My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 566 Wang Ping is still too young, learn more

The words are divided into two parts.

Xiahou Yuan led a vanguard of 5,000 troops straight to the foot of Dingjun Mountain, and then immediately began to set up camp and siege, urgently repair the deer horn trench defense line, and block Wei Yan's way down the mountain.

This move, of course, could not be hidden from the eyes and ears of Wei Yan and Wang Ping. After they captured the mountain last night, they took over the camp on the top of the mountain and renovated the watchtower and sentry tower.

Wei Yan brought a telescope made of crystal with him, and from the top of Dingjun Mountain he could see the enemy more clearly than Huang Zhong did in history. He could see Xiahou Yuan's every move almost simultaneously.

"As expected by the military advisor, after the military advisor advised us to seize Dingjun Mountain, he deliberately exposed a flaw and gave up camping on the road. Instead, he stationed all the troops on the mountain. As expected, he lured Xiahou Yuan to lead his troops out lightly. He wanted to surround and kill our troops on the mountain."

After watching Xiahou Yuan's every move, Wei Yan communicated with Wang Ping in a very relaxed tone.

It turned out that Wei Yan's decision to station his troops on the mountain was one of the plans provided by Zhuge Liang before the war.

With Zhuge Liang's military strategy, he was able to remind Ma Su to "set up camp on the road" during the Battle of Jieting in history. At this moment, he would naturally think of doing the opposite and remind Wei Yan to station troops on the mountain.

Camping on the road is to protect the road entrance and prevent the enemy from sneaking through and blocking the road. The purpose of stationing troops on the mountain is to deliberately lure the enemy into advancing before their troops are sufficient because they are reluctant to give up the bait.

Strictly speaking, neither of these two strategies is right or wrong. We must compare the strength of the enemy and ourselves and be realistic in order to determine which one is more appropriate.

At the moment, Wei Yan and Wang Ping are typical examples of "having certain military strength and combat power, but pretending to be insufficient in military strength", so there is nothing wrong with stationing troops on the mountain.

While the two generals were chatting, Wang Ping also took the telescope, looked down the mountain for a while, and then casually suggested:

"Then should we send troops down and storm Xiahou Yuan's camp? He has not yet established a firm foothold, and the antlers have only been repaired for an hour or so, so the defense line is at its weakest.

If we charge down now, our chances of success will be the greatest. The longer we delay, the better his antlers will be and the deeper the trenches will be. "

Wei Yan stroked his beard and thought for a while, then rejected the proposal: "Don't worry, Xiahou Yuan has just arrived at the foot of the mountain. Although his base is unstable, his soldiers must be on high alert. If we rush down now, they will surely unite against the enemy and fight to the death. Even if we have more people, we may not be able to gain an advantage.

We should first send a pigeon back to report Xiahou Yuan's movements to the lord and the military advisor. The lord will certainly ask General Zhang to speed up the climb over the mountain and come to reinforce us as soon as possible. We will then act flexibly and find a time when Xiahou Yuan's soldiers are tired and relaxed, and then rush down the mountain. "

As mentioned above, Liu Bei's army had already mastered the one-way communication technology of releasing homing pigeons back to their nests. Liu Bei had been stationed at Yang'an Pass and Jiameng Pass for so long that he must have raised homing pigeons with Yang'an Pass as their nest.

Although Wei Yan had to take a long detour over Micang Mountain when he led his troops this time, it was only a hundred miles for birds. It was too easy for them to find the way back to Yang'an Pass, and they could fly back in more than an hour.

Therefore, Wei Yan had the ability to contact and report to Liu Bei in a one-way manner. However, Liu Bei could not reply to Wei Yan's orders through pigeons, because Liu Bei's army did not have pigeons with Dingjun Mountain as their home nest.

Wang Ping certainly had no objection to the commander's request for instructions from the rear military advisor, but he felt that Wei Yan's tactical arrangement was a bit too conservative, so he couldn't help but add a suggestion:

"Xiahou Yuan has just arrived, and we don't even try to repel him. Isn't it a waste of opportunity? Moreover, we are not moved at all, which goes against common sense. Xiahou Yuan will be suspicious. Why don't we let me test the attack once? If the morale is high and they hold firm, it won't be too late to withdraw."

Wei Yan thought about it and felt that it made sense. After all, Wang Ping was still young and had only been in the war for two years. He relied on the flexibility of the Bantun Barbarians to cross mountains and ridges and won many victories. He was a little too proud.

Some people will not learn their lesson unless they suffer a little loss. In addition, the Bantun Barbarians only obey their own leaders, and now they have not been deeply integrated into Liu Bei's army. If Wei Yan does not give them a chance to fight, they will think that Wei Yan is trying to exclude dissidents.

In this case, Wei Yan allowed him to stop there: "Since you have said so, it is okay to give it a try. But we must make three rules. If we find that the situation is not right, we must immediately withdraw to the mountain and not waste our troops rashly."

Wang Ping: "These are my fellow soldiers. How can I play with their lives? Captain Wei, just stand aside and watch our army come down the mountain and attack once!"

……

After Wang Ping asked for orders, he immediately led three thousand Bantun Barbarians along the main road at the foot of Dingjun Mountain and swooped down to attack from a high position.

The slope is quite steep, and the slope of the road down the mountain is almost 20 to 30 degrees. If ordinary soldiers were marching, they would definitely have to walk on tiptoe to avoid rolling down.

But Wang Ping's people were able to climb mountains as if they were walking on flat ground. They could run all the way up a steep slope of more than 20 degrees without almost stumbling. Instead, their charge speed increased, making the momentum of their attack as strong as a tiger descending a mountain.

However, Xiahou Yuan on the other side was indeed a famous general. He had just arrived less than two hours ago, and the Cao army soldiers were in high spirits, with full physical strength and energy, and they were always on high alert. Before Wang Ping's troops rushed to the middle of the mountain, Xiahou Yuan's troops had already sounded the alarm and lined up in a strict formation.

The spearmen were hiding behind the unrepaired deer horn defense line and were ready for battle. The trench in front had just been dug for more than an hour and was only more than a foot deep, but it was still a small help and could more or less delay the attacker's progress.

Relying on his slight numerical advantage on the local battlefield, Wang Ping rushed forward in a black mass. When approaching the enemy, he fired a burst of poisonous arrows with his crossbow, and then drew his sword and slashed wildly.

Xiahou Yuan's defenders also fired several defensive arrow rains on the battlefield, but Wang Ping's soldiers were in a loose formation and everyone held a shield, so the lethality of the arrow rain was not very obvious.

"Anyone who moves rashly will be killed! Stand shoulder to shoulder and do not retreat!" Xiahou Yuan personally supervised the battle, and ordered the troop leaders and garrison leaders at all levels to suppress the formation and organize the spearmen and halberd soldiers to fight against Wang Ping's soldiers.

The two sides fought fiercely for a while. At the beginning, Wang Ping relied on the momentum of his swooping charge from a high position to make Xiahou Yuan's front row a little scattered.

But Xiahou Yuan was worthy of his reputation as a famous general. He managed to stabilize the situation and deployed the reserve troops in a very orderly manner to strengthen the defense line step by step.

After the two sides switched from the assault to hand-to-hand combat in the position, Wang Ping's soldiers gradually fell into a disadvantage because their weapons were shorter and they could not tear open a gap to attack from the side.

He and Wei Yan's troops came over Micang Mountain, which was a difficult road to travel, so most of the first batch of troops only carried short weapons and shields. Mountain warfare troops often used short weapons, which was also a common practice at the time.

Short-armed troops are more suitable for fighting against spearmen in complex terrain. Once they are placed on the open terrain at the foot of the mountain by spearmen and stabbed shoulder to shoulder in a dense formation, the short-armed troops will definitely be severely restrained.

Xiahou Yuan had fought all his life and had a solid foundation, so when he saw Wang Ping attacking the mountain, he had already thought of a countermeasure. No matter how Wang Ping yelled, he would attack the enemy's weakness with his own strengths, using a dense formation of long spears to suppress the close combat.

Wang Ping launched several rounds of fierce attacks but failed to make any breakthrough. He still wanted to rely on his personal bravery to tear open a gap and rush towards Xiahou Yuan's flag formation.

But Xiahou Yuan's bravery was also extraordinary. He personally led the battle with a sword in hand and set an example by killing five or six Bandunman warriors who rushed forward.

The soldiers around Xiahou Yuan were encouraged by their leader's unshakable attitude, and their morale was boosted. They fought back with a common hatred of the enemy. Wang Ping waved his two swords wildly, but still couldn't get in. He was also stabbed by the spear blade and had to retreat unwillingly.

When Wang Ping and Xiahou Yuan were closest to each other, they were only a few dozen steps apart, but they just couldn't get through even within these few dozen steps.

"That young bandit general is quite brave, but he is still far from being able to break through this army formation!" Xiahou Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of heroism in his heart as he watched the enemy retreat in disgrace.

Wang Ping’s martial arts are good, but he is still far inferior to me!
……

After an incense stick of time, Wang Ping fled back to Dingjun Mountain with his defeated troops. Wei Yan met them halfway up the mountain and they immediately withdrew to rest.

In this test, Wang Ping also suffered hundreds of casualties, which was the worst casualty since his debut. Considering that this was just a tentative attack, it was really inappropriate.

So after meeting Wei Yan, Wang Ping immediately admitted his mistake and regretted his youthful and reckless behavior.

Wei Yan's face was uncertain, and he analyzed calmly: "We came over the mountains, and in order to facilitate the march, we brought more short weapons. Rushing down the mountain to fight with the long spearmen on the flat ground is a disadvantage, and this cannot be avoided. Even if our total force is twice that of Xiahou Yuan's blocking and besieging troops, it cannot make up for the disadvantage of the army.

But you don't have to be too discouraged. In today's battle, we have tested Xiahou Yuan's strength. After this battle, Xiahou Yuan's mind, which has been tense and alert, will definitely relax. As long as we show our submission and give up the counterattack, Cao's army will be busy building antlers and digging deep trenches, and will be exhausted sooner or later. "

Wang Ping was defeated, so he listened to Wei Yan's judgment with great humility. He followed this line of thought and quickly asked, "Is Captain Wei planning to launch another surprise attack after the enemy's physical strength is exhausted?

However, the enemy's physical strength is spent on building the antlers. The longer the time goes, the more likely their soldiers will be exhausted, but as long as they sleep, they will recover. The antlers will become stronger and stronger as time goes by, and it will be more difficult to fight them then."

Wei Yan listened to Wang Ping's complaint, but just sneered: "If you think so, then Xiahou Yuan will think so too. Therefore, we can't let them have a chance to rest. We can wait, but we can't wait too long -

I decided to wait until midnight today and launch another attack. That is, I want to attack when the enemy is most tired after working all day and before they have time to sleep and recover!
Secondly, the downhill road you just tried was too common and too easy for Cao's army to predict. That's why they blocked their main forces at that intersection in advance. Tonight, we have to take a more unusual, steeper and more unpredictable downhill road to attack.

Moreover, if the route we choose is steep and unusual, we can use other means - your soldiers are tired from the bloody battle today, so don't fight at night. Let the soldiers cut down trees for a day and select huge trees on the mountain. When the time comes, they can roll down directly before the attack to smash the enemy's antlers and make a few gaps. In this way, Xiahou Yuan's repair work for the whole day will be in vain.

A line of defense like the Deer Horns never needs to be completely destroyed. It is enough to tear open a few holes to allow the attacking troops to rush in through the gaps. "

(End of this chapter)