Cao Ren observed the changes in the situation on the battlefield and fell into thought.

The current situation is not much different from what he expected before, although the Central Route Army was once frustrated, but after investing in a thousand reserves, the Central Route Army has a tendency to fight back.

If you push forward now, you should be able to gain a good initiative, and you may even be able to lead the offensive on the left and right flanks, making the situation more favorable to you.

But Cao Ren is worried. Zhang Feijun did not all dispatch, and there were still about 500 people, still relying on the car formation for defense, and Zhou Yu's Chinese army was not only located on the dirt slope outside the West Gate, but there were still more than 1,000 people defending.

Cao Ren's plan was to consume as much of the strength of the Sun-Liu coalition army as possible on the battlefield, to wear down the morale of the soldiers, and when the Jiangdong army was exhausted, he would send cavalry to assault and try to defeat Zhou Yu's Chinese army in one fell swoop.

If you send out cavalry now. Not to mention Zhang Feijun's 500-man chariot formation defense, let's just say that Zhou Yu's Chinese army is set up on the dirt slope, and if the cavalry wants to attack, it is to attack on the back, if there are still a thousand soldiers, archery alone is enough for the cavalry to drink a pot, and Zhou Yu also has enough time to mobilize Zhang Feijun to help.

Therefore, Cao Ren decided to continue waiting.

Cao Ren's reliance, in addition to cavalry, also has the combat power of Cao's soldiers.

It is true that most of the defenders of Jiangling City were the defeated troops of the Battle of Chibi, with the original Jingzhou soldiers as the main body, but there were also many elites brought by Cao Cao from the north.

The 10,000 soldiers selected for this decisive battle were the soldiers reorganized by Cao Ren with the Cao Army in the north as the backbone, and even if the combat effectiveness was not as good as the elite of his own Chinese army, it would not be weaker than the Jiangdong Army opposite.

If nothing else, there is a gap in equipment.

The armor coverage rate of the soldiers in these years is not high, but the armor coverage rate of the Jiangdong Army is even more miserable than that of the Cao Army.

If the ordinary soldiers of the Cao Army have a leather helmet and a piece of leather armor to block their chests, then the Jiangdong Army basically wears a linen military uniform, which is considered to be protected.

As for the elite, not to mention, the elite of the Cao Army can basically guarantee the protection of half a set of leather armor, and on the side of the Jiangdong Army, only Zhou Yu's Chinese army has wooden armor or bamboo armor, and the personal soldiers of other Jiangdong Army generals may not be able to buy these armors.

There is a gap in equipment, and there is also a gap in actual combat experience.

Whether it was the northern soldiers of Cao's army or the local soldiers of Jingzhou, Cao Ren chose infantry and had rich experience in land field warfare.

As for the Jiangdong Army, the most elite soldiers are the navy, which can do the order and prohibit, and it is also the navy that obeys the order, even if Zhou Yu wants to use the army to fight a decisive battle, the quality of the soldiers is not allowed, and it must be an army mixed with the navy and the army.

Cao Ren believed that even if the Jiangdong Army temporarily gained the upper hand at the beginning by virtue of the gap in the command of the generals, if the stalemate continued, the situation would be reversed.

In the final analysis, the battle of this era still depends on the soldiers' fighting for their lives to decide the victory or defeat, and the quality and training level of the soldiers will play a very crucial role.

And the actual development of the situation is indeed the same as Cao Ren's expectations.

At first, the Jiangdong Army was on both flanks, relying on the command of Lü Meng and Ling Tong, and briefly suppressed Niu Jin and Chen Jiao, but as time passed, the Cao Army gradually reversed its disadvantage and began to have a tendency to suppress the Jiangdong Army in turn.

Zhou Yu naturally saw this, so he sent his Chinese guards three times and twice to strengthen the attack on both flanks.

This made Cao Ren overjoyed.

This Zhou Gongjin made a mistake after all. Adding fuel tactics is taboo for soldiers.

Cao Ren continued to wait, waiting for Zhou Yu to continue to evacuate his Chinese army guards, and at that time, his cavalry could directly raid Zhou Yu's main formation.

At that time, even if it was an attack from the back, six hundred cavalry could easily break through Zhou Yu's empty Chinese army.

Zhou Yu was still scheduling, and after three or two rescues of the two wings, Zhou Yu had already dispatched his Chinese army to the defense of only about 300 people.

Cao Ren was still waiting, without any intention of rushing to attack.

Zhou Gongjin has already "created" such good offensive conditions for himself, and Cao Ren certainly wants to maximize his interests.

If the cavalry is sent now, it is true that it can break through to Zhou Yu's central army, but Zhang Fei's rear army of 500 "beggar army" is still there, and if they return to help quickly, the cavalry may still be blocked, so that Zhou Yu may transfer troops from both flanks to help.

Although this will cause the two wings to collapse, and Cao Ren can also win, it is estimated that it is impossible to capture or kill Zhou Yu alive.

Cao Ren is waiting, waiting for an opportunity to solve the siege of the Sun-Liu coalition army once and for all.

For this reason, Cao Ren immediately ordered his middle route army to move forward, suppress and kill the front army sent by Zhang Fei as much as possible, and forced Zhang Fei to lead a rear army of 500 people to support.

3,000 people against 500 people, and they have been killed for almost half an hour, and Zhang Fei will not save them, so these 500 people will be directly explained on the battlefield.

And Zhang Fei and Zhang Xi. Watching Zhou Yu empty his Chinese army step by step, he saw Cao Ren begin to increase the intensity of his attack in the middle. They looked at each other and sighed.

"This Zhou Gongjin is really like a god. It's a pity that he's a madman! Zhang Xi muttered and complained.

Zhang Fei sighed and said, "Zhou Gongjin is a hero after all, and the matter has come to this, so we will act according to the plan." ”

Zhang Xi shook his head slightly and said, "This matter is too risky, Zhou Yu disregards the safety of the commander of the first army, and uses himself as bait, which is not appropriate after all. I'll still leave a hundred people to garrison here, just in case, the third general will lead four hundred people to attack, can you?! ”

Zhang Fei laughed and said, "Cao Ren, Piffle, four hundred people are enough. Although the Yuan Chang guarded the governor of Zhou here, and watched me go to get the head of the Cao Ren dog!! ”

After speaking, Zhang Fei turned over his horse, opened the small door of the car formation, and led four hundred soldiers to fight out to support the front army.

And Cao Ren was overjoyed when he saw Zhang Feijun killed, and immediately waved his flag and gave the order, letting the rear cavalry attack, first from the flank of the southwest direction into the enemy formation, and then directly rushed to Zhou Yu's main formation.

There are 600 cavalry, while Zhou Yu's Chinese army only has 2 or 300 people, and they are all foot soldiers, how can you lose this battle?!

Cao Ren's cavalry entered, which immediately caused a commotion on the battlefield.

The impact of the cavalry was vividly reflected at this time.

In the southwest of the battlefield, there was an army commanded by Lu Meng, but at this time, Lu Meng was entangled in Niu Jin, and there was no way to divide the troops to make effective defensive measures.

As soon as Niu Jin saw the cavalry appear, he immediately understood that it was Cao Ren who launched a general attack, and immediately commanded the whole army to entangle Lü Meng's soldiers with all his might, preventing Lü Meng from returning to help quickly.

But to Niu Jin's surprise, Lu Meng did not quickly gather his troops at this time, and retreated to rescue the Chinese army, but also increased the offensive intensity, and suppressed Niu Jin's offensive troops for a while, forcing Niu Jin to redeploy and focus on defense.

Ling Tong's reaction of the right army was a little slower, after all, it was impossible for Ling Tong to observe the cavalry entry at the first time, but when Ling Tong found out that the cavalry had entered, he did not return to help as soon as possible, but instead increased the intensity of the attack, and even almost killed Chen Jiao in front of him and killed Chen Jiao.

Niu Jin and Chen Jiao obviously knew what it meant for the cavalry to appear, but what they didn't understand was that the Jiangdong Army on the opposite side didn't see it?!

Please, your Chinese army is very empty now, Zhou Yu only has 300 personal soldiers around him, if you don't come back to help, forget it, why do you still increase the intensity of the attack?!

Do you really care if your boss lives or dies?!

Niu Jin and Chen Jiao couldn't understand the reaction of the Jiangdong Army, but they didn't have time to think about it now, the Jiangdong Army's offensive was too fierce, and they had to command the Cao Army to defend with all their might.

And the speed of Cao's cavalry was indeed fast enough, and they quickly rushed to the vicinity of Zhou Yu's Chinese army.

Now Zhou Yu is not panicked at all, and there is even a sneer at the corner of his mouth.

"Ignition! Waving the flag and ordering the whole army, regardless of casualties, to assemble in the middle and attack with drums!! ”

Zhou Yu still calmly finished all the orders.

With Zhou Yu's order, a wall of fire about one zhang thick suddenly appeared outside the camp of the Chinese army, and this wall of fire completely surrounded Zhou Yu's Chinese army camp, surrounding Zhou Yu and three hundred soldiers in the wall of fire.

Cao Ren's cavalry outside the wall of fire had just arrived, and they were a little dumbfounded when they saw the wall of fire that suddenly appeared.

Zhou Yu's Chinese army camp was located on a small dirt slope outside the west gate, and the cavalry itself had to climb the slope to attack, which was already quite unfavorable offensive conditions.

But because Zhou Yu's Chinese army is small, this slope is not too steep, and it is not too much of an obstacle. But now a wall of fire is burning under the dirt slope?!

Cao Ren's cavalry didn't understand why there was a wall of fire, and Cao Ren was also a little dumbfounded.

How did this wall of fire come about?!

Zhou Yu's plan is obviously not as simple as Cao Ren thought.

This wall of fire was naturally Zhou Yu sent people to dig a ditch outside the camp of the Chinese army overnight, dug a ravine one zhang wide, and surrounded his own Chinese army.

Then pour fish paste and sulfur firewood and grass into it, and when Cao Ren's cavalry approached, he lit a fire and blocked the attack of Cao Ren's cavalry with a wall of fire.

Zhou Yu's plan was to use himself as bait to gradually draw air troops to lure Cao Ren's cavalry to appear, and then use a wall of fire to block the way to temporarily stop Cao Ren's cavalry from attacking.

Then, fight with Cao Ren for speed and time.

Cao Ren wanted to raid Zhou Yu's Chinese army, and Zhou Yu also wanted to raid Cao Ren's Chinese army, as long as Cao Ren was killed, Jiangling City would surrender without a fight.

It's just that Zhou Yu was always worried about Cao Ren's cavalry, for fear that Cao Ren would use cavalry to defend his Chinese army, so that even if the Jiangdong Army could approach Cao Ren's Chinese army, there would be no way to break Cao Ren's Chinese army under the threat of cavalry.

Now, Zhou Yu used himself as a bait to lure Cao Ren's cavalry to attack his own Chinese army.

Then Zhou Yu immediately ordered the Jiangdong Army on both flanks to attack and move closer to Cao Ren's army, regardless of casualties, to help Zhang Feijun of the Central Route Army contain Cao's army.

And Zhang Feijun in the middle of the lane has one purpose, to get out of the passage as soon as possible and go straight to the middle army of Cao Renjun.

This plan, in Zhang Xi's words, is - Zhou Gongjin is crazy.

Yes, this plan is quite adventurous.

If Zhang Fei can't lead the army to break through Cao Ren's army in the middle, then Zhou Gongjin will fall into a situation surrounded by cavalry, even if there is a wall of fire blocking the way, but the wall of fire will always be extinguished.

It was not gasoline to burn, it was only fish paste and brimstone, and when the wood was burned out, there was no attachment, and the fire was extinguished.

At that time, Zhou Yu was under the attack of the cavalry, and there was only one way to go.

The top priority of Zhou Yu's entire plan is whether Zhang Fei can lead the army to break Cao Ren's middle route army, which is also the reason why Zhou Yu has a private chat with Zhang Xi after the last military meeting.

Obviously, Zhang Fei did not live up to the expectations of the governor of Zhou.

Now Cao Ren has no time to think about what to do when the cavalry encounters the wall of fire, Zhang Fei personally led 400 people to kill, and he personally took the lead, as soon as he entered the Cao army's array, it was immediately a burst of people on their backs.

Cao Ren gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, and turned over on his horse. Prepare for battle.

Isn't it just a battle, okay, come on, who's afraid of whom?

Now let's see whether you Zhang Fei will break through my Chinese army first, or my cavalry will capture and kill your family's governor first.

(End of chapter)