Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3268 Small Gift

While Yan Rou was chasing and capturing Xiahou Dun, Sima Yi also encountered his opponent.

Sima Yi mobilized a part of the troops in Pubanjin, and sent troops to Hao Zhao as a feint to attack Zhongtiao Mountain. In fact, he was still eyeing the food and grass in Cao's transit camp.

For this battle, Sima Yi invited the craftsmen in the army to design a hollow crossbow arrow with kerosene on the basis of the Dahuang crossbow, which could break when hitting an object and splash the kerosene inside. He planned to use this new crossbow arrow to ignite the food and grass of Cao's army in the transit camp and severely damage Cao Cao's supply route.

That's right, Sima Yi didn't want to attack the transit camp by force, he just wanted to find an opportunity...

Shoot one shot!

After all, Cao Cao came all the way from Tongguan, and built a hard camp all the way, which was as solid as a rock. Not only did he dig deep trenches, but he also laid a large number of chevaux de frise. If he attacked the camp by force, there would be a lot of casualties.

Even if they could break into the camp, there were still crisscrossing traps inside. These traps were hidden under tents and curtains. Even if they caught someone alive in Cao's camp, they might not be able to describe all the arrangements, so it was not worthwhile to attack the camp head-on.

Limited by the number of troops at hand, Sima Yi only had the power of one strike, so he was like an assassin hiding in the shadows. Once he showed his figure, he would lose the bonus of backstab.

Compared with Cao Cao's forward camp, this transit camp was relatively weaker in terms of troops. It was mainly a defensive force of the Central Guard Army plus a large number of civilians and baggage carts. There were also some weapons and weapons, as well as supplementary parts for related weapons.

Sima Yi knew that Cao Cao was already at the end of his strength...

And now Sima Yi wanted to dismantle Cao Cao's last crossbow!

Only in this way could the benefits be maximized.

From the perspective of the entire battle situation, the war was raging in Hedong, but the attack in Tongguan was obviously more fierce.

Cao Cao arranged about 30,000 soldiers in front of Tongguan, and attacked day and night.

Tongguan was guarded by Ma Yan and Zhu Ling, and there were various weapons prepared in advance, but it still suffered great pressure in the face of Cao's desperate attack.

In particular, there were craftsmen in Cao's army, who learned and grew up in the war, and modified some of Cao's siege equipment, and even launched one or two surprise attacks to cross Niutouyuan, which made Ma Yan and Zhu Ling more and more stressed. After a month of fierce fighting, the casualties reached more than 3,000 people, including more than 1,000 elite soldiers, and the battle entered the most tragic stage.

The situation in Wuguan was relatively better. The fighting spirit of the soldiers in Jingzhou was not strong, but there were many of them. Wuguan was relatively deep in exchange for enemy casualties. Every step forward of Cao's army would leave a large number of corpses, and casualties were increasing. After a month or two of fierce fighting, the fighting desire of these Jingzhou surrendered soldiers in Cao's army had dropped to the freezing point. Sometimes, even Liao Hua and Huang Zhong did not really attack. Just a shout would make them turn around and run away like frightened birds. It can be said that the Cao army in Wuguan was just gritting its teeth and holding on, and it could collapse at any time.

So when Sima Yi got this information, he understood that time, the key to everything was time.

Since the attack on Guanzhong, Cao Cao has been in a state of war for more than half a year.

In the era of cold weapons, it is not easy to carry out a full-scale war. But even if Cao Cao summoned enough manpower and got some supplements, ignoring the losses everywhere, he still could not determine the outcome of the battle.

This made Cao Cao very embarrassed.

The longer the time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for Cao's army.

To defeat Fei Qian, more investment, more soldiers, and more time are needed.

Whether it is Wuguan, Tongguan, or Hedong, it is the same.

So Sima Yi only needs to avoid the core force of Cao's army, and then sneak attack, destroy Cao's food and grass, cut off Cao's food route, so as to delay Cao's pace, and Cao's army will definitely be defeated.

Sima Yi sent Hao Zhao to feint to attack Zhongtiao Mountain Camp in an attempt to confuse Cao's eyes and further complicate the situation in Hedong.

Once Cao's army thought that Zhongtiao Mountain Camp would be attacked, the momentum of Cao's advance would stop, and when Cao's army really sent troops to circle around and encircle Hao Zhao, they had already completed the task and evacuated the battlefield.

According to Sima Yi's detection, Cao's army did not have cavalry in this area, and according to the confession of the captured live people, Cao Cao did not have many cavalry, and they were concentrated in the front of Cao Cao's headquarters, and there was basically no organized cavalry unit in the back.

Therefore, no matter from which angle, this is an excellent opportunity.

Although Hao Zhao felt that the risk was high, he also agreed with this.

What Sima Yi did not expect was that Cao Cao actually separated a cavalry, and this cavalry had been hiding, waiting for Sima Yi to show up...

...

...

During the waiting process, Qian Zhao was not as calm as he seemed on the surface.

However, Qian Zhao knew that as a commander, he must have his own opinion. If the commander was indecisive and changed his orders every day, then there would be no good result in the whole battle.

Using static to control dynamic and waiting for the rabbit by the tree is undoubtedly a common strategy, but the first thing to make sure is that there must be a "rabbit".

Qian Zhao thought a lot, and he also thought about what to do if Sima Yi did not show up but really attacked Zhongtiao Mountain?

However, Qian Zhao had never received any news that the Zhongtiao Mountain camp was attacked, but there were constant reports from Cao's army that a group of cavalrymen appeared near Zhongtiao Mountain.

And his subordinate Cao Ping sent someone to report Qian Zhao's order to Cao Cao, but Cao Cao remained silent and did not respond.

This also made Qian Zhao understand that Cao Cao was not completely on his side.

Acquiescence is sometimes not approval.

If he succeeded, then it was Cao Cao's silent support. If he failed, then the original reported matters would become evidence of his domineering and reckless behavior.

Soon, Qian Zhao got the latest news that the cavalry had disappeared again...

These days, Qian Zhao had gotten used to the cavalry's movement, so when he heard the news, he asked, "Are they getting closer to the Zhongtiao Mountain camp again?"

The scout shook his head, "No, the cavalry did not get closer to the Zhongtiao Mountain camp."

The Cao army scout was very sure, because after Hao Zhao and others appeared, the Cao army urgently deployed layers of defense lines around the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, adding more traps and chevaux de frise, but they did not wait for Hao Zhao's attack. They were also wondering about this, but they could not leave the defense system of the Zhongtiao Mountain camp to chase Hao Zhao, so they found Qian Zhao.

Qian Zhao closed his eyes and thought about it.

He suddenly thought of a sentence that Cao Cao said to him when they were discussing how to deal with Sima Yi, "Sima is a little thief who is cautious and suspicious"...

Suddenly, as if something suddenly became clear, Qian Zhao thought of a problem!

"General Cao! '

Qian Zhao shouted.

Cao Ping was stunned, but soon stepped forward and saluted, 'General Qian. '

Although Cao Ping looked down on Qian Zhao, Qian Zhao's appointment was made by Cao Cao, and the sword was also given by Cao Cao, so even if he was unhappy, Cao Ping would still be impeccable in etiquette.

As long as Qian Zhao can win.

After all, to a certain extent, this is not to give Qian Zhao face, but to maintain Cao Cao's authority.

'I want you to take 30 riders immediately, each holding a team flag, and go to Zhongtiao Mountain. Be sure to increase your momentum and pretend to be reinforcements! ' Qian Zhao said in a deep voice, 'Is it clear? ! '

Cao Ping was stunned, and then looked around, 'General Qian, do you mean there are enemy scouts around? ' They are on guard here every day. If the enemy scouts really touch the surrounding area without knowing it, it would be like being slapped in the face.

'This is an order! ' Qian Zhao said in a deep voice, 'Not an explanation! Are you willing to obey the order? '

Cao Ping lowered his head, 'I obey your order! '

...

...

Qian Zhao's guess was correct.

Sima Yi did send scouts to watch the transit camp from afar.

The reason why Cao's scouts failed to find it was because Sima Yi's scouts were equipped with telescopes.

However, because the number of telescopes was scarce, it was impossible for all scouts to have one...

When Cao Ping led his troops to evacuate the transit camp in a big way and feinted towards Zhongtiao Mountain, Sima Yi received a report from the scouts.

'It's true! '

Sima Yi laughed and immediately ordered to prepare for war.

Compared with the Cao army, where everyone had their own thoughts and officers were suspicious, Sima Yi's execution of orders was naturally very strong. Sima Yi gave an order and the whole army assembled.

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang seemed to belong to the civil service series, but in fact they were really different. Not to mention that Zhuge Liang also controlled military power in the later period of history, when Sima Yi was under Cao Cao, during the expedition against Zhang Lu, Sima Yi had already fought with the army and led the army. Later, when he confronted Zhuge Liang in an all-out war, he once commanded most of the troops of the Cao Wei Group, and was deeply feared, so he came up with the empty city plan...

Now Sima Yi has been a soldier in the Northern Territory Protectorate for quite a while. Although he is not very good at holding a gun and dancing with a stick, it is really underestimated to say that he is just a civil servant and cannot go to the battlefield. In addition, Sima Yi has also achieved a good record before, so no cavalry soldier will doubt that there will be any problems with his decision-making. They will only be full of confidence and execute his orders without compromise.

But there is one thing that Sima Yi neglected.

Hatred value.

War is not a stand-alone game, and his opponents are not the Hu people in the desert who lack effective inheritance and information transmission. After he defeated the Cao and Xiahou families successively, especially after Xiahou Yuan was defeated in Hedong, Sima Yi's hatred value was already extremely high, perhaps second only to General Fei Qian.

When an assassin has a very high hatred value and others pay great attention to him, the assassin's stealth skills are naturally more difficult to use smoothly.

Since he is an assassin, he cannot have a too large body.

Sima Yi did not have many soldiers and horses at hand. He wanted to kill with one strike, and then escape thousands of miles away regardless of the effect. Therefore, he equipped a horse with two horses to give full play to the maximum speed advantage of cavalry.

Five hundred cavalrymen mounted their war horses and rushed out like water along the direction of the valley, rushing straight to Cao's transit camp.

Coincidentally, a team of grain transport teams was preparing to leave the transit camp...

The ordinary Cao army soldiers and civilians in the Cao army transit camp did not expect Sima Yi to appear here suddenly. They always thought they were safe.

They thought they were in the core inner area of ​​Cao's army. How could there be any danger?

So when these ordinary Cao army soldiers and civilians saw Sima Yi rushing out from the horizon, they were not mentally prepared and panicked all of a sudden.

This is the problem of information not flowing smoothly between superiors and subordinates in Cao's army. The strict hierarchical system makes it so that there is no explanation or explanation between superiors and subordinates except for orders. Anyway, there is suppression by the level, so why bother?

Sima Yi chose the time when a grain transport convoy was about to be sent to the north, which was simply exquisite to the extreme. When the cavalry came roaring, although the military school responsible for transporting grain and grass shouted loudly, hoping that some soldiers could resist the cavalry a little, so that he could get a short adjustment time and send the grain and grass back to the transit camp. However, the grain transporting Cao army, which was frightened by Sima Yi and other cavalry, didn't care about him at all. They all screamed and ran directly to the transit camp not far away. Those coolies also threw away the grain and grass and fled everywhere.

The cavalry rushed into the convoy, as if it was a no-man's land, and ruthlessly killed those scattered Cao soldiers who resisted.

The sound of horse hooves was thunderous and shocking.

The cavalrymen excitedly waved their swords on horseback, bringing up a puff of blood.

The Cao army soldiers who were escorting military rations were in a panic and wanted to escape to the transit camp, but how could the transit camp allow these Cao army and civilians to break down the camp gate? It was a sharp warning, followed by a rain of arrows.

Those ordinary Cao army soldiers and civilians who instinctively thought they would be sheltered by fleeing to the transit camp wailed, and were killed and wounded everywhere.

They fled from the caravan and avoided the swords of the cavalrymen, but were shot and killed in front of the safe area just one step away.

The Cao army soldiers who were escorting the rations were defeated by Sima Yi's troops before they had time to resist.

The Cao army soldiers in the transit camp just locked the camp gate tightly, and did not even have the courage to come out for a fight.

Everything seemed perfect.

The cavalry galloped, and the smoke and dust raised by the cavalry was like a roaring yellow dragon, swallowing up the few remaining Cao soldiers beside the caravan.

"Go and see if there is really food and grass on the car!"

Sima Yi ordered, and he was still vigilant.

Sima Yi's guards stepped forward, stabbed through the felt covering the baggage cart with a knife, and pierced the grain bag inside.

Crash.

The grain on the grain cart flowed down the gap.

"It's food and grass!" The guard shouted excitedly.

Sima Yi was relieved, "Take what you can take, and burn what you can't take! Burn it! "

Sima Yi reined in his horse and laughed, "Assemble the big yellow crossbow! Let's give them a small gift! "

He was greedy.

He not only wanted to burn the grain team, but also the camp!

…

…

When Sima Yi rushed out, Qian Zhao, who was hiding in the woods, noticed it.

After all, the smoke and dust raised was the most direct guide in this era.

'General!' Cao Jun soldiers screamed, 'The Hussars are attacking our grain team!'

Qian Zhao snorted, then turned around and saw that some soldiers had already picked up their weapons and were ready to kill, so he raised his eyebrows, 'What are you going to do? !'

'General?' Cao Jun soldiers were puzzled, 'This... Isn't this the Hussars coming?'

Qian Zhao shouted: 'Get off the horse! Stand by! Without my order! No one is allowed to move without authorization! Those who disobey the order will be killed!'

'But General! That's... that's our military rations!' Cao Jun soldiers shouted, 'Are we just going to stand here and watch?'

Qian Zhao pulled out the sword Cao Cao gave him, and the blade shone with cold light, 'The Prime Minister ordered me to capture and kill Sima the thief! We are not here to protect the grain and grass! The grain transport officer is responsible for the grain and grass! If anyone dares to disobey orders and exposes his tracks... he will be killed without mercy! '

The Cao army soldiers swallowed their saliva and silently put down their swords and guns.

Although Qian Zhao's actions may seem like he was watching someone die without rescuing him, strictly speaking, he was not wrong.

The reason why he came here was to capture and kill Sima Yi in one fell swoop, and the transit camp of the Cao army had its own guards. Now the cavalrymen were still running, and their speed had not slowed down. If he rushed out now, it would be easy to form a chase, and the Cao army cavalry, who were not very familiar with the terrain, would either be thrown off or taken to an unfavorable place by Sima Yi and suffer a great loss during the chase.

Therefore, Qian Zhao could only attack after Sima Yi's speed slowed down.

Even if the grain transport team would be wiped out and the grain and grass would be destroyed.

The grain transport team of the Cao army was defeated, driven away, and killed, but Qian Zhao did not move.

Before the fleeing Cao army soldiers and laborers were shot and killed in the transit camp, Qian Zhao did not move.

When Sima Yi asked people to check the grain and grass of the grain transport team, Qian Zhao still did not move.

It was not until Sima Yi stopped his horse and began to have people move the food and grass, and burn the food and grass that could not be taken away, that Qian Zhao let out a long breath, then waved his arms, "Everyone, prepare for battle!"

The soldiers of the Cao army began to line up.

The burning food and grass emitted billowing black smoke, covering the sky and the sun.

"There is only one goal!" Qian Zhao raised his spear, "Capture and kill Sima! Everyone! Those who do not advance in the front army will be killed by the rear army! If the rear army does not advance, the commander-in-chief will be killed! If the commander-in-chief does not advance, I will kill him! I will not advance!

Qian Zhao threw the sword given by Cao Cao to the guard beside him, "Whoever holds this sword will be killed!"

The soldiers of the Cao army responded in unison.

"Abandon bows and arrows and dry food! Cover the horse's clothes! Hold swords and guns! " Qian Zhao shouted, "Get on the horse! Kill the enemy with me! "

Everything that has nothing to do with the battle was thrown away.

Even long-range weapons such as bows and arrows were included.

Qian Zhao was born in Youbei. When he was under Yuan Shao, he led the Wuhuan cavalry.

His opponent at that time was the Baima Yicong.

Although the Baima Yicong was eventually defeated by Ju Yi, the experience of fighting against the Baima Yicong is still something Qian Zhao can use as a reference...

Sima Yi, to some extent, is also a cavalry archer.

This is the beginning of the battle between Qian Zhao and Sima Yi.

Qian Zhao also prepared a small gift for Sima Yi...