Cross slope.

Originally, it was a place with very developed transportation, and it was named after the road that could lead to the south, south, and northwest. This was chosen by Zhang Chao as the location for ambushing Xiahoudun's troops.

In the eyes of many people, the more developed the transportation, the more difficult it will be to do an ambush, because you don't know which direction the enemy will flee from, but Zhang Chao chose here, which shows his self-confidence and the advantage in the number of his troops.

260,000 to 70,000, a ratio of almost four to one, Zhang Chao is full of confidence in this battle.

After making arrangements for the encirclement and attack in front of the cross slope early, he first ordered the front army and the middle army of Cao's army, and then only waited for the capture of the rear army of Xiahoudun's army.

When he was preparing to close the circle in front of the cross slope, and was still thinking about what aspects he hadn't thought about, the spies suddenly came to report, saying that Xiahou was not leaving after leaving Xinzheng for twenty miles, and it seemed that something was wrong, and it seemed that he would not rush to the cross slope for a while.

Tianyan's report caught Zhang Chao off guard, and his eyes looked at the two military advisors Xu Shu and Fu Zhu, who had also rushed here, "What's going on?" ”

The two military advisors also didn't know what was going on. But what they knew was that under the current circumstances, the siege was imperative, and if Xiahoudun's troops could not reach the cross slope on time, it was likely that the plan would change.

An army of 260,000 is ambushed here, and it can still be done in a short time, but after a long time, there is a possibility of being discovered. If that's the case, whether it's the main force of Cao's army coming back to help, or Xiahoudun hearing the news and withdrawing to Xinzheng County, then this siege battle will be difficult to continue.

"My lord, our expectation is that at ten o'clock it will be dark, and the Xiahou Dun Department will pass by the cross slope, but now that something is wrong, everything may change." After pondering for a while, he analyzed the situation.

"The siege plan has been laid out and cannot be changed." Zhang Chao shook his head, he knew what he meant, but now it was not only too hasty to change the battle plan, but it would also be exposed because of the sudden action of the army, if that was the case, once Cao Cao learned that the siege of Xu Du had been resolved, he was afraid that he would immediately turn his gun and come back, in that case, a big war was inevitable, in this way, more than 200,000 people against more than 200,000 people, no matter who won or lost, would be greatly damaged.

Hearing that it couldn't be changed, I didn't know what I was talking about for a while. The previous plan was not wrong, but Xiahoudun just didn't drill into his pocket, he could do anything.

Frustrated for a while, Zhang Chao set his eyes on Xu Shu. Feeling the gaze of the lord, he pointed to the simple map in front of him after pondering for a while and said: "Even if Xiahoudun doesn't want to move forward, then we want to force him to move forward, I have a plan, or it is feasible." ”

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

On the official road twenty miles outside Xinzheng, the 70,000 troops led by Xiahoudun stopped here.

To say that this time it was not that Xiahoudun felt any danger, but it was an accident, a carriage with a baggage suddenly startled, and crashed into other carriages while running wildly, leading to several carriages that had problems, and the military baggage was thrown all over the place.

Xiahoudun, who was already in a bad mood, after seeing this incident and severely punishing the general in charge of this matter, decided not to leave first, and after completely inspecting all the carriages pulling the baggage, he was moving forward.

Xiahoudun was angry, and the new general in charge of the transportation of baggage did not dare to be careless, inspecting one car after another, so that the time was delayed, so that before the complete inspection was completed, it was already time for the sunset.

Seeing that it was almost evening, although Xiahoudun was also in a hurry, the problem happened, and he still issued an order to camp in place to rest, which means that he will not go to the cross slope today, he will rest here.

A horse shock incident actually prevented Xiahoudun from getting into the ambush circle designated by Zhang Chao, which also bankrupted the previous perfect ambush plan.

When the news reached Zhang Chao's headquarters, which was still twenty miles away, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"Lord, what should I do? Tomorrow Cao Cao's front army will arrive in Xudu, once we find that there is no army there, I am afraid that we will immediately see through our plan, and at that time we will definitely return to help, and then we will be passive. Frustrated professor hurriedly admonished.

"My lord, make a decision. The opportunity is tonight. Xu Shu also said with an anxious face.

Seeing that the situation had changed, he also came back to the map and said to the two military advisors and the generals: "The enemy situation has changed, and even so, our previous plan will be changed." In this way, I ordered Zhao Yun to lead his men and horses to fight the grass and surprise the snake according to the suggestion of the Yuan Zhijun Division in the afternoon, remember, you can only defeat but not win, and lead Xiahoudun out first, and then we..."

Zhang Chao pointed to the map in front of him and assigned tasks to everyone, but in just a while, the plan to encircle and annihilate Xiahoudun was completed, and then he looked at the backs of the generals who hurriedly left with armor.

On the official road twenty miles away from Xinzheng, 70,000 Cao troops are camping, and even if it is already dark, they can't go, and they must plan to camp well.

Xiahoudun didn't know that he had been surrounded, and thought that Zhang Chao's main force was in Xudu, and he also believed that once the lord and the army arrived, Zhang Chao's army would definitely withdraw, and who would fight a big war that didn't make any cheap money?

It was precisely because he didn't think about being surrounded, he went to rest early after the big tent was paid, and his mood had been bad for the past two days, and he was still worried about not capturing Luoyang City.

As the first general under Cao Cao, Xiahoudun has always been the vanguard and main force in the battles of Qingzhou, Yuzhou and Xuzhou, and has always fought smoothly. Only during the battle of Wancheng, he did not come in person, Cao Cao also suffered because of this, and his eldest son Cao Ang also died because of it. After that incident, Xiahoudun also thought that if he was there at the time, he might not have suffered such a loss.

All this is enough to show Xiahoudun's conceit, in his opinion, there is no one in the world who is his opponent, and no one can stop his soldiers. But this time, he suffered a loss in the time of attacking Zhang Chao.

First when he was in Gongxian, he encountered the trapping camp, and with 5,000 soldiers, he did not break through the opponent's 800 trapping camp; Next, when attacking Luoyang, it was frequently blocked, and when he saw that the city could be broken, the army suddenly retreated, and so on, so that the anger in Xiahoudun's heart became more and more victorious.

When I was angry, I couldn't sleep even when I lay down on the bed, but kept tossing and turning.

"Report!" Suddenly the shouts of the soldiers sounded outside the door, and then one of the soldiers went straight into the tent, came to the couch, and knelt on the ground.

In the past few days, Xiahoudun's temper has not been good, and the soldiers below are all close to him as far away as possible, and now someone suddenly came to the tent, which made him a little surprised. "What's the matter, so flustered, tell you, if it's not a big deal, don't blame me for punishing you severely."

"General, I suddenly saw cavalry passing by in front of the camp, and looking at their appearance, it seems that they are heading in the direction of Xinzheng." The pro-soldier who knelt down knew that Xiahoudun was in a bad mood at this time, but he didn't dare not report such a major matter, so he knelt down and said.

"There are cavalry passing by, you read that right." As soon as he heard that there was a cavalry figure, Xiahoudun suddenly sat up from the couch with an excited expression.

Cao Cao's subordinates have the most elite tiger and leopard cavalry, but those armies will follow the lord and will not act rashly under normal circumstances. That is to say, these cavalry should not be their own army, and the cavalry that can still move towards Xinzheng at this time may only be Zhang Chao's army.

"You can't be mistaken, not just one person, but several scouts have seen this." The soldier fell to his knees and continued to speak.

Hearing that several people saw it at the same time, Xiahoudun knew that the news would not be fake, that is to say, Zhang Chao's cavalry came, and he did not dare to fight with him, and he was heading towards Xinzheng, what did that mean? Doesn't it mean that they are not many in number and not strong in battle? Otherwise, why take a detour to yourself.

"Haha, that's the case, immediately order 20,000 troops, and I'm going to meet these cavalry for a while." As soon as there was a battle, Xiahoudun became excited, in his opinion, if he couldn't capture Luoyang, it would be good to kill some cavalry.

Xiahoudun issued a military order, and his own soldiers did not dare to slack off, and in half an hour, 20,000 soldiers had been assembled.

Xiahoudun was wearing a battle armor, looking at the 20,000 elite subordinates who followed him to fight in the four states, and said very excitedly, "Just in the northeast of us, there are cavalry passing by, they should be the enemy of Zhang Chao's department, I intend to kill them, do you have confidence." ”

Holding the cloud drilling gun high, Xiahoudun made an impassioned mobilization to the soldiers below.

These 20,000 people are not ordinary troops, but they are actually soldiers of a hundred battles who followed Xiahoudun to the south and the north, and their combat strength is several percent stronger than that of ordinary armies.

Xiahoudun thought that the cavalry passing by the barracks was really a straggler, otherwise why didn't he attack himself with the advantage of cavalry? With such self-confidence, he led the troops to kill.

The facts also seem to confirm Xiahoudun's thoughts, the number of these passing cavalry is indeed not very large, and they can always be seen in twos and threes, when he suddenly appeared here with a large army, these cavalry scattered and fled, and they didn't even hit a single one.