Fei Shi told Duan Wei that Liu Bei's main force had far exceeded 100,000, so of course he was a fool.

In fact, Liu Bei's final decisive battle was only 90,000 troops.

Among them, the barbarian infantry were about 25,000 (Ailaoyi, Kunmingyi, Sou soldiers, and war elephants)

There are 38,000 Han infantry (35,000 ordinary infantry, 3,000 iron armored soldiers in the camp). There are 20,000 Han cavalry (Zhao Yun and 15,000 Ma), and 7,000 cavalry of the Southern Xiongnu Shanyu Guards.

The reason for cheating Duan Wei is that on the one hand, it is to give Duan Wei courage, and on the other hand, it is that Fei Shi, a secret killer like Zhan Xiang, is not convenient to tell Duan Wei that he should maintain his mystery.

The power of one hundred battle elephants charged in the open area of ​​the Jinghe Plateau, which was no less powerful than that of 10,000 or 20,000 infantrymen. So Fei Shi felt that she was not bragging, but just changed her mind a little, and the "equivalent combat power" was not exaggerated.

While Fei Shi was lobbying in Duan Wei's camp, Liu Bei, Li Su and others had not yet rested in the camp. They were also nervous and had to repeatedly inspect and investigate the situation of newly arrived reinforcements and do a good job of morale boosting for tomorrow's decisive battle.

The Elephant Force and Ailaoyi have actually just arrived for a day and have fallen asleep now. They need to step up a good night to recover their strength. Liu Bei was also puzzled by the first time the Elephant Force was engaged in actual combat under his own hands, so he came to inspect and learn about it himself and listened to the relevant officers explaining the principles of the Elephant Force's combat.

The person in charge of explaining to him was from the Li family of Yongchang County, Nanzhong. Li Hui, who is now the supervisor of the Yi army of Ailao. This young official, who was only 19 years old, became a supervisor of the army of supervising and coordinating 10,000 barbarians with his family's prestige in Nanzhong. (Li Hui had just arrived, but he was too young, so he was not suitable for lobbyists, so he asked Fei Shi to go)

To put it bluntly, following this wave of reinforcements from Ailaoyi, there was also a small team of messengers sent by Zhuge Jin, the governor of Shu County.

The messenger set out from Chengdu in March and went north with the troops, so he acted slowly and did not catch up with Sun Qian's grain transport team at the end of March. Instead, he arrived at Huating with Ailao soldiers on April 10th.

Zhuge Jin's messenger brought a secret letter and a family letter.

The secret report was for Liu Bei, written by Liu Bei's concubine Mi Zhen and others. The report reported that the Hanzhong princess Wu Xian gave birth to Liu Bei's eldest son in the Chengdu Palace on the second day of the third month. They did not dare to report it hastily. They took a few days to wait for the medical officer to confirm the health of the newborn, and then issued this secret message, asking Liu Bei to decide what his son should be named.

Wu Xian became pregnant in April last year and was confirmed in June, so he was born on the second day of March this year and was a normal full term, and even gave birth a few days later.

As for the family letter I brought by the way, of course, it was written by Cai Yan to Li Su. The letter said that she was fine. She had been pregnant for five or six months now, and she was gradually inconvenient to move and was too lazy to walk when it was hot. This was nothing, it was just a routine report.

Therefore, while receiving reinforcements from Ailaoyi, there was a sense of unexpected excitement among the top leaders of the Hanzhong King's camp. Guan Yu and Zhao Yun all came to the central army's tent to congratulate him, and asked Liu Bei what name he was going to give his son.

Originally, we shouldn't have drunk too much on the eve of the war, but in the end we couldn't help it. Guan Yu, Zhao Yun and the others each drank three bowls, and Liu Bei also drank them.

Liu Bei didn't know what he thought, but after drinking, he said casually: "It's better to call Liu Yong, just treat it as a blessing to be able to be forever after the revival of the Han Dynasty. I am also very confident.

Boya can discuss the "Blessed Palace" that will make the world last forever and the people's minds calm, and this is the sky that Boya will teach the orphans. As long as we assist Your Majesty in the future, we will work hard to govern, eliminate bad policies, and establish good laws for a lifetime. It is also possible for the world to be safe and escape the path of chaos and cycle."

Liu Feng and Liu Chan, who had not yet appeared, were skipped forever, and by chance, they jumped directly to Liu Yong, born by Wu Xian.

After deciding his name, Liu Bei did not forget to beat Guan Yu. Zhao Yun: "Don't think about these things. It's not a big deal. The war is imminent. Military affairs are the priority. Go back and have a good rest. As long as you annihilate Li Jue and Guo Si, you will be able to have a son anytime when you return to Chang'an."

This is a bit rough and not rough. At first glance, it is like an old hooligan who doesn't care about his son's temper.

...

After all the other generals went to rest, Liu Bei called Li Hui and went to Xiangying to inspect.

One hundred elephants occupy a large area. They were fed when they left Huating before. Yesterday, they marched on the Jinghe Plateau and needed supporting soldiers to mow grass and cut shrubs from time to time for the elephants to eat.

Guanzhong is drought, and the farming harvest on the Jinghe Plateau will plummet this year, but the trees and vegetation will not all die, so it is still possible to hold on to the raising elephants in one or two battles.

Moreover, elephants are more omnivorous, and they can eat almost any tree's branches and leaves. Small shrubs can even eat stems as thick as thumbs. Even if trees wither in the dry season, they can eat hay and leaves, just drink more water.

"These elephants are well raised. They can maintain their combat effectiveness without consuming the military horse materials. You have put your heart into it." Liu Bei patted the elephant's trunk and praised Li Hui with satisfaction.

Li Hui smiled and said, "The King Mingjian, along the way, I can eat a way out. I have 60 miles along the way, several feet wide, and I have eaten up all the grass and trees."

Liu Bei touched the equipment on the elephant, which seemed to be a long bamboo that was cut open, and even the bamboo joints were not removed. After the hole was punched, it was connected with hemp rope. The style was very rough, and the elephant was covered with a layer of light and thick bamboo armor.

Bamboo is light and has better anti-thorn and arrows than wood. The armor worn by people is inferior to bamboo. The main reason is that the arc of bamboo is relatively large and it is not easy to be flat. Then, the thickness is large under the same weight, which affects the action.

But as long as the elephant is hung with a set of armor all over her body, it does not need to be worn, and the legs do not need protection, and it is covered with the torso, so there is no problem of thickness affecting flexibility, and it also saves money.

There are so many bamboos in the south that are expensive, so this thing doesn’t need to be refined. Elephants hang on their bodies, just like the mahjong bamboo mats that humans sit in summer.

Liu Bei looked at him and felt a little intimate as "weaving mats and selling shoes", although he weaved straw mats rather than bamboo mats when he was a child.

After checking the elephant's "armor", you can see that there is something similar to a saddle about one meter behind the elephant's neck. There is also a car behind the saddle, which is tied to the elephant's back with a thick hemp rope.

Liu Bei understood that he had seen the barbarians who had seen the elephant holding two sharpened short spears in his hand, only the tip of a bamboo without the iron head. When he was driving the battle elephant, he gently poked the elephant's ears with the short spear, and used the elephant's pain to control the direction. Possessing the left ear means turning right, and posing the right ear means turning left.

(Note: Elephants are more frightened animals. In actual combat, if there is an enemy sharpshooter who can accurately aim at one ear, it may mislead the elephant to turn and rush forward. However, they usually shoot randomly, so the control efficiency is not as high as that of the elephant trainer.)

However, Liu Bei was a little confused about the car on his back that was bigger than a saddle.

Li Hui explained to him that the elephant was extremely capable of transporting elephants. He heard from the right general that he read a lot of books and had seen historical books in the Western Regions, saying that there was an ancient country of Carthage in the land of Taixi, which had trade with the Western Regions trade routes opened by Ban Chao at that time. The war elephants there were carriages and could sit three people. Except for the driver, the rest of them held bows and shot arrows.

So before Li Hui sent troops this time, according to Li Su's instructions, he installed a hundred Zhuge crossbows, which were not suitable for mobile combat, on the back of the elephant. Because the crossbows were heavy and the elephant was a little difficult, the soldiers selected were all barbarians who were as thin as possible, one aimed and shot arrows and the other was full-time loading.

Considering that the ammunition consumed by the crossbow is too fast, the shooter also needs to help install it when shooting.

The biggest weakness of the crossbow is that it is bulky and inconvenient to move, so it cannot chase the enemy and shoot. The other is that the range is too close. But once you cooperate with the elephant, it seems that it can be solved.

The elephant was originally used to rush into the crowd. When the enemy saw it, they might dodge it, and then use a two-meter-long spear to hold a distance to guide the elephant to rush across the formation. But with the crossbow, the enemies who lined up the gun arrays against the elephant were finished, and they were sprayed with faces ten steps away, which was so sour.

After hearing Li Hui's tactical description, Liu Bei couldn't help but take a breath.

He is more confident in the final battle tomorrow.

...

There was nothing to say all night. Although Liu Bei and Li Su fell asleep in the middle of the night, they were still very excited when they woke up. The army made meals at the fourth and the fifth and finished eating. They rested for a while, and then left the camp to line up.

The Li Jiejun on the opposite side was about the same. He left the camp at the fifth day of the fifth day and marched slowly for seven or eight miles. By the time of the morning, the two armies had already formed formations on the open Jinghe Plateau.

There are 90,000 people on one side and 170,000 people on the other side (there are 30,000 insiders). The battlefield stretches for ten miles in the width, and there are many empty corridors in the middle for temporary retreat and repairs after the front army is weak, or for the rear reserve forces to invest in the new force. The formations on both sides are tens of rows in depth.

Liu Bei's army attacked from the southwest to the northeast. The leftmost wing of the array, that is, the northwest corner, were Ma Chao's five thousand cavalry and Huchuquan's seven thousand cavalry.

There were old soldiers in the middle, and then Han infantry troops. Guan Yu was in charge, with Taishi Ci on the left and Xu Huang on the right. In the middle were several camps of Gao Shun, a total of three thousand iron-armored infantry.

The barbarians of Ailaoyi were also in the central army, but Guan Yu did not let them be exposed when they first lined up, but placed them behind the corridors of the central army and showed their faces when they followed the war elephants to assault.

Going to the right wing, next to Xu Huang was the Heiyi of Kunming, which is the barbarians of Mengchang and Mengxin brothers, and the southeast corner was Zhao Yun's 15,000 cavalry.

The 170,000 Xiliang Army opposite, Yang Ding, the famous cavalry general under Guo Si, was still dealing with his old opponent Ma Chao, Wu Xi dealing with Hu Chuquan, Guo Si's main infantry force was facing the Sou Bing and Taishi Ci's infantry.

In the middle, Li Jue's main infantry force was against Gao Shun's camp and Xu Huang's right-wing infantry. Among them, Li Jue's general Li Li (also Li Jue's nephew) took Li Jue's most elite infantry to focus on Gao Shun.

Duan Wei's 30,000 troops were against the Kunming Black Barbarians of the Meng family, and they had to divide their troops to defend the two wings. Finally, Zhang Xiu's cavalry fought against Zhao Yun.

The flags were waving and the wind was flying. Everyone had already put their hands on their eyebrows, and they wanted to see the flags on the opposite side clearly, and remember who they would like to take a closer look in their hearts.
Chapter completed!