Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, just want to die

Chapter 709: Crossing the River for a Decisive Battle
Compared with Ma Su, Liu Yin was a bystander who saw things more clearly and quickly understood Sima Shi's plan.

He was trying to lead the Han army to the north bank of Baimadu with the attitude of decisive battle. In this way, the Han army's attention would be drawn here and they would have no time to care about other things.

The Wei army only retreated 15 miles, and basically could not move too many troops. In other words, the size of the Han army that crossed the river to the north bank was already limited.

In this way, 50,000 troops could not only contain more than 100,000 Han troops, but also weaken the numerical advantage of the Han army.

Overall, very insidious!
Liu Yin's reminder also made Ma Su notice this. He looked at the map carefully and suddenly realized,
"I see... Did they include me in their plan? Master Sima's plan has something interesting to it."

"Yes, this person is indeed difficult to deal with." Liu Yin also nodded, stroking his chin and analyzing,
"But fortunately, overall, the problem is not serious. As long as we don't fall into his trap and continue to force the entire army to cross the Yellow River, even if Sima Shi..."

"That won't do! Since Sima Shi has given up his place, how can I not go over and give him a beating myself?" Before Liu Yin could finish his words, Ma Su directly rejected his proposal and said with a smile.

"Anyway, we are now in an advantageous position, so why should we be afraid of Sima Shi? We can just cross Baimajin and station part of our forces on the north bank to defeat Sima Shi squarely!"

"This time, I must not only defeat Sima Shi head-on, but also destroy the last bit of morale of his troops!"

Looking at the excited expression of his general, Liu Yin suddenly understood the real power of Sima Shi's plan.

He knew his general's character too well. Even if he saw through Ma Su, he would still take the initiative to stick to him...

After all, although Ma Su is no longer as energetic as he was in the past, he still likes to pursue excitement. Moreover, the Han army is now in a great advantage, so Ma Su will naturally not miss this crucial opportunity to commit suicide.

This is a conspiracy against them...

Liu Yin's mouth twitched a few times, but he still took the order obediently. Command was always the general's job, so he just had to obey orders and fight.

However, after Liu Yin left, Ma Su put away his previous excitement. He calmly looked at the location of Baimadu on the map again and murmured leisurely.

"Master Sima, I am very optimistic about your final fight... Don't let me down. The stability of the Han Dynasty's rule in Guandong depends entirely on you!"

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Two days after the Wei army retreated, the Han army launched a large-scale river crossing.

As expected by Sima Shi, the Shu army did not cross the river in many places. Except for some troops, most of the Han army began to shrink the battle line and gather towards Baimajin.

In the following days, Sima Shi watched as tens of thousands of Shu troops crossed the Yellow River and set up camp with their backs to the river. Ma Su's iconic flag also arrived at the north bank with the army.

At this point, Sima Shi breathed a sigh of relief. At least before his decisive battle, the Han army would not break through his defense line.

Even if the Han army later changed its mind and wanted to readjust its deployment, this back and forth bought the Wei army a lot of time.

"The next step is to deploy carefully and delay the time as long as possible." Sima Shi shook his head slightly and said to himself.

Of course, although this is the case, it is not easy to stop Ma Su head-on. Since the battle in Guanzhong, countless Cao Wei veterans have tried various methods, but none of them can do anything to Ma Su, and they have lost more miserably each time.

Therefore, it was absolutely impossible to stop Ma Su here by simply building a high fortress without fighting. Therefore, after some thought, Sima Shi immediately made a decision.

Since deep trenches and high fortifications are useless, why not just go up and fight a decisive battle with the Han army!
Sima Shi then issued an order for the entire army to rest for a few days and then make an appointment with the Han army for a decisive battle a few days later!
When these words came out, all the generals were unable to understand. If it weren't for Sima Shi's high authority and strict military discipline, I'm afraid some generals would have disobeyed his orders long ago.

Sima Shi's challenge was quickly sent to Ma Su, who naturally wanted it very much. He immediately approved it and ordered the Han army to prepare for battle.

After the soldiers of both sides had their fill of food, rest and preparation, the day of the decisive battle came a few days later.

The Wei army dispatched almost all of its 40,000 troops. Sima Shi personally took command and led the troops to line up in front of the Han army camp.

Ma Su's army was limited in the number of people crossing the river, so he sent out a total of 30,000 Han troops. Liu Yin commanded the left wing, Jiang Wei and Zhang Yi commanded the right wing, and Ma Su personally led the central army to fight.

The deployment of both sides was basically standard, without much change. They formed infantry squares, with cavalry on both sides as reserves.

However, what surprised Ma Su was that Sima Shi brought a total of 5,000 cavalry this time. All of these 5,000 cavalry were equipped with stirrups, horseshoes and high-bridge saddles, and all of them were transformed into light cavalry.

Moreover, as a veteran general who had been through many battles, Ma Su could tell at a glance that the cavalry of the Wei army was not simple. They were basically elite cavalry from Youzhou who had been fighting against Goguryeo and Wuhuan in Youzhou, Liaodong for many years, and were comparable to the Xiliang cavalry of the Han army.

"It seems that the Wei army has reacted. It seems that our cavalry advantage is not that great." Ma Su sighed slightly, but did not care too much.

He had never expected to stay ahead by relying on just a few technologies. In fact, he thought that it was too slow for the Wei army to complete the cavalry upgrade just now.

Originally, they were supposed to fight with me in the Central Plains, but they didn't upgrade until now. I can only say that in the feudal dynasty era, any reform was not as simple as imagined.

"Beat the drums! March! Let us see how much Sima Shi has improved during his three years of recuperation in Hebei!"

After Ma Su finished his sigh, he immediately issued the order to march forward. Along with the melodious sound of the horn, the sound of war drums in the Han army began to sound.

Not long after the Han army's war drums sounded, the Wei army's war drums also began to sound. In the tense atmosphere, the soldiers of both sides also began to move to the beat of the drums.

The crucial decisive battle of the Northern Expedition in Hebei officially began.

On the north bank of Baimadu, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses charged forward driven by the sound of war drums. A bloody battle that was destined to be tragic finally broke out the moment the troops of both sides met!

"kill!!"

"For the country!"

"You can't pass!"

In this battle, the soldiers on both sides are risking their lives, and no one will be idle.

After all, both the Han and Wei armies were very clear about the importance of this battle. Everyone knew how serious the consequences would be if they lost this battle, so the soldiers of both sides wanted to fight to the death.

And at the front of the Wei army, Sima Shi personally rushed to the front with a spear!

"You old thief Ma Su! I'm here to take your life!"

(End of this chapter)