Zhang Yan led the army to kill from the back of the Yuan army, and directly tore a huge hole in the Yuan army, and the heavy infantry quickly lined up on both sides, tearing the gap bigger and bigger.

"Tai Shici, Xu Chu, Niu Jin, quickly retreat from here!" Zhang Yan took a deep breath, tore away the appearance, and shouted loudly.

This shout, like rolling thunder, resounded in the sky, Tai Shici, Xu Chu, Niu Jin and others mostly heard it, and looked back to the northwest together, but saw that Zhang Yan, Xu Sheng, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others were fighting with Yuan Jun, and they had already killed a wide blood road.

Tai Shici, Xu Chu, Niu Jin and others immediately fled in the northwest direction, and all three of them took the lead, but all those who encountered the Yuan army that came to block them were all killed, and a group of people escaped as soon as they slipped away.

Yuan Tan stood on the high post, looked at the fleeing Xuzhou soldiers, and said angrily: "Chase!" Chase! Don't let them run! ”

The soldiers of the Yuan army chased after each other, but Zhang Yan, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Xu Sheng and others were waiting for the battle, defending to the death, killing one by one, killing one pair at a time, and killing Yuan Jun with the help of the armor.

At this time, the fierce fire oil of the Yuan army had also been used up, and the wrestlers holding blunt weapons were also killed and wounded, and the rest of the Yuan army soldiers watched from a distance, but they did not dare to approach, and watched Zhang Yan and them retreat.

Zhang Yan and the others retreated for about half a mile, so they reorganized their soldiers and horses, and actually rushed towards Yuan's army again.

Yuan Jun thought that the Xuzhou soldiers had retreated, and they were cleaning the battlefield, but no one expected that the Xuzhou soldiers would go and return, and they were in a mess for a while, and they couldn't stop it, so they were driven away by Zhang Yan and others for more than two miles, and they were beheaded more than 1,800 levels.

Zhang Yan saw that the Yuan army was retreating, so he stopped chasing and returned to the place where the Yuan army was ambushed with the soldiers.

Zhang Yan asked people to clean up the battlefield, carry away the bodies of the soldiers who died in battle, and count the soldiers who died in battle, about 1,000 people. More than 2,000 people were burned.

Through this battle, Zhang Yan also realized that his ironclad army was not invincible. The reason why there was such a fiasco this time also gave Zhang Yan a profound lesson, so that from now on, no matter what enemy he faces, he must no longer have the heart of underestimating the enemy.

The group slowly retreated to Zhuxucheng, who knew that before they arrived in Zhuxucheng, they ran into Zhang Hong, Kong Rong, Liu Bei and others, who came to look for Zhang Yan under the protection of three hundred heavy infantry, and informed Zhang Yan that Zhuxucheng was occupied by Zhang He, the general of the Yuan army.

When Zhang Yan heard the news, he was immediately surprised, but he didn't expect that this time he not only fell into an ambush, but also lost his troops, and even Zhu Xucheng was occupied by Yuan's army. He took the heavy cavalry and quickly returned to Zhuxu City, and when he arrived at the city, there was no movement of Yuan's army in Zhuxu City.

After entering Zhuxu City, Zhang Yan knew that Yuan Jun had taken away all the grain and grass in Zhuxu City.

Zhang Yandeng, who was in a hurry, ordered all the cavalry to take off their heavy armor, remove their horse armor, go into battle lightly, and follow him directly after him.

Zhang He was carrying a heavy load of grain and grass, and he couldn't go fast at all, so Zhang Yan moved forward lightly and soon caught up.

Zhang He saw that there were pursuers chasing after him, and the number was more than that he led, so he had to give up the grain and grass and retreat directly.

Zhang Yan recaptured this batch of grain and grass, and chased Zhang He for several miles, and then led the troops back to Zhuxu City.

Zhu Xucheng returned to Zhang Yan's hands, and Zhang Yan reorganized his troops and horses, and continued to garrison troops here along with Kong Rong and Liu Bei.

However, through this confrontation with Yuan Jun, he was seriously aware of the shortcomings of heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. He blamed himself for the defeat and fell into deep self-remorse.

That night, Zhang Yan lay in bed tossing and turning, and his mind kept thinking about how to use the army.

From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, he selected the excellent troops of various dynasties and generations for comparison, and found that the Mongolian iron cavalry established by Genghis Khan was exactly what he needed.

Created by Genghis Khan and passed down from generation to generation by Genghis Khan's successors, the Mongol Iron Cavalry was a cavalry unit unlike any other of its time.

The cavalry, which was also brought to the extreme in the hands of Genghis Khan, became a war machine that swept through that era.

The basis for the victory of the Mongol cavalry was not quantity but quality, and a single and concise organizational system was the distinctive feature of its army.

The standard Mongol cavalry field force consisted of three cavalry columns, each with 10,000 cavalry, roughly equivalent to a modern cavalry division.

Each cavalry column consisted of ten cavalry regiments of a thousand men each; Each cavalry regiment consisted of ten cavalry companies of one hundred men each; Each cavalry company consisted of ten cavalry squads of ten men each.

All cavalry generally fought on horseback, but if many horses were broken, some of the soldiers had to stand behind their horses and shoot arrows under the cover of cavalry units.

About 40 percent of the typical Mongol cavalry were heavy cavalry engaged in assault operations, and the main weapon of the heavy cavalry was a spear, and each soldier carried a short scimitar or a mace, which was hung from the waist or placed in the saddle.

Sixty percent of the Mongol cavalry consisted mainly of light cavalry, and they wore no armor except for a helmet. The task of the light cavalry was to reconnoitre, cover, provide fire support to the heavy cavalry, clear out the remnants of the enemy, and follow the pursuit.

The main weapon of the hussars was the bow, which was a large bow with strong tension and long range. In addition to this, they carried two kinds of arrows with them, one was lighter, and the arrows were small and sharp, which were used for long-range shooting; The other is heavier, with large and wide arrows, which are used in close combat. Like the heavy cavalry, they also had a heavy scimitar or mace, or a lasso, and sometimes a javelin or spear with a hook on their head.

To ensure and strengthen the mobility of the cavalry, each Mongol cavalry had one or several spare horses. These horses followed closely behind the troops and could be used to change at any time during the march and even during the battle. The horse change is carried out in a relay manner, which guarantees safety and minimal impact on the completion of the scheduled task.

The Mongol cavalry was selected from among the most well-trained soldiers of the time, and from the age of three or four they were sent to schools in the Gobi desert for rigorous training in horseback archery, so they had an amazing ability to control horses and use weapons. For example, they can turn around and shoot enemies after them when they retreat quickly. They are very tolerant of hardships and harsh climatic conditions, and do not covet comforts and delicious food. They are physically strong, and with little or no medical treatment, they can keep them fit and ready for battle. It is their duty to obey orders at all times, and everyone can strictly abide by them. Discipline was institutionalized, which was not heard of elsewhere in that period.

The most important thing is that the horses used by the cavalry are also extremely rigorously trained.

The horses they use are all Mongolian horses, which live in the wild regardless of the harsh winter and heat, and can walk for days without eating anything when necessary, in short, they have great endurance. They are able to cross almost incredibly long distances in a very short time on the most treacherous terrain.

It is precisely because of these innate conditions that the invincible Mongolian iron cavalry of that era was created.

And in terms of the way the battle began, the Mongolian iron cavalry was also very distinctive.

Cavalry columns usually rushed forward at high speed in a very wide formation, and the messengers transmitted messages between the main forces. When the enemy is spotted, all nearby troops carry out a surprise attack with this as the target.

At this time, all information about the enemy's position, strength, direction of movement, etc., was sent to the General Headquarters, and then to the field detachments. If there are not many enemies, the nearest commander will immediately lead the troops to meet them. If the enemy was too large to eat it at once, the main Mongol forces quickly assembled behind the cavalry covering troops, and then advanced at high speed, scattering and crushing the enemy before they had time to gather their forces.

The most common method of warfare used by the Mongol army was to advance in a wide line by lining up the troops in many roughly parallel columns, under the cover of light cavalry. When the first column encountered the enemy's main force, the column either stopped advancing or retreated slightly according to the situation, while the rest of the column continued to advance, occupying the enemy's flank and the area behind it. This often forced the enemy to retreat to protect its lines of communication, and the Mongols took the opportunity to approach the enemy and cause confusion as they retreated, with Zuihou completely encircling and annihilating the enemy.

So, after a night of thinking, Zhang Yan was ready to learn from the Mongolian iron cavalry and completely change the existing combat methods.

However, if you want to learn Mongolian iron cavalry, you must have a lot of horses, Xuzhou is not a place rich in horses, if you want to use cavalry thoroughly, you must purchase many, many horses. At least at this stage, he will not be able to accomplish this ambitious goal.

Therefore, Zhang Yan could only rely on the existing cavalry to form a miniature version of the Mongolian iron cavalry.

Cavalry is undoubtedly the most lethal type of troops in the era of cold weapons, if Zhang Yan can really use it properly, and there are a large number of cavalry under his command, he may really be able to conquer the Quartet like the Mongolian iron cavalry.

The next day, Zhang Yan, who had only rested for two hours, got up early in the morning, directly gathered all the cavalry, and gathered all of them in the school field.

In yesterday's battle, Zhang Yan's cavalry team also suffered some losses, and now only 2,831 horsemen remained, and the rest were killed at the site of the ambush by the Yuan army, and were burned beyond recognition.

Zhang Yan then selected 2,500 cavalrymen and divided them into five columns, each with 500 people, two of which remained unchanged, still heavy cavalry wearing heavy armor, horses wrapped in horse armor, and defended to the teeth. The other three columns wore only helmets and only a piece of leather armor to protect their hearts and minds, and all of them went into battle lightly and became light cavalry.

The remaining 331 cavalrymen were still lightly armed, serving as guerrilla and reconnaissance troops, responsible for reconnaissance and cover.

Then, Zhang Yan began to train these cavalry, let Tai Shici be in charge of the light cavalry, Xu Chu was in charge of the heavy cavalry, and he called Xu Sheng and put him in charge of the remaining three hundred and thirty-one cavalry, and he was in charge of the entire cavalry team, and began to practice in the school field.

Tai Shici, Xu Chu, Xu Sheng, and all the cavalry, although they were a little unclear about Zhang Yan's arrangement, they all obeyed Zhang Yan's command.

After two hours of intensive training, the group gradually formed a tacit understanding from the initial incoordination, and basically mastered the essentials.

At noon, Zhang Yan let all the cavalry rest, and the scouts sent out to inquire about Yuan's army also returned at this time.

The scout brought back the news of Yuan Jun, and Yuan Jun did not leave, but was stationed far away from Zhuxu City, but he remained unmoved.

Zhang Yan sent scouts to closely monitor the movements of Yuan's army, and after lunch with many cavalrymen, he continued to practice on the school grounds.

Kong Rong, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others saw Zhang Yan training cavalry on the school field, and they all ran to watch.

The well-trained cavalry quickly mastered the essentials of mutual cooperation, and the tacit understanding became higher and higher.

In the evening, Zhang Yan's training began to take effect, so he let the cavalry rest well, and prepared to take the cavalry to the Yuan army tomorrow to test the knife and see what the results were!