Fighting a war depends on the coordination of battle formations, and an army that has not been systematically trained under the banner of military formations is useless.

Guo Peng calculated, if this battle is going to start, it is estimated that only Bao Xin will cooperate with him.

Bao Xin had 20,000 infantry troops and 7,000 cavalry, including the 8,000 elites of Guo Peng and Gongsun Zhan, the number was about 35,000.

However, the army under Bao Xin's command looks like there are a lot, but the water is also very large, most of them are recruits who are not used to war, the horses are unstable, the spears can't be held, how can they fight?

If you really want to count it, it would be good to be able to select five or six thousand capable soldiers from Bao Xin's army.

In terms of the number of soldiers who can fight, Guo Peng is actually not very dominant against Xu Rong's army.

However, if you really want to face it, Guo Peng is not afraid at all, and he will inevitably have a bloody battle with Xu Rong.

The first army to defeat Dong Zhuo, for Guo Peng, this honor must be obtained by him.

No matter how jealous the Kwantung princes were of themselves, no matter how jealous of their exploits, this exploits would surely spread throughout the world and lay a solid foundation for themselves.

Seeing that these princes are so incompetent, and that they are so brave and loyal......

Everyone is not stupid, they don't say it, they have a rod and scale in their hearts, who to believe and who to rely on, everyone's hearts are clear.

When business blows each other when it has nothing to do with their own interests, when it is about interests, who will believe the people who are blown out?

Crusade against thieves in the world and be the enemy of the world, this kind of thing, Guo Peng will not be afraid to do.

So, in mid-August, Guo Peng reorganized the army, announced the march, and invited the princes of Sujube to join him in the army to defeat Dong Zhuo.

The princes of Sour Jujube were basically frightened by Xu Rongquan's achievements in destroying Kong Ling and Wang Kuang, and they used various reasons to refrain from fighting, Guo Peng despised it in his heart, and only slightly regretted it on the surface.

At that time, only Bao Xin, the prime minister of Jibei, and Wei Zi, under the command of Chen Liutaishou Zhang Miao, responded to Guo Peng, and each led their respective troops and supplies to follow Guo Peng and march with him.

Guo Peng then led an army of more than 30,000 people to march to Luoyang.

When the Kwantung coalition army failed one after another, Guo Peng led the army to the expedition, which immediately attracted countless eyeballs.

Everyone wants to know whether Guo Peng, who has a huge reputation and countless records, can get a victory, a crucial victory.

This victory is related to the future direction of the Dong coalition army, if even Guo Peng, who has the most outstanding record in the rebel army, cannot defeat Dong Zhuo, then how to fight this war has really become a problem.

Some people think that Guo Peng can win, others feel that he can't, and quietly began to plan for his future.

Of course, their main attention is on the war itself, and the outcome of this war will determine their future direction.

Dong Zhuo quickly found out the news that Guo Peng had led an army to conquer them, and Dong Zhuo was very annoyed, feeling that Guo Peng was ungrateful, and the once friendly relationship no longer existed.

Dong Zhuo ordered Xu Rongsheng to capture Guo Peng, bring him to Luoyang, and let Dong Zhuo personally interrogate him.

Xu Rong took the order and did not dare to underestimate Guo Peng.

Although Guo Peng is much younger than those Kwantung princes, the ten princes tied together are not Guo Peng's opponents, and he has fought with the Karasuma people, the Xianbei people, the rebels, and the Yellow Turban Army, all of which have won and never failed.

This is also a big challenge for Xu Rong.

Xu Rong cheered up 120,000 points and carefully examined Guo Peng's marching movements.

Guo Peng marched along the river to Luoyang, approaching Luoyang step by step, and with the attitude of being a righteous soldier, Xu Rong also led the army to meet him head-on.

If the two sides can face each other, win after a bloody battle, and defeat Guo Peng head-on, it can completely hit the self-confidence of the Kwantung coalition and blow them apart.

In late August, Guo Peng led his army to Xingyang County, and at this time, Xu Rong also led his army to Xingyang County.

Guo Peng didn't plan to play any tricks or tricks, but he wanted to face to face, defeat Xu Rong head-on, strike at Dong Zhuo's arrogance, and let everyone in the world know that he was brave and good at fighting.

Guo Peng released a large number of sentry cavalry to ask for the enemy, and the sentry cavalry soon brought the news of Xu Rong's army to Guo Peng.

On 25 August, an outpost battle broke out between the two sides in the southwest of Xingyang County, and hundreds of cavalry under Guo Peng's command who were spying on the news encountered Xu Rong's troops who did not spy on the news.

Guo Peng and Xu Rong both almost understood the strength of each other's armies and were afraid of each other.

Xu Rong felt that Guo Peng was not an easy opponent to deal with, and a lot of things could be seen in a sentinel battle, unlike the soft-footed shrimp of the Kwantung princes, Guo Peng was very hard.

Guo Peng also felt that the combat effectiveness of Xu Rong's cavalry was very strong, and he was completely capable of fighting Karasuma Xianbei, so he didn't dare to underestimate Xu Rong, and planned to do his best to fight Xu Rong in a bloody battle.

Guo Peng discussed with Bao Xin and Wei Zi, and selected more than 7,000 tall and powerful elite soldiers from among their subordinates, and enriched them into the 3,000 foot soldiers under Guo Peng's command, forming 10,000 foot soldiers.

Then, Gongsun Zhan and his own total of 5,000 elite cavalry, as well as Bao Xin and Wei Zi's 2,000 more elite cavalry, formed a large formation as the main force to participate in the battle.

The rest of the troops in the rear formed their own formations to protect themselves, and the front army won and followed the pursuit of the defeated army, and the front army retreated immediately to preserve its strength.

Guo Peng really didn't have much confidence in the other people, and forcibly pulled them onto the battlefield, in case he was defeated by Xu Rong's troops, and they would be directly dispersed, and it would also cause the collapse of other military formations, and it would be difficult to clean them up at that time.

This kind of thing is not the first time Guo Peng has encountered it.

On 26 August, the two armies engaged in an encounter southwest of Xingyang County.

The two sides of this battle did not send troops to each other to raid, but each lined up in a complete formation and conducted the most direct face-to-face decisive battle between tens of thousands of people, without a trace of water.

Xu Rong is a veteran of Dong Zhuo's outstanding military achievements, born in Liaodong, grew up in Liangzhou and Bingzhou, and has a very good understanding of cavalry tactics.

Because he has been fighting with the Qiang people in Liangzhou for a long time, he also has some understanding of the Qiang people's tactics, and he is one of the generals with the most command ability under Dong Zhuo.

For Xu Rong, Guo Peng did not dare to slack off.

This kind of veteran is very good at grasping the situation on the battlefield, and he can seize the opportunity to break through if he is not careful, and for Guo Peng, he must deal with it carefully.

And Xu Rong also paid a lot of attention to Guo Peng, so he didn't dare to send cavalry to raid, and the outpost battle was only a little contact and retreated, and then directly brought the main force to the decisive battle, to fight face-to-face.

The decisive battle between the two sides officially began on the morning of 26 August.

Guo Peng ordered Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to lead a 3,000-strong army formation at the front, Zhao Yun and Guo Lie with 3,500 cavalry on the left flank, and Gongsun Zan and his younger brother Gongsun Yue with 3,500 cavalry on the right flank.

Guo Peng himself and Wei Zi led 4,000 Chinese infantry soldiers in the center to command, and then Bao Xin led the remaining Taishan soldiers as the rear army, making every effort to form a formation to protect themselves, in case of a surprise attack by the enemy, they must stabilize their positions and not mess with themselves.

Guo Peng knew that Xu Rong was very jealous of himself, so he would bring all the main forces and treat himself with such a cautious attitude, not giving himself a chance to be opportunistic.

And this kind of face-to-face confrontation of strength happens to be Guo Peng's favorite.

It's not okay to always play conspiracy and tricks, the most important thing for a general is real ability, real strength, no strength will only be tricky, that's not a real general.

Guo Peng, who demanded himself by the standards of a true general, would not allow himself to do such a thing.