Chapter 587 Retreat
As soon as the two armies came into contact, Cao Jun saw the leader of the other side. He was nine feet tall, had a ferocious face, and was extremely ugly. He was holding a square halberd. One stride was as long as two steps for others.
Before the person arrived, the long square halberd was already stabbed. The ugly man roared, and with a strong hand, he directly knocked over the Cao soldiers in front of him, then pushed the body back and knocked it down again. Two or three people.
As soon as the tip of the halberd was pulled out, blood gushed out from Cao Bing's chest.
Before the people next to him could react, the crescent-shaped sharp blade swept across his neck, and a spray of blood sprayed out. The unlucky Cao Bing covered his neck, his throat roared, and he fell down.
Cao Bing is an elite soldier. Seeing such a fierce general, he knew that if he was allowed to take the lead in breaking through the front line, the consequences would be disastrous. At that moment, the few people did not even need to look at each other, and directly raised their spears in tacit understanding.
At the same time, someone held up a hook to block the halberd. Then, with a hook, he hooked the crescent-shaped blade of the square halberd and pulled it back hard to prevent the opponent's weapon from moving.
Unexpectedly, the ugly man in the Han army was extremely powerful. When he saw several people restraining his square halberd, he immediately held the halberd with both hands. Veins popped up in his hands. He roared and pulled hard. A Cao soldier was unable to stand firmly and staggered forward.
The ugly man released the halberd in his hand, and with another sweep, he blocked all the spears that were stabbing him. Some people even felt that their palms were numb, and they couldn't hold the weapon for a while, and the spears in their hands actually flew out.
The ugly man stepped forward and struck again with his backhand. He actually used the square halberd as an iron rod. He beat a Cao soldier on the spot until all his bones were broken and he died with blood spurting out.
The Han army following him took advantage of the opportunity when the Cao army on the opposite side was disrupted by the ugly men. They swarmed up and slashed with their swords. For a while, both sides were covered in blood and wailing.
Although the Han army had fewer men than Cao Jun, with the Chou Han taking the lead in the charge, Cao Jun's front army was unable to withstand it for a while, and its position was a bit messy.
"Who is this? So fierce?"
Cao Zhen looked at that extremely tall body, rushing left and right, unstoppable. At that moment, he couldn't help but stand up straight and asked in a voice.
“Do you dare to leave your name when you come?”
Someone from Cao Jun came up to meet him and shouted loudly.
“A certain person is Yue, Yi, and Shun!”
The Ugly Man's voice is like muffled thunder, not like a human voice.
“Send someone to intercept him, don’t let him act recklessly again!”
Cao Zhen ordered.
So Cao's soldiers soon surrounded him from behind and tried their best to resist Eshun.
The personal bravery of a general may not have a great killing effect on many enemy soldiers, but it has an extremely important inspiring effect on one's own soldiers.
Although Eshun was eventually blocked by Cao's soldiers, under his leadership, the Han troops behind them all took the lead bravely. Cao's front troops could only be blocked, and it was difficult to counterattack.
However, the Han army was stationed at Jikou, with high mountains as its left and right wings. It was impossible for Cao Zhen to let his cavalry go around to the side or rear of the Han army from a distance.
The only way is to let the cavalry attack the two wings directly under Zhao Yun's eyes.
Zhao Yun led the Chinese army to stand still. When he saw that the opponent's cavalry finally made some movement, he was Liu Bei's main cavalry. How could he not know what the opponent wanted to do?
At once, he ordered half of the Chinese army to go to the left to resist, and he led the other half of the Chinese army directly to the right.
If it can be said that Eshun's use of the Fang Tianji accounted for one of his strength, then the spear used by Zhao Yun accounted for one of his quickness.
Not only is the horse faster, but the gun is also faster.
A bit of cold light arrived first, and then the spear came out like a dragon.
Before Cao Jun's cavalry could react, they felt their eyes blurred, then a white light flashed, and their bodies were lifted up and they fell off their horses.
Zhao Yunting's spear and horse suddenly appeared, and his silver spear was as bright as a pear blossom. It was like riding into an uninhabited country. Wherever he went, Cao's soldiers retreated one after another.
However, the terrain of Jikou was narrow, and Cao Zhen could not take advantage of the large number of soldiers. Cao Zhen was furious at first, and then he was overjoyed when he saw that the central army of the Han army had begun to move out.
This Zhao Yun is the commander-in-chief. If the commander-in-chief goes into battle in person, it means that the Han army really has no other means.
He was about to mobilize his troops and increase his strength when he suddenly saw many flags erected in the valley. At the same time, the sound of drums was loud and the figures were swaying, as if a large army was driving out of the sloping valley.
Then he saw that his front army was being rushed to pieces by Zhao Yun and Eshun. If a large army really came, I was afraid that my formation would suffer a big loss. At the moment, I had to pay gold to withdraw the troops and reorganize the lineup. To avoid being taken advantage of.
Fortunately, Cao's army was an elite soldier. After hearing the news of the gold, he retreated slowly and was defeated without chaos.
Zhao Yun did not pursue him. He led his men back to the camp to reorganize his troops. At the same time, he sent out troops to clear the battlefield. When he saw Cao's soldiers still alive, he killed them with a knife and brought back his own corpses and wounded soldiers.
Cao Zhen lost the first battle, and he couldn't see clearly whether there was an ambush behind the opponent's camp, so he did not dare to fight again easily.
Zhao Yun got a chance to breathe and cut off the troops himself, and ordered Deng Zhi to lead the old and weak to evacuate overnight.
On the second day, Cao Wei's chief military officer Zhao Yan, as the Wei Emperor's forerunner, came to Yicheng. He heard about the situation of yesterday's battle. After thinking about it for a moment, he knew that there must be a fraud.
"The general is probably in the middle of the situation and can't turn around, so he was deceived by Zhao Yun."
“How do you interpret this statement?”
Cao Zhen asked.
"If the Shu captives really had a large army behind them, how could Zhao Yun allow the general to lead his army back so easily? I'm afraid they would be hotly pursued. Therefore, in my opinion, there must be some fraud involved."
Zhao Yan explained.
Cao Zhen nodded, "When I think about it last night, I also feel a little suspicious, but His Majesty has not arrived in Chang'an yet. If I make a mistake, Chang'an will be in danger, so I have to be careful."
Zhao Yan smiled and said, "Your Majesty passed Tongguan yesterday, and will reach Chang'an today. The Shu captives will be proud of their plan. The general might as well send someone out of the city to beat him to a loss."
"good."
Cao Zhen nodded.
Only this time, the Han army closed the gate of the camp tightly and did not leave. They only sent men on the camp sentry tower to keep an eye on Cao Jun outside.
Cao Zhen couldn't hold himself back and tried to send people to attack the stronghold. Unexpectedly, they stormed in and found that the figures seen outside were all straw men.
"No! I fell into a trap. The Shu captive must have escaped overnight!"
Cao Zhen was very anxious and was about to drive his army to pursue him. Zhao Yan quickly said, "It is difficult to travel through the sloping valley and the terrain is dangerous. The general must send someone to investigate first to avoid being ambushed."
When Cao Jun's sentinels reported back, it turned out that the Shu army had retreated to the Xie Valley and was heading towards Hanzhong.
Hearing this, Cao Zhen gritted his teeth and said, "I don't believe he has any tricks up his sleeve this time."
Just as he was about to lead his army to pursue him into the Xie Valley, he suddenly saw black smoke rising from the valley ahead. Zhao Yan's expression condensed, and then he sighed, "I'm afraid the general won't be able to catch up."
As he said that, he pointed to the front, "A certain person once recruited soldiers and sent them to Hanzhong. He knew that every road in Hanzhong has a plank. General, look at the smoke billowing in front. I am afraid that the Shu captives have burned down the plank road and cut off the main road. The general’s path to pursuit.”
Cao Zhen sent people to check again. As Zhao Yan said, he had no choice but to withdraw his troops with hatred.
The pavilion road is first erected in the water with wooden pillars, and then the pillars are dug deeply into the red cliff. Only then can the plank road be laid.
When Deng Zhi led his army to retreat, he ordered people to put a lot of tung oil on the plank road. When Zhao Yun's rear army passed by, he poured tung oil directly on the plank road and then lit it on fire. The plank road made of wood burst into flames.
Many pieces of wood were half-burned and fell into the fast-flowing river below, being washed away without a trace.
"General, this plank road has been burned for more than a hundred miles, and the Cao thieves should not be able to get through."
E Shun saw Zhao Yun standing on the pavilion road, looking at the fire in front, and immediately walked over and said.
Zhao Yun nodded, "Thanks to you this time, otherwise if the battle at Jikou was defeated, the army would not be able to easily retreat to Hanzhong."
“The general has given me a reward, but the general is just trying his best.”
Eshun said, looking at the still burning pavilion with a look of admiration in his eyes, "Feng Langjun is really amazing. He even expected that the pavilion would be burned one day and stored tung oil here in advance."
Zhao Yun felt a little uncomfortable after hearing this. He glanced sideways at Eshun and thought to himself, don't you mean that that kid already knew that I would be defeated?
But then I remembered that before setting off, the boy used Erlang's name to try to get this fierce general into his army. Could it be that he didn't think highly of himself from the beginning?
Just recalling yesterday's lucky small victory, today I can lead the army back safely. During this period, Eshun made great contributions, and Zhao Yun can't say anything at the moment.
Zhao Yun glanced at the northwest with some worry, wondering how the Prime Minister's progress in Longyou was going? He has already failed. If Cao Cao can focus on Longyou, the pressure on the prime minister will suddenly increase!
It is useless to think too much, so Zhao Yun can only send someone to inform the prime minister of Jikou's defeat immediately, and the rest can only wait for the prime minister's news.
The Han Dynasty built a treasury to the south of Chiya. It was originally used for the Northern Expedition. Now that the army was defeated and the pavilion road was burned, Zhao Yun ordered all the remaining funds of the army to be sealed back to the Chiya treasury for later use. Coming day.
At the same time, he personally led troops to guard Chiyakou just in case.
Longyou.
Just when Zhuge Liang was about to capture Jicheng, he heard that Zhao Guang had returned from Longguan with his army. He was overjoyed and was so excited that he walked out of the living room of Jicheng County Yamen to greet Zhao Guang and Yang Wanwan in person. .
“Feng Mingwen and you were the first to make Longyou return to the rule of the Han Dynasty!”
Zhao Guang is okay, after all, his family is friendly with the Prime Minister, and if he is willing, he will have the opportunity to see the Prime Minister every day.
Yang Wanwan was different. When he saw the Prime Minister standing at the door to greet him, he was already trembling with excitement. Now when he heard this sentence again, he didn't even know where to put his hands and feet on the spot.
He was seen to be at a loss as he saluted and stammered, "The last...the last general...Yang Qianwan..."
"There is no need to be polite to a meritorious man!" The Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty supported a young talent with one hand and welcomed them into the living room. "You have worked hard running back and forth! Sit down and tell me quickly how you captured Long. Closed?"
Yang Wanwan was sitting there with sores on his buttocks, twisting from side to side.
Zhao Guang was calmer, and he only heard him say, "Return to the Prime Minister, my brother made a kind of trebuchet. It is much more powerful than the ordinary trebuchet. It can throw a jar containing tung oil into the tungsten oil tank at a distance of 200 steps." Inside the pass.”
“Guancheng was full of wooden houses, and there was a lot of wood stored there, so they were all burned down at once. The fire was too big, and the people inside would have been burned to death if they didn’t come out..."
In a few words, the eyelids of the big man jumped straight, not to mention Jiang Wei who was specifically called to hear.
After thinking about the fact that the people in Longguan City were burned alive by Feng Yong directly setting oil fire, Jiang Wei felt excited in his heart and secretly thought that this cruel and ruthless Xiao Wenhe really lived up to his name.
It was the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty who understood the key point, and immediately asked, "How can a trebuchet be so powerful?"
“Prime Minister, even the last general doesn’t know. This kind of catapult can only be operated by those who have been specially trained by my brother. It is best used by those who can learn arithmetic..."
The Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty's eyes glowed green when he heard this. This must be the secret of that boy's sect. It can't be wrong!
Feng Yong vigorously promoted arithmetic in the school, and his application of arithmetic was truly unique. The prime minister of the Han Dynasty had already learned this.
Then big data statistics, don’t they use arithmetic?
Thinking of this, the Han Prime Minister felt itchy and asked repeatedly, "Where is the thing? Where is the thing?"
“The catapult at Longguan has been destroyed by my brother. He said it was to prevent Cao thieves from getting it and building it later.”
“Bah!” Upon hearing this, the Han Prime Minister suddenly slapped the table and became furious.
“But my brother has already asked the general to bring the people back. Not only the craftsmen who made the trebuchet, but also the people who control the trebuchet.”
Zhao Guang saw the prime minister's appearance and quickly explained.
"Okay, okay!" The Han Prime Minister turned from anger to joy and couldn't help but stand up and was about to speak.
Zhao Guang was heard to say hesitantly, "It's just...it's just that my brother said something before he left yesterday..."
"What?"
When the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty saw Zhao Guang's appearance, he subconsciously thought, "I knew it wasn't that simple!"
“Brother said, it is not easy to train these people. They are just loaned to the prime minister for his use...”
Zhao Guang said stuttering.
Zhuge Liang:…
Jiang Wei couldn't help but look sideways. In this big Han world, there is still someone who dares to negotiate terms with the Prime Minister? Tired of living?
“If you borrow something, borrow it, and I’ll return it to you when you’re done using it.”
Now we have not yet descended to Guizhou and Longxi. Two days ago, news came back from Guanxing and Zhangbao, saying that there was something unusual in Liangzhou. In the past two days, I was still worried about how to capture Xiangwu in Longxi early so as to free up my hands to deal with Liangzhou's troops.
That boy asked Zhao Guang to bring back these people, which relieved his urgent need.
When the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty thought of this, he gritted his teeth and agreed.
When Jiang Wei heard this, his eyes widened suddenly. Who really dares to bargain with the prime minister? The Prime Minister actually agreed?
Zhuge Liang naturally didn't notice Jiang Wei's expression. His eyes fell on the hanging map.
Going up the Weihe River from Jicheng, you will find Jiudao County, the county seat of Nan'an County, and Xiangwu County, the county seat of Longxi County. As long as you hold these two places, no matter whether the Liangzhou troops come from Yuzhong in the north or Didao in the west , can respond quickly.
Now that Longguan has been blocked, if Cao Cao wants to send another army to Lueyang, the eastern gate of Longyou, he can only take the northernmost Jitou Road. In this case, it will take at least five hundred miles to cover.
Moreover, these five hundred miles are not something they can just walk if they want to.
Since both Xiaoguan and Jitou Road belong to Anding County, and Anding County is one of the three counties that responded to the Han Dynasty, even if Cao Cao wanted to go to Long via Jitou Road, he had to pacify Anding County first.
Unless the rear food road is cut off, the army will die if they go up to Long.
I have to say that once Long Pass changed hands, the entire war situation came to life.
Thinking of this, Zhuge Liang smiled confidently, pointed to Longshan in the north, and said, "Zhao Guang, if I gather fifteen thousand people for you, can you defend Xiaoguan and Jitou Road?"
(End of this chapter)