My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 776: Cutting off beard and abandoning robe under the pursuit of Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Zhang Liao and Taishi Ci
Under Taishi Ci's orderly operation, tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and other easily frightened livestock rushed towards Cao's camp as expected.

The scene seems chaotic, but the general direction is always controllable.

The hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Cao's camp had never seen such a scene before. The soldiers in the front row were stunned for a moment. They just held their spears, swords, shields, bows, crossbows and arrows, standing there not knowing whether they should shoot immediately.

After all, the animals charging over were just cattle and sheep, just "trophies", so they wouldn't do much harm, right? And they were the ones guarding the camp, with a convoy of vehicles and a few broken fences to rely on. At worst, they could rush in close and stab them to death, seize the bodies on the spot, and eat the meat that day.

If you shoot arrows, not only will it be a waste of arrows, but if you kill the livestock at a long distance, it will be difficult to capture the meat. You have to fight the enemy and win, and control the battlefield, before you can get the qualification to clean up the battlefield.

In the final analysis, it was because Cao's soldiers had never seen such a way of charging a battle array with a large group of edible meat. The soldiers' minds were briefly confused, and they underestimated the lethality of the herd at the first moment.

What threat could the meat in your mouth pose?
Fortunately, this underestimation and confusion only lasted for a very short while.

Within just a dozen breaths, some middle and lower-level Cao army officers reacted one after another, realizing that once they were attacked by herds of cattle and sheep, the army formation would be in chaos.

Although they have a chariot formation as a temporary fortress, who knows if it can stop such a huge number of cattle and sheep?

"Shoot! Shoot quickly! Shoot at the cattle! Spearmen line up to block the passage between the carts and poles! Halberd soldiers and pole soldiers get on the carts and sweep to protect the front!"

Under the chaotic orders, Cao's army finally started to fight on their own and shoot arrows, but it seemed very scattered after all.

If the enemy cavalry had rushed up just now, then the Cao army's archers would have already released their arrows when the two sides were within 150 steps. When the enemy rushed to the front, they could have released at least three to five rounds of arrow rain.

But the cattle and sheep made them confused and hesitant, so that the nearest herd of cattle rushed to within fifty or sixty steps in front of them before Cao's army reacted and began to shoot arrows.

After only two rounds, the first batch of bulls had already rushed to the front. Moreover, the rain of arrows did not stop the cattle and sheep from running wildly. Even if some of the cattle and sheep were shot down, the cattle and sheep next to them continued to rush forward without thinking.

Cao's army's rain of arrows does not make a loud noise, but Taishi Ci's gunpowder arrows and firecrackers do.

The cattle and sheep had no idea where the attack was coming from, nor could they judge where to escape based on the rain of arrows falling from the sky. They only knew to run in the opposite direction of the source of the loud noise.

Moreover, the intelligence level of cattle and sheep is far inferior to that of dogs and horses. When faced with danger, they will not observe carefully and then seek benefits and avoid harm, and they are likely to act recklessly.

Those who have watched Spanish bullfighting in later generations know that once the bull feels pain, it will only become more crazy and brutal, completely ignoring the strength of its own enemy and just charging forward.

"Kara!"

"Wow!"

"Boom!"

As the mad running bulls continued to hit the carts, the heavily loaded carts filled with halberd soldiers and staff soldiers might be able to withstand the first strong impact, but with the second and third impacts, the carts were overturned one by one.

At least the axles of the chariots were broken and they tilted to the ground. Many of them were directly broken apart, and the soldiers on the chariots fell to the ground and were trampled.

"Quickly form a gun array! Hold on together! Hold on to the herd of cattle!"

The grassroots officers of Cao's army roared at the top of their lungs, ordering groups of heavy infantrymen wearing heavy armor and holding round shields in one hand and spears in the other to push forward shoulder to shoulder, trying to block the herd of cattle with their spears.

However, this tactic, which was originally used to deal with cavalry and war horses, did not work when facing herds of cattle.

After all, the IQ of a cow is lower than that of a horse. When it is confused and crazy, it does not know how to identify the source of danger and only knows to act recklessly until it dies.

If a war horse encountered this situation, it would probably not dare to charge forward or run into the tip of the spear, but the frightened cow would not think about these issues at all.

In the space of a cup of tea, tens of thousands of livestock were killed by collision, stabbing or shooting in front of the battle line. With this number of casualties, if the horses were asked to charge into the battle line in a suicide charge, they would not have the courage to do so.

The huge casualties of the livestock also brought huge benefits. The outer chariot formation that Cao Cao had placed great hopes on was almost completely destroyed. The remaining wooden barriers and deer antlers that Zhou Yu had not had time to burn when he withdrew his troops were also smashed and trampled.

At least hundreds of Cao soldiers in the front row were killed in the first moment of contact. Many more Cao soldiers were injured, knocked down, and trampled, and the scene was once in chaos.

……

"Quickly mobilize the archers in the rear army! Have the spearmen hold the flock of sheep and the archers shoot arrows with all their might! No need to aim, just shoot randomly! The faster you shoot, the better!"

"Hold on! Anyone who retreats will be killed! The cattle and sheep will just run around recklessly. As long as the crossbowmen keep shooting, the flock will be killed and scattered in no time!"

As the scene gradually became chaotic, the Cao army generals who were supervising the battle on the front line, including Le Jin and Li Dian, could not help but become anxious. With sullen faces, they issued several strict military orders in succession.

The grassroots officers and the soldiers of the military law team did not hesitate to use heavy hands, and even killed more than a dozen soldiers who were running back with the cattle and sheep. At this time, if the soldiers turned around and ran away, causing chaos among their own people, they would definitely become accomplices of the enemy, and they must be deterred by thundering means.

Soon, not only the front-line generals felt their scalps tingling, but even Cao Cao himself, who was sitting firmly in the center of the army and observing the battle situation on the watchtower, and his staff such as Xun You, all felt cold sweat dripping down their cheeks.

"This is impossible! How could this be possible? How did Zhuge Jin think of using this method to break my chariot formation? I remember that Zhuge Jin also used chariots to break cavalry in the past, right? He has used chariots for so many years, why didn't anyone think of using sheep to die to break his chariot formation!"

Cao Cao was stunned and speechless for a long time. Finally, he uttered a few swear words.

"Too vicious! Perhaps it is because Zhuge Jin is also good at using chariots to defeat cavalry, so he has been secretly thinking about how to prevent others from imitating him?"

Xun You sighed and lamented, his brows furrowed, his cheeks had deep wrinkles, and he twitched slightly from time to time. It was obvious that he had a nervous breakdown caused by this scene.

After listening to Xun You's explanation, Cao Cao finally understood this setting.

Zhuge Jin was so mean! He had come up with a new trick to counter the trick that he had thought of and used to gain an advantage, just to prevent others from learning and imitating the trick he invented!

Isn't this just like pulling the ladder out after climbing up the roof, or destroying the bridge after crossing the river, just can't stand seeing the poor earning a living! He smashed the pot right after he finished eating!

He hadn't even finished eating yet. He had just taken out the bowl of rice he was going to eat from the pot, and then he smashed the pot which still had a lot of rice left!

But now is not the time to lament about these things. With the war approaching and life and death at stake, no matter what accidents occur, Cao Cao must find ways to stop the losses and reverse the situation as soon as possible.

Cao Cao was indeed a man who had been in the military for decades and was well-informed and quick-witted in tactics. As he watched the beasts rampage, he suddenly thought of a move and immediately ordered:
"Let the archers shoot as many rockets as possible! And mobilize the torches used for attacking the camp and throw them into the herd as much as possible! Burn all the broken cart poles and chevaux de frise! The fire can stop the herd!"

Xun You, who was standing by, was a little shocked when he heard this. He originally thought that this suggestion was not very appropriate and wanted to persuade him, but he finally realized that he had no better solution, so he had to shut up.

"Using torches and rockets to stop the enemy is fine... Directly burning the remains of the chariot poles and barricades will probably make the battlefield even more chaotic. If Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao seize the opportunity and charge in with smoke and fire, I wonder if our soldiers can hold out... Alas, it's a pity that there is no better way."

Xun You thought to himself that he could only watch and wait.

……

Cao Cao's order was quickly executed. Cao's archers made adjustments as quickly as possible and tried their best to shoot rockets instead.

Cao's army had been attacking Zhuge Jin's camp in the past few days, but the intensity of the attack was not high, and the torch reserves were always sufficient.

Those dovetail torches with fibers wrapped around them or even hooks at the tail are very useful for burning boats, chevaux de frise, and tents. The hooks will not fall off easily when stuck on wood and curtains, and can provide continuous heating.

At this moment, all these tools were used at once and abused at will just to reverse the situation. The trend of the beasts rushing to break through the chariot formation was indeed slightly curbed.

However, Cao's enemies were more than just herds of cattle and sheep. They were just appetizers.

As fires began to appear in the periphery of Cao's camp, Zhang Liao, who had been squatting behind the herd of cattle and sheep, knew that his chance to show off had finally come. He immediately became alert, raised his weapon above his head, raised his arm and called on more than 10,000 cavalrymen to charge towards Cao's camp, following closely behind the herd of animals.

"We'll shoot too! First fire three rounds of gunpowder arrows and then charge!"

The cavalrymen under Zhang Liao's command all took out fire starters made of tinder from their horses, lit the fuses of the few gunpowder arrows in the quiver, and then shot at the mixed crowd of people and animals in front of them.

It is difficult for horseback archers to stand still and light rockets with braziers like infantry archers, so they basically do not shoot rockets under normal circumstances.

But Liu Bei's camp had the advantage of gunpowder. Although the gunpowder that Zhuge Jin had been tinkering with could not be used to launch projectiles, it was still easy to make it into a cartridge and tie it to an arrow shaft, emitting flames and poisonous smoke.

Gunpowder is also easier to ignite than other flammable materials. You can just take out a tinder while on horseback and ignite it with just a touch. You can even put an arrow in the quiver and operate the tinder with one hand to ignite it.

In history, fire sticks did not appear until the Northern Wei Dynasty. People in the late Han Dynasty did not have flexible and light tools to start fires at any time, so they could only use flint to slowly strike sparks.

Therefore, due to the combined effect of various factors, it was not too difficult for Zhang Liao's cavalry to shoot a few rounds of arrows with the advantage of firearms before they were fully prepared, but the cost was a bit complicated. However, in today's combat scenarios, this tactic is actually very effective, and it is worth it no matter how high the cost is.

As Zhang Liao launched several rounds of arrows on the battlefield, the front-line soldiers of Cao's army finally came to their senses from their confusion and realized that the chaos just now was just an appetizer, and the real enemy's main force was just coming up.

Although this realization made the soldiers sober, they were left with greater despair. Gunpowder arrows with a pungent smell of poisonous smoke covered the chaotic battlefield where humans and animals were mixed together, without distinguishing between enemies and friends. Anyway, these livestock were intended to be eaten, and they could be eaten even if they were shot to death. What was there to distinguish at this time?

But this coverage dealt a heavy blow to the morale of Cao's soldiers, because just now their own comrades had also fired several rounds of rockets, trying to use fire to deter the situation.

Now there were several new rounds of arrows, all of which were flaming arrows. Some Cao soldiers who did not know the truth began to suspect that their own people were shooting arrows indiscriminately.

Because according to their battlefield common sense, any arrow with fire must be fired by the archers! Since ancient times, how can cavalry shoot fire arrows? Cavalry will not carry a brazier with them.

This simple and backward cognition further caused the disunity among Cao's army, and the soldiers were worried about gains and losses.

But Zhang Liao would not give them more chance to think. After creating the chaos, he rushed into the encirclement like a tiger out of the cage, wielding his weapon and fighting with Cao's army.

The remaining chaotic beasts just served as free vanguard for Zhang Liao, and the defensive fortifications that Cao Cao was proud of to block the cavalry were all in ruins.

Although Cao's army had a large number of spearmen, it seemed as if they could never be killed off.

But in the chaos, these spearmen could only fight on their own.

It was not until the moment when the enemy cavalry rushed up that they gradually turned their spears towards the enemy cavalry, but inevitably their movements were uneven and they could not form a uniform formation at all.

Zhang Liao slashed left and right, killing more than a dozen Cao soldiers who were fighting on their own, but he still kept on forging deeper into the enemy group.

The generals and comrades behind him also followed the footsteps of his horses, and each of them had moved their bodies as close as possible, twisting into a sharp cone and stabbing deep into the Cao army.

"The Cao thief was defeated! The Cao thief was defeated! The Cao thief set fire to his own camp in an attempt to stop the pursuit!"

"Die, Cao! Don't think you can escape by burning down the camp!"

The soldiers under Zhang Liao's command were shouting impromptu while charging forward. What they said was not completely nonsense, because Cao Cao did use rockets and torches to stop the enemy. It was just a matter of how to interpret it.

Some ordinary soldiers had little vision and insight, and after hearing this shout, their morale became even more shaken and low.

Zhang Liao tore through several layers of military formations, broke through the encirclement, and killed more and more powerful people in Cao's camp.

……

As Zhang Liao took the lead in breaking into the camp, Taishi Ci, who was initially responsible for shooting arrows, making noise, and driving away the beasts to provide cover, saw that the opportunity was not to be missed, and hurriedly threw in his reserve troops, following Zhang Liao's pace to expand the results of the battle.

The second batch of cavalry, more than 10,000 men, with their iron hooves rushing like sharp blades, rushed straight into Cao's camp, where the fortifications had been destroyed, and set off a new round of chaotic fighting in the camp.

The two sides soon became entangled in a battle, with each side intertwined. Cao's spearmen and halberd soldiers could only fight in groups of three or five, and could no longer form a large battle formation, because they had no idea which direction the enemy cavalry would emerge from in the melee.

Once the long infantry lost the advantage of forming a battle array, they no longer had any advantage when facing the flexible and disorganized cavalry, and countless Cao army soldiers began to panic.

Once faced with the dilemma of being trampled by the enemy in three directions, many Cao soldiers became deserters out of helplessness.

Cao Cao saw all this happening from the watchtower of the central army. He was so anxious and furious that he repeatedly ordered his generals to strictly enforce military laws and to stop the decline.

"Don't panic! The enemy has only 20,000 or 30,000 cavalry charging the camp! We have ten times as many soldiers! Do not lose your composure!"

Cao Cao couldn't help but draw his sword, waving it wildly while shouting orders frantically.

At this moment, Xun You beside him pulled his sleeve and reminded him in a panicked tone:

"Prime Minister, look! Behind us! Zhuge Jin has also sent out cavalry to attack us from both sides! We must act decisively to save the situation!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao felt his heart tremble and his neck became stiff. He was unable to turn his head to look as Xun You instructed. He could only hold on to the railing of the watchtower and turn around little by little.

Then, he saw a scene that he would never forget, a scene that he didn't want to see but couldn't avoid.

Behind him, in Zhuge Jin's camp, which was originally surrounded by him, there were also two cavalry forces that were no less large than Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao, rushing towards their own camp which was already in chaos.

The leading enemy general was fighting under the banner of Zhao Yun and Ma Chao.

Moreover, the enemy was completely focused and from the very beginning, they went all out and tried to tear open a gap in this direction with all their might.

The cavalry, equipped with armor forged with molten steel, stirrups, iron shoes and high-bridge saddles, wielding lances, sabers, javelins and horse bows, swarmed in like a tide.

The cavalry led by Zhao Yun were mostly Youzhou cavalry, so they were good at mounted archery and liked to use horse bows to provide long-range fire support.

However, Ma Chao's 8,000 most elite Xiliang cavalry were not so good at using bows and arrows on horseback. Even though they were equipped with double-sided metal stirrups, Ma Chao still found the bow and arrow difficult to use.

However, since Ma Chao surrendered to Liu Bei, Zhuge Jin also made plans for his troops. The final result was that Ma Chao's elite troops were equipped with several short javelins. Ma Chao had used this tactic several times on the battlefield. After several years of running-in, he was now just repeating the same old trick.

On the side where Zhao Yun and Ma Chao were attacking, Cao's army's defense was originally relatively well preserved, because no matter how recklessly the cattle and sheep used by Zhang Liao rushed forward, even if tens of thousands of them were killed, it was impossible to expect those livestock to directly crash through the entire Cao camp.

So when Ma Chao rushed forward, he would still face relatively complete defenses of barricades and chariot formations, and the initial breakthrough would still be quite risky.

However, Ma Chao's close-range javelin throwing before charging greatly alleviated this problem.

Compared with bows and arrows, javelins are more powerful and heavier, but their only disadvantage is that they cannot reach far, and the loss of kinetic energy is obvious if they are a little further away. However, when Ma Chao's troops use javelins, they rush to a very close distance, and before engaging in hand-to-hand combat, they throw a round at the face, and the effect of tearing the gap is very outstanding.

Cao's army was already in a panic and their fighting spirit was confused. As long as the first layer of the defense line on the rear was torn open, the subsequent reserve troops could not be effectively dispatched to plug the gap.

As long as Ma Chao grits his teeth and endures the initial casualties, and fights hard to break open the hard shell, he can eat meat with peace of mind afterwards.

Amidst the splatter of blood and flesh and flying limbs and broken arms, batches of Cao's soldiers and Xiliang war horses continued to fall. Subsequent attacks continued one after another, and they kept pouring in. Finally, Cao's defenses were gradually broken down.

Zhao Yun and Ma Chao's attack points were exactly on the back of Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao's attack points, as precise as the occlusal surfaces of the upper and lower front teeth.

The Cao army at this position was attacked fiercely by such strong cavalry. No matter how strong the defense was, it could not withstand the tsunami-like impact.

Although Cao's army had a total force of over 200,000, it was impossible for them to gather in one place for key defense.

So on the local battlefield, Cao Cao was soon shocked to find that he had become the relatively weaker side.

Even though Cao Cao had fought for nearly thirty years, he couldn't understand how he had fallen into his current predicament step by step.

"The Prime Minister is in danger! We should quickly move our camp eastward! Zhao Yun and Ma Chao are attacking us from behind! Leave the flag formation where it is, and let General Zilian help you command it."

As the fighting became more and more brutal, about a quarter of an hour later, Zhao Yun's cavalry were seen getting closer and closer. Although they had not yet entered the range of hand-to-hand combat, the arrows shot from their cavalry bows were getting closer and closer to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao could see with his own eyes that guards were shot down within dozens of steps around him, and Xun You could not help but remind Cao Cao to pay attention to safety and avoid them in time.

Cao Cao was completely paralyzed. He couldn't understand why the camp he had painstakingly built and the army of 200,000 men should have become a bottomless abyss, a quagmire that would trap all the cavalry in the world and slowly swallow up the enemy, but now it had become like this.

"I won't leave! I haven't been defeated! I still have 200,000 troops! Xu Chu! Take all the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry with me and go up! Hold off Zhao Yun and Ma Chao! They only have 20,000 or 30,000 cavalry, how can they break through the camp layer by layer!"

Cao Cao's white hair was disheveled, and he was still struggling there, talking nonsense.

But he knew deep down that such an order was meaningless.

Because at this moment, it was impossible to mobilize all the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to his side and work as a team, and the entire Cao camp was in chaos.

As the arrows from Zhao Yun's troops shot closer and closer, and even Ma Chao's Xiliang cavalry began to throw lances dozens of steps away from Cao Cao, piercing and killing several Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and nailing their bodies to the ground, the Cao army's core finally panicked.

Xun You shouted at the top of his lungs, slapping Xu Chu a few times: "Xu Chu! What are you still standing there for! The Prime Minister didn't raise you to pretend to be loyal and obedient on the surface! The Prime Minister's safety is more important than anything else!"

Xu Chu also reacted at this time. Even Xun You gave him and Cao Cao a way out. He finally gritted his teeth, wrapped Cao Cao around the saddle with a piece of Shu brocade, and then he personally took Cao Cao to move.

Ma Chao and Zhao Yun successively rushed to Cao Cao's central army flag formation, searched and killed left and right, but did not find Cao Cao. Finally, they captured a few prisoners on the front line and interrogated them, only then did they learn that Xu Chu had protected Cao Cao and escaped.

"Chase Cao Cao! Cao Cao is defeated! The one escaping on the back of a horse wrapped in red brocade is Cao Cao! The old thief with white hair and beard and Xu Chu as his guard is Cao Cao!"

"You old bastard! You old thief with a gray beard! Don't even think about escaping!"

(End of this chapter)