Hearing Xu Rong rejected Xu Kun's roundabout back attack strategy, the generals and officials who were stationed on the hills were speechless for a moment.

After being silent for a while, Li Meng, who knew the truth about Cao's army, said in thought:

"General, although there are many soldiers and horses in the rebels, they are all flags. This is clearly the mob soldiers who are temporarily gathered. Our army can use infantry to restrain the central army, and then use iron cavalry to attack the two wings of the people. With the elite of our Xiliang soldiers, we will definitely be able to defeat the rebels who formed formations in front of us."

Faced with Li Meng's suggestion, Xu Rong thought about it, shook his head, pointed at the left and right armies of the Cao army formation and said:

"Look, the rebels deliberately deployed heavy troops on both wings to prevent our cavalry from detouring and side-striking. If we also deployed cavalry on both wings, not to mention that the rebels' central army was as stable as a mountain, they could be dispatched calmly and wait for an opportunity to counterattack, but the cavalry attacked one after another, which could indeed defeat the two major formations on the left and right of the rebels. However, even if they used troops like this, they would suffer heavy losses. What a wise man would not do, this plan would not be possible!"

"this--"

After Li Meng was refuted by Xu Rong, he was speechless like Xu Kun, and the generals and officials on the hill fell into silence again.

Seeing that the generals and officials under his command had no choice but to speak, Xu Rong turned his eyes on the rebel formation beside the Bian River. After a while, his mouth raised and said leisurely:

"The rebels set up such a formation and rejected the chariots in the army. Is it a bully for the Xiliang soldiers and horses to fight in the infantry? Unfortunately, our Xiliang soldiers are the most powerful soldiers in the world. They can kill the enemy when they are on horseback, and they can still break out of the formation when they are off horseback. The rebels' plan is about to fail. I want to let the cavalry and soldiers take off horseback to fight in the infantry battle and defeat the rebel army formation!"

"ah?"

When the generals and officials around heard Xu Rong's words, they immediately exclaimed a surprise. The reason why the soldiers and horses in Xiliang repeatedly defeated the soldiers and horses in Guandong was driven by the strong horses and broke through the enemy. Now Xu Rong actually wanted to dismount and fight the rebels in infantry. Isn't this to fight against others' strengths based on his own weaknesses?

Yan Xing, who had been observing calmly and silently, listened to Xu Rong's words and thought for a moment, and he quickly understood the purpose of Xu Rong doing this.

First of all, because Cao Cao brought his troops into the battlefield early, he had time to set up his formation calmly. The large formation formed by 30,000 people and horses could be considered as having no flaws for the Xiliang soldiers who came back, and they could find an opportunity to break through with cavalry.

Whether it is backing the Bian River to form a formation, or setting up a Yuli formation and resisting the carts, these are all made by Cao Cao deliberately to defend against the charge and detour of the Western Liang cavalry. Xu Rong is also a good soldier. Since the enemy on the opposite side has prepared to restrain his cavalry in advance, then at this time, he still insists on the original cavalry attack tactics, and he will undoubtedly fall into the trap of the other party.

Therefore, Xu Rong decided to do the opposite, abandon the original cavalry battle method of the Western Liang soldiers, let the cavalry dismount, and form a formation to fight against the Cao army.

The reason why Xu Rong had the courage to use troops like this was also due to two considerations. The first point was that although there were many soldiers in the rebels, they were mostly new soldiers who had just arrived in the battle formation. The combat power of individual soldiers might be good, but the resilience and flexibility of the army were much worse than those of the Xiliang soldiers, such as the Xiliang soldiers. The overall combat power was not on the same level as that of the Xiliang soldiers.

The second point is that these rebels were formed by a gathering of troops from multiple parties. When they were in line, they were strict and orderly. However, once the war was handed over and the fierce battle between the two sides was in a deadlock, the situation would be different. On the Xiliang side, Xu Rong was confident that he could do it like an arm, but the rebels on the opposite side might not be able to make the orders consistent and have a leisurely rest.

On the battlefield, the two armies confront each other. On the surface, there are so many flaws and shortcomings to be found. At this time, know the enemy and yourself, and know the other party’s inner virtuality and strength.

"When the enemy uses the right formation, the decisive victory is the surprise soldiers." With a dignified formation, we invite the enemy to attack, and surrender ten times with one force, forcing the enemy to disarray and reveal flaws. Then we will throw in the surprise soldiers as the winner and losers in time and completely defeat the enemy. The right and strange are the opposite and cannot be separated for a moment. This is the real way to win the battle formation.

In this process of contrasting with oddities, the game tactics of both sides also have three levels. The high level is to allow the enemy to completely fall into the situation they set up and fight according to the familiar rhythm. The middle level is to stick to your own rhythm and then disrupt the enemy's rhythm. The lower level is to not fall into the situations they set up by the opponent and fight according to the rhythm of the enemy.

Because Cao Cao entered the battlefield early and had the advantage of time and place, he calmly used the tactics of the middle level, using the Bian River and the luggage carts to give full play to the advantages of his infantry and disrupt the cavalry tactics of the Xiliang soldiers. Xu Rong's way of dealing with them was to choose the tactics of the lower level and not responding to the battle in the way Cao Cao chose for himself, so that Cao Cao's mid-level tactics could not be elevated to a high-level tactics.

On the surface, this seems to be just as other military officials are worried about, and to attack the strengths of the enemy with their own weaknesses. But in fact, the situation of military struggle is unpredictable. How can the strong always be strong and the weak always be weak on the battlefield? As long as the enemy and our side can seize a fleeting opportunity in time during the battle, they can often turn the disadvantages into advantages, win with fewer victory and turn defeat into victory.

Taoism has the principle of "the right is strange, and the good is evil." Xu Rong has never read "Laozi", but it does not prevent him from using his talent for generals and experience in combat formations to make the most suitable strategy for the attack of the Western Liang army at the moment.

"Li Sima, you lead the three thousand light cavalry in the original army, and I will add another thousand infantry to you, totaling four thousand soldiers and horses to attack the rebels' Right Army!"

"promise!"

"Emperor Yan, you have more than a thousand troops in your headquarters. Now I will temporarily transfer three thousand cavalry to you, totaling more than 4,000 troops to attack the rebel left army!"

"promise!"

"Wang Junhou, this time I will use your troops as the vanguard to attack the rebels' central army. I will lead other troops to plunder the formation for you."

"promise!"

"The rest of the military officers and generals are fully equipped with troops and horses. They can always listen to my orders to enter the army. Those who are lazy and disorderly will be engaged in military law!"

"promise!"

···

Xu Rong has always been decisive in using military troops to manage the army. Since he had made up his mind to break the formation with infantry battles, many military officials who knew his temperament naturally did not dare to say anything anymore and acted according to the orders. Xu Kun stood beside Xu Rong. At this time, he heard that Li Meng, Yan Xing, Wang Fang and others had their own missions to advance, but before his orders to dispatch the army had been released, he opened his mouth slightly, and wanted to speak but stopped.

Just at this time, Xu Rong's stern eyes swept into his face, and he subconsciously tightened his heart. Xu Rong's eyes were particularly sharp when he looked at him, as if he had seen through his thoughts. He pursed his lips and did not dare to speak, and followed the orders of other military officials.

On the battlefield, the orders were ordered to go immediately. The military officers who received the order turned their horses and rode down the hills and came to their troops.

In the direction of the central army where Xu Rong was located, the cavalry who mobilized the troops and horses continued to move, and sent orders back and forth. The soldiers who received the orders quickly took great strides and merged under a flag with a distinctly flapping rod. Finally, the formation was completed, and more than 10,000 Western Liang soldiers and invading cavalry also faced the Cao army, which was lined up with the water, forming three attacking formations.

Wang Fang's troops were located in front of the central army formation. As the vanguard of this outbreak, Xu Rong and Xu Kun and other generals and officials led the troops and horses to Wang Fang's rear and serve as the rear formation.

On both sides of the military formation, Li Meng, with three thousand light cavalry and one thousand infantry, arranged the formation on the left, while Yan Xing temporarily commanded four thousand soldiers and horses to arrange the formation on the right.

During the process of mobilizing and arranging troops, Xu Rong sent the Xiliang cavalry of the Central Army as a guard force to prevent the opposing rebels from suddenly launching attacks when their positions were unstable. However, Cao Cao on the opposite side was very calm. Although Xu Rong's army seemed to have revealed a flaw, Cao Cao was unwilling to attack rashly, causing chaos to form the formation he had put in painstaking battles.

By the time the formation of both sides had already formed, with the sound of horns in the Xiliang army formation, teams of cavalry dismounted one after another and arranged into formations like infantrymen. The Guanxi spear commonly used by Guanxi soldiers was raised high, and the dense spear edges gathered together. In the sun, it was like a layer of gold on their weapons.

Except for some of the Qiang and Hu cavalry, which were divided into two wings as the siege formation, the rest also dismounted and acted as archers, mixed between spearmen, sorted out the feathers in their archery bags, and raised their longbows and let out a hysterical roar to the enemy opposite.

"Brother, is the Xiliang soldiers on the opposite side going to line up to fight with us in infantry?"

After the trumpet of the Western Liang soldiers was sounded, the central army where Cao's army was located began to beat the war drum without showing any weakness. The soldiers under their command also tapped the shield with swords and raised the battle flag to shake it constantly. This was not only a reversal of the enemy's demonstration, but also aroused courage for themselves in the subsequent battle.

Cao Hong, wearing armor, was in amidst the vigorous and intense horns and war drums. He was already full of passion and passion. Although he had always heard of the evil reputation of the Western Liang soldiers before, when he was in the army of thousands of people, he was inexplicably infected by this momentum of "one shouting together" and was not afraid at all, but was somewhat expecting to start a war soon.

The Xiahou brothers were sent by Cao Cao to Weiz's left army. The two brothers Cao Ren and Cao Chun commanded the troops in front of the army. At this moment, Cao Hong was guarding Cao Cao with his personal soldiers, so when he saw that the Xiliang soldiers actually dismounted, he made a sound in surprise.

Cao Cao did not respond, but instead twisted his eyebrows into the character "chuan" and his face was solemn.

He laid out layers of Yuli Formation, which contained the idea of ​​defeating cavalry with infantry, plus the Bian River behind and the forward-rejected carts, which restricted the frontal impact and roundabout encirclement of the Xiliang cavalry. If the opponent's general blindly believed in the evil name of "Xiliang Iron Cavalry, Invincible in the World", used cavalry to attack the left and right armies in turn, or directly attack the central army in the front, attempting to use cavalry to charge to open the gap in the military formation, that was exactly what Cao Cao wanted to see most.

But at present, the Xiliang soldiers chose to dismount the camp, which means that the enemy generals on the opposite side have seen through their thoughts and have the confidence to defeat their own side in the infantry battle.

Looking at the military formation opposite, the "Xu" flag waving in the wind shows the identity of the general. In the afternoon, the sunlight in the sky is slowly tilting, which will gradually turn your military formation into a side with a disadvantageous sight.

Retracting his eyes from the distance, Cao Cao looked at him. Many of the soldiers beside him had a young and tender face like Cao Hong. Most of them were new soldiers, and they were also excited and nervous, waiting for the baptism of the war, just like Cao Hong.

The footsteps of the Xiliang Army brigade moving opposite were already heard. Cao Cao looked at his soldiers, and he laughed, his eyebrows instantly relaxed, bursting out with a heroic spirit, and loudly encouraged the new soldiers around him.

Under his encouragement, the new soldiers around him burst into a thunderous shout, and the shouts immediately spread to the central army, and then they rang among the troops of the left and right armies.

Every Cao army soldier was infected by this loud shout and became even more excited. But they didn't notice that their chief general moved his straight waist slightly amid the shout, and wiped the sweat from his palms without leaving any traces with his battle robe.
Chapter completed!