Chapter 35 Seventeen, Murong Ke puts up a chain horse array

Although Ran Min destroyed Hou Zhao, he did not immediately occupy Xiangguo.The carefree Liu seemed to have the title of General and Jizhou Mu given to him by Ran Min. Perhaps he felt that prosperity and wealth came too easily, so he quickly turned his guns and came back to attack Yecheng.Liu Xian didn't make much progress in fighting, and was defeated by Ran Min again. After Liu Xian retired, he simply became the emperor in Xiangguo. In the first month of the second year (352 A.D.), Ran Min got the news that Liu Xian had attacked Changshan (now Zhengding, Hebei), leaving Prince Ran Zhi to guard Yecheng. And followed him to Xiangguo.Cao Fuju, led by Liu Xian, opened the city gate to welcome Ran Min in. Liu Xian and hundreds of his subordinates were killed.Ran Min burned the palaces of Xiang State and moved the people back to Yecheng.

Only Shi Zhi's brother, Shi Kun, took his family and his family and fled to the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the rebellious army. After being beheaded in Kangcheng, all Zhao clans were exterminated, and the descendants of the Sima family also took this to comfort themselves, counting as revenge for their ancestors. (The political corruption of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was no less than that of the Southern Song Dynasty, but it was a common hatred for the outside world. There was almost no market for those who advocated peace with the North at that time, and the means for the powerful ministers to establish their status were mostly through foreign wars. Compared with the Southern Song Dynasty, it was either war or peace. An indecisive attitude is indeed much wiser, and the Southern Dynasty’s rule lasted for nearly two and a half centuries, which has a lot to do with the influence of this policy.)

Ran Min took Xiangguo and occupied the southern part of Jizhou. However, he made enemies on all sides and fought for years, gradually losing popular support. More and more cities rebelled against Ran Wei. Murong Jun, King of Yan, established his foothold in Jicheng, and continued to march south. The cities in northern Jizhou fell into the hands of Xianbei people one after another. , a branch of the Qiang people - Zhai Shu of the Ding Ling tribe also led his troops to defect to Qianyan.Murong Ke's army's innocence towards the common people is indeed refreshing in this troubled world. Murong's prestige suddenly resounded across the north and south of the river, and Ran Min, who thought that the general situation was settled, also began to recognize this "unexpected" enemy again. .

In April of this year, Ran Min, who had just eliminated Liu Xian, was gaining momentum, leading the army to show off his might in the Changshan area, very close to the Zhongshan City that the Xianbei had just occupied.Murong Jun sent Murong Ke to lead the former Yan army to attack Ran Min, and Ran Min decided to take advantage of the east wind to take down the former Yan as well. The general Dong Run and the chariot general Zhang Wen under Ran Min felt that the enemy was outnumbered, and they both persuaded: "The Xianbei people have won consecutive battles, and their momentum is strong. It is difficult to resist for a while; our army should avoid their vigor first, and wait until they are tired. Then the whole army advances and defeats them in one fell swoop, and a great victory can be achieved."

Ran Min curled his lips and said angrily: "With this army in my hand, I can conquer Youzhou and behead Murong Jun. If I run into a little Murong Ke now, I will avoid it. People in the world will not take me lightly. How else can I be the emperor of the Central Plains?" Then he swung his troops to meet the enemy. The two armies met in Liantai (now Wuji, Hebei), and the coaches of the two sides started a wonderful scene of fighting wits and courage.The main members of the Wei army were Han people from the Central Plains, mainly infantry, suitable for fighting in jungles and mountains, while the Yan army was mostly composed of Xianbei people, mainly cavalry, and were good at fighting on flat ground.Ran Min placed the soldiers in the woods to limit the impact of the Yan army's cavalry. Murong Ke's joining the army Gao Kai immediately pointed out the opponent's intentions. cavalry combat.Ran Min is also a person who is quite familiar with the tactics of warfare. The Wei army was at a disadvantage compared to the Yan army in terms of numbers. He decided to follow the tactics of the Yan army and follow the Yan army to the flat ground.The two sides fought ten times in a row, and the Yan army could not win. Ran Min was quite proud.

Sure enough, Murong Ke was not an idler. After carefully observing Wei Jun's tactics, he finally saw the "secret" of the opponent's victory, that is, "combining troops together, fighting to the death to defeat the enemy." He divided the Yan army into three parts, and said to the generals: "The enemy is small against many, and he must fight to the death. Now I will concentrate the superior force on the central army, and I will lead it to meet the enemy. After the battle, you will lead the left and right. If the army flanks from both sides, it will surely win!"

He specially selected 5,000 Xianbei cavalry who are good at shooting, and connected the horses with iron locks, and arranged them in a square formation, intending to surround the opponent's infantry from three sides, so that the Wei soldiers could not break through the Yan army even in a deadly battle. Ran Min's mount is a BMW named "Zhu Long", which can travel thousands of miles a day.After the battle, he wielded a double-edged spear in his left hand and a hooked halberd in his right. He was unstoppable and beheaded more than 300 Yan soldiers. At this time, most of the cavalry of the Yan army arrived. Ran Min raised his head and saw the banner of the enemy's Chinese army, and led his troops to rush forward. Unexpectedly, Yan troops appeared on both sides. The connected chain of horse formations was heavily besieged, and it was impossible to fight to the death, so they were defeated.Ran Min fought bloody and desperately to break through the siege. He rode eastward for more than 20 miles alone, but Zhu Longma suddenly died of exhaustion under his crotch, and was finally captured by Yan soldiers.

This battle between Yan and Wei was a typical battle where the formation played the main role. Murong Ke is worthy of being a military genius. His chain horse formation is full of creativity and has been fully utilized in actual combat.The serial horse formation also had a great influence on later generations, which is not only reflected in the battle formation (Jin Wushu once used it to design the kidnapper horse, and the serial horse often appeared in the later Pingshu Romance), but also reflected in the strategy Tactical thinking (that is, the thinking of encircling and annihilating). Ran Min was sent to Jicheng.Murong Jun scolded him and said, "You are just a mediocre servant, how can you call yourself emperor?"

Ran Min retorted: "The world is in chaos today, you barbarians and beasts still claim the title of emperor, let alone a hero of the Central Plains like me, why can't I be called emperor?" Murong Jun was furious, and ordered Ran Min to be whipped three hundred times, and taken to Longcheng to be beheaded. The short-lived Ran Wei died only three years after his founding.