Chapter 754 Going to battle
In the third year of Taiwu, on May 28th, Pingdan, Yuan Shao defended the army in front.
The night before, a message came from the Chinese army in the rear, saying that each battalion would be divided into Yishui at dawn today so that it could launch an attack on the Taishan Army in advance.
But before dawn today, the Xinqi of the Chinese Army came over again and conveyed a new military order. They said that it was because the armies of Duke Chen were now spread too far apart, and many battalion troops could not be gathered back. In addition, The roads in this area were extremely difficult to navigate due to heavy rain and mud, so the attack continued to be postponed.
This made Zhang He, the former head coach of the Guards, very dissatisfied. As soon as he heard these words, he knew what the friendly troops were doing.
What troops failed to gather back? These people actually went out of camp to harm the leaders of the local communities in the heavy rain. They were really unworthy of human beings.
And forget about the disaster, they dare to affect the timing of the decisive battle. You must know that the more you can enter the battlefield in advance and arrange the situation, the more opportunities you can seize.
This battle involves the future of the Central Plains and even the world, and these people are so lazy that Zhang He wants to kill them with a knife.
But just from Yuan Shao's statement, we can know that his lord must not have taken it seriously.
If you use such lenient methods to govern the army, there will be endless troubles.
But Zhang He couldn't say anything no matter how much he said now. As he said, this battle was a decisive battle that would determine the future of the world. Others could ignore the overall situation, but he had to.
Therefore, no matter how reluctant he was, Zhang He could only postpone the departure of the troops.
However, taking advantage of this free time, he also ordered the baggage bearers of each battalion to cook breakfast, so that the brothers could have a hot meal before going to the battlefield.
Zhang He's former guards were the troops closest to the battlefield, so it was natural that they could clearly smell the meaty aroma coming from the other side last night, and this morning they saw the smoke from the kitchen on the other side of Luoshui, and they knew that there was another enemy coming from the other side. It’s time to eat meat.
This put great pressure on Zhang He. He didn't want to upset the hearts of his brothers, so although it was difficult, he still tried hard to add something to each battalion.
There wasn't much, just an extra plate of pickles for each person, but that was all Zhang He could do.
It's not like he hadn't told Yuan Shao about this situation. When he smelled the aroma of meat being eaten across the street yesterday, Zhang He rode to find Zao Zhi, hoping to allocate some meat to feed the former guards.
But at that time, Zao Zhi stuttered and told him that the army was almost out of meat, not to mention millet, but there were still some pickles left, and he asked Zhang He if he wanted them.
Zhang He was very angry. He didn't come here to ask for a few carts of pickles. Zhang He also considered himself Yuan Shao's confidant, so he tried to persuade Zao Zhi.
He told Zao Zhi that the enemy troops were eating meat. If the army did not express its intention, the morale of each battalion would definitely be affected.
The former guards were the first ones to go to the battlefield, and they were supposed to be rewarded, so a meal of meat was not too much.
Zao Zhi nodded, and told Zhang He seriously that his reason was sufficient and could not even be called excessive, but unfortunately, there was really no meat in the army and he, Zao Zhi, could not change.
However, he also told Zhang He not to panic. In his opinion, the smell of meat coming from the enemy was just a trick by the enemy, similar to the effect of being surrounded on all sides in the past, so Zhang He should not be deceived.
Zao Zhi used his many years of experience in handling logistics to tell him that no matter how talented the enemy was, they would never be able to assemble so much meat for the entire army. All of this was just a ploy by the opponent.
So what can Zhang He say? He finally returned to camp with several carts of pickles.
The moment he left the tent, he suddenly had a thought:
"You, Zao Zhi, also know that this is a plan to be surrounded by enemies on all sides. So don't you, Zao Zhi, know what happened to Chu's army back then?"
But he still didn't say the words.
Feeling depressed, Zhang He walked sadly through the camp of the Central Guards. Suddenly he smelled the familiar aroma of meat. Zhang He felt mixed emotions in his heart, but he still didn't say anything and went back dejectedly with these carts of pickles.
Zhang He knew the reason to some extent.
It must be a lie to say that there is no meat in the army. After all, everyone in the Duke of Chen fought a lot of blood in order to fight this decisive battle. Even the cattle that plowed the fields were brought to the front line for meat.
Yuan Shao knows how to settle this account. If he wins, there will naturally be more cattle in the future. If he loses, he will save money and use it as a guarantee of cattle. In the end, won't he still get an advantage from the Taishan Army?
How could Yuan Shao not understand this?
But it is true that there is meat, but it is also true that meat cannot be provided to the entire army. After all, the entire army is a real number of 100,000 people. If everyone can eat meat, how many cattle and sheep will be needed to build it.
So here comes the situation, there is only so much meat, who can eat it and who can’t.
The result was obvious that their former guard was the one who couldn't eat meat. Zhang He could guess the reason. It was simply because the former guard was Ju Yi's old unit and was suppressed.
But so what if Zhang He understands? Because he is also a vested interest in Yuan Shao's suppression of Ju Yi, he can only complete his task honestly and play his due role.
After Zhang He returned to the camp, he handed out the pickles. As for the words of encouragement, Zhang He also had the dignity to do so.
But in Zhang He's heart, he was determined to fight this battle well and let those people see that I, Zhang He, could achieve great success even with such an army.
Thinking of this, Zhang He returned to the military tent and prepared to rest. He got up too early in the morning and was still a little sleepy, so he had to catch up on his sleep first.
So he ordered the guards to keep an eye on the military orders from the Chinese army, and to wake him up as soon as there was an order.
……
At the same time, Yuan Shao was resting on Hu's bed.
Some of the young envoys accompanying the army were trimming Yuan Shao's nails, while Yuan Shao closed his eyes and rested, thinking about today's battle arrangements.
He kept mumbling something, suddenly saying that he wanted this army to take the lead, and suddenly saying that he wanted to use this army to provide support. In short, he could not form a military strategy.
In fact, this is not to say that Chen Jun does not have a decisive battle strategy, but that Yuan Shao himself always doubts himself.
Suddenly he had an idea and stood up regardless of the fact that the little envoy was trimming his nails. He walked outside the tent. At this time, a thin layer of morning mist rose outside. Feeling the breeze blowing, Yuan Shao laughed.
In the confusion of everyone, Yuan Shao suddenly ordered:
"Are the armies ready now?"
General Li Dian immediately replied:
"All armies have arrived at their designated positions and are ready to cross the river at any time."
Yuan Shao nodded, then put his hands on his lower back, pointed the riding whip straight to the north, and shouted:
"Strive for the crossing, fight for the crossing, and order all armies to leave camp immediately and seize the south direction of Yiluo Land."
Following Yuan Shao's order, dozens of soldiers who had been prepared jumped on their horses and rushed to each camp with orders.
Thinking that with his own order, thousands of troops would fight for the crossing, Yuan Shao's heart burst with heroism, and he thought that his troops could only be used like this.
……
But what Yuan Shao thought was a battle of thousands of armies did not happen.
In fact, when the cavalry of the Red Heart Corps rushed to Li Tong's rear guard, the dispatch of troops did not go smoothly.
At the very beginning, Li Tong, like Zhang He who was ahead of him, ordered the entire army to be ready at Pingdan, just waiting for Yuan Shaoling to march north across the river.
In the earliest military strategy, he, Li Tong, and the three armies of Li Zheng and Zhang He were the first batch of troops to cross the river. They would be responsible for the decisive battle with the main force of the Taishan Army. As for Yuan Shao's own army, Yuan Shu's troops, Chunyu Qiong and Zhou Xin's troops will remain on the south bank as reserve forces.
But later Li Tong received a military order from the Chinese Army saying that the action would be postponed, so Li Tong asked each battalion to cook first. When they were halfway through cooking, the Chinese army guard came again and told them to set off quickly.
Isn't this child's play?
Also because he felt that Yuan Shao's orders were changing overnight, Li Tong felt that the military orders would be changed later, so he calmly just told the guards that they knew, and then let each battalion continue to cook.
Li Tong changed his mind, but Li Tong's troops who were relatively close to Li Tong gritted their teeth and stayed when they saw that the rear guards did not move and there was still smoke burning over the camp.
Therefore, when Yuan Shao ordered to cross the river, only Zhang He, who was the former guard, hurriedly ordered each battalion to stop cooking and move out of the camp alternately according to the column formation.
The target is the north bank of Yishui.
……
In fact, Li Tong and Li Zheng really predicted wrong this time, that is, Yuan Shao thought very clearly and very cleverly this time.
The reason why he suddenly asked all the battalions to cross the river immediately was because he thought that after two days of heavy rain, the Yiluo River area must be very muddy.
This kind of mud actually has an advantage for Yuan Jun, that is, this kind of ground is very unfavorable for the impact and running of the cavalry.
The Taishan Army undoubtedly has a cavalry advantage over its own side. If it can rely on the muddy conditions of the battlefield to occupy important positions, it will undoubtedly weaken the enemy's cavalry advantage.
From this point of view, Yuan Shao thought very cleverly this time and even had a military talent.
A good commander can always take advantage of the right time and place to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses.
But unfortunately, this time Li Tong and Li Zheng's army did not seize this opportunity.
……
When Zhang He led his 15,000 troops across the river one after another, the Taishan Army was also in action to the north of Luoshui.
In Zhang He's direction are the three armies of the Taishan Army, namely Xie Bi's Wei Bo Army, Zhang Nan's Gongsheng Army, and Guo Mo's Baotao Army.
Yuan Shao's prediction was correct, that is, in the order of dispatching troops from the Taishan Army, the cavalry was not placed in the first row.
In fact, Zhang Chong and the other cavalry commanders knew very well that even if they had to use the cavalry in such weather, it would take a few more hours until the sun came up to dry up the battlefield.
Now using cavalry blindly will serve as a target for the enemy's crossbowmen.
And Zhang Chong also knew very well that in this decisive battle, the Taishan Army's assault cavalry was the winner, and in this battle, the Taishan Army's assault cavalry was far superior in both quantity and quality. Yuan Jun, so we must make full use of our own advantages as much as possible.
Xie Bi and Wei Bojun were arranged to cross the river in the third round, so they still had plenty of time to prepare before the war.
While the big pots in the camp were simmering for the meal, the officers and soldiers of each camp of Wei Bo's army took out the weapons and armor buried in the chaff valley, wiped and polished them.
In fact, the heavy rain in the past two days has had a great impact on the entire army.
Heavy rain and feathers can easily make these iron armors rust, so Wei Bojun's officers placed these armors in chaff to try to protect them.
But no matter how protected they were, many weapons would still get rusty in such heavy rain. For example, the joints of armor parts become stuck due to rust, and the edges of weapons become dull due to rust.
These are small details, but between life and death, these details will determine who survives.
Therefore, the more experienced the pawn is, the less he dares to neglect.
In addition, the crossbowmen in Wei Bo's army were also bending and stringing their bows.
Most of the bow strings were made of animal tendons, which would become soft and lose their elasticity when exposed to water, so they removed the bow strings in time before the heavy rain came.
There are still a large number of bowstrings here that have become wet and cannot be used, but fortunately the Taishan Army has sufficient reserves, so the long-range strike capability of the Wei Bo Army is guaranteed.
While Wei Bo's military officials were busy, Xie Bi was sitting on the horse and eating a meal leisurely with several camp generals.
This kind of hand-picked rice is a unique delicacy of the Taishan Army. It was first made by Zhang Chong in the army, and later developed to the entire army. Once before the war, the Taishan Army began to eat this kind of rice.
The Taishan Army's hand-picked rice is mostly simmered with meat oil and corn rice, which is delicious and can provide enough calories for the officials.
Xie Bi and the five battalions under his command were dining in an open area. They could clearly see the Gongsheng Army in front of them crossing together, but they seemed to have encountered some trouble, and there was no progress there. .
Then, Fei Yao, Xie Bi's former camp general and the leading fighting general in his army, known as the Tiger of Anping, spoke. He said to Xie Bi:
"Military Lord, would you like me to go take a look."
Xie Bi shook his head and was about to talk about eating when he lowered his head and saw that Fei Yao's bowl was empty. While lamenting how much he tipped, Xie Bi put the rice from his bowl into his.
Then Xie Bi looked at the other people and saw that most of them had finished eating. He couldn't help but smile:
"You have to eat slowly. Chew your food carefully and do not rush."
Fei Yao was getting a little anxious. After picking up Xie Bisheng's rice in a few mouthfuls, he said anxiously:
"Military leader, no matter how long it takes, let's set off as early as possible. The sooner we cross the river, the sooner we can catch Yuan Shao. We brothers are all afraid that this old thief will run away."
Xie Bi still ate his meal leisurely and shook his head:
"No, now Yuan Shao has no other way out except for a decisive battle with us. Besides, this is the battlefield he chose and the time he chose. If he escapes without fighting, we should be happy."
Fei Yao stopped talking. He was not a wise general, he just simply desired military glory.
Originally, they, the generals of Wei, thought that they would get the upper hand by challenging the king last night, but in the end, Zhang Nan's Gongsheng Army took the lead, so they felt like time was running out.
Coupled with the unhurried temperament of his military leader, it made the brothers even more anxious.
At this time, Fei Yao was chewing the pilaf in his mouth and looking at the Gong Sheng Army in front of him with longing eyes:
"Yuan Jun needs to hold on a little longer, and he must hold on until he arrives!"
……
To be honest, when Fei Yao looked longingly at Gong Sheng Army, Gong Sheng Army also encountered some trouble.
That is because of the heavy rain in the past two days, the water on both sides of the Luoshui River has swollen, and the ferry that originally wanted to cross the Luoshui River has been submerged, so the Gongsheng Army had to choose to cross the river at the backup ferry.
In fact, this ferry is very good, because the other side of it is a shoal, and it is very wide and can allow even ten warriors to land at the same time.
But unfortunately, this ferry was too famous, so the Taishan Army was worried that it would be targeted by the enemy in advance, so it was listed as an alternative.
Therefore, when the original ferry was inoperable, Zhang Nan decided to take the alternate ferry. So after some preparations, the Gongsheng Army, with a total number of 4,673 warriors, began to cross the river.