Shi Ping frowned, he didn't think about destroying the wooden bridge, but in that case, Gao Shun wouldn't be able to run away, but what about the Tang Jian infantry behind? What should I do with so much logistical baggage? What's more, Tang Jian also has 5,000 heavy infantry under his command, so he can't let them all take a detour.

Yuan Fang saw Shi Ping's face full of sadness, and explained with a smile: "General Shi, you see, this river is not wide, at most about twenty meters, the destruction of the bridge is fatal to Gao Shun, and it is just a waste of time for us, don't forget, Tang Jian is carrying a large number of siege equipment, as long as the foundation of this wooden bridge is not destroyed, you can rebuild an iron bridge by just getting two siege ladders or towers." ”

Shi Ping suddenly realized when he heard this, in the past, the siege ladders were made of ordinary wood, in order to be lightweight, but not strong, but now it is different, the structure of the iron pipe and screws made by Yuan Fang can not only be disassembled and easy to carry, but its sturdiness is even more striking, enough to carry the weight of heavy infantry and baggage carriages.

Without worries, Shi Ping completely relaxed, the previous battle, the cavalry losses he brought were not small, if there were any more heavy casualties, the entire legion would no longer exist, that was not the result he wanted, now it's okay, don't have to fight with those iron hedgehogs, Shi Ping breathed a sigh of relief, and talked with Yuan Fang with a smile about the deliciousness of the fish soup and the different tastes of various methods.

Yuan Fang and the others were light and light, heartless and heartless, but Gao Shun was worried, and when he saw the wooden bridge from a distance, his heart was still hanging before he let go slightly. The heavy infantry lined up on the north bank of the Tianxing River, and Yuan Fang's cavalry retreated to the south bank, just when Gao Shun was about to give the order to attack, the scene that he had been worried about for a long time still happened, only to see dozens of female soldiers carrying more than a dozen barrels of fire oil on the wooden bridge, and sprinkled the fire oil on the bridge deck, which was so strong that the smell was a little choking as if the fire oil was not poured on the bridge, but on Gao Shun.

Yuan Fang came to the bridgehead under the protection of Xia Yi and a few people, and hooked his finger at Gao Shun under Shuai arrogantly, the provocation was self-evident, but Yuan Fang wanted to say something arrogant, but the distance between the two sides was too far, and the sound of splashing water, even if Yuan Fang shouted loudly, the other party might not be able to hear it clearly.

Gao Shun frowned, looked at the female soldier standing by the bridge with a torch in hand, and then looked at the culprit with contempt on his face, sighed helplessly, glared at Yuan Fang, who was showing off his might, and ordered the troops to turn around and head east to a shoal eighty miles away, which was also his backup plan, and the closest road besides the wooden bridge.

The 10,000 heavy infantry turned their heads to the east with a large amount of baggage, Yuan Fang was stunned, Gao Shun's reaction was completely beyond his expectations, and he couldn't help but ask Yuqing: "Why don't they go west to the stone bridge downstream but to the east?" Is there a bridge to the east that we don't know about? ”

Yuqing followed Yuan Fang to Guangyuan County for a few days, and he was not idle in the past few days, running around between Guangyuan County and Wanmuling every day, and he hadn't been to other moving places much, although Tanma had explored the surrounding terrain, it was not all in his hands, there were many places that were roughly seen to see if there was no enemy ambush, and the shallow beach was very secret, even if many local residents didn't know, Yuqing was even more unclear.

Yuqing shook her head and said, "I don't know, what should we do now?" ”

Yuan Fang stared at the waiting heavy infantry phalanx and the eye-catching handsome banner on the opposite side, frowned and said: "Most of our arrangements are in the west, and there are only a small number of people in the east. ”

Shi Ping pondered for a moment and said: "The news I received just now is that Tang Jian's large army is still more than ten miles away from here, and if you abandon the drag of baggage, you should be able to rush to the front of Gao Shun to intercept it." It's just that our heavy infantry can't count on it. ”

The heavy infantry of the Eastern Holy Empire also has heavy and clumsy plate armor, and it is quite cumbersome and time-consuming to wear, so the heavy infantry needs to be dressed neatly in advance before the battle, and if it is not necessary to remove the armor during the war, in this situation, if those heavy infantry are allowed to march around the road to intercept it, it is not impossible, but the heavy infantry that consumes a lot of physical strength and the same class of troops will suffer too much, and when the time comes, if you can't stop it, there will be huge casualties, which no one can bear, After all, the training of heavy infantry consumes too much manpower and material resources, and the most critical thing is time, a qualified heavy infantry needs more than three years of training, so every heavy infantry death is a huge and unbearable loss for the Eastern Saint Empire.

Yuan Fang thought for a while and said, "Can't Gao Shun be stopped without heavy infantry?" ”

Without waiting for Shi Ping to speak, Yuqing replied first: "Not sure, if the ordinary infantry is intercepted in formation, the only thing that can be sure is that the casualties will be very large." ”

Yuan Fang then asked, "How big can it be?" ”

Shi Ping shook his head with a wry smile: "According to the terrain reconnaissance these days, the east is basically a plain area that is not dangerous to defend, and if you fight hard with Gao Shun's 10,000 heavy infantry, it is conservatively estimated that you will pay six to ten times the price, so I think our troops can't intercept it yet, and we can only temporarily block the speed of their advance." ”

Six to ten times, or a conservative estimate, this is far beyond the bottom line that Yuan Fang can bear, decisively giving up this unrealistic idea, Yuan Fang said his opinion: "What if you ride a horse? Or take a carriage, so that our heavy infantry does not have to consume too much physical strength, and can also be deployed in front of Gaoshun. ”

Yuqing nodded and said, "That's okay, but where are we going to get so many war horses and carriages?" Tang Jian's side is full of infantry, the number of war horses is limited, and the carriage is full of baggage, brother-in-law, I'm afraid your method can't be realized. ”

Yuan Fang smiled, gently patted the neck of the war horse under him, and said, "Tang Jian, they don't have it, don't we have it." ”

Shi Ping looked at Yuan Fang with astonishment: "Doctor Yuan, you don't really want to give our war horses to the heavy infantry under Tang Jian's command, do you?" ”

Seeing Shi Ping's reaction, Yuan Fang was puzzled and asked, "What?" Is there anything wrong? ”

Shi Ping's sympathetic peritoneum sat down on the neck of the war horse, and said sadly: "The heavy infantry itself is burly and the weight is even more amazing, plus those heavy armor, ordinary war horses can't bear so much weight at all, if it's a short distance of one or two miles, it's barely enough, if it's too far, our war horses will definitely not be able to bear it, even if they can complete the task, these war horses will be expensive, and they will never be able to go to the battlefield in the future, unless the heavy infantry takes off their armor." ”

Yuan Fang said categorically: "Chase, you must chase, if one horse is not enough, give them two horses and three horses, anyway, we have 20,000 cavalry, and the war horses are definitely enough." ”