Chapter 1176: Using one’s body as bait
There is a writing in "Tai Gong Liu Tao": One cavalry can serve as eight pawns.
This is not a quantitative ratio that the ancients thought of casually, nor is it the imagination of literati in literary works, but a conclusion drawn from actual combat.
On flat ground, a horse sprints at its fastest speed, and combined with its own weight, the final kinetic energy it can generate can knock over eight people in a row.
Note that this is without a saddle or stirrups.
So, although the infantry wants to deal with the cavalry rushing into the formation, the best way is to form a formation.
But if the assault cavalry is really not afraid of death, they must attack the already formed formation.
Although it is very likely to be a dead end in the end, the infantry also has to pay a certain price.
And once the formation of infantry is not determined, it is not impossible to pay a heavy price.
If the charging cavalry is armored cavalry, then the infantry must be even more careful and must make thorough preparations in order to withstand the devastating charge of the armored cavalry.
Facing Sun Quan’s formation with buildings and ships as the core, if it were in Cao Pi’s time, the Wei State at that time still had a large number of fine cavalry, and they might try to use their fine cavalry to attack in turn.
However, the current situation in the Wei Dynasty does not allow Wang Ling to waste cavalry like this.
Since the first sneak attack on Longyou by Shu captives more than ten years ago, the horse-producing land of the Wei Dynasty has been continuously encroached on.
In recent years, the situation has become increasingly serious.
Youzhou, the only horse-producing place in the Wei Dynasty, saw the quantity and quality of war horses sent to the Central Plains deteriorating.
Forced the entire Wei army to extend the service time of their war horses.
Even because of the shortage of war horses in the army, the slave horses that were originally used for transportation according to previous standards were forcibly used as war horses.
So Wang Ling had no way to deal with Sun Quan's invasion this time, like the previous governors, who could use a large number of cavalry to unscrupulously harass the Wu army's flanks and grain roads.
After letting the cavalry try to charge once but failed, Wang Ling did not continue to take the initiative to attack.
Instead, he decisively led the army back to the camp outside Hefei City and quietly waited for Sun Quan's arrival.
“Your Majesty, do you really want to disembark?”
This time, accompanying Sun Quan was Sun Shao, who had been guarding the border for decades.
Having been at war with the Wei army for many years, Sun Shao was well aware of the power of the Wei army. When he saw that Sun Quan was planning to disembark, he personally led the army to Hefei.
He couldn't help but feel worried and advised:
"Your Majesty came here this time just to lure you. Now that Wang Ling has led the army to Hefei, your Majesty's goal has been achieved. Why do you need to take another step and risk yourself?"
“Gong Li, it is precisely because I am using myself as bait that I have to personally lead the troops off the ship and go to Hefei.”
Sun Quan stood on the boat and looked at the city of Hefei built against the mountains in the distance with extremely complicated eyes.
Because that was the place where he dreamed.
But Sun Quan’s tone was serious:
"This Northern Expedition is a nationwide effort. If we continue to make no progress like before, do you know what it means to Wu?"
He did not wait for Sun Shao to answer, and continued to speak on his own:
“It means that in the future, our great Wu will be trapped in Jiangdong forever, and will no longer be able to compete with Han and Wei for the world.”
“Gongli, this is a dead end for Da Wu!”
No matter who will win in the end between Han and Wei, Wu will be surrounded on three sides and eventually trapped to death.
“Instead of being left in a dead end and slowly waiting for death in humiliation, I might as well fight hard for the last chance of survival.”
To be honest, Sun Quan feels a little regretful now.
During the first Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty, he had informed himself that he hoped that Wu would send troops at the same time to destroy the traitors together.
Just thinking of Lu Xun’s judgment of the situation at that time, Sun Quan couldn’t help but grit his teeth:
“Lu Boyan misled me!”
“Your Majesty!”
Sun Shao was shocked and turned pale. He quickly looked around and made sure that he was surrounded by the inner guards of His Majesty's palace. Then he breathed a sigh of relief:
“Your Majesty, be careful what you say!”
Did something happen between His Majesty and the General?
“It’s just telling the truth, why should you be careful about what you say?”
When Sun Quan thought of what happened back then, he felt a fit of anger in his heart:
“Lu Boyan once asserted that the Han Dynasty was small and lacked people, and it was difficult to carry out all the roads in Hanzhong. The Northern Expedition would definitely be ineffective and would only waste national power in vain.”
"I suggest that I sit back and watch the war between Han and Wei, and wait until Zhuge Kongming is defeated and returns to his army. Whether it is for self-protection or for the success of defeating the bandits, Han will only become more demanding of me."
Speaking of this, Sun Quan let out a long sigh:
“Unexpectedly, the Han Kingdom... Alas! Wu has missed good opportunities in these years!”
Sun Quan seems to be an open-minded person, but in fact he likes to keep small notebooks.
Zhu Zhi, an old minister of Sun Jian, recommended Sun Quan as Xiaolian in his early years, but later he was dissatisfied with Zhu Zhi and was unwilling to speak out, so he felt resentful for a time.
Jiyan, when he was convicted by Sun Quan, one of the words was "Jiyan's father and brother are attached to evil and rebellion", scolding his father and brother for having failed the Sun family in their early years.
When Zhang Wen was implicated by Ji Yan, he was scolded by Sun Quan as "an old minister".
In any case, I will silently remember all your faults, and I won’t speak out until the day I can’t bear it anymore.
Lu Xun's incident was naturally recorded in Sun Quan's notebook.
When Lu Xun was still trusted by Sun Quan, this was naturally not a problem.
However, in the past few years, the Han State has repeatedly won great victories, and the Wu State has repeatedly failed to achieve success. In addition, there is Lu Yi next to him who is greedy intentionally or unintentionally.
As a result, when Sun Quan thought of this incident, he felt like a thorn piercing his heart deeply.
The more obvious the contrast between Han and Wu, the more painful this thorn will be.
So it was not for no reason that he had become more and more alienated from Lu Xun in recent years.
Sun Shao naturally didn't know Sun Quan's mentality at this time. When he heard this, he opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say, and finally remained speechless.
As a close confidant of Sun Quan, he naturally heard about this matter.
Now that he has received confirmation from His Majesty, he has to admit that the General did make a mistake in this matter.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, the great general, is still the pillar of our great Wu, and even more so when you are in front of the battle, your Majesty should be careful with your words."
Sun Quan took a deep breath, tried to regain his composure, and said with a fake smile:
"How could I not know? I just felt something in my heart, said it casually, and made a mistake."
If it weren’t for the fact that in the entire Wu Kingdom, no one could compare with Lu Xun in military affairs, and I still had to rely on him to fight off thieves for me, how could I tolerate him until now?
"But the most important thing at the moment is to do the trick well. The longer we delay Wang Ling here, the better."
After speaking, Sun Quan refused to let Sun Shao persuade him any more. He waved his hand and ordered:
“Get off the boat!”
The horn sounded, and the ships following the building ship responded in turn.
Wu Jun on the ship began to formally disembark and disembark.
At the same time, the Wu army guarding the shore sent a large number of scouts to investigate the surrounding situation.
"Your Majesty, the Wei thieves seem to have retreated, and they seem to be defending the city."
"Don't take it lightly. The Wei thieves have many fine cavalry and can come and go freely. Our soldiers are far inferior to the Wei thieves in land warfare."
"In that case, Your Majesty, why don't you let me lead the army to explore the way for Your Majesty."
Sun Shao begged again:
“Even if your Majesty wants to go to Hefei City in person, please do not put yourself in danger.”
This time, Sun Quan did not force himself and nodded:
"Then I will give you five thousand elite soldiers to serve as the vanguard to explore the road."
“Here!”
The place where we disembark is more than thirty miles away from Hefei New City.
Sun Quan has suffered losses here before, so he will not be careless.
Sun Quan walked this section for a full day before he set up camp fifteen miles away from Hefei City.
"Your Majesty, it seems that the thief has been prepared."
Standing on a high place and looking at the stacks of camps outside Hefei City from a distance, Sun Shao couldn't help but feel a little frightened.
This time the fleet brought by His Majesty seems to be continuous, but in fact it is not full of troops at all.
Unexpectedly, Sun Quan smiled nonchalantly:
“It’s better to be prepared in advance. The more prepared Wang Ling is, the more it shows that he is not aware of our true intention at all.”
Sun Shao was not as relaxed as Sun Quan.
The bandits' camp is so huge that they will probably have a lot of troops.
If you see through the reality on your own side and don't defend and counterattack, I'm afraid you'll have to fight hard.
I don’t know if he heard what Sun Shao was thinking. The Wu army had just set up camp when they heard the sound of war drums not far away.
Made various provocative actions, and at the same time someone shouted in front of the formation:
“Wu Gou, do you dare to come out and fight?”
The sudden arrival of fine cavalry from the Wei army caused a commotion in the Wu army's camp.
Sun Quan, however, held his halberd and drank:
"Don't be frightened by the thieves. The generals will do as ordered. When someone comes, send someone to shout and say that I will personally fight tomorrow."
“Here!”
Wang Ling sent people to challenge, just to frustrate Sun Quan's spirit, and at the same time to test it.
Of course, he didn't expect Wu Jun to follow his own ideas.
“Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, a yellow canopy was indeed found among the Wu invaders. It seems that the thief Sun Quan must be here.”
Hearing the report from the people below, Wang Ling’s eyes flashed:
“Great, I didn’t expect that Sun Quan would dare to come in person!”
“Send the order, tomorrow the whole army will prepare food at the third watch, and set out at the fifth watch, follow me to defeat the thieves!”
“Here!”
At dawn the next day, Wang Ling had already led his army to the front of Wu Junzhai and formed a formation.
“Your Majesty, what should we do?”
"The thief has arrived, how can I avoid him?"
Sun Quan had a gloomy face and ordered:
“Let the generals come out of the stronghold to meet the enemy.”
Although he was just using his body as bait this time, in order to ensure safety, the number of troops around him would naturally not be too small.
Even if it is not enough to attack the city, it can at least be enough to fight the thieves on the plains.
The drums of war drums sounded, but the gate of Wu Jun's village was wide open, and soldiers came out one after another and began to line up.
Wang Ling squinted his eyes and saw that the canopy was indeed moving in the opponent's army, and immediately laughed:
“Sun Quan, suffer death!”
The drums from both sides became louder and louder, and the soldiers' shouts of "drinking" shook the sky.
This is a head-on battle.
The sun rises and casts golden light, adding a touch of sharpness to the battlefield.
Smoke and dust rise, and the sword shines brightly.
“Puff!”
Both sides shot at the corners of the formation and began to move toward each other with their swords raised.
…
At the same time, at the top of Lu'an City, Wen Qin looked at the Wu army that was retreating again, and his face no longer had the high spirits of the previous days.
These days, the intensity of the Wu army's siege far exceeded his expectations.
It can be seen that Wu Kou will not give up until he takes Liu'an.
Even the soldiers below felt that Wu Kou was unusual this time.
Some veterans even recalled the time when Lu Xun led the invasion, and they seemed not as crazy as this time.
Wen Qin looked at the bottom of the city and saw that the Wu army's camps were densely packed and stretched continuously.
It can be seen that Wu Jun has been receiving new reinforcements these days.
In other words, that is basically their rear army.
Such a large number of Wu troops is enough to show that the main direction of Wu Kou's attack this time is indeed Lu'an.
Wang Ling delayed sending reinforcements from Hefei for two days, which made Wen Qin, who had not seen the reinforcements, a little anxious:
Wang Yanyun is also an old minister of the Wei Dynasty after all. He shouldn't ignore the overall situation for his own selfish interests, right?
The wide moat of Liu'an City now has eight pontoon bridges erected side by side.
Not to mention letting the war horses gallop, even large siege equipment can cross the river safely.
“How’s the build of the car going?”
Zhuge Ke stood on this side of the pontoon, looked at Lu'an City opposite, and asked.
"General, I have only built half of it. If I want to finish it all, it will probably take some time."
"It's too late!" Zhuge Ke looked at Liu'an City, "The scouts in the east have sent word that reinforcements from the Wei thieves will arrive tomorrow."
"Tomorrow we will raise an army to attack the city. Also, we will send an order to the east gate to hold it for at least three days. If it exceeds three days, it will be recorded as a meritorious service. If it takes less than three days, it will be dealt with according to military law!"
“Here!”
…
"kill!"
At the outskirts of Hefei City, the soldiers led by the generals of Wei and Wu should be cautious.
But at this time, both sides were already fighting with each other.
Wang Ling can also be regarded as a brave general. Although he is old, he is riding forward on his horse at this time, constantly shouting and cheering to encourage the soldiers who take turns to fight.
Sun Quan did not hide it, but directly placed the canopy in the most conspicuous position, just to let the soldiers know that the emperor was with them.
“Kill the thief!”
Different from the Wu soldiers seen in the past, Sun Quan brought out the imperial guards this time.
His courage is beyond comparison with that of ordinary Wu troops.
But when he saw a Wu Jun general wearing thick armor, he roared like a lion and tiger, threw away the broken halberd in his hand, and pulled out his long sword with a "choking" sound.
The sharp blade shines brightly in the sunlight.
This knife is a little weird, a little different from the usual ring-shou knife.
I saw him raise his sword and give it a severe blow!
“锵!”
“Gah!”
…
Several consecutive blows actually cut off the two halberds in front of him.
Wei Zu seemed to be frightened. He did not expect that a mere general on the other side would have such a precious sword.
Before they could react, General Wu Jun was laughing wildly:
“Come on, thief!”
Snowy light passed by, but after hearing the "chi la la" sound that made people's teeth hurt, the armor on Wei Zu's body actually cracked.
If it weren't for the protection of this armor, I would probably be disemboweled on the spot with this knife.
“Happy!”
Sun Shao was a little worried at first, but as soon as Wu and Wei came into contact, he realized that his troops were very sharp.
Although the Wei army was also brave, their weapons were not as good as their own, so they were gradually pushed back.
At this time, only a whistle was heard.
A cavalry group suddenly appeared on the flank and cut in from where the two sides were fighting.
Sun Shao was afraid of making a mistake, so he quickly said to Sun Quan:
"Your Majesty, this battle has greatly boosted morale. The traitorous cavalry has arrived, so why not retreat temporarily?"
In this battle, not only did they gain the upper hand, but they also forced out the enemy's hidden cavalry.
Sun Quan also seemed to be very satisfied with the performance of his soldiers. He looked relaxed and nodded: "It's good."
The golden gong sounded, and the two sides began to break away from contact.
“I didn’t expect that His Majesty’s imperial army would be so sharp.”
Sun Quan shook his head, and then let out a long breath:
“I finally know why the Han Dynasty can defeat the Wei thieves repeatedly!”
He pointed his whip at the retreating soldiers and said in a low voice:
“These weapons for the soldiers were newly made by Han and were sent to Dawu two months ago.”
“I thought that the weapons of the Han Dynasty before were already very sharp, but I didn’t expect that the latest batch sent to them was actually much more powerful than before.”
Sun Shao was shocked: "Han?"
Sun Quan nodded: "Yes, it is the Han Dynasty."
Without any preparation, how could he easily lead his troops off the ship and come to provoke?
Thinking again of the armor and weapons of the armored cavalry in the palace, Sun Quan's eyes became a little hot:
“When my knights return from the Han Dynasty, the fine knights of Wei will be nothing more than a chicken with tiles and a dog’s ears!”
(End of this chapter)