Chapter 778 Xu Rong VS Cao Cao (Part 2)
On the surface, it seems that Cao Cao's 10,000 cavalry is not much different, but in fact, the White Horse Yicong is not an ordinary light cavalry, and the Xiliang Iron Cavalry is a quasi-heavy cavalry slightly inferior to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and there is another point. The cavalry of both schools formed an army much earlier than the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, which was only established for more than half a year. Therefore, the combat strength of the cavalry of the two schools and the 10,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry is basically the same. In addition, the 5,000 assault cavalry are harassing and fighting around. Therefore, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry As soon as the Leopard Rider was dispatched, he was destined to fail in his first battle.
Sure enough, Baima Yi started shooting arrows at the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry from eighty steps away. Although the arrows could not cause too much damage to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, several rounds of arrow rain still caused the loss of dozens of Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
After several rounds of arrows, following Zhao Yun's order, the white horse Yi Congdu threw away their bows and arrows, raised their guns and rode towards the tigers and leopards on the opposite side. With Zhao Yun as the vanguard, the white horse Yi Cong was not afraid of Cao Cao's army. Under the leadership of Zhao Yun, the cavalry from both sides quickly charged together.
Almost at the same time, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry on the other side also fought together.
At this time, Huyandu's assault cavalry had also arrived. Five thousand assault cavalry were divided into two groups to support the cavalry on both sides. With them harassing them from the side and behind, the Tiger Leopard Cavalry's offense was even more constrained.
As soon as the cavalry of the two armies engaged in battle, Sima Yi realized that he was wrong. He was so wrong. The tiger and leopard cavalry were very powerful soldiers and horses. When Cao Cao trained the tiger and leopard cavalry, they were all elite soldiers and horses selected from the army. However, the cavalry does not just select elite soldiers.
If 10,000 tiger and leopard cavalry can barely remain undefeated under the siege of 15,000 cavalry, then the infantry of Cao Cao's army is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain under the attack of two elite units of the Sizhou army.
As time passed, a large number of Sizhou soldiers followed the elite soldiers who broke the formation and rushed into the Cao army's formation.
"Lord, we must withdraw our troops immediately. Otherwise, not only the infantry but also the tiger and leopard cavalry will be in danger." Cheng Yu urged from the side;
Although he was unwilling, Cao Cao still accepted Cheng Yu's advice. At this time, the army was not completely entangled with the Sizhou Army, and it was still possible to retreat. If the battle with the Sizhou Army continued, by then , even if you want to retreat, it is impossible.
Thinking of this, Cao Cao immediately sent an order to withdraw his troops.
As the golden sound of Cao Cao's central army sounded, the troops of Cao Cao's army who were engaged in the battle began to change their formations. However, even with the elite heavy infantry and Qingzhou soldiers, nearly 40% of the troops in the middle of the front line were unable to escape the Sizhou army's attack.
Seeing that Cao Cao's army began to withdraw, Xu Rong was unreasonable at this time. Following his order, the Chinese army's orders were passed out one after another.
The first to react was the cavalry. After hearing the order from the Chinese army, the three cavalry units immediately got rid of the fight with the tiger and leopard cavalry, and turned into the white horse Yi Cong and Xiliang Iron Cavalry cavalry to continue with the tiger and leopard cavalry. They fought hard, and the cavalry immediately attacked the infantry of Cao Cao's army who were gathering to retreat.
At this time, the infantry of Sizhou Army also began to launch a fierce attack on the infantry of Cao Cao's army, and the defense line that had been barely maintained became even more precarious.
Cao Cao's army on the watchtower saw this situation, and immediately ordered the army in the rear to reorganize for defense, and slowly pushed towards the Sizhou army in front, while the soldiers who had been scattered in front went around Now that we have formed a large formation, we can go back to the rear and reorganize our formation.
In this way, Cao Cao's army could block the attack layer by layer and retreat alternately.
But just as Cao Cao adjusted, a new military order came out from Xu Rong's side. As the order came out, the assault cavalry immediately gathered and attacked the rear formation of Cao Cao's army who was reorganizing.
Cao Cao also reacted immediately and quickly moved several troops already in formation to the outside in an attempt to prevent the cavalry from attacking. At the same time, Cao Cao from the Central Military Department also mobilized and arranged the troops and horses on the entire battlefield from time to time.
The two of them are like two people playing chess on a chessboard. You and I move our troops and generals back and forth to kill each other.
Half an hour later, Cao Cao still missed the move. Although he was clumsy on the left and right on the right,
They tried their best to support, but in the end, nearly 20,000 infantry were surrounded by Xu Rong's Sizhou Legion. As for the soldiers and horses who successfully broke through to his central army, plus the thousands of tiger and leopard cavalry who had successfully broken through, there were only more than 20,000 troops in total.
Seeing this situation, although Cao Cao was unwilling, he had to order the army to withdraw to Puyang.
When Xu Rong saw this, he was not greedy for credit. He just ordered the white horse Yi Cong and the shock cavalry to follow Cao Cao's army closely so that they could not retreat safely to Puyang and prepare the best for the army's follow-up attack on Puyang. The rest of the army concentrated its efforts on wiping out the remaining soldiers on the battlefield.
Two hours later, as the last of Cao's soldiers laid down their weapons and surrendered, the battle of 100,000 people finally came to an end.
In a great battle, Cao Cao was defeated. More than 10,000 of his 50,000-strong army were killed, and nearly 20,000 were wounded and captured. The remaining less than 20,000-strong army fled back to Puyang in embarrassment. The Sizhou Army suffered losses of approximately 15,000 people.
Huangfu Chaobo can be said to be very satisfied with Xu Rong's performance. Huangfu Chaobo, who has been standing on the Chinese military watchtower, watched Xu Rong's formation and deployment of troops, as smoothly as flowing clouds and flowing water. Although it cannot be said to be as smooth as an arm and a finger, Xu Rong's grasp of fighter opportunities amazed Zhao Yun and other Sizhou Army generals.
After this battle, Xu Rong can be said to have established his position in the Sizhou army.
After the war, Huangfu Chaobo ordered the battlefield to be cleaned and counted the casualties and prisoners of the army; at the same time, he summoned the generals to discuss the next war arrangement.
After discussion, everyone unanimously decided that the army would continue to advance eastward, directly to Puyang, rest under the city, and continue to mobilize troops from Sizhou to prepare to attack Puyang again.
On the 12th, the Sizhou army arrived at the foot of Puyang again and set up camp in the west of the city. Afterwards, while the army rested, it sent cavalry to cruise around Puyang to block the support of other cities. Now in Puyang City, in addition to the 15,000 defeated soldiers who fled back in embarrassment, there are less than 5,000 guards.
On the 15th, the reinforcements of the Sizhou Army arrived. Because the west was safe, Huangfu Chaobo specially transferred 20,000 reinforcements from Luoyang this time, not including the 5,000 Digging Army that had never appeared in front of the world.
Afterwards, Huangfu Chaobo handed the battle to Xu Rong for command, and the Sizhou Army began to attack Puyang.
With the great victory over Cao Cao's army a few days ago, Xu Rong's ability had completely impressed Zhao Yun and other Sizhou army generals, so when he led the army to attack Puyang, no one had any objection, and Huangfu Chaobo was also happy to have some free time.