Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 3496 There must be a reason

"What is that?" 』

Zhang Liao heard the huge roar in front, and immediately rushed to a slope, dismounted, climbed up the **** with hands and feet, and looked up.

Orange flames rose in the distance, and then there were echoes in the valley, mixed with the shouts of some people and horses.

"Cao Jun still has gunpowder that he hasn't used up?" 』

Zhang Liao's expression changed.

It is not unusual for Cao Jun to have gunpowder.

Cao Jun's gunpowder is not easy to use, but it is troublesome if there is a large amount.

At the Tongguan camp before, Zhu Ling had destroyed part of Cao Jun's gunpowder, making Pang Tong and others' attack smoother and safer, but no one could guarantee whether Cao Jun would have any more gunpowder in the future.

Zhang Liao stood on the slope, listening to the echo of the huge roar in front, frowning, and after a moment of silence he said, "General Ma is probably in trouble..."

"Isn't that the case? "The guard replied from the side, "General Ma has been in battle for a long time, can he really fall into a trap? And isn’t this the case for all thieves..."

"What's going on?" Zhang Liao turned his head slightly and glanced at the guard, "You think so too?" 』

The guard sobbed and said: "Everyone, ha, everyone thinks so..."

Zhang Liao did not reveal what the so-called "everyone" was, but said: "Although General Ma is brave, Prime Minister Cao has been in the Central Plains for many years, and his strategies and tactics are changeable. Only the Lord in the world can defeat him... Even Pang Lingjun is cautious Again... General Ma..."

The guards and others looked at each other and stopped talking.

If Zhang Liao had said that he was just an example, the guards might have said a few words in reply, but if the generals of the Hussars treated him with caution, then no one would have said anything.

Unless you think you are more powerful than the Cavalry General?

Cao Cao's personal martial prowess may be worse than Ma Yue's, but Cao Cao has rich combat experience. How can a proud military commander like Ma Yue be able to match his ability to adapt to situations on the battlefield?

As long as Ma Yue makes a mistake in his response, Cao Cao will seize the opportunity.

Pang Tong knew this, Zhang Liao knew it, Zhu Ling was doubtful, but Ma Yue didn't believe it at all.

"The strength of cavalry is speed. "Zhang Liao shook his head slightly and said, "One strike will make you go away, if you miss it, you will retreat. You must not have the intention of asking for anything, once you ask for anything..."

Zhang Liao didn't finish.

No one knew whether the "unreasonable pursuit" he mentioned was seeking victory on the battlefield or something else.

Zhang Liao raised his hand, "Everyone is ready!" We go to the rescue! 』

Guard Zhang Liao was stunned, "General!" We only have five hundred soldiers! This few people...I'm afraid it's not enough! 』

"Ha ha! Zhang Liao laughed loudly and said, "If we don't go, these few people will not be enough!" As soon as we set out, it was dark. Who knew whether we were one five hundred or several five hundred? 』

Zhang Liao did not conceal his whereabouts, but asked his men to march forward slowly in an orderly manner, holding flags and blowing whistles.

…

…

As soon as Zhang Liao moved out without concealment, Cao Jun naturally discovered it.

When Cao Cao saw Zhang Liao's flag, his heart moved, and he immediately ordered the gold to be withdrawn.

In the ambush just now, he wounded and killed at least three to four hundred hussars, and some hussars rushed into the river because they failed to control their horses and distance when turning...

This is already considered a good result.

Moreover, after the gunpowder blasting, the soil plateau became vaguely unstable, forming a long **** on the tidal flat. Although it cut off the road from the tidal flat to the back line of Hangu Pass, it also had more A path to climb.

Although the soil is now soft, it is difficult for people and horses to climb, and there is still the danger of secondary collapse, but it is really driving people into panic...

Moreover, Cao Cao didn't know whether Zhang Liao and others came as a team or as a group...

Therefore, in the end, just as Zhang Liao expected, Cao Cao did not continue to entangle and ordered the gold to retreat.

Cao's army began to retreat in an orderly manner and entered Hangu Pass, leaving behind a messy battlefield.

On the river beach, dead and wounded war horses lay scattered everywhere.

The more serious casualties occurred under the plateau.

One area was directly destroyed by gunpowder, and a large area was buried under the loess.

Some soldiers who were lucky enough to escape being buried in the loess were stunned and pale.

Zhang Liao was on guard to prevent Cao's army from returning, and at the same time he was picking up the remaining troops and restoring order.

After a period of rebuilding the queue, Zhang Liao gathered up most of the defeated hussars and counted the number of casualties. He found that in addition to the loss of soldiers and horses, the horse Yue was missing...

Zhang Liao thought that Ma Yue was buried by the collapse of the plateau caused by the gunpowder explosion, so he asked people to try to excavate it.

However, the soil was so soft that it was impossible to dig with simple tools.

Zhang Liao asked the defeated hussars soldiers again, and many of them said they didn't know where Ma Yue had gone...

After all, the scene was extremely chaotic at that time. Arrows, crossbows, gunpowder blasts, loess flying, and the array was completely ineffective. Only the hussars soldiers who were close could see the traces of Ma Yue and others. Others who were farther away It's simply impossible to know.

"Ask again!" Check carefully! 』

Zhang Liao frowned.

If he died in battle, it would be a bit sad and regrettable, but it would be acceptable, but if he was captured by Cao's army, it would be troublesome.

Zhang Liao originally planned to gather his troops and evacuate, but now he was forced to stay where he was, looking for traces of Ma Yue.

The situation changed, and Zhang Liao could not make a decision alone. He could only continue to ask people to search for him, and at the same time, he asked people to quickly report back to Pang Tong.

Pang Tong's follow-up actions were originally planned to be carried out, but they were forced to suspend them first...

…

…

The horse became more frightened.

To be precise, both men and horses were shocked.

Hangu Pass does not have open flat land and dense population like in later generations, but it is desolate and has many ravines. If it were during the day, Ma Yue would not be able to tell the direction, but the people and horses were frightened and ran around for a while, and they were immediately lost.

By the time the horses and men were exhausted and stopped, they could no longer tell the difference between east, west, north and south.

The yellow land is criss-crossed with ravines. If you have a good view during the day, you can still see the mountains in the distance, or some other landmark buildings to identify the direction. But now in the darkness, after running around for a while, no one knows what is going on. No matter where I ran, I didn't know whether the direction in front of me was south or north, east or west.

Logically speaking, Ma Yue should have expected that Cao Jun might still have gunpowder and kerosene...

But this is like every guy who runs a red light in the future, whether he is a pedestrian, riding an electric bicycle, or driving a car, he should be aware and expect that there may be danger of rushing out in the other direction, but what is the result?

If everyone could predict the situation within three seconds like a single captain, then everyone would definitely be promoted and make a fortune.

Ma Yue almost fell off his horse, then slumped to the side in a daze, swaying.

The dozen or so soldiers following Ma Yue also stopped, and then they were busy for a while, and finally slowly settled down.

Ma Yue's eyes were a little distracted.

It's probably like driving drunk and getting into an accident.

Before the accident, I thought I was awesome.

After something happened, oops, it’s over…

Where are you? What have you done?

Ma Yue's head was buzzing, and it took him a while to realize that it was not the buzzing inside his head, but the guards around him who were calling him anxiously. "I...cough cough cough..."

Ma Yue opened his mouth and was about to say something when he realized that his mouth had been filled with a lot of dust and gravel, and he suddenly started coughing.

The guard quickly brought a water bag.

Ma Yue took it and rinsed it several times with trembling hands to clean away the sand, gravel and dust in his mouth.

The guard looked at the water bag in Ma Yue's hand, his lips twitched, and finally said nothing.

Water, this thing is the strangest thing.

It is one of the heaviest items when you carry it with you, but when you drink it in your stomach, you feel it doesn’t weigh much, or maybe it’s gone without drinking much?

When fighting, no one would deliberately bring extra water bags. Moreover, even if you carry a water bladder, it is easy to break. Whether it was scratched by a knife or a gun, or shot through by an arrow, no matter how much water was left, it would all be reset to zero.

The horses were frightened and ran away, and the guards could only follow them all the way, but no one knew where they ran and whether there was a new water source in the surrounding area...

Inconspicuous things, but important.

But looking at Ma Yue's current state, the guard couldn't say anything.

After a while, Ma Yue regained his consciousness somewhat, but he was still trembling a little, "How come we...were defeated?" 』

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The guard was stunned.

Ask us about this?

And the first thing Ma Yue asked was this?

Is Ma Yue less capable?

Then how should we treat the word "ability"...

No one can be as omniscient and omnipotent as a keyboard warrior.

Ma Yue is an ordinary person. If there are no hussars appearing in the Northland, then Ma Yue is most likely a man who is shepherding sheep, or a farmer in the fields. His current status is partly due to his personal efforts, and partly because he is right in the spotlight.

When riding the wind with the gelding, we are all brothers and there is no problem for everyone!

When it comes time to go solo, it all depends on your ability.

Ma Yue was not bad at training, leading troops, and defending, but he was not agile enough to lead an attack alone.

However, this is not his biggest problem...

After all, if a military strategist wins or loses, if there are winners, there must be losers. No one can say that he will always be victorious and undefeated. Therefore, Ma Yue's defeat was not a big problem from a war perspective. This is why Pang Tong knew that Ma Yue's probability of success was low, but still gave Ma Yue his troops.

People all have to go through setbacks and understand pain in order to grow.

However, if this person tries to avoid the pain and refuses to accept the lessons, there will be a big problem.

Ma Yue was like this. He was unwilling to accept his failure, and he was unwilling to accept it. Therefore, his first question was "how to fail" instead of asking how many soldiers and horses were left and how much his brothers had lost...

When Ma Yue was training soldiers, he was very kind to the soldiers. When he was on duty at Tongguan, he shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, eating and sleeping in the open air. But at this moment, he forgot everything and ignored the casualties of the soldiers. He only cared about one thing. Why did he fail? Why did it fail? Did it really fail like that?

Just like some project managers in some companies in later generations. When the project is going smoothly, the project manager can work overtime with his subordinates, eat fast food together, go to the market together, play and joke together, and there seems to be no problem. But when there is a real problem with the project, his first reaction is this Dump it to whom?

And of course he was well prepared mentally and morally. After all, he has a family, children, loans that still need to be repaid, and a lover he just hooked up with. All of these cost money, so he cannot bear the responsibility for the failure of the project. , we cannot lose our current position because of this!

"Forward...Why didn't the scouts notice anything unusual?" ! 』

Ma Yue held his head, his expression a little twisted.

He had taken off his helmet because he felt that his head was swollen and hot, which was very uncomfortable.

"General...we did not send any scouts..."

The guard said from the side.

"No...how come there is no pie?" Ma Yue's eyes widened, "I remember I have a pie..."

"That was before the attack..." the guard replied truthfully, "after detecting that the rebel scouts retreated, the general said that in order to avoid alerting the rebel army..."

"I..." Ma Yue thought about it, it was indeed the case.

After a moment of silence, Ma Yue shook his head again, "No, no!" Since the rebels had a trap, why didn't the front team warn them? ! 』

The guard also fell silent, and when he was silent, he looked at Ma Yue with a strange look, "General... have you forgotten?" There is a warning from the vanguard. It is because you feel that the rebel army does not have many bows and arrows, so the whole army should rush over at a faster speed..."

"I don't! "The horse jumped up and then sat down slumped in the silence of several guards, "I...I, I..."

According to reason, Ma Yue should not be like this now, but reason has always been weak and can be easily defeated by various opponents.

Even if it happens occasionally in the sage time after craft work, after all, the boredom and loneliness after craft work, coupled with the guilt caused by sneaking, the reason will jump out and swear that this is the last time, but it doesn't happen. How long will it take for your rationality to slack off, and when you watch a short video and see something thunderous, you will start licking your lips and grabbing tissues again...

Again.

Renew your vows…

Then, do it again.

The final result was that it was completely ruined.

Although Ma Yue wouldn't say that he collapsed on the spot and rewarded himself with a shot, it was similar to the psychological activities of handicrafts. It's painful to recognize mistakes, and it's even more painful to correct them, but if you find an excuse for your mistakes, you can escape and be happy.

"There must be something..." Ma Yue murmured, "There must be some reason..."

…

…

On the other side, the plan originally formulated by Pang Tong and Zhang Liao was forced to be suspended.

If at this time, Ma Yue is not concerned about himself and is not trying his best to find excuses and reasons for himself, but bravely takes responsibility and makes up for his mistakes, then there may be no new opportunities...

It's like taking the wrong road. Maybe after taking a few steps, you realize that something is wrong. At this time, you pull back and go back. At most, you have wasted a little time and walked a small distance. The investment is sinking. The cost is not much, but if you don’t want to change, bite the bullet and move forward, thinking that the earth is round, you can come back if you go around once, maybe you can really come back, but the time consumed in this process, the cost The cost and the risks encountered are not a little bit.

And the more serious problem is that Ma Yue is not an independent individual, he is also part of the Hussars.

Ma Yue had a problem, and it affected not only Ma Yue, but also the follow-up plans of Pang Tong and Zhang Liao.

Pang Tong expected that Ma Yue might have problems, but he did not expect that the problem would be so serious.

According to Pang Tong's original plan, he was preparing for a second attack.

After Cao Jun defeated Ma Yue, it was generally difficult to imagine that there would be a second raid immediately...

Therefore, Pang Tong placed Zhang Liao behind Ma Yue, which was equivalent to suppressing Ma Yue's formation.

If Ma Yue can succeed, everything will be fine. If he fails, Zhang Liao will lead his men to gather the troops and horses, and then take advantage of the gap between Cao's army to withdraw his troops and return to the pass, and make a short and quick surprise attack.

Zhang Liao was not allowed to bring too many soldiers and horses. On the one hand, if there were too many soldiers and horses, he would easily lose his flexibility and risk being exposed.

Pang Tong originally estimated that if Ma Yue retreated, he would definitely lose some soldiers and horses, but with the men and horses led by Zhang Liao, he could still make up a thousand, which was enough to give Cao's army a small shock.

On the other hand, it was also to revive the morale of the hussars and continue to put pressure on Cao's army. This is consistent with Pang Tong's previous strategy of attacking the heart, and it is also part of winning without fighting.

But no one expected that Ma Yue not only suffered heavy losses in his soldiers, but also disappeared!

Pang Tong received Zhang Liao's report and felt a little headache for a while.

It was dark all around, and I didn't know where to look for anyone.

The key is, if Ma Yue dies or is captured, Pang Tong's original plan of raiding to boost morale will be meaningless!

It can be imagined that when Zhang Liao rushed to Cao Jun with his men and horses, and was about to do something, he saw Cao Jun tying Ma Yue out, or carrying Ma Yue's helmet and head...

If this is the case, even if Pang Tong, Zhang Liao and others rushed in front of Cao Jun, there would only be two options left, either to attack by force or to retreat. To attack by force is to attack without any siege equipment or preparations. It is obviously unwise, and even if it is an attack, it may not be possible to defeat it. To retreat is to sprinkle a pinch of salt on the originally opened wound...

Therefore, Pang Tong could only temporarily change his plan and immediately sent an order to Zhang Liao to suspend the raid and instead search for Ma Yue with all his strength.

At the same time, in order to prevent Cao Jun from discovering any problems, the troops were asked to light more torches and raise more flags in front of Cao Jun to act as suspects, try to confuse Cao Jun, and ensure the safety of the hussars soldiers who were looking for Ma Yue.