My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 775: Two Hundred Thousand vs. Ninety Thousand! The advantage is mine!
October 4th, early morning.

The early winter sun had just risen, and the slight white frost that had formed during the cold night on the Hebei plains had completely melted and evaporated with the first rays of morning light.

In front of the Guantao camp.

The afternoon of the previous day, Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao, who came from afar to reinforce Zhuge Jin, had just defeated Cao's cavalry Cao Hong and Cao Xiu who were patrolling outside. But then they were blocked by Cao Cao's encirclement camp, and Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao had to set up a simple camp on the spot, rest for a night, and get enough strength to fight again today.

At this moment, as Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao's troops were fully refreshed after a night of rest, the reinforcements they brought were about to launch an attack on Cao's camp.

The generals of Cao's army on the opposite side were naturally on high alert.

When Zhuge Jin sent people to give instructions to Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao, he asked Zhao Yun to escort the messenger to break out and make contact. But this time when Taishi Ci came back, there was no need to risk sending people to break into Zhuge Jin's camp to report the news.

As long as Zhuge Jin observed the general movements of Cao's army, he knew that Taishi Ci was coming to help.

Moreover, Liu Bei's army is now equipped with gunpowder signal arrows. Zhuge Jin had agreed on a secret signal in the letter he wrote to Taishi Ci. After the reinforcements arrived, they would shoot gunpowder signal arrows into the sky at night from the outskirts of the direction they planned to attack and tear through Cao's camp.

As long as Zhuge Jin's troops in the encirclement saw the signal arrow, they would know the general combat intentions of the reinforcements and could make targeted deployments and coordination.

Zhuge Jin had even created flame signal arrows with a variety of flame colors based on his knowledge of chemistry and his understanding of flame color reactions.

For example, the most common flame color reaction of sodium ion salts is yellow light, the flame color of potassium ion salts is purple, the flame color of calcium salts is red, and the flame color of copper salts is green.

These common salt compounds can cover the four easily distinguishable colors of red, green, yellow and purple. Each color is assigned a military code, which is written clearly in the letter in advance, making communication very convenient.

For example, last night, after Taishi Ci hastily set up camp, he sent out a cavalry team to harass the northern side of Cao's camp, and then shot several green copper sulfate gunpowder arrows into the sky.

After the lookout in Zhuge Jin's camp saw it, he reported it and compared it with the plan, and Zhuge Jin knew it. This morning, he asked Zhao Yun and Ma Chao to make preparations for the attack on the other side of the position where Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao were going to attack.

As soon as Taishi Ci took action, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao broke out from the inside and completely destroyed Cao's northern camp from both inside and outside.

……

Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao have made all the necessary preparations, so Zhao Yun and Ma Chao will naturally not make any mistakes.

The generals of Cao's army who were trapped between them were also in high spirits and full of fighting spirit.

All we can say is that this was a fierce battle between two evenly matched opponents, so much so that both sides felt that they had a better chance of winning.

Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Taishi Ci, and Zhang Liao were all fierce generals of the time, and among them there were also some top-notch warriors who were good at cavalry combat.

However, Cao's army occupied the advantageous location of setting up camp and defending, and the camp of Cao's army only looked fragile, but in fact the defense was very deep, with several layers of defense inside and outside, all deployed by Cao Cao himself.

The number of troops of Cao's army also had an absolute advantage.

Cao's army dispatched 220,000 main forces for this battle. Although a large number of troops were killed or injured in the various attacks and battles that had lasted for nearly ten days, the main force was not damaged.

Most of the soldiers were just a little weak in physical strength, morale and spirit, but had no obvious physical injuries. After a few days of recuperation and Cao Cao's personal inspection and encouragement, most of them recovered.

Moreover, as the decisive battle continued, Cao's army continued to send reinforcements from the rear. The last three or four counties in Jizhou controlled by Cao's army had been transporting supplies and manpower to the front line, which could make up for the losses in the battle to a considerable extent.

Cao's army supported the front line with an almost desperate attitude, because Cao Cao knew very well that if they were completely defeated in this battle, the entire Hebei province would be lost except for Yecheng, and the whole process of losing would not last too long, and it would probably be lost within a few months.

Even in Yecheng, they could only hope to defend the city because of its strong fortifications and abundant food reserves. On the entire Hebei Plain, the thought of engaging the enemy in a field battle could only exist in fantasy.

Not only will the Hebei Plain collapse, but most of the Henan Plain may also collapse. By then, in the plain area east of Hulao Pass, there may only be a few isolated islands and strong cities left to delay time. The counties and prefectures in the wilderness that have no strategic locations to defend may be lost in their entirety.

Now that the war has come to this point, we must naturally do our best and mobilize all the combat forces that can be mobilized to achieve a successful attack and fight this life-and-death gamble to the end.

In contrast, before this battle, Zhuge Jin's troops in Guantao Camp would not exceed 60,000. Among them, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao could mobilize perhaps 20,000 cavalry, and the remaining 40,000 infantry to defend the camp.

The total number of troops of Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao who came to support is actually only more than 30,000, but because they came from Yanzhou, some of them were urgently dispatched by Mi Zhu in the rear of Youzhou, and almost all of them were cavalry.

Liu Bei's army actually had more troops that could arrive in the Qing and Xu directions, but they were all infantry, and their reactions were not that fast, so they could not catch up with today's wave. If the war dragged on for another five or six days, then those infantry reinforcements would be able to arrive at the battlefield one after another.

The reinforcements from Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao, the reserve troops from Mi Zhu, and the casualties from Zhuge Jin during the days of guarding the camp,

The final decisive battle was still between 90,000 and 220,000.

In terms of numbers, Cao's army still has more than one times the advantage.

But Zhuge Jin's side also had obvious advantages, that is, they were better equipped, in better condition, and had a very high proportion of cavalry - an army of 90,000, with almost 50,000 cavalry! This was already a concentration of more than half of the cavalry in Liu Bei's camp!

There was no way, because Liu Bei was the warlord who occupied Youyan and Liaodong. Over the years, Zhao Yun also pacified the three counties of Wuhuan and the three counties of Xianbei, and dealt with the northeastern fishing and hunting barbarians such as the Buyeo Kingdom.

It is normal for the overlord of Youyan to do his best to put out 50,000 cavalry.

Moreover, in this kind of battle, cavalry can more easily and quickly arrive at the battlefield to provide reinforcements, and mobilization and assembly are more convenient, so cavalry will naturally be the main force in the decisive battle.

Today's battle is to fully utilize the cavalry strength of Liu Bei's army and engage in a decisive battle with Cao's army on the vast plains of Hebei.

The only obstacle was Cao Cao's temporary camp made up of layers of chariots and sticks, which prevented the cavalry from charging directly.

One side has fewer men, more elite troops, and more cavalry.

One side has many people, is depressed, and has a camp.

Only after the fight can we know who will win.

……

"When Zi Lian was defeated and retreated yesterday, didn't they say that Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao had only 20,000 or 30,000 troops? Looking at it today, how come they have such a magnificent army? Have you found out everything? Isn't this a delay in military operations?" As the morning light gradually brightened, Cao Cao, whose eyesight was not very good, climbed up to a high place in the camp to look at the enemy situation. Seeing the endless dark formation of Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao on the opposite side, he was a little surprised and his confidence was not as strong as at the beginning.

Normally, if there were tens of thousands of people, the distance would seem endless. But Cao Cao was used to large-scale battles, and since he was guarding the camp, he could see far from a high place, so he could naturally judge the strength and number of the enemy troops.

After a quick look, he felt that something was wrong, and then he blamed Cao Hong and others for not only being unable to win the battle but also not being able to understand the situation clearly.

Fortunately, Cao Hong quickly explained the situation: "Don't worry, Prime Minister. Taishi Ci's army may look strong, but in fact, there are only cattle and sheep in the camp behind the battle.

When we started the battle yesterday, I didn't know the enemy's situation at first. Later, I learned that Taishi Ci came too hastily and the army's food and supplies had not been transported in time.

Then the enemy's civil officials in Hebei urgently dispatched a large number of cattle, sheep and livestock to him as military supplies - it is said that Liu Bei appointed Mi Zhu to govern Youzhou. Although Mi Zhu, this thief, does not understand the moral principles and does not know how to appease the people, he is really good at making money and doing business.

During these years in Youzhou, he was able to get so many cattle and sheep from the Hu people. This time, Taishi Ci came to rescue Zhuge Jin urgently, and Mi Zhu also spent a lot of money to make sure that all these cavalrymen could drink milk and eat meat. "

As Cao Hong spoke, he couldn't help but sigh, as if he was expressing his feelings: If we could make sure that everyone in our 200,000-strong army could drink milk and eat meat, then there would be no need to worry about the morale of the army being boosted.

After hearing this, Cao Cao rubbed his eyes quickly, looked at it carefully for a while, and then suddenly laughed.

It turned out that with Cao Hong's reminder, he, with his blurry eyesight, finally saw clearly: behind the enemy cavalry formation and in the camp were indeed endless cattle and sheep, and perhaps some other scattered livestock.

It was ridiculous that in the dim lighting he had misjudged all the livestock in the enemy camp as war horses, and therefore mistakenly believed that the enemy had a large number of cavalry.

"So most of them are cattle and sheep. I thought, if they were all cavalry, Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao would have 100,000 cavalry! That's good, that's good! Today, when Taishi Ci rushes up to die, the remaining cattle and sheep will all belong to me.

Tell the soldiers of each army that if we win this battle today and seize the cattle and sheep that the enemy supplies, I promise that everyone in the army can eat as much meat as they want! Eat beef and mutton for ten days in a row! Eat your fill every meal! Don't even need to eat rice or wheat, just drink wine and eat meat! Whether you can eat it depends on whether you work hard! "

After hearing this, Cao Hong felt a little more refreshed and immediately asked someone to pass on Cao Cao's instructions.

Before long, all the soldiers in Cao's army knew about the prime minister's generosity. Their morale was boosted and they were all ready to fight.

Especially since most of Cao's soldiers were greedy and used to the burning, killing and looting in troubled times, who wouldn't be excited when they heard that the enemy had so many spoils of war?

Just as Cao's army was mobilizing, Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao on the opposite side finally moved.

Thirty thousand cavalrymen began to deploy in battle array, and the reserve troops in the camp also went out one after another.

Cao Cao originally planned to wait for the enemy to attack and get stuck in the quagmire of the chariot camp, but as he watched, his eyes suddenly narrowed and he instinctively sensed something strange and dangerous.

"What's going on? How did Taishi Ci arrange the battle array? Wasn't it a cavalry assault formation? Why did he also bring up the cattle and sheep as food supplies to form the battle array? Huh? Even the wild boars locked in iron cages? How did they control these livestock?"

Just when Cao Cao was confused and felt a little dangerous, Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao on the opposite side finally moved.

……

"I hope the tactics Situ Xin told me will work. If these cows, sheep and pigs are frightened, can they really break through Cao Cao's chariot formation in one go?
Forget it, don't think about it, we'll know after we try, anyway our army is all cavalry, it's easy to move. As long as we arrange the formation loosely at the beginning, even if the cattle and sheep charge randomly, they won't rush into our army. "

After observing the temporary camp built by Cao's army with chariots on the opposite side, Taishi Ci put down the telescope, muttered to himself for a while, and then stopped thinking about it and let the troops act according to the plan.

Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao were certainly not reckless people. Although the tactic of using livestock to break through the chariot formation was instructed by Zhuge Jin in the letter, they would not use it blindly on the battlefield for the first time.

Before coming to reinforce today, Taishi Ci had already done animal experiments and practiced them repeatedly. Mi Zhu provided him with so many livestock, and he consumed several thousand just for the emergency experiments.

Of course, the consumed animals would not be wasted, as their bodies would be taken away and made into pickled meat. For this purpose, Mi Zhu also sent several wealthy merchants in Yuyang City who were engaged in pickled meat business to follow Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao to fight. Once they encountered the situation where the animals died and needed to be pickled, they could start working immediately.

In the animal experiments before the war, Taishi Ci tried various methods, including Tian Dan's fire bull formation mentioned in history books.

Finally, actual experiments have proved that the fire bull formation is unreliable. The bulls' backs and tails are continuously burning, and the bulls are completely out of control. They will charge randomly without distinguishing between friend or foe.

However, it is possible to continuously make loud noises behind the cows to scare the herds of cattle and sheep, and this is very effective - in fact, the Qing army also used noise methods when dealing with the Ming army's chariot formations in later generations.

Because the red cannon of the Qing army in later generations was actually stronger than that of the Ming army (especially after Kong Youde and others rebelled in the fifth year of Chongzhen and sent the manufacturing technology of the red cannon to the Qing army), during field battles, the Qing army relied on firing cannons while driving the cattle. The cattle would instinctively try to escape from the cannon positions, the farther the better, and they would be forced to rush towards the enemy camp.

Of course, there were no cannons in Liu Bei's camp now, but there were still many gunpowder products that could make loud noises. Taishi Ci had already been able to create flames and loud noises in front of his own formation and force the cattle to rush towards the enemy through animal experiments.

The final effect can only be known by trying it.

Taishi Ci took advantage of Cao's army's confusion and slow reaction and quickly made all preparations to release the cattle and sheep.

He and Zhang Liao also agreed on the division of labor: once the war broke out, Taishi Ci would be responsible for commanding the soldiers to release the herds of cattle and sheep, and Zhang Liao would be responsible for following the herd closely and killing them once the attack of the sheep was effective, taking advantage of the chaos to destroy Cao's camp.

After Zhang Liao charged in, Taishi Ci would follow up after releasing his livestock.

Finally, with the sound of trumpets and drums in Taishi Ci's army, thousands of archers shot explosive arrows tied with gunpowder barrels.

There were also countless soldiers, shouting and striking all kinds of informal "musical instruments" they could get their hands on at close range, and some were lighting all kinds of gunpowder firecrackers.

All of a sudden, all kinds of loud noises and strange noises were heard in front of Taishi Ci's formation. Tens of thousands of cattle and sheep were completely out of control and rushed towards Cao's chariot formation in batches.

Cao Cao, who was standing on a high place in the opposite camp and looking at the situation, was also stunned when he saw this scene. He was dumbfounded and didn't know how to respond.

"What's going on? Sending cattle and sheep here to die? Ha, are you trying to give me meat to eat? What kind of fighting power can these cattle and sheep have... No! Could it be that Taishi Ci thinks that he can destroy my camp with these animals?"

After his initial disdain, Cao Cao quickly became nervous and thought of some possibilities.

But he seemed to have no way and no time to stop it.

(End of this chapter)