Chapter 774 Beating the Drum
A chariot drove out from the Yuan Jun position, and someone in the car seemed to be reading something aloud. But Zhang Chong was a bit far away and couldn't hear clearly, so he simply continued to observe Yuan Shao's front.
In fact, to a certain extent, this is the battlefield chosen by Yuan Shao. First, Li Zheng led his troops to line up here, and then Li Tong and others. After that, Yuan's troops who came from the south bank of Yishui also followed here. Set up the formation.
Zhang Chong discovered that there was indeed something about the place chosen by the enemy, that is, the terrain was getting higher and higher from north to south.
In other words, the height of Yuan Shaofang's formation is higher than his own, and this is not good news.
In military art, this kind of battlefield terrain is also called commanding heights, and whether it is commanding positions, key positions, strategic maneuvers, etc., they are all based on commanding heights.
As long as people are still on the earth and follow the laws of physics, going from top to bottom will be much easier than going from top to bottom.
Fighting at a high altitude, Yuan Shao can gain a wider field of vision, increase the range of his bow and arrow, and even gain psychological confidence that he has an advantage.
But Zhang Chong just made a brief assessment and believed that the impact of this height on the war might not be that high.
Then Zhang Chong began to run continuously in front of his own formation, waving his whip constantly, and bursts of cheers broke out from all over the formation.
In every decisive battle, these Taishan soldiers can see the figure of their king in front of the battle, and he will always be with them.
Another half moment passed after that. While the Taishan Army was doing pre-war mobilization, the Yuan Army on the opposite side was also starting to prepare its army.
When the chariots that were originally out of the battle went back frustrated because no one on the Taishan Army side cared about them, the battalions of the Yuan Army also began their pre-war preparations.
Not to mention the combat readiness of the other five armies, the upper five armies directly under Yuan Shao's account can be said to be extremely luxurious with a total strength of 25,000.
When the sun shines on this land, the positions of the five armies of Yuan's army reflect a strong light, which is the glow of countless armors, helmets, swords and spears.
And Yuan Shao also has reason to be proud of his army. The Fifth Army is not only well-equipped and neat in appearance, but also has the highest loyalty and love for him.
At this time, Yuan Shao was standing on the chariot. He did not race before the battle like the opposite Zhang Chong, but lined up behind the formation, constantly holding various battle flags. Each time a colorful battle flag was raised, its corresponding military formation A passionate shout broke out.
Yuan Shao is using a different method from Zhang Chong to boost morale, and it is obvious that the effect is very good.
Yuan Jun's tit-for-tat shouts here could not affect Zhang Chong at all. He was already very familiar with such decisive battles, and he knew exactly what to do now.
After patrolling the formation, Zhang Chong returned to the Chinese army's tent on the east side of the dense forest.
At this time, all the staff there were busy, adjusting Yuan's army on the sand table based on the military reports just sent from each army.
Zhang Chong just looked at the sand table, constantly responding to the scenes in his mind. Then he pointed to a place east of Yuan Jun and reminded:
"This should be Li Zheng's left army, not Nanyang soldiers."
The staff who were reminded were in a daze for a moment, and then hurriedly compared it with the military report that had just been sent. It was sent by Guo Mo's department opposite it, and the military report clearly showed that what the king said was correct.
So the staff were frightened, and they were so frightened that they wanted to plead guilty.
But Zhang Chong shook his head and said seriously:
"Do things."
Therefore, the staff hurriedly changed the small flag of Yuan Jun on the opposite side.
At this time, on the sand table, all the battalions represented on the Yuan Army's front were almost completely deployed, but Zhang Chong never saw where the enemy's cavalry was deployed.
So he asked everyone again:
"Where are Yuan Jun's cavalry?"
No one replied, because no one had received the relevant military report. At this time, there were hurried footsteps outside the military tent. Tian Feng, who was beside Zhang Chong, quickly rushed to greet him. After a while, he came back and shouted:
"Yuan Jun suddenly rode on the enemy's right wing."
Zhang Chong quickly looked towards the sand table and thought:
"The enemy's right wing is on our left? That's Xie Bi's Wei Bo Army."
At this time, on the sand table, the small flags of each army on the Taishan Army's side had already been prepared. In order to deal with the enemy's long military formation, the Taishan Army's armies also lined up from east to west.
To the east is Xie Bi's Wei Bo Army, then Li Wu's Guangwu Army, then Zhang Da's Xiongwu Army, then Zhang Nan's Gongsheng Army, Wei Zhou's Fengxiang Army, and Guo Mo's Baotao Army.
These six armies had been on the battlefield of Yiluo before, so they took the lead in confronting the second guard army of Li Tong and Li Zheng on the opposite side. Among these six armies, Zhang Nanlai was basically in charge, and then Zhang Da served as assistant.
If these six armies can be regarded as the left army, then they can be regarded as the middle section to the west of Guo Mo's Leopard Tao Army. They are in order Guo Song, the leader of the Flying Bear Army, Wang Han, the leader of the Xiaoqi Army, Zhao Yun, the leader of the Controlling Crane Army, and the leader of the Feihu Army. Xu Huang, Shesheng Army leader Chen Huan, and three generals Zhang Zhen, Zhu Ling, and Gao Shun.
Zhang Chong's main battle formation is located behind this line.
Then to the west of the three generals Zhang Zhen, Zhu Ling, and Gao Shun are Luo Gang, the leader of the Weiwei Army, Duan Xiu, the leader of the Zhenwu Army, Zhao Jian, the leader of the Tiance Army, Xu Zhong, the leader of the Longxiang Army, and Yu Jin, who is still behind. Wada Shun. Tian Jun led thousands of Tuqi troops under his command to assist Jin.
The above is the arrangement of the Taishan Army.
However, despite the large-scale military momentum, the length of Taishan Army was still half shorter than that of Yuan Army on the opposite side. This was clearly shown on the sand table at this time.
The enemy's army in the middle was almost as numerous as our own army, but the wings were spread out left and right, like an eagle with spread wings, ready to pounce on its prey.
The arrangement of the Yuan Army on the opposite side was also laid out by the staff of the Chinese Army, and thanks to the Taishan Army's detailed operations and inside lines within Yuan Army, the chief generals of each army were also figured out by the Taishan Army.
Different from the Taishan Army, Yuan Shao's subsequent main force was divided into two as soon as it came up. Among them, Zhou Xin of the left guard army led five armies and was deployed on the right side of Li Tong. His subordinates were Wu Zhou and Dai Xian. , Huan Dian, Zhou Fei and his younger brother Zhou.
Among these five armies, except for brothers Zhou Xin and Zhou, who were from Kuaiji, the other four were all wealthy families in Runan. They were either Confucian scholars or famous local families.
Of course, the combat strength of the five armies of the Zuohu Army, which is mainly composed of the wealthy tribes and the Runan Yellow Turbans, seems to be a little weaker, so it is no wonder that Yuan Shao would place his most elite Xifu Cavalry here.
However, they surrounded Li Tong's army and saw that Yuan Shao's intentions were quite ambiguous.
Further west on the Zuohu Army side is Li Tong's main formation. His army now has only four armies. From right to left are Liu Jing, Wu Shuo, his own army, and Chen Gong.
Further west on Li Tong's side are Li Zheng's troops. His army has a standard five-army organization, and from right to left, they are Li Tai, Li Xian, Li Yun, Li Zhengbenzhen, and Li Qian. They are all of the Cheng family and Li family, and outsiders cannot get in. Water cannot be poured into it.
Further west on Li Tong's side are Yuan Shu's Wenpin Army, then Liao Heng and Fan Chun's Second Army under the Central Guard Army, and further west are Yuan Shao's Shangfifth Army and Shaowu Army's leader Chunyu Dao. , Li Guan, the leader of the Shaojie Army, Liang Sheng, the leader of the Shaowei Army, Linghu Jian, the leader of the Shaode Army, and Sima Lang of the Shaozhong Army. Yuan Shao's main formation and the direct Red Heart Army are arranged behind the Fifth Army.
Further to the west, there is Yuan Shu's army, Ji Ling, and Yuan Shu's main formation is also set up here. On the left side of Ji Ling are Guo Dan, Gao Gan, and Feng Ji under the Central Guard Army. Chunyu Qiong of the Central Guard Army is set up here.
Then heading west at Fengji, the last army was Yuan Shu's rear army general Liu Xun.
The above is the military formation on Yuan Shao's side. There are about twenty-six armies, almost twice as many as Taishan's army.
Originally, the staff of the Taishan Army did not know much about the composition of Yuan's army, but now that it was laid out on the sand table, they realized that Yuan Shao's side had a lot of people.
But there is nothing to worry about, because just from this formation, Zhang Chong can see the hidden dangers within Yuan Shao.
The first one is that he split Yuan Shu's three armies, and specifically placed Liu Xun on the far left. It seems that the enemy army knew very well that if Zhang Chong and the others wanted to attack mainly, they would probably attack his left wing, so they Liu Xun's troops were placed there as cannon fodder.
At the same time, in order to prevent the left wing from collapsing, Yuan Shao deployed elite central guards there, such as the four generals Guo Dan, Gao Gan, Feng Ji, and Ji Ling. Zhang Chong had heard of them all and knew that these people were not mediocre generals. .
As a person who can leave his name in history, he naturally has something.
Secondly, Zhang Chong also saw Yuan Shao's uneasiness about Li Tong and Li Zheng. He specially arranged the five armies of the Zhou brothers on Li Tong's right side, and also added elite cavalry. In addition to intending to use the right wing as the main attack direction, he was probably also guarding against Li Tong.
To the left of Li Tong and Li Zheng is Yuan Shao's central guard army. It can be said that they are completely surrounded by two Lis. Once there is any movement between these two people, what awaits them is a thunderous strike.
Zhang Chong became more and more happy as he watched. At this time, Xun You and others also expressed similar views. It seemed that the contradictions within the enemy army were really acute.
But Zhang Chong frowned when he saw the chess piece with the horse's head carved on it, because this chess piece represented Yuan Shao's Xifu Cavalry.
Yuan Shao's Xifu Cavalry is a heavy cavalry unit built by him. Unlike the general assault cavalry who use long spears or short spears, the Xifu Cavalry and Horses are all wearing armor, and they carry shields and long spears.
Zhang Chong had seen the battle of these Xifu heavy cavalry in Jinyong City before. The military discipline was strict, especially under the leadership of the brave general Wen Chou, who was tough and fierce.
It can be said that the strength of this armored cavalry is still very fearful to Zhang Chong.
So when Zhang Chong personally placed the horse-shaped chess piece on the far right side of Yuan Jun's formation, he also moved a chess piece from one side of his own formation and placed it on his left wing.
Then, Zhang Chong ordered:
"Ask Pang De to move the armored cavalry battalion to the left wing and be directly under Zhang Nan's command."
An aide immediately wrote a military report and handed it to a general who was crossing the border, and then the general who was holding a golden arrow went straight to the armored cavalry position behind the curtain.
A moment later, the Chinese army's curtain side felt the ground shaking. It was the armored cavalry camp moving, and the wind and sand blew away some of the outer curtains.
After that, some military reports continued to come from the peripheral command cavalry, such as any unusual movements of the enemy in front of him, or the discovery of a small number of enemy sentry cavalry in certain places. All this information came one after another.
An ordinary military commander would have been overwhelmed by this information and would not know what the battlefield situation was like.
Where is the enemy's main force, which direction is the main attack, what are the generals of each army, and what is their combat effectiveness. That's why there is such a thing as battlefield fog.
However, through placement and bribery, as well as the help of internal agents who took the initiative to defect, the Taishan Army had figured out the situation of the generals of Yuan Shao's armies, and then through sand table layout, they had figured out Yuan's army's troops and subordinates throughout the battle line.
At this time, the situation between the enemy and ourselves on the sand table is simply clear.
It can be said that at the battlefield decision-making level, Yuan Shao must still be confused, but Zhang Chong already has a clear understanding of the situation.
But this does not mean that Zhang Chong has the wisdom in his hands.
He is listening to the reports of each army very carefully now. This information is not very important. Some of it may be the subjective vision of some sentries, or it may be the fog released by Yuan Jun, but no one knows. Now it is a The team is playing idle chess, but as the battlefield situation develops, will it become a factor that determines success or failure?
Therefore, no matter how long and complicated it was, Zhang Chong listened carefully and deduced the real situation based on the situation on the sand table.
Zhang Chong twitched his chin and suddenly asked again:
"Where are Zhang Dan and Yue Jin now?"
Dong Zhao had everything under control and hurriedly replied:
"Ye Jingshou has arrived at the lower reaches of Luoshui River and can cross the river to join the battle at any time. The same is true for General Le. He has now moved to the Yanshi area, but there have been no military reports in recent days."
Zhang Chong nodded and was not surprised, because Le Jin was now on the side and rear of Yuan Shao's army. He had to pass through a long enemy communication line to communicate with his army, and he was easily discovered by Yuan's army.
Therefore, in order to lurk, it is very reasonable for Le Jin to choose silence, and he also believes in Le Jin's leadership ability. Even if he does not obtain the situation from his own army, he will judge the time to attack on his own.
At this point, Zhang Chong has understood everything he wants to know and has completed all the arrangements. This is like holding a handful of dice in your hand. All you need to do at this time is to blow into the palm of your hand and then throw it in.
Then he asked Cai Que and Guo Zu to wear armor for him.
This time Zhang Chong did not wear the original mirror armor. The armor was left in Kyoto because it was too damaged during many years of fighting. At this time, Cai and Guo gave Zhang Chong a new pair of armor to wear. First.
However, it is still the same as the mirror armor. It is sparkling all over, and curved surfaces are used as much as possible at every angle, so that the incoming arrows can be sliced away to the maximum extent.
They first put a thick layer of linen clothing on Zhang Chong, and sewed cowhide on some seriously injured areas. Then they put a chain mail coat on top of the linen clothing, and then assembled this set of "Mirror Armor for Protecting the Country."
After Zhang Chong finished dressing up, the two men put a gorgeous sleeveless robe on Zhang Chong, with the sun, moon and stars painted on it, which was the Taiping people's imagination of Huang Tian.
After all preparations were completed, Zhang Chong sat on the horse and said calmly to the soldiers behind him:
"Bang the drum!"
So, one hundred and twenty-six shirtless warriors who had been prepared long ago began to beat the war drums. These warriors have a very heavy task. Just to start the war at this moment, they have to beat the drum three hundred times without stopping once.
However, the strong men who had already eaten and drank enough, with infinite faith and physical strength, began to pound the drum heads vigorously, and the sound of the drums became more intense.
The powerful and heavy sound of the drum was so frightening that the birds in the nearby dense forest fell like rain, and the sound of the drum spread farther and farther.
Everyone knew that the war had begun.
(End of chapter)