Xiang Yu fights the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 48 Race against time

After some thinking and choices, Sun Jian finally chose the second plan. This plan can be regarded as a compromise between the first plan and the third plan. If you can't convince anyone, choosing this solution can also be regarded as a temporary solution.

So Sun Jian left about 500 cavalry to stay here to keep the surveillance and blockade of the food transport team, while he immediately set off with the main force of [-] cavalry to pursue Han Sui's other grain transport teams eastward.

Although Han Sui's second grain transport team set off earlier, Sun Jian's leadership was all cavalry after all, and they finally caught up by using their speed. However, Han Sui's returning troops were already very close. , this is a race against time for both sides. Sun Jian hopes to destroy the grain transport team as much as possible before Han Sui's main reinforcement arrives, and burn the transported grain and grass on the spot. Sun Jian needs to be stopped from doing this.

Seeing that Sun Jian's cavalry had come close, the food transportation team had no choice but to stop their advance and put up a defensive position on the spot, trying to keep the guards with a certain combat power in front. Its location is quite interesting, just like the entire Guanzhong area, it is also located in an area with mountains on both sides and a valley in the middle, and the valley in the middle is very large, but the passage into the valley is very narrow.

In this kind of terrain, once the cavalry has completely entered the valley, the relatively flat terrain is very suitable for the cavalry to launch an attack and give full play to the advantages of the cavalry, but the narrow front and rear entrances make it difficult for the cavalry to gather in large numbers in a short period of time. Entering the valley, whether it is Sun Jian's pursuit troops or Han Sui's reinforcements, they are mainly cavalry, but they are easily stuck by the terrain when they join the valley battlefield.

When the food transport team used this narrow intersection for defense, it could effectively prevent Sun Jian's cavalry from attacking to a large extent, but because of the number and quality of troops, the guards of these food transport teams were still comparable to Sun Jian's cavalry. There is a certain gap between them, so even if the terrain is well used, it will be difficult to completely block the attack from Sun Jian in the end. It is only a matter of time before the intersection is lost.

And once Sun Jian can break through the defense of the guards quickly enough, they can drive straight in, and rush to the entrance of the valley on the back side before Han Sui's army arrives, and block and intercept Han Sui's upcoming reinforcements, by cutting off Han Sui's reinforcements With the connection with the grain transport team, Sun Jian can concentrate his forces to launch an attack on the grain transport team in the valley, and destroy the grain to the greatest extent. In this way, Han Sui's army who has lost the food supply will immediately fall into a crisis of food shortage middle.

And because of the narrow intersection in the rear, Han Sui's reinforcements could not give full play to their advantages in strength. Instead, there would be a certain degree of chaos due to the high probability of food and grass being burned. At that time, Sun Jianjun might still have a chance Taking advantage of the decline in the morale of Han Sui's troops, covering up the killing at this point can also cause a lot of damage to Han Sui's main force.

Even if Sun Jian's troops were still unable to defeat Han Sui's reinforcements in the end, their goal had been achieved and they could retreat directly. It was difficult for Han Sui to pursue Sun Jian when everyone was cavalry.

The prerequisite for all this to happen is that Sun Jian's troops must break through the defense of the food transport team as soon as possible, and both Sun Jian's army and Han Sui's reinforcements must race against time. Take your chance.

When Sun Jian led his army to the front of the battle, after listening to the report of the spies on the surrounding terrain, he was very experienced in the battlefield, and he quickly realized the key to the success of this battle, so when he saw the guards in the narrow When the intersection is heavily defended, it is determined to rush through this layer of defense as soon as possible at all costs.

Both the second grain transport team and the first grain transport team have carried out defenses relying on terrain, but their strategic value is very different. The first grain transport team has just set off from Chencang City. The main force transported to Han Sui still had a long way to go, so whether to eliminate them immediately had little effect on whether Han Sui's troops could obtain food supplies in the short term.

And the second grain transportation team is about to join Han Sui's main force. If Han Sui's main force can get this supply of grain and grass, then they can alleviate the crisis of food shortage, and then take advantage of the trend to attract superior forces to go west again. , then whether it is the first grain transport team or Chencang, it is very difficult not to be recaptured by Han Sui's main force.

Sun Jian rushed to the forefront, shouting loudly on the horse, and the cavalry behind him followed. The terrain was used to make several layers of refusal horses, and soldiers with spears were arranged between the refusal horses.

Sun Jian rushed forward, but the horse under his crotch was unwilling to move forward, and the spear in the gap immediately stabbed at him. Sun Jian pulled out the long knife at his waist and cut off the thrusting spear, but soon there was another The spear stabbed from other directions, followed by bows and crossbows. Sun Jian's horse under the crotch was shot in the eye by the crossbow. above.

And Sun Jian was also thrown off his horse, and the other cavalry behind him and around him also encountered difficulties. The cavalry he brought were mainly light cavalry, and they had advantages in mobility. With such a tight defense, these light cavalry are very limited in impact, and it is difficult to form enough pressure on the defender's position.

After Sun Jian fell from his horse, he had to retreat. It didn't take long for Sun Jian's first wave of attack to be considered a complete failure. The lieutenant general gave Sun Jian an idea, saying that he could go around to the mountains on both sides, and then charge down from the hillside, so that this intersection could be bypassed.

But Sun Jian vetoed this idea, because the roads up the mountain on both sides are not easy to walk, and it is difficult for infantry to walk up, not to mention riding a horse to go up the mountain. In addition, it takes a long time to go up the mountain. When we were on the hillside, Han Sui's reinforcements had already arrived, and it was hard to say that the defenders of the food transport team would not have taken precautions early on. The number of troops under his command was limited. up.

Soon Sun Jian led the army to launch a second round of onslaught on the intersection again, but the result was still similar to the first time. It was very difficult for the light cavalry to forcibly break through the narrow intersection that had been closely guarded in advance. Even if they want to use crowd tactics and rush over at all costs, the narrow intersection will make it impossible for the attacker to use it.

As the saying goes, one man is in charge of the gate, and ten thousand men are not open. Although this intersection is not so powerful, the advantage on the defensive end is indeed relatively large.

Sun Jian, who had a bad nose again, was completely annoyed, and he didn't care about 21. He also agreed to the tactic that he had just denied before, and was going to divide his troops to go out, detour to both sides of the upper valley, looking for opportunities to rush into the valley .

(End of this chapter)