"General, general..." Just when Ma Chao doubted his judgment, an adjutant general pointed to the sky: "Look, general, the Cao army has divided into three roads and gone from the west and north." ”

Ma Chao stared. I really saw that Cao Jun was divided into three paths.

"Strange, what the hell is he going to do?" Ma Chao was really stunned. From the beginning of the battle to the present, it has been a passive deployment of troops to intercept all Cao troops, although they have the upper hand, they seem to be led by the enemy.

It's a bad feeling.

The Cao army heading west and north was very numerous. Ma Chao has already put all his forces into the battlefield, and he is unable to stop it anymore, even if he orders the soldiers who are put into the battlefield to go now, it will be too late.

Ma Chao was irritable, so he had to say: "Order Zhang Heng, send a thousand horsemen, and retreat with me." ”

Ma Chao had no other way, he could only temporarily transfer a group of soldiers, retreat to a distance, and then observe the battle situation. If Cao Cao really wants to play any tricks, after he sees it clearly, he can prescribe the right medicine. But in this way, the battle on the outskirts of Nancheng is doomed to failure, and this is nearly 10,000 iron horses.

Of course, it was not so easy for Cao Cao to eliminate these ten thousand iron horses.

Retreat to five miles away.

On a mountain col.

Ma Chao looked down into the distance.

He suddenly found that Cao's army, which was heading west and north, did not run far, and turned back to the south. In other words, their real purpose was to entangle the cavalry with a small number of troops, and then the whole army bypassed the battlefield and went straight to the south.

"Finally understood..."

Ma Chao felt that his mood suddenly brightened.

Knowing the enemy's ultimate goal, you can prescribe the right medicine.

Although he could not mobilize many troops, he was confident that he could complete the task.

Zhang Heng followed him, and Ma Chao said: "You go back to the camp and transfer all the infantry troops to the south to set up defenses." Remember, move quickly, don't light torches, don't expose the whereabouts of the army. When you've made arrangements, come back and report to me. ”

"General, the big camp is fifteen miles away from here, come and go, and then transfer the infantry army to the south. It's going to be busy until noon tomorrow, can you stop it here? Zhang Heng probably guessed Ma Chao's plan, but he didn't think it would succeed.

The infantry army is slow and its combat effectiveness is weak, not to mention whether it can defeat the Cao army and whether it can hide the whereabouts of the Cao army, it will take several hours to toss back and forth. How can you fight when you are exhausted?

Of course, the most worrying thing is Ma Chao, with this small number of troops, can he block the impact of sixty or seventy thousand Cao troops?

"You don't have to worry about me here. See the intersection over there? Ma Chao pointed to the flank: "It's not more than two zhang wide, and the slope that extends out is not very far." If a few thousand people pass, it can be reluctant, but tens of thousands of people pass through, and it is absolutely crowded. I stopped there, Cao Cao couldn't rush over. ”

"Time is running out, you can hurry up and arrange it."

Zhang Heng glanced sideways, and also knew that the situation was serious, and arched his hand: "Yes." The last will obey. ”

...........

Zhang Heng returned to the battalion to transfer troops.

During this time, Ma Chao had no choice but to engage in a fierce battle with Cao Cao.

He didn't notice it at all. Cao Cao's army was like water in a river, and when it came into contact with his cavalry, it all detoured in both directions. Soon bypassed the eight or nine thousand cavalry in front and ran to his position. When fighting with him, first tempt Ma Chao, rush forward, and then use the same method to detour behind Ma Chao.

That's it...

Tens of thousands of troops bypassed Ma Chao and advanced in the direction of the collapse. Moreover, the strategic place that Ma Chao refers to has been occupied by Cao's army and has become a barrier against Ma Chao's pursuit.

When Zhang Heng sent troops to come, he met with Ma Chao.

They only found out that it was too late...

"Why are you here now?" Ma Chao couldn't help blaming Zhang Heng.

"General, it's only early in the morning, and the last general is already coming soon..." Zhang Heng was aggrieved.

"Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and pursue Cao Jun. Ran away Cao Cao, I'll ask you! Ma Chao tightened the reins of the horse, raised his gun and shouted: "Chase over there!" ”

The direction he pointed to was the direction in which Cao's army was evacuating.

The narrow mountain pass was blocked by thousands of Cao military formations. When Ma Chao kills, he desperately blocks it. But Ma Chao never expected that tens of thousands of Cao troops appeared from behind him, forming a roundabout situation.

For a time, Ma Chao also fell into a dangerous situation.

While this melee was going on, Cao Cao had already left the battlefield. He, together with Jia Xu, Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Dun and others, followed the roundabout army and retreated to the collapse.

The army he left behind was entangled with Ma Chao.

Until noon.

Ma Chao's reinforcements arrived and routed all of Cao's army.

More than 6,000 were slain, more than 4,000 were captured, and the rest went back to the south.

This beautiful roundabout battle caught Ma Chao off guard, and it was only now that he completely woke up that Cao Cao played a game of cat and mouse for him and ran away quietly.

"How can it be!"

Ma Chao was very angry.

Tens of thousands of riders did not plug the gap.

Is this still the brave and warlike Xiliang Army?

Fighting in the field, he was even tricked.

"General, General Pound has captured Jincheng." There were soldiers in the rear to report.

"Hmph."

Ma Chao returned to Jincheng in a rage.

According to statistics, the Xiliang army lost 4,000 horses and more than 6,000 soldiers in this battle. For the Xiliang Army, which had been hit hard, such losses were really unbearable.

Inside the government.

Pang De came over and said, "General, Cao Cao's army has gone to Collapse, do we need to pursue it?" ”

"Let me think..."

Ma Chao was still depressed, but he was not dizzy.

He took out the map to study and muttered: "Cao Cao went to collapse because he wanted to go to Yinping, transfer to Ji County, and then meet Sima Yi in Longxi. If I chase for a long time, even if I can catch up with Cao Cao, I am afraid that I will not be his opponent. Because there are many high mountains in the collapsed and Yinping areas, it is not conducive to the galloping of cavalry. When the Di people occupied it, it took us a lot of effort to recover it... ”

"Since Cao Cao has to pass through Ji County to reach Longxi, we might as well mobilize all the cavalry and quickly go to Ji County to intercept it. The terrain there was flat, which was conducive to our cavalry fighting. Besides, if Sima Yi dares to rescue Cao Cao, I will also be annihilated. ”

Ma Chao is worthy of being a general in Xiliang, and he was also named 'Tianwei' by other races. Its sharp reflexes and analysis of the enemy's situation are quite clear.

Pound couldn't help but give a thumbs up after hearing this: "The general's analysis is extremely correct. Cao Cao will definitely go to Longxi through Ji County, and we will intercept him in Ji County and kill him by surprise. ”

"Okay."

Ma Chao's heart settled down a little, sat down and said: "Let's rest for half a day first, and after nightfall, the infantry army will defend Jincheng, and the cavalry will rush to Ji County." ”

.............

Jia Xu did a lot of calculations, but he didn't count this section. Perhaps it was his unfamiliarity with the terrain of Xiliang that led to a misjudgment. Ma Chao did not chase after Collapse and Yinping as he expected, but went to Ji County to intercept it, which was fatal to Cao Cao.

Cao's army withdrew to the south and garrisoned there.

Jia Xu also quickly realized the seriousness of the matter.

"Prime Minister, we can't rest for a moment, we should rush to Longxi immediately and meet Sima Yi." Jia Xu came over with the map.