Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 516 Junzhengjiangqi
And the armored infantry arrived, almost sweeping the battlefield. Twenty to thirty thousand Wei soldiers were driven across the mountains and plains by more than ten thousand Han infantry. Cao Xiu, under the cover of his trusted infantry, fled towards the road he came from before.

Cao Xiu was favored by Cao Cao since he was a child, so he developed a conceited character. When he first reached a high position, he was eager to make achievements. Now that the defeat is certain, and he has lost face, it is useless to shout that he will die and go to the national disaster, so Cao Xiu is more pragmatic.

When fleeing, Cao Xiu did not forget to take Part 1 with him.

Buqu was often the lifeblood of military commanders in the troubled times of the late Han Dynasty, and they were often supported by military commanders, just like servants in the Ming Dynasty. When the army is defeated, preserving one's troops is more important than anything else. After all, ordinary and worthless miscellaneous soldiers were killed and wounded, so it was not difficult to recruit a group of subordinates to fight in the country.

And Cao Xiu could see that the Han army had fewer cavalry and more foot soldiers, so it could only defeat him, but could not annihilate his own army. Now, if you keep your troops, retreat to the rear, and organize your troops and horses, you can protect your army as much as possible.

In line-up fighting, it is not necessary for one side to win and capture all its troops. Instead, the losing side will cause a great rout. The winner must pursue or encircle the enemy to kill or capture the enemy on a large scale.

Nowadays, because the infantry marched in a hurry to rush to the ambush battlefield, and some infantry fell behind, in order to reorganize the army and seize the abandoned baggage, most of them were pursued by Han cavalry.

So Cao Xiu led his followers, whipped his horses, and ran towards the water, swamp and vegetation areas. Due to their weak armor and weak strength, the Han army's light cavalry did not dare to deal with the large number of Wei soldiers who fled together. They were divided into teams of dozens or hundreds, and scattered in the fields to intercept and capture the fleeing Wei soldiers.

Outflanking on both sides, intercepting the cavalry and shooting, the Han cavalry dealt with the Wei infantry as if hunting. Normally, when the Wei soldiers saw the Han cavalry in such a formation, they would immediately kneel down and raise their hands to surrender, or they would disperse and flee into the wilderness.

The Han cavalry who had achieved victory either stayed behind to guard the spoils and waited for the following infantry to follow; or some of the cavalry pursued them under the command of the general.

"General, will the water thieves still pursue you?" Wei Zu, who was still in shock, asked.

As night fell, the defeated soldiers of the Wei army scattered in the wilderness slowly gathered towards Cao Xiu's location through the use of golden drums, flags, bonfires, riding orders and other tools. After gathering some troops, Cao Xiu gathered four to five thousand cavalry and defeated them.

All the baggage was abandoned, there was no tent to keep out the cold, no dried meat to eat, and no sheet to cover. Fortunately, in the summer, you can stay overnight without a tent or sheet. He just didn't have much food and grass with him, so the Wei soldiers needed to find a way.

In order to maintain his demeanor, Cao Xiu cheered up and shouted to the left and right: "Put up the flag so that the scattered soldiers can see it."

"promise!"

This Han army was flying the 'Xu' flag, and it was obviously Xu Sheng, the Han general who had been defeated many times before. On Huo Jun's order, before the ambush was defeated, he circled back in advance and rushed to encircle the Wei army that was retreating from here.

"Why are the Han troops here?" the attendant said in shock and speechlessness.

I fled for most of the day, from dusk to evening.

Cao Xiu's judgment was accurate.

Cao Xiu tried his best to regain his former vigor and said: "The plain is vast, and the thieves have few cavalry but many steps. Now that they have marched here, the thieves have stopped pursuing and have gathered the defeated troops on the spot."

At the same time, Huo Jun considered the two armies of Zang and Lu in the north. In order to avoid dividing his troops too much and being taken advantage of by them, Huo Jun did not dare to let go of his hands and feet to pursue them.

He didn't know how long he had been on the run, but as the sun set in the west and it was dusk, Cao Xiu walked to the edge of the forest and could already see with the naked eye the remains of yesterday's camp. However, just when Cao Xiu wanted to lead his troops to the Yi stronghold to rest, he saw that a Han army had been stationed there.

In order to avoid being captured by the Han army, Cao Xiu observed the terrain and quickly passed through the streams and shrubs. Fortunately, the Han army's attention was attracted by the defeated Wei army. Cao Xiu managed to get behind the Han army and fled to the west. .

Cao Xiu, on the other hand, was galloping, surrounded by his troops, crossing a small stream and heading towards a densely wooded area, gradually moving away from the pursuit range of the Han cavalry.

"Light a bonfire to attract sergeants from all departments."

Cao Xiu walked for an unknown amount of time until he came to a stream and saw traces of his troops who had crossed the river before. He looked around and saw no large-scale Han troops, so he finally felt relieved.

"Not anymore!"

Cao Xiu couldn't care less about blaming his attendant for his mistake. He could only sigh loudly. Huo Jun really wanted to torture him to death.

Cao Xiu stood at the edge of the forest and could see his defeated troops who had been running for a long time. Facing the Han army that appeared in front, they either knelt down and surrendered due to exhaustion, or sneaked into the woods and trees to escape. No one had the courage to fight with the Han army. The army fights and fights.

His spirit was no longer tense, and as the excitement disappeared, Cao Xiu was engulfed by fatigue, and his hands and feet were slightly sore.

The Han army will definitely not pursue them again. The four thousand cavalrymen are fighting hard and attacking, plus the pursuit troops, they are already tired. The infantry rushed to the ambush battlefield. Facing the Wei soldiers who abandoned their armor and supplies, it was difficult to pursue them.

By the bonfire, Cao Xiu ate dry biscuits, drank water from the bag, and swallowed as much of the dry biscuits as possible.

Hearing the frustrated sighs of the sergeants under the tent and the sighs of defeat, Cao Xiu felt particularly uncomfortable.

Looking back on his military experience, he really couldn't see where his mistakes were. Could it be that he made a mistake in pursuing Xu Sheng, or that the news about Dayi Mountain Liangzhai was false? Huo Jun deliberately released the news, leading him to send troops deeper.

Now that he has been defeated, then if the Qing and Xu soldiers who received his letter and led their elite soldiers to go south follow the plan and did not discover the Han army's arrangement, wouldn't it be impossible to escape destruction?
However, our actual military strength is far greater than that of Huo Jun. The reason for the defeat today is simply that we dispersed our troops. In the future, if we gather a large army and use troops as a team, and do not let Huo Jun use clever tactics, there may not be no hope of victory.

Cavalry, how can China be so powerful that it can be inferior to the Han army in frontal combat?
While Cao Xiu was thinking wildly, suddenly in the night ahead, there was the sound of cavalry galloping, and there was an orange firelight.

"Enemy attack?"

This unusual movement frightened all the Wei troops present. They ran for most of the day, thinking they could escape, but unexpectedly there were still most of the enemy troops.

Cao Xiu looked around. Everyone had horror and frustration on their faces, and he was also a little scared.

"General, what should I do?" asked the servant without a master.

Cao Xiu subconsciously grabbed the reins, looked around at the dark night, and said: "When the enemy comes with few soldiers, attack them with all your strength. If the enemy has a large number of soldiers, they break through at night."

Just kidding, he can't be banned. Not only was Yu Jin defeated, he was also ridiculed by everyone in Cao Wei for surrendering. If he is captured by the Han, he might as well commit suicide!

"嘘嘚~"

A cavalryman galloped out of the night, holding the banner of the Wei army, and shouted: "Are you the sergeant of General Zhengdong in front of you?"

At Cao Xiu's signal, he rode out from the cavalry and replied: "May I ask who your army is?" Hearing this, the cavalryman happily replied: "We are under the command of Jia, the governor of Yuzhou. I heard that the general is going deep into the army. , I am afraid that the army will be lost, so I sent troops and horses to help."

"Prince Jia?"

Seeing the reinforcements coming, the defeated soldiers of the Wei army beside the campfire became overjoyed and waved to greet them. After receiving the news that Cao Xiu's defeated army was at the front, all the horsemen stepped forward to share the food they carried with the defeated soldiers.

Both sides were happy when the defeated army and the reinforcements joined together. Only Cao Xiu found out that it was Jia Kui who sent troops to help, with a cold face and a depressed heart.

"Where is Governor Jia?"

Cao Xiu grabbed the leading general Wang Sheng and asked.

Wang Sheng didn't know why Cao Xiu was displeased, so he lowered his head and said, "General, Governor Jia led us across the river to plunder Huainan. We heard that Huo Jun led his army to Huaibei. The general divided his troops and went deep. I'm afraid the general made a mistake. Governor Jia changed his name to Military order, lead troops to Sikou as a reserve."

Cao Xiu snorted coldly and said, "Jia Kui disobeyed the army's orders and insisted on sending troops south to raid Huainan. The current defeat at the hands of Huo Jun should be Jia Kui's fault for disobeying orders."

Hearing that Cao Xiu blamed Jia Kui for the defeat, Wang Sheng was angry but did not dare to speak. He could only respond in silence and did not dare to answer.

Seeing that Wang Sheng did not answer, Cao Xiu asked, "How many troops do you have?"

"Ride three hundred!"

Cao Xiu instructed Wang Sheng and said in a deep voice: "Our troops are tired and our sergeants have been separated. Now we should lead our cavalry to disperse and search for the remaining soldiers and horses for our army."

"promise!"

Seeing that Cao Xiu was defeated and still so arrogant, Wang Sheng was dissatisfied, but due to Cao Xiu's power, he could only obey his orders.

Not to mention Cao Xiu's desire to blame Jia Kui for the defeat, the victorious Han army rested on the spot and prepared for tomorrow's battle.

By capturing Cao Xiu's subordinates, Huo Jun learned that Zang and Lu might send troops south to let the infantry and cavalry involved in the battle rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle. The remaining soldiers and horses swept the battlefield and guarded the dejected Wei prisoners.

Today, the heavy and light cavalry defeated the Wei army, and four thousand infantry and cavalry pursued it for dozens of miles. Xu Sheng also circled back to intercept and intercept, beheading more than two thousand people, capturing six to seven thousand people, and annihilating one-third of the Wei army.

More than 3,000 baggage vehicles were seized in this battle, and Cao Xiu almost consumed all the supplies Xiahou Dun had accumulated since he guarded Shouchun.

As for the losses of the Han army, there were thousands of casualties on foot and cavalry. Among them, there were more than 500 to 600 cavalry casualties, and 700 to 800 war horses were lost. Most of the cavalry losses were caused by Huo You's greed for merit.

In the military camp, Huo Junzheng and Jiang Ji inspected each tent.

Huo Jun moved with his sword and said: "After receiving the news of the prisoners, Cao Xiu ordered Zang and Lu to go south with their elite troops. Now we have defeated Cao Xiu first and destroyed one of the three men. If we can defeat Qing and Xu Bing again, not only can we If you go to Licheng County, you can also plot to go to Picheng."

Jiang Ji thought for a while and said: "If we can defeat the enemy and win tomorrow, Xia Licheng County will not be a problem. Ji Wei is worried that the bandit army has not been completely wiped out. picture."

Huo Jun showed no concern and said, "If we can win a great victory in this battle, our army will overwhelm Xu Huai, and the bandits will be defeated repeatedly by me. They will be frightened by the power. Our army will encircle Xiapi. How dare you rescue them?"

"Your Majesty's troops entered Guanzhong. The Wei court was frightened and shaken. Most of the thieves were in Guanxi. If Cao Pi wanted to send troops and horses from various states to help, it would take as little as one month or as long as two months. I think it can be done in two months to conquer Xiapi. !”

This time the Northern Expedition was restrained by Liu Bei, and the Cao Wei army put less pressure on Huo Jun. Under such circumstances, Huo Jun naturally aimed at the important town of Xiapi. If he can't make a contribution, wouldn't it be a pity for Liu Bei to send troops this time.

The most common method of using troops in the Northern Expedition was to use multiple troops. The purpose was to contain the main army along the way and fight for the partial army along the way.

During the Chu-Han War, the cooperation between Liu and Han was almost perfect. Liu Bang contained Xiang Yu's army in Xingyang, and Han Xin sent out surprise troops to sweep through the countries in Hebei.

In three years, Liu and Han worked perfectly together to put an end to the chaos of the late Qin Dynasty.

It can be said that the success of the Western Han Dynasty was inseparable from the confrontation between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, and also from Han Xin's achievements in sweeping Hebei.

Now Liu Bei and Huo Jun finally had a decent cooperation, unlike the previous embarrassing Shouchun Northern Expedition. Huo Jun believed that if there could be another Northern Expedition like this, conquering Henan would be just around the corner.

Jiang Ji thought as he walked and said: "In this way, in tomorrow's battle we should first defeat his army, then quickly conquer Zang and Lu, and then attack Pi City."

"good!"

The two of them walked to Huo Du's military camp and saw Huo Du scolding Huo Youzhi.

Seeing this, Jiang Ji stroked his beard and said, "Brother Bo Chong is very strict with his son!"

Huo Jun smiled and said: "My brother often says that if a father does not speak, a son will not be able to do anything. His family affairs are not military affairs, so it is inconvenient for me to ask more questions."

Huo Youzhi was greedy for merit and suffered many losses to his cavalry. Because Huo Jun's nephew was young and the battle was a big victory, Huo Jun did not punish him. He only explained the relationship in detail to him and asked him to pay attention.

Huo Du didn't have such a good temper as Huo Jun. Instead, he picked up Huo Youzhi, cursed him, and ordered him to take care of the cavalry who were injured or killed because of him.

The reason why Huo Du was angry was not only because the cavalry was precious, but every horse died, and the training of the riders took several years. It was more due to Huo You's greed for merit and the casualties caused by the general's fault, which Huo Du could not tolerate.

"That's fine!"

Jiang Ji sighed slightly and said: "Brother Bo Chong's words are reasonable, and he teaches his children well, but my son is arrogant and luxurious, and is far inferior to him!"

Although Jiang Ji was a great talent, the Qi family was not good at educating their children. His son is about to reach adulthood, but he is arrogant, angry and rude, so it is not difficult for him to take on big responsibilities.

"Have a good rest, there will be a big battle tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)