With the infinite anger and helplessness of his ally Liu Yao, the main army of Xuzhou, under the personal command of Tao Ying, finally embarked on the road to the eastern expedition of Liyang. After acquiring many Hefei surrendered troops and Danyang fellow villagers, the main force of Xuzhou's main team had reached more than 55,000, which not only formed an overwhelming quantitative advantage over the Liyang enemy, whose troops were only about 25,000, but also had a decisive quality advantage.

At the same time, in order not to let Liu Yao, an ally who planned to watch the fire from the other side, was idle, Deputy Director Tao also specially wrote a letter to Liu Yao, inviting Liu Yao to cross the river north, join forces to attack the Liyang garrison of the three Duke of Liyuan, and promised to break the enemy, the seized spoils were divided equally, giving enough face to his so-called ally Liu Yao, and also put on a high attitude of working with his allies - of course, it was also to facilitate the future of hooking up with other allies in Chapter 177 of Liyang.

The reaction of Xiao Yuan Sangong to the westward advance of Liyang by Deputy Director Tao and Jia Lao Jia, after learning that the main force of Xuzhou was sent to Liyang, the selfish Duke of Xiao Yuan Sangong did not intend to reinforce the defense of Shucheng. He looked like he wanted to use Liyang as his abandoned son to attract the main force of Xuzhou to siege him, and to win the precious time for Yuan Shao to mediate himself. At the same time, Sun Ben and Wu Jing's remaining team had crossed the Yangtze River from Ruxukou to move south, and took the initiative to send Xiao Yuan Sangong to the messenger sent to them to move to Shucheng, saying that they had no intention of being the enemy of Xuzhou again, so the main force of Xuzhou was completely carefree. The only thing they had to consider was how to eliminate Zhang Xun, the last team of Yuan Shu army, the Yuan Shu army, in Jiujiang County.

Because he had never dealt with Zhang Xun. He was not very familiar with Zhang Xun's military characteristics and combat style. In order to know himself and his enemy, Tao Ying naturally had to summon Qiao Rui to Huainan general Qiao Rui and wanted Qiao Rui to understand Zhang Xun's situation. Qiao Rui reported to Tao Ying: "Report to the lord, if Ji Ling, who had already died in Zhuyi, was the first general of the Huainan army, then Zhang Xun was the largest general in Huainan. He was quite capable of using troops. When Yuan Shu abandoned Nanyang and went to Huainan, Chapter 177

The reason why the Battle of Liyang was able to gain a foothold in Huainan was Zhang Xun, the one who made the most efforts was Zhang Xun. His combat characteristics were that he liked fighting formations, was good at commanding head-on decisive battles, and used military combinations and flexible tactics to defeat the enemy in frontal collisions. He liked to win the right way with more and less, which was not easy to deal with. But it didn't matter. Our army's strength was more than twice that of Zhang Xun, and the number of elite soldiers was far more than Zhang Xun. Even if he faced a head-on battle, Zhang Xun was definitely not his lord's opponent," he said.

"Like fighting the interstellar, good at micro-operation?" Deputy Director Tao asked again, "With the general's opinion, our army is coming to the queen of Liyang. What tactics would Zhang Xun choose? Is it the frontal battle he is best at going out of the city to fight the frontal battle he is best at? Or is it like you to defend the city of Liyang and buy time for Yuan Shu?"

"This..., the general is not sure." Qiao Rui replied hesitantly: "The previous order Yuan Shu gave the general was to defend Hefei to buy time. Now the order given to Zhang Xun is very much. However, there is Chen Fen's naval camp on the bank of the river outside Liyang City. If Zhang Xun obeys the order, he will give up the field battle to defend the city, and the naval warships will not be able to retreat to the city. The situation is quite contradictory. Therefore, even if the general knows Zhang Xun very well, he cannot judge what tactics he will choose this time."

"I received an order to stay at Liyang to fight for time, but there is Chen Fen's navy camp outside the city?" Tao Ying repeated a sentence, and then smiled and said, "It's a bit contradictory, but it doesn't matter. This is a headache for Zhang Xun. We don't have to worry about him, just keep moving forward. At that time, we will see what kind of tactics Zhang Xun chooses and then adapt to local conditions and take action."

Qiao Rui nodded and smiled and said, "There is no military advantage when going out of the city to fight. There is no military advantage when defending the city. There is also a naval camp outside the city to hold back. I guess that old friend General Zhang Xun said that he couldn't sleep in these days... It's more than the poor General Zhang Xun who couldn't sleep because of hesitation. After receiving the news that the main force of Xuzhou sent Liyang and the letter Tao Ying invited him to attack Zhang Xun, Liu Yao, the governor stationed in Niuzhu, did not close his eyes all day and night. He was really unsure of whether to accept Tao Ying's invitation. The secret envoy sent by the three young Yuan Dynasty only did not commit suicide in front of Liu Yao to show his ambition. He promised to use countless money, grain and treasures, and to beg Liu Yao to abandon Tao Ying and follow Yuan Shu, and send troops to help Zhang Xun, Liyang.

The civil and military generals under Liu Yao were also divided into two factions. One faction believed that Liu Yao's army should follow the alliance to send troops to the Xuzhou army, and jointly attacked the mortal enemy Xiao Yuan Sangong for many years. The other faction was frightened by the powerful military strength of the Xuzhou army, worried that once Xiao Yuan Sangong fell, the next target of the Xuzhou army might be Liu Yao's army, so it advocated that Liu Yao accept the request of Xiao Yuan Sangong, send troops to help Xiao Yuan Sangong, build a buffer wall in the north of Liu Yao's army to avoid losing his lips and cold teeth and endangering the safety of his own army. The two factions have their own reasons, and no one can convince anyone, which made Liu Yao himself even hesitate and difficult to decide, and he was even more undecided. He only regretted why Tao Ying didn't attack Lujiang first and gave him the opportunity to watch the fire across the bank, but came to attack Liyang to force him to take the team immediately.

Finally, Liu Yao's words were not very important to use, and the other strategist named Shi Yi finally led to Liu Yao's determination, "Lord, it is indeed reasonable to unite Yuan to resist Tao to avoid losing his lips and teeth, but the lord has thought about this problem? Suppose our army sent troops to help Zhang Xun fight against the Xuzhou army, then on the land battlefield, how sure is our army to defeat the Xuzhou army to protect Yuan Shu? The Xuzhou army defeated the Huainan army step by step, and our army could not even defeat the Huainan army. How could we defeat the more powerful Xuzhou army on the battlefield?"

"Since that's the case, instead of breaking the alliance and slandering the world, our army is destined to be defeated by the Xuzhou army on the land battlefield, it is better to firmly implement the alliance and join forces with the powerful Xuzhou army to attack Yuan Shu, first eliminate the mortal enemy Yuan Highway for many years, and then compete with the Xuzhou army with the Yangtze River natural danger. Judging from the current situation, we are not the opponent of the Xuzhou army on land, but on the water, the Xuzhou army may not be the opponent of our army."

It was also after hearing Shi Yi's incisive words that Liu Yao finally made the only correct decision for him at present, rejecting the suggestion of watching the fire from the other side of the river and establishing a buffer wall. He made up his mind to kill Yuan Shu's envoy and personally led his army north to join forces to attack the Huainan Army in Liyang. He also took the initiative to send an envoy to contact the Xuzhou army and agreed to join forces to attack the Huainan Army in Liyang. He said that his army was responsible for surface wars alone, asked the Xuzhou army to be responsible for land wars, and jointly pulled out the nails of the Huainan Army naval division outside Liyang City, and cleared the surface obstacles for the Xuzhou army to attack the Liyang City.

By the way, this strange-named Liu Yaojun strategist, Yi, was not well-known in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but in history he was a first-class master who hid in the dark and stabbed the knife. In history, Lu Meng killed Guan Erye, and Lu Xun defeated Cao Xiu, the head coach of Cao Wei's eastern front. In fact, there was a shadow of Yi behind him, and his life was very long. After Zhuge Lao Yao died of Wuzhangyuan's illness, Yi also went to Shu Kingdom to mourn Zhuge Lao Yao for mourning, which made him very angry for Mei Zhoulang.

After talking too far, I got back to the point. After Liu Yao's envoy crossed the river and presented Tao Ying with Liu Yao's handwritten letter, Deputy Director Tao, who currently doesn't even have half a boat, was naturally very happy - who would be attacked by the enemy on the water all day long and could not be beaten? So while treating Liu Yao's envoy, Tao Ying also accepted Liu Yao's suggestion on the spot and decided to remove the nail in the Huainan Navy Camp first and then attack Liyang City.

Six days after sending troops from Hefei, the main force of Xuzhou successfully arrived outside Liyang City. Zhang Xun, the Liyang guard general of the Huainan army who had not been close for several days and nights, hesitated and decided to follow the orders of the young Yuan Sangong to defend the city to death. He did not go out of the city to fight the Xuzhou army in the field. He chose the tactics that he was not very good at and led all the horses and infantry to retreat into Liyang City. At the same time, Zhang Xun ordered the navy commander Chen Fen to make preparations and try his best to defend the navy's dry village. If he could not defend, he retreated to the warship and went to the river to avoid the edge of the Xuzhou army. When the Xuzhou army sieges the city, he would dock to restrain the pressure of the Liyang defender.

Although Zhang Xun's abacus was well-proportioned, unfortunately his wishful thinking was based on the fact that the Xuzhou army had no naval power. What made Zhang Xun not expect was that when the Xuzhou army approached the Huainan Army Navy Camp in the southern suburbs of Liyang, Liu Yao also personally led all his naval troops to the Liyang Ferry and appeared on the Yangtze River where the Huainan Navy was about to retreat. Chen Fen, the chief general of the Huainan Navy, was panicked and could only send a messenger to Zhang Xun for help and ask for advice on countermeasures.

Before Zhang Xun could react, the Xuzhou army and Liu Yao army had already launched an attack on the Huainan Navy at the same time. The Liu Yao army blocked the waterway and blocked the retreat route of the Huainan Navy and sent troops to attack the Huainan Navy's water camp; the Xuzhou army was responsible for land warfare and attacked the Huainan Navy's camp head-on. The Huainan Navy, with only 10,000 troops, could only fight hard with the difficult support of the not-so-strong battalion defense fortifications.

Chen Zhongyouxin, the attack tactics of Xuzhou army, the long shield guards to approach the enemy's battalion defense fortifications, and formed temporary fortifications with long shields, allowing the crossbowmen to hide behind the shield to shoot arrows and suppress them, and covered the newly surrendered cannon fodder soldiers to carry soil and carry stones to fill the camp trenches. The Xiangyang cannons brought with them continued to throw stones and bombard the Hanzhai camp defense fortifications of the Huainan Navy. Until the Xiangyang cannon smashed the enemy camp fence and smashed the deer antlers and horses next to the fence to pieces. At the same time, the cannon fodder team also filled a trenches. Tao Yingcai sent another cannon fodder team as a pioneer and tried to break into the Huainan Navy camp.

The Huainan Navy's resistance was quite strong. As soon as the cannon fodder team in Xuzhou rushed to the side of the camp, a military force rushed out of the Huainan Navy camp to block the leaks, and fought fiercely with the Xuzhou cannon fodder team at the village gate. The only result was to completely fill the trench on the melee battlefield and completely destroy the remaining deer antlers and horses, opening the way forward for the subsequent army. Seeing this, Tao Yingzheng planned to withdraw the cannon fodder team and replace it with elite troops to attack. A fast horse rushed to the nearest part of the flag formation of the Xuzhou army. He immediately sent an order to dismount and said loudly: "Report to the lord, the enemy's commander Zhang Xun personally led the troops out of the city. He is currently gathering outside the west gate of Liyang. It is possible to reinforce the enemy navy. General Chen Dao asked the lord whether to launch a charge to force the enemy back to the city?"

"Go and send an order immediately, don't charge, let Zhang Xun leave the city as much as possible!" Tao Ying made a quick decision and turned to Lu Su next to him and said, "Zijing, this is a rare opportunity to weaken the enemy in the field, and you must not miss it. I will take Gao Shun, Xu Chu, Tao Ji, Qiao Rui and others to fight Zhang Xun with 20,000 troops. The enemy's naval camp will be handed over to you."

The Xuzhou army has sufficient troops. It also has the advantage of division of troops to fight, so Lu Su had no objection. He nodded immediately to agree, but Tao Ying hugged Lu Su's neck again. He whispered to Lu Su's ear: "In addition, it is best to preserve our strength. The war of attrition will allow the cannon fodder to fight. It doesn't matter whether the enemy's navy can be annihilated. As long as they are forced onto the ship, they can be settled. There is no need to kill more enemies."

"But what if the enemy navy escapes to the river?" Lu Su asked in a daze.

"It's better to escape." Tao Ying laughed in a low voice, "With Liu Yao's navy working together to fight, even if the enemy's navy escaped to the river, they would not dare to stay here and wait for death. They would definitely escape to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and retreat to Ruxukou. It would be easier for Yuan Shu to cross the river and retreat to Jiangnan." Lu Su suddenly realized, and then nodded and agreed immediately.

Not to mention Lu Su's attack on the camp at the Navy's Dazhai, Tao Ying personally led 20,000 main forces to hurried to the west gate of Liyang. The three thousand infantry soldiers of Chen Dajun, who were responsible for monitoring the Liyang defenders, had already set up a formation outside the west gate. Zhang Xun's army had about 10,000 people out of the city, and arranged the array in the middle. Tao Ying saw a scattered array that seemed to be convenient for micro-operation and the advantages of the troops. Without any more careful identification, he immediately ordered Tao Ji next to him: "Three brothers, take the Gentleman Army to detour the enemy's flanks and rear. Use cavalry to shoot bows and arrows to harass the enemy's array, and delay the enemy's array. Our infantry sets a fish scale array, ready to assault the enemy's central flag array!"

Because he learned about Zhang Xun's combat characteristics from Qiao Rui in advance, Tao Ying sent the Gentleman Army to harass him first. This trick hit Zhang Xun's weakness. More than a thousand Gentleman soldiers screamed and detoured, constantly encircling feather arrows into the army of Zhang Xun's army, which had not yet established a certain lineup. Zhang Xun's army, who was planning to fight in an array, naturally inevitably had chaos, especially this slim-shaped array similar to the English letter w, still arranged the crossbowman in the internal V character. He could not use the range advantages of the stair bow and crossbow arrow to suppress the Gentleman's cavalry and shooting. The sword and gun melee soldiers on both wings could not be beaten and could not be fixed, so the array was naturally more difficult to set.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Xun had to change the formation temporarily, waved his flag and ordered the square and circular formation to be relocated, intending to use the square and circular formation with the strongest defense to drag the main force of Xuzhou to indirectly reduce the pressure on the navy. Unfortunately, what Zhang Xun encountered this time was Deputy Director Tao, who liked to play cards the most. As soon as Zhang Xun's army adjusted, the team had just loosened, Tao Ying immediately ordered: "Beat the drum, let Chen Dajun charge and stir up with the enemy!"

The trolls quickly blew the flag, and the war drums immediately sounded. The three thousand Chen Dao Army, who had already set up a phalanx, immediately launched a charge. Qiao Rui was very anxious and hurriedly said to Tao Ying: "Lord, Zhang Xun is quite good at governing the army. At this time, let General Chen Dao rush up to get involved with the enemy. We are afraid that our casualties will be very large."

"It doesn't matter if the casualties are too big, as long as it can avoid greater casualties." Tao Ying said without blinking: "You just introduced to me a few days ago that Zhang Xun is good at fighting in front of the array, and his battlefield tactics are quite flexible. I haven't even read a few books on military books. Isn't it too bad to fight in front of him? So the only way I want to defeat Zhang Xun is to let him not have the opportunity to fight in front of the array, and to stir up the strength of our army's single-soldiers' advantage."

Deputy Director Tao's rogue tactics once again restrained General Zhang Xun, who was experienced on the battlefield. Seeing that the Xuzhou army immediately launched a charge, it was only at all possible for him to successfully set up a formation. General Zhang Xun was furious and had to cut off his arm and split a thousand infantry to launch a charge against Chen Dao's team, intending to use these thousand infantry to entangle Chen Dao and sacrifice some troops to win the time for the formation. However, Zhang Xun obviously underestimated Tao Ying's face. Seeing that Zhang Xun divided his troops to counterattack Chen Dao's team, Tao Ying immediately sent three thousand infantry to continue to attack Zhang Xun's main force, relying on the advantage of military strength, he continued not to give Zhang Xun the chance to successfully set up the formation.

"Why are you here again?" Seeing the Xuzhou infantry coming again, the poor General Zhang Xun's forehead was covered with black lines. He really didn't know whether the opponent's commander was crazy or stupid. Why did he keep fighting with his own army? Forced to helplessly, Zhang Xun could only divide his troops to fight again, but as soon as his team attacked, two more Xuzhou troops broke out from the formation and rushed to the two flanks of Zhang Xun's army. Within a short moment, four Xuzhou troops launched a charge of Zhang Xun's army, determined to launch a bloody melee without arrays and formations with Zhang Xun's army. Zhang Xun did not dare to divide his troops again this time and continued to weaken the troops of his own. He could only grit his teeth and hurry up and let the Xuzhou army kill him.

The bloody close-killing battle started very much on the open battlefield in the western suburbs of Liyang. On the local battlefield where the two charges and counter-charges collided head-on, the swords and shadows flashed like a tide, the drums and clamors clamors and yelled to kill the world, and the soldiers on both sides swung their swords and guns as if they were crazy. Everyone in the swords and guns fought on their own, and some people were constantly chopped off their arms and heads, and blood splattered for a long time. The scene was as chaotic as a pot of porridge.

What made General Zhang Xun breathe a sigh of relief was that although the two thousand-person teams he sent were soon overwhelmed by the superior forces of the Xuzhou army, the Xuzhou army, which was surrounded by the left and right wings, was stopped by his gradually formed square formation formation and could not break into the inside of the round formation. At the same time, the archers in his team were gradually arranged in place, and began to use bows and arrows to suppress the charge momentum of the Xuzhou army, and even suppressed the cavalry and shooting harassment of the Junzi Army. Seeing this scene, Zhang Xun, whose heart was raised to his throat, finally returned to the stomach and said intimately: "It's good to suppress the formation. Although the square formation has no mobility, as long as I drag the main force of the Xuzhou bandit army, I can relieve countless pressures for the navy, and then drag the war until it is dark, the enemy is forced to withdraw my troops, and my team can also retreat smoothly to the city..."

Before he could finish his self-comfort and muttering words, poor General Zhang Xun's eyes widened again, because another Xuzhou infantry team rushed over, passed through the gap between two local battlefields, and rushed directly to General Zhang Xun's team. Behind this Xuzhou infantry team of about 3,000 people, there was a Xuzhou infantry team of less than 1,000 people. It looked like the three thousand infantry in front was covering the road, creating an opportunity for charge and close combat for the less than 1,000 team behind.

"Tao Ying traitor, will you fight? According to this style of fighting, even if you win over me with more soldiers, your casualties will definitely be less than that of me!" General Zhang Xun roared unbearably and roared: "Okay, I have played the third-rate tactic of supporting soldiers covering elite soldiers for charge twenty years ago! I want to see how elite the seven or eight hundred elite soldiers you have covered with three thousand infantry soldiers, and whether they can kill my flag formation!"

"Lord, have you really not read a few military books?" At the same time, poor General Qiao Rui was wiping sweat to Tao Ying.
Chapter completed!