Your Majesty, please spare Diao Chan; your yang energy is too strong.

"And now, the only one who can save him is Lü Bu."

"In order to gain Lü Bu's help in resisting Yuan Shu, we had no choice but to recognize Lü Bu's legitimacy in Xuzhou."

"It seems that in the past two weeks, Lü Bu has stabilized the situation in Xuzhou."

“We offended Lü Bu so much before.”

"Given his personality, he would never let this go so easily."

"It's a bit later than I expected."

Zhou Heng nodded; there was nothing surprising about it.

After all, Zhou Heng had thoroughly offended Lü Bu in his attempt to reclaim the Mi family's property.

It's likely that the news has already spread far and wide by now.

Given Lü Bu's personality, how could he suffer such a huge loss without uttering a sound?

The attack was something he had expected.

"Hmm? My lord had already foreseen Lü Bu's attack?"

Mi Zhu was somewhat surprised.

"It's nothing much, just a deduction based on Lü Bu's personality."

Zhou Heng shook his head.

Naturally, it was impossible for him to tell him that he was a reincarnated being who knew everything about Lü Bu.

"However, eight thousand soldiers are indeed a bit troublesome."

Zhou Heng frowned slightly.

Although he had anticipated that Lü Bu would retaliate against him, he had made considerable preparations.

But they didn't expect the other side to send eight thousand people.

Don't think that eight thousand people is a small number.

Perhaps for the two Yuan brothers, it really wasn't much.

But for Lü Bu, it was almost an all-out effort.

It should be noted that even at his peak, Lü Bu only had 40,000 soldiers from Bingzhou.

Previously in Chang'an, he was defeated by Li Jue and Guo Si.

They suffered heavy losses.

Afterwards, he fought Cao Cao for control of Yan Province, suffering repeated defeats.

Left with no other choice, they sought help from Liu Bei.

The total troop strength is only a little over 10,000.

With the exception of those needed to defend the city, almost all eight thousand soldiers had been mobilized.

It's easy to imagine how much he hated Zhou Heng.

"What is the configuration? How many cavalry? How many infantry?"

Mi Zhu: "According to the scouts, there are about five thousand cavalry, eight hundred elite troops, and two thousand infantry."

Zhou Heng's expression turned somewhat grim: "Five thousand cavalry?"

Many people might find this strange.

How was Lü Bu able to occupy Xuzhou with such a small army?

It made all the feudal lords in the world so wary.

Which of Cao Cao's brothers, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, didn't have more troops than him?

Especially Yuan Shu.

They would send 100,000 troops to attack Xuzhou at the drop of a hat.

How could a mere 10,000 people hold out?

They even defeated Yuan Shu one after another.

Here we must mention the difference between attacking and defending a city.

And the ultimate weapon on the ancient battlefield.

cavalry.

At present, the Han Dynasty only has three known units with cavalry.

First, there were the Xiliang cavalry.

Second, the Youzhou cavalry.

Thirdly, there was the Bingzhou cavalry led by Lü Bu.

The famous Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, which would later become renowned throughout the world, has not even been established yet.

Yuan Shao also had cavalry.

However, their numbers were very limited, and their combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the Xiliang cavalry and the Bingzhou cavalry.

Lü Bu led the Bingzhou cavalry in constant warfare against foreign tribes.

Their combat prowess is arguably unmatched in the world.

Even the Xiliang cavalry were slightly inferior.

It is estimated that only Gongsun Zan's Youzhou cavalry, the White Horse Cavalry, can be compared with them.

However, the number of White Horse Cavalry members was limited.

Lu Bu's Bingzhou cavalry numbered an astonishing eight thousand.

This was the number of cavalry that Lü Bu possessed when he was defeated in Yanzhou and fled to Xuzhou.

Otherwise, there would be even more.

Because when Lü Bu entered Xuzhou, he once told Liu Bei that with his eight thousand Bingzhou cavalry, he was invincible.

Now, the enemy has actually deployed five thousand cavalry.

What concept is this?

Even Zhou Heng was moved by it.

It's important to know that in ancient times, cavalry could essentially crush infantry.

Xiang Yu's 30,000 cavalrymen decisively defeated Liu Bang's 560,000-strong army.

It's still vivid in my mind.

Not to mention the rabble under Zhou Heng's command.

They couldn't even gather enough weapons.

Armored auxiliary soldiers are out of the question.

Although there were also six hundred horses.

But can his horses be compared to Lü Bu's horses?

Most of them were 6-8 packhorses used by merchants to haul goods.

Only a small number of horses can be used as warhorses.

They had deliberately disguised themselves as six hundred cavalrymen in order to create a false impression.

If we went to the battlefield, we'd be exposed in no time.

Because a typical cavalryman usually rides three horses.

Even at its worst, it's still one person with two horses.

If Zhou Heng's six hundred horses were used according to standard, they could only be considered as three hundred cavalrymen at most.

Not to mention the horses under his command, which were the worst kind of horses out there.

They can only be considered pack animals.

After all, even if you're a wealthy businessman, it's extremely difficult to acquire such scarce resources.

Warhorses were classified into several categories in ancient times.

The first category consists of warhorses used in the highest-level battles, all of which are of superior breed.

This type of horse can be used for military campaigns.

The second type is the passenger-oriented type.

They were usually local government officials, and merchants often used them.

Some cavalrymen could also use these warhorses for changing mounts.

As for the last one

It was because the merchants were carrying goods.

The six hundred horses in Zhou Heng's possession were mostly of this type.

Only occasionally are some of the better ones.

Most of them were given by Zhou Heng to his generals.

"How many men do we have? How many are armored and armed?"

Zhou Heng pondered for a moment and then asked.

"Reporting to my lord, Zifang has ordered a considerable amount of supplies to be transferred from various states during this period."

"Now we have armed two thousand men, and together with the previous three thousand, we now have five thousand armed men."

"More will be shipped in continuously from various states."

"After all, our Mi family has its own blacksmith shops in various prefectures and counties."

"They have also stockpiled a lot of supplies."

"I believe that within a month, we will be able to fully arm all 15,000 of our men."

"As for armor, there are 1,000 sets of leather armor and 200 sets of iron armor. Adding the previous 600, there should be 1,800 armored men."

"We have also equipped ourselves with quite a few bows and arrows, about two hundred sets, but we have only been armed for a short time, and the soldiers are not yet familiar with the bows and arrows in their hands."

Mi Zhu replied.

"Leaving aside bows and arrows for now, eight hundred iron armors, one thousand leather armors, and five thousand spears are enough."

Zhou Heng nodded.

He then quickly walked over to the map.

This is a map approximately two meters long and wide, drawn by Zhou Heng and dozens of people familiar with the surrounding geography.

It records in detail some important geography of the thirteen provinces of the Han Dynasty.

In particular, Xuzhou has achieved almost perfect accuracy.

"Lu Bu's troops are cavalry, and they are quite fast. They arrived at the foot of our mountain in half an hour, which means that his current location is here."

Zhou Heng pointed to a location at the bottom of the map.

"good."

"That's good. Pass on my order: have Liao Hua lead ten thousand men to this location..."