Before Wancheng, it seemed that the fight was fierce, but in Xiangcheng, the soldiers of the Cao army were a little depressed.

A very ordinary march, no one expected to be attacked by the New Han Army.

For the officers and soldiers of the Cao Army, although they have heard the name of the New Han Army for a long time, they have always come, and subconsciously, they also regard the New Han Army as their opponents. However, this time, they were beaten by the New Han Army and lost their temper. Let them see with their own eyes how strong the New Han Army really is.

Especially the soldiers of Cao Cao's tiger and leopard cavalry, the blow they suffered this time was really quite big, 5,000 tigers and leopards rode and lost nearly half of the horses at one time, which was the heaviest loss since Cao Cao established the tiger and leopard cavalry. You must know that these tigers and leopards rode cavalry, they are all carefully selected, selected from one of the strongest warriors, they are not only strong in personal combat, but also good at riding and shooting.

It can be said that among the 1,000-strong Cao army, only about ten people were selected, and these soldiers, if they were in the ordinary army, were completely equivalent to the tun commander or the head of the department. In normal times, in local terms, they are all equivalent to a county lieutenant, and they can sit in a city and a town.

It was such an elite tiger and leopard rider who actually lost more than 2,000 men and horses at once.

Of course, it is nothing to die on the battlefield, these tiger and leopard cavalry, since they were elected to this special army, they have lost their lives, and life and death are not too important to them.

And the important thing is that they have always thought that once they ride out, they are afraid that there will be no more arms in the world to compete with them. But. This time, the New Han Army directly stunned them. The infantry of the New Han Army can actually shake them head-on. Moreover, they were suppressed from the beginning, and when they fought against the Modao battalion of the New Han Army, they were tantamount to going forward to die in vain. In front of the soldiers of the Modao Battalion, they didn't have the slightest strength to fight back.

Seriously, when those Mo Dao Battalion's Mo knives were raised, they felt a little frightened.

A knife down. He can actually break through the heavy armor on their bodies, and he can cut them off their horses with a single sword. His own iron-armored war horse crashed into them. How much strength does it take to be able to resist them stubbornly, and to overturn them even with men and horses to the ground?

So, go through this battle. Let Cao Jun's tiger and leopard cavalry soldiers see the fact that there is a mountain and a mountain high. Let their faith be frustrated. In particular, it is certain that if they do not retreat, all their 5,000 or so men will be pressed down, and the final result may be the annihilation of the entire army.

Their commander, General Cao Chun, was wounded by Liu Yi and could no longer take them into battle, so he was sent back to Xu Capital to recuperate from his injuries. This made the morale of the remaining Haw Par Cavalry sergeants quite low. After returning to Xiangcheng, he has been lifeless.

Cao Jun's most elite tiger and leopard riders are like this. Not to mention the other sergeants in Cao's army.

They received another 100,000 troops and horses sent by Cao Cao, and the soldiers of Cao's army did not feel very happy.

In the past few days, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Huang and other generals have been trying their best to improve the morale of the sergeants while reorganizing the military horses, and they have been very busy.

Fortunately, Zhang Liao came back from Wancheng and shared a lot of work for them. Otherwise, these generals of Cao Cao would really be anxious.

As soon as Zhang Liao returned to Xiangcheng, he saw the demoralization of Cao's army, and he immediately gathered the whole army and conducted a big drill. Zhang Liao knew that the more defeated the army, the more they could not let the sergeants be idle, and the more they were allowed to be idle, the more they would think, as long as they practiced collectively and let them recover their combat strength, it would be possible for them to regain their self-confidence.

Of course, when Zhang Liao lectured the soldiers, he also encouraged the soldiers below from the side.

He set an example and told the soldiers of the Cao army how the Han army fought against the Hun cavalry in the northern frontier. When it comes to the gradual decline of the Han Dynasty, the Han army is inferior to the Huns in terms of strength and logistical supplies. In recent decades, the Han border was often invaded by the Huns.

The border army of the Han Dynasty, the war with the Huns, also fell into an increasingly unfavorable situation, and by the time of the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, the confrontation between the Han army and the Huns had been completely at a disadvantage.

The Hun army, full of cavalry, came and went like the wind, and although they were not too strong, compared with the Han people, they appeared relatively thin, but most of them were born with great strength, and they were more fierce than the Han border army. Therefore, at that time, the Han border army could only resist the Hun cavalry according to the Great Wall, and did not dare to step into the desert to fight the Huns in the wilderness.

But so what? During the period when Ding Yuan was the assassin of the state, he formed the iron cavalry of the state, with the help of Lu Bu, with the new army of the Huns whose combat power was not as good as the Huns, although he was defeated again and again, and finally defeated the Huns, and our army could finally put the horses on the frontier, especially Lu Bu led the iron cavalry of the state, and chased and killed the Hun cavalry for thousands of miles, and killed the Huns who lost their armor and cried for their fathers and mothers, and Lu Bu also won the title of a flying general from then on.

Zhang Liao said this to Cao Jun's soldiers because the Han people knew that when the Han Dynasty was in decline, the frontier was indeed deeply disturbed by the Huns, and the Han at that time was indeed a little panicked when they heard about the invasion of foreign races. At present, many Han people have a bad impression of the Huns, which is a bit brutal, which makes people talk about it.

This can be felt from the time of the first emperor Liu Hong. The Huns could be powerful and even threatened by the Han court, but no one dared to speak against the Huns in the Manchu Dynasty, which also shows that the Huns' army was indeed a strong army at that time.

What Zhang Liao talked about was all his new experience, telling the soldiers below that failure is not terrible, nor shameful, and there is no need to worry about it, because in this world, there is no army that cannot be defeated. Back then, Qiang Qin swept Liuhe, but its Great Qin strong army was not defeated by the army of the overlord of Western Chu?

Now, the strongest army in the world is indeed the New Han Army, but. As long as the officers and men are not timid, they should pay close attention to training in peacetime and enhance their combat capability. When the time comes, the New Han Army will be defeated.

Zhang Liao also made it clear that this time the battle between the Cao army and the New Han Army was not lost because they were inferior to the New Han Army, but because they were attacked by the New Han Army suddenly, and they were not prepared for it. Then the victory or defeat is not yet known.

What's more, Zhang Liao pointed out again that they were under the attack of the New Han Army. You can also get out of the way, although the casualties of the sergeant are a bit large, but they have done their best, relatively speaking. This is already considered a minimum loss. Take a look at the armies that fought the New Han Army before. If it is attacked by the New Han Army, which army can retreat in its entirety? Who wasn't annihilated by the New Han Army? Defeated? Not long ago, Yuan Shao's more than 300,000 military horses were a living example, in that fire, how much could Yuan Shao's generals escape?

The soldiers of the Cao army should be proud of this war. Instead of being depressed, one should be happy. should be excited, should be ashamed and brave, so that when they send another 100,000 troops and horses, they should seize the opportunity, shame before the snow, should go to Wancheng again, defeat the new Han army in Wancheng in one fell swoop, capture Wancheng, and capture Liu Yi alive......

I have to say that Zhang Liao, as a minister of Cao Cao, is really dedicated, under his efforts, Cao Jun finally regained his vitality, no longer frustrated, turned failure into motivation, everyone trained hard, practiced battlefield killing skills, and looked forward to marching into Wancheng again, the shame of being attacked by the New Han Army before Yixue.

The sergeants below recovered their morale, but this time they could not be too rash when they advanced to Wancheng, and they could not march easily all the way like last time, but they were waited by the Xinhan army and killed them by surprise.

Zhang Liao was cautious by nature, he found Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Huang and other generals, and wanted to plan this combat operation well.

In fact, in Zhang Liao's heart, he actually saw the battle situation more thoroughly.

He went to the camp of the Jingzhou army and saw that he wanted to capture Wancheng with the Jingzhou army, and there was not much hope.

One, he suspected that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei still had old feelings for Liu Yi, and it was estimated that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei would not be forced to force each other on the new Han army in Wancheng. In other words, he saw that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had a dispensable attitude towards the capture of Wancheng by joining forces with Cao Jun this time. Combat is not active.

It is conceivable that with the courage of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, as well as Guan Yu's talent, if he really wants to capture Wancheng, with an army of more than 300,000 in hand, Guan Yu will not see that there are many ways to capture Wancheng, and even make the New Han army bloody.

For example, if you really want to capture Wancheng and have an army of more than 300,000, how can you only put pressure on Wancheng in the south of Wancheng? The general siege attack, at most is the siege of three missing one, have you ever heard of the situation that the army occupies a huge advantage, but only attack one side of the city, but the other three sides are left alone, and even a small number of containment troops and horses are not sent? Don't even send scout spies to spy on Wancheng's military horses?

Zhang Liao put himself on the ground and thought about it empathically, he thought that if he was Guan Yu, he would definitely let the Jingzhou generals lead the army at this moment to clear the surroundings of Wancheng, even if he did not seek to really besiege Wancheng, but he also had to divide his troops to contain him. Then, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei can lead the elite cavalry in the Jingzhou army to bypass Wancheng and directly wave the army into the territory of the New Han Dynasty, even if they do not directly wave the army to attack Luoyang, but attack Yiyang and other cities, it can also make the New Han army in Wancheng turbulent, at least, it will definitely make Liu Yi feel bad, and he will wave the army to fight with the Jingzhou army that entered the territory of the New Han Dynasty.

In this way, isn't it easier to lure the army of Wancheng out of the city to fight a field battle than to directly attack Wancheng? As long as the new Han army in Wancheng is lured out of the city, no matter whether it can really eliminate the new Han army out of the city, but at least it will make Wancheng's troops empty, so with the army left in front of Wancheng, can it not take Wancheng?

Therefore, Zhang Liao believes that in order to seize Wancheng, it is up to Cao Jun in the end.

After discussing with the generals, Zhang Liao proposed that their 250,000 troops could be divided into two routes, one way, led by Zhang Xiu, according to the previous route, advanced through Lushan County to Wancheng with great fanfare, and joined forces with the Jingzhou army. Let Zhang Xiu lead the army to march with great fanfare, in order to attract the attention of the New Han Army and make the New Han Army misunderstand, and their entire Cao army passed through Lushan to Wancheng. The remaining 150,000 military horses of the original Xiangcheng secretly marched from another road and advanced directly to the north of Wancheng. Led the New Han army into the city from Wancheng, and they also came to an ambush against the New Han army.

However, it advanced directly to the north of Wancheng. The road is not easy to walk, and they will pass through many dangerous places along the way, and their baggage is difficult to transport, and the army marches on the dangerous road, in case the spies of the New Han Army find out. The New Han army may run to them and ambush them.

Zhang Liao is confident in this plan. As long as Zhang Xiu's 100,000 army can attract the attention of the New Han army, then their 150,000 army may quietly cross the sea.

At the beginning, the generals felt that Zhang Liao's plan was feasible. Agreed. However, at this time, Zhang Xiu had not yet led the army to Xiangcheng, which made Zhang Liao and Xiahoudun and other generals dare not act immediately.

Then, when Zhang Xiu led the army to Wancheng, Guan Yu also sent someone to send the news that he asked Zhang Fei to meet their Cao army in Lushan.

With Zhang Fei's response, he let Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, Xu Huang and other generals. I also feel that Zhang Liao's strategy does not seem to be too much of a problem. But, when you think about it, it's a bit dangerous. In particular, now both the generals of the Cao army and the generals of the Jingzhou army believe that as long as Liu Biao and Cao Cao's army join forces together, with a military strength of 500,000 or 600,000, this will already make them invincible. Now, it is useless to say anything, only let them hurry up and join forces together, and then according to Cao Cao's plan to attack Wancheng before, then it will be a matter of time before Wancheng is captured.

In addition, now that Zhang Fei is picking them up to Wancheng, along the way, there is no need to worry about being attacked by the New Han Army again. So why should they venture into the treacherous mountain paths? Everything has a chance in case, what if their march route from Xiangcheng is known to the New Han army? You must know that there are many bandits and robbers in the mountainous areas north of Xiangcheng, and it is inevitable that there will be spies sent by the New Han Dynasty.

The last time they suddenly attacked them, they were all so sudden, and this time, they had to be attacked by the New Han Army again.

What's more, there is a wide road to go, and in the end they all have to go to Wancheng, so why give up the easy and difficult? In the dangerous mountain road, if they were really attacked by the New Han Army, then they would not be as lucky as they were attacked by the New Han Army before.

Moreover, Cao Cao's instructions brought by Zhang Xiu also hoped that they would rush to Wancheng as soon as possible, for fear that there would be changes later, in case the Jingzhou army really wanted to withdraw, at that time, relying on their Cao army and the New Han army, they would definitely not be able to get too many benefits.

As a result, Zhang Liao's plan was rejected.

Zhang Liao was also noncommittal about this, because he also knew that this risk was indeed existing, and he was not completely sure that he could ensure the safety of the march.

What's more, even if he arrived in the north of Wancheng, if he wanted to divide his troops and lead the army to attack the towns of the New Han Dynasty, he didn't know what Cao Cao meant. After all, if this is the case, it means that the war between Liu Yi and Cao Cao of the New Han Dynasty has officially begun, and at that time, if the New Han army withdraws the military horses from other battlefields and throws it into a large army to attack Cao Cao, at that time, it will be a full-scale war. Zhang Liao could not afford to provoke a full-scale war between Liu Yi and Cao Cao, not to mention, Zhang Liao was not willing to take Liu Yi seriously as an enemy in his heart. He is now doing his best to serve Cao Cao, but it is just a matter of eating the king's luck and being loyal to the king. From a personal emotional standpoint, Zhang Liao hoped that Cao Cao would not have to fight with the New Han Dynasty without him.

When his plan was rejected by the generals, Zhang Liao's mind flashed with inspiration, and he thought about whether their army in Xiangcheng would be attacked by the New Han army on the way to Wancheng through Lushan County? However, he opened his mouth, but he did not express the worry in his heart. Because he thought about it again, he felt that it was really unlikely that such a situation would happen again.

When he returned to Xiangcheng from the Jingzhou army camp in front of Wancheng, he deliberately went to the battlefield where the New Han Army attacked Cao's army. All the way back to Xiangcheng, he felt that the only way for the New Han Army to ambush the Cao Army on this road was in that section of open slopes of twenty or thirty miles, except for that place, the New Han Army had no place for them to hide on the flat plain. Also, even if it is that wave area, it is not the best ambush location, no, a war that seems to be an ambush will eventually turn into an encounter, and it can still make Cao Jun retreat. If you do it again, if the Cao army is prepared, it may not be defeated again, not to mention, there are tens of thousands of more troops and horses now. If Liu Yi still dared to lead the army to attack the Cao army, with Liu Yi's hundreds of thousands of military horses, it was very likely that he would be surrounded and killed by the Cao army on the plain.

In this way, Zhang Liao did not say it, and he did not even say anything to remind the generals, he always believed that it was impossible for people to fall twice in the same place, even if he did not remind them, the Xiahou brothers and Xu Huang were not vain people, they would naturally be careful.

This time Cao's army advanced to Wancheng, Zhang Liao did not plan to go together, he wanted to return to Xudu and personally report to Cao Cao about seeing Guan Yu. Because he knew that Cao Cao really admired Guan Yu very much, he wanted to report Guan Yu's true meaning to Cao Yu, so that Cao Cao knew in his heart.

Zhang Liao and Cao Jun left Xiangcheng almost at the same time, and the military horses marched south, and he headed north...... (To be continued......)