Chapter 58 7. The last battle of "White Horse Justice"

If Yuan Shao wants to fight Gongsun Zan decisively, he must overcome a difficulty: Baima Yicong, which is almost impossible to achieve. The Youzhou iron cavalry at the end of the Han Dynasty was the elite of the cavalry, and "White Horse Yi Cong" was also the elite of the Youzhou iron cavalry.Under Gongsun Zan's many years of management, this army has been victorious in every battle, making the enemy frightened.The reason why the Wuhuan people were willing to surrender was not so much to give Liu Yu face, but rather to be afraid of being beaten by this iron army. The total force Gongsun Zan can mobilize is about 100,000. Except for the "White Horse Yi Cong", the proportion of cavalry in other troops is also relatively high. This is related to the geographical proximity of Youzhou and the northern minorities.Most of the main forces on Yuan Shao's side are Han Fu's original troops. Although Zhang, Yi, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou are all first-class fierce generals, they have all surrendered not long ago, and their loyalty has yet to be tested. It's not easy to say that it will be worse.

In comparison, Yi defected to him earlier, and had a complete quarrel with Han Fu, so he has a high degree of reliability and can be entrusted with important tasks at critical times. Yuan Shao's troops were insufficient, and the territory to be defended was huge, and there were only about 30,000 to 40,000 people who could be assembled to fight, and there were too few cavalry.In an open area like the North China Plain, if you use infantry to fight against cavalry, and the numbers are not dominant, the chances of winning are really small, not to mention that the enemy has a battlefield terminator like "White Horse Yi Cong".

This was not the only thing that caused Yuan Shao a headache. According to intelligence, Gongsun Zan contacted Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Army, and at the same time instigated Zhang Yang, who had just surrendered to Yuan Shao, and Yu Fuluo, the Southern Xiongnu Shanyu.Gongsun Zan established contact with Tao Qian, governor of Xuzhou, and with his old ally Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao was basically besieged on all sides. Therefore, when Gongsun Zan went south to Xingshi to question his crimes on the grounds of Gongsun Yue's death, Yuan Shao was really nervous, and hurriedly gave up the post of prefect of Bohai County to Gongsun Fan, and coaxed Gongsun Zan back first by ceding the land.

In Yuan Shao's camp, only Cao Cao is progressing smoothly in Yanzhou, but Cao Cao can't move at the moment. He is responsible for monitoring Yuan Shu, Tao Qian and others, and guarding the southern line of Jizhou.Yuan Shao discussed with Jushou, Tian Feng, Feng Ji, Xu You and other think tanks all day long, trying to find a strategy to defeat the enemy. Yuan Shao was still contemplating, but Gongsun Zan couldn't wait any longer. He first issued a "Written Call for Yuan", and then mobilized an army to attack Jizhou. This "Discussion on Yuan Calligraphy" was written with great effort, listing Yuan Shao's ten crimes. These crimes include distorting facts and making out of nothing, exaggerating and slandering, but also seeking truth from facts.The crimes are mainly:

1. Created the disaster of Dong Zhuo (Yuan Shao did take the main responsibility, but not all the responsibility); 2. Not resisting Dong Zhuo and disregarding the emperor is disloyalty (everyone is responsible for this); 3. It is unfilial to rise up against Dong Zhuo without telling the elders in the family, killing more than 50 members of the family (this should be Dong Zhuo's responsibility); 4. In the two years since the army was raised, it has not dealt with the enemy, but only focused on strengthening itself (this is a fact); 5. Instruct Han Fu to establish a new king (this is also a fact);

6. Trust a charlatan and fortune teller named Cui Juye, and choose a good life in war, lacking the demeanor of a minister (people like it, it's none of other people's business); 7. Killing Liu Xun, a meritorious official (who is Liu Xun has not been found out, in the future Cao Cao has Liu Xun under his command, but he is definitely not this person, whether Yuan Shao should kill him is to be tested); 8. Ask others for supplies, and if you don’t give enough, you will turn your face and kill people (without specific clues, it is difficult to judge the authenticity); 9. As the son of a lowly concubine, he still has to contend with Yuan Shu, the general who was born in the first line (it is not kind to reveal the privacy of others, and this is the private matter of the Yuan family and has nothing to do with others);

10. Send Zhou Ang to attack Sun Jian, causing Sun Jian's attempt to challenge Dong Daye to fail (although it is true but somewhat exaggerated, if Zhou Ang does not make trouble, Yuan Shu and Sun Jian's attempt to challenge Dong Daye will not be successful). After a strong public opinion propaganda, at the end of the second year of Chuping (191), Gongsun Zan personally led the army to the south and stationed troops at Jieqiao.At the beginning of the next year, Yuan Shao's rectification troops also arrived, and the two armies set up a battlefield twenty miles south of Jieqiao. When the two armies confront each other, Gongsun Zan's side has a well-organized lineup, bright armor and flying flags, and is very imposing, especially the "White Horse Yi Cong" in the middle of the queue, which is even more frightening.On the opposite side, Yuan Jun formed a strange formation. Maybe it was too late to train, or maybe he was not good at fighting such positional warfare. Yuan Jun only had 800 infantry and more than 1,000 archers in the center, and there were 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers behind him. People, the queue is not neat, and the fighting spirit is not high.

At that moment, there must have been a contemptuous smile on the corner of Gongsun Zan's mouth. He was too familiar with this style of play. He fought Zhang Chun, Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, including Wuhuan. Baima Yicong" will kill like a storm, and the next thing is to wait for the follow-up troops to go up to collect the enemy's corpse. Gongsun Zan drew out his command saber to draw a decisive and graceful curve in the air, and then gave the order for a general attack. Thousands of "White Horse Yi Cong" swept out, the sound of horseshoes was like thunder, and there were thousands of people howling, as if this terrifying momentum without a sword was enough to tear any enemy to pieces!

When the enemy's iron cavalry came roaring, Yuan Jun's formation still did not move, but the 800 infantry in the front line suddenly fell down, covered their bodies with the leather shields they carried, and waited motionlessly for the enemy cavalry's attack. arrival. The enemy is getting closer, but these people still don't move. "Bai Ma Yi Cong" are all horse archery masters. When they were still an arrow away from the opponent, they charged and shot arrows on the horse. The raindrops of arrows shot at Yuan Jun, but Yuan Jun was protected by a leather shield. People get hurt.

While speaking, the cavalry arrived, and the 800 people who were lying under the leather shield suddenly jumped up, and the cavalry realized that they were stabbing at themselves with a strange-looking weapon.These Yuan Jun seemed to have received special training, and they used this weapon very skillfully, no matter stabbing a person or a horse, every stab was accurate, and they never failed. This weapon was specially designed and customized by Yuan Shao for "White Horse Yicong".This is indeed a specially trained team. Its commander is Yi. They are Yuan Shao's trump card and secret weapon. For several months, they have been training secretly and repeatedly simulating, just for this day.They were called "Euphorbus Warriors" by Yuan Shao.

"White Horse Yi Cong" suffered the cruelest blow since its birth, but this is the beginning of the nightmare.The more than 1,000 archers waiting behind the 800 infantry have already prepared rich gifts for the guests: bows and arrows.When the enemy is approaching, they shoot out in unison. The archers usually shoot in rotation, which means that although they can escape the heavy damage of the "Euphorpa", they will be greeted by a rain of arrows shot at close range and impenetrable.The prestigious "White Horse Yicong" who had never been defeated became a moving target for Yuan Jun's archers to practice shooting, and they were shot down one after another. "White Horse Yicong" suffered its first and last fiasco.Thereafter, as an independent and complete combat unit, they disappeared from the battlefield. The mythical destruction of "White Horse Yi Cong" shocked Gongsun Zan's camp.While the enemy was still stunned, Yuan Shao commanded the troops behind to attack across the board.Gongsun Zan was defeated, and Yuan Jun chased him all the way. Yan Gang, the governor of Jizhou who had just been appointed by Gongsun Zan, died in battle before he took office. It stands to reason that this battle could end here, but there was a thrilling scene in the middle, which almost turned the balance of victory upside down. Although Yuan Jun won, there may be real problems with the command system and the training of soldiers.During the pursuit, Yuan Jun got confused, and everyone only focused on chasing the enemy, forgetting about the coach Yuan Shao. At this time, Yuan Shao had only a hundred people in front of him.In the chaos, they encountered more than 2,000 enemies, and the defeated soldiers surrounded the leader of the winning side instead! Fortunately, the opponent didn't know that there was an enemy commander in here, so the attack was not intense.Yuan Shao commanded his men to defend and wait for the arrival of reinforcements. The enemy started shooting arrows and the situation is very dangerous.Tian Feng was with Yuan Shao, Tian Feng dragged Yuan Shao to hide behind a broken wall, Yuan Shao not only refused to go, he simply dropped his helmet, and shouted: "It's the man who is afraid to fight forward and die (the man is now) fight to the death)!” Some people say that Yuan Shao is an idiot, some say that Gongsun Zan and Dong Zhuo are warriors, and some say that Liu Biao and Tao Qian are incompetent.All of these are actually misunderstandings, making the empiricist error of "the winner is the prince and the loser is the bandit", thinking that only those who win in the end are qualified to be called heroes. In fact, being able to stand out on the unpredictable stage of history, even just going through the motions in the crowd of heroes, must have something special.In Yuan Shao's life, he has shown fearless spirit more than once in dangerous moments. Facts have proved that Yuan Shao is not lacking in heroism, let alone a person who is greedy for life and fear of death. win the fight.At a critical juncture, he set an example for his subordinates with actions and inspired everyone's fighting spirit. Driven by Yuan Shao, Yuan Jun's soldiers resisted desperately, and Yuan Jun's backup troops also arrived in time to quickly resolve the crisis.Although the main force of Gongsun Zan was not completely wiped out in the Battle of Jieqiao, Gongsun Zan was severely injured.Before the Battle of Jieqiao, Yuan Shao was beaten. After the Battle of Jieqiao, the strength of the two was balanced, and Yuan Shao gradually gained the upper hand. Although Gongsun Zan was still active in the north for a few years, he no longer had the strength to launch a large-scale decisive battle. up. The Battle of Jieqiao was a classic example of infantry defeating cavalry. It was also a model of defeating the many with the few and defeating the strong with the weak. The complete victory in this battle enabled Yuan Shao to break the passive situation of being surrounded by enemies and lay the foundation for the eventual unification of the northern states.