My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 560: Twelve Years Later, Liu and Cao Fight Again

The eleventh year of Jian’an, the ninth day of the seventh month, noon.

The scorching sun in July shines fiercely in the sky, casting down heat waves that are almost visible.

Inside the Chencang Valley, the hillsides on both sides were covered with lush vegetation, but from a distance, the shapes of the vegetation seemed to have been distorted over time.

Anyone with a little knowledge of physics can easily see that this is because high temperature evaporation causes the refractive index of the hot air close to the surface to change.

The weather was so hot that one could imagine how hard it was for both sides, especially the side that played the role of attacking.

"Prime Minister, we have advanced more than ten miles today. It is really too hot. Why don't we let the attacking troops slow down? Zhang Fei has been fighting and retreating for two and a half days in a row. Is there something going on?"

Le Jin, who was sweating all over, had just broken through another simple defense line of Zhang Fei and was being replaced to drink water and rest, while Xu Huang led his men to take over the next wave of attack. When Le Jin saw Cao Cao, he could not help but advise him.

Although he had no strategy at all, he still had battlefield experience and intuition. He instinctively felt that the way the battle was going, was weird, even though he couldn't tell exactly what was weird about it.

However, Cao Cao was a little too greedy after all. In addition, Guo Jia suddenly suffered from heatstroke yesterday and could not join the army. He could only lie in the rear camp to sleep and apply cold compresses, so no one put the brakes on Cao Cao.

Cao Cao wiped his sweat and irritably ordered, "Zhang Fei is just a man, what else can he do? He is just following Liu Bei's orders and trying to exhaust us step by step. Hasn't he been doing this for the past few days?
We only need one or two lines of defense to drive Zhang Fei to Gan Ning's camp. Just grit your teeth. As long as we advance to the Sanchadaokou camp in front of Yangping Pass, I will allow the whole army to rest and avoid the scorching heat."

Faced with Cao Cao's insistence, Le Jin had no choice but to step down and let Xu Huang make one final effort.

Xu Huang lived up to everyone's expectations, fighting for another half an hour under the blazing sun at 15:00. At 15:00, he finally took down another line of defense, and finally drove Zhang Fei's "defeated soldiers" to the camp at the three-way intersection in front of Yangping Pass, where he and Gan Ning were huddled together.

Cao Cao saw a towering enemy camp appearing in front of him. The defense was obviously much stronger than the simple "temporary camp on the road" defense line he had encountered in the past two days. He did not dare to be careless immediately and announced that he would let the soldiers rest.

The Cao army felt as if they had been pardoned, and hurriedly found relatively shady places on the hillsides on both sides of the valley to sit down, drinking water when necessary and eating dry food when necessary.

Of course, Cao's army still maintained sufficient manpower to continue to be on guard, and set up layers of defense two or three miles in front of Liu Bei's camp to prevent the enemy from suddenly losing their composure. These are basic skills, and they must not be relaxed.

As we all know, the hottest time in summer is often not at noon, but around 2 p.m.

The end of the afternoon and the beginning of the afternoon roughly correspond to 1 p.m. in later times. So it is completely reasonable for Cao Cao to order his troops to take a lunch break at 1:15 to 1:30 p.m., intending to resume the battle after 2:30 p.m., or even later.

Because of the scorching heat, many Cao soldiers had no appetite even though they had been fighting for a whole morning and had consumed a lot of energy. When they sat down, they just wanted to drink water, especially salt water, which could replenish water and salt at the same time. They also found the dry and bland rations difficult to swallow.

……

The soldiers below were resting and eating in batches, and Cao Cao himself naturally wanted to seize this opportunity to take a nap and relax.

After all, he was in his fifties and his energy was not as good as when he was young. Although he did not have to supervise the battle in person, Cao Cao wore armor and marched all day for safety reasons.

In such a hot day, just wearing the armor was very hard, even if he was wearing the armor and sitting in the chariot, being pulled by horses.

After drinking two bowls of pickled vegetable and chicken soup that was almost as warm as the temperature, which greatly replenished his water and salt intake, Cao Cao felt a little better. He stood up from the chariot and stretched twice.

The hottest half-hour finally passed. Looking at the sun, it was already the last hour of the afternoon (2:30 to 3:00 p.m.)
"Hmm? In the camp opposite, besides Zhang Fei and Gan Ning, who else is there?"

When Cao Cao stretched, he took a casual glance. Although there was still a distance of two or three miles, he still keenly sensed a hint of danger.

He couldn't explain exactly why, but decades of battlefield experience and strategic intuition made him realize that there was a problem.

Perhaps, it was the unusual movements in the enemy camp in the distance that made him feel the murderous intent.

But, isn't it normal to have murderous intent on this battlefield? Both sides should maintain murderous intent at all times.

Just when Cao Cao was feeling upset, the camp gate opposite him suddenly opened. Even though he was two miles away, Cao Cao could feel that the other side's way of opening the gate was different.

First of all, a camp of this size could not have only one camp gate. Even on a single side, there were several. At this moment, these camp gates facing Cao's army were opened almost at the same time.

As soon as it was opened, countless soldiers of Liu Bei's army filed out, ready for battle and in high spirits.

Moreover, Liu Bei's army not only opened the camp gate, but also simultaneously dismantled the sharp stakes and antlers between the two adjacent camp gates and removed the barricades. Then the soldiers walked out directly from behind the rammed earth base slope and lined up in the open space in front. In other words, these antlers and antlers originally played the role of the first line of camp walls, but at this moment, Liu Bei's army actually dismantled their own walls in order to leave the camp faster and line up faster.

Under what circumstances would a person feel that his or her front door is too small and it takes too long to go out, and choose to tear down the walls?
Just this one action made the confused Cao army soldiers who were still resting on the opposite side feel a little nervous.

How could they know that this was just a little psychological warfare trick that Zhuge Liang had suddenly devised for Liu Bei.

The purpose was to let Cao's army fully feel their own desperation and determination before the decisive battle.

Isn't the enemy arrogant and domineering? Didn't he claim to have won "consecutive victories" and made General Zhang retreat for two and a half days? Then let's keep trying! Let's hurt each other!
"Stop resting, and line up the whole army!" Cao Cao also sensed danger, so he immediately ordered the whole army to regroup. At the same time, he ordered Xu Chu to temporarily serve as his driver and drive the carriage forward, with long spears, shields, and hand rings in formation on both sides. He wanted to see for himself what was going on.

Xu Huang and Le Jin also carried out the military orders as quickly as possible and kept their troops under control.

Soon, Cao Cao's chariots arrived at the front line of the battlefield, but they were still about a mile and a half away from the front line of Liu Bei's army. They were absolutely sure that they were out of the range of the crossbows, and it was even more impossible for the catapults to throw that far.

At the same time Cao Cao was moving forward, a large banner emerged from the opposing army formation with a line of large characters embroidered on it that read "Han Cavalry General Liu". It was Liu Bei's own flag.

Under the big banner, the 46-year-old Liu Bei was also wearing steel armor and a red robe, looking majestic.

Liu Bei's armor, chest and back are all forged from a single piece of cast steel, and even the shoulders have curved cast steel shields. Only the limbs and waist are still covered with traditional fish scale armor.

Each piece of armor was polished to a high shine, and could reflect light. But it seemed to be to prevent rust, and after polishing, it was evenly coated with red lacquer and clear varnish, which was very different from the others.

All we can say is that Liu Bei liked wearing brightly colored clothes since he was a child. Even on the battlefield, he did not forget to look decent and dignified, and did not care about being easily recognized by the enemy.

Inside the fine steel-filled outer armor, Liu Bei also wore a set of iron-ringed chain mail as an inner lining.

As a result, the weight of the equipment was even heavier. Fortunately, the weapons Liu Bei carried were not heavy. He only had a double-edged sword hanging from his waist, a red and black carved bow, and a pot of arrows hanging from his saddle. The Ferghana horse under his crotch could bear the weight.

……

Liu Bei personally led the troops into battle, with his troops in full gear and a stern demeanor.

Although Cao Cao was too far away to see his face clearly, from the pomp and circumstance, one could tell it must be Liu Bei himself.

Cao Cao finally changed his impetuous and aggressive behavior of the past few days and calmed down for a rare time. The two sides were a mile apart, and they passed messages to each other through cursing hands.

Cao Cao stood up from the chariot, took a deep breath, and shouted angrily, "Liu Bei! You traitor to the imperial court! If I had not repeatedly recommended you to the emperor, how could you have been promoted to the rank of General of Chariots and Cavalry and become the Minister of the Imperial Clan!
You are so ungrateful, pretending to be loyal on the surface, but secretly acting for your own benefit. Now the imperial army has arrived here to punish the rebels, and you still dare to resist!"

Liu Bei shook off his robe and asked the scolding team to help him curse back: "Cao thief! You bully the emperor, abuse power, and cause chaos in the court. You killed the concubine and the prince without permission, and even murdered loyal officials and loyal ministers. Is there any more unjust and treacherous minister in ancient and modern times than you?
This year, you have gone even further! Zhao Situ Yuan is an old minister, loyal to Your Majesty, and has worked diligently since Li Jue and Guo Si rebelled again. On the way back to the east, he experienced many hardships and dangers, but he still maintained the courtesy and righteousness between the monarch and his subjects.

In order to usurp the position of Prime Minister, you had people frame Zhao Situ, angering such a loyal and good old minister to death and ruining his reputation after his death. It is so despicable and shameless to do such a cruel thing to people and ghosts, and it is outrageous to both heaven and man!

Today, I obey the blood edict of the emperor to suppress the rebellion and punish the traitors. Today is the day to save Han and protect Liu!"

After hearing the retelling of the scolding players, Cao Cao couldn't help but laugh and mock: "Hypocrisy! You forged the imperial edict yourself, which is treason! And everyone in the world knows that you, Liu Bei, are a hypocrite. You always admit that it is the emperor's intention only when the emperor's edict is favorable to you! Even if it is not the emperor's intention, you will say it is!
But if any of His Majesty's edicts are unfavorable to you, even if it is unanimously recommended by the ministers and recognized by the world, when it comes to you, you will say that it is my intention! You know best who is the most hypocritical and despicable in the world! Ask yourself, in these years, which edicts have you followed that are unfavorable to you! "

However, as soon as Cao Cao finished asking, Liu Bei actually responded: "I obeyed the imperial edict to punish the usurper Yuan Shu, and I obeyed the imperial edict to punish Huang Zu, who killed angels. I have always been upright and honest throughout my life! I have obeyed the imperial edicts to protect the Han Dynasty and punish rebellions countless times!"

Cao Cao: "You call these decrees unfavorable to you? These are good things that will help you annex states and counties and expand your territory! Well, well, today I finally know how thick-skinned you are. There is no point in saying more. If you want to fight, then fight!"

Cao Cao had not seen Liu Bei for more than ten years since he attacked Tao Qian. This year, he saw him face to face on the battlefield. He might not see him again in his life, so he was so emotional and had a verbal fight with him.

The two sides did not just say those clichés and empty words. It can be seen that both of them sincerely want to prove the meanness or hypocrisy of the other party.

At least in front of the soldiers of both armies, they could expose each other's secrets and let the soldiers of the other side hear clearly that their lord was not as righteous as he appeared to be.

But at this point, we have revealed everything that can be revealed. It is meaningless to continue to talk about morality. The rest is up to the fist.

(End of this chapter)