My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 702 Cai Mao: I haven’t gotten in the car yet!
Zhuge Jin's original intention in arranging Zhang Fei to cross the Huai River and head north along the Ru River was just to intimidate Cao Cao and create a loophole in the Nanyang battlefield.

Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang both knew that it was not the right time to launch a full-scale northern expedition. The absolute power gap between the two sides had not yet widened, and forcing a war of attrition or a tug-of-war would only increase the suffering of the people.

With such a small number of troops, Zhang Fei would certainly find it difficult to make a decisive breakthrough if the enemy forces were to return to defend with all their might.

Therefore, when Cao Zhen, Sun Quan and Cheng Pu sent tens of thousands of reinforcements and cooperated with the local troops in Runan County to defend the county with high fortifications and deep trenches, Zhang Fei very wisely gave up the military adventure.

Both sides dug trenches and rammed walls in Shangcai to bluff. As the fortifications became stronger and stronger, the side that wanted to organize an attack or counterattack would suffer more and more.

After a few days of confrontation, Zhang Fei gradually understood the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, the generals who led the troops, and learned that the enemy lacked a famous cavalry general. So Zhang Fei became bolder and occasionally led the cavalry himself, bypassing Shangcai County and harassing the enemy's rear.

How could the young Sun Quan have the strength to stop Zhang Fei in a field battle? He was not good at commanding cavalry in combat.

Therefore, as long as Zhang Fei did not come to attack the city, Sun Quan would defend it strictly, acting like a turtle and refusing to show his head, allowing Zhang Fei to wreak havoc in the wild.

Although Cheng Pu knows a little about cavalry combat, as the strongest general in Cao's camp in naval warfare, he also shoulders other important tasks, which is to ensure that the Ru River waterway is cut off.

As he was unable to cope with all the situations, Cheng Pu naturally could not stop Zhang Fei's harassment.

In the end, only Cao Zhen was left. He was young and energetic, not very superstitious, and understood the basic skills of commanding cavalry combat.

Cao Zhen always felt that his level was comparable to Cao Xiu's. But last spring, after Cao Xiu was defeated by Ma Chao, Cao Zhen even had the illusion that Cao Xiu might be slightly inferior to him.

This time, seeing that Zhang Fei dared to lead only two or three thousand cavalrymen to bypass Shangcai and go north to Yancheng to cause damage, Cao Zhen couldn't help but feel indignant.

Around the tenth day of May, Zhang Fei once again led a lone cavalry army northward to sabotage the enemy. And this time, he brought only a thousand cavalrymen, which was unprecedented.

After Cao Zhen found out the truth, he was so furious and could not bear the humiliation, so he hastily organized nearly ten times the number of troops and went out of the city to try to intercept and pursue Zhang Fei.

As a result, an interception encounter occurred between the two sides on the plain northeast of Yancheng, halfway between Yancheng County and Qiang County.

Since the process was so overwhelming, there is not much to elaborate on.

In a nutshell, Zhang Fei taught Cao Zhen a lesson on how to be a good person.

Relying on the total strength of infantry and cavalry which was nearly ten times his size, Cao Zhen was unable to stop Zhang Fei, who had more than a thousand cavalrymen, and was forced to break through the center by Zhang Fei.

Although Zhang Fei had few soldiers and could not annihilate Cao Zhen, nor was he able to inflict heavy damage on Cao Zhen, he just focused on attacking Cao Zhen's central army formation, completely ignoring the rest.

More than a thousand cavalrymen with steel breastplates charged forward like an iron fist on the Huaibei Plain, fighting desperately and without retreating. Fierce generals like Zhang Fei took the brunt of the attack and led the troops in a fierce battle.

Faced with such a fierce enemy, Cao Zhen's central army was overwhelmed by Zhang Fei's momentum shortly after the battle began. The soldiers fled to both sides like waves, completely forgetting that "our army's total strength at the global level is ten times that of the enemy."

Whether it’s ten times or not is none of the business of ordinary soldiers.
Ordinary soldiers only need to know: if they stand in front of a notorious killer like Zhang Fei, they will die immediately. Only by saving their lives first can they have a chance to see the moment when their own troops, which are ten times their strength, can exert their combat power.

Cao Zhen saw that the situation was not right, so he knew what to do and quickly retreated before the central army was killed by Zhang Fei. He discarded his conspicuous helmet and Shu brocade robe along the way, and as for the general's flag, he left it in the flag formation without taking it away.

Zhang Fei rushed to the central army's flag formation, only to see some enemy cavalry and officers guarding the flag, fighting to the death, but no one could see any high-ranking generals who looked like Cao Zhen. He had no choice but to kill them in a disappointment, and cut down Cao Zhen's flag to vent his anger.

Seeing the flag of the central army being cut down, the soldiers on the left and right wings of Cao's army were greatly demoralized and began to retreat. Although Zhang Fei had fewer troops, he took advantage of the situation to kill the enemy and try his best to expand the victory.

In the end, it was because the enemy troops were fleeing more and more scattered, and the cuirass cavalry had poor endurance. Zhang Fei estimated that the potential of his soldiers was about to be exhausted, and fearing a reversal, he decided to withdraw while he was ahead.

After Cao Zhen fled back to Yancheng, he finally became completely honest and did not dare to fight again. He just defended the city and controlled the traffic lines along the Ru River and its tributaries.

Zhang Fei's final gains in this battle were not very large, because it was a mobile and pursuit war, and he killed many enemies without having time to cut off their heads. Among more than a thousand armored cavalrymen, he only cut off seven or eight hundred enemy heads.

Zhang Fei estimated that the actual number of casualties would definitely exceed two thousand, and many more Cao soldiers were defeated and killed.

However, this battlefield is after all the heartland of Cao Cao's controlled area, and the soldiers are all veterans of Cao's army, so even if they are killed and scattered, it is estimated that most of them will slowly return to the team, which is a pity.

But no matter what, after this battle of interception and counter-interception, Zhang Fei's prestige was fully demonstrated.

Thousands of Cao Zhen's defeated soldiers were scattered, and it would take at least ten days to gather again. Such a big commotion would definitely shake the surrounding counties.

After all, the Shangcai front where the two sides are now deadlocked is not far from Xudu.

This place was later called Shangcai County, located 120 to 30 miles upstream of Ancheng. After Shangcai, there was no place to defend in Runan County.

If we continue to go up the Ru River, there is only one Dingying County left, but the scale and defense of Dingying are far inferior to Shangcai. Further up is Yancheng in Yingchuan.

Xudu was located in Yingchuan County. Once you pass Yancheng, and then Qiang, Linying, and Yingyin, you will reach Xudu.

Therefore, for Cao's army, the current situation is already very serious.

Even if Zhang Fei stayed in Shangcai obediently, there were only five counties between him and Xu Du.

When he infiltrated near Yancheng, he was only three counties away from Xudu. More importantly, Zhang Fei had already touched the edge of Yingchuan County. Even if it was just a quick harassment, it was still a shock to the Xudu court.

Moreover, Yancheng was also the transportation hub for Cao's army from Nanyang to cross the Tongbai Mountains and retreat to Yingchuan County.

As long as Zhang Fei captured Yancheng, it would mean that Cao Ren in Wancheng’s route back to Yingchuan would be cut off.

By then, even if Cai Mao could still hold Bowang, it would be completely useless - because all the transportation hubs behind Bowang had been lost, so what was the point of just holding Bowang?

When the trachea is strangled, is the normal inhalation function of the throat still useful?
At that time, Cao Ren had only one choice left: to retreat to the territory of Henan Yin along Luyang guarded by Xu Huang in the north.

Therefore, when Zhang Fei's small group of harassing cavalry appeared around Yancheng County, it was destined that Cao Ren in Wancheng would definitely not sit still.

……

Just two days later, Zhang Fei appeared in Shangcai and Yancheng areas.

Cao Ren and Cai Mao of Nanyang County heard the bad news one after another.

The messenger sent from Xudu rushed to report the emergency at full speed. He arrived at Bowang County that morning and told Cai Mao the bad news. Then he continued to rush forward and arrived in Wancheng in the evening to warn Cao Ren.

"What? Zhang Fei has already arrived in Shangcai, and he has also sent out cavalry to harass Yancheng? If Yancheng is lost, wouldn't our troops located east of Ye County and Kunyang be cut off from returning to Yingchuan?"

When Cao Ren heard the bad news, he jumped up immediately.

He originally wanted to weaken Guan Yu's fighting spirit in Wancheng and weaken the offensive momentum of Liu Bei's Northern Expedition Army.

But knowing that Zhang Fei might threaten his retreat, how could Cao Ren care about those unimportant little goals?

Preserving as much of your own strength as possible and ensuring you escape safely is the new top priority right now.

"Does the Prime Minister have any orders? Will he allow our army to retreat immediately?"

Cao Ren did not dare to be arrogant and immediately asked the messenger sent by Cao Cao.

The messenger did not dare to delay and quickly took out the instructions from Cao Cao to Cao Ren. Cao Ren quickly checked the seal and then opened it to take a closer look.

Military intelligence reports should be kept separate, and the prime minister's orders should be kept separate. Although they were delivered by the same person, the items must be kept separate.

Cao Ren took a quick glance and saw that the prime minister had indeed allowed him to retreat as soon as possible at his discretion to avoid any unexpected events.

However, for the sake of safety, the prime minister also ordered him to adapt to the situation on the front line, to make sure the retreat was safe and to minimize losses, so as to avoid the rear army being pursued by Guan Yu and being defeated due to a rash retreat.

At the end of the letter, the prime minister also reminded: If you don’t know how to withdraw the troops, you can discuss the details with Jia Xu.

Jia Xu was very experienced in combining the real and the fake and retreating safely with elite troops. As early as eleven years ago, when Cao's army was evacuating Wancheng, Jia Xu commanded Zhang Xiu to defeat first and then win, and successfully pursued Cao's army.

Now, they are still on the same battlefield. With Jia Xu here, it shouldn't be difficult to withdraw safely.

When Cao Ren saw this, he felt a little relieved.

No matter what, he has full authority to do as he pleases, and will not be punished even if he gives up part of his territory.

So after receiving Cao Cao's order, Cao Ren immediately found Jia Xu to discuss countermeasures.

……

"Zhang Fei has already reached Shangcai and is threatening Yancheng with his cavalry. All the counties in Yingchuan are shocked. In order to protect Xudu, the Prime Minister ordered me to send troops to support it. Wancheng will be abandoned soon.

But Guan Yu is pressing very hard. How should our army plan its withdrawal to avoid being pursued by Guan Yu and minimize the losses? Please give me some advice, Wenhe."

After Jia Xu arrived at the shogunate, Cao Ren didn't waste any words and directly threw Cao Cao's order in front of him. While Jia Xu was reading, he also stated his own requirements.

When Jia Xu learned that the Prime Minister had clearly stated that he wanted to retreat to protect his home, he was slightly relieved and quickly put himself in the other person's shoes and began to deduce:
"Although our army suffered a minor setback in Nanyang, losing Xinye and Rangcheng, and losing some troops, we still have 70,000 to 80,000 troops, most of whom are infantry. If we want to retreat safely, we must withdraw in batches.

From Wancheng to Bowang and Yexian, the distances between the counties are not far. Let the infantry withdraw first for two or three days, and the cavalry withdraw last. They will definitely be able to escape safely.

It's a pity that they left in such a hurry, many days earlier than originally planned, and there was still some surplus food in Wancheng that would definitely not be transported in time. They could only let the soldiers take as much as possible. If they really couldn't take it all away, they would just distribute it to the people or burn it on the spot.

"The young and strong among the people who can be forced to move with the army should be taken away as much as possible, leaving no one for Guan Yu. The old and weak who are a burden can be left to Guan Yu."

Jia Xu first gave some commonplace suggestions, which Cao Ren felt were unoriginal and felt uneasy, so he couldn't help asking:
"That's it? Isn't there anything else that needs extra attention? Guan Yu and Zhuge Jin are not ordinary people, won't they try to intercept them?"

Jia Xu thought for a while and said, "Of course Zhuge Jin will not give up the opportunity to pursue. In my opinion, our army just experienced the turmoil in Rangcheng a few days ago. With Zhuge Jin's ability, he will definitely think of learning from it and take advantage of the panic among the people in Nanyang counties to try to induce more local clans who are unwilling to be relocated to become his accomplices.

Therefore, the most critical and urgent task during our army's retreat is to ensure that no trouble occurs in the counties along the way. Before the general withdraws the garrison in Wancheng, he must strictly order Xu Gongming and Cai Degui to block the news and not let the soldiers and people in Luyang, Bowang and other counties know that our army is going to withdraw.

At the same time, unless our troops retreating from Wancheng are being chased by Guan Yu on the way and have to stay in the city temporarily to avoid the enemy, they should bypass Bowang and Luyang and march directly to the rear without staying for too long to avoid the spread of bad news among the armies and the people's hearts being shaken in advance. " Jia Xu followed this general idea and naggingly gave several points, which were nothing more than asking Cao Ren to pay attention to managing people's hearts, and try to delay the time for grassroots soldiers and civilians to know the bad news, so as to delay the stability of people's hearts until the last moment.

Of course, in addition to this, Jia Xu also did not forget to pay attention to some small tips on the operational level.

For example, let Cao Ren retreat the main infantry force to Bowang first, and let the last cavalry unit retreat to Luyang.

Because the infantry is retreating, it is necessary to combine water transportation capacity as much as possible and take a boat as long as possible.

When taking the road through Bowang, Yexian, Kunyang and Yancheng, except for the section over the Tongbai Mountain pass which requires traveling by land, the rest of the road can be traveled by water as much as possible.

In contrast, the route of retreat from Luyang was more land-based, requiring crossing the Funiushan and Songshan Mountains. Cavalry was more suitable for land travel than infantry, and did not need to carry heavy vehicles.

Therefore, when Guan Yu becomes alert and blocks the Bowang route with his main force, Cao Ren will lead the last retreating troops to make a feint and then go to Luyang, which will definitely preserve his strength to the maximum extent.

Cao Ren went over all the details and felt that they made sense. He weighed the pros and cons himself and then gave the order to carry it out.

Of course, Cao Ren also anticipated that not all of his generals would be able to perfectly execute his deployment, and there would be more or less mistakes. He could only do his best and leave the rest to fate.

……

After Cao Ren made his deployment, he began to withdraw his troops from Wancheng the next night.

Moreover, the slowest-moving heavy infantry was sent first, and some heavy supplies were also taken with them, and transported by ship along the Baihe waterway to Bowang.

After reaching Bowang, if you sail upstream for another twenty or thirty miles, you will enter the Tongbai Mountain area. There is no river available, so you have to disembark and cross the mountain.

Because it was a sudden withdrawal without any warning, and because they used water routes as much as possible when leaving Wancheng, Guan Yu, who was attacking from the opposite side, naturally reacted a little slowly.

By the time Guan Yu received the report and made a brief assessment of the situation, at least three hours had passed since Cao Ren's heavy infantry troops withdrew.

Three hours may not be a long time, but if the enemy is determined to leave, it is enough to create a considerable distance gap.

During the Battle of Xiang and Fan, Cao Ren broke out of Fancheng on a snowy night when the Baihe River was frozen, and used the cover of night to gain a time difference of two or three hours. In the end, if Zhang Fei had not pursued him with pure cavalry and the distance between Fancheng and Xinye was far enough, more than a hundred miles, Zhang Fei would never have caught up with Cao Ren.

Now, the distance between each county between Wancheng and Bowang is no more than fifty or sixty miles. If you sneak away in the middle of the night, you will never be able to catch up with them under normal circumstances.

So after assessing the situation, Guan Yu subconsciously felt that even if he tried his best to chase, it would be in vain in the end, and he felt a little lazy.

Guan Yu thought to himself: Let it go this time... but I must keep a close eye on Cao Ren afterwards. There are still so many soldiers in Wancheng who have not retreated yet. If the next batch retreats, I must catch them first.

Previously, I was lax and careless because I thought, "You can only steal for a thousand days, but you can never be on guard against thieves for a thousand days." But since the first batch of enemy troops has already withdrawn, the next few batches will definitely be there within a few days, and there is no way they can delay any longer.

As long as I keep a close eye on it every day, my reaction speed will definitely be much faster next time.

Guan Yu figured it out in his mind, and then he shared his idea with Zhuge Jin, who was also there to listen to the report, to see if Ziyu supported his idea.

However, Zhuge Jin immediately rejected Guan Yu's laziness and reminded him:
"Our army has been at loggerheads with Cao Ren for many days, and the soldiers are not tired. Why should we be afraid of running in vain? We must chase him! Send people to chase him immediately, even if we can't catch up!"

Guan Yu was very surprised when he heard this and was unable to understand the logic for a while.

"Why do we have to chase even if we can't catch up? I plan not to chase this time, not because I am afraid of tiring the soldiers, but because I am worried that we are chasing too fast. Those who travel a hundred miles a day and pursue profit can become generals.

Cao Ren also has Jia Xu by his side. Jia Xu is famous for his ability to set up ambushes to block the enemy's retreat and to attack the enemy when they are weak and to attack the enemy when they are strong. Ziyu, although your wisdom and strategy far exceed Jia Xu's, there is no need for our army to test your strength. We cannot catch up anyway."

Facing Guan Yu's tactful opposition and confusion, Zhuge Jin didn't mind at all. He still smiled calmly and waved his folding fan slowly, saying:

"Since I said we have to pursue even if we can't catch up, there's no need to let the pursuit troops march too fast. As long as we move slowly, the soldiers won't get too tired. Even if Jia Xu sets an ambush to block our retreat, what should we be afraid of?"

Seeing that Zhuge Jin repeatedly emphasized that "chasing is not for the purpose of catching up", Guan Yu really couldn't understand it, so he simply stopped thinking and humbly asked for advice on this point, hoping that Zhuge Jin would explain it further.

Zhuge Jin did not keep the secret and directly revealed his thoughts: "It's very simple. Since Cao Ren was forced to retreat so decisively, and even a strong city like Wancheng was not intended to defend it, it means that Cao Cao is really afraid that Yide will make another breakthrough in Runan.

Such a sudden withdrawal could easily lead to a collapse of morale. If not properly controlled, the retreat would turn into a rout. Therefore, Cao Ren had to block the news as much as possible to prevent the ordinary soldiers below from knowing how serious the situation was.

In this situation, if our army did not pursue, Cao Ren would most likely bypass the city instead of entering when passing through the counties in the rear, in order to slow down the spread of news.

Anyway, he had retreated in advance and had not yet eaten up the remaining food in Wancheng. He could carry a lot of food with the army. Even if he retreated to Xu Du in one breath, he didn't have to consider entering the city for supplies halfway.

Therefore, we have no choice but to pursue him with all our might and hold on to him, even if we cannot catch up with him. This will lead to the following situations: Either Cao Ren's retreating troops discover that our army is approaching, and although they cannot catch up with us in a short period of time, they will have to hide in nearby counties along the way to avoid fighting.

In another situation, even if Cao Ren's army does not need to seek shelter in a nearby county town, as long as we pursue him with great fanfare and publicize the news along the way, the Cao bandits' soldiers and civilians in the small counties along the way will most likely know that Cao Ren has retreated, and that he has retreated in such a miserable state, because he was being chased and hunted by our army and dared not look back at all.

In this way, the auxiliary troops and civilians in the counties along the way, who are angry at the forced relocation of the Cao bandits, may become more inclined to side with our army, and then give birth to a few more righteous men like Rangcheng Wei Kai.

Cao Ren is now like sitting on a powder keg. He himself has no idea where the hidden dangers will explode. The righteous will have many supporters, while the unrighteous will have few. Cao thief's forced relocation of people will be more likely to cause a backlash at the last moment. We should not miss any opportunity to cause such a backlash. "

Zhuge Jin's analysis was extremely detailed, from the speculation and deduction of human hearts to the current situation, and finally made Guan Yu completely realize it.

"I see, we must give chase! Ziyu is a very insightful person. I have made up my mind. Let Han Sheng lead the cavalry to give chase. Whether we can catch up or not, it will definitely be beneficial."

Guan Yu made the decision immediately and began to dispatch troops.

Huang Zhong had just captured Rangcheng and the western counties of Nanyang some time ago, and now he has returned to the battlefield of Wancheng. After receiving the order, he did not hesitate and accepted it happily.

……

Huang Zhong led thousands of cavalrymen and followed Cao Ren's breakout troops all the way to Bowang.

Everything happened just as Zhuge Jin and Jia Xu had expected. Huang Zhong was unable to catch up with Cao's army before they broke through and arrived at Bowang.

Jia Xu once made some backup deployments, specifically for the situation where "if Guan Yu sent a small group of lightly armed and fast-moving troops to pursue him at all costs, how to set up an ambush to counter the pursuers at that time."

Of course, Jia Xu also knew that this plan was only used as a precautionary measure and there was little chance that it would be put into practical use.

Zhuge Jin warned Huang Zhong not to act rashly, which naturally made Jia Xu's move an idle one.

The confrontation between the two sides seemed dull and there was no strategic strategy involved, but in fact they had already engaged in a round of confrontation invisibly.

Huang Zhong failed to catch up, but he did succeed in causing panic in several counties behind Wancheng.

Cao Ren originally planned to blockade and delay the situation as much as possible so as not to let the counties in the rear know at the first time that he was going to retreat and abandon Nanyang.

However, Huang Zhong showed off his military prowess in a big way and spread the rumor that "Cao Ren's retreating troops were chased by him and had no choice but to go somewhere", causing the enemy to panic.

This tactic was very effective, because that night, Cai Mao, who was stationed in Bowang County and was responsible for looking after Cao Ren's retreat, noticed that the people in the city seemed to be becoming increasingly unstable.

Some auxiliary officers started making a fuss and ran to Cai Mao's general's mansion, hoping that Cai Mao would give them some more time, allowing them to take more of their relatives and property with them and not withdraw too hastily.

Most of these officers were natives of Jingzhou or even Nanyang County. If Cao's army suddenly accelerated its retreat, it would definitely cause additional damage to them.

Many of the valuables that were not taken away in time might be burned to avoid being used by the enemy. Some members of the tribe who were in poor health might also die on the road.

After all, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, every time there was migration across counties, more or less people died suddenly on the way. The more anxiously they were driven, the more casualties there were. This is common knowledge.

Cai Mao was afraid that chaos would arise at this critical juncture, so he could only take strict precautions. On the one hand, he prohibited the army from talking about this issue again, and on the other hand, he prohibited the conscripted civilians and auxiliary soldiers from talking about it.

On the other hand, Cai Mao did not dare to relax the retreat deadline. First, Cao Ren did not give him the authority to do so, and second, if he allowed open bargaining on this topic, the first ban would not be implemented.

Cai Mao's high pressure finally forced a group of auxiliary officers and local nobles in Bowang County who could no longer bear the situation to decide to take risks.

That night, several auxiliary army officers who came from local wealthy families sent strong men from their families to sneak out of the city to find Huang Zhong outside the city and express their willingness to act as internal support.

This situation was so similar to what happened many days ago when Wei Kai rebelled in Rangcheng and fought the enemy.

However, this cannot be blamed on God's will for not favoring Cao Ren and Cai Mao, nor can it be said that Zhuge Jin and Guan Yu were just lucky.

But in Nanyang County, the situation of Cao's army had already become critical.

The harder Cai Mao pressed, the greater the pressure from Guan Yu and Huang Zhong outside, and the easier it was for him to break at his weakest point.

Everything is a matter of course.

When the water pressure is high enough, the dam, which is already full of holes, will naturally collapse at the weakest point with hidden dangers.

Huang Zhong was already very familiar with all of this. After all, this was the second time he had handled such a thing within half a month, and he was still very familiar with it.

With rich experience in identification, Huang Zhong quickly determined that the local officer named Hou Yin who came to negotiate surrender was indeed willing to surrender sincerely.

Moreover, Bowang County was even simpler than Rangcheng, not only did it not have a city wall, but it also did not have the thousand-jin gate that Rangcheng had.

Therefore, it is impossible for anyone to use the crude city defense facilities of Bowang County to play the trick of "tricking the enemy's vanguard into entering the city, and then closing the gates/opening the sluice gates to encircle and annihilate them."

In a place like Bowang, as long as the city gate is open, you can rush in with confidence.

In the middle of the night, Huang Zhong suddenly led his troops to Bowang County, and decisively advanced straight to the base of the city wall, completely ignoring the fire from the defenders on the city walls.

Just as the Cao army defending the city was in panic and confusion, one of the city towers in Bowang County suddenly caught fire, and then the city gate was opened by inside and outside forces.

Huang Zhong decisively led his troops to charge into the city and fought with Cai Mao's army.

(End of this chapter)