3. Troops participating in the war

So the Battle of the Boundary Bridge broke out. Gongsun Zhan participated in the battle with 30,000 troops, and Yuan Shao was a little more than him, about 35,000 people.

Gongsun Chan had 10,000 cavalry, including the feared heavy cavalry. The European theater of the same era, it was unthinkable to fight liliang. The fundamental reason for this is that China mastered the steel filling method during the Eastern Han Dynasty, which made the efficiency of producing high-quality iron tools much better than that of Europe, and this leading position was maintained until the Industrial Revolution.

100 steel, of course, is good, but to 100 refining, the manufacturing cost is very high. Although the quality of steel produced by the steel filling method is not as good as that of 100 steel, the cost is greatly reduced. Therefore, later China's army had many fish scales and armor, which was a defect in the steel-filling method and could not be manufactured as a whole. Western armor was made of a single sheet of steel according to the body shape, but this method was extremely expensive, so the armor was only affordable for noble samurai. That's why in European novels, there are swords and armor inherited from families.

If battlefield equipment does not have a certain quantity, it will not have much impact on operations. And the strength of China's smelting is that it can be produced on a large scale. Especially the heavily armored horse team, not afraid of crossbow arrows, charged, it was simply a phalanx of tanks.

In addition to heavy cavalry, Gongsun Chan also had light cavalry. These armies that fought against the Xiongnu in the Yan Dynasty for a long time were called Baima Yicong, and they were no less than the Hu people. This liliang is something that even Dong Zhuo's Xiliang cavalry may not have.

Yuan Shao was mainly infantry, and lacked armor, grain and grass, so he had to fight to the death with Gongsun Zhan to keep Jizhou. And Gongsun Zhan just broke the yellow scarf, and his population, territory, grain and grass, and morale all have an advantage over Yuan Shao.

At that time, Gongsun Zhan had a strong army in the world, and only Dong Zhuo's Xiliang cavalry could match it. Later, Yuan Shao's soldiers and horses were strong, mainly by destroying Gongsun Zhan. Later, this strong cavalry was inherited by Cao Cao and became the foundation of Cao Cao's home.

Fourth, the Battle of the Boundary Bridge

The Battle of Jieqiao took place in the third year of Chuping, that is, in 192 AD. This is the only time in the history of the Three Kingdoms that there is a battle recorded in the historical materials.

On both sides were cavalry on both wings, infantry in the middle. Gongsun Zhan's cavalry was rich, the cavalry on both wings was heavily armed, and the infantry phalanx in the middle used white horses to strengthen the charge. Yuan Shao's deployment was to have infantry in the middle and cavalry on both wings.

At the beginning of the Battle of Jieqiao, it was Gongsun Zhan's imposing attack. In the middle of the two wings, they are all imposing. On both flanks, Gongsun Zhan's heavy cavalry quickly routed Yuan Shao's cavalry and adopted a pincer offensive to attack the commander in the rear. In the middle, Bai Ma Yi took the lead and the infantry followed, attacking together.

Yuan Shao's infantry could not be resisted, but the commander in the middle, Lu Yi, was a hero who had fought in Liangzhou for a long time, and he led the infantry, defended with a long shield, and supported a spear, to resist the attack of the cavalry.

In fact, there were a thousand strong crossbows hiding behind his infantry phalanx. When Bai Ma Yi approached from the charge, ten thousand crossbows were fired in unison. Of course, the white horse is not covered, they can ride and shoot, so everyone shoots at each other. Infantry, shieldmen, pikemen used to withstand the white horse charge...... There were quite a few losses, but they bought time for the crossbowmen. The crossbow is powerful, and the crossbowman is protected by a large shield. So in the stage of firing between the two sides, Yuan Shao's infantry phalanx gained an advantage.

If he also took the offensive, Yuan Shao's infantry would have no chance of winning in the case of the two sides docking. Because the big shield is very heavy, plus spears and crossbows, the advance will be very slow, so he set up an iron bucket formation in the middle to deal with the fast-attacking cavalry that may appear in the middle of Gongsun Zhan. But the big shield has its drawbacks, it is not easy to move, so it can only squat on the defense, and keep the long gun outside.

The lethality of a bow and crossbow is greater than that of a bow and arrow. We all know that the liliang of the bow and crossbow is not necessarily fired by the arm, and some even rely on the foot or waist to open the crossbow, which can make full use of the whole body of the person. Only a strong crossbow can crush a team of horses with iron armor. However, the crossbow is also bulky and not easy to attack, and if the opponent advances little by little with an infantry phalanx with a shield, then his tactics fail. Therefore, Lu Yi hid the strong crossbow behind the big shield and did not let Gongsun Chan see it. And Gongsun Zhan really couldn't wait to use the white horse to attack quickly, so he fell into Yuan Shao's hands.

Gongsun Zhan's mid-lane commander Yan Gang was shot to death by a crossbow, and Bai Ma Yi was unable to resist the sniper attack of a strong crossbow, so he retreated and routed the infantry that followed behind.

So Lu Yi led the elite infantry to abandon the big shield and crossbow and began to turn to the attack.

On the other hand, the cavalry outflanked by Gongsun Chan had already routed Yuan Shao's cavalry and killed Yuan Shao. The war is heating up.

Here are the rules of ancient warfare. The main general is generally commanded by a banner on a high platform or high ground behind. Gongsun Zhan's cavalry outflanked from both flanks, directly crossed the large array of the Chinese army, and attacked Yuan Shao's side. Around Yuan Shao, there were only 100 guards and dozens of crossbows. At this time, it was actually a race against time, Yuan Shao's infantry attacked Gongsun Zhan's camp against time, and Gongsun Zhan's cavalry tried to storm Yuan Shao's command platform.

Tian Feng saw that the situation was critical, and persuaded Yuan Shao to quickly hide to protect himself. Yuan Shao threw the helmet that protected him on the ground instead, saying that the eldest husband should die in front of the battle. Don't look at the rich generations, at a critical time, Boss Yuan is still very courageous.

Yuan Shao led the poor little guards in his hands and fought to the death. The cavalry of the opposing side was afraid of Yuan Shao's strong crossbow and did not attack desperately. Zuihou, Lu Yi first broke the banner of Gongsun Zhan, Gongsun Zhan's cavalry withdrew, and Yuan Shao won a complete victory.

Summary, all parties influence

Yuan Shao

Gaining a foothold, changed the military pattern of Gongsun being strong and Yuan weak, breaking the embattled passive situation, and the two sides as a whole began to form a balance of power, which was a key battle for Yuan Shao to dominate Hebei, he curbed Gongsun Zhan's ambitions to go south and made him take a defensive position in front of Yuan Shao, forcing him to develop Shili in Youzhou. Soon he defeated and killed his boss Liu Yu and took control of Youzhou alone. This behavior caused public outrage, and Gongsun Chan became more and more unpopular. However, Yuan Shao consolidated his Shili in Jizhou because of this battle, and soon relied on Liu He to appease Liu Yu's former officials who were dissatisfied with Gongsun Chan to create chaos within Gongsun Zhan. After that, Yuan Shao stabilized the land of Jizhou, expanded to the four directions, and finally defeated Gongsun Zan and other Hebei princes. [6]

Gongsun Chan

Bai Ma Yi was wiped out from the whole army, his strength was greatly weakened, his spirit was frustrated, and Gongsun Zhan's ambition was greatly reduced.

Cao Cao

It avoided the situation of being attacked by Yuan Shu, Tao Qian, and Gongsun Zhan, and at the same time, because of the existence of Yuan Shao's strong reinforcement, he could conquer the princes of Henan with peace of mind. Cao Cao was not in the majority at that time, which left a proper strength for the later unification of the north.

Yuan Shu

The strength of the Yuan-Sun-Tao alliance was weakened, and Yuan Shu and Tao Qian were also broken by Cao Cao, which was also the first major blow for Yuan Shu to become emperor.

General comments

Gongsun Zhan was born in the landlord Haoqiang, he was in the Gongsun clan, is a special figure, in the early years he experienced ups and downs, perennial war, he did not have the children of the wealthy family to pamper the corrupt life, treat people sincerely, willing to be a prisoner and too shou to fill the army far away, brave and loyal, battle-hardened, outstanding achievements, but the perennial fighting made him later become cruel, and no political convictions, in the war and plunder, increasingly greedy, cruel to the people.

After killing Liu Yu, the Gongsun Zan group lost the hearts and minds of the people and collapsed, he was hostile to and oppressed the nomads, undermined Liu Yu's policy of national unity, and plundered Liu Yu's gift to Xianbei, as Yuan Shao said in his letter: "The Xianbei of things are attached to the heel, which is driven by the foot." And within his ruling group, he used greedy and selfish treacherous villains, greedy for pleasure in his later years, lost his fighting spirit, and finally gradually failed.

Commentary through the ages

Wei You: "Zhan, the civil and military talents are sufficient, although there are small evils, it should be tolerated." ”

Yuan Shao: "Detached and self-contained, deceitful." ”[20]

Chen Shou: "Zhan Sui is arrogant, forgets the good, and has many thieves"; "Gongsun Chan Baojing, sit and wait to be destroyed." [21]

Fan Ye: "Zhan relies on his talents, does not care for the people, forgets the good, and will repay him, and the name of the good man in the state will be harmed by the law." "Since the stomach of the princes of the imperial family, they are all fat, and they do not know the crops, and they can perform the body vigorously, and those who are outstanding are unheard of. Liu Yu is admiring the Tao and is loyal to himself. It's beautiful, the name of Ji Han is also the son! If Yu and Zan are inseparable, sympathetic and co-operative, rectify people to complete the gathering, protect the Yan and thistle, and show the military force, in order to face the gap between the heroes, give up the fortune of the heavens, and conquer the humanities, then the ancient rest of the martyrs, how far away! ”

Praise said: "Bo Jue is sparse, and his martial arts are fierce." There is no end to the good, and it is difficult to merge. ”[22]

Wang Bo: "Just a few roads, I want to be respected by the county; Trivial Bo Jue, said Bao Yi Jing's industry. Chan is embarrassed, and the operation is also worried. ”

Wang Fuzhi: "The stubborn and happy killer Gongsun Zhan, and he is still self-sufficient." ”

Liu Congchen: "Although Zhuo was punished, the heroes rose together, and those who crossed states and counties, such as Liu Yu, Gongsun Zhan, Tao Qian, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Liu Yan, Yuan Shu, and Lu Bu, all tasted the power of the Kuangzheng Imperial Family. ”

Cai Dongfan: "Gongsun Zhan's death, its loss is the same as Yuan Shu's. Shu died of luxury, and Chan did not die of luxury. Looking at its building floors, the heavy doors are firmly guarded, the women preach, the soldiers are disbanded, and they boast of their plans. One said that I have three million grains, eat up this valley, and then look at the changes of time. Moreover, it is said that the tigers of the four directions are fighting today, and none of them can sit under my city. Who knew that the Shao soldiers suddenly arrived, the whole city was surrounded, the drums and horns sounded in the ground, the pillars burned downstairs, there were those who wanted to avoid a death and could not get it, compared to the ending of Yuan Shu, it was even worse! ”[23]

Li Wencheng knew the final outcome of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition in history, and after Cangzhou fell into the siege of the Qing army, he almost completely lost contact with the outside world, and he did not know that the reinforcements sent by Tianjing had arrived in Linqing. As a result, the Northern Expeditionary Army has been trapped in the lonely city, the materials have been exhausted, the casualties are too many, and the possibility of retreating has been completely lost.

If the information was a little better at that time and could have learned the movements of the reinforcements, even if the reinforcements were trapped in Linqing due to their mistakes in the battle, as long as they could echo and cooperate with each other, there would still be a chance to turn the tide of the battle. The worst can also be after the reinforcements were defeated, taking advantage of the Qing army's division of troops, to concentrate forces to launch a breakthrough from the weak position of the Qing army's defensive line.

This time, the reason why he led the remnants of less than 600 soldiers to rashly go north to contact Li Kaifang was precisely because he calculated that now was the most important time for the Northern Expeditionary Army to break through. Rather than taking great risks with 600 remnants, crossing thousands of miles of long distances, and facing several times the training of the Qing army, it is better to join the large forces of the Northern Expeditionary Army. There are many people, and it is better to retreat all the way to the south, and the chances of successfully returning to Tianjing will definitely be greater.

The other generals in the farmhouse gradually improved their faces, although these people were all uneducated old men, but after so many years of marching and fighting, how could they not understand such a simple and clear truth in front of them? They failed to hold out until the arrival of "real reinforcements", but they finally got the news of the reinforcements and the movements of the Qing army in time, which can be regarded as making up for the shortcomings.

"However, even if the troops of the demon head Shengbao turn to Shandong, there are still more than 20,000 Qing Demon regiments in Qingxian, Dacheng, and Huanghua at this time. We have been guarding Jinghai and Duliu for several months, lacking weapons, winter clothing, food and grass, the brothers are very tired, and there are many wounded, and it will not be easy to break out. The bearded general said in a rough voice, and then sighed.

"Luo Da Niu is right, if a month ago there might have been eighty percent certainty, but now, I'm afraid that even sixty percent is not available." The other general nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Breaking through, there is still sixty percent certainty; If you don't break through, you will sit back and wait to die, and you will definitely die. Zhao An said very resolutely, he had just been to Li Wencheng's garrison yesterday and knew a little about Li Wencheng's jihua, so he instinctively stood on Li Wencheng's side in this matter.

Li Kaifang's eyebrows frowned slightly, just staring at Li Wencheng, but did not speak.

"What Zhao Jianjun said is good, there are no reinforcements, and it is obviously meaningless to continue to hold on. It is indeed not easy to break through, but it is not impossible to go nowhere. Li Wencheng was as calm as ever, and when he said this, he once again stretched out his hand and pointed on the map in front of him, "Yesterday, all 600 people from our department have been transferred to Guanjiatun, which is more than 40 miles away, and they are here. ”

Everyone gathered together and looked in the direction pointed by Li Wencheng, and Guanjiatun was in the southwest direction of Duliu.

"Guan Jiatun? How blatant is it? ”

"Isn't it, isn't this right under the nose of the Qing Demon?"

"Lao Zhao, is this really the case?"

"Yes, Zhang Minghan and I went to Cui Sihe first yesterday afternoon, and then moved to Guanjiatun with the reinforcement brothers that night. At that time, I was also shocked, but later I realized that in fact, Brother Li had been prepared. He had already arranged for the reinforcements to change into the clothes of the Qing Demon, and he also deliberately tied up his braids. Two days ago, he had already started to walk around the nearby town, and the nearby demons were unaware of it. Zhao An nodded solemnly and said.

Despite Zhao An's confirmation, many generals still have lingering doubts in their hearts. Even if the Qing Demon is incompetent, it is absolutely impossible to turn a blind eye to the inexplicable appearance of the team of six hundred people!

"After breaking through from Linqing, our department attacked several villages controlled by the regimental training along the way, and seized some materials from the regimental training and the villages. Using these seized materials, our department carried out a disguise, and all 600 people changed into the costumes of the Qing Demon Regiment. It turned out that it was just to cover it up and avoid being the target of the public army. After coming to Cui Sihe, after surveying, it was found that the nearby Dacheng County was actually a place for the Qing Demon to receive the wounded, and there were not many standing troops. There are only a small number of old and weak regimental training in the villages and towns below, and our department uses a few brothers who are familiar with Hebei dialect to falsely claim that they are newly recruited soldiers under the command of Wang Jiaotou of Hejian County. Li Wencheng explained.