One kick to the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 23 The Battle of Bianshui

(Thank you for a ray of tea fragrance, fellow Taoists, please stay for the rewards of the two book friends)
Bao Xin's army was defeated.

There are many factors that determine the outcome of a battle between the two armies.Mencius said: "The weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the harmony of people." Therefore, the human factor is the most important.

In terms of human factors, it also includes the number of troops, the composition of arms, weapons and equipment, the quality of soldiers, tactics, the use of tactics, and so on.

In the battle along the Bianshui River, the climate was equal to both sides, and Bao Xin had an advantage in terms of geographical advantages, but in terms of human factors, Bao Xin was at a disadvantage.

Bao Xin led an army of [-] troops, and Xu Rong's side invested [-] troops. In terms of quantity, Bao Xin's side had the upper hand.However, Xu Rong's troops were all cavalry, while Bao Xin only participated in the battle with infantry. The numerical advantage was ultimately no match for the disadvantage in the structure of the arms.

Of course, this is not the most fundamental reason.The biggest reason for Bao Xin's defeat was the quality of soldiers.

The Xiliang iron cavalry used to be a frontier army, and they had been fighting for a long time. After entering the Central Plains with Dong Zhuo, they have been fighting against the Yellow Turban Army, and they have long been tempered into elites.

On the other hand, Bao Xin's side was mostly newly recruited soldiers.The recruits can still move forward bravely in the face of favorable conditions, but once the battlefield is frustrated, they have no will to fight at all.

Of the 2000 troops, only [-] people actually fought against the Xiliang iron cavalry.But it was these [-] people who fled after losing nearly half of their manpower, and disrupted their own army, leading to Bao Xin's defeat.

The army was defeated like a mountain. More than 6000 people fled frantically to the east, and were chased and killed by more than 4000 Xiliang cavalry who had crossed the Bian River, leaving countless corpses along the way.

Xu Rong on the west bank of the Bian River immediately ordered all the troops to cross the river after seeing Li Meng leading the army to chase down Bao Xin's rout.

…………

Let's talk about Cao Cao's troops ambushing in Luotuoling.

Although Cao Jun's task was to set up an ambush and did not need to participate in the battle by the Bianshui River, Cao Cao still sent scouts to stay by the Bianshui River in order to keep abreast of changes in the military situation.

After seeing the defeat of Bao Xin's army, the Cao army scouts rushed back to Luotuoling to report to Cao Cao.

For more than ten miles, a cup of tea is ready for the scouts on horseback.

When Cao Cao received the report from the scouts, he didn't know that Bao Xin's army was really defeated. He thought Bao Xin was feigning defeat according to the original plan.

Cao Cao immediately sent an order to his officers and soldiers to prepare for battle.

After waiting for another quarter of an hour, brothers Bao Xin and Bao Tao fled to Luotuo Ridge first with their personal guards.They all have horses to ride, and their escape speed is not slow.As for their army, they were left far behind by several miles.

"Hey, something's wrong, why are Bao Yuncheng and the others in such a mess?"

It was already dark at this time, but the line of sight was not affected much.When Cao Cao saw Bao Xin and Bao Tao appear, but did not see their army, he couldn't help feeling suspicious.

"Yes, they don't look like they are feigning defeat!" Qin Yi also saw the clues.

At this moment, Bao Xin at the bottom of the valley reined in his horse and shouted loudly: "Meng De, quickly show up to meet Bao's remnant army!"

He was worried about his army, so he ignored the original plan of ambush.

On the valley peak, Cao Cao stood up when he heard the words, and asked loudly towards the bottom of the valley, "Yuncheng, how is the battle going?"

Bao Xin raised his head to look towards Cao Cao, and said with a dejected face, "Brother Yu is ashamed of Meng De, and really fled after a big defeat."

"This..." Cao Cao was stunned and speechless.

Thinking of the business, Bao Xin said in a hurry: "Meng De, quickly lead the troops out of Luotuoling to meet Brother Yu's remnant army. They are being chased and killed by Xu Rong's four thousand cavalry. If it is too late, the whole army may die! "

"Cao Gong calm down, don't ruin the original plan."

In the valley, Qin Yi was afraid that Cao Cao would agree to Bao Xin's request, so he hurriedly reminded him in a low voice.

Cao Hong also said: "Brother, what Tian Yu said is correct, the iron cavalry in Xiliang is powerful, our army must not move lightly, otherwise, we will definitely follow in the footsteps of Bao Yuncheng."

Cao Cao raised his hand to stop Qin Yi from talking to Cao Hong.Afterwards, he said loudly to Bao Xin: "Yuncheng, the plan cannot be changed easily, you quickly lead people forward out of Luotuo Ridge, meet up with Wei Zi's troops, and cooperate with Wei Zi to act according to the plan."

The request was rejected, Bao Xin hesitated for a while, and had no choice but to follow Cao Cao's suggestion and continue forward with Bao Tao and hundreds of guards.

Cao Cao watched Bao Xin's group disappear from sight and said disappointedly: "Bao Yuncheng has lost his cool. Regardless of telling the truth, he is afraid that he will shake the will of our army."

"Yes, if he is calm, even if he is really defeated, it should be said that he acted according to plan." Qin Yi deeply agreed with Cao Cao's words.

Alas, this Bao Xin is a teammate like a pig, this battle is worrying!

Cao Hong pondered for a while, then said: "Don't worry, brother, Bao Yuncheng's defeat is not a bad thing, it just makes the Xiliang army not suspicious."

"Hehe, that's true. It's just a pity that his [-] followers, I don't know how many of them escaped with their lives." Cao Cao shook his head and smiled wryly.

While the three were talking, another person came up from the west of Luotuo Ridge.

Thousands of remnants of Bao Xin's troops appeared in dismay.Behind them, iron hooves roared, and the Xiliang army chased and killed them endlessly.

Ordinarily, the Xiliang army was all cavalry, so they should have caught up with Bao Xin long ago.But in order to expand the results of the battle, they did not rush to chase Bao Xin, but slaughtered the defeated soldiers all the way, so the speed was naturally slow.

"The Xiliang Army is here!"

Because Qin Yi had better eyesight than others and was in a condescending position, he was the first to see the situation clearly.

Cao Cao hurriedly reached out his hand to signal Cao Hong and Qin Yi to hide, and said in a low voice, "It's up to us from now on."

Qin Yi took off the Heavenly Wolf Crossbow and stared nervously at the bottom of the valley.

Those thousands of rout soldiers were heartbroken, and they still fled frantically after reaching Luotuo Ridge.

Soon, more than half of the defeated soldiers had passed the section of the road where Cao Jun set up an ambush.The two or 300 people who fell behind had already been mixed up with the Xiliang army that was chasing them down.

The Xiliang army chased the coalition army up to Luotuoling.In the valley road, the sound of footsteps running for their lives in fear, the screams of soldiers dying, the sound of horseshoes of Xiliang army, and the sound of shouting and killing became a pot of porridge.

On the valley peak, Cao Cao looked at the chaos below and ordered decisively: "I can't wait, let's start!"

At this time, half of the Xiliang army had entered the ambush area.

The leading lieutenant, Li Meng, was at the forefront of the team. He swung his spear on his horse and stabbed another defeated soldier under Bao Xin to death.

Before Li Meng's laughter ended, a large flag was suddenly erected among the vegetation in the valley on the left.Immediately afterwards, the sound of "dong dong dong" drums in the valleys on both sides exploded immediately.

"What's the matter...ah——"

Li Meng was taken aback for a moment, before he could utter the last word, he suddenly felt a sharp pain from the left side of his neck, and immediately let out a scream.

His neck was pierced by an iron arrow fired from the valley to the left.

The icy iron arrow, with powerful kinetic energy, pierced Li Meng's neck, and then brought Li Meng's entire body off the horse.

"Lieutenant Li—" A soldier from Xiliang who was closest to Li Meng screamed when he saw Li Meng fall from his horse suddenly.

These three words became the last words he left in this world.Because, just after he screamed, another iron arrow shot from the upper left and hit his neck.Like Li Meng, this soldier's neck was pierced, and he fell off the horse.

At the same time, there was a sudden loud noise like a landslide from the valleys on both sides.Countless boulders and rolling logs rolled down with a whistling momentum.

………………

Behind-the-scenes interview highlights:

Li Meng: I was born into a miserable life, and few people knew about my deeds before.Now, finally, an author mentioned me. However, life is hard, and I died after only one episode.But after all, I am the first named war dead in this book. Dear friends, please remember my name and deeds.My name is Li Meng, and I speak for myself!

(End of this chapter)