Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 524 518. Tigers and Leopards Arrive

As Man Chong had expected, Feng Xi led the Han army's main camp forward that day and set up camp less than ten miles away from Wancheng.

However, what surprised Man Chong was that Feng Xi did not seem to disperse his troops and start besieging the city. Instead, he looked like he was ready for battle.

"It seems that the Han army has great intelligence."

Man Chong naturally thought of the reason. If the Han army knew that the Wei army would soon have 30,000 cavalry to support them, the Wei army would definitely not hold out.

Throughout history, there has never been a case of heavy cavalry defending a city. Even if they were to open the gate and launch a surprise attack in the middle of a fierce battle, it would be a waste of their resources.

To put it bluntly, if 30,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry arrived and combined with the remaining Wei troops in Wancheng, it would not be a problem to defeat Feng Xi's army in a field battle.

Therefore, Feng Xi must have known about this possibility, which is why he concentrated his troops to prevent being defeated one by one by the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

This was indeed the case. After the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry set out from Luoyang, Feng Xi received a letter from Jiang Ling. Because carrier pigeons were not as convenient as radio or telegraph, the information from Luoyang could only be passed to Jiang Ling first, and then Jiang Ling passed it on to him.

Feng Xi also knew that these Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were probably the wealth accumulated by Cao Wei. It was said that only those who were at the level of a hundred-man general in the army were qualified to be selected as a soldier in the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry; and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were equipped with the most sophisticated equipment, and both the training and the quality of the soldiers were definitely at the top level of Cao Wei.

However, Feng Xi was not too afraid. He had prepared many things specifically to deal with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. He even deliberately held back in the battle of Wancheng in the past few days, and only used conventional weapons to fight the Wei army, just to give the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry a surprise.

Man Chong is a cautious person. If he shows his strength too early, the other side may become conservative in the use of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Then Feng Xi really has no good way to deal with this tortoise tactic. He can only fight against it, but the Han army will definitely suffer heavy casualties by then.

Feng Xi would naturally not be too merciful, but he still hoped to avoid losses as much as possible.

After the Han army moved their camp, they began to dig trenches everywhere, just like they did in the Battle of Xiangfan, which was obviously to defend against the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Of course, Man Chong could not hide this information, and he did not seem to have many ways to deal with it for a while, so he could only wait for reinforcements to arrive before discussing it.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry from Luoyang arrived very quickly. From the time Man Chong asked for help, it took less than ten days for them to reach Wancheng. This was considered normal considering the time it took to mobilize troops, supplies, and messengers.

"General Man, His Majesty has ordered me to come and assist you in the defense of Wancheng and defeat the Han army."

In the Wancheng prefectural government residence, a young man in his thirties with sharp eyebrows, sharp eyes, a fair face and no beard bowed to Man Chong.

This person is Cao Yan, the son of Cao Chun, the founder and commander of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

Speaking of those who died young in Cao Wei, there was the genius Guo Fengxiao in literature and Cao Chun in military affairs.

Two years after the Battle of Red Cliff, Cao Chun died young at the age of 40, still in his prime. After the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry lost its commander, Cao Cao led it himself at first, but later Cao Zhen, the current general, was favored by Cao Cao, so Cao Cao simply let Cao Zhen lead the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry for a while.

Later, when Cao Zhen became more capable, he was sent out. After working under Cao Ren and being transferred to Guanzhong, he is now the general and governor of Guanzhong, which can be considered a complete success.

After the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Cao Xiu and Cao Yan came to the present. "General Cao has been traveling for a long time, you should take a rest first. The Han army is stationed south of Wancheng, and it seems that they have been wary of you and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry for a long time. I think we should be careful."

Man Chong asked Cao Yan to sit down first, as his opinion was still relatively conservative.

"What are you talking about, Commander Man? I, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, followed Emperor Wu in his conquests, defeated Yuan Shao, killed Yuan Tan, chased Liu Bei, and defeated the Wuhuan. How could I be afraid?"

Cao Yan's face straightened. He was also full of pride for the glorious history of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Now Man Chong's words implied that they should be cautious, which was tantamount to an insult to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, which had always fought hard battles and acted as the spearhead.

"General Cao, you don't know that General Zi Xiao once fought with that kid Feng Xi. According to him, the Han army under Feng Xi seemed to be on guard against our Wei cavalry. At that time, they used a tactic of filling the ditch with kerosene and lighting it to form a fire wall to separate the cavalry and infantry. At the same time, they also used a kind of small nail that would be thrown on the ground and one side would face up to pierce the horses' feet to deal with the charge of our cavalry."

Man Chong told Cao Yan all the tactics used by the Han army in those days as if he knew them all by heart. Cao Yan frowned and thought for a moment, then soon began to laugh.

"Governor Man, this is easy. First of all, as for the small nails you mentioned, the horses can wrap cushioning materials on their hooves so that the nails cannot completely pierce the horseshoes. As for the flame trenches, it is even simpler. As long as our army does not deliberately approach them or let them burn out before charging, won't we be able to rest easy?"

Cao Yan was also a second-generation general of Cao Wei, and he had some understanding of these military strategies and battle formations. In his opinion, these two methods were not difficult to break, especially the ditches and fire walls, which were too restricted by the terrain. The Han army couldn't just dig wherever they went, right?

"Commander-in-chief, the Han army shot several letters into the city."

Just as the two continued to discuss how to consume the trenches and kerosene in front of the Han army camp, suddenly a soldier came in with several arrows wrapped in silk, on which was a declaration of war written by Feng Xi.

In the letter of challenge, Feng Xi stated that he knew about the arrival of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. He also knew that Cao Cao had used the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to chase Liu Bei all the way to Changbanpo in Xinye in the past, and that he had many new and old grudges with the Han Dynasty.

Feng Xi believed that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were no longer as strong as they used to be, and that the Han army was much stronger than when it was confined to Xinye, so he specifically invited the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to fight, and the location was on the plain southwest of Wancheng.

"There is a trick."

Man Chong instinctively felt that something was wrong. Normally, anyone with a normal brain would know that if infantry faced cavalry on the plains, they would definitely be defeated and routed. Feng Xi was able to be the Grand Commander, so he was definitely not a fool. But now he actually dared to take the initiative to challenge the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. There was definitely something wrong.

"Haha, don't worry, Commander. I have studied the Han army, especially the Jingzhou army's tactics. The Jingzhou army mainly uses bows and crossbows. I'm afraid Feng Xi is imitating the idea of ​​the battle of Jieqiao in the past."

It turned out that in the Battle of Jie Bridge in the past, Yuan Shao's general Ju Yi used powerful crossbows to shoot Gongsun Zan's light cavalry into a defeat. Now that the Han army's bows and crossbows were sharp, Cao Yan thought that the Han army would naturally want to copy them.

"But Feng Xi only has a partial understanding. In the past, Gongsun Zan's subordinates were all light cavalry, which were not resistant to arrows. But all members of my Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are covered in armor, and even the horses are covered in chain mail. How can we be compared with Gongsun Zan?"

Cao Yan sneered. In his opinion, Feng Xi would definitely fall flat on his face if he tried to follow suit.

(End of this chapter)