Shu Chen

Chapter 184
Winter November, early.

The weather in Liangzhou in winter is very changeable.

It was still sunny a few days ago, but after a few strong winds, the mountains were covered with clouds.

Light and thin snowflakes, like dandelions being blown down, are flying all over the sky, scattered and gathered, like floating like flying.

The soldiers standing on the low wall of the wooden fence in the Wei army camp couldn't help putting their hands to their mouths after every dozen or so breaths to warm up the ice numbness of their fingers.

It's very cold.

But more Cao Jun soldiers are extremely hot.

Enraged by the Han army.

Ever since the Han army came to invite battle and was rejected by the general Xia Houru who refused to conquer the west, the Han army sent two to three thousand soldiers every day to come to a stone's throw away to show off their might and shout abuse.

Such as the advocacy of the masterpiece, the "Great Wind Song" was sung loudly by the shield.

Every time after singing, he roared "recovering the Central Plains", arrayed up and performed martial arts on the spot, and directly regarded the battlefield as the garrison of the Han army.

Such as loudly cursing such contemptuous words as "the anti-Wei rats can't shrink back", "Liangzhou has no blood and brave men".

Some vulgar people, while drooling, lie down on the snow at will, or take off their armor and wrestle with their robes for fun, and treat the Cao Wei soldiers who are close at hand as nothing.

The most infuriating thing is that when the Han army returned at dusk, they would shout in unison, "In the past, they marched on Xihubu Pass to the right, and now they march on the west to close their households and paint their eyebrows."

This remark kills my heart!

Xia Houyuan on the right side of Hubu Pass is Xia Houru's obedient father.

Both of them served as generals of Zhengxi, but Xia Houyuan was invincible in the land of Yongliang, and he still has a great reputation; but now Xiahou Ru, sitting on the superiority of his troops, avoids fighting.

A woman who was despised by the Han army as a woman who painted her eyebrows and painted rouge!

It is not only to claim that the Xiahou family, the founder of the Wei State, has no successors and no glory, but also to satirize that the generals and soldiers of the Wei army have no courage.

Just imagine, the commanders are all women, what are these soldiers?
Even worse than women?

Unsurprisingly, those soldiers who felt that they had suffered great humiliation clamored for their respective governors to challenge Xia Houru.

It's just that the result is not good.

He left filled with righteous indignation, and returned with his head bowed and sighed.

Although Xia Houru, the general of Zhengxi, also had a dark face, he still gave instructions in his mouth, "Don't fight out of anger", and rejected their pleading for orders.

Even if these generals try to persuade them.

Even a few with a fierce temperament, even issued military orders such as "If the battle is not good, I am willing to behead the villain's head", they still returned full of aggrieved anger.

Among them, Wang Mi was the most aggrieved.

As Xia Houru's confidant, he knew the reason why Xia Houru did this.

It's not that there is no war, but that the time has not yet come.

Xia Houru wanted to stick to it first, use up the vigor of Nishu's early arrival, wait for time and the wind and snow to wear down their heart to fight to the death and retreat, and then pursue and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

In this way, we are well versed in the essence of the art of war.

However, Wang Mi could understand, but he couldn't accept it.

He is from Wuwei, and he does not lack the courage to die in his bones.

And almost all of his subordinates were recruited from various counties in Liangzhou. These soldiers, following the folk customs of the frontier, have already complained about all kinds of provocations and insults against Ni Shu.

Not only did he feel that Xia Houru was afraid of fighting, but he also felt that Wang Mi, a superior official, had lost his courage.

Because Hu and Han live together in Liangzhou, and there is generally little literature and etiquette, the loyalty of the scholars to the Wei State is not high, and they also admire the kindness and hatred of the ranger.These soldiers were in the barracks on weekdays and were bound by various military regulations and laws, so they had already suffocated their hostility.Now that he is ready to fight, he still has to be humiliated and scolded?
If you are so useless, you might as well be a horse bandit to enjoy your grievances!

Anyway, most of the soldiers in the borderlands are holding some mixed rations to support their families, and they rarely have the extravagant hope of being named princes and generals.

In other words, after the implementation of the nine-rank official system, the Luoyang Temple occupied by the Gaomen family in the Guandong could not see the struggle of these people.

This kind of dissatisfaction spread not only under Wang Mi's command, but also with Xia Houru's 10,000 taels Qianbuqi who came to guard this place.

After all, the soldiers who licked blood with their blades were already bloody men.

It's just that dissatisfaction with the army's morale is dissatisfaction, and the military order to show off to the public at every turn must still be obeyed.

Therefore, the Han army continued to provoke for four or five days, but the Wei army showed no sign of fighting.

It was a pity for Zheng Pu to feel like this.

The Li and Shu here are all behind the Wei State military camp, so he couldn't find a woman's clothes to send to Xia Houru
However, it doesn't matter.

In the past few days, he is also preparing for a strong attack.

It's not the kind of offensive and defensive battles where the rhubarb crossbows and bows and arrows are suppressed from the rear, and the soldiers in the front bravely fill the ravines, pushing siege vehicles, ladders and other equipment to climb.

This method of warfare has a high casualty rate.

The big man can't afford it, and he won't let his subordinates die for military exploits after he has completed his strategic intention to contain the forces against the Wei Dynasty.

It is a trick to adapt measures to local conditions.

The barracks arranged by Xia Houru against the Wei Dynasty are similar to the flying geese formation.

When the power of long-range arms such as the crossbow can be maximized, in order to ensure that the crossbow will not accidentally injure the robes of your own army, it will also make the left and right wings very scattered.

Zheng Pu planned to concentrate his forces and attack one of the wings by force.

Under such circumstances, the other wing against Wei seems to be empty; and it is difficult for the Chinese army to send troops to help.

After all, once they come to support, too few troops will not help; if there are too many troops, it will become a desperate battle between the two armies in the wild.

Many veteran generals are well aware of the disadvantage of the flying geese formation.

But few people take advantage of it.

Because attacking the flank is not worth the loss for the whole army.

Soldiers are more expensive than victory, not long.

Consuming all the vigor of the soldiers on one wing is equivalent to giving up the plan to attack the enemy's entire army.Even if the attacking time and supplies are all exhausted, they will also have no choice but to retreat and be followed by the enemy.

Since ancient times, kindness has not been in charge of soldiers.

Any commander who has a little military career will be willing to pay the price of being defeated and win a big victory.

This is why Xia Houru dared to arrange troops like this.

However, he underestimated a little.

Zheng Pu is not greedy for credit!

He had no intention of capturing Jincheng County.

The reason for sending troops is to prevent Xia Houru from sending troops to Xiping County to help!

Whether he can capture the camp here or behead him is an acceptable result for him.

If there is, there is joy, and if there is nothing, there is no sorrow.

Naturally, Zheng Pu, known for being resourceful and decisive, would not decide to attack by force for no reason.He found a way to reduce the advantage of the Ni Wei army camp.

On flat terrain, the Niwei military camp was built on stone and wood, and it was not very high.

After Zheng Pu led the army to this place, he also sent his soldiers back from logging in the wild to build his own barracks.

The difference between the two is that Zheng Pu's barracks are simpler and can move slowly: the barracks of the Han army are built on the basis of WISCO carts and carts with wheels.

It is made of wood horizontally and vertically in front of the large scull of the WISCO cart, fixed with rivets and ropes to form a wooden fence wall, and more than ten cart bodies are placed side by side to form a simple camp.

For each WISCO car, more than a dozen soldiers can slowly push forward.

Even the body of the car is about two feet high, almost as high as Ni Wei's barracks.

And the defense of wood is enough to resist the penetration of a crossbow.

As for the rhubarb crossbows and thunderbolt chariots against Wei, the soldiers were hidden behind the chariots, so that there would not be too many casualties.

After all, ordnance such as rhubarb crossbows and thunderbolt chariots will collapse if they are used frequently, and it is impossible to deploy them on a large scale in places like Liangzhou.

Furthermore, the Han army is not without weapons for suppression.

When Niwei used rhubarb crossbows and other equipment, the Han army could also counterattack. The outcome depends on the deployment.

Everything was ready, and in the early morning when snowflakes were flying all over the sky, thunderous drums to urge the battle sounded in the Han army camp.

The Han army, who had already moved the general camp to four hundred steps away from the left wing of Niwei, shouted chant amidst the sound of drums from their respective governors, and pushed the WISCO cart forward step by step.

Behind them are big oar soldiers, and the last ones are soldiers carrying earth bags or planks.

Under the protection of shields and the suppression of crossbows and stones, they must first fill up the trenches in front of the Niwei camp, trap horse pits, and pick up debris such as barbed wire.

Such movement naturally awakened Wei Jun.

It was Wang Mi who was guarding the front camp of the Wei army's left wing.

When he heard the sentry warning, he rushed to watch the enemy's situation.

But when he saw the camp of the Han army approaching slowly, he couldn't help being stunned.

After being stunned for a while, he rubbed his eyes vigorously again and looked carefully.He thought it was the snowflakes like willow catkins and morning mist that made his blurred vision appear illusion.

It wasn't until he saw the Han army slowly approaching the place where they shot an arrow and began to clear the roadblocks that he realized that this was not a dream.

He also hurriedly asked his cronies to report to Xia Houru, drew his sword in his hand, and loudly encouraged the morale of the soldiers who were also performing their duties.

It's just a little unsatisfactory.

In the land of Liangzhou, there are many customs and taboos, especially the theory of ghosts and gods.

For example, when Bian Zhang and Han Sui rebelled in Liangzhou in the past and led the army to advance into Meiyang, Youfufeng, they were originally evenly matched with the Han army led by Zhang Wen and Dong Zhuo.But one night, there was a meteor like fire, with a light length of more than ten zhang, illuminating the camps of Bian Zhang and Han Sui, making the donkeys and horses scream, and making all the rebels think it was ominous, and they all clamored to return to Jincheng County.It also allowed Dong Zhuo and others to find an opportunity to attack in one fell swoop and smash it.

Now the barracks of the Han army moved so unimaginably that these soldiers from Liangzhou were afraid.

No matter how Wang Mi encouraged them, their morale was low.

And Xia Houru, who was in the Chinese army, was also surprised.

"Nishu army camp moved to attack!"

This is the urgent report of Wang Mi's personal soldiers.

Can the barracks still move?
Feeling puzzled, Xia Houru also put on his armor quickly, and at the same time put all the military camps on strict guard, and at the same time rushed to Wang Mi's military camp with his personal guards.

After a look, it became clear in my heart.

This method of pushing the Wugang carts to fight in the army is the reliance of the old Han Dynasty when they attacked the Xiongnu with their rifles.

Any general with a strategy in mind will be familiar with it.

Even when the weather was colder, when dripping water turned into ice, the Han army could still use water to irrigate sand and soil to build a car-mounted city wall.

Just like the battle of the Wei River in the past, Lou Gui planned for Wei Wu Cao Cao that "today it is cold, you can build a city from sand, irrigate it with water, and you can build it overnight", build a city from the ground!

But he understood it, but he couldn't understand it.

Because his barracks cannot retreat, nor can the soldiers of the right-wing barracks support them.

The Han army also dispatched two thousand soldiers and horses, lined up on the right flank, just waiting for the Wei army to come out of the camp and fight!
Even the cavalry of the Wei army could not attack the formation from the side.

As early as a few days ago, the general in command of the cavalry sent someone to inform Xia Houru that the Han army camp was not only heavily guarded but also brought in a lot of Yuan Rong crossbows.

Xia Houru knew about Yuan Rong Nu.

The kind of existence that can shoot and kill war horses within twenty or thirty steps, no matter how stupid he is, he will not let the cavalry go to death without the support of infantry.

"Come on!"

After pondering for a while, he tilted his head and issued an order to his soldiers, "Go and bring half of the thunderbolt chariot and rhubarb crossbow from the Chinese army!"

"promise!"

A personal guard responded loudly, turned around and strode away.

And Wang Mi also took the opportunity to move closer, and whispered in a low voice, "General, I'm afraid that with the arrival of armaments, it will be difficult to suppress the Nishu offensive."

Hearing this, Xia Houru turned his head slightly and glanced at him.

But he didn't make a sound, and turned his head back to continue watching the enemy's situation.

As Wang Mi said, the Wei army's front row barracks is not big, it can't accommodate too many soldiers, and it can't accommodate too many thunderbolt chariots and rhubarb crossbows; in addition, Ni Shu will also use bows and arrows to suppress it, it is indeed difficult to curb Ni Shu's attack offensive.

But such an obvious trend, how can he not know?

To put it bluntly, Wang Mi's reminder was just a rehash of the past: please accept the generals' plea and send troops to fight Nishu!

"Ni Shu will attack, you go and dispatch the soldiers."

After a little silence, Xia Houru's voice was light, and he gave orders to Wang Mi without thinking.

"promise."

Reluctantly bowing his head in salute, Wang Mi left angrily.

But at this moment, the Han army's camp was already approaching a stone's throw away, and they also stopped.

I saw two or three WISCO vehicles in the middle push out suddenly, leaving the gap on both sides, and many large scull soldiers poured out from inside.

Under Shi Chang's order, they gathered in groups of ten, holding their shields high to form a small circular fortress, protecting the soldiers carrying earthen bags and wood and moving forward slowly, pulling out barbed wire, filling pits with earthen bags, etc.

At the same time, the crossbowmen of the Wei army, who had been waiting for a long time, also pulled down their bowstrings under the scolding of their respective uncles.

"put!"

Accompanied by Wang Mi's order, the crossbow arrows that cleared the obstacles of the Han army and the arrows thrown into the formation of the Han army were shot directly, instantly blackening the sky.

"Hey!"

"Hey! Hey!"

The sound of arrows plunging into wood or shields resounded intensively, quite shocking.

However, the lethality was very little, and most of the crossbow arrows were resisted by the large oars of the Han army.

What is really shocking is the thunderbolt car.

Under the action of the gravity of the lever, countless small stones the size of pebbles, with sharp edges and corners, roared in the air, and after drawing an arc, they burrowed down into the Han army camp like a hundred birds returning to their nests.

"Raise the shield! Cover the top!"

Without Zheng Pu's orders, the roars of all levels of the Han army were heard.

Fist-sized rocks bounced happily on the shield, some jumped and then slid down, while some hit the corner of the shield, whirled and flew into the bodies of several soldiers.

Some got in abruptly, and some made the crisp sound of fractures explode.

Without exception, the unlucky soldiers all had shrill and mournful cries, which made people feel that Shuo Feng was so cold.

There are some thunderbolt cars that are equipped with boulders and throw them. Once they hit, they will directly smash people and shields to the ground.

(End of this chapter)