Chapter 90 Deploying Troops and Appointing Generals

  Poor guy, poor collection!! Everyone just click on the collection with one hand!

  Zhoa Yun heard this and smiled, saying with full confidence: "Don't worry, my lord. Zhao Yun has fought against the foreign tribes beyond the borders for many years and has a good understanding of how to train cavalry. Just put your mind at ease, give me some time, and I will definitely present you with an invincible iron cavalry."

  Li was overjoyed and began to imagine himself riding a horse, waving his whip, with flags leading the way, one team after another of iron cavalry galloping like dragons, sweeping across the northern desert...

  It's not that Li Chong is overjoyed, but rather that a commander who can train troops is extremely rare. Take Taishi Ci for example, in terms of martial arts alone, Taishi Ci's skills are absolutely flawless, he himself is also skilled with the bow and horse, his archery skills are exceptional, however, the cavalry trained by Taishi Ci indeed cannot hold their own in individual combat.

  As the old saying goes, "all talk and no practice is a fake move", while "all practice and no talk is a stupid move". Taishi Ci belongs to the latter category. He himself knows clearly how to exert force in a cavalry battle and how to use his sword, but once he tries to explain it to his soldiers, he becomes tongue-tied and can't get the words out.

  Gongsun Zan, who trained the White Horse Cavalry, was absolutely no match for Taishi Ci in terms of martial arts. However, the White Horse Cavalry trained by Gongsun Zan were the best elite troops under heaven, each skilled in archery and horsemanship, and even surpassing the cavalry from beyond the Great Wall who had grown up on horseback since childhood in individual combat capabilities.

  Apart from individual combat capabilities, it is how to command the cavalry formation and give orders on the spot. In this regard, even Zhao Yun was not proficient. It is known that Lü Bu Lü Fengxian was proficient in both aspects, and Ding Yuan's Pingzhou Iron Cavalry intimidated the world, among which Lü Bu occupied no small credit.

  Gao Xun also trained infantry well. The eight hundred troops of the Trap Array Camp were each capable of taking on ten, with strict discipline. Additionally, he trained the vanguard camps led by Ji Yi and others.

  Of course, there are also people who are good at training troops, marching and deploying troops, and dispatching generals. This person is either Cao Cao or Zhou Yu. Others are not good enough, even the touted Zhuge Liang, who is actually better at internal politics than military affairs. From a purely military perspective, Zhuge Liang is also inferior to the above two.

  Zhao Yun asked again about the details of the battle with the Xianbei, and after listening to it, he couldn't help but sigh repeatedly, saying: "If White Horse General were here, even if Li could escape with 200 men, it would be considered a good fortune for him."

  Next is how to mobilize the troops, Li Chong had already thought of it. Jiang Qin led a thousand soldiers to garrison in Qiangyin County, preventing the Xianbei from moving south. This route seemed dangerous, but actually not. At this time, outside the pass was still freezing weather, as long as the leaders didn't make foolish decisions, they wouldn't send troops out at this time.

  Guan Hai led a thousand men to garrison the Yin Guan, intimidating various counties. This army had nothing to boast about, as long as Li Chong's frontline troops did not lose, Guan Hai's thousand-strong army basically had no place to use their strength.

  Another important route is Yuanping County, where Liao Hua is stationed. This is the base for Li Chong's grain and fodder transportation, as well as the assembly point for his large army.

  Li Chong was not expecting to capture Jinyang in a short period of time. The surprise troops led by Zhao Yun and Zhou Tai only had one chance to take action, so they must be cautious and not act without absolute certainty. Li Chong would rather continue the stalemate with the defenders of Jinyang. Moreover, he thought it was time to give Jia Kui some opportunities, after all, wasn't he also a "famous person"?

  After attending the farewell dinner, Li Chong immediately put the above plan into action.

  Zhou Tai and Zhao Yun led the troops to sneak into Jinyang, Li Chong led 10,000 troops to garrison Yuanping County. These 10,000 troops included cavalry, infantry, and civilians, etc., not all of them were pure combat personnel.

  In addition, Jia Kui also made a model of the traction trebuchet, which is a type of trebuchet that uses human power. It works by having people pull on ropes attached to a wooden frame with a sling at one end and a pouch containing stones at the other, launching the stones into the air.

  The model made by Jia Kui could allow up to fifty people to pull simultaneously, throwing the stone ball out for three hundred paces (about 360 meters).

  This made everyone very surprised, with the catapult, they could suppress the archers on the city wall. This was not just a matter of killing a few enemy soldiers, but mainly because this thing couldn't be defended against at all, and could only rely on luck to dodge, creating an atmosphere of terror and effectively striking the enemy's morale.

  In the first year of Xingping, at the end of January, Li Zhong's army was stationed in Yuanping County.

  In the first year of Xingping, on February 3rd, Li Daxia's army set out and rushed straight to Yangdu County. As the vanguard, Taishi Ci led 1,500 cavalrymen, advancing rapidly and arriving at the border of Yangdu County in just one day, ten miles away from Yangdu County. Taishi Ci ordered his troops to rest.

  The whole army was stationed, Taishi Ci gave a strict order, no fire was allowed to cook meals, no loud noise was allowed, those who disobeyed the order would be beheaded.

  At this time, the weather was still bitterly cold, with wind and snow swirling around like a vortex, stinging people's faces. Taishi Ci's soldiers had been marching for a day and night, and were already exhausted and hungry. When they heard that they would have to eat cold dry rations again, they immediately began to complain, whispering to each other in discontent.

  Tai Shi Zi swept the surroundings with a cold gaze, and in a low voice, he shouted: "All of you shut up! Do you want to eat hot food? Do you want to sleep in a warm bed? Alright! I'll give you an opportunity. Look ahead, isn't that Yun County? We've arrived suddenly, and the defending troops of Yun County are still unaware of the news, they haven't even made preparations for defense, not even closing the city gates. Let me let you rest for a bit, then we'll launch a surprise attack on Yun County. If we succeed, your merits will naturally be recognized, and whether it's hot food or warm beds, Yun County has them all. Do you understand?"

  "I understand!" The eyes of these soldiers immediately lit up with enthusiasm, and one by one they seemed to be itching for action.

  Fortunately, Tai Shi Zi still had some conscience and didn't say anything like "After breaking into the city, disband military discipline for three days, and let rape, murder, and plunder happen freely". Otherwise, these wolf-like soldiers would have immediately started killing people with their knives.

  But even so, there were still soldiers who urged: "General, what's the point of eating? Let's just fight, I'm not tired at all."

  Someone immediately echoed: "Yes, General, what are you waiting for? It's just over a hundred miles away. What's the big deal? Let me be the first to charge."

  "A bunch of fools!" Taishi cursed: "You're not tired, are the war horses not tired? Hurry up and let them rest well, feed the war horses fodder."

  "Yes sir!" The soldiers under Taishi Ci immediately responded in a low voice.

  After resting for about an hour, Taishi Ci immediately gave the order to select 500 skilled cavalrymen and charge with him to seize the city gate.

  It was then exactly at the time of Chen, when the city gate of Wenshui County was wide open to facilitate the people's exit from the city. As a result, there were quite a few people gathered at the city gate, making it look very lively.

  The guard leaning against the city gate, hugging his arms, squinting his eyes and lazily basking in the sun.

  Just then, a rumble of thunder suddenly came from the horizon. The gatekeeper opened his eyes and looked up at the sky, cursing: "What kind of weather is this? Thunder in the middle of winter..."

  "No... there are cavalry coming to raid, it's the sound of horseshoes!" The guard suddenly reacted and immediately struck the bronze drum, and the piercing drumbeat immediately rang out.