The idea of two large armies facing each other to try to completely eliminate all the forces of the other side in a single battle is extremely ridiculous, especially on an open country with no obstruction on all sides.

Liu He is now an excellent general, with Guo Jia by his side to assist and remind him, he will never make those low-level mistakes, even high-level mistakes. When Liu He decided to lead his army into the grassland terrain to have a head-to-head duel with Kebineng, he took into account the casualties and various unfavorable factors of the troops, so he was not discouraged by the failure to defeat the Xianbei people in the first battle during the day, and he also accepted the casualties of his own troops calmly.

The meal must be eaten one bite at a time, and the enemy must be killed one by one, Liu He regards this dispatch as a training and improvement for himself, and his mentality is very positive, not at all as irritable and disordered as Kebineng.

When Kebi could learn that his own losses in the first battle were as high as 7,000 people, he only felt the pain of the drill-hearted version, the performance of the Youzhou troops on the grassland was really beyond his surprise and all the tribal leaders, if the armies of the Han states were as well-trained, fierce and fearless as the troops of Youzhou, the future of the Xianbei people was really nowhere to go, and it was only a matter of time before they were enslaved and driven away by the Han people.

After leading his troops to retreat thirty miles to the northwest, and after temporarily setting up camp, he immediately summoned the leaders of the tribes to his tent to discuss the war.

Kebineng said with a serious face: "The result of today's battle was completely beyond our expectations, the cavalry and infantry of the Han army cooperated seamlessly, and there was no disjointed and partial collapse that we expected. On the contrary, some of our tribes could not withstand the onslaught of the heavy cavalry of the Han army, and took the lead in retreating and fleeing! Come on, push out the three cowards of Shi Lan, Ah Luhuan, and Don't be afraid to cut off their heads! ”

The faces of the three tribal leaders whose names were known by Kebi were as earthy as earth. Kowtowed to Kebineng and begged for mercy, and the rest of the leaders also spoke out to say some good things for the three of them, dissuading Kebineng from executing the three tribal leaders who took the lead in retreating and scattering on the battlefield.

Shi Lan said with tears in her eyes: "Big Chief, before the war, you can put the warriors of my Shi Lan tribe in front of the Han Army's heavy cavalry battalion, which shows that you value my sons and daughters, and feel that only my sons can take on the heavy responsibility of charging in the first round of the front." However, after I took the two thousand sons of the tribe to engage the Han army's heavy cavalry battalion. only to find out that these Han soldiers are not human beings at all, they are even more terrible than the devil! The cavalry of the Han army and the war horses under their crotches were all covered with strong steel armor, and the sabers of the sons and daughters could not cut through the armor of the Han army. Arrows can't penetrate their armor, but the sabers in their hands are extremely sharp, and as long as they hit the bodies of their sons, they will not die or be injured! Especially the kind of long-handled riding spears they used. It's simply a disposable weapon. As soon as he stabbed into the chest of my son, the soldiers of the Han army would immediately discard this spear and switch to a sharp saber to fight our son. Although my clan is not afraid of death, in the face of such an enemy, it is simply to send him to death! The reason why I finally retreated and fled with the rest of the tribal forces was just to leave a little seed for the clan! ”

Ah Luhuan also kowtowed and said: "Big leader, you ordered me to lead the clan to attack the infantry phalanx of the Han army, and Ah Luhuan didn't even frown. immediately rushed forward with more than 2,000 men in the clan. However, the Han infantry in front of the sons and daughters were all draped in solid steel armor like the Han heavy cavalry encountered by the leader of Shi Lan. One of their shieldmen joined forces with a pikeman, and stretched his spear diagonally at our son. Because they saw that the cavalry spears of the Han army were easy to break, the sons and daughters thought that the infantry guns used by the pikemen of the Han army were the same, but this was not the case at all! The handles of the spears used by these Han spearmen are all made of ash rods, which are not only hard but also tenacious, causing heavy casualties to the sons! ”

At the end, he explained: "Our sons and daughters charged the right wing cavalry of the Han army according to the orders of the big chief, and they were met with the most skilled cavalry guards in the Han army, these Han cavalry were equipped with riding bows with a longer range than our people, and they were also equipped with strong crossbows used in one-handed melee combat. ”

Kebineng didn't plan to kill these three tribal leaders in his heart, but he just wanted to give an explanation to the tribal leaders in this way, and the three leaders he named were actually diehards who supported him, and this time he handed over the task of attacking the fortification to these three people, but he didn't expect to be defeated by the Han army. In order to block the mouths of the other tribal leaders, Kebineng had no choice but to adopt this bitter method to save a life for the three of them.

"Hmph, the three of you don't have to quibble about your failures again! Come on, push them out and cut them down! Kebineng had an unbearable expression on his face, but he still insisted on beheading three people.

"Big Boss, never!"

"Big Boss, although the three of them are at fault, we all see what happened on the battlefield today, even if it is us who lead the clan to participate in the war, we may not be able to do better than them!"

"That's right, please let the big boss let them go, so that they can make up for their mistakes in the future!"

The leaders continued to dissuade, and Kebineng finally showed a look of embarrassment, and then gritted his teeth and said: "For the sake of the leaders interceding together, this time I will spare your life!" However, capital sins can be avoided, but living sins cannot be escaped! Come, take these three out and give them sixty lashes each as punishment! ”

When Shi Lan and the others heard this punishment decision, they were not angry but happy, because they knew that this time they had finally escaped, not only did they not have to die, but they could also take the opportunity not to fight again, which just saved the remaining strength of the tribe.

The sound of the leather whip beating the body outside the tent sounded from time to time, and the screams of the beaten people also came and went, and the leaders in the tent heard their teeth ache and cold, and they all dared not come out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Han army is so strong, what should we do in the next war? Was he driven to Mobei like a lamb by Liu Shiren? Kobi looked at everyone and asked in a deep voice.

"My lord, although the Han army is well-equipped and has a slight upper hand on the battlefield, today's Xianbei warriors have also caused great casualties to the Han army, as long as we continue to insist, Liu Shiren will definitely not be able to hold on!"

"Yes, we are just going to spend it on the grassland with Liu Shiren, and Yuan Shao's subordinates in Bingzhou have been fighting the idea of Youzhou, and it is impossible for Liu Shiren not to know about it. The more we consume his troops, the less strength he will have to confront Yuan Shao's forces, and he will have to retreat to the Great Wall at that time!" ”

"Liu Shiren led the army deep into the grassland to fight against us, giving up the geographical advantage, as long as we cut off his grain route and shake his military heart, they will not last long!"

"My lord, it is not appropriate for us to fight the Han army head-on, we only need to lead Liu Shiren to continue to walk west and north for a while, so that his logistics and transportation routes will become longer and longer, and far away from the support of Youzhou, and then we will have a chance!"

The leaders had their own opinions, some of them were to the point, and some were wishful thinking, and Kobi could listen to them all, but he was not in a hurry to show his attitude.

One of the tribal leaders proposed: "My lord, why don't we send our troops tonight to harass and attack the camp of the Han army, if the Han army is well guarded, they will not be able to rest; If the Han army was lax in its defenses, they changed the attack to a sneak attack and attacked them. ”

Kebineng thought about it for a while, and felt that there was indeed merit in doing so, and by this time, he already had the idea of dealing with Liu He in his heart, that is, "wait for change". Since Liu He has become so powerful now, he can not fall behind on the home field of the Xianbei people, so it is a fool's practice to continue to fight with Liu He, it is better to avoid the truth and make a mistake, and deal with Liu He on the grassland, dragging the main forces of Youzhou on the grassland, as long as Liu He's logistics and transportation have problems, or if the direction of the state has a move against Youzhou, then Liu He will eventually withdraw to Youzhou. In this way, it is not considered that the Xianbei people ended in a big defeat, after all, the four counties of Bingzhou are still in their hands, and there are still more than 30,000 people left in the main force of Xianbei, as long as they recuperate for a few years, they can recover.

In order to delay the Han army's next attack, Kebineng took the advice of the tribal leader and sent a force of 3,000 men to attack the Han camp that night.

In Liu He's tent, several important commanders and staff and logistics officers were among them, and everyone was discussing the follow-up development of the war.

Liu He said: "Today's battle has tested the true level of each army, and although there are still shortcomings, the overall effect is still very obvious. The sense of coordination and cooperation of the various armies in Youzhou is obviously higher than that of the Xianbei people, and the organization and discipline of the soldiers on the battlefield are also satisfactory, and the areas that need to be strengthened in the future are still the cooperation between different arms of the armed forces and the speed of adaptation to different battlefield environments. In addition, the treatment of wounded soldiers by various armies can be efficient and timely, and this alone has reduced the number of casualties of our army by 3 to 40 percent, and I hope that in the future, we will continue to strengthen training in this area and try our best to control the number of casualties in each battle to a minimum. ”

Zhao Yun and Guo Jia and other generals nodded their heads and agreed with Liu He's analysis.

Guo Jia said: "Today's battle has completely played the prestige of our army, and Xianbei people are afraid that they will not fight with our army head-on in the future." In my opinion, Kebineng will take a roundabout approach in the future, hoping to drag our army on the grassland, which will not only cause a great burden on our army's logistical supply, but also easily give Yuan Shaojun's army an opportunity to take advantage of. ”

"Fengxiao's analysis is very likely that once the Xianbei people change their strategy and no longer fight head-on with our army, it will be difficult to divide and surround them with the mixed arrangement of our army's infantry and cavalry, and gather and annihilate them. I wonder if you have any clever plans to deal with it? Liu He asked.

Zhao Yun pondered for a moment and said: "My subordinates think that our army must not stay on the grassland for a long time, either take the initiative to attack the Xianbei people, or quickly return to Youzhou, in short, we must not sway from side to side and hesitate!" ”

Liu He asked Zhao Yun: "If you take the initiative to attack the Xianbei people, how should you mobilize and deploy troops?" ”

"My subordinates think that it is better to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Xianbei people to concentrate all the cavalry tonight and launch a night attack on the camp of the Xianbei people!"

Zhao Yun looked resolute and said a bold and radical suggestion. (To be continued......)