My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 381: You don’t have to feign defeat to lure the enemy; you can also tease crickets

"Aliang is indeed very smart. Cao Ren saw that Yunchang and I were at different stages of our progress and there was an opportunity for him to take advantage of, so he took the initiative to go out of the city to fight.

He didn't even think about it. Could Zhang He possibly block Yun Chang? Besides, Yun Chang had Zi Yu behind him to give him advice! If Yun Chang seemed to be blocked by Zhang He, there was only one possibility - he was blocked by Zhang He on purpose."

Watching Cao Ren's army slowly advancing and approaching him in the distance, Zhao Yun felt a desire to fight and contempt in his heart, and he couldn't help but complain in his heart.

When he usually spoke, he was of course very respectful to Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang, and he always called them by their given names. But his mental activities were not so strict. After all, Zhuge Liang was his brother-in-law, so shouldn't he be allowed to think of him as "Aliang"?

Zhao Yun's contempt did not come from his arrogance about his own fighting ability, but from his absolute confidence in the wisdom of his own strategists:

Since all of this was planned by the Zhuge brothers, and Cao Ren has taken the bait, the second half of the plan will most likely come to pass as expected.

In ancient times when communication means were backward, the side that had the advantage of internal combat terrain had an absolute advantage in concentrating superior forces, taking advantage of the time difference between various external enemy troops arriving at the battlefield one after another, and defeating the enemies one by one.

Once such an opportunity arises, its temptation will be irresistible for the inside generals who are familiar with military affairs.

Not to mention in the 3rd century AD, even in the early 19th century, this trick was still effective.

For example, in the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon originally wanted to play the role of an insider fighter in which "our entire army arrived at the decisive battlefield, but the enemy's army failed to arrive at the decisive battlefield together", first destroying Blücher and then killing Wellington.

It's a pity that Marshal Grouchy was not strong enough. In the end, not only did he fail to catch up with Blücher, but Blücher made a feint and returned to the main battlefield ahead of time. However, Grouchy did not come back, so Napoleon suffered the fate of "I am the clown myself".

This situation continued until the mid-to-late 19th century, when radio stations appeared. During the American Civil War and the German War of Unification, the outside side was able to improve its communication and coordination capabilities, allowing each unit to accurately control the time of arrival at the battlefield and ensure that there was no time difference for the enemy inside, thus completely reversing the advantages and disadvantages between the inside and outside lines.

As a person who lived in the 3rd century AD, Cao Ren, based on his simple experience in military communications, felt that it was impossible for Zhao Yun and Guan Yu to grasp each other's progress in real time, and once the battle started, they could only proceed according to the plan. If one of them encountered an unplanned change, the other party would not be able to know immediately, so it was not his fault.

How could he know that Zhuge Jin had worked hard to improve the training methods of homing pigeons last year? All of this was to provide communication support for the strategy of outflanking and attacking in all directions.

Although Zhuge Jin's carrier pigeons could still only "be carried along by the army and return to a fixed point", their homing rate and reliability were much better than those originally raised by humans, but they still could not achieve animal-to-animal communication.

But before the war, Zhuge Jin still tried his best to carry out precise communication layout planning under the existing technical conditions.

Zhuge Jin equipped Zhao Yun's army with a group of homing pigeons that had been nesting in Suiling County, Xiapi County since they were hatched. These pigeons were raised in Suiling until a few days before the war, and were delivered to Zhao Yun just before the battle. After that, they followed the cavalry and moved around with the army, and never lived in any fixed nest again.

Zhuge Jin also gave special instructions to the signalmen who raised the homing pigeons: never let the pigeons stay overnight in one place, and be sure to send cavalrymen in turns to take the pigeon cages to take the pigeons for a walk, to ensure that the pigeons' neural positioning systems and homing instincts remain sensitive at all times, and to ensure that they will fly back to Suiling once released.

The same principle applies to the pigeons that Zhuge Jin gave to Guan Yu, except that the mother nest before the war had always been Yicheng County, the base where Zhao Yun crossed the Huai River to the north.

In this way, both sides could first fly over the enemy-occupied areas to cover most of the distance, and then use fast horses to deliver the last one or two counties (Yicheng to Qixian, Suiling to Quli). In the end, the total communication time was only 30% of the original time!
Therefore, Zhao Yun actually knew more about where Guan Yu was at this moment than Cao Ren.

Guan Yu and Zhao Yun can adjust the progress every one or two days, and work together to play Cao Ren.

……

In this way, Zhao Yun, who was determined to win, would not be at a disadvantage when facing Cao Ren.

More importantly, the soldiers under his command all knew that they could grasp the movements of friendly forces in real time and knew that they were not alone in advancing deep into the enemy territory. In this way, when they were suddenly faced with an enemy several times stronger than themselves, they would not panic and their morale would remain high.

At this moment, Zhao Yun clearly only brought 6,000 men with him. When he saw Cao Ren leading an army of 30,000 to 40,000 to attack, none of his cavalrymen were afraid. They remained united and obeyed his orders.

This is something Cao Ren could not imagine.

On the battlefield more than 30 miles south of Fuli City, where the two armies faced each other, the vanguards of both sides pulled away 300 to 400 steps to ensure that they would not be hit by bows and crossbows. Then Zhao Yun rode out easily, pointing his spear at the enemy:
"Cao Ren, you are such a fool! You have fallen into the trap set by the General of the Southern Expedition again! You don't even realize it. If you don't want to die, retreat early. Otherwise, when I gather our forces and return to kill you, you will be dead!"

"Zhao Yun, you traitor, stop trying to hide your true colors. If you are not afraid, just fight me to the death. Whoever retreats first today will be a eunuch and a coward!" Cao Ren cursed back in anger, and the other cursers repeated it at the top of their voices.

In his heart, he thought Zhao Yun was just bluffing.

Zhao Yun did not hesitate to deal with him. He ordered the heavy cavalry in the front row to dismount, and the light cavalry in the back row to temporarily control two or even three horses each.

After the heavy cavalry dismounted, they quickly came forward to form a battle line. On their backs they actually carried a pedal crossbow and a large shield covered with a thin steel sheet. This was something Cao Ren had never seen before.

Cao Ren was confused and didn't know what Zhao Yun was going to do. He wanted to let his cavalry charge forward, but then he changed his mind:
"No! We must stay calm! Although our army is large in number, we do not have an absolute advantage over Zhao Yun if we only use cavalry to fight. If Zhao Yun retreats immediately, and I pursue him with cavalry alone, it will be easy for the infantry and cavalry to become disconnected. It is better to use bows and crossbows to stabilize the formation first and observe the changes."

Just as Cao Ren was thinking, Zhao Yun's front-row cavalry had approached to a distance of more than 200 steps, formed a battle formation, and began to shoot arrows.

Cao Ren was shocked and immediately ordered his troops to fire back.

"What kind of tactics is this? Zhao Yun didn't let the cavalry use horse bows to harass the enemy on horseback, but used heavy crossbows and dismounted to line up to shoot? Yes, it must be because Liu Bei's army has more and more armor in the past two years, and the cavalry is also well-equipped.

But war horses cannot wear armor, and even if they wear it, they can't run. Zhao Yun was worried that the range of the horse bow was short, and the horse would be easily damaged if he shot with the horse bow close to the target, so he changed to dismounting and shooting. Don't mention it... Although this move is unheard of, it is really suitable for soldiers like Zhao Yun who have armor on their horses but no armor..."

Cao Ren was indeed a famous general. When the arrows and stones were flying, he quickly judged the pros and cons of the opponent's new tactical coordination. As the two armies exchanged fire, Cao's front-line soldiers kept wailing and falling down, because Cao's army's armor rate was obviously not as good as Liu Bei's relatively wealthy army. Cao Ren had no choice but to let the heavy infantry with large shields to the front line, using the shield wall to barely block most of the crossbow arrows.

The range of Zhao Yun's crossbow seems to be slightly longer. This should not be a problem with the material. It may just be the optimization of the structure, which makes the storage and release efficiency of the material's elastic potential energy higher.

However, these effects were not very significant, as Zhao Yun did not aim to shoot arrows at the maximum range, but rather left a small margin. This way, after the crossbow arrows flew over 200 steps, they would still have enough kinetic energy to penetrate the leather armor.

The price he paid was that although Cao Jun's crossbows had a shorter range, they could still reach Zhao Yun. It's just that the kinetic energy of the crossbow arrows was attenuated more greatly, a typical case of "the last gasp of a powerful crossbow".

The ordinary archers in Cao's army could not reach Zhao Yun's troops at all. If they did not move forward under the rain of arrows, they could only stare blankly from the rear.

Cao Ren originally hoped that even if his archers could not penetrate the armor of Zhao Yun's cavalry, they could at least shoot at their hands, feet or other weakly protected parts. But after observing for a while, he found that even this was no longer a luxury:

Zhao Yun's troops had actually trained a new tactic. When they were stringing the crossbow, they turned around and faced away from Cao's army. This way they didn't need to hold a shield. They could just carry the shield on their backs. During the stringing time, even if arrows were shot at them, the large shield would help block most of the firepower, and even the arms and legs would be protected.

This is the alternative method that Zhao Yun came up with over the past year or so, as he pondered how cavalry, after being equipped with heavy armor, could maintain the ability to perform traditional guerrilla combat and harassment missions while ensuring their own survivability. Of course, this was not entirely Zhao Yun's idea, as he also discussed it with Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang naturally discussed it with his elder brother.

Zhuge Jin had read so much war history that he certainly knew that after the development of cuirassier cavalry, the cavalry of later generations had to solve the problem of "how to conduct long-range harassment operations when humans have strong bulletproof capabilities while horses have weak bulletproof capabilities", and eventually invented the "dragoons", or in layman's terms, "dismounted cuirassier musketeers".

War horses are only used to help with transfer, and the troops have to dismount and fight.

It's just that the musket has now regressed to the high-power crossbow that was unique to the Han Dynasty.

Cao Ren was beaten for a while and was in a panic. He didn't achieve any results, but lost soldiers and his morale was hit. Finally, he couldn't hold his temper anymore and gritted his teeth and ordered the entire army to attack, and asked the cavalry to prepare to encircle Zhao Yun from both wings.

He had already seen that Zhao Yun's move was still inferior to the traditional harassment tactics of archers and cavalry, which was to hit and run. At least the crossbow could not be strung on horseback, and after shooting a round, it was impossible to shoot again without getting off the horse. In return, the absolute range advantage of the crossbow after the cavalry bow was changed to a crossbow, and no longer worried about the horse being shot.

In this case, he could only chase after him and press Zhao Yun, not giving him a chance to breathe. Only in this way could he avoid being beaten in vain.

As for whether their formation would be disrupted and the infantry and cavalry would be disconnected if they caught up, this was the lesser of two evils and could be tolerated.

Cao Ren's army chased after them in a disorderly manner, and there were obvious differences in the speed of advancement of each unit.

However, Zhao Yun retreated leisurely and asked his soldiers to mount their horses. Then the heavy cavalry hung the crossbows on the saddles, picked up the lances or the one-piece forged steel-filled halberds that were previously hung on the saddles, and slowly retreated.

As soon as Cao Ren's cavalry was chasing fast and was about to engage in battle, Zhao Yun took the lead and turned around with a small group of heavy cavalry to counterattack. He personally stabbed down five or six of Cao's elite cavalry as if he was strolling in a garden. The heavy cavalry around him were also in high spirits and stabbed one after another, forcing Cao's cavalry to retreat slightly.

This feeling of being able to control one's own arms and legs made Cao Ren feel unreal.

"Impossible. How can there be an army in the world that is so disciplined and so morale-building? Wouldn't they be afraid when they are surrounded by enemies six or seven times their size? What on earth are they relying on? Are they relying on the 10,000 infantrymen who are backing up in the siege of Qi County?
But even if they retreat to Qi County, our army's military strength advantage is still obvious! It's just reduced from six or seven times to two or three times! Why are they so confident that they are not afraid of even a small soldier? Has Liu Bei's army reached this point? "

Cao Ren couldn't help but doubt his life, and for the first time he felt truly afraid.

"General, are we still chasing?" Bian Xi, a vanguard general under Cao Ren, hesitated when he saw Zhao Yun slightly repel his own cavalry and then turn his horse around and retreat at a faster speed. He came to ask Cao Ren for instructions again.

Cao Ren gnashed his teeth and said, "Chase! Why not chase! Even if we have to chase them to Qi County, we should chase them! There is still more than 20 miles to go! If Zhao Yun pulls away, and then stops, turns back, dismounts, forms a battle formation, and harasses our army with heavy crossbows, that would be troublesome!"

After hearing Cao Ren's words, another rider from behind the formation slowly rode forward. It was Man Chong. He advised earnestly:

"General, Zhao Yun is already a famous general with many military achievements. Now he is retreating slowly. It is obvious that he is faking defeat to lure the enemy. There are already many famous generals in the world who have been defeated by Zhao Yun's feigned defeat to lure the enemy. Think twice!"

Cao Ren's heart was beating wildly, and he was obviously traumatized, but he was still unwilling to be harassed like this, and gritted his teeth and said, "Of course I can see that Zhao Yun is trying to lure the enemy. He just wants to lure me to chase him for another twenty miles, to Qi County, so that he can meet up with the infantry!

But I have seen through his confidence in luring the enemy. I know that even if he successfully joins forces with Liu Bei's infantry who are preparing to besiege the city in Qi County, he is still no match for me. So why shouldn't I chase him!
At worst, I can set a bottom line: I will only chase them as far south as Qi County. If after I chase them to Qi County, Zhao Yun's cavalry takes the infantry besieging Qi County and continues to retreat southward, then they must have another plan, and I will never chase them again!
Did he think I didn't know that Gan Ning still had more than 10,000 men at the edge of Longkangwo? If he showed any sign of joining Gan Ning, I would turn around and leave immediately! Gan Ning also had navy troops on land, which means they were infantry. They had no speed advantage, and he would not be able to catch up if I turned around!"

Man Chong was speechless again. Cao Ren spoke very restrainedly. He was not chasing blindly, but "pursuing in a planned way" and set a node bottom line. If Zhao Yun continued to escape after crossing this safety line, he would stop chasing him.

The coach is so restrained that the people below him can't persuade him.

Cao Ren suffered some casualties, but more importantly, lost a lot of morale, and continued to pursue Zhao Yun relentlessly.

On the road of more than 20 miles, Zhao Yun also stopped and walked twice, each time harassing Cao Ren a little more. This short distance did not consume much physical strength for cavalry, but for infantry, the decline in status was more obvious.

Finally, in the afternoon, the two armies of Zhao Yun and Cao Ren, one chasing and the other fleeing, arrived in Qi County.

Man Chong had been worried about something happening, but nothing happened during the 20-mile journey, and Zhao Yun was not so stubborn as to use 6,000 men to fight 30,000 or 40,000 men. After finally reaching Qi County, Man Chong hurriedly asked Cao Ren if he had any plans for the next step.

Cao Ren wiped his sweat and pointed at the city of Qi County, saying, "If Zhao Yun is willing to fight, we will have a decisive battle with him this afternoon. If Zhao Yun wants to waste our time, and the infantry retreats a little but not far, we will definitely not have time to set up camp overnight, so let the army go directly into the city and spend the night.

Tomorrow morning, when the soldiers are full of energy, we can look for another opportunity to fight. In addition, let the rear keep an eye on Guan Yu. If Guan Yu shows any signs of breaking through to Quli County, or any other movements, we can also make timely adjustments. "

(End of this chapter)