Zhao Yun's expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but look suspicious, as if he couldn't believe that Ma Teng would take the initiative to challenge.
You must know that since the battle of Hangu Pass in the previous period, the Xiliang army suffered heavy losses and has not had time to recover. The number of soldiers and horses that can be used to resist Yuan Fang's westward advance is only about 70,000 to 80,000.
With such a force, from the perspective of military tactics, Ma Teng should defend Tongguan and not be able to get out. He would be exhausted before Yuan Fangshi's old city and then retreat on his own.
The current situation is that Ma Teng actually dares to actively invite a battle with a weak force. This is really contrary to common sense. How can he not make Zhao Yun suspicious?
"If you don't hold on to Tongguan, will you challenge me? Ma Teng has a counselor like Chen Gongfazheng beside him, so he shouldn't be so impulsive to fight. In this battle, I think he will have something to rely on." Zhao Yundu was suspicious. How could Yuan Fang not be suspicious? .
Seeing the situation, Zhao Yun cupped his hands and said: "The Xiliang army takes the initiative to challenge, there must be a trick. Your Majesty, Yun thinks that we should refuse to fight."
Yuan Fang did not respond. After thinking for a moment, he called Zhuge Liang to come over.
After a while, Zhuge Liang came, and Yuan Fangfang asked: "Ah Liang, before I sent out the army, I asked you to make all the weapons to defeat the enemy. Have you finished making them?"
"Go back to Master. It was built half a month ago and is all taken with the army." Zhuge Liang said.
Hearing his disciple¡¯s words, Yuan Fang¡¯s face immediately gained some confidence and he slapped the table and said, ¡°If Ma Teng wants to fight, I will fight with him. Why don¡¯t I be afraid of him?¡±
With passion and passion, Yuan Fang was filled with murderous intent and no longer hesitated, and immediately approved Ma Teng's letter of challenge. Reply to tomorrow's showdown.
Zhao Yun was taken aback and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, Ma Teng's challenge is clearly based on something. Your Majesty, you must not fight out of anger."
"Zilong, don't you understand the king? Do you think the king is the kind of person who fights out of anger?" Guo Jia asked with a smile.
Zhao Yun was shocked and looked at Yuan Fang, his eyes were both curious and suspicious.
Yuan Fang sneered, waved his hands and said, "Zilong, don't worry. I have my own sense of proportion. Let's see what tricks Ma Teng can play in the battle tomorrow."
¡¡
The next day, noon.
Spring is warm but cold, a cold wind blows like a knife across the face. Arise unexpectedly.
The strong wind stirred up countless amounts of dust. The sky is full of dust and fog. Covering up all the light of the sun
150,000 Qi troops on foot and cavalry were waiting in formation, and there was silence. All the soldiers were as quiet as lifeless terracotta warriors and horses.
??The red rabbit is on horseback, Yuan Fang stands proudly with his halberd, looking to the west.
But at the end of the wilderness, billowing dust and mist were rolling in from the direction of the majestic Tongguan.
The ferocious horn sound came from the sand and fog, and it was still murderous.
Yuan Fang's soldiers did not have the slightest fear. The victory at Hangu Pass had completely shattered the myth of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry. The soldiers of the Qi Army all knew that the Xiliang people were also made of flesh and blood and were not invincible. The presence of victory.
At this moment, they have only one belief in their hearts:
Follow King Qi, advance fearlessly, and wipe out all enemies that prevent King Qi from unifying the world.
With the sand and fog rising into the sky, the rolling thunder and the trembling earth, the image of the Xiliang people finally entered Yuan Fang's field of vision.
The cavalry is covered with dark clouds, the battle flags are covering the sky, and the spear points are like a forest
Sixty thousand Xiliang cavalry, like a torrent that was ready to go, stretched for several miles, filling the field of vision of the Qi army officers and soldiers.
In an instant, Daqi's soldiers couldn't help but feel shocked when they saw such a powerful enemy.
Yuan Fangye¡¯s eyebrows narrowed slightly, and his heart felt slightly agitated.
To be honest, when Yuan Fang defeated the Xiliang army at Hanguguan in the previous battle, Yuan Fang succeeded by attacking the enemy with fire and attacking at night.
In fact, Yuan Fang was afraid of the field maneuverability of the Xiliang cavalry, so he avoided a head-on confrontation with them and used a plan to defeat them.
Today, he has to fight head-on with 60,000 Xiliang cavalry in this wilderness.
"It seems that today is destined to be a fierce battle"
Facing the menacing Xiliang cavalry, Yuan Fang took a deep breath, raised his halberd and shouted: "The defeated enemy has nothing to fear, please cheer up the king and prepare to meet the enemy!"
Yuan Fang gave a fearless shout, bursting with fierce determination and self-confidence. The soldiers of the three armies were infected by it, and their slightly shocked moods immediately calmed down.
150,000 soldiers, as sharp as iron, fearlessly faced the approaching enemy cavalry.
Facing them, in the Xiliang army, the battle flag with the word "horse" fluttered proudly in the wind.
?Under the banner of the Chinese army, Ma Teng looked at the Qi army waiting in formation with a stern look on his face.
As the coach, Ma Teng¡¯s eyes flashed with fear from time to time.
Beside him, the eldest son Ma Chao looked proud, as if the Qi army in front of him was completely vulnerable and could be crushed and killed with just a few moves.
Zhang Xiu on the other side looked at the "Qi" flag from a distance, his face flashing with anger, and he was gnashing his teeth in hatred.
"Today I, Zhang Xiu, must avenge the hatred of taking away my wife. Yuan Fang, I want your head!" Zhang Xiu clenched the big gun in his fist and swore secretly.
The two armies were no more than five hundred steps apart. Ma Teng raised his whip, and the 60,000-strong army slowly stopped advancing.
"Commander Father, please let me attack. It's time to let Yuan Fang have a taste of our Ma family's cavalry. It's really powerful." Ma Chao proudly asked for the battle, his confidence was burning.
Ma Teng took a deep breath, raised his whip and said: "Meng Qi, as my father, I will order you to lead 30,000 cavalry to attack, and crush the Qi army's formation for me head-on."
"Commander father, just take a look." Ma Chao roared boldly and rode away.
At this time, Zhang Xiu also shouted urgently: "Father-in-law, Xiu invites the rest of the army to attack, and together with Meng Qi, we can wipe out that boy Yuan Fang."
Ma Teng hesitated for a moment, weighing whether he should invest all his troops at once.
At this time, Pound hurriedly said: "Yuan Fang is not a trivial matter. It would be too risky to send out the entire army. It is better to see how the major general's offensive goes before it is too late to press the entire army."
As soon as he said this, Zhang Xiu glared at Pang De and said sarcastically: "Pang Lingming, you are probably afraid of being beaten by Yuan Fang after losing to Yuan Fang. Don't forget, Yuan Fang just used Our ruse has been defeated. If he can still defeat my Xiliang cavalry in this head-to-head confrontation, my name, Zhang Xiu, will be written backwards!"
Zhang Xiu was extremely arrogant. He believed that Xiliang's cavalry was the best in the world and did not take Yuan Fang seriously.
Pound was once again ridiculed by Zhang Xiu, and he couldn't help but look angry. However, since Zhang Xiu was the third most powerful person in the Xiliang Army, he had to swallow his breath to avoid getting angry.
"There is some truth in what General Pang said. Yuan Fang should not be underestimated. General Zhang, it is better for us to be more cautious." Fazheng also spoke up and stood by Pang De.
Fazheng is Ma Teng's trusted advisor, so Zhang Xiu does not seem to be mocking Pound. Come to oppose the righteousness of the Fa. He could only snort coldly. Suppress your anger.
Ma Teng then followed the advice of Fazheng and Pang De and did not use all the troops for the time being, but only ordered his eldest son Ma Chao. Lead 30,000 cavalry to attack first.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
In the Xiliang army, more than a dozen cowhide drums rumbled, and the horn of attack suddenly sounded.
The military formation changed, the flags wavered, and the 30,000 Xiliang troops moved vigorously, forming more than a dozen huge cavalry formations, like steel city walls, advancing towards the Qi army.
After the dust and fog cleared, Yuan Fang finally saw clearly the description of the enemy cavalry in his far-sighted eyes.
The look in his eyes changed slightly.
What caught his eye was not the charging iron cavalry regiment as he had imagined, but a fish-scale shield formation formed by more than ten huge infantrymen.
I saw those Xiliang warriors, all holding large shields as tall as a person in their hands. The layers were stacked tightly and airtight. More than a dozen shield arrays moved forward slowly, like an iron wall pushing across.
"You turned into a shield formation from cavalry to infantry? Ma Teng, you are indeed prepared" Yuan Fang frowned.
At this moment, not only Yuan Fang, but also the soldiers of the Qi army have clearly seen the enemy's incoming force.
The Xiliang Army, known for its cavalry, did not send out their victorious cavalry at this critical moment of the decisive battle, but instead advanced with an infantry shield formation?
From top to bottom, everyone in the Qi army was surprised and stunned. Even the well-informed generals like Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun were surprised.
Under the astonished gazes of hundreds of thousands of Qi troops, 30,000 Xiliang fish scale shield formations advanced steadily, and soon entered the range of the Qi army's powerful bows and crossbows.
"Send an order to the right general Ju Yi to order his crossbowmen to mount the crossbow first and fire arrows hard at me!" Yuan Fang raised his halberd and shouted.
The flags waved and the drums thundered.
The buzzing sound of thousands of birds flapping their wings resounded through the wilderness in an instant. Under Ju Yi's command, nearly five thousand elite crossbowmen who first ascended the crossbow fired their weapons almost at the same time.
The dense rain of arrows shot out like a stream of light, overwhelming the Xiliang shield array.
However, the shield used by Ma Chao's legion was not only tall, but also extremely thick, able to withstand the rapid fire of a five-stone hard crossbow.
I saw the crossbow arrows falling like rain, hitting the enemy's large shield, and being bounced off one after another, causing almost no damage to the enemy.
The arrows fired by the crossbowmen were ineffective against the enemy!
??This was the first time this kind of thing had happened. Everyone in the Qi army changed their colors when they saw that the enemy's formation was indestructible.
However, Yuan Fang¡¯s eyes were calm and he shouted sternly: ¡°Send the order to Zhang Fei and Xu Huang, and order them to lead 50,000 infantry to attack!¡±
Seeing that bows and arrows were ineffective and the enemy formation was approaching step by step, Yuan Fang decisively ordered to use a large infantry formation to confront the enemy's infantry formation.
After the order was passed, Zhang Fei and Xu Huang, the two fierce generals under Yuan Fang who were best at commanding infantry, led 50,000 infantry troops into battle and faced the Xiliang army.
The two pairs of huge military formations, like two iron walls, quickly closed to a distance of fifty steps.
At this moment, the enemy formation suddenly changed.
More than ten shield formations in Xiliang suddenly separated to both sides. In the blink of an eye, thousands of enemy cavalry rushed out from behind the shield formation, rushing towards the Qi army like a strong wind.
"How could Ma Teng really switch from riding to walking? His shield formation really has hidden tricks."
Yuan Fang snorted coldly. When the drum beat changed and the order was given, the 50,000 infantry formation immediately stopped. Long weapons such as halberds and spears were thrust forward in front of the formation, preparing to meet the impact of Xiliang Iron Baghdad.
However, something unexpected finally happened.
The Xiliang cavalry that surged out did not rely on their powerful impact to launch an impact and crash into the Qi army's infantry formation like ordinary cavalry.
They rushed forward wildly, and when they were about ten steps behind the Qi army's formation, they suddenly turned their horses' hoofs, passed by the Qi army's formation, and threw the weapons in their hands.
What the people of Xiliang threw were not spears or arrows, but slender javelins! (To be continued)