Qiu Yizhi is actually too cautious.

The reason why this battle went so smoothly was not that Dai Luanxiang had any tricks to lure the enemy in, but that he was not in the camp at all.

It turned out that Dai Luanxiang had a big victory a few days ago, expelling the Youyan army from the entire territory of Dengzhou, so he thought that he could take advantage of the victory to pursue and attack the Youyan army entrenched in Bianzhou. So he thought that the Youyan army had been frightened by himself and would not launch an offensive on the western front in a short time, so he tried his best to mobilize the main force of the army, entered Bianzhou in the west, and attacked Zheng Miao and Cui Nan's troops.

However, Zheng Miao and Cui Nan have both seen Dai Luanxiang's strength, so Zheng Miao refused to accept the camp and did not dare to attack easily, Cui Nan only led a small group of elite cavalry, attacking everywhere, but he only retreated at the touch of a button, and did not dare to fight.

Therefore, Dai Luanxiang led the imperial forbidden army to confront the Youyan army for nearly ten days, although there was no shortage of small victories, but it was never able to achieve a decisive victory, and gradually fell into a stalemate. It was at this moment that Qiu Yizhi took advantage of the absence of the commander to cross the Hutuo River in one fell swoop and re-enter Henan.

When Dai Luanxiang heard the news, he sighed, but he sighed that there was no one available in the court except himself. In desperation, he had to give up the great opportunity to recover Bianzhou, re-march westward, and consolidate the defense line of Dengzhou.

It wasn't until the day after crossing the river that Qiu Yizhi received a military report from Zheng Miao, the third brother of Bianzhou, that he knew that it was not the famous general Dai Luanxiang who commanded the enemy army in front of him. This made him very annoyed, he knew that this was the case, so he urged the army to attack hard, even if he couldn't defeat all the officers and troops in front of him, he could destroy some of the living forces somewhat.

Therefore, Qiu Yizhi estimated that Dai Luanxiang would return from Bianzhou to come to the division, and it would take three days, and there was still a whole day in the official army formation without the command of the commander, so he ordered 30,000 elite soldiers, lined up the formation in front of the camp, and tried to suppress the people, trying to fight a quick battle, and defeat the newly defeated officer army in front of him in one fell swoop.

The officers and soldiers had just been driven out of the camp by the Hutuo River by Qiu Yizhi two days earlier, and they hurriedly set up a temporary camp under a mountain, separated from the Youyan army from hundreds of hectares of rice fields.

It was the golden autumn of August, and if it had been elsewhere, it would have been the time of abundant harvest, and the rice planted in the rice field in front of the two armies, even if it was not yet ripe, had already set up ears of rice and was waiting for a bumper harvest. However, since the beginning of this year, there was a rebellion in Tianzun Sect, Henan Province has not been famous, and such a good and fertile land has been deserted, only a few weeds have been stretched thinly, which looks very desolate.

However, such an open plain is the best battlefield for the two armies to face each other.

So in the early morning of the same day, Qiuyi's troops were divided into two routes, led by Zheng Sen, the second son of Youyan Wang, to sweep the cavalry in front, and the rebellious general Wei Hu led the infantry and crossbowmen to advance slowly behind, and he himself commanded in the center, pressing towards the simple camp temporarily built by the official army.

The army advanced to a place where there were still two or three hundred steps away from the official army camp, and suddenly a cannon shot sounded in the camp in front, several camp gates slowly opened, and a large number of officers and soldiers rushed out of it one after another, and set up a defensive formation close to the camp.

Qiu Yizhi sat on top of his cyan sweaty and bloody horse, looking at the lineup of officials and soldiers from afar, and saw that they had a neat lineup and a clear banner, without the panicked appearance of two days ago, and the formation was already lined up in a blink of an eye.

Although Qiu Yizhi led the army alone for the first time, since he followed Zheng Rong, he also sent troops to release horses every year, and he was not lacking in combat experience. He saw at a glance that the situation of the official army was very different from that of two days ago, and he knew that there must be a change, and he saw from a distance that there seemed to be a red-robed general in the opposite camp commanding Ruoding, and he suspected that the famous general Dai Luanxiang rushed back in the starry night, so he ordered Zhao Chengxiao, who was guarding beside him, and said: "You go and pass on my generals, so that His Royal Highness the Second Prince should not rush into the enemy, come back immediately, line up on my right side, and wait for the changes of the other party." ”

Zhao Chengxiao agreed, and then ran to report the news like an arrow from the string.

Not long after Zhao Chengxiao left, another light rider came behind Qiu Yizhi and said in his ear: "King Youyan has an order: Dai Luanxiang has returned to the camp alone, and if His Highness Yi feels that it is difficult to win, he can return to the army to avoid the battle." ”

Qiu Yizhi hurriedly looked forward and saw that Zheng Rong was indeed two or three hundred steps away from his army, surrounded by a group of guards with bright armor, observing the situation on the front line from a distance.

When Zheng Sen returned to the formation, he discussed with him and Wei Hu a little, and then said to the herald: "You will return to the prince." Let's just say that we will fight with Dai Luanxiang first, and if the war is unfavorable, please ask the prince to retreat first, and we will wait for the queen of the palace. ”

The herald listened and memorized silently, and when Qiu Yizhi finished speaking, he repeated it again, and when he saw that there was nothing to add, he turned his horse and galloped backwards to report that Zheng Rong had gone.

So the banner of Qiu Yi waved, and the drummers around him beat the drums of war. The armies could hear the rhythm of the drums, and under the leadership of generals at all levels, they arranged the formation very skillfully. In less than a moment—5,000 "Dangya" hoplites were at the forefront of the ranks, with 5,000 crossbowmen in the middle, 15,000 lightly armored men at the back of the ranks, and 5,000 cavalry standing on the right side of the infantry ready to attack—and the formation was complete.

With this set of formations, even in the face of cunning and brave Turkic cavalry archers, the Youyan army will not fall behind, which is a stunt that the Youyan army relies on to become famous.

Qiu Yizhi saw that the formation of this square had been completed, and he knew that he was invincible, so he held the order flag in his hand, shook it in the air, and pointed forward.

One of the crossbowmen in the formation saw the flag clearly, so he held the heavy crossbow in both hands, walked to the front of the large array, and without aiming, he shot a crossbow arrow with a red ribbon tied at the end. The crossbow arrow dragged its blood-red tail like a lightning bolt that was red all around, piercing the sky and plunging straight into the ground. The arrows fired from the crossbow were so powerful that the entire body of the arrow plunged into the ground, leaving only a ribbon still exposed to the ground, fluttering in the wind.

The crossbowmen of the Youyan army did not fire this crossbow arrow aimlessly, but to determine how far the bow and crossbow could reach in today's wind direction.

Seeing that the ribbon was only six or seven steps away from the imperial court officials and soldiers, Qiu Yizhi already knew it in his heart, and waved the command flag in his hand again, and pointed forward to the enemy formation.

The 5,000 crossbowmen hidden behind the giant shield of the Dangya camp saw the banner order, stepped forward in unison, went around to the front row, and under the command of the corresponding officers of the 1,000 general and 100 households, aimed at the enemy in a volley.

In an instant, the arrows, which were no more than five inches long, rushed towards the officers and soldiers. Officers in the army wearing chain mail or willow leaf armor can still withstand the short arrows fired by the locusts. The infantrymen in ordinary leather armor did not have this good fortune, and could only use their flesh and blood to contend with this deadly blade, and finally lost without any suspense.

For a time, the infantry in the front row of the officers and troops had been shot dead and wounded by hundreds of people, and a wailing sound resounded in the sky, and the formation seemed to be a little disordered.

Qiu Yi was very happy to see that the first salvo had won a large number of people, so he gave the order to let the crossbowmen continue to shoot at the officers and soldiers.

Commanding the army, even the most cowardly and incompetent generals should see the power of the crossbowmen of the Youyan army, not to mention the former general Dai Luanxiang, who is known for being a famous general. However, he seemed unmoved by the power of the Youyan army's crossbows in the army, and calmly ordered the bodies of the dead and wounded soldiers to be carried back to the camp, and the formation remained unchanged, while the archers took a step forward to shoot at the Youyan army.

Seeing that the commander was so calm, the officers and soldiers finally stabilized, rearranged their formations, and fired at the enemy. It's just that the range of this archer is far inferior to the crossbow on the opposite side, and the bow and arrow shot out drew a parabola in the sky, and then fell weakly, one by one, and stuck upside down on the mud ground that was still about ten steps away from the Youyan army.

The crossbowmen on the side of the Youyan Army, seeing that the bows and arrows shot from the opposite side were like green onions emerging from a barren land, felt funny in their hearts, with a sense of superiority, unhurriedly pulled out the crossbow machine, mounted the arrows, took a slight aim, and shot forward.

So 5,000 crossbow arrows let out a thrilling "Xiu Xiu" and swooped down on the officers and soldiers again, taking 200 lives and leaving countless wounded behind.

Even if he was as calm as Dai Luanxiang, he could no longer ignore the huge gap in long-range firepower, and hurriedly ordered the whole army to retreat into the camp.

The official army had already been terrified by the crossbow arrows of the Youyan army, and only with their trust in Dai Luanxiang could they barely support it without a rout. Now that I heard that Marshal Dai personally ordered the retreat, I only hated my father and mother for missing two legs, and turned around and retreated to the camp, almost losing my armor.

Dai Luanxiang saw that the soldiers under his command retreated in such a hurry, so he had to shake his head helplessly while sitting on the horse, and took his personal guards to personally retreat into the camp.

Although the retreat of the officers and soldiers was not dignified, it was expensive in the word "fast". After the crossbowmen of the Youyan Army fired for a while, before they could complete the preparations for pulling the strings and setting the arrows, the officers and soldiers who had left the camp had already left.

You must know that the people who face the Youyan army have always been steppe knights who are brave and not afraid of death. Without the consent of the leader, even if they are in a desperate situation, they will not retreat easily, and they will always fight until the last soldier is considered to be completely defeated.

Therefore, when he saw that the official army in front of him had the title of "forbidden army", but he fled so decisively after only two volleys, the elite Youyan crossbowmen were a little at a loss, standing in place, and looking back at the commander Qiu Yizhi.

Qiu Yizhi saw that he was worthy of his efforts, so he beat Dai Luanxiang, who was known as the "famous general at home", to shrink his head, and he was extremely proud in his heart, so he waved the command flag, still taking the crossbowman as the lead, and commanding the whole army to press up.

The crossbowmen stood at the forefront of the large array, and advanced first, only a hundred paces away from the entire official and military camp, before they were ordered to stop. It turned out that Qiu Yizhi saw that the entire camp of the official army was already covered by the range of his crossbows, so he ordered the crossbowmen to fire a volley at them again to reduce the sharpness of the officers and troops, and then organize a large group of men and horses to launch a general attack.

So the crossbowmen in the front row stopped, but because all the officers and soldiers were hiding in the camp and had no aim, they had to shoot a crossbow arrow at the front camp, then put down their crossbows and retreated. The lightly armed soldiers behind him hurried forward, stood in the front row, and were about to listen to the command of the main general, so they went to seize the camp and strive for a complete victory.