Chisaka, in the foothills of Longting Mountain in the east of Yangxian County, Shaanxi Province in later generations, was named after "Yamasaka ochre". Longting Mountain is at the Meridian Valley crossing, Cao Zhen led the army from the north, deeply afraid of hasty use of troops, insufficient military strength, so after leaving the valley, he went slightly east to fight Shiquan City, in order to meet Niu Jin, Shen Yi, etc. - now he regrets it a little, I knew that the Shu people did not leave many troops in Shiquan, so I should send troops and horses all the way to attack Chihan from the north road, or from the south to Chenggu, should not be delayed under Shiquan City for a few more days.

When Shiquan was conquered, the two armies met smoothly, and there were still 25,000 troops in addition to the 4,000 men handed over to Ma Tan to take Nanxiang, and they marched towards Akasaka. The westward march was condescending, protruding from the valley, and the momentum was quite impressive at first, but once it reached the vicinity of Chisaka, the situation changed sharply - Ma Chaoqin led thousands of elite cavalry to kill from the flank, although the Wei army was on guard, after all, it was difficult to be the Xiliang cavalry brave, and hundreds of people were killed immediately, and the troops were chaotic. Cao Zhen was forced to lead the army to retreat and camp on the back mountain of Gaofu, and Ma Chao galloped in front of Fu - there is a kind of you coming down!

Cao Zhen climbed high and looked, but saw that the cavalry of the Ma family were all tall and handsome, with bright armor, long lances and bright sun, and they tended to avoid advancing and retreating. It is said that Ma Chao was defeated by Cao Cao in the past and was forced to flee to Liu Bei, when there were still more than 1,000 old departments of Xiliang left under his command, and then guarded the Wudu, that is, on this basis, recruited and deployed from Di and Qiang, and finally saved up the 3,000 family foundation, which is simply the trump card of the trump card.

Cao Zhen immediately sighed: "I heard that Your Majesty once said: 'Horses don't die, and they can't be alone.'" 'Imasin Yao! Then he shook his head: "If Junyi is here, he may be able to break it." ”

Actually, he meant. Zhang He has been guarding Chencang for a long time. It is adjacent to Liangzhou. also recruited a lot of Liangzhou cavalry, if those Liangzhou cavalry are pulled over, it is estimated that they will be able to compete with Ma Chao - but Zhang He is still outside Yangping Pass, and although the old road of Sanguan is easier to walk than Baoxian and Fu Luo, it may not be able to carry too many war horses...... But Cao Zhen didn't say it clearly, and immediately annoyed a person next to him, and gave him an order: "A certain watch horse, but the label is sold for the first ear." Please lead the headquarters out of the camp to break it! ”

Cao Zhen turned his head and took a look, this person was not him, it was Pingxi General Xu Huang Xu Gongming is also. To say that Xu Huang threw himself into Cao, he was in front of Zhang He, and then the two were in similar ranks, guarding the same pass, under the command of Xiahoudun, and they have been inseparable from each other, and their ambition is very strong. Now Cao Zhen said that if Zhang He is in Ma Chao, Xu Huang will be anxious on the spot: Are you air to me? What am I not as good as him Zhang Junyi?!

Cao Zhen hurriedly comforted: "A certain dare to ignore Gongming. However, there will be many steps, and the knights will not be enough. Today, the horse family rides very bravely, and it may not be easy to break. ”

Xu Huang was enthusiastic just now, saying that he wanted to defeat Ma Chao, and when he thought about it now, he also felt that it was quite difficult. However, "You can use spears as a formation, and intermittent crossbows can be shot, so that you can't move forward, and slowly force it back, and the prince will follow it, and break through Chisaka, then Ma Chao has no basis, and it will be broken by me." ”

On the battlefield at that time, it was true that cavalry was the most powerful class, but it did not mean that it could beat all other arms. Originally, the Hun cavalry was mighty, but it was driven to the north of the desert by the Han soldiers with strong bows and crossbows and long knives, so the key is how you play. The Chinese dealt with the nomadic cavalry, that is a complete tactical system passed down from generation to generation - of course, this system also needs strong mobilization and economic power as support - later generations of frustration in the northern nomadic country, mostly because of the decline in the quality of the army due to the corruption of the Korean government, it is really not that the infantry cannot break the horse.

Besides, the plain near Chisaka is narrow after all, no wider than the desert of Liangzhou, and Ma Chao's cavalry lacks enough room for maneuver, Xu Huang has the confidence to fight and force it back little by little. Once he can take the opportunity to take Chihan, then relying on the thousands of cavalry of Ma Chao and the lack of a strong city to rely on, he is not at all the opponent of Cao Weifang's tens of thousands of troops.

Cao Zhen bowed his head at the moment, but said: "Fang has suffered setbacks, morale is low, and he will rest overnight, and he can fight again tomorrow." ”

So early the next morning, Xu Huang waved his army out early and lined up to meet Ma Chao. Ma Dai led the cavalry to rush into battle, and was supported by Xu Gongming's three infantry phalanxes, stabbing with spears at close range, and shooting with crossbows at afar, just like a bear bumping into a hedgehog curled up in a ball, he couldn't find his mouth, so he had to retreat temporarily.

came back to report to Ma Chao, and Ma Chao said: "They force me, but they can't break me." But Akasaka is not lost, that is, this circumstance, it will not take ten days, and the enemy will not continue to have food. I'm afraid that Cao Zhen will take advantage of the gap to seize Akasaka. "Now there are less than 2,000 infantry in Chihan City, and the guard's name is Liu Ning-" Who knows this person is brave and cowardly? ”

Hanzhong General Jun Bao, said that Liu Ning and Du Lu are both natives of Hanzhong, and they are the best at defense, which can be called "Shuangbi". Ma Chaoxin said where did the rural generals come from, and they dared to be regarded as "Bi"? Thinking about it after all, I didn't feel at ease, so I sent Chen Cao to lead a thousand soldiers to reinforce, that is, to set up a small wall in the west of Chisaka to rely on.

Over there, Xu Huang temporarily forced back the Ma cavalry, and Cao Zhen immediately ordered Niu Jin to lead his troops to take Chisaka. In fact, there is no city in Akasaka, it is just a stone in the new planning of Fazheng, built by the mountain, the buildings are dense, the earth wall is surrounded, and there are seven antlers on the outer. Niu Jinnai made the foot soldiers cover with a big shield, and the spearmen picked off the antlers, and saw it in the wall, and immediately the arrows rained down, and the Wei army suffered a lot of losses.

So he reported back to Cao Zhen and said that if there was no equipment, it would be difficult for Chisaka to get down, so it was better to prepare well first, and then go to attack tomorrow. Cao Zhen frowned and said: "Since I am in the flat, I am riding in front, how can I keep it for a long time?" "It is impossible for Xu Huang's department to arrange the formation like this all day and all night, nervously guarding against the enemy cavalry, unless you retreat to Gaofu, otherwise the good terrain will be occupied by the Shu people, and it will be difficult to set up camp on the flat ground - you said that you will wait until tomorrow to fight, then we have to retreat, are these dead and wounded today thrown in vain?

Besides, you are not suitable for building siege equipment on Gaofu, even if it is completed, how to drag it down is a big problem......

At the moment, he raised the whip: "The earth is just a wooden bar, destroying its outer wall, why do you need equipment?" If General Niu can't fight, he can return to sit in the town, and he can be replaced! Niu Jin was helpless - although he was theoretically not under Cao Zhen's command, and he could work against Cao Zidan at the military meeting, but after all, in terms of rank and fame, he was not as good as Cao Zhen, how dare he let the cousin of the emperor run to the front line to replace himself and come back to rest? - had to rush bravely.

Shu general Chen Cao came to save Chihan. Looking at Wei Jun from afar, he carried the cards and went forward. Esau deer. He didn't pay any attention to it, but camped down three hundred paces away, and even cut down trees as hedgerows and dug earth into moats. Chen Cao can ignore Niu Jin, Niu Jin can't ignore Chen Cao - if he is really set up by the other party, he can cooperate with Chisaka at any time and attack his flank. Niu Jinqin led his soldiers and horses to meet the battle, and Chen Cao was outnumbered after all. Dozens of corpses were left behind. Niu Jin led his troops to chase fiercely, and suddenly the smoke and dust on the flanks were billowing up, and the cavalry of the Ma family roared again, and the first general wore an iron hood, covered with gold and silver fish scale armor, decorated with red ribbons, and covered with a brocade robe with flying cloud patterns - Zheng Nai Ma Chao Ma Meng Qi is also.

Niu Jin knew that he could not be defeated, so he immediately reined in his troops and left, and he was cut off. The horse galloped like a gallop like a gallop, and the big lance shook. Take the cow gold directly, and the cow gold festival will be returned. The two men circled. After six or seven rounds of fighting, Niu Jinyan saw that his subordinates were about to retreat, so he put on a gun, got rid of Ma Chao, held the lance with his backhand, and slapped the horse away. Unexpectedly, Ma Dai in the Ma family army secretly took out a bow and arrow, and when he saw it, an arrow was shot, hitting the cow's golden shoulder socket, screaming, and almost falling off the horse.

Niu Jin was injured, and the subordinates hurriedly retreated from under the Chisaka barrage, and Xu Huang was also forced to restrain the brigade and slowly return to the camp. Cao Zhen came to visit Niu Jin's injury, Niu Jin first scolded Ma Jiajun for being despicable, and then said with chagrin: "If you don't chase after the thief, you may not come here." ”

Cao Zhen said General, don't blame yourself too much, today you have already destroyed the two antlers outside Akasaka City, and we will still fight tomorrow, but be more cautious, you should be able to go straight to Akasaka. Then desperately attacked regardless of casualties, I don't believe that such a small man, I can't take it in three or five days-" But Xu Gongming forced Ma Chao to rescue, and it didn't take seven days, Chisaka could go down. "There must be a lot of grain stored in Chisaka City, and if you take Chisaka, the morale of your army will be boosted, and the morale of the Shu people will fall, and it will not be difficult to forge ahead.

In fact, Ma Chao's side was also very depressed, because the Wei army fought very well, and for a whole day, he almost had no gaps to take advantage of-"If the whole army is here, why be afraid of this enemy?!" "Ma Mengqi brought nearly 15,000 soldiers and horses to Hanzhong this time, but he also had to assist the Hanzhong army in dividing his troops to defend the danger - besides, Zhao Yun had just been imprisoned, and if the Han Zhong army did not have the guardianship of the Ma family, he would not be at ease—there were only 8,000 people who could really bring it to Chihan City, and 2,000 of them had been allocated to follow Du Lu to stabilize the city......

After all, the disparity in strength is too great, the Ma cavalry is powerful, but this is not a flat Liangzhou, the mobility of the cavalry can only be played in small-scale battles, and it is impossible to have any impact on the overall strategic situation - he wants to use the speed of the cavalry to cut off the Wei army's grain route, the problem is that the back roads are in the valley, and the cavalry can't rush into it at all......

Forget it, it can be delayed for a day, and then you can call Du Lu back, looking at the situation in front of you, the main force of the enemy army is here, and it is impossible to take the south road through Nanxiang to attack Chenggu - even if you send strange soldiers to go, at most three or five thousand people, Chenggu should be able to hold it. At the moment I'm in danger of being a city solid!

So the next day, Du Lu led his troops back and joined forces with Ma Chao to fight the Wei army. When it came time for the positional battle, Cao Zhen was not in a hurry - besides, it was useless to be in a hurry - he sent Niu Jin to protect the camp, but Xu Huang was the enemy, he personally led the army to attack Chisaka, and sure enough, at dusk, he basically destroyed the heavy deer bars outside Chisaka and forced them to the front.

The so-called antlers, which must be buried deep in the soil at the lower end, just find some messy branches and throw them on the ground, which is almost useless in the battle between the two armies, so in one night, I am not afraid that the Shu army will steal the spear and redistribute the antlers. Cao Zhen temporarily collected his troops and returned, and fought again the next day to attack Akasaka. The cavalry of the Ma family came to harass many times, but Xu Huang expected it in advance, and they were stopped by the formation at the right place.

In fact, Cao Zhen's attack on this day was fake, and his main energy was to move the camp down the mountain, digging a heavy trench in front of Chisaka, surrounding it with grain trucks, and then building three small bars with newly cut timber to force Chihan. Immediately on the third day, Cao Zidan personally supervised the battle with a sword, ordered the soldiers, and stormed Chisaka. The Shu general Liu Ning desperately defended to the death, and the 2,000 people under his command lost nearly 30% in one day - of course, the absolute number of Wei casualties was only more - Yu was also tired. Therefore, that night, Liu Ning sent his henchmen to steal out of Chisaka, went to see Ma Chao, and told him that I would guard this gourd for three more days at most, and we might as well fight inside and outside tomorrow, you should take me out, and retreat to Chenggu for the time being.

Ma Chao said no, if he could defend for three days, he would be able to defend for three days, once the Wei army took Chisaka, and entered the peace in an all-round way, he could get a lot of grain and grass just by daring to loot the surrounding people's houses - I had the idea of retreating until they ran out of food, how could I retreat? Besides, I really won't be able to take you out......

So after attacking for two more days, the arrows in Akasaka City were about to run out, and Cao Zhen immediately entered the archery book, saying that you should surrender quickly, otherwise after the battle tomorrow, all of them will be slaughtered, and no one will be left! Liu Ning immediately broke the shaft of the arrow in public on the wall to show that he would not surrender - of course, he was afraid of shaking the morale of the army, so he did not mention the words of "slaughter".

But Cao Zhen had just returned to his camp, and suddenly a fast horse came with a message: Nanxiang was lost, Ma Jian was defeated and retreated, and the Shu Han reinforcements in Bazhong were about to approach Shiquan! (To be continued.) )