Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 557: Canhe Pond
In the east, Yuan's army was stationed, and Yuan Shang was watching the battle area in the south.

The terrain here is high in the north and low in the south, so he still has the advantage of vision.

Seeing two chariot camps deployed on the two wings of Black Bear, Yuan Shang said to Li Fu: "This little thief is really angry. The mixed barbarians are in danger. I am afraid they will not be able to hold out until nightfall."

The Zahu were so busy digging some shallow anti-cavalry trenches in the middle of the night and building earth walls in the fog that they had no extra time to dig trenches on both wings.

It was inconvenient to communicate with Tadun now, so Yuan Shang still said: "Send a messenger to inform Tadun that he must send troops to harass him and cannot sit idly by and watch the miscellaneous Hu be surrounded."

If they allow the Zahu to suffer heavy losses, Tian Yu and his gang will have to consider other ways of retreat.

While they were talking, Dian Wei led more than thirty heavily armored infantrymen into the cavalry formation fighting in the center.

The group of armored soldiers approached and threw short spears, quickly opening a small gap.

The mixed Hu knights were now even more agitated. A Han warrior held a spear and shouted to his left and right: "Don't let Taishi Wengong go!"

Almost at the same time, Lu Bu, who was fighting in the formation, suddenly seemed to be unsealed. He suddenly controlled his horse and broke away from his cavalry companions who were following him. He held the Fang Tian Ji in both hands and swung it around. Wherever he went, the Han and Hu cavalry who were unable to dodge or resist with spears were knocked off their horses.

Then the following cavalry accelerated one after another and began to brandish their spears and halberds wildly. The mixed Hu cavalry, who were already accustomed to melee combat, immediately fell into chaos and the order of the cavalry formation was in disarray.

In this chaos, Dian Wei's team swung their weapons wildly. Wherever they went, they either stabbed the enemy cavalry to death with short spears or directly chopped off the horses' legs.

They protected each other, and no bearded knight could escape unscathed after getting close to them. At the very least, one of the horse's front legs would be chopped off.

Black Bear carefully observed the changes in morale of the Zahu formation. Although Lu Bu, Dian Wei, and Gao Shun's teams had not yet attacked the Zahu main formation, a battle of spirits and energy was ongoing.

This kind of watching the battle will continue to enhance the deterrence of Lu Bu and others, and indirectly enhance the deterrence of all the soldiers in the army.

As long as the opponent watches the fight, their courage and fighting spirit will continue to decline.

Until the critical point of chain collapse!

As he was observing, the main general hidden in the mixed Hu formation once again deployed cavalry from both wings to assist in the battle.

As long as the mixed Hu cavalry in the battle do not collapse collectively, the morale of the main infantry will have a bottom line.

Without waiting for the newly dispatched cavalry to arrive, Lu Bu broke out of the encirclement, waving his Fang Tian Ji and charging straight at the nearest infantry formation where the battle flag was.

The iron cavalry followed behind it, and the archers from various Hu formations shot arrows at it, but none of them could penetrate its armor. They could only watch as Lu Bu crashed into the enemy's spear and halberd formation, carved into it in one fell swoop, and killed his way to the battle flag, where his rotating Fang Tian Ji cut off the flagpole.

The enemy infantry had no time to close the gap, and the following cavalry followed the gap created by Lu Bu and broke through the formation, and continued to expand the gap.

The cavalry broke into the gaps between the various Hu infantry formations. The enemy archers dared not shoot at will. From time to time, a small group of spearmen would break away from the formation and stab forward, but they could not do anything to the cavalry.

Watching the Iron Cavalry successfully shuttle through the gaps in the enemy's infantry formation, Black Bear watched intently and gave remote commands: "Pass the order, the chariot soldiers on the left and right go forward, attack the cavalry on both wings of the Zaohu, disperse them, and deploy the infantry!"

The flag officer immediately raised the two long flags representing the chariot camp, held them in each hand, and began waving them.

Seeing the flag, the fourteen hundred-man charioteer teams split into two groups, each with two rows of chariots, and slowly advanced towards the enemy's wings.

After the chariots passed, Zhang Liao immediately jumped on his horse, raised his iron halberd and pointed it diagonally towards the southwest, leading his troops to change formation and approach towards the southwest.

As long as the Wuhuan harassed the chariot soldiers, they would attack the Wuhuan from the flank.

As Zhang Liao changed his formation, Zhang Fei also began to move south to protect Zhang Liao's flank.

Tadun did not mobilize troops from beginning to end, just watched the changes in the battle situation.

Yuan Shang couldn't just sit there and watch, so he turned around and looked at Jiao Chu.

Jiao Chu understood and immediately waved his command flag. Two cavalry troops set out and slowly moved southward.

Seeing changes in Yuan’s army, Zhao Yun jumped on his horse and became highly alert.

Soon, the impact flow formed by the two chariots crashed into the cavalry formations on both wings of the Zaohu. The two cavalry formations also launched a recoil, but were shattered at the first touch.

The chariot drivers on the three hundred chariots all wore double armor and face shields, and were not afraid of the oncoming arrows.

The horses were also covered with armor and visors, and even their ears were protected by leather covers.

As expected, the archers on the chariots got close and shot, and the mixed Hu cavalry collapsed at the first blow.

After the chariots seized the enemy's previous position, they quickly stopped. The heavy infantry got off the chariots one after another, leaving only the driver to control the chariots. They began to move around the rear of the miscellaneous Hu infantry formation, trying to close in.

Five hundred heavily-armored charioteers each got off the chariots and formed ten square formations of one hundred men. They slowly pressed toward the other side and were not in a hurry to engage in battle.

During this period, Lu Bu's cavalry was still roaming among the various formations of the miscellaneous Hu infantry, and from time to time they suddenly accelerated and turned to attack the opponent's battle flag.

At this time, Black Bear picked up the blue and white flags and handed them to the flag officer: "Get closer and disperse the enemy cavalry in front."

The flag officer caught it, raised his hands high and started signaling with the flag.

The knights with blue and white flags slowly marched out, and the enemy cavalry that were still besieging Gao Shun and Yuan Shu immediately withdrew from both wings.

Yuan Shu quickly joined Gao Shun, and Gao Shun's tortoise-shell formation immediately disbanded and rushed towards the infantry formation in front of them, fighting against each other across the low wall, but was unable to break through.

At this time, Lu Bu, who had bypassed the gap in the enemy formation, led the cavalry to support Gao Shun, and the frontal formation of seven or eight hundred people was suddenly in chaos.

Gao Shun crossed the earth wall and cut down the enemy's flag before Lu Bu arrived.

Immediately afterwards, Dian Wei's team, with Dian Wei's bloody leadership clearing the way, directly defeated a small formation of three or four hundred people on the opposite side.

Dian Wei pursued the defeated soldiers and rushed into another infantry formation. The nearby heavily armored chariot soldiers immediately accelerated and approached to cooperate in the pincer attack.

At this time, the more than 3,000 knights dispatched by Yuan's army were about to arrive. Before they launched a charge, the blue-flag knights who had dispersed the scattered Hu cavalry turned around and attacked from the front. This Yuan army consisted of two cavalry corps, one accelerated the charge to seize the opportunity, and the other hesitated.

Black Bear caught a glimpse of this change with his peripheral vision, and seeing that Yuan’s army was on high ground, he was afraid that the Blue Team would suffer, so he immediately raised the red flag and pointed in the direction of the blue flag.

The red-flag knights behind the chariots immediately moved eastward in a large horizontal formation at the command of the cavalry general, and the distance between the two Yuan armies widened even faster.

Zhao Yun watched helplessly as the two Yuan troops distanced themselves from each other and charged forward one after the other, colliding with the blue and red flags respectively.

He held the lance tightly in his hand, and Xiahou Lan approached him: "Zilong, the enemy is charging from a high position, and the threat is great."

After completing the charge, the two Yuan troops were at a low point for Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun looked at Xiahou Lan's expression and nodded slowly: "I can only give you 300 cavalrymen. I need to contain more than 10,000 cavalrymen of Yuan's army. I can't send more troops."

"clear."

Xiahou Lan raised his hand to put on the visor, then went out with a spear in hand and selected three 100-cavalry teams he was familiar with, forming three cone formations to stab the flank of Yuan's army.

Seeing Zhao Yun dividing his troops here, Yuan Shang gritted his teeth and smiled, raised his right arm and clenched his fist, then slowly pressed it forward, as if he was holding a lamp cord and pulling a lamp.

Seeing this, Jiao Chu had no choice but to drive his horse away from the chariot, lead his flag guard to the front of the army, and lead all the cavalry to advance slowly.

Soon, only the central army guards were left around Yuan Shang. Li Fu whispered, "My lord, why are you so anxious? Tadun hasn't mobilized yet."

"I know. I roughly know what this wolf wants to do. In this case, I will do as he wishes."

Yuan Shang said with a ferocious smile, gritting his teeth: "This barbarian really can't be underestimated. He actually came up with a tactic to deal with Taishi Wengong. There are real heroes among the common people."

"My lord, what do you mean?"

"This should be a special military strategy compiled by the Zhenbei General's Mansion during the training, and it just leaked out."

Liu Bei gathered people to discuss countermeasures. With the rebellion in Youzhou, it was inevitable that some people who had participated in it would bring out the tactics and conduct experimental applications.

This was just Yuan Shang's speculation, he looked at the Jiaochu battle flag quietly.

Now Tai Shi Wen Gong is fighting in the south, and he really wants to see the true ability of this Youzhou general when he commands on the battlefield.

In the west, Zhang Fei saw that the Wuhuan people were slow to move and couldn't help but become anxious for Zhao Yun.

He drove his horse more than a mile out of the battle formation and watched from nearby, but the Wuhuan cavalry on the opposite side had a clear cavalry formation, with groups of knights spread out in a scattered manner and making no movement. Even behind the formation there was no smoke or dust to indicate a large group of troops were moving.

Reluctantly, Zhang Fei retreated back to his base camp and said to his left and right: "Order the decoy troops to move out."

"Here."

Immediately, more than a hundred knights, each holding a flag, controlled more than five hundred horses, with branches dragged behind the horses, and smoke and dust immediately filled the air.

At this time, Zhao Yun and Jiao Chu were slowly approaching each other, judging the best charge distance for the entire army.

In such a large-scale cavalry confrontation, there is only one chance for a charge. After the charge, it will be a chaotic fight, with more people fighting against fewer people, and the organized fighting against the unorganized.

However, there was smoke and dust behind Zhao Yun's formation, and many flags appeared and disappeared in the smoke and dust, slowly approaching Zhao Yun.

Jiao Chu was not distracted after seeing this, but he was also clear that after this round of confrontation, Yuan's cavalry would definitely detour to the left and right instead of directly engaging in a second collision with the cavalry in the smoke and dust.

The distance between the two sides gradually closed. As Zhao Yun and Jiao Chu jumped on their horses and rushed out of the battle formation, the cavalry of both sides accelerated their charge at the sound of horns.

During the charge, Zhao Yun and Jiao Chu's personal cavalry accelerated and passed their respective commanders, vying to be the first.

The cavalry of both sides collided first, but Zhao Yun did not slow down. He immediately passed more than a dozen cavalry who were engaged in the fight, and stabbed the spear in his hand straight into Jiao Chu's breastplate.

Jiao Chu also thrust out the lance in his hand, but his charging speed was a little slower, and the movements of his hands were also a little slower.

Zhao Yun decisively dropped his spear, drew his sword and slashed at a flag-guarding knight of Jiao Chu, cutting off half of his head as he passed by.

The cavalry around Jiao Chu was in chaos, and Zhao Yun's cavalry followed and charged in. In an instant, the order was defeated by the disorder, and Jiao Chu's cavalry guards were in chaos.

The flag guards guarded the battle flag closely, and the moving and advancing battle flag was guiding the entire army forward.

Soon Zhao Yun seized a lance again, turned back surrounded by his personal guards, and chased after Jiao Chu's battle flag.

Supported by his personal soldiers, Jiao Chu took a few breaths before his vision went dark. He had no time to be afraid before he fell off his horse.

Some of his personal soldiers dismounted and tried to help Jiao Chu back on his horse, but they were quickly attacked and trampled.

Not far away, the flag guard team that had separated from the personal guard team was quickly caught up by Zhao Yun, and the battle flag was quickly chopped down.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Fei and Zhang Liao tacitly agreed to each send out a team of a thousand men to reinforce Zhao Yun.

The disappearance of Jiaochu's battle flag directly caused the collapse of the Zahu people who were fighting hard.

At this time, the sun was high in the sky.

Black Bear adjusted his direction and looked to the west. There, Tadun also stood up on the grave mound, kicked over the small table, and cursed: "Yuan Shang is so impatient for fighting, even worse than the barbarians. I am very disappointed."

He looked at the leaders of the tribes around him and said, "There is only one goal in this battle, and that is the head of Sima Black Bear!"

"Getting his head is like taking control of the Han Dynasty!"

"Don't hesitate, our ancestors are watching us, this is the best opportunity!"

(End of this chapter)