At night, Cao's army quietly retreated.

They did not travel lightly, and they had a large amount of baggage and weaponry, which caused them to travel at an extremely slow speed of less than three kilometers per hour.

Shen Chen did not send troops to pursue him immediately, but cautiously ordered the scouts to go to investigate.

Since ancient times, when the army retreats, it is often the most vulnerable to the pursuit of the enemy and suffers heavy losses because the army has no fighting spirit.

For example, during the Constant Temperature Northern Expedition, even if he once hit Guanzhong and pressed Fu Jian to beat him violently, but when he ran out of food and retreated, he was defeated by Fu Jian, and there were many casualties.

Cao Cao himself is an example, when he retired in Nanyang the year before last, he was pursued by Zhang Xiu, and the first time he personally broke off and repelled Zhang Xiu, and the second time he did not break in person, he was defeated by Zhang Xiu.

Therefore, clever generals often arrange according to the terrain when withdrawing troops, such as Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, because of the defeat of Jieting, so Zhao Yun was sent to break off, and successfully let the defeated Shu army retreat to Hanzhong without causing major casualties.

Of course, Cao Cao understood this truth, and after nightfall, he arranged for Li Tong to lead 3,000 people to break the queen. The rest of the men and horses turned back to Xudu as soon as possible to prevent Sun Ce from going north, or Yuan Shao from taking advantage of this opportunity to go south.

In addition to the mountainous area of Ziyun Mountain in the north of Kunyang, it is flat for dozens of miles, but there are also many forests and small rivers on the plain, which can barely be used as an ambush after the break.

The reason why Shen Chen felt that there was an opportunity was because Cao's army withdrew its troops in the middle of the night on the day of the siege.

Moreover, after several days of continuous siege of the city, the soldiers were extremely tired and withdrew, which was Cao Cao's tactical arrangement error.

Under normal circumstances, you should rest for a few days and wait for the soldiers to regain their strength and morale. This would be very dangerous to withdraw if the siege failed and the soldiers were very tired.

It was for this reason that Shen Chen considered pursuing.

But he had to calculate Cao Cao's psychology again.

With Cao Cao's powerful military ability to conquer the world for many years and fight in the south and the north, how could he make such a low-level mistake?

Therefore, Shen Chen, who had a cautious personality, did not immediately send troops to pursue, but patiently waited for the scout to return.

Soon the scout found out the news and came back to report it, because it was too dark to see the specific situation, but he could vaguely see the torches and dragons, stretching for miles, all the way to the north.

When he got this news, Shen Chen immediately felt unusual.

If Cao Cao really wanted to withdraw his troops, he should not be so fanfare, but would be low-key.

After changing Shen Chen's position in Cao Cao, after retiring from the city, he should be quiet when he goes back, let the soldiers rest first, and pretend to strike the battle today and attack the city again in the future.

Wouldn't it be better to wait for the soldiers to sleep for a few hours, rest well, and then suddenly withdraw from the camp at midnight, light fewer torches, and darken the warehouse?

Such an undisguised style, but a bit of a swaggering away, what can you do with me.

It's confusing.

Isn't it.

Is there fraud in it?

Shen Chen's brows furrowed.

What exactly does Cao Cao mean?

It's looking down on yourself, and you're really withdrawing troops.

Or do you want to ambush yourself?

Or is it an empty plan, just bet that you will be suspicious and dare not pursue?

Shen Chen's head hurt when he thought about it.

In this kind of thing of war, I often consider that you have prejudged my prejudgment, and I have prejudged you and my prejudgment.

For example, in the Battle of Nanyang, when Cao Cao retreated, he predicted Zhang Xiu's eagerness to pursue and expand the results of the battle, and personally broke off the rear and defeated Zhang Xiu, who came to pursue.

When Zhang Xiu went back, Jia Xu suddenly suggested that he chase him again, that is, Jia Xu controlled Cao Cao's psychology and knew that Cao Cao was also eager to return to Xudu to prevent Yuan Shao from going south, so he would withdraw immediately after repelling Zhang Xiu.

Zhang Xiu chased again, and sure enough, he defeated Cao Cao's rear army.

If Zhang Xiu listened to Jia Xu's words for the first time, it would be equivalent to predicting Cao Cao's prediction, first avoiding the failure of Cao Cao's personal decision, and then pursuing success.

This is the top psychological game, and it is also an extremely clever tactical game.

The same is true now.

Cao Cao's sudden withdrawal of troops against military common sense gave Shen Chen a chance to play a game to see if he dared to come out and fight with him.

And there are two ways to play here.

The first one, if Cao Cao played an empty city plan, and Shen Chen was suppressed and did not dare to chase him, it would belong to Cao Cao's successful game.

If Shen Chen was a stunned young man, or saw through Cao Cao's empty city plan, chose to chase him out, and defeated Cao Jun, it would naturally be Shen Chen's successful game.

Second, if Cao Cao is feigning to retreat, he is really ambushed.

This is the same as Jia Xu's time, after Cao Cao personally broke off, he immediately chased after him, and he definitely couldn't please him.

The correct approach should be like Jia Xu said, wait first, and wait until Cao Cao can't wait for his pursuers and leave by himself, so that he can catch up and defeat Cao Cao's rear army.

It's just that he can't be sure what Cao Cao is thinking.

"What kind of tactic is he playing with me? Empty city plan or ambush? Or ...... Pretending to retreat, but actually killing a horse pistol? ”

Shen Chen stood at the head of the city, looking at the night sky in the distance, his brows furrowed.

The weather on summer nights is extremely clear, the evening breeze blows slowly, the moon hangs high, and the stars are dotted with clouds.

But at this moment, Shen Chen's mood was very bad.

He himself is not a genius who is scheming, and he is not as good at controlling people's hearts as Guo Jiajiaxu.

At this time, if one of Jia Xu and Guo Jia is here, they will definitely be able to accurately grasp Cao Cao's psychology and provide him with advice.

It's a pity that neither of them is there.

"Ugh."

Shen Chen sighed.

It's really tiring to play a tactical game with someone like Cao Cao.

Shen Tao, a cousin who had been following him on the side, saw that his face was embarrassed, and asked curiously, "General, what's wrong?" ”

Shen Chen said: "Cao Cao withdrew his troops with great fanfare, there are two possibilities, one is to set up an ambush, and the other is to deliberately do so, betting that we don't dare to chase it, and I can't get an idea now." ”

Shen Tao thought for a while and said: "Then go and try, if he deliberately does this, we will defeat them directly, if it is an ambush, then be cautious and test first, don't chase too quickly, if it really doesn't work, we will retreat." ”

"It's that simple."

Shen Chen smiled bitterly, this is the third watch in the middle of the night, you go to pursue the enemy's army, in case they set up an ambush in some key places and the army is scattered, it is not a matter of withdrawing, and it is difficult to say whether you can save your life.

Shen Tao shrugged: "Although I don't know much about military affairs, I understand a truth, sometimes don't think too much about problems." It's like if I was worried that I would die if I joined the army, then I wouldn't think about participating in the revenge of my parents, and I only had the thought of revenge in my heart. ”

"You're right."

Shen Tao's words reminded Shen Chen, remembering what the great man had said, he nodded slowly and said, "No matter what, you have to try, even if it's a pot of raw rice, you have to eat it hard, if you don't try it, how do you know if you can win?" ”

"Pass my orders, and the whole army will assemble!"

"Yui!"

Shen Tao went to convey the order.

After a while, the soldiers of the Yellow Gate Pavilion resting in the city began to move closer to the city gate.

Gan Ning, Shen Zhen, Deng Zhao and others came in a hurry.

After meeting, Gan Ning didn't ask questions, Shen Zhen and Deng Zhao, as the commanders of the soldiers of the Huangmen Pavilion, stepped forward and said, "Ah Chen, why did you suddenly gather?" ”

Shen Chen said: "Pursue Cao Jun." ”

"Pursue now?"

Gan Ning was taken aback: "But the soldiers are already very tired." ”

It is true that the Cao army was very tired from attacking the city for a few days, but their army was not iron-clad, and now after the Cao army retreated, most of them had rested except for the necessary defenses.

Shen Chen said: "Our army and Cao army have been fighting fiercely in the past few days, both sides are very tired, at this time the Cao army retreated, he had no heart to fight, if he pursued, it was easy to cause huge damage to Cao Cao." ”

Gan Ning worried: "Even so, our soldiers are very tired, and now they are pursuing, I'm afraid they will ......."

Shen Chen shook his head and said: "That's no way, raising soldiers for a thousand days and using soldiers for a while, it is at this time that I personally lead my people to chase, and after half an hour, Uncle Xingba, you will bring another three thousand people to respond." ”

"Okay."

Gan Ning knew that Shen Chen had always been assertive, so he didn't question it, just obey the order.

At that moment, the soldiers of the Yellow Gate Pavilion immediately went into action.

In fact, at this time, his army was also very tired, from the end of last year to the present, four or five months of fighting, two or three hundred people were killed.

However, thanks to Shen Chen's training methods on weekdays and the perfect system of bereavement and rewards, the military spirit is still very stable.

This method can only train a small number of elites, and three thousand people are already the limit, and almost the entire Huangmen Pavilion is hollowed out to cultivate, so no matter how hard and tired you are, you can hold on.

In the starry night, more than 2,700 people went out of the city gate and chased all the way to the north.

Shen Chen did not ride a horse, but chose to walk with the soldiers, except for the heralds riding horses, including Shen Zhen and Deng Zhao and other commanders did not ride horses.

The view is not good at night, and the crowd needs torches to illuminate. Targets on horseback are easy to be shot by ambushed archers and snipers, just like Pang Tong, so it's easier to walk.

There are farmland villages on both sides of the wilderness post road in the north of the city, and Cao Cao's former station was around a village four miles away, with a small river and forest.

When the soldiers of the Yellow Gate Pavilion were about to arrive in the forest, a shout resounded through the night sky: "Enemy attack!" ”

The scouts sent to inspect the forest engaged the enemy, suffering heavy casualties.

The sound sounded, and countless birds were startled in the forest.

Li Tong has been hiding in the forest since the afternoon when the birds have not yet entered the forest, and has not made too much noise to alarm the birds, and now he is making noise and a flock of birds are in the sky.

"Set fire!"

Shen Chen pulled out the ring-headed knife on his waist and shouted.

The soldiers rushed towards the forest, and the torches were thrown directly into the forest, and it was summer, and the weather was dry, and the fire was burning all at once.

At first, the rain of arrows continued to rain in the forest, and when the fire grew, Li Tong's ambush soldiers could only run out one after another, and were defeated by Shen Chen's army one by one, and they could not form an effective counterattack force at all.

In the night, the two sides chased back and forth, and Li Tong lost many horses and fled all the way to the north.

"Chase!"

Shen Chen slashed and killed two Cao Jun who were in a panic and fought to catch up.

Fighting a tailwind battle is like this, like Dian Wei Xu Chu once chased and killed the enemy for a day and a night.

However, Shen Chen also knew that Cao Cao was not the Yellow Turban Army that would collapse once it was dispersed, although he left people behind, it was by no means only one, and there were probably still people behind.

So he has always maintained a cautious attitude, and sent scouts to reconnoiter while chasing.

Sure enough, after chasing for seven or eight miles, he encountered an ambush again.

Shen Chen fought bravely to kill the enemy and dispersed the enemy.

By the time he approached the Ziyun Mountain area, he had already broken through three Cao armies in a row.

At this time, standing on the vast plain south of Ziyun Mountain, you can already see the torches of the main force of the Cao army in the distance, growing into a dragon, and they are slowly meandering forward.

In this case, the Cao army did not have any combat effectiveness, and once it was caught up, the rear army was chaotic, and it was a big rout in an instant.

"General, are you still going to investigate?"

The few remaining scouts were covered in blood and came over to inquire everywhere.

The scouts suffered the greatest casualties in these three battles, and they had to be surveyed everywhere in the forests and slopes, and once they were ambushed and arrows rained down, if not everyone had armor, I am afraid that the first round would be dead and wounded.

Around the so, and because the war horse was shot to death, a scout team of fifty people, now there are less than twenty people left, and the casualty rate is much larger than that of ordinary soldiers.

"No need to go."

Shen Chen waved his hand: "Your casualties are too great. ”

Deng Zhao said: "Then what now? ”

"Just chase it."

Shen Chen took a deep breath: "If you let the scouts go, you will startle the snakes and give them time to reorganize their formation." ”

"Good!"

Deng Zhao immediately went to give orders.

"The general commands, prepare for battle."

"Silence, don't light torches, go forward in the dark!"

"The archers spread out along the wings."

"Crossbowmen come forward, crossbow arrows ready."

"Let's go!"

The people of Huangmen Pavilion basically extinguished the torches, relying on the night sky with sparse stars in the summer, and walked forward in the dark.

Fortunately, the night sky at this moment is indeed very bright, cloudless, giving a certain light source, and the soldiers of Huangmen Pavilion have no night blindness, so they can see clearly and keep up with the long line of torches in front.

When Shen Chen was less than two miles away from Cao Cao's rear army, he suddenly shouted: "Kill!" ”

"Kill!"

"Woooooooooooo

The melodious horn sounded for a long time, and the sharp whistles of the commanders, chiefs, and captains continued, and they launched a fierce attack on Cao Cao's rear army.

Sure enough, Fang Cao's army was in chaos, countless torches were lit like stars, drums were beating and shouting, and generals at all levels restrained their troops one after another, and then wanted to see what was going on.

But the Cao army at the back of the team didn't have time to adjust, Shen Chen led the soldiers to rush all the way over, and almost saw the baggage vehicles behind the Cao army.

"It's a trap!"

Just when Shen Chen led the personal guards to the rear formation of the Cao army, he suddenly saw a scene.

Originally, under normal circumstances, a carriage would be guarded by at least four or five Cao soldiers, some driving, some following, and some behind.

But at this time, there were basically two Cao Jun, one driving, one person lighting torches, and at the same time erecting a lot of torches above the baggage cart.

In the next second, countless people and horses were buzzing in the nearby mountains and forests, and the sound of galloping horses' hooves also appeared on the eastern plain.

Shen Chen's face suddenly became gloomy, and he failed in the game.

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

Shen Changqing walked on the road, and when he met someone he knew well, he would say hello to each other or nod his head.

But it doesn't matter who it is.

There was no superfluous expression on everyone's face, as if they were very indifferent to everything.

on this.

Shen Changqing is used to it.

Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, it is an institution that maintains the stability of Great Qin, and its main responsibility is to kill demons and monsters, and of course there are some other side jobs.

Arguably.

In the Demon Suppression Division, everyone has a lot of blood on their hands.

When a person is accustomed to seeing life and death, then he will become indifferent to many things.

When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but over time he got used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division is huge.

The people who can stay in the Demon Suppression Division are all powerful masters, or people who have the potential to become masters.

Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.

Among them, the Demon Suppression Division is divided into two professions, one is the town guard and the other is the demon exterminator.

Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Division starts with the lowest level of demon slayer.

Then step by step, he is expected to become a town guard.

Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level of the demon slayer envoys.

Have memories of the predecessor.

He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of an attic.

Unlike other places full of slaughter, the attic here seems to stand out from the crowd, and in the bloody Demon Suppression Division, it presents a different tranquility.

At this time, the attic door is open, and there are occasional people entering and exiting.

Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment, and then stepped in.

Access to the attic.

The environment has changed in vain.

A burst of ink fragrance mixed with the faint smell of blood came to his face, making his brow furrow instinctively, but quickly stretched.

The smell of blood on everyone's body in the Demon Suppression Division is almost impossible to clean.