My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 383: Attack the enemy and beat Cao Ren

Zhao Yun's calm sarcasm and offensive words were soon shouted out by the Han army's scolding officers, which also caused a slight reaction from the opposing Cao army.

Cao Ren's pupils shrank violently several times, and several thoughts flashed through his mind:

"He must be trying to disrupt our army's morale! How could he know where Guan Yu is? When I left Fuli yesterday, Guan Yu was still helpless in taking the 'Anjiao Henghe' in Lu County!"

Cao Ren was furious and waved his hand: "Don't listen to his nonsense, attack quickly!"

Cao's army immediately sounded drums and horns, and tens of thousands of troops quickly deployed their troops, using a formation that was much wider than Zhao Yun's troops, and pressed forward towards Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun also waved his hand, and arrows flew through the air like rain, splashing layers of blood in the army formation.

The halberd bearers in the front row of Zhao Yun's army held their weapons tightly, lined up in a desperate battle, and engaged in a fierce fight with the vanguard of Cao Ren's army.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" Zhao Yun's halberd soldiers shouted and fought fiercely. They were full of energy and momentum, and did not show any signs of fatigue from a good night's sleep.

Although Zhao Yun's military strength was only about 40% of Cao Ren's, his armor rate was much higher than that of Cao's army, especially the armored infantry were concentrated in the front row, there were as many as one or two thousand people, forming a very solid line of defense, like a mainstay.

The spearmen troops used by Cao Ren as the vanguard were like the raging waves of the Yellow River at the gate of hell, hitting the Dizhu Mountain one after another, and being shattered and faded away.

Cao Ren's face turned slightly pale. He realized that the combat power of Zhao Yun's army was even stronger than what Xiahou Yuan described after he was defeated by Guan Yu last year. It seemed that Liu Bei's army had been preparing for battle in silence for the past six months.

However, Cao Ren was determined and until this moment, he still believed that he could win.

Even the best armor and weapons could not protect a group of soldiers with declining energy and physical strength. Zhao Yun was outside the city and his camp was robbed twice in one night, and both times his death squad successfully sneaked outside the camp and discovered it. How could their physical strength be as good as that of the soldiers sleeping in the houses in the city?

When the physical strength of Zhao Yun's soldiers declines and their movements become slow, even their iron armor will not be able to protect them.

Moreover, Cao Ren was relatively well prepared this time. Apart from the cavalry, the soldiers he brought with him had almost no sword and shield soldiers in the infantry. They were all spearmen, halberdmen, and a small number of strong soldiers who were equipped with blunt weapons.

During the Han Dynasty, the army had relatively few battle axes. Cao Ren took as many axes as he could get. If there were not enough, he would use large wooden sticks wrapped with iron at both ends to make up the number. In short, he tried his best to kill the armored soldiers with blunt weapons and heavy blows.

Historically, with the appearance of double-sided stirrups and high-bridge saddles during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the northern nomads had armored heavy cavalry. The Southern Dynasties army controlled by the southern Han people, such as Liu Yu's Song Army, would be equipped with a large number of iron rods to defeat the heavy cavalry. This was classically demonstrated in the battle where Liu Yu's Queyue Formation defeated the Northern Wei cavalry.

So Cao Ren's idea was not wrong. He had been thinking about this problem since Xiahou Yuan's defeat last year. It was a pity that Cao Cao's camp did not have enough resources and had to focus on Hebei. Cao Ren did not have enough time to build so many heavy weapons in just half a year, so he could only make do with what he had.

But if you want to use heavy weapons to break through armor and kill the enemy, there is another prerequisite, which is that you must have an advantage in physical strength, or at least an equal strength. Otherwise, the heavy weapons are slow to move, and the enemy can also swing the weapon to block and hit it hard. You can't win in terms of strength, and you won't even have the chance to break the opponent's armor.

The spearmen, axemen, and staff soldiers in the vanguard of Cao's army soon began to doubt their lives in this fierce tug-of-war: Was General Cao lying when he said that the enemy had not slept well the night before and were not physically strong?
Cao Ren also noticed that his side was in a slight decline, but he felt that it was only temporary, so he gritted his teeth and ordered the reserve troops to prepare, letting the second formation take over and continue to consume Zhao Yun.

This kind of battle involving tens of thousands of people could not be fought quickly, and the battlefield was not that wide, so both sides would leave enough reserves behind the battle formation. Cao Ren firmly believed that if it dragged on, Zhao Yun's troops would soon reach the critical point of collapse due to the decline in physical strength caused by repeated raids and harassment last night.

The reserve troops were constantly deployed in a rotation battle, and soon the fighting lasted for more than half an hour. The front-line soldiers of both armies had to retreat from the corridor between the army formations due to exhaustion, and were replaced by friendly troops.

The rotation of troops on both sides was quite rigorous, and it was obvious that Zhao Yun and Cao Ren were both famous generals who commanded their armies in a very methodical manner.

The advantage of Zhao Yun's armored soldiers did not seem so obvious as their physical strength was consumed and soldiers were rotated - wearing steel-filled sleeve armor and wielding long spears or horse-slashing swords, no one could last long under such physical consumption.

Cao Ren watched the progress of the battlefield with a grim face. His brows relaxed slightly several times, then tightened again in confusion. Each time he thought it was a sign that Zhao Yun's troops were exhausted, but then he found that he seemed to have been wrong.

While this war of attrition was going on, dozens of cavalrymen came from the north. The sound of killing shook the battlefield, but no one noticed them at first.

These people seemed to be emergency messengers from Fuli County. They first rushed to Qi County and heard that General Cao had led the main force out of the city for a field battle. Then they made a detour and went around the back line to find Cao Ren.

Cao Ren was paying attention to the battle situation on the front line. When he heard that urgent military intelligence had been sent from Fuli's base, he was startled and signaled the other side not to make any noise.

At a time like this, we can’t let the messenger talk nonsense. If he shouts out some bad news and shakes the morale of the army, he will be damned!
The messenger knew the importance of the matter, so he asked Cao Ren to go to a relatively secluded place nearby and whispered quietly, "General Zhang from Pengcheng is reporting urgently that Guan Yu's army somehow managed to destroy the reef that Guo Jijiu had deployed in Suishui last night, allowing Guan Yu's fleet to pass through and take Lu County.

Because our army only occupies the north bank and cannot control the south bank, we cannot stop Guan Yu from bypassing the city. Moreover, Guan Yu has been marching all night, and I am afraid he has already reached Gaixia. General Zhang asked if he should return to Fuli to help, or continue to defend the territory of Pengcheng County?"

For a moment, Cao Ren felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.

"What? Why did I just go south yesterday, and Guan Yu, who was two counties away, suddenly speed up almost at the same time? And wasn't it said that the delaying measures deployed by Feng Xiao were very useful? Can't Guan Yu break through it in a short time?"

He felt a chill in his heart and thought that the tacit understanding between Zhao Yun and Guan Yu was simply unimaginable.

I went south yesterday morning, and it was already noon when I met Zhao Yun's main force. It is possible that Zhao Yun sent a small group of scouts outside Fuli City, and once they saw me leaving the city, they would report back on horseback.

But even so, Zhao Yun knew the time he would go south, and it was impossible for him to go earlier than yesterday's Chenshi to Sishi. Guan Yu suddenly accelerated after nightfall yesterday, so let's count it as Youshi or Xushi, which would be at most six hours.

If the speed was increased only after receiving Zhao Yun's notification, that would be terrible.

If not, it can only be explained as coincidence.

Moreover, it was a very unfavorable coincidence for Cao's army. Even Cao Ren couldn't help but have a terrible thought: Could it be that God is not on my side...

As this thought flashed through his mind, he suddenly remembered the place name mentioned by the urgent messenger: the county town located between Fuli and Quliu, downstream of Fuli County and along the Sui River, called Gaixia...

It seems that four hundred years ago, Xiang Yu also cried out to the heavens here: "This is the will of heaven, not the fault of war." At that time, Xiang Yu was also fighting on the interior line, and he should have had the opportunity to rush left and right, select the weak parts of the Han army and defeat them one by one.

But unfortunately, the person fighting on the outer lines was Han Xin, who also had amazing talent in "commanding multiple outer-line combat troops to attack separately and jointly, and accurately ensuring that they arrived at the battlefield at the same time."

"If Guan Yu arrives at Gaixia and, like he did in Quliu, ignores the food route and marches lightly and fast, pressing me for a decisive battle, how can I retreat? Will Guan Yu intercept my retreat halfway?"

Cao Ren's blood rushed to his head, and he did some quick calculations in his head, and then he quickly came to the conclusion: If he retreated now, he would definitely be able to return to Fuli. If he fought until dark and then retreated at night, that might not be possible. If he delayed his retreat until tomorrow morning, then forget it, he would definitely not be able to return.

But at this moment, the army was fighting Zhao Yun and had suffered many casualties, but Zhao Yun was as firm as a rock and could not be shaken at all. If he wanted to withdraw his troops, wouldn't Zhao Yun hold on to him tightly? If he was killed by the enemy at that time, the consequences would be disastrous.

Cao Ren gritted his teeth and quickly asked his guards to pull Man Chong aside. In the middle of the fierce battle, he lowered his voice and discussed with Man Chong:
"...This is the situation. I don't care why. Anyway, Guan Yu suddenly sped up and has reached Gaixia. If we don't retreat today, we will never be able to retreat back to Fuli. What can we do?"

Man Chong was also very nervous. His palms were sweating after hearing the question. He didn't dare to think too long and quickly said:

"The best strategy, or the best situation, is of course to defeat Zhao Yun immediately, and then turn around to fight Guan Yu! But it seems that Zhao Yun is not as weak as expected. His soldiers are very strong and energetic, and they have the advantage of iron armor. Although their numbers are only 40% of ours, they are difficult to shake for the time being.

The worst strategy is to ignore the consequences and forcibly withdraw the troops to Fuli. This will ensure that a considerable portion of the troops can be withdrawn to Fuli, but the losses will also be the greatest when they are pursued and killed by Zhao Yun.

If you are unable to defeat Zhao Yun and do not want to be ambushed and suffer heavy losses... you can choose the strategy of first fighting hard to repel Zhao Yun and force him to retreat slightly, then let the main force slowly withdraw to Qi County City, after the general has rested for a while and waits for Zhao Yun to relax, then withdraw all the cavalry to Fuli.

In this case, our army had to adjust its plan. From the initial plan of defending Fuli and Zhuyi counties across the Sui River, we would instead defend Qi County as well. The three cities would form a tripod and support each other.

If the number of defenders in Qi County could be increased to 20,000, Guan Yu and Zhao Yun would not dare to attack the city desperately, because once they are exhausted, our army can still come to reinforce from Zhuyi and Fuli. It is only a distance of 60 miles and it takes less than a day with light equipment.

But this method also has a disadvantage, that is, Fuli and Zhuyi will become more empty. If we want to ensure that the entire defense line is maintained, we will have to draw reinforcements from other directions. "

Cao Ren pulled his stiff beard and knew that Man Chong was right in his calculations.

Originally, 40,000 to 50,000 people guarded two adjacent twin cities and controlled the waterway across the river, which was absolutely stable. Suddenly, 20,000 people were separated to defend an additional tripod city 60 miles away, and the original defense would be weakened.

Moreover, could it be guaranteed that only 20,000 people would be taken away? Cao Ren did not even dare to expect it.

Because "only 20,000 people were taken away", this was based on the premise that Zhao Yun let him escape safely.

In fact, no matter how the battle ends today, Cao's army will be killed by Zhao Yun to some extent, and the loss will be huge. Cao Ren just tried to choose the one with relatively small loss among a bunch of options with greater losses.

The source of all this was his own greed! He thought he could take advantage of the few days between Zhao Yun and Guan Yu arriving at the battlefield, and tried to defeat them one by one. But in the end, he was overconfident and ended up losing more than he gained.

Cao Ren gritted his teeth and finally made a decision: "Let the front army fight Zhao Yun with all their might, regardless of casualties! As long as we can force him to retreat a little, we will decisively sound the horn and withdraw.

Let all the wounded, sick and heavy infantry stay in Qi County. I will lead the cavalry and some light soldiers, two people per horse, and take advantage of Zhao Yun's unpreparedness tonight to secretly escape back to Fuli to take charge of the situation.

It's only sixty miles away. We can leave the heavy armor and weapons in Qi County and run back to Fuli with light equipment. The horsepower is still enough."

Man Chong couldn't come up with any better ideas, so the decision was made on the spot.

The discussion between Cao Ren and Man Chong seemed to be a lot of work, but in fact it only took a cup of tea or two. Cao's army and Zhao Yun's soldiers on the front line were still fighting desperately. Cao's army had suffered heavy casualties, but failed to break through Zhao Yun's army.

Cao Ren tried to attack twice more, but he couldn't even force Zhao Yun to retreat. After making up his mind, he could only grit his teeth and decisively send in another reserve force to fight to the death. Then, without sounding the horn, he asked the Qi County garrison to open the east gate and let some of the wounded and retreating troops withdraw to the city first.

His cavalry also retreated slightly and prepared to run.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yun on the opposite side was equally sensitive, and immediately had his soldiers shout loudly: "Cao Ren has been defeated! Cao Ren is trying to escape! He knows that General Guan's reinforcements are attacking his rear! Capture Cao Ren alive! Don't let him retreat!"

Zhao Yun's troops suddenly became full of vigor, squeezing out some of their potential that had not been stimulated before. Long spears and halberds stabbed like a forest, and horse-slashing swords swung like flying, advancing like a wall. In addition to desperately hacking and stabbing, the armored soldiers even used brutal collisions and pushed forward directly against the front line.

Even Zhao Yun himself once again led the charge with his cavalry from both wings.

In the reserve force of Cao's army responsible for holding the front line, many soldiers looked back and found that the friendly army was actually retreating. The morale of the army suddenly became more panicked. Although not everyone noticed this, as long as some people in the army were shaken, it would soon form a chain reaction.

Bian Xi, who was in charge of the reserve, knew that he had been abandoned, and wanted to surrender, but was assassinated by Zhao Yun's troops in the chaos. The thousands of people sent by Cao Ren to hold back the rear soon collapsed, and countless people were killed and then trampled.

Zhao Yun chased fiercely with great momentum. Cao Ren's cavalry had no time to enter the city and could only go around the city to the north gate. Zhao Yun freed his hands and frantically attacked the Cao army infantry who were trying to squeeze into the east gate to retreat back to the city.

Countless Cao soldiers tried to rush into the city, crowding and trampling on each other, and even slashing at the backs of their comrades who were walking slowly in the front row, just to force those in front to walk faster and not block the city gates.

It’s a pity that Qi County is a small city and is located in a relatively dry plain. There are no big rivers around it, and no water is diverted to build a moat. Otherwise, many of Cao’s soldiers would have drowned in the moat alone.

Even now, Zhao Yun's killing all the way has caused thousands of casualties to Cao's army blocking the gate. In the end, there are fewer and fewer people outside the city, and the bows and crossbows on the top of the city began to shoot crazily to suppress Zhao Yun.

Finally, when there were only a few hundred Cao soldiers left outside the city, the defenders on the city wall even lowered a thousand-jin gate, directly killing seven or eight Cao soldiers who were just below the gate, in order to prevent Zhao Yun from chasing the rear of these fleeing soldiers into the city and breaking into it.

The screams of Cao's soldiers were as shrill as those of ghosts. Those who were abandoned by their allies could only kneel down and surrender to Zhao Yun's troops in despair.

After seeing them surrender, the Cao army on the city wall continued to shoot at them indiscriminately with bows and crossbows. Hundreds of Cao soldiers were shot in the back and killed. The remaining hundreds of people saw that the situation was not good, so they hurriedly threw away their weapons and ran towards Zhao Yun's troops with bare hands, begging for shelter and surrender.

(End of this chapter)