Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 3474: Difference between Success and Success

Although Xu Chu disturbed Cao Jun's arrangement, the actual attack on the Zhongtiao Mountain camp was not as smooth as imagined.

Cao Jun relied on defensive fortifications to resist, but relied on ordinary swords and guns, which had little effect in destroying those fortifications.

Grenade has limited destructive power and is sometimes not as useful as a tomahawk.

The only way was to attack with fire, but Cao Jun also painted mud on the wall of the stronghold to prevent it from burning for a while.

This is just like when the nomads attack the Chinese fortress, they are often unable to do anything even if there are many people and horses.

Xu Chu led his men to charge twice, demolishing a section of the outer camp wall of Cao Jun, and repelling several waves of counterattacks by Cao Jun soldiers, but they were still blocked by the strong bows and crossbows in the middle circle of Cao Jun.

Fei Qian led his men forward, and when he found Xu Chu, Xu Chu was hit **** the head, threw off his helmet, and wanted to send heavy armored infantry forward to clear the way.

Sima Yi quickly stepped forward to stop Xu Chu and pulled Xu Chu aside to calm down.

Fei Qian squinted his eyes and ignored the murmurs of Sima Yi and Xu Chu, but carefully inspected the Zhongtiao Mountain camp in front of him.

Being close, when looking at Cao Jun's Zhongtiao Mountain Camp, the feeling is completely different from looking at it with a telescope from a distance.

Xu Chu was anxious, and it was understandable. After all, the defense plan of the Zhongtiao Mountain Camp obtained from Lu Chang was time-sensitive. If Cao Jun noticed this problem and changed the layout of the Zhongtiao Mountain Camp, there would be Maybe it's not an offensive help, but a death trap.

The sun hangs in the sky.

Zhongtiao Mountain lies in front.

Cao Jun's Zhongtiao Mountain camp was built on the mountain. It stretches nearly ten miles from east to west, and stretches from the bottom of the mountain to the middle of the mountain in the north-south direction. The village wall is a wooden and earth structure two or three people high. There are sentry towers, arrow stacks, and military forts everywhere. A huge crossbow is looming behind the parapet. , the iron head of the crossbow shone with a dazzling cold light in the sun.

Dust was rising faintly in the mountain road in the distance, and it seemed that some soldiers were being mobilized.

The military camp is very majestic, but the soldiers in the military camp are a little panicked.

In the camp, some Han military flags drooped limply with their heads lowered.

Cao Jun's messengers were busy running around while looking at the hussars. Sometimes they accidentally stepped on the ground and slid down the hillside **** with a bang, falling to a disgraceful face.

Near the gate of the camp, some messy abandoned weapons and torn arrows, together with **** corpses, looked at both sides quietly, as if waiting for the next new companion.

Some of the swords and guns that were missing their heads and tails were still black in color, and the smell of blood seemed to linger on the tip of their noses even from such a distance.

Xu Chu came back again, "Lord..."

Fei Qian nodded, "The more anxious you are, the more chaos you will have...Now that we are waiting, the troops are here. Even if Cao Jun's camp wants to adjust its defenses, it will not be easy..."

This is why Fei Qian still sends troops to attack even if he has doubts.

Only by attacking and suppressing Cao Jun can we force Cao Jun to reveal more omissions. Moreover, once the distance is close, Cao Jun will be under the pressure of hussars and horses no matter what he wants to do. As long as he is seized an opportunity, he can conquer Zhongtiao. Shanda Camp is just a moment away.

"Lord, we lack siege equipment..." Sima Yi said, "Cao's army has strong bows and crossbows in the camp, and we will suffer a great loss..."

When the siege equipment comes up, it will naturally be much easier to fight.

But Fei Qian shook his head and smiled, "Zhongda, don't forget, we have another advantage..."

…

…

Starting that afternoon, the Hussars changed their tactics.

The original attitude of almost chewing it off in one breath and smashing it to death with a hammer was gone, and was replaced by a small knife to cut the flesh.

The Hussars took turns attacking with each brigade and battalion, launching a small-scale attack on the Zhongtiao Mountain camp.

In order to prevent Cao Jun from controlling the rhythm of the Hussars' attack, Fei Qian sent a different number of soldiers each time. Sometimes there were thousands of soldiers at a time, and sometimes there were only dozens of soldiers. The infantry and cavalry were mixed together. Some were armed with ordinary rockets, which could be shot and then ran away, while others were armed with some tools of destruction to eradicate Cao's army's peripheral horse-repelling fortifications...

The large troops waved banners and lined up with strong bows and crossbows to fire, assuming a posture of storming and breaking through. They waited for the enemy's trumpets to sound and lined up to come out of camp to fight, but they were about to get close to them.

Sometimes three or two teams would dispatch with hundreds of cavalry, and a gust of wind would sweep past them. However, they would never engage in fighting with the enemy, and would only surround Cao Jun's camp and harass the stronghold.

The testing time is also irregular. Sometimes there is no movement for a long time. Sometimes one group has just left and another group arrives shortly after. Sometimes there is even a large group of people in the front slowly retreating, while one or two light cavalry on the flank are trying to break through. , when Cao Jun screamed and started to turn around the defensive line, he immediately turned around again.

Cao Jun also wanted to make changes to Yu Feiqian's tactics, but it was difficult...

The difficulty is not the strategy, nor the command, but the execution!

Execution of soldiers.

Although the Hussars had nearly a thousand casualties in total at the Zhongtiao Mountain camp in the early stages, the morale of the Hussars soldiers was obviously not affected.

It's not that the hussars have evolved to the point where they are not afraid of life and death, but Fei Qian's treatment of wounded soldiers and the logistical support for treating casualties have reached the pinnacle of this era, and even surpassed this era.

On the battlefield, everyone knows that swords and guns have no eyesight, and everyone knows that life and death matter, but when you are really injured, you still hope that there is someone around you who will heal you and do everything you can to extend your life, instead of just being like a piece of stinky meat. , thrown into the trash...

Yes, the siege equipment of the Hussars has not yet caught up, but the quality, physical fitness, and mutual cooperation, cover, and coordination of the entire battlefield far exceed that of Cao's soldiers. This is This made Cao's soldiers more and more strenuous in the past two days!

Although the Hussars did not launch a decisive attack on the camp in Zhongtiao Mountain in the past two days, they also got a rough idea of ​​the situation of Cao's army in the middle and outer circles of Zhongtiao Mountain.

The layout of Cao's army is generally consistent with the defense plan presented by Lu Chang.

It has been found that the number of Cao's soldiers stationed at the North Pass on the front of Zhongtiao Mountain is about 4,000, and the number on the two wings has been reduced by half. They are arranged along the Zhongtiao Mountain Road, and the logistics camp is also deep in the mountain road.

There are three or four camps along the way, each with 500 to 1,000 troops stationed.

There are two other small roads that were also cut off by Cao Jun's soldiers. The sentinels could not pass through at all. They could only roughly estimate that there were about a thousand enemies blocking the two roads based on the number of flags and tents.

On the whole, it is similar to the number of ten thousand people mentioned by Lu Chang, but there are some details that do not match up...

In the past two days, Xu Chu and Sima Yi cooperated with each other, deployed soldiers, and dispatched troops. They were so busy that they almost had no time to eat or sleep. Fei Qian was not idle either. He had to deal with various documents delivered from the rear. At the same time, an overall offensive plan must be formulated based on the current situation of Cao Jun.

In fact, after these two days of hard work, Fei Qian successfully dragged Cao Jun's Zhongtiao Mountain Camp to his own pace.

Following the opponent's rhythm will definitely lead to bad luck, so both sides are trying their best to grab the rhythm, but the physical fitness of Cao's soldiers began to fail to keep up.

Fighting is a very physical thing. After a fierce battle, it is common for people to become paralyzed from exhaustion.

However, the hussars with strong physical strength foundation, better living conditions, and strong training foundation can recover faster than Cao Jun!

What did Cao's soldiers eat?

Ordinary soldiers are probably low-grade carbohydrates.

Then serve with some pickles.

As for meat, even if it is available, it is in pocket form. It’s hard to say whether it’s decent meat or not.

Even with this kind of food ratio, ordinary soldiers may not be able to eat enough.

The more senior military academy non-commissioned officers eat much better.

As for the higher-level captains and generals, they have special stoves and specially equipped cooks. Even the roughest wheat rice has been screened and will not be mixed with sand, gravel or insects.

The hierarchy of Cao's army was strict, and the differential treatment in food was conducive to rule and management, but now its shortcomings have become apparent.

As for the Hussars, due to the large-scale promotion of cattle and horse breeding, these Hussars soldiers, at least in terms of the probability and quantity of eating meat, far exceeded Cao's soldiers!

Therefore, the difference in physical fitness between the two sides gradually widened as time went by and the consumption of battles increased. Fei Qian took Huang Xu and a team of guards to the temporary kitchen camp.

The cooking pots in this temporary kitchen have not stopped for the past two days.

Because of Cao's tactics of continuously harassing and invading the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, a group of soldiers here ran to the front line after eating. Maybe the next group of soldiers who returned would come to eat and rest, so there was no concept of two meals and three meals. Steamed buns and hot soup are always prepared, and the soldiers can eat some when they sit down.

When Fei Qian came, there happened to be some soldiers holding bowls, standing or squatting, eating. When they saw Fei Qian coming, they couldn't help but stop.

A military academy sergeant came forward. Fei Qian smiled and casually called them by their nicknames.

"Boy from the Zhang family, don't just laugh, you'll spill the soup!" 』

"Liu Erlang, your robe is in such tatters that your buttocks are exposed. Hurry up and go get a new one after eating..."

"Li Zhongye!" Have you bought property for your family this time? 』

Feiqianla is doing the same as usual, talking as he goes.

The non-commissioned officers of the military school who were named by him either giggled or spilled the soup on themselves with excitement, and some hurriedly expressed that they would continue to fight until Cao's army was defeated, etc.

Fei Qian also nodded and walked along smiling, looking at this and asking about that.

Fei Qian might not be familiar with all the other troops, but many of these military academies were mobilized from Pingyang and were selected among the military over the years, so Fei Qian naturally knew them in general.

Fei Qian was surrounded by the crowd. He patted this person on the shoulder and punched that person. There was a cordiality and sincerity from the bottom of his heart in every move he made. Even if there were some military academy sergeants who met him, Huang Xu would introduce them to him, and Fei Qian would also give a few words of encouragement, which immediately made everyone in these military academies blush and be very excited.

Fei Qian didn't stay long, just walked around, and then ordered two sheep to be brought in. The cook slaughtered them and gave them a meal for the soldiers and those who came after them. He immediately received a cheer from the soldiers. Voice…

…

…

Although the various ministries realized that they would eventually retreat and break out from the moment Cao's army was blocked in the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, Dong Zhao never gave the order to retreat.

The top level of Cao's army has been avoiding talking about it due to various concerns, and has not announced the exact time of retreat, but this does not mean that the military schools and soldiers at the lower level will not make some preparations for retreat in advance.

But on the surface, this kind of preparation for retreat is still prohibited, and even if it is discovered, you will be punished.

This inflexible and incompetent system is like arresting malicious migrant workers just a second ago, and posted a big blue notice to show that the person who did not obey the curfew management and dared to maliciously come out to earn money to buy cooking cakes was committing a heinous crime. Then the next second they advocated that all people set up stalls, the economy recovered, and everyone started working as cattle and horses, renting out their time and selling their labor...

Under this contradictory and unclear system, the preset plans of various departments of Cao's army were not unified, which also led to the uncertainty of Cao's soldiers, especially when the Hussars began high-intensity harassment operations. This kind of behavior of Cao's soldiers The problem was magnified.

Although entering the battle formation means facing life and death, if you can avoid death, of course you hope that you will not die.

At least he didn't die in vain.

When the Hussars' harassment tactics first started, Cao's soldiers could still muster up enough energy to deal with it, but as time went on, Cao's soldiers began to be overwhelmed...

The soldier formation is not like in later games, which can be moved by dragging the mouse, and there are dozens of postures for you to choose from. In fact, mobilization, sequence formation, defense changes, military supplies and other matters can be done in any way. If you don’t do anything well, problems may arise!

If it weren't for the Cao Jun soldiers in the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, who were generally relatively elite, they would have collapsed and collapsed.

The morale of Cao's soldiers was also declining, which gave Dong Zhao a headache.

The sunset sets again.

As the red sunset half sinks below the horizon, the seemingly boundless loess east of the river is shrouded in the blood of the sunset. The sky is filled with golden and red clouds chasing the fading sunset, just like scattered stragglers fleeing to the west. .

I wish it was the Hussars who escaped, not Cao Jun...

Dong Zhao looked at the sunset and exhaled a long breath, "Send the order, beat the drum and gather the generals!" 』

Out of camp to fight back?

Don't even think about it.

With this kind of morale, if they leave the camp, they may not immediately collapse on the spot!

He might even join the Hussars in turn to attack the Zhongtiao Mountain Camp!

This kind of thing has been repeated several times in history, so Dong Zhao would naturally not do such a move.

Facing the lifeless military academies, he forced a smile and said, "You all fought bravely and made outstanding achievements... now... it's almost time to retreat..."

At first, everyone looked like dead people, but Cao Jun Military Academy was more breathy than zombies. After Dong Zhao finished speaking, he was silent for a while, and then suddenly came to life, and even the luster on his face became a little rosy!

"retreat! when? ! 』

"It's time to retreat!" 』

"Very good! 』

"Retreat, retreat quickly!" 』

All Cao Jun's military academies were extremely excited.

"..." Dong Zhao's face gradually fell.

After a while, the military academy realized the problem. After coughing a few times, everyone gradually retracted their heads and closed their mouths.

Dong Zhao took a deep breath, and then tried his best to keep his voice steady and not affected by these guys, "But when we retreat, there will be the most casualties!" Excuse me, who of you is willing to stay and break up? ! 』

All the military academies immediately shrank their heads even more, wishing they could all shrink into the cracks in the ground immediately.

"That's it!" Dong Zhao said in a deep voice, "If we fight to retreat, the mountain road will be crowded and no one can escape. Everyone will die here!" Is this what you want? ! What a bunch of bastards! 』

At the end of his speech, Dong Zhao couldn't hold it back anymore, cursed, and then readjusted his breathing.

Dong Zhao was not satisfied with the performance of Cao's soldiers in the past two days.

Dong Zhao thought that relying on the camp would be able to sustain it for at least a period of time. Even if the hussars had sharp siege equipment, they would be able to retreat step by step and wait for opportunities like the Tongguan camp. However, he did not expect that it would be over. In two or three days, there were signs of collapse at the Zhongtiao Mountain Camp!

So, from this point of view, is Dong Zhao really concerned about whether these military academies can retreat alive and leave safely?

A joke, of course it’s impossible!

Dong Zhao now said "retreat the troops", but his real purpose was not to "retreat the troops", just like those officials in Shandong who often talked about "conscience" may not really have much "conscience".

Dong Zhao's purpose was still to stabilize the morale of the military and give hope to Cao Jun's soldiers and soldiers in the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, and then let these Cao soldiers' soldiers and soldiers continue to fight for life and death.

"Since none of you are willing to take on the responsibilities of ending the relationship..."

Dong Zhao spoke slowly, then looked around, and under the expectant gazes of the military academies, he said something that surprised the military academies but seemed to be natural, "Then stay here to break up the family!" 』

Dong Zhao's expression didn't change on the surface, but he was sneering in his heart.

Isn't it?

Do you, the military academies, all hope that you can withdraw your troops simply and smoothly? Do they all hope that it is so simple to gain the right to life, the hope of survival, and the meticulous care of Shandong officials, local powerful people, and the owners of the manor?

No way!

Do you really think that if you call the officials "parent officials" in Shandong, you really regard the officials as your biological parents, and you can get selfless care from the officials without asking for anything in return?

Looking at the military school looking at each other, Dong Zhao put on a sincere expression and said in the most sincere voice: "Think about it for yourselves, if you don't stay together and repel the hussars chasing troops first, then there will definitely be no one left." Who will we let trample on each other? When the time comes, you and I will be buried in this mountain! 』

"so…"

Dong Zhao looked around, "The hussars have been harassing our exhausted army for days!" At the earliest tonight, and at the latest tomorrow night, the hussars will definitely attack the camp! This is our best chance! As long as we defeat the Hussars' sneak attack, we can retreat calmly! When the order is gone, everyone can survive! If at this moment, greed for life and fear of death prevent everyone from going back... Dong Mou said something ugly ahead of time, regardless of whether the hussars are coming or not, I will kill this bad guy first! 』

"Do you understand? Defeat the Hussars first, and then withdraw! It’s a matter of priority, don’t make a mistake! Otherwise, don’t blame Dong for being ruthless! 』ji