Three Kingdoms

On the battlefield, an excellent cavalry is like a real eye that can expand its field of vision several times. Every move of the opponent will be seen. Then, whether it is to fight in the field or ambush, the operation of tactics will naturally become more flexible and changeable. .

With the addition of the Hussars General's three thousand cavalry, although Cao Cao could not completely command them all, the new force was enough to restore the balance that had been somewhat unbalanced, and even tilted it towards Cao Cao's side.

In the fifth year of Yanping, summer.

Liu Xie was preparing a "grand" foreign contribution in Xu County, but Cao Cao, Sikong, had no time to turn around. He just wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to expand his advantage, and then defeat Yuan Shao's incoming troops in one fell swoop.

Indeed, with the flexible operation of the cavalry, especially these big Han hussars equipped with horseshoes and high-bridge saddles, they are more suitable for long-distance movement and do not choose routes. The gravel areas and wilderness landscapes that were originally inaccessible can also be You can still leave.

After Cao Cao thought about horseshoes and high-bridge saddles for a day, he immediately asked craftsmen in the army to imitate them. In the Han Dynasty, there was no such thing as a patent right.

"Father..." Cao Pi weighed the horseshoe in his hand and couldn't help but ask, "The General Hussar is traveling across the northwest, and he is helped by this wonderful thing... In other words, the General Hussar doesn't know how to hide it. This is really..."

Cao Pi did a good job as a mascot in the Chinese army camp, and Cao Cao was quite satisfied. He kept it with him these days, letting Cao Pi learn how to handle military and government affairs. After hearing Cao Pi's words, he raised his eyebrows He started, stopped writing, glanced at Cao Pi slightly, and said: "General Hussar also has profound meanings, you might as well think deeply about it..."

"What is the profound meaning of General Hussars?" Cao Pi was stunned for a moment. After all, Cao Pi was still a half-teen-year-old kid, trying hard to act like an adult, but he was still not an adult, and he couldn't understand the meaning. He frowned and pondered for a long time, but still couldn't get the point.

Cao Cao didn't explain, and continued to concentrate on his official duties. After a while, when he saw that Cao Pi still couldn't find the answer, he wasn't in a hurry or scolded him. He just said lightly: "If you can't think of anything, go out for a walk and see... you Uncle Zilian should be at Ma Camp..." After saying that, Cao Cao looked at Dian Wei who was guarding him.

Dian Wei understood, nodded, stood up, followed Cao Pi who said goodbye and left the Chinese army's tent, and headed for the horse camp.

Cao Cao's two front camps were damaged in Yuan Shao's attack, and the central camp was also in dilapidated condition. It is now being repaired. Almost all the soldiers have been mobilized, either to carry earthwork or to ram earth. Knock on the wall.

As the saying goes, sharpening the sword does not waste time cutting firewood. No matter what, a strong camp can provide relatively stable support and is also conducive to the next attack of the soldiers and horses.

Cao Hong was in the horse camp, with the men and horses who were originally riding on the Han Dynasty.

For ordinary soldiers to accept new commanders, naturally it is not enough to sit high and issue orders. Cao Hong naturally knew this, so he lived and ate with these people day and night, striving to achieve the fastest results. Integrate into it, because Cao Hong also knows that the counterattack against Yuan Shao will soon begin.

"Uncle..." Cao Pi found Cao Hong, saw the ceremony, and asked impatiently, "General Hussar sent troops and horses without covering up the equipment. I wonder what the deep meaning is?"

After hearing this, Cao Hong looked around, pulled Cao Pi aside, and said softly: "Is Sikong asking you?"

Cao Pi nodded awkwardly.

Cao Hong laughed, patted Cao Pi on the shoulder, motioned for him to sit aside, and then said: "You have to look at this matter this way... In fact, we are also worried that General Hussar will take the opportunity to do something, right?"

"So General Hussar is using this to reassure us?" Cao Pi said with some surprise.

"Yes, there is such a meaning..." Cao Hong laughed, but quickly put his smile back, "In addition...actually there is a little bit more..."

Cao Hong was silent for a moment, and then Su Rong said: "If you look at it from another perspective, General Hussar is also saying that he doesn't care at all whether we imitate or not..."

"This..." Cao Pi's eyes widened.

Cao Hong sighed lowly and said: "Although we have cavalry, they are not many in number. Secondly, they are just water without a source... Yonghui occupies 70% of the world's racecourses, and the other 30% is in Northern Hebei... Even if we imitate it, but we don't have the source of the war horse, what can we do? What can we do?"

Cao Pi was speechless.

Then there was silence.

After the uncle and nephew sat for a while, Cao Hong came to his senses first and patted Cao Pi on the shoulder again. Then he stood up and said, "I am going back to handle military affairs. Pi'er, do you want me to call a guard for you?" Lead the horse and run two laps?"

Cao Pi thought for a while, shook his head, and said, "I won't delay my uncle... When I have free time next time, my nephew will come to chat with me again..."

Cao Hong laughed loudly and said: "It works! I will leave a good horse for you when the time comes!"

Cao Pi said goodbye and walked back. Halfway there, he couldn't help but stop and turned to look to the west...

This big Han hussar actually made his father and uncle talk about him with contempt, but he didn't know if he had three heads and six arms, a green face and fangs...

...Here is the dividing line for finding a draw...

Within the territory of Jizhou.

Gao Shan looked back at the long string of grain carts and tired soldiers and civilians behind him, and exhaled a long breath. Although he was anxious, the slow speed still made Gao Shan worried. Gao Shan couldn't help but pray to the gods and gods again. As long as this trip of food could be transported safely, he would definitely go back and burn a few pillars of high-quality incense and make three animal sacrifices...

Gao Shan is from the Gao family and has been in Jizhou for many years. He was more or less a distant relative of a high-ranking cadre, and he held the rank of captain. This time, he was escorting a batch of grain and grass to Baimadu.

Time is not forgiving, and he is indeed getting old. Gao Shan's attention returned to his sore waist and legs, and he smiled to himself. I remember that when I first joined the army, I was still a strong young man, trekking through thousands of mountains and rivers without taking it seriously. But now, after only walking a few dozen miles, my legs, feet and lumbar spine are already sore and numb. It is really not as good as before. .

Generally speaking, the area between Yecheng and Baimadu is still at the rear of Yuan Shao's army, so overall safety is acceptable. However, since the previous two grain roads were intercepted, the risk of transporting grain and grass has suddenly increased. A lot.

Gao Shan did not become the captain solely because of his relatives. As a veteran of the army, Gao Shan even participated in the fight against the rebellion in Youbei and the battle against Xianbei...

The scene from more than ten years ago seemed to appear in front of him again. Gao Shan couldn't help but shivered and exhaled a cold breath.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was still young at that time, and then Xianbei invaded south and once invaded the territory of Jizhou. His troops were directed towards Luoyang. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty gathered a large army and marched north to attack Xianbei...

It was only the sixth year of Xiping...

Thinking about it now, Gaoshan still makes me shudder. There was a battle that I will never forget. They all fought together to escape from the border area. Only one or two out of ten were left. How many people died on the desert border and turned into piles of bones.

Prefect Xia Yu sent troops from Gaoliu, and the Xianbei Zhonglang general Tian Yan marched out from Yunzhong County. The Xiongnu Zhonglang general Zang Min and the Southern Xiongnu Shanyu Tu Teruo's corpse were driven out. The Shanyu marched from Yanmen County, and the three armies rushed into the desert. During the battle against Xianbei, but in the vast desert, it was impossible to find the main force of Xianbei for a decisive battle. Later, when the troops were exhausted, the Xianbei people came!

The result was naturally a great defeat, and Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty extinguished his unrealistic ambitions.

The lofty ideals of the past have gradually faded away in the mountains, but the cold wind outside the Great Wall, the ferocious cavalry, and the blood of his comrades still appear in nightmares many times, making me wake up in the middle of the night, covered in cold sweat.

While he was immersed in memories in the mountains, he suddenly felt a panic in his heart. He didn't know when he seemed to remember some sounds that made him frightened. These sounds came from a distance and were approaching rapidly...

All the hairs on Gao Shan's body stood up. This sound jumped bloody from memory to reality. He tensed up his whole body and roared with all his strength: "It's the cavalry! There's an enemy attack! The enemy's attack!"

The entire grain transport queue was suddenly in a panic. Before the soldiers and civilians could organize their defensive formations, the cavalry rushing from a distance had already arrived. The word "Xiahou" held high indicated the identity of the opponent. .

A hail of arrows struck first, immediately covering the sky above the grain transport convoy.

Many helpless soldiers and civilians had no idea of ​​​​escape, and they suddenly screamed and wailed!

Just in front of Gaoshan, a soldier was shot through the palm of his hand by a long arrow. The bloody arrow penetrated from the palm of his hand and protruded from the back of his palm. The pain suddenly caused the soldier to hold his palm and fell to the ground crying and shouting...

Gao Shan pulled the unlucky soldier to the side of the baggage cart, then quickly broke the arrow, and then suddenly pulled the arrow out from the soldier's back, then cut off a piece of cloth, and struck the soldier's hand three times. Tie it tightly, then put the sword into his hand and yelled: "If you don't want to die, you must stop crying!"

On the battlefield, the most useless thing is tears.

The arrows are like rain, and the sound of hooves is like thunder.

The messy civilians were running around, and the smell of blood rose into the sky!

Gao Shan yelled: "Circle the vehicles in one place! Circle them in one place! Fight back! Fight back!"

The opponent's attacking troops were not actually very large, only about five or six hundred people. The number of soldiers and civilians under his command was also about the same. But the question was, could his soldiers and civilians stop the chaos and obey his orders?

The dull sound of horse hoofbeats began to circle to the side. Gao Shan knew that this was a war horse with cloth strips tied to its hoofs, preparing to attack from the side...

Gao Shan closed his eyes, and the scene in his nightmare was played out again, but this time he was not facing the damn Xianbei people, but...

But former comrades...

Gao Shan suddenly felt extremely tired. The Han people are always good at learning. This set of cavalry tactics of frontal invasion and side assault were actually first used by the nomadic peoples in the desert, such as the Huns and Xianbei. But now the Han cavalry has also learned it. And he used it on his own people.

Gao Shan couldn't understand why Cao Jun's cavalry bypassed the front line and appeared here. He didn't have time to think about it, because the rockets had already begun to roar in the air and fell into the felt blanket covering the baggage train. superior!

The mules and horses that were disturbed by the flames jumped and tried to break free, but the queue was completely messed up. Some exposed hay was ignited, and in a short time it burned into a huge fireball, swallowing up the surrounding areas. Soldiers and mules and horses...

Gao Shan shouted and summoned soldiers to resist, but soon he himself became Xia Houyuan's target.

When the soldiers around Gao Shan were shouting and screaming, and the shallow defense system was like a layer of paper being pierced by Xia Houyuan's reunion, the last thing Gao Shan saw was Xia Houyuan's face that was almost distorted with excitement.

"Hahaha!" Xia Houyuan stabbed Gaoshan to death with one shot, and then shouted, "Quick! Burn all the food and grass! Burn all!"

Captain Yuan Jun died, and the remaining civilians and soldiers lost the courage to resist. They abandoned their baggage vehicles and fled, until at some point they found that the sounds around them gradually became quieter, leaving only the black smoke and the howling cold wind in the distance. When I arrived, I slowly walked back again, and then in the mess, I saw the frightened expressions on the faces of my family members...

...Here is the dividing line that twists the waist...

Xu You's rebellion exposed all grain transportation routes, and it was not easy to temporarily change the grain transportation route. After all, people and horses could take forest trails, but baggage vehicles had to leave the official road. The trail was extremely difficult, so before Yuan Shao had time to react, the grain and grass route from the rear to the front line suffered a heavy blow.

By the time Yuan Shao realized something was wrong and sent a large number of troops to escort the grain and grass, the consequences of irreparable losses had already been sown...

The army was stationed outside and consumed tens of thousands of stones of grain and grass. After the baggage of grain and grass transported back and forth was burned by Cao Cao's cavalry, Yuan Shao's grain and grass reserves immediately fell below the warning line!

A very realistic and cruel question was placed in front of Yuan Shao. What should he do next?

Retire the army?

Although the battle with Cao Cao this time can be regarded as a victory and a defeat. The Heluo area failed, but Yuan Tan in Qingzhou went well, but the Taishan group is still waiting and watching, otherwise it can basically be regarded as winning. I’ve gone down to the whole land of Qingzhou...

Then the frontal battlefield also advanced to the boundary of Yanzhou. Overall, it seemed that they still had the upper hand. Yuan Shao was somewhat unwilling to retreat like this.

What's more, what was Cao Cao's previous identity?

He is just his own little brother. Now his own little brother wants to be on equal footing with him, and even pressure him. This is something that Yuan Shao cannot accept no matter what he says in his heart...

But if we want to continue fighting, what should we do with military rations?

Even if the order is ordered to be adjusted again, water from afar cannot quench the thirst of the nearer for a while.

Thinking of the pain, Yuan Shao once again cursed Xu You for betraying him. Although he had ordered the judges in Yecheng to execute Xu You's two servants, Yuan Shao also knew that this was of no importance to Xu You. , Most of Xu You's families are still in Yuzhou. Even if these two sons are dead, they are just the second sons of the two tribesmen in his family, and it is not a big deal at all...

Tian Feng's advice is very simple, just one word: retreat.

Yuan Shao really didn’t want to retreat and give up on the situation if he didn’t want to, but there were some things that just wouldn’t happen if he didn’t want them...