Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 779
For Cao Shuang at the moment, although he was unwilling to accept the fact that he fled before the battle, he had to accept this fact for his own life.After all, victory or defeat is a common matter for military strategists, and he has a chance to recover by relying on the Central Plains.

The former emperor Liu Bang had a history of abandoning his wife and son and defeating Xiang Yu in the army, but in the end he counterattacked Xiang Yu by virtue of the Battle of Gaixia; the same is true for Emperor Wu Cao Cao. He also fled to Xishu.Therefore, the current battle is nothing more than a small defeat, nothing to worry about, just kill them in the future.

That being said, the feeling of running away is not pleasant either.Give Cao Shuang another choice, and it is estimated that he will never want to lead the army again.

"The former general, Cao Shuang's troops fled, did you send cavalry to chase him down?" Fu Xun asked.

Standing on the hill, Deng Ai squinted his eyes at the fleeing Wei army, and stopped him and said, "No need, Cao Shuang is just a mediocre man! It is useless for me to capture or kill him here. Veteran ministers like Sima Yi and Jiang Ji took advantage of the opportunity to exercise power and govern, which is not good for the big man."

"Now that Cao Shuang was defeated and fled back to the country, his prestige plummeted, the people complained, and all the officials wanted to move. It would be unfavorable for Cao Shuang to be in power. Sima Yi might take the opportunity to recover instead of fighting for power. Two tigers must be injured in a fight, so it is better to let him go. Rebel against Wei Guozhong and make it into chaos."

For the ruler, he is in charge of the military and political affairs of the entire country, and he needs to deal with the living environment surrounded by foreign enemies.Under such circumstances, extremely high requirements are placed on the talents and conduct of the rulers.If you want to separate the top and bottom, you can only say that talent is more important than personal character.

Or people like Guan Zhong, Li Shimin, Zhang Juzheng, etc. all have black spots to speak of, but in reality, their merits outweigh their demerits.Of course, it is limited to the level of not subverting the rule of the country, and the usurpers cannot be included in the analysis.

Therefore, as far as a country is concerned, it is not afraid of the personal conduct of the rulers, but the most fearful is that their talents are mediocre and their own morals are not high.This kind of person occupies a high position, which is tantamount to harming the country and himself.But for the enemy country, it is such a ruler who likes it the most.

Therefore, this is also part of the reason why Deng Ai put all his troops in Yuanshan and concentrated all his forces for a one-time assault.The remaining part is due to the encirclement and lack of one, destroying the enemy's stubborn resistance.After all, blocking the enemy's front and rear is not only impossible in terms of military strength, but also worried that the enemy's last stand will be detrimental to the war.

"The former general is wise!" Fu Xun praised again.

Holding his long sword, Deng Ai said with a smile: "Send five hundred cavalry to drive Cao Shuang away, and the rest of the soldiers will surround the defeated army. Anyone who surrenders will not be killed."

"promise!"

Cao Shuang swung his whip to urge his horse, and led his attendants and cronies to rush into the mountain, followed closely by the soldiers of the Wuwei Battalion.At the beginning of the withdrawal of troops, everyone will try their best to maintain a loose army formation and maintain a state of retreat without chaos.

But after entering the woodland, because the vision was affected, the orders gradually became ineffective. In addition, the Han cavalry pursued unhurriedly, sometimes outflanking the two wings, and sometimes charging straight at the crowd, forcing the defeated soldiers to separate and flee.So in this case, the retreat has become a rout.The soldiers were gradually surrounded by panic, scrambling over the mountains, trying to leave the battlefield.

Under the protection of his attendants, Cao Shuang rode his horse in a hurry, turned over the hill, and rejoined Li Sheng and others who had been separated before.Because there are no people inhabited all year round and the trees are lush, they can't tell the direction in the woodland. They can only use the sun as a reference direction as much as possible, and use the trend of the mountain to judge the road ahead.

After running for an unknown amount of time, Cao Shuang and the others passed through the forest and descended the mountain again, gathering a group of fleeing soldiers.It was already dusk, the sky was dark, Cao Shuang was leaning against a tree, panting heavily, the armor on his body had been abandoned at some point.

Apart from Li Sheng, Deng Yang, Yang Wei and other civil servants, the people traveling with him unexpectedly got together with Linghuyu, and got lost with Xia Houxuan instead.

"Is there any water?" Cao Shuang asked, licking his dry lips.

Li Sheng touched his waist, shook his head and said, "I don't know where the water bag was thrown."

Cao Shuang looked around, except for a small number of people, most of the soldiers and soldiers had discarded all their armor, food, grass and military supplies.

"call!"

"Oh!" A group of white cranes soared in the sunset, and the sound of their groans pierced the sky.

When Cao Shuang was resting, suddenly the cold wind howled past, and a burst of shouts that seemed to be the Han army sounded in everyone's ears, and it seemed that the sound was still approaching them.

Deng Yang wiped the sweat from his brow, and said in horror, "Could it be the arrival of Han soldiers."

"Han soldiers arrive!"

Before the big troops could move, some Wei army sergeants staggered and abandoned the team, wanting to escape alone.

Cao Shuang originally wanted to calm down carefully and find out if it was true that the Han army had arrived.But seeing that someone had already run away, he was timid and followed the crowd, getting up and preparing to retreat.

"Go! Go!"

Cao Shuang supported the tree and stood up. His legs trembled slightly, and he was almost unsteady.Only with the support of his attendants did he walk forward with difficulty.

"Han Ji·Wang Deng Jiang Huo Biography" "...Deng Ai's army fought for Yuanshan to cut off Shuang, and Shuang fought hard for danger. He abandoned his armor and fled, but he was able to survive. Hearing the sound of cranes, Shuang thought that the king's master had arrived, so he slept in the open. Those who send oxen and horses to run will die and lose almost all of them, and Henan will be wasted."

After running for an hour again, the sky was approaching darkness.Cao Shuang found Wei Jun's camp on the mountain ahead.Fireworks soared into the sky, and the "Sima" flag fluttered in the wind, which was extraordinarily dazzling under the night.The sound of drums and thunder kept gathering the fleeing Wei army.

"Don't worry, the Han people probably won't come after you again!" Cao Shuang sighed, and said happily: "Now that you are frustrated, you can rest well when you arrive at the camp."

Cao Shuang's judgment is correct, the Han army will indeed not pursue them again, and they have already stopped pursuing them.

The Han cavalry that Deng Ai sent out to pursue were only a few hundred cavalry, and their task was only to expel the remnants of the Wei army and let them flee, so as not to regroup to fight again.At this time, the Han army was busy treating the wounded. The soldiers of the Wei army who were captured all over the mountains and plains, and the food and supplies of the Wei army were seized, and they couldn't stop.

Deng Yang waved his arms and shouted to the crowd: "Raise the great general's banner and beat the military drums, and don't lose the reputation of the great general. After returning home, everyone will be rewarded."

So heavy drums sounded in the mountains and forests, and the big banner of "Cao" also stood up high, and Sima Zhao also sent soldiers to meet Cao Shuang's defeated army.

In the camp, Sima Zhao welcomed Cao Shuang and others in. Cao Shuang looked awkward and didn't know what to say, but Deng Yang was arrogant, as if Sima Zhao had lost the battle.

Sima Zhao led the general school, cupped his hands and said, "Zhao has seen the general, and asked the general to rest here. Zhao has prepared food and military supplies for the general to gather and defeat the army."

Deng Yang snorted coldly, and said: "If General Sima returns to rescue the army, why the General was defeated, this should be the fault of General Sima!"

Sima Zhao's eyes widened, he looked at Deng Yang in disbelief, and said angrily: "Since I learned that the general was ambushed, I led my troops to come here all the time. I had to meet the remnants of the army. I knew that the general was defeated, so I set up the camp. , I thought it was for raising troops. Deng Yang, can you tell the difference between black and white?"

Deng Yang didn't answer, but scolded: "The general's guard of honor is lost, and Sima Hujun hasn't picked up the guard of honor for the general yet."

Hearing these words, Sima Zhao was so angry that he was speechless, stared at Cao Shuang coldly, and said, "Zhao is the guard of Wei Wei's conquest of Shu, and he is a person who saves the army, not a person who picks up honor guards for the general. .”

As he spoke, Sima Zhao cupped his hands slightly and said, "Farewell!"

When Deng Yang saw Sima Zhao's words and deeds, he was also on tiptoe with anger.He just wanted to kill Sima Zhao's prestige and bully this newcomer, but he didn't expect Sima Zhao to be so rebellious, he really turned his back on him.

After a while, Sima Zhao directly took away the soldiers under his command, led the troops back alone, and threw the barracks and some food and grass to Cao Shuang.

Cao Shuang also held back his anger and did not explode on the spot.He has already decided that he must give Sima and his son some color when he goes back this time, to see how rampant they really are, and how dare they treat him like this.

Deng Yang was also at the side, fanning the flames, and said: "General, today's defeat is due to Sima Zhao's slow rescue. If his former army can arrive, our army will be defeated by Deng Ai. There is no general's order today, so I privately cited The soldiers returned to the country, and if they really did not obey the military orders, please ask the general to punish them."

"Hmm!" Cao Shuang handed Xia Houxuan a cup of warm tea, and said, "We'll discuss it when we return to China. The priority now is to gather the defeated army."

Xia Houxuan, who joined the army, took Cao Shuang's warm tea, ate the rice cakes with his head down, and did not interfere with Cao Shuang and Sima's affairs.

(End of this chapter)