Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3221 What you think I think he thinks

Hanzhong, Mulansai.

The section of road in the middle of Mulan Sai is the most dangerous part of the entire military village road.

In fact, there was originally an additional plank road paved here, but now it has been demolished by the defenders, and it looks empty. If you step on the air, you will slip directly, or you may fall directly along the stone path to the cliff.

This kind of terrain makes people feel frightened just by looking at it, and there is almost no possibility of conquering it.

Therefore, after the war started, Cao Jun never got any advantage.

It's just that after playing for a long time and suffering too many injuries, I will start to think about it more or less.

The most direct change was that Cao Jun used death squads.

Sometimes, it is not easy to learn well, but it is easy to learn bad things.

Since the Cavalry General began to frequently use the sneak attack night battle mode, he has naturally achieved some good results, but it has also promoted the overall tactical changes of the Han Dynasty.

As a result, even Shen Dan suddenly made such a move when the battle was at a stalemate.

And it’s also a combo move.

During the attack, Cao Jun discovered the stone caves left by the plank roads on Mulansai Mountain Road.

Shen Dan is now doing two things. On the one hand, he has people climbing up the cliff and trying to rush into Mulan Sai to cause chaos inside. On the other hand, he is starting from the outside, taking advantage of the chaos inside Mulan Sai to organize people to quickly build a plank road. Expand the area of ​​attack, attack both inside and outside, and use a two-pronged approach!

All of a sudden, the Mulan plug's fire flickered and the sound was like boiling!

Li Dian intercepted Cao Zhen in the mountains, while Ma Zhong was responsible for defending Mulansai.

Ma Zhong really didn't expect Shen Dan to come up with this move...

After all, the previous Cao army almost seemed to have a check-in and sign-out attack every day, which was extremely dull. As a result, they suddenly launched a surprise attack at night, which somewhat caught Ma Zhong and the defenders of Mulan Village by surprise.

"Kill!" 』

"The Mulan plug has been broken!" 』

The soldiers of Cao's army who climbed over the cliff roared and fought with the defenders of Mulansai.

"Night attack!" 』

"Cao Jun is coming in!" 』

There was an uproar in Mulansai.

Because the night was chaotic and the firelight was flickering, no one knew how many Cao soldiers had climbed up, so it was inevitable to be a little panicked for a while. Some people died under Cao Jun's sword, and of course some people shot Cao Jun off the cliff.

"Ahhh——"

The screams echoed between the cliffs.

When Shen Dan saw that Cao Jun who had climbed up the cliff had attracted most of Mulan Sai's attention, he raised his arms and shouted, "Hurry!" Build the plank road quickly! 』

Cao Jun, who was at the bottom of the mountain road, lit torches and rushed forward carrying wooden beams.

War drums roared and echoed in the mountains.

"Boom!" Boom! 』

The sledgehammer smashed horizontally and nailed the wooden beams to the rock wall.

The wooden wedge stuck into the stone cave, tightly clamping the wooden pillars and beams.

If the plank road can be paved successfully, it will be equivalent to more than doubling the width of the road, which means that Cao Jun can send more people to attack Mulansai with a more ferocious attitude.

After the wooden wedges were inserted and the wooden pillars and beams were stabilized, someone immediately handed over the wooden planks, hammered in the iron nails, and immediately continued to drive forward another wooden beam.

"Cao Jun is laying a plank road!" 』

There were also soldiers on Mulan Fort who discovered Cao Jun's movements.

"Fire the arrow!" Shoot the arrow! 』

An arrow shot down from the Mulan plug.

A soldier of Cao's army who was laying planks was shot and screamed in agony.

The people who laid the planks were from the Shangyong Shen family.

Although the people of the Shen family are also called friendly troops among Cao Jun, which sounds nice, in fact they are still regarded as cannon fodder by Cao Jun. It was Shangyong ordinary people who came forward to die before, but now it was naturally the turn of Shen's soldiers.

The Shen soldier screamed and tried to struggle to escape, but he was hacked to death by the commander of Cao's army who was supervising the army behind him. He kicked him off the cliff, then held up his bloody sword and shouted, "If you don't want to die, just do it." Lay it quickly! 』

Shen Dan watched from below, frowning slightly, but did not say anything. Instead, he asked several shield men to come forward to provide some cover.

The soldiers of the Shen family who mustered up their courage continued to step forward to pave the plank road.

The reason why Shen Dan invested so many of his troops this time was because he felt that if he didn't find a way to capture Mulansai as soon as possible, Shen's soldiers would die in vain on the mountain road of Mulansai.

The people who died before were all ordinary people, so Shen Dan naturally didn't feel bad, but now when he saw that his family's assets were being filled up, Shen Dan also showed some subjective initiative and caught Ma Zhong off guard.

If tonight's attack from both top and bottom makes it difficult for Mulan Sai to respond, it can be regarded as a rare opportunity!

Mulan Village is indeed dangerous. The rugged and narrow mountain roads make every attacker feel desperate. But the more dangerous it is, once captured, it will have a huge psychological impact on the defenders. It can immediately cause the Hanzhong army to If they panic, they may be able to successfully advance the front line to Nanzheng.

In fact, many incidents in history have been like this. Once the frontier fortress is lost and pushed to the core of the capital, it will immediately shake up and down. The surrendering faction will instantly swell, and they may even kill the main fighting faction as a way to advance. level.

Therefore, Shen Dan believes that as long as he takes Mulan Sai, he can basically complete most of the entire Hanzhong strategy. The rest is Cao Zhen's business, and he can naturally obtain most of Hanzhong's benefits. Including but not limited to population and goods.

When fighting, sometimes we fight people's hearts.

The human heart is often more fragile than the geographical location.

There are not many defenders in Mulan Fortress.

Because the terrain of Mulan Village is narrow, even if the soldiers are piled up, they cannot be deployed. Therefore, they have always been rotating with the barracks in the rear. Every morning before dawn, new troops are added to Mulan Village, and the ones originally on duty are The soldiers will rotate in batches.

In this way, it can ensure that the soldiers on duty at Mulan Fortress have sufficient physical strength, but it also makes the number of soldiers on Mulan Fortress relatively small when there are no troops to hand over.

Normally, there would be no problem with this arrangement.

But that was a strategy based on the previous number of people. After Li Dian took away a large number of Di soldiers, the total number of soldiers in Mulansai was reduced, which inevitably caused some problems in the entire rotation plan. deviation.

Ma Zhong did not change in time, or he felt that there was no need to change.

The total amount has been reduced, but the number of each rotation has not changed, which has led to more frequent rotations, causing the soldiers to be more tired than before.

In addition, when Shen Dan attacked before, he was very strict, attacking when the sun rose and withdrawing when the sun set. This had been the case for more than ten days in a row, which also caused Ma Zhong and Mulansai's soldiers to form an inertial understanding. When Shen Dan suddenly made such a move, he was a little unable to react.

Shen Dan's sneak attack this time was like a dagger, unexpectedly stabbing into Ma Zhong's back.

"Don't panic!" 』

Fortunately, although Ma Zhong is a little lacking in resourcefulness, he is not bad in martial arts!

The most important thing is that Ma Zhong chose the most correct way to respond...

"Don't panic! First clear out the bandits on the cliff! 』

"I had expected that the bandit army would come for a sneak attack!" 』

"Everything is arranged!" 』

"Take up arms!" Protect the position! 』

Ma Zhong not only shouted it himself, but also ordered others to shout the same thing in other places. He himself immediately rushed to the top of Mulan Sai with his personal guards and strangled the Cao soldiers who climbed the cliff and came in.

This is like defending a city. You must first deal with the enemy troops who have crawled in. As for the enemy troops under the city gate, because there is more or less a city gate in between, the relative risk will be smaller...

On the one hand, Ma Zhong took the lead, and on the other hand, he also reassured people, gradually stabilizing the situation and preventing the defenders from acting irrationally under unknown circumstances.

Sometimes, when people are panicked, scared, or under certain extreme emotions, they will do things that they cannot even understand. This kind of psychological behavior is often called "irrational behavior" or "hysteria." These behaviors are not based on logic or rational thinking, but are directly influenced and driven by strong emotions.

This kind of irrational behavior is not limited to men or women. When an individual is in a strong emotional state, the rational thinking part of the brain may be suppressed by the emotional part, leading people to make some decisions and actions that may not be wise or even impulsive. This behavior will help the brain release Pressure, but not necessarily released in a good direction.

For example, the camp gate might be opened for no apparent reason...

Especially for a narrow pass like Mulansai, the allowable range of errors and oversights is very small.

Fortunately, Ma Zhong's words and deeds suppressed the turbulent emotions.

"quick! Wake up the soldiers in the military camp at the foot of the mountain and come for reinforcements immediately! Each team must guard tightly to prevent Cao's army from making a surprise attack elsewhere..."

After Ma Zhong led his men to clear out the soldiers of Cao's army who climbed up the cliff, he immediately rushed to the gate of Mulansai with the smell of blood all over his body, giving urgent orders as he walked.

When Ma Zhong braved the rain of arrows and climbed onto the wall of the stronghold, he saw that Cao Jun had almost laid the plank road in front of the stronghold gate.

"Rolling stones and beating trees!" quick! Go get it! 』

Ma Zhong turned around and shouted.

The next moment, an arrow whizzed up from below and hit the bag Ma Zhong was wearing, causing Ma Zhong to stumble backward.

Ma Zhong happened to turn his head, otherwise this arrow would have been inserted directly into Ma Zhong's face!

Ma Zhong pushed away the guard who came to help him, shook his head, and found that he was not hurt, so he cursed: "Everyone is doing shit around me!" Go and move the rocks and rocks! Smash the thieves down! Don't let the thieves get close to the village gate! 』

Cao Jun below has almost repaired the plank road to the gate of the village, while in the distance Cao Jun's army has assembled.

Shen Dan looked up and saw that the sounds on the cliff gradually subsided. He knew that most of Cao's soldiers who climbed up the cliff were dead. He couldn't wait for the plank road to be completely repaired, so he gave the order for Cao's army to attack directly.

"That's too late! Kill it! 』

"There are still our people on the plank road who have not retreated!" 』

On the plank road, there were also some auxiliary soldiers and Cao Jun supervisors responsible for repairs.

"Kill him!" ” Shen Dan was furious and drew out his long sword, “Let them attack together! Those who retreat will be killed! 』

When the governor of Cao's army killed Shen's auxiliary soldiers, Shen Dan didn't say anything. Now, Cao's army asked those governors to retreat?

Shen Dan held up his long sword, his face as sinking as water.

Under the military order, Cao's troops formed a formation and could only rush forward in a swarm.

The commander of Cao's army who was originally supervising the army on the plank road saw the soldiers from behind surging up. He originally wanted to get out of the way subconsciously, but found that he could not avoid it and had no way to retreat. He was pushed directly in front and couldn't help but move forward. Mulan walked away, and then watched the rolling stone thrown down from above come to the front of her eyes!

"boom! 』

Rolling stones and trees fell down, colliding and bouncing between the mountain paths.

"Ahhhhh!" 』

The screams of Cao Junbing who were knocked down rang out.

Although the trajectory of the falling stone and the angle of collision are very random, the damage to the soldiers of Cao's army jammed in the mountain road is very great. What's more important is that after losing the cover of the shield, from There was no way to avoid the arrows shot from above the head, so they could only resist forcefully, and the array was suddenly in chaos.

Shen Dan saw that he was so close but could not attack, and was filled with resentment. However, no matter how unwilling he was, the good opportunity for him to launch a surprise attack tonight was already lost, and in the end he could only withdraw his troops.

…

…

In the mountains of the remaining mountains of the Qinling Mountains.

Cao Zhen received the message from Mulansai. After reading it, he was silent for a long time.

Let’s just say Shen Dan didn’t care. Shen Dan also organized a suicide squad to climb the cliff and attack at night.

But Shen Dan worked hard, but he was not able to conquer Mulansai.

So what can Cao Zhen say?

What's more, Cao Zhen couldn't get any advantage when facing Li Dian.

After Cao Zhen lost part of his soldiers, he tried to set up an ambush to lure Li Dian into the trap and made signs of retreat. As a result, Li Dian just defended the entrance of the valley and remained unmoved. Cao Zhen originally thought that the location where he originally set up an ambush was too obvious, so he deliberately withdrew for a while and chose a less dangerous location to ambush, but Li Dian's troops still did not arrive. This was considered a complete victory. I gave up and didn't expect Li Dian to come.

Although there was snow to temporarily replenish the water supply, Cao Zhen had already eaten up all his dry food. He had been using mules and horses to support him in the past few days, and the mules and horses were almost finished.

"Send the order...withdraw the troops." 』

Cao Zhen's face showed a bit of vicissitudes and helplessness. Because of the hard work in the mountains and whether he could take a good rest and adjust, Cao Zhen looked ten years older than when he first set off from Xiangyang.

Cao Zhen's guard didn't raise any objections, because this was the result that almost everyone dared not say.

If we can't attack, doesn't it mean we have to retreat?

Li Dian's defense was very stable, so stable that Cao Zhen couldn't find any good opportunities.

If Cao Zhen had not brought his own troops and the elite of Cao's army, I am afraid that the army would have been demoralized long ago and could not be dealt with. The reason why Cao Zhen can still persist in the mountains until the last moment is mainly because these private soldiers, almost the whole family, are under the control of the Cao family. Even if he has any personal thoughts, he must consider his own The youngest in the family.

It's like in later generations, there are always things like a certain queen rectifying the workplace, but there are no middle-aged social animals who dare to do this.

If one person behind so-and-so has enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry, even if he resigns naked, he will go home to eat his old age, but what about the middle-aged social animals? If you don't work for a day, you won't have food for a day. The old, the young, and the young are crying for food. How can you have the confidence to rebel?

The same was true for Cao Zhen's private soldiers. After hearing that Cao Zhen finally ordered the withdrawal of troops, they showed a somewhat relaxed attitude, but they did not dare to show too much, so as to offend Cao Zhen, but their words and deeds were more or less different. Also revealed some lightness to come.

Cao Zhen watched silently.

He was unwilling to give in.

Li Dian was too "upright" in commanding the troops. Cao Zhen could not seduce Li Dian in the mountains. This meant that if Cao Zhen still wanted to attack Hanzhong, he would have to fight hard at Mulan. This is just like Wuguandao can only fight hard against Wuguan Pass, which is desperate and helpless.

It is indeed possible to use human lives to pile up a way, but the problem is that it will consume a lot of manpower, material resources, and time.

No matter from which perspective, Cao Zhen does not have so many resources to waste.

Only outsmart.

Before Cao Zhen came to Shangyong, he thought that with the Shen family as an internal support and the mediocre people at his disposal, he could defeat Hanzhong. However, he did not expect that Shen family's words were not true, and he was able to win in Shangyong. The Di people did win over some of them, but it was useless just to win over Shangyong!

Cao Zhen took off his bag and knocked twice on the stone beside him, shaking out a lot of scalp, insects and dust, "Shangyong is not a thoroughfare, nor a competition for land, but a handover..."

Yes, Cao Zhen's understanding of Shangyong was somewhat biased, and now he has a more accurate understanding.

Shangyong's form is scattered, Cao's army can easily come, and Li Dian can easily recover. Therefore, Li Dian gave up this area that was not easy to defend at the beginning, and even if Cao Zhen occupied it now, it would be equally difficult to defend. .

"That's right, hand over. "Cao Zhen repeated, looking at the Doumo in his hand, as if this Doumo was the place of excellence, "It is difficult to defend the land..."

Cao Zhen thought about it, but couldn't think of any good solution for a while.

Cao's soldiers came and went and quickly gathered all the supplies. When they came to Cao Zhen, they reported, "General, everything is packed..."

"So fast? ” Cao Zhen was stunned for a moment, but he quickly understood.

They didn't have much supplies left, and the soldiers had already planned to retreat, so naturally they retreated quickly.

Cao Zhen felt a little unhappy, but he couldn't say anything, so he could only sigh and stand up.

For these soldiers, they do not understand the overall situation of the world, nor do they know how important this battle between Cao Cao and Fei Qian is...

etc.

Just as Cao Zhen was about to put the bag on, he suddenly thought of something, and then he stared at the pattern on the bag and pondered in silence.

When the guard beside Cao Zhen saw this, his heart jumped again, "This... General?" General, what are your orders? 』

Cao Zhen reacted, rolled his eyes a few times, and already had a rough idea in his mind. He put the bag on his head, waved his hand, "Nothing... let's go!" 』

Cao Zhen thought of a way.

"Since it's a fight, we have to fight with a fight!" 』