Chapter 808 The First Battle
The weather in October has begun to turn cold in Anding, a place close to the outside of the Great Wall.
Especially at night, if you don’t wear more clothes, the cold will invade your body.
Fortunately, there is Mount Long on the west side of the middle road, which not only blocks the Shu captives on the right side of Long, but also blocks the cold air coming from the west.
But even so, when they were on duty at night, there were still Wei soldiers on patrol quietly setting up fires to keep warm.
Although in the past few years, Guanzhong has tried its best to obtain a lot of raw materials from Shu captives through various channels.
But the price is too high, and it would be a dream for the soldiers at the bottom to wear such cold-proof items.
At most, only the elite members of the army have this qualification.
And the elite soldiers in the army had already followed Da Sima to Xiaoguan, how could they stay behind to **** the grain and grass?
I heard that Feng Yong, a famous Shu bandit, has been blocked by Da Sima in Anding. I think there will be news of a great victory in the next few days.
In addition, grain and grass are transported from Qian County to Xiaoguan. In recent years, Qian County has deployed heavy troops to prevent Shu captives from entering the pass.
The roads that Shu captives can cross Longshan, no matter whether it is a major road or a small road, are closely monitored by people.
So although the return road is at the foot of Longshan Mountain, it is considered safe.
Winter is about to come, and the army still has to move. It is really too much torture for the big soldiers at the bottom.
In addition, there are no rebels around, so the commanders and lieutenants in the army will turn a blind eye to some of the actions of their soldiers, as long as they are not excessive.
One Wei soldier shrank his neck, walked to the fire in the corner, and kicked another Wei soldier:
“Get up, it’s your turn to go over and take your turn.”
Wei Bing, who was dozing off while holding his weapon and nodding his head, was kicked awake.
He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and asked lazily:
“What time is it?”
“Is it almost Yinshi?”
The Wei soldiers who came to call for help put down their weapons and stretched out their hands to warm the fire. They found that the fire was almost extinguished, so they added another piece of wood to the fire.
The somewhat cold hands became warm again, giving him a look of satisfaction on his face.
The Wei soldiers who were on duty stood up with some reluctance and walked to their guard positions.
Leaving the fire, he suddenly felt a little cold.
When people feel cold, they tend to have the urge to urinate.
He looked left and right, then quietly walked to a bush and lifted up his robe.
With the sound of gurgling water, he closed his eyes in relief.
Then I seemed to hear a very slight voice: "Cao!"
He was so frightened that he quickly opened his eyes, and just as he opened his mouth, before he could make a sound, a hand that smelled of urine covered his mouth tightly.
Then he was thrown to the ground.
He struggled "Uh-huh" and accidentally licked the hand.
Hmm, a little salty...
When the hand left his mouth, he could no longer make a sound.
Because the extremely cold dagger just scratched his throat.
His body was then carefully dragged into the grass.
"what happened?"
The captain of the Dark Night Battalion leaned into the ear of his subordinates and asked in a voice like the chirping of mosquitoes, "Didn't you say that this is not Cao Thief's night patrol route?"
“I think I came here temporarily for convenience. I thought I was discovered...”
The night hunter who had just killed a person suppressed his nausea and put his hand on the body to wipe it, feeling unlucky in his heart.
It was fine to sneak in and lie down here, but suddenly someone poured urine on you. It was really unlucky!
So he couldn't help but cursed secretly: "Cao!"
Dark Night Camp was trained by Feng Junhou himself, so the words and deeds of the people inside are more or less influenced by Feng Junhou.
For example, the word Cao, Feng Junhou said, means to scold Cao as a thief.
The captain of the Dark Night Battalion was relieved after hearing the explanations from his subordinates: "Let's take action!"
In late autumn and early winter, the days are short and the nights are long.
Between Chou and Yin, it is the darkest night before dawn, and it is also the time when people sleep the deepest.
When the Wei soldiers who had gone to summon people earlier sat down, they had already followed the example of their companions just now and began to doze off while holding their weapons.
Hearing footsteps behind him, he didn't even bother to look back. He just muttered: "Why are you back again? Don't be discovered by the military lord, otherwise you won't be able to be so lazy in the future..."
The visitor didn't answer, just sat down and put his arm around his shoulders.
The movement of his companion finally made him open his eyes and turn his head impatiently.
Then what I saw was a face that looked like a ghost. It was gray and green, making it hard to tell whether it was a human or a ghost.
With this fright, his sleepiness suddenly disappeared, and he felt that his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
The other party was extremely strong. The hand holding his shoulder not only prevented him from getting up, but also reached out to cover his mouth.
After a while, the Wei Bing twitched, then lowered his head and sat still.
Wei Bing, who was guarding a high place not far away, naturally saw this scene. He watched the man walking back to the fire lean into his companion's ear, seeming to be whispering something, and his behavior was extremely intimate.
He frowned and said, "Dirty!"
I thought that I would tell the military marquis then that these two men were not only lazy when they were patrolling at night, but were also doing such things.
With this thought in his mind, he stood up and stretched.
An arrow flying from an unknown direction flew through the air and penetrated his neck fiercely.
He covered his neck with his hands, stared at the dark night sky with his eyes wide open, and fell down unwillingly.
After a while, a fire broke out in a corner of the Wei army's temporary camp.
“It’s gone!”
After someone discovered this situation, he quickly went to inform his superiors.
“Those guys must have been lighting a fire to keep warm at night, and accidentally caught the fire!”
The captain was extremely angry and cursed, "From tomorrow night, no one is allowed to light a fire in private!"
He was scolded, but he didn't have much worry in his heart. He immediately sent people over to organize the fire extinguishing.
Unexpectedly, the fire at the other end was not extinguished, and soldiers from the other end came over to report the fire.
“Why are you so careless...”
Before the captain finished speaking, he already felt something was wrong.
Sure enough, one after another people came to see the generals of the Wei army, saying that there was water leakage.
"Xi Zuo! Xi Zuo has sneaked in, and here comes the order. Unless you receive a military order, no battalion can move rashly!"
The generals of the Wei army were able to shoulder the important task of transporting grain. Naturally, they were not randomly assigned and responded quickly.
There may be disturbances in the camp at night, which may easily lead to camp roars.
Although the current army sergeants are not before or after the war, their emotions are still stable, so there should be no need to worry too much.
But precautions are still necessary.
This kind of approach is just fine for ordinary fine work.
What he didn’t know was that this time he was facing professional arsonists.
So he divided some of the tung oil in the engineering camp and let Huo Yi take as much as he could.
After all, when it comes to playing with fire, it is of course more fun to add fuel to the fire.
Taking water to put out a fire caused by oil will only encourage the fire.
So the Wei army discovered that the fire was getting stronger and stronger as they were saved.
When it was almost dawn, the fire in the camp soared into the sky.
When the shouts of killing rang out outside, the generals of the Wei army who were badly burned by the fire in the camp couldn't help but secretly complained:
The camp is in chaos, and there are thieves outside who take the opportunity to attack the camp. I'm afraid the attackers are not good-natured!
Huo Yi outside was naturally not really planning to attack the camp. After all, he was traveling with a light army this time, and he also had the important task of disturbing Cao's thieves' food routes.
How can we waste our troops so easily?
He did this in order to cope with the dark night camp in the camp.
The soldiers of the Wudang camp set up their long bows and began to throw rockets at the Wei army camp.
Some Wei troops wanted to rush out, but were persuaded to retreat by a wave of arrows from the Wudang Battalion, which had been well prepared.
When it was daylight, the enemies outside the camp finally retreated.
The general of the Wei army was able to put out the fire with all his strength, but after the fire in the camp was extinguished and the losses were counted, he was left crying without tears.
Not many soldiers were killed or injured by the thieves, but many of them trampled on each other.
The most important thing is that most of the grain and grass were burned.
Looking at the piles of grain and grass that were still smoking and emitting a pungent stench of oil, General Wei's face turned pale.
Cao Zhen, who was under Xiaoguan, naturally didn't know that a batch of grain and grass for his army had been burned to pieces on the way.
At this time, he looked at the Shu camp opposite and frowned.
This Thief Feng really has a good way of leading an army.
I thought he had traveled a long way and the soldiers would be exhausted.
I didn’t expect that such a camp could be built in just half a day and one night.
Not only that, simple antlers were even placed in front of the camp and a trench that was not too shallow was dug.
Just when he thought Thief Feng would stick to the stronghold and stay on time, he suddenly saw the stronghold gate being opened.
Team after team of Shu captives came out and began to set up military formations based on the camp.
"That Thief Feng is so brave. He has a stronghold but doesn't defend it, and he dares to confront Da Sima directly!"
The generals of the Wei army thought they were going to attack the camp, but they didn't expect that the other side actually dared to come out.
"This camp seems to have no problem, but it is just hastily built and it is not very strong. Feng Thief knows this, so instead of waiting for us to break the camp, it is better to fight to the death!"
Guo Huai clasped his fists and said, "Great Sima, I am willing to be the vanguard to defeat thieves!"
"Why didn't I let the governor be the vanguard to test the thieves?" Cao Zhen shook his head, "Look at the Shu captives, their morale is not weak."
"Our army is so powerful that it is better to surround it slowly and attack in turn. The Shu captives will move in a hurry. They are already exhausted and have few troops. When the time comes, all parties will be unable to respond and the camp will collapse."
Although he has repeatedly belittled Feng Yong, how could Cao Zhen have no vision after leading the army for many years?
The opponent's armor was distinctive, their military formations were strict, and their advance and retreat were orderly. The imagined situation of low morale did not appear at all.
In addition, in the past few years, Feng Thief's reputation for being good at fighting has spread throughout Guanzhong, so Cao Zhen will not be careless.
Anyway, he has superior troops in his hands, and the terrain is flat and wide, which is perfect for deploying a large army.
Once there are more than ten thousand people, there is no limit.
A battle of several thousand people and a battle of tens of thousands are fundamentally two different concepts.
Because in this era, no matter how high a commander's command is, he can only command what can be clearly seen with the eyes.
Five to six thousand people, that’s already the top.
The rest can only be left to the generals under their command.
Tens of thousands of people from both sides faced each other on a vast land. The coach could only arrange tactics before the battle and deploy different troops in different directions.
The attacker will constantly try from all directions in order to find the weak link of the defender.
When it comes to actual fighting, the commander-in-chief can only deploy troops and generals based on the situation reported by the generals below.
As for the specific results of his men, the coach cannot control them at any time.
This is why it is said that a thousand armies are easy to win, but a general is hard to come by.
When it comes time for the coach to go into battle, the battle situation is basically too tragic, or it has reached the last minute.
“It seems that the number of Cao thieves should be more than 50,000.”
At the highest point of the camp, Guan Ji, who was dressed in military uniform, held up a telescope and watched the Wei army on the opposite side begin to slowly mobilize, constantly deploying troops on its own flanks.
She made a silent calculation in her mind and spoke.
The Cao thief's current strength has reached at least 30,000 to 40,000.
According to convention, the first day of such a battle is for both sides to set up their military formations and test the opponent's strength in all directions.
So it is impossible to press all the troops at the beginning.
Feng Junhou was standing behind Guan Ji, focusing all his attention on her armor.
This is a fine armor specially made for Guan Ji by the Hanyang County Manufacturing Bureau. Of course, some of Feng Junhou's ideas were also mixed into it.
Under the sunshine, Guan Ji, blessed by armor, is like a Valkyrie.
“If Cao Zhen wanted to attack Longyou with 50,000 elite troops, then he would have to mobilize at least 100,000 troops.”
Feng Yong listened to Guan Ji's words and responded in a long voice.
To say that the officers and soldiers of Xiaowei Mansion are ahead of an era is an exaggeration, but to say they are ahead of a century is a matter of course.
Logistics alone is enough to crush any army of the same era.
Not to mention the high level of organization at the grassroots level in the military, as well as the most basic qualities of soldiers.
The Imperial Palace said it had 20,000 elite soldiers, but according to the standards of this era, it was perfectly normal to organize a force of 100,000 troops with 20,000 elite soldiers.
But is that necessary?
Not necessary at all.
Even though Feng Yong knew that Cao Zhen wanted to use superior troops to crush him on the plains, he still dared to run over because he had confidence:
Even if I can't beat you, don't even think about eating me in one bite.
Otherwise, based on Feng Tubao's temperament, he would have led his army into the desert long ago.
Since there are Huqi in the army, what are you afraid of?
The worst case scenario is wandering around in the desert for a year and a half.
And with Guan Ji by my side, I won’t be too lonely on the way...
As the two of them were talking, they saw that Wei Jun was the first to take action in the southeast corner.
Guan Ji shouted loudly: "Xun Wei! Du Men!"
At the same time, he picked up the small flag on the table in front of him and waved it a few times.
The commander's drums soon sounded, and at the same time there were messengers on horseback running towards the southeast.
After receiving the military order from the commander, there was no movement on the outermost layer of the Han army in the southeast corner, but the inside was already turning. At the same time, a reserve battalion from the commander's camp entered the southeast corner to respond.
The Wei army's attempted attack of two thousand infantry quickly disappeared into the southeast corner of the Han army's formation.
This made Cao Zhen frown again: Why do I think this Shu prisoner is a little weird?
Is it possible that that is where the Shu captives deployed heavy troops?
(End of this chapter)