My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 457: Defeating the Liaodong Army in One Battle
Even with double stirrups, the cavalry archers would definitely be at a disadvantage if they had to engage in long-term shooting battles with infantry archers and crossbowmen.

The range and accuracy of infantry bows and crossbows have always surpassed those of cavalry bows. This natural law cannot be reversed.

But before charging, Zhao Yun still endured this disadvantage and struggled with Liu Yi for a long time. Naturally, he had his own deep considerations.

Zhao Yun's goal was to paralyze Liu Yi and make him unwilling to waste this time, and he did achieve this effect.

When Zhao Yun's cavalry just started to fight with Liu Yi, Liu Yi was also worried that Zhao Yun would rush up immediately. He was afraid of disrupting his own formation, so he temporarily let the Banwu fleet led by Yang Yi pull away slightly and stop unloading soldiers to land.

But Zhao Yun just fought with archers and refused to engage in hand-to-hand combat. After a long time, Liu Yi became impatient and greedy, so he returned to his old ways. Some warships under Yang Yi could not help but approach again and dropped rows of light infantry and archers on the waist-deep beach, letting them wade ashore to reinforce the friendly forces.

As long as Liu Yi and Yang Yi continued to land, they would be prone to temporary chaos in their formation - the soldiers who had just landed could not always squeeze in the back row, and there was not enough room to stand. Zhao Yun's cavalry would patrol and compress the periphery, which would also make the Liaodong army stand closer and closer.

When the Liaodong Army wanted to expand its position outward and gain a foothold in more places, Zhao Yun seized the opportunity when the enemy army changed its formation and rushed forward decisively!
The switch and change of formation from the fighting posture to the sprinting posture was so quick and smooth that it was obviously only possible for a veteran who had been immersed in the ways of cavalry for many years to do it.

Zhao Yun is undoubtedly a veteran general of this type. In today's world, Lü Bu is dead. In terms of the control of cavalry tactics, apart from Guan Yu, Ma Chao and Xiahou Yuan, who else can compare with Zhao Yun?

Liu Yi and Yang Yi had been living in remote Liaodong for more than ten years and had never encountered any truly top-notch rivals. It was no surprise that they underestimated their opponents' ability to respond, like a frog in a well.

As Zhao Yun charged, the Liaodong army on the opposite side also greeted him with a dense rain of arrows.

Because the cavalry formation became denser, the casualties of Zhao Yun's soldiers also increased sharply.

Although the soldiers in the front row were well-armored and rarely shot, the protection of the war horses could not be as strong as that of humans, otherwise it would be too heavy and the horses would not be able to run at all.

In Zhao Yun's army, only the horses of officers and generals had leather armor on the front half of their bodies. The rest of the ordinary cavalry either had no vests or only had a simple piece of leather armor that barely protected the horse's chest and the lower part of the neck.

With each round of arrow rain, a row of cavalry horses were injured, throwing the soldiers off their backs and breaking bones and tendons. However, Zhao Yun's troops still maintained a strict formation, without any fear, and seemed to turn a blind eye to the injuries of their comrades falling off their horses, and continued to charge intensively.

Everyone was well-trained and knew that "three arrows are enough to stop a man in battle". If they could withstand these waves and rush into the weak junction of the enemy's army, the situation would be reversed. How could they be shaken by a few casualties on the way to the charge?
"Shoot!" Zhao Yun shouted, and then he shot a series of arrows straight ahead in a split-bristle style. In the last thirty steps, he actually shot five arrows in a row.

When shooting, he didn't aim at all, just randomly shot at crowded places. And he took out five arrows from the quiver, clamped them on the last few fingers of the hand that pulled the string, and after shooting one, he immediately picked up the next one with his fingers, without any unnecessary movements.

The cavalrymen around him also followed suit, but most of them had a slow shooting speed. In the last thirty steps, they could only shoot one or two arrows, and no more than three arrows at most.

This tactic was obviously a new ability developed after Zhao Yun's troops were equipped with double-sided stirrups. In the past, without double-sided stirrups, even if they could shoot on horseback, they could not shoot arrows while sprinting at high speed.

This tactic of rushing to the enemy, pouring a barrage of arrows, and then immediately engaging in close combat is surprisingly effective in tearing open a gap in the army formation.

Most of the Liaodong Army's spearmen were not equipped with shields. In order to maximize the length of their weapons and the speed of marching, they mostly held their spears with both hands.

Therefore, when facing the close-range rain of arrows, the Liaodong Army's spearmen were immediately shot all over the place, and the originally fairly neat and uniform spear formation immediately had many sparse gaps.

In addition, the breakthrough point chosen by Zhao Yun was the weak point where the sailors from Yangyi were concentrated on the shore and replenished in the army in real time. The enemy soldiers there were constantly moving and adjusting, which further aggravated the chaos.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Zhao Yun's cavalry roared and shouted as they trampled into the battle formation, with iron hooves, spears, and swords flying everywhere, chopping the Liaodong spearmen whose flanks had just been exposed into pieces.

Although the spearmen also fought hard and killed some cavalrymen, as their formation was broken, they were dragged and hacked from the side by the cavalrymen, and the scene instantly became bloody and tragic.

"Don't panic! We are outnumbered. The spear formation of the rear army should block it immediately! Hold Zhao Yun back!" Liu Yi was in the army formation. Seeing Zhao Yun had opened several breakthroughs, he was quite shocked and broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly and shouted at the top of his lungs to command the reserve troops to block the gap. Groups of soldiers who had just landed and were still dripping with icy water immediately rushed to the gap in the army formation mechanically, trying to stabilize the situation.

……

Zhao Yun on the opposite side, of course, also saw Liu Yi commanding the reserve troops to block the entrance.

But Zhao Yun was not worried at all, and remained firm and calm. While charging, he whispered to his guards, slightly adjusted the direction of the charge, and ignored the enemy spearmen beside him, and rushed deep into the enemy formation, as if he wanted to reach the beach on the coast. "General, there are too many enemy troops on the flank! We have only rushed in with a few hundred cavalry, and if we rush deeper, we will reach the sea! We will be surrounded by the enemy!" Several guards around Zhao Yun were anxious and reminded Zhao Yun loudly that he should not go too deep alone.

While hacking and stabbing, Zhao Yun shouted coldly in a low voice: "Don't worry about whether the two wings are surrounded or not! Just follow me to the end! Kill the front row! Kill the enemies in the back row who have just landed and haven't formed their battle formation yet! Once those unorganized people who have not yet established a firm foothold are defeated, the whole army will naturally be defeated!"

The cavalry under Zhao Yun carried out the order resolutely and decisively. These soldiers were worthy of being the elite of Liu Bei's army. Even though they rushed very deep into the enemy's territory and there were enemies on all sides except the way they came, they still charged forward without caring at all about being surrounded.

As long as General Zhao said that they could win in this way, they would believe it. General Zhao had led them to victory after victory, and they firmly believed that they would not go wrong if they followed General Zhao.

This feeling of soldiers and generals knowing each other well and being able to use their own arms and fingers is exactly what every army dreams of.

Zhao Yun's idea was resolutely implemented. As they broke through to the vicinity of the beach and the area where the enemy's formation was densely packed and tightly organized, the road ahead finally became clear.

The enemies in front of him changed from spearmen standing shoulder to shoulder to rows of archers and the weaklings who had just landed and were not yet able to gain a foothold and were standing in random positions.

Zhao Yun's cavalry was naturally like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, chopping down the enemies in the back row like chopping melons and vegetables.

Although the double-sided stirrups theoretically do not add much to the cavalry's sprint and melee combat power, they still do provide some benefit.

Especially in close combat that requires twisting and turning, the cavalry will be much more flexible with double-sided stirrups, and the effect is surprisingly good when taking down enemies who are unstable and weak in close combat.

"Run!"

"How come these cavalrymen are so agile in hand-to-hand combat?"

The scattered Liaodong soldiers who had not yet gained a firm foothold were immediately crushed by this crush. Many soldiers were terrified and began to throw away their weapons and armor to lighten their loads and jump into the sea, trying to swim back to the plank boats anchored in the shallow waters not far away.

The biggest failure of Liu Yi and Yang Yi in sticking to their principles and imitating Han Xin was finally exposed - when Han Xin was fighting a desperate battle, he did not give his soldiers any chance to escape. They had to fight to the death to survive.

Liu Yi and Yang Yi only learned half of it, and they set up a battle formation with their backs to the water while their boats were floating on the sea. Since their own soldiers could see the hope of survival by swimming a hundred steps, who would be willing to fight to the death when the battle situation was unfavorable?
The death in the desperate situation was not thorough enough, which was the biggest failure of this plan!

Zhuge Jin would not have made this kind of low-level mistake when he just debuted seven or eight years ago. Guan Yu, Zhao Yun and others also grasped the essence of the art early on under Zhuge Jin's training and guidance.

It’s all because these Liaodong generals are in a remote corner and have not fought a life-and-death battle with the truly powerful Central Plains princes for more than ten years. Their understanding of military tactics is superficial and has not been upgraded to keep up with the confrontation of the times.

As Zhao Yun chopped the melons and vegetables more and more rapidly, batches of Liaodong soldiers were defeated by their cowardly comrades behind and beside them.

Things like jumping into the sea and swimming back to the boat are very contagious. Once there is the first group, there will be a second and a third group.

It is impossible for ordinary soldiers who do not have a God's perspective to know who has the upper hand on the battlefield. They can only look at the reactions of their comrades around them.

Even though the number of Liu Yi's troops on the shore was still three times that of Zhao Yun, it did not prevent them from mistakenly believing that they had been completely defeated.

Many soldiers hated their parents for not giving them two more legs. When they saw cavalry charging from afar, they would throw away their armor and weapons and jump into the sea.

Liu Yi was stunned by this scene. He knew the overall situation. His troops were obviously several times stronger than Zhao Yun's. How come they suddenly collapsed?
"Don't run! Anyone who disrupts the formation will be killed!" With bloodshot eyes, Liu Yi drew out his sword and chopped at the soldiers who were running for their lives, killing several of them in a row.

Some of his most loyal guards also followed suit and killed the deserters, but how could they stop the decline?

After killing dozens of deserters, the surging crowd of deserters seemed to have shifted their hatred, and suddenly their anger exploded, and they rushed towards Liu Yi's formation with their spears. Soon, Liu Yi was knocked down by his own people in the chaos.

Zhao Yun wanted to lead his troops to surround and kill him, but Liu Yi was too weak. Before Zhao Yun could reach him, Liu Yi was killed by his own people who were fleeing in panic.

"It's so unlucky that Gongsun Du relies on such a person to lead his troops, how can he not be defeated?" When Zhao Yun found Liu Yi's body, he couldn't help but curse in disappointment.

(End of this chapter)