Having more troops has the advantage of having more troops, but it can also lead to sluggish troop scheduling and procrastinating operations.

Zu Lang led more than 40,000 people to meet Guan Yu this time, and in good conscience, this was the first time he had gathered so many troops in one battle since he was the king of Shanyue. Originally, the Han people and the Shanyue people had been in conflict for so many years, and they had always fought in the form of fighting on a small scale, and there was no such big battle at all.

With Zu Lang's experience in using soldiers, many things are inevitably dismantled and temporarily learned.

The Shanyue people's ruling structure of "flat management" is really not suitable for such large-scale scheduling, which is obviously what the Han people's "bureaucratic organization" is better at.

In the process of marching forward, it also occurred that the various departments were disjointed and could not keep up.

Especially at the beginning, Zu Lang ordered several tribes close to Yixian to go over the mountains to Yixian to assemble on their own, but they were actually blocked by the Ganning Department who took the initiative to expand the search area.

The lone Shanyue tribes, who had no superiority in strength, inevitably suffered losses of hundreds or thousands of people.

Although the absolute number is not much, the small defeat before the two consecutive decisive battles is very demoralizing. For a while, the chiefs of the various ministries complained one after another, and the messengers returned, so that Zulang also had to adjust his strategy.

Instead, all the troops were required to act together, and not to arrive at the Yixian battlefield in advance, so as not to widen the time difference in the speed of the march and give Guan Yu a chance to break through.

However, after the unified action of the various ministries, they had to assemble in Lingyang County first, and then go upstream along the Jingshui River.

Lingyang is in the upper reaches of Jing County, and it is also the most upstream county town along the Jingshui River, and from Lingyang to the top, it will completely penetrate into the Huangshan Mountains, and there are no more counties and towns.

Lingyang was already small, and 40,000 people came here to assemble, which suddenly made the small mountainous county crowded, and the logistics were more difficult to dispatch than in wartime.

On the way from Lingyang to the south, the Jingshui River valley became narrower and narrower, unable to accommodate tens of thousands of troops marching in formation, and finally dragged into a long snake formation, and the longer the line went, the longer it went.

Zu Lang saw these unfavorable factors in his eyes, and he was also secretly worried. He still knows how to order soldiers, and he knows that he is accumulating more and more military taboos, but there is no way.

……

The time soon came to the end of April, and it was already five days before Zu Lang sent his troops south.

Zu Lang's main force was still two days away from Yixian, but the scouts suddenly reported that Guan Yu's troops had been found in the main road of the Jingshuiyuan Valley in the south.

Guan Yu actually crossed the watershed between Poshui and Jingshui, and took the initiative to go north to meet it.

The news of Guan Yu's appearance of course immediately made the chiefs of the various Shanyue tribes nervous, and they began to discuss the strategy of the decisive battle.

Zu Lang's prestige was still there, and when he heard about this, he immediately asked: "Have you found out how many soldiers and horses the enemy army has?" Only the banner of the feather? No Ganning? ”

The scout replied: "Guan Yu is camped in the valley, and he can't see the number of soldiers and horses in the rear from a distance, as little as six or seven thousand, and as many as more than 10,000. I have never seen the Ganning banner. ”

The other brainless tribal chiefs immediately pouted: "King, let's fight!" At most, there are more than 10,000 people, and we will rush to annihilate Guan Yu! ”

Zu Lang glanced at them, and didn't bother to reprimand them for being brainless, but said calmly: "Although I don't know the art of war, I also know how to play up my strengths and avoid my weaknesses. The Han people are good at battle, and the more I am in the mountains, the more I am good at going over the mountains and the mountains.

Now that Guan Yu has occupied the Jingyuan River Valley, the terrain is relatively open, and he can fight with us in a big array, how can I let him get his wish? If we want to give full play to the strengths of our Shanyue warriors, of course, we must outflank them, climb over the mountains that the Han people feel are impossible to cross, cut off their grain routes and return routes, and then harass them in all directions in order to achieve complete victory! ”

Zu Lang still has a good idea of the characteristics of his army.

The Han people like to use spears to line up with spears, and they suffer a loss when they fight. The ring-headed knife, short spear, mace (Tribulus terrestris bone) of the Shanyue soldiers, the length of the weapon is not superior. Moreover, in the long-range weapons of bows and crossbows, the Han people also have an advantage, and the long-range weapons of Shanyue are more suitable for complex terrain operations.

When the other chiefs heard Zu Lang's words, they couldn't help but fall into thought, realizing that direct recklessness may not be the best choice.

However, at this moment, Zu Lang's cousin Zu Shan, who had suffered a loss once, seemed to have learned a lesson this time, and suddenly said: "King, what if Guan Yu also expected this, just wait for you to go around the mountain in a roundabout way, and then he asked Gan Ning to ambush us on the road we must take a roundabout?" ”

Zu Lang's eyes were white: "We have so many roads to detour, how could Guan Yu expect it?" ”

After Zushan was taught a lesson, he didn't dare to insist, but said weakly: "I don't know either...... All I know is that last time I was ambushed with Chen. Moreover, didn't the scout report that he didn't see the Gan Ning banner? So where did he go? ”

When Zu Lang heard this, he suddenly poured a basin of cold water on his head, and he calmed down a little.

Indeed, Guan Yu should not be familiar with the terrain around Huangshan, but Zushan was just ambushed more than ten days ago, and this experience is too close......

Moreover, where the hell is Gan Ning?

Zulang hesitated and decided to give up the risk.

In the final analysis, if you can't beat the head-to-head decisive battle, the pot is spread in various parts. If he decides to take a risk and fails to defeat him in the end, then all the responsibility will be on him, the co-leader of the various tribes, and those tribes who are jealous of his status will jump out at that time.

In the final analysis, it is the loose form of tribal alliance organization of Shanyue, which cannot be risked by the alliance leader.

Just like the Peloponnesian War hundreds of years ago in the West, the organizational form of Athens was certainly inferior to the centralized Sparta in terms of decision-making, and it was bound to lose to Sparta in the end.

Athens even allowed the citizens' assembly to vote for a certain general who did not fight well and killed him, so how could the general let go of his hands and feet?

And Guan Yu on the opposite side told Gan Ning not to appear in a hurry and give the enemy a little hidden and unknown threat, which is also the deployment idea that the Zhuge brothers taught him. Although the final implementation was refined by Guan Yu himself.

Zhuge Jin's idea is like a famous saying in the game of later generations: the jungler of quantum superposition is the most deterrent jungler, as long as I don't appear in any line, then I may appear in any line.

Zu Lang was eventually forced to choose to fight Guan Yu head-on.

……

One day later, on the second day of the fifth month.

The two sides were finally driven to the shelves, pressed each other along the Jingshui, and entered a state of imminent battle.

Guan Yu deployed the main force of 6,000 people on the flat land of the river valley on both sides of Jingshui, and let the Ganning troops hide and set up an ambush on the slopes of the two wings.

Zu Lang on the opposite side also came with tens of thousands of people to meet him, but because of the narrow valley, Zu Lang's troops were dragged for a long time, and the troops that could be invested in the battle were not much more than Guan Yu.

Zu Lang could only let the light troops spread to the slopes of the two wings as much as possible to outflank them, trying to form a posture of attacking Guan Yu on three sides, and try to give full play to his own numerical advantage.

Soon the two formations were in a circle, Guan Yu personally went out of the horse, and brought dozens of riding school swordsmen, as well as some scolding players, and scolded Zu Lang to hit morale:

"Zulang! I beg the thief by the edict of the Son of Heaven! You're still obsessed! The Son of Heaven has canonized Zhuge Jin as the Taishou of Danyang, and Liu Yangzhou has also sent Tai Shici, the commander of Danyang, to help in the war.

Tai Shi Ci has now taken the whole territory of Spring Valley, you are still here with me, in a few days, when Tai Shi Ci first takes Wuhu, and then Xia Jing County, you will be homeless! ”

"What? Liu Yangzhou was also puppeted by the Zhuge family? He also sent Tai Shi Ci to help in the war? When the Shanyue tribes on the opposite side heard the news before the battle, their momentum couldn't help but be a little shorter.

Although Tai Shici's official position is not high, in the local area of Danyang, those generals who lick blood with knives are generally knowledgeable and know Tai Shici's reputation. Suddenly, I heard that the enemy army had some more arms, and it was inevitable that I would waver.

As for the edict of the Son of Heaven to beg thieves or something, they may not believe it all. But in any case, these bad news are not known to them. When Chen Fu and Zushan were defeated by Guan Yu, the Han army had not yet obtained this edict.

Zu Lang saw that Guan Yu actually came up with a new rhetoric in public to hit his morale, and he couldn't help but be a little angry, knowing that he couldn't let Guan Yu talk about it at this time, so it was better to start fighting quickly.

Otherwise, the other side has nothing to refute, but the other party throws out bad news one by one, and the battle will not be able to fight for another quarter of an hour.

"The Wanling Department and the Ancient Territory Department are the vanguard, and they will quickly kill Guan Yu's army with me! Don't listen to his nonsense! Zu Lang gave the order, and the two tribes under his command who were the most fierce and fiercely launched a charge first.

The Shanyue warriors poured out like a tide and killed Guan Yu's army.

And Guan Yujun on the opposite side, compared to the noise of Shanyue, seemed very quiet.

The crossbowmen were the first to line up, and as soon as the Shanyue people entered the firing range, they immediately followed the orders to release their arrows.

All crossbowmen are also equipped with additional swords and shields, so that they can be kept close and can be fought and retreated.

The phalanx of pikemen was placed at the back of the formation, except that there was a corridor between the formations, so that the crossbowmen in the front row could retreat to the back of the formation for a while—

This kind of deployment is relatively rare in the grand battle between the Han people and the Han people, and the Han people often use the spear phalanx as the backbone and arrange it more forward. Moreover, there was no need to leave too many lanes between the pikes, so that the soldiers who fired their arrows could retreat to the two wings, and there were cavalry guards in the distance to prevent the enemy from outflanking.

It was only because of this mountainous terrain that the river valley was relatively narrow, and Guan Yu did not have cavalry, so he temporarily changed his formation to such a column and used the Yongdao for the crossbowmen to retreat.

"Shoot the arrows!"

With the rounds of orders from General Guan Yujun, the crossbowmen in the front row aimed at it in a squatting position, the crossbowmen in the back row shot horizontally in a standing position, and the archers threw it in a standing position, and the firepower gradient was very rigorous.

The bow and arrow have higher requirements for continuous arm strength, and it is more difficult to exert force in the squatting position, so Guan Yu does not make special requirements.

The crossbowman requires a certain amount of physical strength when winding, but it is very labor-saving when the string is ready to be activated, and the crouch shooting does not affect the effect at all.

Before the war, Guan Yu noticed that the Shanyue soldiers generally had no armor, and only used a round shield made of hard wood to block the arrows, so he specially temporarily trained and asked the crossbowmen to squat and shoot flat.

In any case, the ability to make the crossbowman calmly crouch down and release the arrow is itself a manifestation of the quality of the troops' training. When crouching soldiers face the enemy's charge, they are already at a high disadvantage, and it will be very dangerous once they get into close combat.

Guan Yu has been training for several months, and he can not only share the joys and hardships of Li Guang and the soldiers, but also have the same rewards and punishments as Wei Huo. The two-pronged approach was used to train the only crossbowmen in the army to such a psychological quality in such a short period of time.

This kind of tactic is very difficult for others to imitate.

For a time, the arrow was like a mountain, and he shot indiscriminately at the thighs of the Shanyue people who were only covered by burlap culottes, shooting countless Shanyue warriors down on the charging road.

And because there are layers of soldiers in the back row on the aiming axis, the hit rate is simply extremely high, even if the soldiers in the front row dodge, they will shoot into the calf of a comrade in the back.

The charging formation of the Shanyue people was suddenly chaotic, and many Shanyue soldiers who were hit by arrows in the legs immediately fell to the ground and rolled and wailed, and were trampled to death by the soldiers behind, which was unbearable.

Although the crossbowman only has a chance to deliver three arrows, it still leaves the front row of enemies in chaos.

Seeing that the enemy army rushed in front of them, the crossbowmen hung their crossbows on their backs under the order of the officers, and then drew their ring-headed knives, raised their shields to fight, and fought and retreated in an orderly manner.

Guan Yujun's crossbowmen are no better than those militia archers, with strong arm strength and excellent psychological quality, and they can also fight hand-to-hand with a sword and shield for a short time.

In less than a cup of tea between the two sides, Guan Yujun's crossbowmen successfully retreated through the corridor between the spear phalanx. The Shanyue soldiers chased after each other, and finally crashed directly into the spear phalanx.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! The pikemen shouted in unison to stab, and the guns came out like a forest. The situation of the front-line battle was slightly reversed in an instant, and the disadvantage in the length of the Shanyue soldiers' weapons was too obvious, and Rao had several times the advantage of troops, but he could not force back the Han army's gun formation, but was stabbed down by rows and rows.

Zu Lang in the rear observed this and immediately became anxious, knowing that his subordinates were fighting too recklessly and did not give full play to the advantages of the Shanyue people at all.

"Zushan, you bring me two battalions of men and horses, detour from the slopes on both sides, and then rush down to attack the flanks of Guan Yu's spear formation! How can you only rely on a frontal hard attack to deal with the spear formation! Besides, the valley is not wide enough! ”

Zushan and another Shanyue general were ordered, and immediately each led a battalion to charge and kill from the slopes on both sides.

However, as the order was executed, they soon realized that Zulang's request was not easy to achieve.

Guan Yujun placed the spear formation in a very backward position, and with the retreat of the crossbowmen, the middle of Guan Yu's army had been concave, and it had become a "U" shaped formation, with the two wings relatively convex, and it was very difficult to go around the back.

And just when they tried Zushan, more banners were suddenly erected on the hillside, and the two wings of the Han army were originally covered, and it was Ganning's Jinfan Battalion and Danyang soldiers who were killed.

"How could Gan Ning be ambushed here?"

"How can the Han people be so good at climbing mountains! How can there be so many Danyang soldiers! Didn't you say that they were all Han soldiers? ”

A series of unexpected bad news further hit the morale of the Shanyue people.

With the possibility of a detour temporarily blocked, the Shanyue people could only rely on short soldiers and the Han army's gun formation to face hard, and the flexible characteristics of the Shanyue people could not be brought into play for a while, but the valley was narrow and could not show too many troops, and there were too many people to invest at once.

After a quarter of an hour of bloody strangulation between the two sides, as the casualties reached in the thousands, Zulang realized that he was being dragged into a quagmire that could not be used against him in any way.

He had no choice but to order the rear army, which had not yet been engaged in the battle, to withdraw first and strive for an orderly stop loss.

As for the front army, which was fighting hand-to-hand, they had to let them stand up for a while longer, so as to gain enough time for the middle army and the rear army to open up more distance.

However, Guan Yu would not give him this opportunity either, and soon after Zu Lang began to retreat, Guan Yu let the troops squeeze forward and shout in unison.

"Zulang is defeated! Zulang is defeated! ”

"You've been tricked! You have been abandoned by Zulang! Surrender quickly! Those who descend will not be killed! ”

The Shanyue front army that fought the attack soon collapsed, and Guan Yu destroyed the withering and decaying to cover up and expand the results of the battle, and pursued for more than ten miles before stopping.

Gan Ning originally wanted to chase again, but Guan Yu stopped him: "Mountain pursuit is easy to be ambushed, Zu Lang's troops are not weak, if he retreats and leads us into a battlefield that is not suitable for formation, and then turns around to fight, our army will also suffer heavy casualties."

The battlefield here was carefully selected by our army before the war, so how could we find such a good battlefield in a hurry? If there are also mountains on the slopes on both sides that have not retreated, then we will be attacked from three sides, and we will inevitably be defeated. ”

Gan Ning thought that it really made sense, so he accepted the idea of being greedy.

After all, the Shanyue people have much more troops than them, and the pikemen have to play an advantage, and the formation and terrain requirements are too high, and they will definitely suffer a big loss if they chase their own formation and scatter.

The two turned back to clean up the battlefield, purge the remnants of the enemy, and finally found that in today's battle, they captured and wounded at least 4,000 Shanyue and captured more than 7,000 people.

Guan Yu accepted it when he saw it, returned to the army overnight, crossed the watershed of Huangshan again, and returned to Yixian to station.

During Guan Yu's withdrawal from the siege, some Shanyue tribesmen on Lin Li Mountain took the opportunity to break through and escape down the mountain, and went to She County and other places for temporary refuge, obviously not wanting to follow Chen Fu to the black.

Guan Yu didn't care about those deserters, but just started the siege of Lin Lishan again, and sent people to persuade him to surrender, spreading the bad news that "your reinforcements have been repulsed" to the soldiers on the mountain who were guarding the danger. Chen's servants were also demoralized again.

On the other side, Guan Yu won the battle and sent a messenger to Zu Lang to persuade him to surrender again, saying that on the battlefield, the sword was silent. Today, Zushan led a team to attack the mountain and was killed by Gan Ning, hoping that Zu Lang would not hold grudges, as long as he came to surrender and accept the court's drive, he would not be guilty of the past.

When Zu Lang received the letter, he didn't have much hatred in his heart, Zu Shan's idiot hurt him like this, he really didn't mind Gan Ning killing that guy.

And Guan Yu has already released Zushan once before, what else is there to say?

In the real world, it is impossible to really release people seven times in a row like Li Qi captured Meng Shu, and that would be repaid. If you don't take the opportunity once, you will die the second time, this is the norm.

However, Zu Lang didn't want to surrender directly after all, so he chose to retreat and return to Jing County to watch, and at the same time replied to Guan Yu with a letter, hoping that the two would not offend each other, and he could no longer take hostile actions in the future.

After reading the letter, Guan Yu pondered for a while, and roughly figured out Zu Lang's mentality.

"It seems that this Zulang also knows that my Han officers and soldiers are not comparable to the past, and they are unwilling to fight. It's just that I still feel that the mountains are precipitous, and if he guards against the danger, we can't take him-

It seems that Lin Lishan still has to attack this battle, break through Lin Lishan, kill Chen Fu, and also give a deterrent to other Shanyue tribes. Let them know that even such a dangerous mountain as Lin Lishan can be attacked and broken, and the small mountains they rely on are not a problem! ”

Gan Ning also felt that General Guan had figured it out well, and the enemy estimated that this was the mentality. It is impossible to fight a tough battle without fighting a single battle, and the strength of the imperial court must be demonstrated. Otherwise, there is a chance to be a free citizen, who is willing to contribute to the imperial court.

However, in order to maintain a long-lasting siege, the materials and preparations needed are not comparable to those of quick field battles, and Guan Yu had no choice but to continue to send letters to Zhuge Jin, asking for more food and grass and military supplies, as well as seeing if there are any equipment to attack the dangerous fortress that can be built.

After Zhuge Jin received the letter, he immediately expressed his full support.

He knew that this battle belonged to "one punch, lest a hundred punches come", and if he did not storm a dangerous mountain to show his muscles, the people of Shanyue would never be really convinced, and they would always have this luck.

In this case, it is better to do it all at once and completely destroy this bit of luck.