Chapter 207 Everyone has their own agenda
In the middle of the night, Lu Bu, like a ghost, wandered again between Zhongdu and Jingling.

The Taiyuan soldiers and the Xiongnu soldiers' night patrol scout teams tried to avoid the enemy consciously, and they were able to get out of the way in advance during the snowy night, so they only fought a few times.

At four o'clock in the morning, Black Bear inspected the chariot camp troops.

More than 200 sleds prepared for battle were already standing on the east side of the command platform. The drivers were ready and had tied themselves to the driving seats with ropes.

There are wooden boards on both sides of the driver's seat and above the head to provide protection. The biggest threats to them are long-range attacks from the front and possible rollovers caused by sharp turns.

Yuan Shu's team of six was the leader of the sled troop. In order to reuse Yuan Shu's team of six, Black Bear also specially made two spare heavy sleds.

Each of the two sleds is equipped with eight draft horses, and the two sleds are connected by a leather rope about 100 meters long.

It is difficult to estimate the specific effect, so we can only look at the actual performance.

After leaving the camp area, we saw the cavalry teams feeding their horses after their meals. They mixed fried, ground or stewed bean feed with ground ox bone powder, coarse salt powder, and green hay with a little water and mixed well.

The war horses and the draft horses used during the transfer were all fed.

In addition to three days of dry food packed in waist bags, the grass for the horses is hung on the backs of draft horses. To be on the safe side, war horses will also carry a meal of grass.

This kind of grass is packed in a long and narrow leather bag and hung between the horse's neck and the saddle.

When the knight is riding, this hay bag, which looks like a large U-shaped pillow, can barely provide some protection for the knight's legs.

While Black Bear was inspecting the teams, a scouting knight squad came back and said, "General! The Wuhuan camp is the same as yesterday! Their main herd of horses was foraging in the right royal court last night. When we were scouting, the horses hadn't returned yet!"

The fodder in the right royal court was not completely destroyed, and the remaining fodder attracted the Wuhuan people.

"You've worked hard, go to the tent and take a rest!"

The black bear looked up at the North Star and let out a long breath.

The Wuhuan people could retreat northward at any time. They were closer to their tribe, and fleeing into the Taihang Mountains in the north would be considered returning home.

Therefore, the Wuhuan people are most comfortable now. Whether to fight or not depends entirely on the sincerity of the Taiyuan people and the Xiongnu people.

Fortunately, he put himself in a desperate situation, otherwise the Huns would not have come so far to attack him.

The Wuhuan people were not able to participate in the decisive battle. Although the various Black Mountain troops arrived at the battlefield, they were still spectators!

The people of Hedong turned against us and it would take another three days to reach the battlefield.

Of the so-called 80,000 Huns, only 60,000 arrived by taking a detour. If the battle starts tomorrow, at least 10,000 people must be left to guard the camp.

Of the more than 30,000 Taiyuan coalition forces, only a little over 20,000 can actually participate in the battle tomorrow.

After all the calculations, the enemy actually deployed only 70,000 people on the battlefield, twice as many as ours.

If the battle situation becomes obvious, the 10,000 people in the Xiongnu camp who are watching, the more than 10,000 people of Guo Xian in Qi County, the 20,000 people of Yu Digen in the north, and the more than 20,000 Xianbei knights will all join the battlefield.

Including Yang Feng, there is also the possibility that he might be coerced by the army and defect to the opposing camp.

Soon, reconnaissance teams returned one after another, and Black Bear also climbed onto the wooden platform to observe the battlefield in the north.

The Taiyuan soldiers were seen divided into three large square formations, holding torches and marching slowly. Each large square formation had many small square formations.

The torches were far away, and the flames flickered unsteadily, and the marching team seemed to be swaying like waves.

The size of each small square formation could be barely judged by the area where the torches were clustered. About every fifty or sixty steps, these small square formations had to stop and reorganize to maintain consistency in the front row.

The small squares moved and stopped like this, and the large square formed by them gave the black bear a feeling of repeatedly braking.

Our scouts went forward to investigate, and the enemy also had scouts going forward to try to drive them away.

When Lu Bu approached with his Fang Tian Ji, the enemy scout team retreated in several directions.

After these days of contact and clashes, the enemy scouts have deeply understood that they cannot run in one direction when escaping or evacuating, and they cannot form a straight line.

The more they are connected into a line, the easier it is to stimulate Lu Bu's desire to chase and kill.

Their own scouts reported back one after another, and Black Bear placed wooden plaques with names on them on the cowhide map behind him.

Guo Huai, the strongest member of the clan, is responsible for the eastern line, Wang Ling is in charge of the central line, and the western line is led by Linghu Chao, who leads the coalition of powerful forces in the northeast of Taiyuan.

As the sky gradually brightened, more detailed information arrived.

Wang Ling led the Taiyuan County troops and the coalition forces of the southeastern Taiyuan warlords. The main force of the Wang family was stationed in Zhongdu and did not participate in the battle.

The sun rose at about 7:30. The air was clear after the heavy snowfall and the view was excellent.

There is no fog.

Almost at the same time, the six cavalry teams behind Hei Xiong Mu Tai began to make a detour to the northeast along the established route.

About thirty miles north of Mutai, the right wing vanguard of the Xiongnu appeared, holding a few torches. They obviously bypassed Zhongdu County, appeared from the west of the county, and headed south.

There are too many Hun troops, and if they want to deploy them, they need to create a wide enough distance.

This was also the first time that this generation of Huns assembled for such a large-scale field battle. In order to prevent each unit from charging without authorization, they were divided into three armies, with each army maintaining a distance of four or five miles.

The first to appear was the newly formed right wing of the Xiongnu, with Liu Qubei, who maintained good relations with Cao Cao, serving as the Right Wise King.

The various tribes that made up this right wing were the so-called Xiongnu tribes, and their ethnic groups were relatively mixed.

Even within the Western Xiongnu, these tribes had a relatively low status and were at the bottom of the Xiongnu's internal contempt chain.

It is almost a tradition to let these people form the new right wing to play as forwards, and these people, including Liu Qubei, also think it is natural.

When Liu Qubei saw that the sky was gradually getting brighter, he began to urge the right wing to advance southward.

A dozen knights marched northwards to the front of Liu Qubei's army. Guo Huai's younger brother Guo Liang pointed to the south and said, "Tai Shi Wen Gong is disturbing our formation. Please ask the Right Wise King to send out elite cavalry to guard our flanks!"

“This is as it should be.”

Liu Qubei turned his head and gave instructions. Immediately, three thousand-cavalry teams of similar size gradually accelerated, left the right-wing marching group, and split into three to march towards the back of Wang Ling and Guo Huai.

When the right wing sent out three teams of a thousand men, Liu Bao in the center army also sent out four teams of a thousand cavalry, which marched in a line to the south.

Almost at the same time, the three thousand-cavalry teams scheduled for the left wing also began to accelerate from the rear, breaking away from the left wing and approaching the Taiyuan army position in a long snake formation.

The Xiongnu had a mixed formation of infantry and cavalry, with the three clusters having infantry in the center and cavalry on the two wings.

Liu Bao stood on the chariot, feeling the atmosphere of the battle.

This was the battle to establish his career. As long as he fought well, he could also fight the Xianbei and Qiang people when he returned.

There are rarely any decisive battles of siege or defense between nomads. As long as a field battle is won, the outcome can often be decided.

At about nine o'clock, Guo Huai was only seven or eight miles away from the black bear's main camp.

More than ten miles behind him, on the vast snowfield, hundreds of Hun cavalry teams were chasing Lu Bu.

More Hun cavalry teams formed a large circular formation and hunted down Lu Bu who was rushing left and right in the formation.

From time to time, the remnants of the Hundred Cavalry Team, which had lost horsepower and physical strength, retreated into a super-large circular formation, and other Hundred Cavalry Teams immediately joined in the hunt. The Huns' Hundred Cavalry Teams and Thousand Cavalry Teams were not fully reorganized, so they were of different sizes.

From bows and arrows, fishing nets, spears to lassos, none of them were effective.

There were also many knights pulling ropes from both wings, crossing over Lu Bu, trying to trip Lu Bu with the pulled ropes.

The Huns wanted to snatch the divine horse from Lu Bu's saddle. If they could use this horse to improve the horse breed, it would lead the Huns to rise again.

But yesterday afternoon, the Taiyuan soldiers dug various horse traps nearby, nailed low wooden stakes and used tripwires.

From time to time, the Hun knights who were riding their horses would trip and fall into the snow. Those who were lucky would get up and limp out, while those who were unlucky would never get up again.

After more than half an hour of fierce confrontation, the Huns had slowed down the speed of their circular formation. Even the number of the Hundred Cavalry Team participating in the attack had been reduced and their enthusiasm for the attack had declined.

However, in the eyes of the Taiyuan soldiers, Lu Bu had been surrounded and killed by tens of thousands of cavalry, and their morale was high.

Even Guo Huai finally drove his horse away from the main camp, led more than a hundred riders forward, and shouted at the black bear on the command platform from twenty or thirty steps away: "You are a traitor who has committed treasonous acts! You are a black thief who hides his head and hides his face! How are you compared to Dong Zhuo and Gongsun Zan!"

The black bear heard something vaguely, but not very clearly.

He stood up and stretched out his hand, and the guard beside him handed him a powerful crossbow.

The front row of shield soldiers on the third floor made way for the passage. Black Bear aimed his crossbow at Guo Huai, who was holding a spear, controlling his horse, sticking his neck out and cursing. He took aim and pulled the copper trigger.

The crossbow arrow was powerful, but it still failed to penetrate the three layers of armor on Guo Huai's chest, and only pierced the outermost layer of wide leather armor.

Then another powerful crossbow was delivered to Black Bear. He raised it and aimed it at Guo Huai. Guo Huai immediately hid in the stirrup, and the crossbow arrow hit a knight behind Guo Huai.

The crossbow arrow pierced the opponent's thigh, and he fell off his horse with a scream.

Guo Huai got back on his horse and saw the masked black bear holding up a crossbow again. He immediately shouted, "Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

He kicked the horse hard in the belly and fell on its back. Black Bear remained calm and shot at the crowd again.

A knight was shot in the back, but he still managed to evacuate.

Guo Huai retreated three miles to the main camp. The small square formations were still moving forward and stopping, stopping every sixty or seventy steps to reorganize the front row.

The main formation continued to advance, and Guo Huai went around the formation to the center.

During this time, he turned his head to look to the north and saw that the Huns' circular cavalry formation, which was two or three miles wide, had not yet dealt with "Tai Shi Wen Gong", and he couldn't help feeling anxious.

As they approached Wang Ling's central army, Guo Huai said, "There are signs that the black bandit knights are circling eastwards. We haven't seen any flags from the main group. They may be decoys, but we must be on guard."

Wang Ling turned his head to look to the east, where the view was particularly good. He could see the earthen platforms and hillocks at the foot of the mountain, and vaguely some flags standing on the hillocks.

The estimated distance between the earthen platform and the hill is about ten miles.

Wang Ling also frowned. Tai Shi Wengong had caused them a lot of interference during this period.

For example, if our main general wants to leave the camp to conduct close reconnaissance of the battlefield, it will not be possible and we can only rely on scouts for reconnaissance.

"I will immediately send a letter to Liu Bao, asking him to send troops to investigate the east and eliminate the hidden dangers!"

As Wang Ling spoke, he turned to look at the chief clerk, who immediately spread out the sheepskin scroll on the cart and picked up a pen to write.

Guo Huai asked: "When did the Wuhuan people join the war?"

"Tomorrow at the earliest, the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Wang Ling's tone was also dissatisfied, but more helpless: "The Xiongnu is powerful, and the Wuhuan people are afraid of being annexed by the Xiongnu after the war. Therefore, they dare not approach easily. After the Xiongnu engage in battle, the Wuhuan people will wait for an opportunity to join the battle!"

Guo Huai took a deep breath and said, "Brother, do you mean that the Wuhuan people don't think they can win today?"

"Yes."

Wang Ling responded, and when he saw the chief clerk handing him the parchment scroll, he immediately took out his private seal and official seal and stamped it down.

A dozen knights took the parchment rolls and marched towards the Hun army's center twenty miles away.

Wang Ling saw Guo Huai's dissatisfaction and said, "If the Xiongnu don't withdraw today, it will be difficult to withdraw tomorrow, and there will be no chance to withdraw the day after tomorrow. If we delay, the Xiongnu will be trapped deeper and deeper, and will end up like us. We have no choice but to fight to the death."

"When the Hedong troops arrive, the Wuhuan will cooperate in the attack. Then the Black Mountain troops will also take advantage of the situation and move. Only in this way can we check and balance the Xiongnu."

Wang Ling explained his reasoning: "Otherwise, if we drive away the black thieves one foot and the Huns come the next, what good will it do us?"

After hearing this, Guo Huai nodded slightly, and then he understood the abnormal behavior of the Wuhuan people.

Now the Wuhuan were betting that the Xiongnu would not be able to achieve their goal in one day, and the Xiongnu were also betting that they could enjoy the spoils alone.

No longer confused, Guo Huai smiled: "Brother, I understand."

"Now that you understand, let's return to the formation."

Wang Ling smiled as he spoke. Today's battle was not to defeat the black bear, but to kill time and block the Huns' last window of opportunity for withdrawal. Then the Huns would lose the initiative.

While the two were talking, more than 5,000 men led by Linghu Chao on the eastern front arrived at the battle line and divided into teams to attack the earthen fortifications.

The earthen rampart, which is about twenty miles long from east to west, is neither high nor thick, as if it was simply used to defend against cavalry attacks.

In terms of height, it is only chest-high.

However, during the attack, when the front row of centuries were charging under arrows, slingshots, and short spears and were about to touch the wall, the people in the front row screamed and fell into the trench.

Wooden spikes were buried in the trenches, and the not-so-deep trenches were covered with reed curtains and camouflaged by snow.

In an instant, nearly two hundred people fell into the trench that was seven or eight feet wide and three or four feet deep, and many were killed or injured.

The remaining seven or eight hundred people immediately turned around and ran away, and the first battle was unfavorable.

When Linghu Chao approached the front row, he found that the trench was dug in sections, and immediately ordered the second team to move forward.

At this moment, more than a hundred people climbed out from the wall and stabbed the Taiyuan soldiers in the ditch to death with spears.

These people were also shot and wounded by the Taiyuan soldiers, but they all ran to the wall and were pulled over by friendly forces.

Soon after, Wang Ling and Guo Huai also sent their troops forward, preparing to fill the trenches with snow and destroy the low walls.

Black Bear estimated the time and walked to the back of the command wooden building. Seeing that the chariot troops were ready, he raised his hand and pretended to wave.

Yuan Shu, the first leader of the team, personally drove a heavy sled with two battle flags and went out from the east exit.

A number of sleds pulling more than twenty bundles of reeds followed behind, and the black bear turned around and returned to the front row of the wooden building.

At this time, a mixed team of archers and crossbows commanded by Guo Huai approached the earth wall and shot arrows at the wooden building under the cover of the earth wall.

Arrows were shot continuously, either nailed on the wooden planks of the building or nailed on the shields of the guards. Only a few arrows were able to penetrate into the building from above the shields, and they were also nailed on the logs inside the building.

When Black Bear saw an arrow ricocheting off his body, he squatted behind his shield and observed through the gap. He said to his personal soldiers, "The Taiyuan people are deliberately slacking off in the fight. Tell Zhang Yan not to pursue them and engage in a reckless fight. The key is to defend."

(End of this chapter)