexpected information was really beyond his plan, Yang Yuanqing was very helpless in his heart, so he had to order: "Pass my order, the army will withdraw from the camp and return to Laishui County." ”

Due to the unexpected arrival of Dou Jiande's 100,000-strong army, Yang Yuanqing had to give up attacking Zhuoxian and lead the army to withdraw westward.

In the camp of the Youzhou army, Xue Wanche had not yet received the information that Dou Jiande's army had killed, and he looked at the Sui army retreating westward in puzzlement, and his heart was full of confusion.

"General, we may be able to hunt down the enemy army, if we can defeat the Sui army in one battle, I will make an unprecedented achievement!" On the side, General Wei Chibao suggested excitedly.

Xue Wanche shook his head, he glanced at Wei Chibao, "Didn't you pay attention to the battle flag of the Sui army camp?" It turned out to be the Phnom Penh Red Eagle Flag. ”

The Red Eagle Banner of Phnom Penh is the royal flag of the Sui Army, and it will only appear when Yang Yuanqing is there, Wei Chibao was stunned, "Yang Yuanqing is in the camp?" ”

Xue Wanche sighed, "It should be so, since Yang Yuanqing is in the camp, he won't give us a chance to pursue." ”

Xue Wanche raised the Sui army's strong crossbow iron arrow again, and carefully observed that this iron arrow could actually penetrate the iron armor of the heavily armored cavalry, which made him feel an irrepressible anxiety in his heart.

At this time, a cavalryman rushed over and bowed down to report: "General Xue, 30,000 reinforcements have passed through Liangxiang County and are rushing towards Zhuo County." ”

Xue Wanche let go of his heart, could it be that Yang Yuanqing withdrew west because he got the information about the arrival of his reinforcements? But it's a little wrong to think about it, the arrival of his own reinforcements is also 50,000 against 50,000, Yang Yuanqing has no need to withdraw the army, he can't figure it out.

At this moment, another cavalryman rushed in and hurriedly reported: "General Xue, Dou Jiande's army of about 100,000 is coming towards us, and it is less than fifty miles. ”

Xue Wanche was taken aback, no wonder the Sui army retreated, but he didn't have this cooperation plan, Dou Jiande was not good, he didn't allow him to think too much, Xue Wanche immediately ordered: "The army quickly enters the city!" ”

The Youzhou army quickly pulled out the camp and moved to the city of Zhuoxian, and at this time, Dou Jiande's 100,000 army had already reached forty miles south of Zhuoxian, but unexpectedly stopped advancing.