My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 800 Kill Cao Zhen first to give Cao Cao a great gift

Just when Cao Zhen thought he could preserve the remaining force of the Hulao Pass garrison, he was in too much of a hurry on his way back to Chenggao and neglected reconnaissance.

As a result, when they just arrived at the Jiulongxia Pass west of Hulao Pass, they suddenly encountered Zhou Yu's ambush.

The place called Jiulong Gorge is located between Xingyang and Gongyi in later generations (Gongyi County was Chenggao in the late Han Dynasty). It is the western exit of the mountains near Hulao Pass and the terrain is relatively dangerous.

After leaving Jiulong Gorge and heading west, you will reach the open plain area of the Heluo Basin. It is completely flat and there is no place to set up an ambush.

The Zhengluo Expressway of later generations passes through here. As the name of the road suggests, this road connects Zhengzhou and Luoyang of later generations, so it was the only way for Cao Zhen to retreat and relieve the siege at this time.

Cao Zhen was careless and walked in a hurry. He thought he had grasped Zhou Yu's intention, but he was intercepted by Zhou Yu in an unexpected place.

Zhou Yu's previous high-profile dispatch of troops to attack Chenggao County was just a show and a rumor spread deliberately for his benefit.

In fact, Zhou Yu had already ambushed his most elite troops at the entrance of Jiulong Gorge to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out.

In order to ensure secrecy, this ambush force was not large in number so as not to expose the target, but its combat effectiveness was absolutely tenacious, its equipment was excellent, and it was composed of capable veterans.

"Cao Zhen, you bastard, get off your horse and prepare to die! Shoot your arrows! Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Seeing Cao Zhen entering the ambush circle, Zhou Yu immediately called on the archers on the hillsides on both sides to shoot arrows.

Suddenly, arrows poured down like rain and as dense as flying locusts. The soldiers of Liu Bei's army did not even need to throw arrows. They just held the crossbows level and aimed directly down from above. The crossfire quickly stunned Cao Zhen's troops.

In order to ensure the secrecy of the ambush, Zhou Yu actually only ambushed more than 5,000 soldiers. Compared with the main force of Cao's Hulao Pass, the number of soldiers was actually absolutely inferior. Zhou Yu's other 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers were sent to Chenggao County to attack the city, and the performance was very realistic, so that he could deceive Cao Zhen.

Cao Cao had released tens of thousands of troops at Hulao Pass, and today Cao Zhen brought back two-thirds of his troops to fight Zhou Yu, which meant at least 30,000 to 40,000 men, which was six or seven times as many as Zhou Yu's ambush troops.

In fact, Cao Zhen was familiar with the surrounding terrain. He knew that the terrain at the exit of Jiulong Gorge was not very suitable for ambushing a large force and could not hide so many people, so he was careless.

However, after being ambushed, even though Cao's army had a numerical advantage of six or seven times, they were still severely suppressed by Zhou Yu's elite troops, and their formation was in chaos for a while.

"No chaos! Anyone who retreats without permission will be killed! Charge forward! If we charge into an open area and line up to fight again, we can win! Zhou Yu doesn't have many troops! We have the advantage in numbers! Not many people can be ambushed in this gorge!"

Cao Zhen himself was indeed a famous general. Even when ambushed, he reacted quickly and grasped the crux of the problem. He tried to stabilize the people's hearts and turn the defeat around.

Unfortunately, with the first batch of hundreds or thousands of Cao's soldiers killed or wounded in the rain of arrows and sneak attacks, even though this number only accounted for one or two percent of the entire army, the psychological impact of the sneak attack had already spread thoroughly.

Among the 40,000 Cao troops, few could listen to Cao Zhen's calm analysis, so it was useless no matter how he roared.

Ordinary soldiers only know that they were ambushed. How could they rationally calculate who has more people on each side?

Cao Zhen's several attempts to restrain his troops were ineffective, and finally he had to let his personal cavalry lead the way. He also took the lead in charging forward, wanting to set an example by first breaking out of the valley and then slowly adjusting the formation.

"Don't let yourself be targeted by the crossbow array on the slope... With this kind of ambush, Zhou Yu will definitely focus on sniping our generals..."

Cao Zhen was extremely panicked. Based on his experience, he felt that Zhou Yu had probably already observed him clearly and had been keeping an eye on him.

So before leading the team to charge, he was very cautious and sent out the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry assigned to him by Cao Cao to clear the way. At most, he only dared to follow behind the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

At the same time, he did not let the flag-bearing officer get too close to him. He just needed to make sure that the flag formation was breaking forward. However, he himself could stay at least dozens of steps away from the banner so that he could see the situation clearly at the first time to avoid attracting rain of arrows.

Finally, he did not forget to put on a dirty and torn cloak over the fine steel-cast armor to conceal the reflection of the armor - Cao's army had not yet mastered the technology of steel-casting, and this kind of armor was captured on the battlefield and then given to senior generals.

Again, technological advances in mechanical structures are very easy to copy after the enemy captures the real thing, because they can be copied just by looking at the shape, and during wartime, the motivation for imitation is strong, so it only takes a year or two to copy it.

However, technological advances in processing technology are the most difficult to imitate. It is completely useless to seize physical objects. You must capture the enemy's professional technical craftsmen and learn from them through words and deeds, or steal written technical manuals.

Liu Bei's army has been using the steel-casting method for more than ten years. Cao's army has indeed gained some captured goods on the battlefield every year, but they can only wear them and cannot imitate them. Even if they show you that this piece of steel is of good quality, you still can't understand how it was made.

Cao Zhen thought he was fully prepared, and he personally commanded the breakout with a worried heart, but he didn't expect that Zhou Yu's interception did not appear as expected.

When Zhou Yu saw Cao's elite cavalry trying to break out, he immediately dispatched the Shenbi Crossbow Team to concentrate cross-fire on those cavalry, killing and wounding many of Cao's most elite soldiers.

But Cao Zhen had so many Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to protect him and had hidden his personal tracks, but he was eventually killed by him at the entrance of the valley.

Zhou Yu had too few men. With only five or six thousand men ambushing nearly forty thousand men, it was very dangerous to block their advance.

However, just when Cao Zhen thought he could reorganize his army after fighting his way out of the valley, Zhou Yu quickly made him see the reality.

"Don't run! Form a battle array immediately and turn back to meet the enemy! Help the comrades behind to break through! Zhou Yu doesn't have many men!"

Seeing that he seemed to have escaped from danger, Cao Zhen immediately felt that he was able to do it again, and he couldn't help shouting and trying to maintain military discipline and boost morale.

Unfortunately, the defeated soldiers were already running away, so how could they stop just because he told them to? First of all, there was a big problem with conveying military orders on the battlefield. Secondly, even if they heard it, most of the defeated soldiers would just pretend not to hear it.

Cao Zhen tried desperately to stop the enemy for a long time, but in the end he was almost knocked down by the chaotic soldiers.

And at this moment, Zhou Yu finally took out his real killer move.

Zhou Yu saw that the enemy's front cavalry had passed and was followed by slow-moving infantry. His momentum in charging down from the hillsides on both sides became more fierce and desperate.

"Cao's army has been completely defeated! Now is a good time to make achievements! Chase them down and chop the deserters to gain military merit! The general has personally promised a reward. After the victory, each head will be rewarded with 20,000 coins!"

If it is a normal bloody battle between evenly matched people, a reward of 20,000 coins for a head is not exaggerated. In a fight to the death, some people will offer 30,000 coins.

If Zhou Yu's troops had not come today to take the lead in landing on the beach and seize a bridgehead for subsequent friendly forces, Liu Bei would not have boosted morale so much.

But now the situation has become a matter of chasing and killing for free, so Zhou Yu's soldiers are naturally fighting bravely. No matter that the enemy is several times larger than them, they still rush forward decisively, cut off the enemy directly, and then beat the enemy into an avalanche, making it impossible to stop.

The Cao army soldiers who were blocked behind saw that their commander had already rushed out, and their elite cavalry seemed to have also fled, leaving only their infantry, and only a small part of them.

Even if they fought their way out, they wouldn't necessarily have the speed advantage of just their two legs. Wouldn't they be chased all the way to Chenggao County? How many of them would be able to survive by then?
Therefore, this part of Cao's army that was cut off was completely defeated by Zhou Yu after only a brief resistance, and surrendered in large numbers.

Zhou Yu only sent out one or two thousand men to block the rear of Cao's army. Anyway, the terrain at the mouth of Jiulong Gorge was not very open, so it was not possible to deploy too many troops. Even if Cao's army had several times more people, they were all blocked at the back, and they would follow suit if the front collapsed.

Zhou Yu led more than half of his elite troops and chased Cao Zhen on foot, but Cao Zhen really couldn't turn back to fight. For one thing, more than half of his troops were cut off by Zhou Yu and eaten up. The number of soldiers Cao Zhen could control was reduced to three or four times that of Zhou Yu.

Secondly, when they broke out just now, in order to ensure their escape, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry took the lead and were targeted by the enemy's ambush of the Shenbi Crossbow formation and cross-fired. Their casualties were the most serious among all the Cao army units.

Cao Zhen lost his core members, and the remaining soldiers had no desire to fight.

Cao Zhen could only grit his teeth, completely give up the idea of a comeback, turn around and flee westward with the remaining cavalry. The infantry could only rely on their own fate. Those who could run fast enough to shake off the enemy could return to the team.

If you run slowly and get chased and caught, you can only accept your fate.

Cao Zhen was exhausted after running for dozens of miles, but he did not dare to enter Chenggao County because part of Zhou Yu's vanguard troops that had crossed the river were still besieging Chenggao.

Cao Zhen relied on infantry cannon fodder to delay Zhou Yu's time. After he had sufficiently increased the distance, he did some reconnaissance to understand the situation clearly. He then made a prompt decision to find a place to cross the Luo River upstream of Chenggao and continue westward to Luoyang to report the emergency.

Reporting an emergency is just a cover-up, in fact it is just desertion.

"Hurry! The enemy is strong. Hulao Pass has been attacked from both sides. It is estimated that it is no longer safe. We must save our useful bodies and rush back to Luoyang as soon as possible to tell the Prime Minister... Tell His Majesty! Immediately go upstream along the Luo River. There is a ferry controlled by our army upstream, and there are also boats. We will be safe there."

At the critical moment, Cao Zhen did not forget to say some polite words to cover up the defeat and at the same time encourage the people around him.

The remaining cavalrymen around him took a breath and calmed down after listening to the commander's analysis. After all, they all knew that Zhou Yu's first landing force lacked cavalry and would be unlikely to catch up.

The group just drank a few sips of water and continued on their way, but not long after they walked out, they heard the sound of horse hooves as dense as thunder from behind.

What Cao Zhen had always been afraid of finally happened.

"Aren't Zhou Yu's vanguard troops all navy? Where did the cavalry come from?"

Cao Zhen felt blood rushing to his head for a moment. Looking at the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry who broke out beside him, he felt a chill in his heart.

How can we fight this? We are already exhausted, having fought and marched for dozens of miles. Even if the enemy cavalry is not intercepting us head-on but chasing us from behind, we are no match for them.

Soon, Cao Zhen saw clearly that the enemy soldiers chasing him from behind seemed to be light cavalry, not wearing heavy armor in order to pursue speed. They began to harass Cao Zhen's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry from a distance with horse bows.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry under Cao Zhen's command included both light and heavy cavalry. The Tiger Cavalry was heavy cavalry with iron armor, while the Leopard Cavalry was lightly armored and high-speed cavalry that were also good at using horse bows.

The enemy were all light cavalry, and Cao Zhen found that he could not outrun them, so he had to bite the bullet and turn back to fight, hoping that his hundreds of cavalry could at least rely on their equipment advantage to repel the enemy.

Unfortunately, when the enemy army rushed forward and the two sides engaged in battle, Cao Zhen immediately fell into despair.

He did not recognize the enemy's leading general, who seemed to have never appeared on the battlefield in Henan in the past few years. However, the enemy's bravery and sharpness, as well as the fierceness of their assaults, were something Cao Zhen had never seen before in his life.

Ever since Liu Bei resumed the Northern Expedition in the 16th year of Jian'an, Cao Zhen has been on the battlefield in Yuzhou in the past few years, following his uncle Cao Ren to defend against Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Wei Yan and others. He has never even faced Guan Yu, and he doesn't recognize any of Liu Bei's generals in the Hebei war zone.

"Is this Zhao Yun or Ma Chao?" Cao Zhen immediately thought of these two names.

Seeing the two sides charging at each other, Cao Zhen couldn't run away anyway. He didn't want to end up in a cowardly fight, so he shouted angrily: "General Cao Zhen is here! The rat on the opposite side, who is Zhou Yu's dog? He took advantage of me falling for Zhou Yu's evil plan and took the opportunity to take advantage of me. Despicable villain! You won unfairly! Otherwise, dare you fight me!"

Cao Zhen certainly didn't think he was that good at martial arts. He saw the bravery of the enemy general who killed more than a dozen of his guarding tiger riders in an instant.

But at the moment, there are few people around Cao Zhen, and many people on the opposite side. Cao Zhen is exhausted and can't run away, so of course he has to use words to squeeze the other side.

The party with fewer people only wants to fight one-on-one, while the party with more people will just fight in a group.

The enemy general on the opposite side was Zhao Yun, who was not easily provoked. However, he could not tolerate Cao Zhen's arrogance, and even let the soldiers scold him for being Zhou Yu's dog, taking advantage of Zhou Yu's success and then taking advantage of the loopholes.

In today's battle, Zhao Yun and Zhou Yu are clearly friendly forces with different divisions of labor. In terms of official rank, he is even higher than Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu was responsible for landing on the beach and consolidating the beachhead position first. The subsequent infantry and cavalry would naturally come in batches to reinforce and cross the river, and pursue the enemy as appropriate.

Why does it taste different when it comes to this guy's mouth?

"General, there is no need to be provoked by this villain. Who is Cao Zhen? How can he be qualified to fight with you? You are of noble status now..."

The generals beside Zhao Yun were still trying to persuade him.

"It doesn't matter. I just surrendered. I'm not the Left General anymore. I'm just the General of the Northern Expedition. What's wrong with fighting with others? Just think of it as stretching your muscles."

Zhao Yun has been depressed for the past two months. He failed to rescue the emperor, which led to his and Zhou Yu being demoted. Although they are both Zhuge Jin's brothers-in-law, Zhuge Jin also told them that this matter is just a formality to convince the people of the world and will not affect their future.

But since I am now in the "demotion reflection period", it seems appropriate to do something outrageous.

"I am General Zhao Yun, the Northern Expedition General. It has been many years since I have met anyone worthy of fighting me. Cao Zhen, you are certainly not worthy of fighting me either, but you are lucky in this life. In the end, you can die in my hands."

After saying this, Zhao Yun was too lazy to say anything more and went straight ahead.

Cao Zhen gritted his teeth, wielded his sword, and fought back, trying desperately to survive.

Then there is no more.

Cao Zhen still overestimated himself. After the two horses crossed each other, Cao Zhen fell heavily to the ground due to inertia.

The remaining Tiger Cavalry around him also surrendered in despair.

The Battle of Hulao Pass ended within one day, which happened to be the day of Cao Cao's enthronement ceremony.

Cao Zhen led 30,000 to 40,000 people who broke out, plus 10,000 to 20,000 people who were hiding inside the wall.

A total of 50,000 to 60,000 people were basically wiped out except for a very small number of those who escaped. The two county towns of Xingyang and Chenggao were also captured by Liu Bei's army.

Cao Cao's camp, whose total military strength had already fallen below 300,000, was now in an even worse situation.

Before the siege of Luoyang began, the total number of troops at Cao Cao's disposal had dropped to less than 200,000. The combat effectiveness of Cao's army in the Heluo Basin was directly weakened by 20% to 30%.

(End of this chapter)