With the infinite anger and helplessness of his ally Liu Xuan, the main army of Xuzhou finally embarked on the road of the eastward expedition to Liyang under the personal command of Tao Ying, and after the integration of many Hefei troops and Danyang villagers, the strength of the main force of Xuzhou has reached more than 55,000, not only forming an overwhelming numerical advantage over the enemy of Liyang with a strength of only about 25,000, but also having a quality advantage in determining the surname.

At the same time, in order not to let his ally Liu Xuan, who planned to watch the fire from the other side, be idle, Deputy Director Tao also sent a special letter to Liu Xuan, inviting Liu Xuan to cross the river to the north and join forces to attack the Liyang garrison of Xiao Yuan Sangong, and promised that after breaking the enemy, the captured spoils would be divided equally, giving the so-called ally Liu Xuan enough face, and also putting on a high posture of working together with his allies - of course, it was also to facilitate hooking up with other allies in the future.

Xiao Yuan Sangong's reaction to the westward march of the Xuzhou army to Liyang was poisoned by Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao's poisonous materials, after learning that the main force of Xuzhou sent Liyang, the selfish little Yuan Sangong really did not plan to reinforce the defense, and also seized the time to desperately strengthen the defense of Shucheng. At the same time, the remnants of Sun Ben and Wu Jing's team had also crossed the Yangtze River from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the south, and also took the initiative to send a messenger sent by Xiao Yuan Sangong and asked them to move to Shucheng, indicating that they had no intention of making enemies with Xuzhou again, so the main force of Xuzhou sent troops to Liyang was already completely carefree, and the only thing to consider was how to eliminate Zhang Xun, the last team of Yuan Shu's army in Jiujiang County.

Because he has never dealt with Zhang Xun, he is not very familiar with Zhang Xun's military characteristics and combat style, in order to know himself and his opponent, Tao Ying naturally had to summon the Huainan general Qiao Rui, and wanted Qiao Rui to understand Zhang Xun's situation in person, Qiao Rui reported to Tao Yingzuo: "Lord Yu, if Ji Ling, who has died in Zhuyi, is the first general of the Huainan Army, then Zhang Xun is the first general of Huainan, and he is quite capable of using soldiers. His combat characteristics are that he likes to fight in formations, is good at commanding frontal decisive battles, uses the combination of arms and flexible tactics to defeat the enemy in frontal collisions, and likes to win with more and fewer soldiers, which is not very easy to deal with. But it doesn't matter, the strength of our army is more than double that of Zhang Xun, and the number of elite soldiers is far more than Zhang Xun, even if it is a head-to-head duel, Zhang Xun is by no means the opponent of the lord,"

"Like playing interstellar, good at micro-?" A new word popped out of Deputy Director Tao's mouth, and he pondered and asked: "In the general's opinion, after our army arrives in Liyang, what tactic will this Zhang Xun choose, which is to go out of the city to fight a frontal decisive battle that he is best at?" Or do you stick to Liyang City like you and buy time for Yuan Shu? ”

"This ......, the general can't say for sure." Qiao Rui hesitated and replied: "Yuan Shu's order to the last general before was to defend Hefei to gain time, and now the order given to Zhang Xun is also very likely, but there is Chen Fen's sailor camp on the river bank outside Liyang City, if Zhang Xun obeys the order to abandon the field battle and stick to the city, and the sailor warship cannot withdraw to the city, the situation is quite contradictory, so even if the last general knows Zhang Xun very well, he can't judge what tactics he will choose this time." ”

"I received an order to defend Liyang to buy time, but there is Chen Fen's sailor camp outside the city?" Tao Ying repeated, and then said with a smile: "It's a bit of a contradiction, but it doesn't matter, this is a headache for Zhang Xun, we can't worry about him, just move on, and then see what kind of tactics Zhang Xun chooses to adapt to local conditions, and then strike later." ”

Qiao Rui nodded, and said with a smile: "There is no military advantage in fighting out of the city, and there is a naval camp outside the city to hold back, presumably the old friend General Zhang Xun has said that he can't sleep at night these days." ”

………………

Who couldn't sleep because of hesitation, but also poor General Zhang Xun? After receiving the news that the main force of Xuzhou sent troops to Liyang and Tao Ying's letter inviting him to send troops to attack Zhang Xun, Liu Xuan, who was stationed in Niuzhu, also did not close his eyes for a day and a night, and he really couldn't make up his mind whether to accept Tao Ying's invitation, and the secret envoy sent by Xiao Yuan Sangong was even more almost not committed suicide in front of Liu Xuan, promising countless money, food and treasures, and begging Liu Xuan to abandon Tao Ying and follow Yuan Shu with the reason that his lips were dead and his teeth were cold, and he sent troops to help Zhang Xun of Liyang, and the civil and military generals under Liu Xiang were also divided into two factions. One faction believed that Liu Xuanjun should follow the covenant and send troops to meet the Xuzhou army, and jointly attack the long-time enemy Xiao Yuan Sangong; The other faction was frightened by the strong military strength of the Xuzhou army, worried that once Xiao Yuan Sangong fell, the next target of the Xuzhou army would be Liu Xiangjun, so they advocated that Liu Miao accept Xiao Yuan Sangong's request, send troops to help Xiao Yuan Sangong, and build a buffer wall in the north of Liu Xiang's army, so as not to endanger the safety of the army. The two factions have their own reasons, and no one can convince anyone, and even Liu Miao himself is even more hesitant and undecided, and he can't make up his mind, he only hates Tao Ying why he didn't attack Lujiang first to give himself the opportunity to watch the fire from the other side, but he came to Liyang to force himself to stand in line immediately.

In the end, the words of a strategist called Shi Yi who was not very important under Liu Miao's command finally prompted Liu Miao to make up his mind, "Lord, it is indeed reasonable to join Yuan Kangtao to avoid the death of his lips and teeth, but has the lord thought about this problem?" Assuming that our army sent troops to help Zhang Xun fight against the Xuzhou army, then on the land battlefield, how sure was our army that we would defeat the Xuzhou army and keep Yuan Shu? The Xuzhou army defeated the Huainan army one after another, and our army couldn't even defeat the Huainan army, so how could we defeat the more powerful Xuzhou army on the battlefield? ”

"In this case, then our army and its betrayal of the alliance and the destruction of the covenant have attracted the world's scolding, and in the end it is destined to be defeated by the Xuzhou army on the land battlefield, it is better to firmly implement the covenant, and join forces with the powerful Xuzhou army to flank Yuan Shu, first get rid of the bitter enemy Yuan Highway for many years, and then rely on the Yangtze River to compete with the Xuzhou army, as far as the current situation is concerned, we are not the opponent of the Xuzhou army on land, but on the water, the Xuzhou army may not be the opponent of our army."

It was precisely after listening to Shi Yi's point-to-point words that Liu Miao finally made the only correct decision for him at present, rejected the suggestions of the strategists Xu Shao, Xue Li and others to watch the fire from the other side and build a buffer wall, and made up his mind to kill the envoy of Yuan Shu, personally led the army north to join forces with the Xuzhou army to flank the Liyang Huainan army, and also took the initiative to send an envoy to contact the Xuzhou army, and agreed to join forces to attack the sailor camp of the Liyang Huainan army, saying that the army was responsible for the surface war alone, and asked the Xuzhou army to be responsible for the land war. Join forces to pull out the nails of the Huainan Army Sailors outside Liyang City, and remove water obstacles for the Xuzhou army to attack Liyang City.

By the way, this strangely named Liu Xuanjun strategist is Yi who has a bad reputation in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but in history he is a first-class master who hides in the dark and stabs a knife, in history, Lu Meng killed Guan Erye, Lu Xun overturned Cao Wei, the commander of the Eastern Line Cao Xiu, in fact, there is a shadow of this Yi behind him, and his life is very long.

After Liu Miao's envoy crossed the river to see Tao Ying and presented Liu Miao's handwritten letter, Deputy Director Tao, who did not even have half a boat in his hand, was naturally overjoyed -- who wants to be attacked by the enemy on the surface all day long and be beaten without being able to do anything? Therefore, in addition to treating Liu Miao's envoy well, Tao Ying also accepted Liu Miao's suggestion on the spot, and decided to pull out the nail of the Huainan Navy camp first, and then attack Liyang City.

Six days after sending troops from Hefei, the main force of Xuzhou successfully arrived outside Liyang City, Zhang Xun, the commander of the Huainan Army Liyang who did not close his eyes for several days and nights, hesitated again and again, and finally decided to follow the orders of Yuan Sangong from Xiao Yuan to defend the city, did not go out of the city and the Xuzhou army to fight in the field, chose the defense tactics that he was not very good at, and led all the horse infantry to retreat into Liyang to defend the city. At the same time, Zhang Xun ordered Chen Fen, the commander of the naval division, to make preparations with both hands, to defend as much as possible if he could hold the dry village of the naval division, and to retreat to the warships if he could not hold it, and to avoid the edge of the Xuzhou army on the river, and then dock to contain it when the Xuzhou army attacked the city, so as to share the pressure of the Liyang defenders.

Although Zhang Xun's abacus played well, it is a pity that his wishful thinking is based on the fact that the Xuzhou army does not have the strength of the water division, so Zhang Xun did not expect that when the Xuzhou army approached the Huainan army sailor camp in the southern suburbs of Liyang, Liu Xun also personally led all his sailors to the Liyang ferry, and appeared on the water surface of the Yangtze River where the Huainan Navy Division was preparing to retreat.

Without waiting for Zhang Xun to react, the Xuzhou Army and Liu Xiangjun had launched an attack on the Huainan Water Division at the same time, and Liu Xiangjun's Water Division blocked the channel to block the retreat of the Huainan Water Division, and sent troops to attack the water camp of the Huainan Water Division; The Xuzhou Army was responsible for land warfare, attacking the camp of the Huainan Naval Division head-on, and the Huainan Naval Division, which had only 10,000 troops, fought on two fronts, and could only rely on the difficult support of the not very strong battalion fortifications, and fought very hard.

The attack tactics of the Xuzhou army are new, the long shield hand covers the crossbowman approaching the enemy's camp fortifications, and forms temporary fortifications with long shields, so that the crossbowmen can hide behind the shield and release arrows to suppress, covering the cannon fodder The new soldiers carry the soil and pick stones to fill the camp trench, and the Xiangyang cannon brought by the army continues to throw stones, bombarding the dry village fortifications of the Huainan Water Division, until the Xiangyang cannon knocks down a section of the enemy camp fence, and smashes the antlers next to the fence to pieces, and at the same time the cannon fodder team also fills in a section of the trench, Tao Yingcai sent a cannon fodder team as the vanguard, try to break into the Huainan Sailor camp.

The resistance of the Huainan Naval Division is quite strong, the cannon fodder team of Xuzhou just rushed to the side of the battalion, the Huainan Naval Division battalion immediately rushed out of the first army to block and fill the leak, and the Xuzhou cannon fodder team fought very fiercely next to the fence, the Xuzhou cannon fodder team was repulsed several times, and the only result was only to completely fill the trench on the hand-to-hand combat battlefield, and also completely destroyed the remaining antlers and horses, opening the way forward for the follow-up army. Seeing this scene, Tao Ying was about to withdraw the cannon fodder team and replace it with elite soldiers, but a fast horse rushed to the vicinity of the flag array of the Xuzhou army, and immediately ordered the soldiers to dismount and played loudly: "My lord, the enemy commander Zhang Xun personally led the troops out of the city, and is currently assembled outside the west gate of Liyang, it may be to reinforce the enemy's naval division. ”

"Go and give the order immediately, don't charge, and let Zhang Xun go out of the city as much as he wants!" Tao Ying gave the order immediately, turned to Lu Su next to him and said, "Zijing, this is a rare opportunity to weaken the enemy in the field, and it should not be missed. I will take Gao Shun, Xu Chu, Tao Ji, Qiao Rui and other generals and 20,000 troops to meet Zhang Xun, and the enemy's naval camp will be handed over to you. ”

The strength of the Xuzhou army is sufficient, and there is also a strength advantage in dividing troops to meet the battle, so Lu Su has no objection, and immediately nodded in agreement, but Tao Ying put his arm around Lu Su's neck and added in a low voice in Lu Su's ear: "Besides, save our strength, let the cannon fodder new troops fight, it doesn't matter if you can annihilate the enemy's naval division or not, as long as you force all of them onto the ship, you can't play with your life to destroy the enemy." ”

"But what if the enemy's sailors flee to the river?" Lu Su asked blankly.

"It's better to escape." Tao Ying laughed in a low voice: "With Liu Xuan's sailors to cooperate in the battle, even if the enemy's sailors escape to the river, they will not dare to stay here and wait for death, they will definitely flee to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and retreat to the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then when they escape to the mouth of the water, it will be easier for Yuan Shu to cross the river and retreat to the south of the Yangtze River." Lu Su suddenly realized, and then quickly nodded in agreement.

Not to mention that Lu Su attacked the camp on the side of the water division Dazhai, it was only said that Tao Ying personally led 20,000 main forces to hurry to the west gate of Liyang, and the 3,000 infantry of Chen Zhijun, who was responsible for monitoring the defenders of Liyang, had already laid out a formation outside the west gate, and Zhang Xunjun had about 10,000 people out of the city, and they were nervously arranging the formation. Delay the enemy's formation, our infantry set up a fish scale formation, ready to assault the enemy's central flag formation! ”

Because he knew Zhang Xun's combat characteristics from Qiao Rui's mouth in advance, Tao Ying sent the Junzi Army to take the lead in harassing this move happened to hit Zhang Xun's soft underbelly, and more than a thousand Junzi soldiers screamed and outflanked, and constantly outflanked the feather arrows into the Zhang Xunjun team that had not yet established a position, and Zhang Xunjun, who was planning to fight in formation, naturally inevitably appeared chaotic, especially this Kei formation similar to the English letter W still arranged the crossbowmen in the internal V-word, and there was no way to give full play to the range advantage of the infantry bow and crossbow arrows to suppress the cavalry of the Junzi Army. The swords, guns, and melee soldiers on both wings could not be beaten alone, and it was naturally more difficult to stand in formation.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Xunwo had no choice but to temporarily change the formation, waving the flag and ordering the change of the Fang Yuan Array, intending to drag the main force of Xuzhou with the strongest defensive Fang Yuan Array, and indirectly reduce the pressure on the side of the Sailors. It's a pity that Zhang Xun met this time but he liked to play cards not according to common sense Deputy Director Tao the most, Zhang Xunjun's team had just adjusted, because the team had just loosened, Tao Ying immediately ordered: "Beat the drums, let Chen Zhijun charge, and stir up with the enemy!" ”

The trumpeter quickly played the flag, the war drums immediately sounded, and the 3,000 people of Chen Zhijun, who had already arranged the phalanx, immediately launched a charge, but the bridge here was in a hurry, and hurriedly said to Tao Ying: "Lord, Zhang Xun is quite good at governing the army, at this time, let General Chen Zhi rush up and stir up with the enemy, and our casualties are only afraid of being very large." ”

"It doesn't matter if the casualties are bigger, as long as you can avoid more casualties." Tao Ying said without blinking his eyelids: "Didn't you just introduce to me a few days ago, Zhang Xun is good at fighting in frontal formations, battlefield tactics are quite flexible, I haven't even read a few military books, and fighting him head-on is not more auspicious?" Therefore, the only way for me to defeat Zhang Xun is to let him not have the opportunity to fight in formation, and to mix together to give full play to the advantages of our army's strong individual combat effectiveness. ”

Deputy Director Tao's rogue tactics once again restrained General Zhang Xun, who was experienced on the battlefield, and saw that the Xuzhou army immediately launched a charge, and there was no chance for him to smoothly deploy the formation and fight, General Zhang Xun had no choice but to break his wrist and divide a thousand infantry to launch a sub-charge against Chen Zhi's team, intending to entangle Chen Zhi with this thousand infantry, and sacrifice some troops to buy time for the main force to set up the formation. However, Zhang Xun obviously underestimated Tao Ying's face, and seeing that Zhang Xun divided his troops to counterattack Chen to the team, Tao Ying immediately sent 3,000 infantry to continue to attack Zhang Xun's main force, relying on the advantage of troops to continue to give Zhang Xun a chance to smoothly line up.

"Why is it here again?" Seeing the Xuzhou infantry who were killed again, poor General Zhang Xun suddenly had black lines on his forehead, and he really couldn't understand whether the other party's commander was crazy or stupid, why did he want to fight with the army in close quarters? Forced to be helpless, Zhang Xun could only divide his troops to meet the battle, but as soon as the team on his side attacked, two Xuzhou troops immediately came out of the formation, left and right to kill Zhang Xunjun's flanks, in a short period of time, there were four Xuzhou troops to Zhang Xunjun launched a trap charge, and Zhang Xun was determined to start a bloody melee without array and formation with Zhang Xunjun, and Zhang Xun did not dare to divide his troops this time to continue to weaken the strength of the formation, so he could only seize the time to line up and let the Xuzhou army kill in front of him.

The bloody hand-to-hand combat is very unfolded on the open battlefield in the western suburbs of Liyang, the local battlefield where the two charges and the counter-charge collide head-on flashing like a tide, the drums and trumpets shouting and shouting to kill shake the heavens and the earth, the soldiers on both sides are like crazy desperately waving the knives, guns and battle axes, everyone in the knife and gun array is fighting separately, and some people are constantly cutting off their arms and heads in the screams, and the blood is splashed half a day high, and the scene is chaotic like a pot of boiling porridge.

To General Zhang Xun's relief, although the two thousand-man teams he sent out were quickly overwhelmed by the superior strength of the Xuzhou army, the Xuzhou army that was outflanked and killed from the left and right flanks was stopped by his gradually formed square circle array, unable to break through into the circle array, and at the same time, the archers in his team were gradually arranged in place, and began to suppress the charging momentum of the Xuzhou army with bow and arrow projectiles, and also suppressed the cavalry and harassment of the Junzi army. Seeing this scene, Zhang Xun's heart, which had been mentioning his throat, was finally put back into his stomach, and said secretly: "It's good to suppress the formation, although the Fangyuan array does not have a mobile surname, as long as I drag the main force of the Xuzhou thief army, I can relieve countless pressures on the side of the water division, and then drag the battle until it is completely dark, the enemy is forced to withdraw troops, and my team can also smoothly return to the ...... of the city." ”

Before the self-comforting muttering was finished, poor General Zhang Xun's eyes widened again, because another Xuzhou infantry team rushed over, passed through the gap between the two local battlefields, and rushed directly to the front of General Zhang Xun's team, and behind this Xuzhou infantry team of about 3,000 people, there was also a Xuzhou infantry team of less than 1,000 people.

"Tao Ying, thief, will you fight in the end? According to this style of play, even if you win against me with more soldiers, your casualties will definitely not be smaller than mine! General Zhang Xun couldn't help but roar, and roared: "Okay, come on, this third-rate tactic of auxiliary soldiers covering the charge of elite soldiers, I have already played it twenty years ago!" I want to see how elite the seven or eight hundred elite soldiers you can be with 3,000 infantry cover, and whether you can kill in front of my banner array! ”

"Lord, haven't you really read a few military books?" At the same time, in the banner array of the Xuzhou army, poor General Qiao Rui was wiping sweat and asking Tao Ying.

Seeing Tao Ying nodding frankly, poor General Qiao Rui not only sweated, but also wailed: "But how do you think that the last general seems to be better at battle tactics than anyone else?" Everywhere is restraining the old friend Zhang Xun of the last general, with the strongest mobile gentleman's army to preemptively disturb, forcing him to temporarily change the formation and chaos of the formation, and immediately charge to force him to divide his troops to meet the attack, the two wings are full of containment, repeatedly weakening his frontal forces, and finally covering the camp with 3,000 elite soldiers to charge! The last general is twenty years older than the main one, such a changeable tactics in battle, such an effective use of troops, the last general has never seen it. ”

(To be continued)