My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 456: Imitating Han Xin, Imitating Loneliness
Upon receiving the order from Gongsun Du, Yang Yi immediately assembled his troops and set out from the Liaosui camp, first crossing the mouth of the Liaohe River, and then continuing westward to attack Zhao Yun in Tuhe County.

Gongsun Du had instructed him to make advance preparations a few days ago, so the troops responded very quickly and could set off at any time.

Gongsun Du allowed Yang Yi to take 50,000 of the 60,000 troops in Liaosui Camp to participate in the decisive battle, leaving only 10,000 to guard the camp. This ensured an absolute advantage in force against Zhao Yun, and a quick victory to crush Zhao Yun.

However, Yang Yi and Liu Yi still had to polish the specific marching route and method before the battle, and ask Gongsun Du to make the final decision personally.

This is naturally because the road from Liaosui Camp to Tuhe County is difficult to travel, and it is indeed difficult to travel.

Before setting out, Yang Yi asked cautiously: "My Lord, although the journey to Tuhe is only a hundred miles, the battlefield is located in Liaoze. It is still slippery in winter. Although our army is large, Zhao Yun's troops are all cavalry. Our cavalry is not as many as Zhao Yun.

If we are repeatedly harassed by Zhao Yun along the way, even if our army is not afraid, we must always be in strict formation and march slowly to ensure safety. In this way, it may take three days to reach Tuhe, and the soldiers will certainly be cold and exhausted.

I want to take the coastal waterway and sail to avoid the harassment from Zhao Yun. But judging from the results of the torture of the captured Zhao Yun prisoners, Zhou Yu's sea reinforcements may arrive soon. If we encounter Zhou Yu at sea, it will be difficult to get rid of him in a hurry.

If we rely solely on the sea route, Zhao Yun will surely be waiting on the shore when we finally land in Tuhe County. If he attacks us halfway across the river when our front troops have just landed and are not yet in formation, we will probably suffer a heavy defeat.

When Gongsun Du heard this request, his health condition had become worse than when he had just decided to send troops half a day ago. He was coughing and wheezing almost continuously, as if his lungs were about to be coughed out, and he was sweating coldly.

After hearing Yang Yi's words, he felt upset and said angrily: "Have you thought of a solution? Do you even need me to teach you how to march?"

Yang Yi quickly expressed his opinion: "How dare I trouble you, my lord? I have actually thought of a countermeasure, but it may not be completely stable. I have no choice but to ask you to make the decision."

Gongsun Du waved his hands tremblingly: "If you have something to say, just say it!"

Yang Yi then pulled himself together and said, "I heard that during the Chu-Han period, Han Xin defeated Zhao at Jingxing. He put himself in a desperate situation and survived. Although it is a taboo in military strategy to set up a battle formation with your back to the water, Han Xin used this to force his soldiers to fight to the death or they would die. In the end, the whole army united and finally defeated Chen Yu.

I want to follow the example of Han Xin and march along the coast by land and water. The main force can sail close to the shore to save the soldiers' energy. At the same time, a part of the troops can be divided into two groups to form a semicircle along the coast.

In this way, if Zhou Yu's troops arrived at sea, it would not be appropriate to engage in a naval battle with them, but the whole army could quickly land and fight in battle array. On the shore, the friendly troops in a semicircular formation would first establish a firm foothold, and when the main force landed, it could also avoid being attacked by Zhao Yun halfway across the river.

If Zhou Yu fails to arrive within these two days and Zhao Yun dares to directly attack our troops on the shore, our warships can also stick to the shore to cover the soldiers on the shore with bows and crossbows. At the same time, the soldiers on the shore will be able to fight to the death with their backs to the water and repel Zhao Yun, just like Han Xin and the Han army at Jingxingkou back then.

However, this method seems to violate some of the military strategists’ taboos, so I dare not act on my own, so I have come to ask for your instructions.”

Gongsun Du was so seriously ill that his mind was a little dazed, and he didn't pay much attention to the details of the march.

After listening to Yang Yi's theoretical talk, he didn't find any obvious problems. After a little hesitation, he agreed.

Yang Yi finalized all the marching and combat instructions and finally carried out the plan.

……

The next morning, at just four o'clock in the morning, the 50,000 main forces of Gongsun Du's army set up their pots to cook. After eating, they were divided into 30,000 by water and 20,000 by land, and advanced westward along the coastline of the Liaohe River estuary by both land and water.

Liu Yi led the infantry and cavalry to march along the shore, while Yang Yi led the sailors to advance by boat. The food, fodder and equipment needed by the entire army were also shipped by Yang Yi's fleet, saving the infantry the trouble of carrying baggage.

Because the army did not have to carry anything, the marching speed was naturally much faster than normal. In the Han Dynasty, the army carried its own baggage and could only travel 50 to 60 miles a day in the inland, but Yangyi could travel 80 miles a day at this time.

In other words, if Zhao Yun held the camp tightly, Yang Yi would not be able to rush over to fight Zhao Yun within a day. But as long as he rested for a night, he could fight Zhao Yun early the next morning.

And if Zhao Yun took the initiative to attack eastward, a conflict would break out between the two armies that day.

Of course, Zhao Yun saw all of Yang Yi's advances.

That afternoon, when the Yangyi Army had marched fifty miles west and was half the distance to Tuhe County, the movements of Liu Yi and Yangyi were reported to Zhao Yun by his scouts.

At that time, Zhao Yun was holding daily military meetings with Tian Chou, Wu Su and others to discuss follow-up tactics.

After hearing the scout's report, Zhao Yun's eyes widened immediately. "What? You said Liu Yi and Yang Yi actually chose to march to Tuhe by land and sea? And they even asked the troops on the shore to form a loose semicircle formation for fast movement to prevent harassment from our army?"

The scout didn't understand what this meant, so of course he solemnly confirmed the information again.

Zhao Yun couldn't help but smile in disbelief: "Liu Yi and Yang Yi are really... Zitai, you have been in Liaoxi for a long time, have you ever heard of these two people's military merits and general talents?"

Tian Chou quickly answered every question: "These two people took advantage of the opportunity after the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou eleven years ago to help Gongsun Du occupy the entire territory of Donglai and parts of Beihai and Chengyang counties.

Therefore, Gongsun Du established Yingzhou in Qingzhou and appointed Liu Yi as the governor of Yingzhou. After that, the two of them were stationed in Donglai and Yingzhou for many years, but no new military achievements were heard.

They made such deployment this time, could it be that they wanted to learn from Han Xin, learn the strategy of risking one's life, rely on both land and sea, and encourage the soldiers to fight to the death?"

Zhao Yun sneered contemptuously: "This kind of person is not as good as Zhao Kuo, and he is worthy of learning from Han Xin? He knows the result but not the reason, and he is just copying a tiger but not a dog!
Since Zitai has revealed their intentions, I will defeat the enemy easily! All the troops, get on your horses and follow me to defeat Liu Yi on the shore first! "Zhao Yun was still chatting and laughing with Tian Chou in the first half of the sentence, and in the second half he ordered the troops to go out in a swift and decisive manner.

This made a group of generals nearby confused for a moment, but they still quickly carried out Zhao Yun's military orders without any ambiguity.

……

When Zhao Yun received information about Liu Yi and Yang Yi's march, they were still fifty miles away from Tuhe County.

By the time Zhao Yun made the decision and his troops were ready to attack, Liu Yi's troops were only forty miles away from Tuhe.

The two armies marched towards each other. Zhao Yun was a cavalryman, so he naturally walked more than twice as fast as Liu Yi.

Finally, at the beginning of the afternoon at around 3:00 p.m., the two armies met in the coastal wilderness about 25 to 30 miles east of Tuhe County.

Zhao Yun did not attack Liu Yi's army directly from west to east, but detoured slightly to the north in advance, using the mobility of his cavalry to go around the side of Liu Yi's army, preparing to rush from north to south, directly destroy and cut off Liu Yi's troops, and drive them into the Bohai Sea to drown.

Liu Yi was no pushover either. When he saw Zhao Yun's roundabout move, he immediately saw through his purpose.

So Liu Yi also hurriedly prepared for battle and ordered the semicircular formation deployed along the coast to move together quickly to guard against cavalry attacks.

The spearmen were all outside, deployed in a semicircle like hedgehogs, with archers and sword and shield soldiers as reserve troops to plug any gaps inside.

Moreover, long before the two armies officially met, when his scouts discovered Zhao Yun's attack from afar, Liu Yi had already sent a message to the Yangyi tribe on the sea with a flag, asking Yangyi to quickly dock some of its warships and send the troops on the boats ashore to reinforce the front battlefield and fight a decisive battle with Zhao Yun.

Therefore, the longer it drags on, the more Liaodong soldiers there will be on the shore, and the more unfavorable the troop strength comparison will be for Zhao Yun in the decisive battle.

Because there is the sea behind him, Liu Yi does not have to worry about being attacked from both sides and can just focus on holding the front. Even if Yang Yi's warships on the sea behind him cannot land all the soldiers, they can still provide fire support from the other side with powerful crossbows. At first glance, there seems to be nothing wrong.

The two armies faced each other, and Zhao Yun was not in a hurry to charge in immediately.

He also wanted to give the other party a chance to leave his last words, point out the enemy's stupidity, and finally hit the enemy's morale, so as to make the subsequent charge more convenient.

"Who are the generals coming? I, Zhao Yun, will not kill unknown people!" Zhao Yun stood on his horse with his spear in hand, paced in front of the formation, shouted loudly, and asked his subordinates who were cursing to help shout together.

Liu Yi was originally preparing to start the fight, but when he saw Zhao Yun hiding far away and watching the battle and cursing, he did not want to be outdone and had his men curse back in unison:

"Zhao Yun, don't be so arrogant! I am Liu Yi, the governor of Yingzhou! I heard that you have made great achievements in the south, but can you compare with Chen Yu in the late Qin Dynasty? Do you recognize this formation?"

While cursing, Liu Yi sneered in his heart: I didn't expect Zhao Yun to be such an incompetent man. Didn't he see that our army was continuously sending soldiers on the warships to wade ashore to form a battle array? The longer he delays, the more soldiers we have on the shore to form a battle array, and the less chance he has of winning! He dares to waste time talking to me like this, he really doesn't know how to live or die!
Zhao Yun on the other side laughed contemptuously: "What a joke! Among all the states of the Han Dynasty, there is no Yingzhou. If you pretend to be a traitor, you should be put to death! You are asking Chen Yu, are you comparing yourself to Han Xin? When you get to the Lord of Mount Tai, you can think about how far you are from Han Xin!"

After Zhao Yun finished speaking, he pointed his spear and 8,000 cavalrymen rushed towards the tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry on the opposite side.

When the two sides were still more than a hundred steps apart, Liu Yi ordered the archers to shoot arrows to stop the enemy.

However, Zhao Yun's cavalry formation was relatively loose, and it was a harassment formation for riding and shooting, rather than a wedge formation for rushing up and drilling. Therefore, the killing effect of Liu Yi's rain of arrows was not obvious.

Zhao Yun's cavalrymen were well-armored, so shooting sparsely at people from such a distance would do little harm, but shooting at horses would pose some threat.

While Zhao Yun's troops were running at high speed, they did not forget to fire back several rounds of arrow rain. The Liaodong army on the opposite side was deployed in a dense array, almost man to man, and with blind shooting, as long as the general direction was correct, the arrows would always hit an enemy when they fell.

For a while, there were incessant wails in Liu Yi's army, and from time to time, spearmen were hit by stray arrows and fell to the ground screaming.

Liu Yi shouted loudly to maintain military discipline: "Don't panic! Since ancient times, no cavalry has ever won a duel with infantry archers! Back then, Li Ling's 5,000 men were lined up to fight, and they were able to hold back tens of thousands of Huns with their powerful crossbows! What are Zhao Yun's cavalry? Anyone who dares to act and disrupts the formation will be executed!"

With Liu Yi's support, the Liaodong Army also recovered slightly from the initial confusion caused by being shot.

But while Liu Yi strictly ordered his men not to be afraid, he himself felt a little uneasy: "What tricks does Zhao Yun have? The cavalry under his command can run so loosely and fast, and yet they can still shoot arrows almost accurately.

My Liaodong cavalry probably can't do that. Although they are not to be feared, they can't be underestimated either."

Of course, it is impossible for Zhao Yun on the opposite side to keep fighting on horseback and shooting at the infantry archers.

He was just constantly drawing the attention of the defense, looking for weak spots.

Soon, Zhao Yun found a flaw, and then decisively led his troops to change their formation, forming several wedge formations and launched a charge.

(End of this chapter)