Three Kingdoms

Why do many generals like to rob grain roads?

Is it because of moral decay, or... ahem, it's actually very simple. Is it easier to pinch a frozen persimmon or a soft persimmon?

The first-line troops fighting head-on are still first-line troops no matter how bad they are. This is the same as the graphics card motherboard. Even if the first-line troops of major manufacturers have their own lower limit, the lower limit still has a certain standard. And the second-tier troops don’t even know which tier they are. Unless you see the army with your own eyes, you may not know where its lower limit is...

So Cao Cao likes to rob the grain road.

It's not because Cao Cao is cunning, but because in the early days, Cao Cao didn't have much strength to fight head-on with the opponent's front-line troops, so he could only pick a soft persimmon to pinch. At a later stage, after defeating Yuan Shao and integrating a large number of troops, Cao Cao rarely used the battle mode of intercepting grain roads until the Battle of Chibi.

Until Sima Yi rushed to attack the street pavilion.

Then Sima Yi also engaged in the famous battle of intercepting the grain road. After that, he was too cowardly to wear women's clothes most of the time. The most fundamental reason was that before Jieting, Sima Yi had no reputation at all. If you are famous, you cannot have too much military power. If you don't have much military power, you can only pick weak persimmons.

Therefore, if Ma Di defeated Sima Yi in history, there would probably be no Wuzhangyuan in the future.

Liu Bei didn't want to take such a long road, take a gamble like Sima Yi, and wanted to make some achievements, so he could only set his sights here, Nanchong.

Nanchong is a good place, especially when Liu Bei and Wu Ban learned that Lei Tong was still serving as the county magistrate in Nanchong. Although Lei Tong has repeatedly stated that he will only do this kind of thing once, both Liu Bei and Wu Ban know that this kind of thing is no different from doing it for a while, it is just self-deception.

As time passed, several soldiers who were watching from the top of the mountain ran down excitedly and reported that they saw the smoke and dust from the grain transport convoy...

Liu Bei and Wu Ban nodded and led the vanguard forward, while Wu Ban led the archers to press the formation on the flanks. Whether it is Sichuan, Shu or Jingzhou, among the soldiers, archers account for a relatively large proportion, and most of them are well-trained. On the contrary, there are not many elite forwards fighting.

This may be related to geography and climate. Places such as Sichuan and Sichuan have a relatively hot climate. They have four seasons throughout the year. Well, are there four seasons? Isn’t there just three seasons?

Therefore, in areas like Sichuan and Sichuan, people do not need too much fat to resist the cold. Even in the hot summer, too much fat will cause difficulty in dissipating heat. Therefore, this is why northerners looked better than southerners in ancient times. The reason is that he has to be tall and strong, and a tall and strong body naturally has an advantage when forwards exchange short swords.

The soldiers who followed Liu Bei were all veterans. Some were from Ji County and some were from Danyang. They were basically homeless. They had been wandering for many years. Well, they followed Liu Bei all over the country. Well, this is a relatively nice expression. Anyway, that’s pretty much it, I finally came to Sichuan.

Liu Bei's veterans skillfully gathered together, formed a queue, and set up an ambush on both sides of the road.

Wu Ban and his archers quickly hid themselves near the mountainside and waited.

The sound of the squeaking axle was getting closer and closer, and the tricolor flag could be faintly seen in the smoke. Liu Bei felt the blood in his chest beating, as if he had returned to the time when he faced the Yellow Turban. Mood, clenched the two swords tightly.

Close, close!

Liu Bei stood up from the bushes, raised his two swords high, and shouted, "Go! Kill!"

"Fire...ahem, fire the arrow! Fire the arrow!" Wu Ban was also a little nervous, and at first he choked on his saliva and hit his trachea. He coughed and roared in pain, and the veins on his neck were exposed.

Arrows were like rain, passing over the heads of Liu Bei and others, and then scattered towards the grain transport queue of General Zhengxi.

The food transport troops in the expedition to the west had not been exposed to any hard battles, and most of the troops were still civilians. When Liu Bei launched the attack, most of the civilians subconsciously abandoned their baggage trucks and began to flee in both directions, and some others He hurriedly got under the baggage truck, closed his eyes, and then covered his ears...

Those who have truly seen the world are the few soldiers who came from Hanzhong to conquer the West. They have seen many big scenes, so are they still afraid of the small scenes at the moment?

The military commander who was transporting food roared and ordered the soldiers to assemble, and relied on the baggage vehicles to defend. The array did not necessarily panic in the rain of arrows, but it actually made Liu Bei's infantry who were rushing forward a little panic.

Speaking of Liu Bei's backbone, they are all veterans who have followed Liu Bei for many years. Although they may not be called elites in hundreds of battles, in terms of courage and combat skills, at least in terms of battlefield experience, they have not experienced many battles. The scenes of Sichuan and Shu soldiers can be compared, but if you have seen too much, it may not be a good thing at certain times.

For example, when Liu Bei's soldiers found themselves rushing out, the formation of Zhengxi soldiers on the opposite side did not panic, but formed a small array with the help of baggage vehicles. These experienced soldiers immediately followed their intentions .

The longer the soldiers have been on the battlefield, the more timid they tend to be. It's not that these soldiers are not brave enough, but that these soldiers know when to go and when not to go, and they don't show their personal feelings indiscriminately. Heroic, and then easily died under the enemy's sword.

Just like now, facing the small array of Zhengxi soldiers, Liu Bei's soldiers invariably slowed down their pace, and began to gather together from scattered formations to form formations.

Just like cavalry is often the only one who can fight against cavalry, you can only rely on arrays to fight against arrays. And the more experienced you are, the more knowledgeable you are, the more you know whether there are arrays. When fighting in close combat, you often rely on arrays. It was a world of difference. When I saw the Zhengxi soldiers marching forward bravely with arrows, and the formation was not disordered at all, I knew that I had encountered a strong enemy today...

When the two armies are fighting fiercely, personal combat skills are really not very important. Even if you have the ability to penetrate the sky and the earth, and can defeat the courage of a hundred people, once the spear pierces the flesh, the knife cuts into the bone, and hurts the enemy, it is inevitable that there will be temporary consequences. His "hard time" can easily be taken advantage of by his enemies. This requires Paoze around you to help share part of the protective function, and at the same time, you must also help Paoze block the incoming soldiers when he hurts the enemy. The role of the battle formation can be exerted from this, so the skill points required for fighting with a thousand people and fighting with a hundred people are completely different.

On the battlefield, the more complete the array, the stronger the combat effectiveness. Once the array is scattered and leads to individual fighting, the combat effectiveness will plummet...

Strong soldiers, weapons and weapons are one aspect, and strong psychological quality is another aspect. When the Marquis of Zhengxi Food Transport Army saw the current situation, he knew that he probably couldn't escape, so he simply changed his mind and shouted in a deep voice: " Think about the young and old in your family! If you die in this battle, the young and old in your family will have their own support! There will be no cowards in the Conquest of the West! Fight! Come and fight!"

"Ha! Fight! Come fight!"

The soldiers of Zhengxi started to shout together, and their momentum rose instead of falling, which made Liu Bei's soldiers a little stunned.

Liu Bei waved his double sword and shouted: "They are few in number! Kill them all!" He immediately led his guards forward to attack, and also led other soldiers forward together, so that there was no hesitation and confusion. Appear.

The sound of gold and iron clashing immediately resounded throughout the countryside, and the screams and screams became increasingly dense.

Although the soldiers Liu Bei brought to the front line were basically armored soldiers, many of them only had hard leather armor for protection. The scope of this hard leather armor was very narrow. Generally speaking, it was like a vest, which only protected the front. It's just the chest and back, and some even have their backs tied with a few ropes. They have no defense at all. As for the arms and legs, it goes without saying. They all rely on their own luck to dodge buffs, plus they usually don't have any. Bathing mud armor defense...

Therefore, in most cases, it may be difficult to shoot through a stray arrow a hundred steps away. If it is directed or projected within a hundred steps, there is a high possibility that this kind of leather armor will be penetrated. As for short weapons in battle, , spears and spears are stabbing, leather armor is basically impossible to prevent, and swords are slashing, but there is a certain chance that the damage can be reduced.

On the other hand, when looking at the formation of Zhengxi Soldiers, basically everyone wears armor, and the worst one is the two-crotch armor, which not only covers the chest and back, but even hangs down to cover the abdomen and crotch. Of course, the other side wears hard leather. Like Liu Beijun in A, his legs, feet, and arms are still only covered by robes, not armor.

The one wearing full-body battle armor, that is, the Marquis of Zhengxi Army, has extra drapes on his shoulders and a battle skirt on his thighs. Although it is heavier, the defensive performance is naturally stronger.

People who have never raised soldiers will never know how expensive soldiers are.

Originally, the conscription system of the Han Dynasty was based on service deployment. Civilians brought their own weapons and equipment to serve. Generally, generals did not care about these soldiers' equipment. Therefore, after this system was implemented for a period of time, it was found that such soldiers' equipment was generally very poor. Worse, there are rusty and crumbling weapons and arrows everywhere. Everyone just wants to use the rags to make up for the damage, and then go to the battlefield to pick up leaks. However, how can there be so many leaks to pick up on the battlefield?

Therefore, the combat effectiveness of such soldiers can naturally be imagined.

Then came the recruitment system, and the generals were responsible for the weapons and equipment of their soldiers. Although this solved part of the problem, it also brought huge expenses in money and food...

In troubled times, human life is the least valuable thing. If you die, you can find another place to save it. In comparison, equipment is a huge expense. How can ordinary soldiers use it?

Therefore, someone like Liu Bei who can make most of his soldiers wear hard leather armor is already considered very good. But now we see that even the ordinary soldiers who transport food to the West are wearing them. They only have mid-level and senior sergeants in the army. I can only wear Zha Jia, and my mood is so complicated that I feel like a simple farmer from the mountainous area entering a big city for the first time...

Poverty limits imagination.

"Kill!" Liu Bei shouted, leading his soldiers and Zhengxi soldiers to start a hand-to-hand battle. This can be regarded as the first time that Liu Bei saw the Zhengxi soldiers at close range. Naturally, he was secretly surprised by the equipment of the Zhengxi soldiers, and even felt a trace of envy and a trace of resentment...

Although he had an advantage in terms of equipment, the difference in the number of people was too big after all. In addition, Liu Bei's personal martial arts skills were not bad. When the two swords danced, they were like twin needles on the soles of shoes. Ahem, no, they were like two The regiment looked like blooming embroidery, so the surrounded Zhengxi soldiers persisted for about an hour under constant attrition, and then the entire army was annihilated.

After the battle, Liu Bei put away his two needles, well, his two swords. Looking at the messy battlefield and the burning baggage cars, he felt a little heavy. He had thought about the ferocious and elite soldiers of the expedition, but he did not expect that the soldiers would be fierce and elite. They are so tough, even these second-line grain transport soldiers are like this, so wouldn't it be even more troublesome for those soldiers fighting on the front line to conquer the West?

And on top of these infantry, the cavalry that General Zhengxi became famous for...

Liu Bei shivered.

Fortunately, we were in Sichuan and Shu, and the cavalry from the expedition to the west was of no use.

Liu Bei watched his men happily peeling off the armors of the dead Zhengxi soldiers, regardless of whether they were bloody or damaged, and then put them on himself, but his mood did not feel better at all.

With an absolute advantage in numbers and in an ambush state, the Zhengxi soldiers almost suffered a death rate of close to one to one. This made Liu Bei a little unbelievable. After counting it again, he reluctantly accepted it. reality.

Wu Ban laughed and congratulated Liu Bei on his victory. Liu Bei could only put the smile on his face again, but his heart was filled with waves and many thoughts. This time, he took the risk of taking the water route to bypass Guanghan and attack Nanchong. The first purpose was to contain the Western Expedition soldiers in Guanghan. After all, Liu Bei could not be stationed here permanently. Those who could not really cut off the supply chain were all false robbers, and they were just for the Western Expedition troops. It was just a matter of exerting pressure. If Liu Bei wanted to win a big victory by killing the grain and grass troops in one go, even Liu Bei's optimistic attitude would not dare to think so.

Another role is to give Liu Qi an explanation to explain his strategy of taking a detour to Shangyong...

Now, Liu Bei believes that after seeing the strength of the soldiers in Zhengxi, many strategies need to be readjusted. It's not that Liu Zhang is too incompetent, it's actually that General Fei Qian of Zhengxi is too sharp.

Therefore, the original strategy of weakening Liu Zhang and annexing and strengthening must now be slowed down, at least to allow Liu Zhang to have a certain strength. And judging from the current situation, the pressure to fight against Zhengxi alone is too great...

"Yuan Xiong... Haha, I've been here in Sichuan for a while, and I haven't met Pang Gong Pang Ziren yet..." Liu Bei grabbed Wu Ban and said with a smile, "I wonder if Yuan Xiong can recommend me? "

Wu Ban frowned, a little confused as to why Liu Bei had such a change. And from a certain point of view, Wu Ban and his group didn't have much favorable impression of Pang Xi, so naturally they didn't have much intention to cooperate. , suddenly heard Liu Bei say this, naturally a little surprised.

"Yuanxiong," Liu Bei added, "the conquest of the west is so powerful that you and I can't compete with it. I heard that Pang Gong has many soldiers and horses..." How can one person monopolize the joy of robbery? Everyone comes. The path of robbery is the real happiness!

Wu Ban was a little stunned, thought for a moment, nodded slowly, and said: "In this case, I will wait for some time and then introduce it to the envoy."

"No, no..." Liu Bei said quickly, "Today's victory is just a drop in the damage to the West. We must not take it lightly. The situation in Sichuan and Shu is still like a tired egg. We need everyone to work together to have a chance. ...The expedition to the west is nothing more than transporting food and soldiers, but they are so brave. If...even if they can win, the losses will be huge. It would be better to unite with Pang Gong, this..."

"?" Wu Ban looked at Liu Bei hesitantly.

Liu Bei nodded sincerely.

"Well, after returning to the army, I will send someone to go there..."

"In this case, I will thank Yuanxiong on behalf of the young master..."