One kick to the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 22 The Battle of Bianshui

Bian River, originating from Luokou of Dazhou Mountain in Xingyang County, is a famous river in the Central Plains.At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the boundary between the Chu River and the Han Dynasty was demarcated during the struggle between Chu and Han, which refers to Bianshui.

Entering Luoyang from east to west must pass through Bianshui, so a trestle bridge was built on Bianshui to connect the east and west official roads.

After Bao Xin's army advanced to the banks of the Bianshui River, he immediately dispatched hundreds of auxiliary soldiers to demolish the trestle bridge on the Bianshui River.

The military situation is urgent, and the Bianshui riverbed is very wide. It is impossible to dismantle the entire trestle bridge in a short time.Bao Xin's purpose was to demolish a section of the trestle bridge to prevent the Xiliang army from crossing the bridge.He wanted to force the Xiliang army to ford across the river.

It is now the beginning of the year, and the Bian River is in a dry season. Although the river is not deep, if you wade through it, it will undoubtedly increase the risk factor for the army.

Bao Xin's idea is very good.In fact, when Xu Rong's army reached the west bank of the Bian River, seeing that the trestle bridge had been demolished for a while, they really stopped looking at the river and hesitated for a long time.

However, Xu Rong was considered a famous general after all, and soon he made a decision and ordered the soldiers to wade across the river.

The two armies faced each other across the river, and there was no provocation before the battle. Two thousand cavalry from the Xiliang Army, as the vanguard echelon, began to cross the river under the leadership of Li Meng.

Bao Xin was in the position of the central army. When he saw the Xiliang army beginning to cross the river, he immediately ordered and responded.

The Chinese army commanded the flag to be waved, and Bao Xin's army had three thousand-man formations immediately changing formations. The archers advanced to the front, and pointed their bows and arrows at the Xiliang cavalry who were crossing the river.

The drums suddenly thundered, and the voices of the people suddenly roared.The calm Bian Shui suddenly became noisy.

When the Xiliang cavalry came within range, Bao Xinzhong waved the military flag again, and the archers in the army immediately threw shots at the river.

"Om-"

Countless arrows pressed down on the Bian River like a black cloud, and hundreds of Xiliang cavalry in the river fell off their horses immediately, and the river turned red.

In this era, since the bilateral stirrups had not yet been used, cavalry had to control the reins with one hand when fighting. Therefore, there were very few people who could shoot bows and arrows on horseback.Cavalry are also rarely equipped with bows and arrows.

Bao Xin originally thought that his side had the best ground, and the opponent's cavalry would be helpless to fight back under the long-range attack of the archers.But the fact gave him a loud slap in the face.

"Shoot!" Li Meng ordered loudly after being hit by the bow and arrow.

The Xiliang cavalry in the river were actually equipped with bows and arrows, and they immediately fired towards the east bank of the river.

"Whoosh whoosh—"

Arrows came like locusts, and the archers on the east bank of the river were hit hard by the weapons they were most familiar with.

Screams sounded one after another, and soldiers fell one by one.

Bao Xin was dumbfounded: "This..."

But Bao Tao saw the clues, and immediately waved his fist angrily, and shouted: "Brother, they are crossing the river, and the horses can't get up to speed, so the soldiers can naturally shoot arrows on horseback!"

Bao Xin also understood immediately, sighed and said: "I underestimated Xu Rong, he must have thought of this in advance, and let the cavalry crossing the river bring bows and arrows in advance!"

"What should we do now?" Bao Tao watched his archers fall one by one, his palms were sweating in anxiety.

Bao Xin stroked his short beard and said calmly: "Don't worry, now the bows and arrows are facing each other, and the two sides are on an equal footing. Even if one is exchanged, we will not suffer a loss. If our soldiers are close to each other, our soldiers are already at a disadvantage. Lose a Xiliang army, and they will lose a bit of combat power when they go ashore later."

After hearing this, Bao Tao's anxious mood calmed down.

In the middle of the river and on the shore, arrows were coming and going, and the battle was fierce.

On the west bank of the river, Xu Rong saw that the first echelon crossing the river was frustrated, so he thought for a while before issuing the military order.The second echelon of [-] cavalry was dispatched immediately to make up for the troops crossing the river.

These three thousand cavalry also carried bows and arrows. Soon, they joined the first echelon and shot arrows towards the east bank.

The Xiliang army's offensive suddenly became more urgent, and the casualties of archers in Bao Xin's army on the east bank of the river also increased sharply.

"Brother, retreat, we are here to lure the enemy, there is no need to hold on!" Seeing that nearly half of his archers had been killed, Bao Tao couldn't help suggesting to Bao Xin.

Seeing the increasing number of casualties among his own soldiers, Bao Xin felt very distressed.He gritted his teeth and hesitated for a while, then shook his head firmly and said: "Wait a minute, Yunzhi, remember, kindness does not command soldiers! This opportunity is not to be missed, even if all the archers are killed, more casualties of the Xiliang army will be exchanged. It is also more beneficial to the subsequent battles..."

Bao Xin hadn't finished his words when suddenly there was a drastic change on the shore of Bianshui.

Without any warning, the archers who were still shooting wildly against the Xiliang army just now suddenly "boomed", turned around and collapsed towards the rear.

After all, Bao Xin's army is not an iron army that has experienced battles for a long time. Seeing their companions fall one by one, their will collapsed.

Bao Xin and Bao Tao were stunned for a moment, their mouths were opened wide, and their four eyes looked like they had seen a ghost.

"Send the order, hold down the formation, don't let the rout break into the formation!" Bao Xin regained consciousness before Bao Tao, and immediately ordered loudly.

The most feared thing on the battlefield is not the fierce enemy, but the rout of one's own side who loses their minds.These rout soldiers are unorganized, and out of psychological safety, they will instinctively rush to their own formation.The soldiers in the formation are likely to be affected by the rout, lose their will to fight, and flee with them.Even if the soldiers in the formation can keep calm, the formation will be disrupted by the rout.

If this happens, the calmest thing for the leader of the army is to order the soldiers in front of the formation to attack the defeated soldiers of their own side, so as to prevent them from rushing into the formation.This is called holding your ground.

Bao Xin was still calm at this time, and his heart was ruthless enough. He directly ordered to hold his ground, which was considered to be the most sensible decision.

However, he ignored the quality of the soldiers he led.The order was passed down step by step, but most of the soldiers in the formation did not listen to the order, and were dumbfounded and at a loss.

Let them attack their robes, how can they do it!

What's more, when many soldiers saw the front line fleeing, they turned around without even thinking about it, yelling and fled back with the rout soldiers.

The big formation is chaotic, and there is no formation at all.

"Hey!" Bao Xin was so angry that he punched the saddle, but there was nothing he could do for a moment.

At this time, the Xiliang army in the river had slowly walked through the deepest part of the river, only about ten steps away from the river bank.

Seeing Bao Xin's army in chaos, Li Meng's eyes suddenly lit up. Immediately, he excitedly raised his spear and shouted: "Boys, this is the time to defeat the enemy. Charge—"

The Xiliang army crossing the river lost 600 people in the previous confrontation with Bao Xin's army.But there are still more than 4000 people left.Upon hearing Li Meng's order, the more than 4000 cavalry put away their bows and arrows, took off their spears from the victory hook, held them flat in their right hands, freed their left hands to control the reins, and charged towards the east bank.

The horses landed on the shore, and rushed towards Bao Xin's army before forming a formation.The enemy army is in chaos and has no fighting strength at all. If they rush over, they will be massacred. Where is the need to gather and charge?
The Xiliang army shouted excitedly, approaching Bao Xin's formation like thunder and iron hooves.

"withdraw--"

Bao Xin didn't dare to hesitate any longer, and reluctantly issued an order to retreat.If you don't run, you really can't run.

What was supposed to be a feigned defeat to lure the enemy turned into a real defeat.

(End of this chapter)