In July of the eighth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty (195), Liangzhou Mu Ma Yue led 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry out of Wuguan and captured Nanxiang, an important town in the north of Nanyang County, with lightning speed, which officially opened the prelude to the attack on Nanyang. In the same month, Cao Ying, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, personally raised an army of 10,000 to the west of Shunyang, set up camp on the east bank of Danshui, and confronted the Liangzhou army across the river.

Nanyang Taishou Chen Jiling led an army of 3,000 from his younger brother Chen to Chen Ying and listened to the tune in front of Cao Ying's tent.

……

On the west bank of Danshui, the Liangzhou military camp.

Ma Yue pressed his sword and stood on the high platform, surrounded by Jia Xu, Li Su, Ma Chao, Gao Shun, Xu Chu, Li Meng, Dian Wei and other civil and military henchmen, although the sun in the sky has slanted to the west, but the land of Nanyang in July is still like moxibustion in the furnace, the heat is suffocating.

Across the water from the Liangzhou camp is the Cao army camp.

The Cao army camp was densely covered with flags and Jin Ge towering like a forest, and groups of Cao troops were patrolling back and forth in the camp, and the wilderness outside the camp was full of Cao army's scouts and rangers.

The terrain in this area is gentle, there are no jungles, no canyons, and the necessary terrain conditions for surprise attacks are lacking, so Ma Yue deliberately chose this place as the battlefield, obviously in order to have a dignified decisive battle with Cao's army!

Ma Yue can also be regarded as having figured it out, since he can't play Cao Ying by playing conspiracy and tricks, then the surname Suo will defeat Cao Ying from the frontal battlefield with absolute strength! As the saying goes, one force will drop ten times, in the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and tricks will be useless, since this can be passed down through the ages, it must not be unreasonable.

Ma Yue looked at it for a moment, then turned back to Jia Xu and said, "Wenhe, do you see clearly?" ”

"See clearly." Jia Xu said, "Judging from the camp and banner, the strength of the Cao army is about 10,000, and the strength of the Nanyang army is about 3,000, which is about the same as our estimate in advance." ”

"Hahaha." Ma Yue looked up to the sky and said with a long smile, "That is to say, the strength of our army is almost twice that of Cao's army!" Moreover, our army has enough food and grass, and there are no worries, but Cao's army is short of food and grass, and the rear nest is always facing the prying eyes of strong neighbors, our army occupies such an obvious advantage, if we can't win this battle, then the general can really commit suicide. ”

Jia Xu said: "My lord, the soldiers are treacherous, although our army has the advantage, we must not underestimate the enemy." ”

"Well, Wen and the reminder are right." Ma Yue was shocked when he heard this, and said in a deep voice, "General Ben is a little carried away. ”

……

On the east bank of Danshui, Cao's army camp.

Cao Ying also stood on the lookout under the support of Guo Jia, Xun You, Li Dian (Cao Xiu for Shouhan Guguan), Zangba, Chen Dao, Chen Ying and others to observe the reality of the Liangzhou camp, although the weather was as hot as a steamer, but Cao Ying's heart was colder than a while, I don't know why this Liangzhou army on the west bank of Danshui made Cao Ying feel a little strange.

This Liangzhou army was different from any Liangzhou army that Cao Ying had come into contact with before.

The Liangzhou army during Dong Zhuo's period was a group of beasts, although cruel and murderous, they were simple-minded and tactically dull, and it was not too difficult to deal with; When the horse butcher first decided to Liangzhou, the Liangzhou army was a group of wolves, as long as the horse butcher, the wolf king, led a long howl, this group of vicious wolves would rush up desperately, even if there was a fierce lion in front of them, they would also vow to tear it to pieces.

And at this moment, the Liangzhou army opposite Danshui gave Cao Ying the feeling: This is a real army!

"This is certainly not the old department of the horse butcher!" Cao Ying said categorically, "This Liangzhou army does not have the unique killing atmosphere of the old horse butcher department, but it has stricter discipline and a more neat military appearance, if the appearance is not wrong, this should be the new Liangzhou army trained by Gao Shun." ”

"Liangzhou New Army?" Chen Yingdao, "Since it is a new army, there is no need to worry. ”

"That's because you haven't learned Gao Shun's power!" Li Dian said coldly, "If you had fought with Gao Shun, you wouldn't think so. ”

Whether Gao Shun is powerful or not, Li Dian is undoubtedly the clearest!

When Cao Ying first conquered the 800 Liukou for the Taishou of Dongjun, Li Dian had a sneak attack on Changshe with Lejin and had a confrontation with Gao Shun, who was only a small colonel of the Yellow Turban Army at that time. It was this confrontation that made Li Dian unforgettable and unforgettable! It was this Gao Shun who turned the tide and turned a group of rabble into an elite soldier in the blink of an eye.

In the end, the battle situation of Changshe took a sharp turn, and Li Dian's best brother Le Jin also died in this battle!

"Hmph." Chen Ying said coldly, "I think you were scared by Gao Shun, right?" ”

"What did you say?" Li Dian was furious, and suddenly pulled out his saber and said sharply, "There is a kind of saying it again!?" ”

Chen Yingyi drew his sword in his hand and said-for-tat: "I'm afraid you won't succeed?" ”

"Stop!" Cao Ying's face changed, and he shouted, "The enemy is still pointing weapons at his allies, do you want to try the military method of the true phase?" ”

Li Dian and Chen Ying glared at each other, put away their swords and retreated.

"Let's all go down." Cao Ying waved his hand coldly, and said, "Fengxiao and Gongda stay." ”

After the generals got off the lookout, Cao Ying turned his gaze to Guo Jia and said worriedly: "Fengxiao, the prospect of this battle is not optimistic." ”

"yes." Guo Jia also looked solemn and said, "The strength of the Liangzhou army is twice that of our army, and there is enough food and grass, and there are no worries, on the other hand, our army's strength is only half of the Liangzhou army, and the lord also saw this scene just now, and the three thousand Nanyang troops sent by Chen Ji may not be helping." ”

Xun You said: "Lord, it's better to send Chen Ji's 3,000 men and horses back to Wancheng with the surname Suo, staying here will get in the way." ”

"No, not only can't you send Chen Dao and Chen Ying's 3,000 soldiers and horses back to Wancheng now, but you should report to Wancheng and ask Chen Ji to send reinforcements again!" Cao Ying said this, a trace of imperceptible coldness flashed in his narrow eyes, and he said faintly, "Nanyang is not Yingchuan after all, if Chen Ji defects and cuts off our army's retreat, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Guo Jia said: "In the current situation, Chen Ji will not defect to the battle, but the lord is extremely worried, our army should still take precautions and separate Chen Ji from the army under his command as much as possible. ”

Cao Ying rubbed his temples and said in a low voice: "Fengxiao, in your opinion, how should you deal with the Liangzhou army?" ”

Guo Jia said: "If you want to win with a few outnumbered people, there are only two ways, one is to stick to the tired enemy, and take advantage of the situation when the enemy's morale is low and he has the intention of retreating; The two won by surprise, using ambushes, flooding, fire attacks, cutting off the enemy's grain routes and other strategies to break the enemy, but the terrain on both sides of the Danshui River was not suitable for the use of surprise attacks to break the enemy, and the horse butcher chose this place as the battlefield, obviously after careful consideration, in view of this, Jia thought that our army had no choice but to stick to the tired enemy. ”

Cao Ying frowned and said, "Is there really no other way?" ”

Guo Jiadao: "At least for now, there is no better way, but as time goes by, it is unknown what weaknesses the Liangzhou army will expose, in short, our army must not act rashly." ”

"Okay." Cao Ying nodded, and muttered, "Then the order will be passed on, and the officers and men of the whole army will strengthen their vigilance, but there will be no mercy for those who attack without authorization." ”

……

Two days later.

On the west bank of Danshui, the Liangzhou military camp.

Xu Chu, Ma Chao, Li Meng, and Ju Tu were not solved, and they hurried to Ma Yue's big tent in the army, in the big tent, Ma Yue was studying the strategy of Nanyang with Jia Xu, Li Su, and Gao Shun on the map, and when he looked up and saw Ma Chao's four generals rushing in, he couldn't help but smile and asked: "Meng Qi, how?" ”

"Hey, don't mention it." Ma Chao angrily shook the whip in his hand, and replied quite annoyedly, "Cao Agui is a turtle with a shrunken head, and the junior brother has ordered the sergeant to be insulted in every way, even his ancestors have been scolded for eighteen generations, but he is shrinking in the camp and refuses to come out!" General Li Meng was angry, and kicked the camp with the cavalry and was shot back by Cao Jun. ”

"Hahaha, Cao Apu also has today." Ma Yue raised his head and laughed, "But this is also expected, it is not pleasant to be at a disadvantage!" General Ben used to have few soldiers, but he was fed up with this taste of birds, and now that thirty years of feng shui have taken turns, it is also the turn of General Ben's opponents to taste this taste. ”

Jia Xu stroked his willow whiskers under his chin, and said loudly: "Lord, Cao Jun's strategy is already obvious, that is, to hold on to the tired enemy!" Trying to rely on the impermeable persistence to wear down the sharpness of our army, our army has been unable to overcome for a long time, and it is inevitable that the morale will be sluggish, and this is when the opportunity for Cao's army comes. ”

"Humph!" Ma Yue sneered, "How could General Ben give Cao Ying such an opportunity!?" ”

Jia Xu smiled slightly, and said to Ma Chao and Gao Shun generals: "The Cao army stubbornly defended the tired enemy, it was expected, and the countermeasure formulated by the division and the lord was to go to his ears and eyes and attack behind the enemy!" ”

Ma Chao's generals said in a condensed voice: "Go to their ears and eyes, and go around behind enemy lines? ”

"Yes, get rid of their eyes and ears, and go behind enemy lines!" Ma Yue said coldly, "Cao Ying and Guo Jia are almost invulnerable with their military deeds, and if our army storms Cao Jun's camp, it will be in the hands of thieves." The thief wants our army to kick the camp, but the general is not as good as he wants, the two armies are clashing, and they should use their own strengths to attack the enemy's shortcomings! Even though Cao Ying and Guo Jia have the ability to penetrate the heavens and the earth, they can't make up for a fatal flaw of the Cao army, that is, the Cao army lacks a strong cavalry! ”

Ma Chao, Xu Chu, and Ju Tu all showed excitement when they heard this.

"What's the protrusion?"

Ju suddenly stepped forward and said sharply: "The last general." ”

Ma Yue said: "Lead five hundred scout wolf riders, divided into twenty teams to patrol the wilderness on both sides of Danshui day and night, and will definitely kill all the Cao army scout rangers within a radius of fifty miles!" Starting tomorrow, General Ben no longer wants to see Cao's scouts appear around the battlefield. ”

Ju Tu hugged his fists and said: "The last general will take the order." ”

Ma Yue's gaze turned to Ma Chao and said sharply: "Ma Chao." ”

Ma Chao hurriedly stepped forward, stood side by side with Ju Tu, and said quickly: "The end will be." ”

Ma Yue snorted coldly, the corners of his mouth suddenly bloomed with a trace of cold murderous intent, and said in a condensed voice: "Lead two thousand iron cavalry, the whole army is only allowed to carry ten dry rations and weapons and arrows, and when Jutu finishes cleaning up the scouts of the Cao army, he will bypass the Cao army's camp, and rush into the champion and the county lightly, cutting off the Cao army's grain road!" ”

"If the champion and the county are in a hurry, they should abandon the fortified city and force Wancheng, and there must be no mistake."

Ma Chao clenched his fists and said, "Obey!" ”

……

The next time.

On the east bank of Danshui, two horses of Cao Jun were wandering in the wilderness, seemingly aimless, but in fact, they were always monitoring the movements of the Liangzhou army on the other side of the river. The sky was high and the clouds were light, the wind was beautiful, except for some heat, everything seemed so calm and peaceful, and the two Cao Jun detectives did not realize that the shadow of death had enveloped them.

"Sigh Rhythm ~~"

A fierce neighing of horses suddenly sounded from the left, and Cao Jun Tanma looked back in shock, only to see that dozens of Liangzhou Tanma horses had ghostly appeared in the wilderness five hundred steps away, and they were swept towards the place where the two Cao Jun Tanma stopped, and the iron hooves were churning but the sound of fierce horse hooves (sackcloth hooves was wrapped), no wonder they were hidden within five hundred steps and were not noticed.

"It's Liangzhou Tanma, let's go!"

The two horsemen Cao Jun sounded a whistle and pulled out their horses to leave.

However, as soon as they turned their horses, the two cavalry Cao Jun Tanma was surprised to find that two more teams of Liangzhou Tanma were outflanking from the other two directions, faintly forming a flanking attack.

"Break out!"

The Cao army scouts who led the way made a quick decision, and the two Cao army scouts divided into two roads and galloped away relatively quickly.

However, it is a pity that whether it is the cavalry's riding skills or the running speed of the war horses, the Liangzhou Tanma occupies an overwhelming advantage, and the war horses of the Liangzhou cavalry are all carefully tended in the Shandan and Hetao military horse farms, and the body height is at least seven feet (152 cm) tall horses, like the war horses of Xu Chu's iron cavalry camp, the body height is at least eight feet, and Xu Chu's mount is even as high as nine feet!

The horses of the Cao cavalry are all Mongolian bantam horses sold by the horse dealer Zhang Shiping from the Hetao to the Central Plains, and the body height is generally only about six feet (129 cm), although the endurance is good, but the running speed is far from being comparable to the superior military horses of the Liangzhou cavalry.

"Woohoo!"

A sharp arrow sweeps through the air, and an arrow pierces the throat!

In less than half a day, more than 100 cavalry Cao army scouts scattered in the wilderness were almost wiped out by the absolute superiority of the scout wolf cavalry, only a dozen cavalry Cao army scouts escaped from death, and fled back to the camp in panic to report the news.

……

On the east bank of Danshui, Cao Ying's Chinese army tent.

The general hurriedly stepped into the big tent, hugged his fist to Cao Ying, and said: "Lord, Liangzhou Tanma has attacked in a big way, and the Tanma scattered around the battlefield by our army has been hunted and killed!" ”

"Ah, there's such a thing?" Cao Ying lost his voice and said, "Even if Liangzhou Tanma is superb in riding and shooting, and has superb riding skills, can't our army still run away if the Tanma can't beat it?" How could he be hunted and killed by Liangzhou Tanma? ”

"The lord doesn't know." Yu Ban replied with a bitter face, "The merchants in Guanzhong who come to the Central Plains are all short-legged horses, but the mounts of Liangzhou Tanma are all high-headed horses, and the running speed of the two horses is too far, once they are targeted by the Liangzhou cavalry, our army's Tanma will not be able to run away at all." ”

"It's broken, it's a bad thing to be a butcher!" Cao Ying jumped to his feet and scolded angrily, "I thought that the horses sold by the merchants in Guanzhong to the Central Plains were all Liangzhou military horses smuggled by the horse butcher without telling the horse butcher, but I didn't expect that this was a trap designed by the horse butcher in advance!" Damn, the war horse that Benxiang spent a lot of money and grain to buy turned out to be an inferior horse, hateful, hateful! ”

……

On the west bank of Danshui, Ma Yuezhong's army tent.

"Hahaha~~" Ma Yue looked up to the sky and said with a long smile, "If General Ben didn't guess wrong, Cao Apu must be jumping on his feet and scolding now, saying that General Ben is not a thing, taking a batch of Mongolian bantam horses as Shandan military horses and selling them to the Central Plains, not to mention making huge profits, and causing him Prime Minister Cao Dacheng to suffer a dumb loss." ”

"Hehe, now Cao Jun is really in a dilemma."

Jia Xu smiled, and then said: "Enter, that is, continue to hold on, lose the eyes and ears of scouts and horses, and completely unable to know the news of the surrounding battlefields, and even the lord can not predict the arrival of a large number of reinforcements from Guanzhong, then it will completely degenerate into a situation of passive beating, which is not taken by the wise." ”

"Retreat, but it's not so easy, just ordered the three armies to hold on, but in a blink of an eye, the military order was changed to retreat, and the change of the order was the most demoralizing of the army, not to mention that there were three thousand Nanyang troops in addition to the Cao army, and it was inevitable that the troops would be chaotic when they retreated, and when the time came, our army would follow behind and take advantage of the situation to cover up, and it would be difficult for the Cao army not to be defeated."

"Hmph." Ma Yue sneered, "Just let Cao Apu have a headache, this general wants to see how Cao Apu and Guo Guicai solve this problem?" ”

……

On the east bank of Danshui, Cao's army camp.

"My lord." Guo Jia's face changed, and he said in a low voice, "If there are no scouts to monitor the movements of the Liangzhou army at any time, then our army will become deaf and blind!" ”

"The lookout platform can only observe the situation within a thousand steps around the camp, and it is difficult to see any farther, so that the Liangzhou cavalry of the horse butcher can unscrupulously outflank and cover the flank, so as to completely cut off the connection between our army and the rear! What's more serious is that if the horse butcher sends a large army from Guanzhong again, and our army is at a loss because of the lack of ears, it is likely to be besieged at that time. ”

A hint of gloom flashed in Cao Ying's small eyes, and he asked tentatively: "So it's better to withdraw the troops for the time being, and retreat to Wancheng first and then make plans?" ”

"Ugh." Guo Jia sighed lightly, shook his head and said, "It's too late to retreat now, yesterday the lord just ordered to stick to the camp, and today he wants to change the military order to retreat to Wancheng, the soldiers will inevitably be confused, the morale of the army will be discharged, if the Liangzhou army takes advantage of the retreat of our army to follow and cover up, I am afraid of a rout." ”

Withdrawing troops from the battlefield has been a taboo for soldiers since ancient times!

The reason is very simple, after the soldiers received the military order, their minds were no longer thinking about fighting to the death with the enemy, but to withdraw from the battlefield earlier, and if the pursuers followed at this time, it would easily turn into a rout.

However, there are no absolutes in everything, and for soldiers like Sun Bin and Cao Ying, they can always use favorable terrain to turn the situation around, and use ambushes to block the pursuit of the enemy, which often makes the pursuers steal chickens and lose a handful of rice. However, it is a pity that the terrain around Danshui is flat and gently sloped, so it is impossible to lay ambushes.

Moreover, there are 5,000 cavalry in the Liangzhou army, once the Cao army is defeated, the final outcome will definitely be the annihilation of the entire army! After all, a two-legged infantry can't outrun a four-legged war horse.

Cao Ying frowned and said: "It's not okay to advance, and it's not okay to retreat, so how can this be good?" ”

Guo Jia sighed lightly: "So far, there is no good way but to choose to fight with the Liangzhou army, see if you can find the flaws of the Liangzhou army in the battle, and then win with one blow?" As long as the infantry corps of the horse butcher can be defeated from the frontal battlefield, although the remaining Liangzhou cavalry is powerful, there is nothing to worry about. ”

Although Guo Jia's wisdom is peerless, but at this time, he can only look up to the sky and sigh, the strategy of the military adviser only works under certain conditions, like the current situation, any conspiracy and trickery are already difficult to come in handy, Guo Jia's role in Cao Jun is minimal, and even less useful than an ordinary soldier.

"That's fine." Cao Ying pondered for a long time, but finally couldn't think of any good plan, so he had to nod and say, "Ming said that the prime minister will send a war letter to the horse butcher, and the two armies will fight on the east bank of Danshui." ”

……

The next said, Liangzhou Daying.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Jia Xu held the book and said to Ma Yue: "Lord, Cao Apu can't hold his breath, and he asks our army to fight on the east bank of Danshui in Ming, hehe." ”

"Battle on the east bank of Danshui? Cao Apu shouldn't be trying to attack halfway, right? Ma Yue sneered, "If Cao Apu really has this plan, then General Ben will disappoint him, hehe!" Wen He, immediately replied to Cao Apu, Ming said that at three o'clock, our army crossed the river on time to fight! ”

(To be continued)