Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 430 Sheep entering tiger’s mouth

Since Cao Ren decided to raise his army, he went upstream along the Han River and reached Gucheng. Then we took the Zhushui Valley Road and headed towards Fangling County.

The water-building valley road is a riverside path washed out by water in the mountains. However, due to the steepness of Daba Mountain, the road in the valley is very winding and circuitous, sometimes hundreds of miles away.

In September, Cao Ren marched for several days and entered Zhushui from Gucheng. The whole army marched along the river bank, and ordered the scouts to set off to Shangyong in advance, telling Mengda that he had entered the Zhushui Valley Road and would reach Fangling in the near future.

Along the way, with Shen Yi as the vanguard guide, Cao Ren marched very fast and did not dare to waste time for fear that Meng Da's uprising would not succeed.

Around mid-September, the Wei army, which was marching along the west bank of Zhushui, finally arrived at Mankou after more than ten days of marching.

Mankou is the mouth of the river that feeds Zhushui into the tributary of Manshui. It is about a hundred miles from Mankou to Fangling County.

The tributary of Manshui flows in from the south bank of Zhushui. This section of the river shows a 'C' shape, with continuous trees on both sides and gentle mountains. From Mankou to the west, you can reach Fangling City by marching for two or three days.

However, when Cao Ren was riding on horseback, his mind was dreaming of making great achievements.

Suddenly, the officers and soldiers of Cao's army looked from a distance and saw unusual changes in the forest at Mankou. Countless birds were frightened and could not hover for a long time; hares and animals were frightened and scurried among each other in the forest; smoke and dust were raised by the footsteps of people and horses. Gradually it floats in the wind.

Seeing that the situation in the Mankou forest was abnormal, Shen Yi, the vanguard, ordered the sergeant to stop and wait for the return of the scouts in front.

The army stopped, and the situation in front was abnormal, which made Cao Ren feel bad.

Along the side of the queue, Cao Ren rode up and asked, "What's going on?"

"do not know!"

Shen Yi looked worried and said, "Birds are everywhere, smoke is filling the air, and there seems to be a large number of people in the forest ahead?"

Cao Ren looked bad and shouted: "Let Deng Xian come and speak quickly!"

"General, Deng Xian went out to relieve himself and has not returned yet!" the attendant replied.

"Send people to search for Deng Xian quickly!"

Before Cao Ren finished his urgent words, he heard the sound of horse hooves coming from afar.

"Urgent report!"

The scouts sent earlier rushed over and said loudly: "General, there are a large number of enemy troops in the forest ahead. Looking at the flag array, they should be most of the elite water thieves."

"Report!"

Another scout came back and shouted: "The enemy's official document is "Guan", which is written as General Zuo, the governor of Nanjun. There are also "Liu", "Meng", "Zhao" and other generals, and the coming ones are not good."

"Didn't Guan Yu fall ill and return to Wuhan to recuperate?" Shen Yi exclaimed.

"Little man!"

Cao Ren's face turned red with anger, and he cursed loudly: "Mengda is a thief, he is so insidious and treacherous, how dare you deceive me like this. If I don't kill him, it will be difficult for me to vent my hatred."

When things have reached this point, if Cao Ren does not understand the current situation, his battles over the years will be in vain. If it is as previously speculated, Meng Da Xianjun pretended to surrender in order to deceive him into going to war.

As for the last letter, instead of being afraid of being transferred, it was clearly because he was worried that he would not be able to satisfy himself. Therefore, he is tempted to go deep alone so that he can deal with himself more easily.

Cao Ren couldn't help but think of Cao Cao's decree, and Cao Ren was ashamed.

Shen Yi looked panicked and asked: "Meng Da planned a false surrender, and Guan Yu's pro-government army met him. What should we do now? Should we lead the army to retreat?"

"Snapped!"

Cao Ren whipped Shen Yi in the face and said angrily: "The Jingzhou army is here, what is there to be afraid of? Do you know that if we withdraw our troops now, our army will be defeated."

"Guan Yu is an old man. I have wanted to defeat him for a long time. Going to fight now is just as I want!"

Cao Ren galloped forward and shouted: "The enemy is ahead, the whole army is arrayed to fight."

"promise!"

Cao Ren has been using troops for so many years, how could he not know what kind of chain reaction it would cause if he withdraws his troops now.

When an army marches, it usually moves forward in a queue that stretches for several miles. If we withdraw our troops now, it won't be as simple as changing from the front team to the rear team. Once the march is uneven and pursued by the enemy, the Wei army marching in the narrow valley will trigger a chain rout, and one's own soldiers will suffer heavy casualties.

Now Cao Ren could only hold off Guan Yu's fierce attack for the time being, and then think about withdrawing his troops.

Under Cao Ren's command, the golden drums of the Chinese army sounded loudly and the flags flew. Amid the urging shouts from the generals, the Wei soldiers lined up under the banner of their own army. Then the officer ordered the spearmen, sword and shield men, and archers to arrange them in order according to the training arrangements.

The Wei army behaved like this, which shows that Cao Ren's statement that they were elite soldiers was not an exaggeration.

Guan Yu stationed his horse on a gentle slope. When he saw Cao Ren advancing instead of retreating, he stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "Cao Ren fell into the trap and advanced like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth. Now that we know that our army is well prepared, yet we rely on our courage and do not retreat. This is why It’s self-destruction!”

"I ordered the three armies of Liuzan, Zhao Lei and Mengda to advance together, and ordered Guan Ping to lead his cavalry to the side of the formation and defeat Cao Ren."

"promise!"

The armies of Han and Wei met on the west bank of Zhushui. To the east was the winding Zhushui, and to the west was the undulating mountainous forest area.

Cao Ren ordered Fu Fang, the governor of Nanxiang, to seize the high point on the gentle slope in the west, and fiercely deployed Niu Jin's elite troops in the front, while most of them slowly formed in the rear.

The two armies encountered each other in a hurry, and many of the sergeants who followed were unprepared. In order to avoid a major defeat now, Cao Ren could only rely on Niu Jin's bravery, cooperate with the depth of the army, and use the thickness of the lineup to block Guan Yu's attack.

If you look down from the air at this time, you can see that Cao Ren's troops first changed from columns, and then transformed into square formations under the command of the flag. The Han army's infantry and cavalry were already prepared in an orderly manner, arranged in a square formation, and pressed forward menacingly. The wind was freezing and the infantry formation was filled with banners. The sergeants were holding shields, spears, or holding crossbows. The cavalry roaming around followed the formation. Although they were not many in number, they were well equipped with bows and arrows. Crossbows, knives and spears are all available.

Among the 15,000 Han troops, more than 10,000 were elite sergeants from Nanjun. They had been trained by Guan Yu for a long time. They had strict military discipline and strong combat effectiveness. Guan Yu dared to pull out and confront Cao Ren's elite soldiers head-on, which shows how elite these soldiers were.

As the Han and Wei armies continued to approach, several arrows with varying ranges were suddenly fired from the formations of both sides, and they landed in front of the square formation almost at the same time.

"shoot!"

In unison, officers from both sides shouted military orders one after another.

The next moment, there was a sudden sound of breaking through the air, and thousands of arrows shot out from the Han army's formation and fell into the Wei army's formation.

The shields in the front row were raised, accompanied by the sound of arrows hitting the wood. This was part of the arrows being blocked by the shields. However, some arrows also passed over the shield and hit the shield-less but armored crossbow hand. But the arrow was blocked by the armor and had difficulty penetrating the flesh, causing damage.

Since the beginning of human war, almost everyone has been pursuing a long-range war model that does no harm to oneself.

The core reason why the regular army can form a dimensionality-reducing strike against the peasant army lies in crossbows and armor and shields. Most of the bandits lacked elite equipment. They basically used regular army bows and crossbows for a few rounds, which caused a lot of damage to them. They did not need close combat and fled in rout.

Therefore, the words "three arrows" before the battle can be understood in another way. Within three arrows, the enemy will either be shot and exploded, or the enemy will be engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

However, for the elites of the Han and Wei dynasties, it was almost impossible to defeat the opponent with three arrows. During this period, several waves of arrows struck, and there were many screams. However, under the strict military law, neither the Han army nor the Wei army dared to stand still.

A crooked arrow flew in front of him, but Ran Sheng took out his scabbard and swatted it away. Then he raised his head and looked forward, only to see the spearmen in the Wei army's formation stretching their straight spears forward in several rows. The sharp iron spear points are densely packed like a forest of spears, and they emit a cold glow in the midday sun, making people shudder.

"Don't stop!"

Ran Sheng, who joined the countryside as a pavilion chief and the army as a village chief, raised his sword and shouted.

Some Han troops in the front row may have stopped due to fear. Under the pressure of the infantry behind them, they did not dare to stop. They could only keep moving forward and directly confront the Wei army.

"Wan Sheng!"

Ran Sheng shouted in the formation, and the spearmen under his tent stepped forward suddenly, stabbing at their opponents with their spears. The Wei soldiers were not afraid and came forward with their spears in hand.

"kill!"

Dozens of soldiers on both sides of Hanzhong were stabbed to death in a very short period of time amid shouts of killing. They fell to the ground, their bodies like punctured water balloons, blood spurting out of the wounds.

Or there was a Wei army sergeant who was angry after being shot and used a spear to kill his opponent, but he was also stabbed to death by other Han soldiers. Those who are too timid to fight will be stabbed to death by their opponents if they raise their spears too slowly.

In the war, in addition to high-level strategic contests, the two sides fought each other in spear formations, striving to break through the opponent's army and cause the opponent's army to collapse.

In the narrow space, the spear bodies of both sides collided with each other. You poked and I blocked, making a crisp sound caused by the collision.

"Whoosh!"

Ran Sheng held a longbow and used his outstanding archery skills to find enemy bandits in the crowd, so as to deliver a fatal blow and help his men reduce the pressure in front of him.

He sent another arrow and wounded a Wei soldier. Ran Sheng shouted: "The sword and shield are in hand!"

"promise!"

As the war between the two sides became more intense, the front line facing the spears began to waver, and the gap between the two sides became wider and wider. Spearmen who lack flank cover are very dangerous once they are approached by sword and shield soldiers for melee combat. As the commander of a hundred people, Ran Sheng needed to deal with this situation.

Swordsmen and shields surged up from the formation, holding the shields to protect the left and right sides of the spearmen, forming a small-scale cooperation.

The war was still going on, and the fifty arrows on Ran Sheng's body had long been used up. His arms were sore from exerting too much force, and his fingers were trembling slightly.

Looking at the Wei army in front of him who was not retreating at all, Ran Sheng counted the sergeants in the village and couldn't help but secretly complain. This group of Wei soldiers is too difficult to chew. More than a dozen of the soldiers in the camp have died. If they continue to fight, I don’t know how many more people will die.

Little did he know that the sergeants Ran Sheng faced were the troops commanded by Niu Jin, Cao Ren's favorite general. They were well-equipped and were the most powerful soldiers in Jingxiang and Wei.

Niu Jin had high hopes from Cao Ren and could not retreat easily, so he directly led his sergeants to join the battle.

"General Zhou is here!"

Gai or feeling the pressure from the front line, Zhou Cang led his personal guards like Na Niu Jin and went straight into the battle.

Looking at the fighting on the battlefield, Guan Yu squinted his eyes and commented: "The soldiers under Cao Ren's tent are really elite. They don't panic when faced with danger. They can fight hard when facing a battle. If they are lured into fighting, it will be so difficult to defeat Xiangfan!"

"Father, what should we do now?"

Seeing that the situation was tense, Guan Ping asked: "Why don't we send someone to inform General Lu and let him attack the enemy's rear?"

"No!"

Guan Yu stroked his long beard and said: "Ziming's troops are used to intercept and kill the defeated army, how can they be used so easily!"

As he spoke, Guan Yu seemed to have discovered a loophole in Cao Ren's army formation, and pointed out: "Cao Ren hastily set up the formation, and the formations are indescribably close. If you want to defeat his army, you should cut off your wings."

"Come here, I ordered Zhengming to send troops to besiege the enemy's right flank."

"Ping'er, you lead the cavalry out to cover General Liu!"

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)