Ma Dai's 4,000 cavalry were severely damaged by Xiahou Ba and Niu Jin, and the Wei cavalry crisscrossed the hinterland of Guanzhong, causing great difficulties for the mutual communication between the various departments of the Shu Han army. If Huo Yi wanted to send a message from Chencang to Zhuge Liang in Wangxian County or Wei Yan from Yiwu, he often had to pay more than a dozen sacrifices before one or two people could escape death and deliver the news. If you are unlucky, you may even run out of the army, and none of them will be able to escape the interception and pursuit of the Wei army.

When Zhuge Liang received Huo Yi's alarm, Cao Zhi was already less than fifty miles away from Wang County, and Zhuge Liang's own scouts also discovered Cao Zhi's traces.

Zhuge Liang's scouts were as far as Chencang City, and the normal warning range was also a hundred miles, but these scouts could not confront the Wei army's scouts head-on, and it was difficult to pass the news back in time. Only within a radius of fifty miles, the number of scouts surged, and Wei Qi could not control the situation, and Zhuge Liang could receive the news in time.

Despite this, Zhuge Liang still fell behind in the timeliness and accuracy of the news between the two sides. In the face of the Wei army's iron cavalry attacking everywhere, anyone can feel the tense atmosphere before the war.

The east side of Wangxian County is Qianshan, the right side is Longshan, and the middle is Jingshui River Valley, with high mountains and deep valleys. From here to the north, you can enter the plateau of Saibei, and the grassland line of the Silk Road is from here out of the pass, and the two ends of this river valley are formed by the Xiaoguan on the grassland. From Huangxian County to the west, enter Longshan, you can pass through Longguan to Longyou, and enter the north of Tianshui County.

Because of such a terrain, Huangxian County, also known as the key to the Guanshan lock, has always been a battleground for soldiers.

Cao Zhi wants to go north, and Zhang He wants to go south. They all had to pass through Wangxian, and Zhuge Liang's army was stationed in Wangxian. Cao Zhi drove straight into Guanzhong, and did not hesitate to spend six or seven days feint to attack Chencang, trying to lure Zhuge Liang to leave Wangxian, but he failed to succeed, and was forced to take the initiative to go north and attack Zhuge Liang.

The rapid march that lasted for more than half a month, dazzling and unpredictable tactics. In front of Zhuge Liang, they all lost their effect. Zuihou was also able to attack Zhuge Liang's army of 30,000 tired troops.

At this point, no one doubted that there was anything wrong with Zhuge Liang standing still.

Cao Zhi's army had been forced to ten miles in front of Zhuge Liang before setting up camp. The fact that the two armies are so close is tantamount to a provocation. The generals of the Shu Han army were all indignant. They all asked for war. It is necessary to teach these Wei troops who do not know the height of the sky and the height of the earth a lesson.

Zhuge Liang was not allowed to fight. He said to the generals that Cao Zhi came all the way from Kanto to fight a decisive battle with you. He had limited food and grass. Wait a minute, he only has one way for the whole army to collapse, are you still afraid that he will run away? Defend the camp with peace of mind and wait for Cao Zhi to attack. It's always easier to defend than to attack. Cao Zhi did this to provoke you, if you go to attack his camp, he will have to calculate.

Listening to Zhuge Liang's reasoning, although the generals were still a little indignant, they no longer insisted. They each returned to their camps, ready for battle. Everyone knows that Cao Zhi has become the end of a strong crossbow, and killing the king of Wei is a great achievement, and no one wants to lose in such a war.

If you want to say that the only headache is probably Xiahouba's cavalry. For this cavalry that had just severely damaged Ma Dai, everyone's hearts were a little uneasy.

……

Zhuge Liang was calm and relaxed, waiting for Cao Zhi to attack. Cao Zhi didn't rush to attack, but was strangely silent. He had to patrol the camp several times a day, take care of the wounded soldiers, chat with the soldiers, talk about the day, and sometimes make a few jokes.

Under his infection, the soldiers, who seemed a little uneasy because of the imminent date of death, maintained an incredible calm. They calmly faced death, patiently waited for the battle to begin, and maintained a rare calm even in the face of the food bags that were about to bottom.

This point, even those who have followed the general Cao Zhen for many years to fight in a hundred battles are admired. In this case, he can still maintain the emotional stability of the army, and this alone is enough to show that Cao Zhi is not as simple as a scholar.

Xiahou Ba is also one of these admirers. He silently studied Cao Zhi's every move, remembered it in his heart, and turned it into his own experience. After a busy day, Xiahou Ba sorted out the report of the scouts' investigation for a day and came to Cao Zhi's big tent.

Cao Zhi took the report and flipped through the pages. After a while, he placed the report on the table, scratching his brow slightly.

"There is a war in the direction of Longguan?"

"It's not very clear now, it's just that there are frequent scouts on the official road leading to Longguan, and there are fresh traces of the army passing, so it should be that the army rushed to Longguan not long ago." Xiahou Ba asked tentatively: "Your Highness, if you send a group of men and horses to attack Longguan, is it feasible?" ”

"Our troops are already insufficient, and it is even more undesirable to divide the army." Cao Zhi vetoed Xiahouba's suggestion.

Xiahou Ba blinked, and was about to persuade again, but Cao Zhi glanced at him. "Zhongquan, I entered the customs at any cost, just to accept Zhang He's entry into the customs. Even if there are people and horses in Longguan, it will not be the main force of Zhang He, it is likely to be a Qiang person. You say, are we going to accept Zhang He to enter the customs, or are we to accept the Qiang people to enter the customs? ”

Xiahou Ba smashed his mouth and didn't say anything more. He originally meant that he hoped that Cao Zhi would lead the army to raid Longguan and maybe get food support from Longyou, but Cao Zhi came up with this reason, indicating that he did not intend to back down at all, he just wanted to have a bloody battle with Zhuge Liang and let Zhang He enter the customs smoothly. In fact, only when the main force of the Wei army led by Zhang He entered Guanzhong, Wei had the possibility of recovering Guanzhong.

It's just that in that case, the chances of survival of their army are very slim.

Cao Zhi tapped on the desk, and the monotonous tuk tuk sound made people silent. Xiahou Ba silently looked at Cao Zhi's haggard face and red eyes, and sighed involuntarily in his heart.

"Zhongquan, Zhang He was intercepted by Jiang Wei, if you want to enter the customs, you must pay a heavy price." Cao Zhi said slowly: "If no one answers, he may not be able to enter the customs at all." ”

Xiahou Ba's brows furrowed, excluding the prisoners and soldiers who had too much physical exertion and could no longer fight, including the cavalry, they now only had more than 12,000 people, Cao Zhi didn't even want to attack Longguan with a single person, why did he still think of sending someone to pick up Zhang He? Zhang He led the most elite main force of the Wei army.

"We still have three days of food left, and from tomorrow, I will launch an attack and hold Zhuge Liang back. You are ready, bring ten days of food, and as soon as you have the opportunity, you will pass through Zhuge Liang's battle array, and go north along the Huangshui River to attack Jiang Wei's rear formation. ”

Xiahou Ba was taken aback: "Your Highness, you only have less than 10,000 people left, how can you stop Zhuge Liang?" ”

"I didn't intend to live." Cao Zhi waved his hand and signaled Xiahou Ba not to argue: "I will do everything possible to send you over, you must not hesitate." Zhuge Liang is a cautious person, and he won't give us too many chances. He glanced at Xiahou Ba: "If you really want to help me, then defeat Jiang Wei as quickly as possible and lead Zhang He into the customs." ”

Xiahou Ba burst into tears and nodded again and again.

……

The morning sun is rising, and the smoke curls in the camp ten miles away, and the sound of drums and horns is heard.

When the sun shone into the river valley, Cao Zhi led his army out of the camp and lined up northward. With their backs to the golden sunshine, they lined up in a neat battle formation, along the river valley, and slowly marched towards Zhuge Liang's camp. Guided by the muffled sound of war drums, they walked calmly, their faces were calm, and their solemnity revealed a strong murderous aura.

Zhuge Liang immediately ordered to go out of the camp and line up to meet the battle. The Shu Han army had already prepared its positions in the Hejian Valley, and after a drill, as soon as the war drums sounded, the various units entered their respective positions in an orderly manner. They greeted the sun and looked at the Wei Jun who had their backs shining in the sun and their faces looked very gloomy, full of longing and a little uneasy.

This is a team of men and horses who are about to run out of food, and in the face of death, some people will collapse, and others will burst out with amazing combat effectiveness. These Wei troops were clearly the latter, and their silence was more terrible than their passion. It is conceivable that what will follow will inevitably be a bloody battle.

No one wanted to fight the outlaws, but they had no other choice.

The two sides are three hundred paces apart.

Zhuge Liang sat on the command platform of the Chinese army, wearing the official uniform of the prime minister, sitting upright, awe-inspiring and inviolable. An army of 30,000 men lined up in front of him, left and right, like rectangles of impeccable proportions, occupying the valley on the west side of the river. Every soldier stood up straight and did not dare to slack off. Unlike the Wei army's battle formation, which was shrouded in the breath of death, the battle formation of the Shu Han army was as strict as a mountain.

The war drums sounded in the Wei army's array, and Cao Zhi rode a horse and slowly walked out of the large formation, with only one armor soldier behind him, holding his battle flag. He slowly came to the front of the formation, restrained the war horse, and slowly glanced at the bright battle formation of Zhuge Liang and the Shu Han army under the sunshine bathed in the sun on the opposite side, illuminated by the morning sun in early summer, smiled slightly, and gently pulled the reins of the horse.

The horse snorted, slowly turned around, and faced more than 10,000 Wei soldiers.

Cao Zhi raised his hand, and all the Wei soldiers looked at him.

"Warriors......" Cao Zhi's voice was a little hoarse, but it didn't prevent everyone from hearing his words clearly, but it added a bit of masculinity. We are invincible all the way, and today, we will usher in a battle of zuihou. Cao Zhi paused, raised his voice again, and shouted loudly: "The meaning of the first battle of Zuihou is that by defeating these enemies in front of us, we can recover Guanzhong, or we will all die here." ”

As soon as he stretched out his hand, he took the battle flag from the hand of the armorer and slammed it on the ground. "From now on, I will never take a step back from here, and you will either march on the corpse of the enemy or steal your life on mine."

A warm south wind blew, the battle flag flew in the wind, the hunting sounded, and the long grace brushed over Cao Zhi's resolute face, like a swimming dragon.

After a short silence, Wei Jun suddenly burst out with an angry roar: "Fight! ”

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

(To be continued......)