Night had arrived, and the sunset had finally disappeared into the western sky, and a round of discs slowly rose in the eastern sky.

In the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the moon is at its fullest, the bright silver glow sprinkles on the earth, and the bright silver stars appear together with the bright moon, and the stars hang all over the sky.

On the official road east of Ziyun Mountain, the Han army lined up in a neat line, trotting all the way with their legs.

Ziyun Mountain is an L-shaped mountain range that is horizontally connected from east to west and longitudinally from north to south, and the city of Pingdingshan in the future is sandwiched between Longshan Mountain in the west of the mountain range and Baigui Mountain in the south.

The location of the Han army is the Ziyun Avenue of Xiangcheng and Pingdingshan City in the later generations, their right side is the continuous Ziyun Mountain, and the left side is the wilderness plain, a tributary of Rushui trickles, and the forest and weeds are overgrown.

Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the princes' struggle for hegemony, there have been many people in this area. The most important thing is that the confrontation between the north and the south later, the people on both sides on the front line were basically relocated, so that this place has long become a wilderness.

Tens of thousands of Han army units were almost scattered in the field, with a scale of about four or five thousand people each, led by generals at all levels, forming seven or eight formations, running slowly.

The phalanx at the front of the line was relatively neat, and the two phalanxes at the back were much more scattered, and the soldiers were almost in formation, huddled all the way south.

There were a large number of scout cavalry roaming at the end of the ranks, blocking the reconnaissance of enemy scouts and covering their movements.

Zhang Bao was in the scout line at this time, holding a torch in his left hand and stepping on the stirrups with both legs, so that the horses kept walking slowly, and then kept looking back.

The sky gradually darkened, and the city of Xiangcheng in the distance had long disappeared, but Cao Jun still showed no signs of chasing, which made him feel that there was a problem with the prime minister's strategy, and the enemy was afraid that he would not chase after him.

"If you want me, I won't chase me."

Gan Ning's eldest son Gan Gui is burly and rides on horseback, he is two years older than Zhang Bao, because Zhang Fei and Gan Ning have the same smell and work together all year round, so the relationship between the children is also very good.

At this moment, Gan Gui looked back at the black horizon and said, "The prime minister's plan is too obvious, if I were the enemy, I would definitely suspect fraud." ”

Zhang Bao said with a smile: "The prime minister said that he wanted to take advantage of the enemy's ignorance of him to lure the enemy into pursuit, you already knew the prime minister's strategy to say this, but the enemy didn't know, all kinds of signs only show that the prime minister would not use troops, who would have guessed that the prime minister had a plan?" ”

"It seems to be the reason."

Gan Gui pondered for a while, and then looked back at the slightly chaotic rear formation in the distance, and couldn't help but sigh: "The prime minister's use of troops is really powerful, we have 50,000 people, how did he arrange everything in such detail, everyone and every general can be in an orderly manner." ”

Zhang Bao said: "Even if the whole country is governed in an orderly manner by the prime minister, let alone tens of thousands of horses. The confusion in the army is caused by the disintegration of soldiers and horses, the soldiers cannot find the officers, and the officers cannot find the soldiers. The prime minister even assigned the task to each Sima and Qu Junhou, so that the soldiers could naturally perform their own duties. ”

The two were talking.

In the distance, there were some changes in the long line of torches, and soon the sound of the officer's scolding, the soldier's movement, and the sound of running and the sound of the blade colliding were constantly heard.

It turned out that the queue in charge of pretending to be the chaotic army in the rear unconsciously began to rearrange the neat formation due to long-term and strict training, and the team of four or five thousand people was actually relatively large, and suddenly became neat and easy to be discovered.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang, who was watching from the chariot, quickly noticed this, and sent a herald over to disrupt the formation over there again, and redistributed the formation of each song and even each team.

Such an exaggerated micro-manipulation ability shocked Zhang Bao and Gan Gui, and they saw that in a short period of time, those soldiers became chaotic again according to their deployment.

However, if you look closely, you will see that the soldiers are just a little uneven in the original queue, in fact, dozens or hundreds of soldiers in each team follow their commanders, and once the war starts, they can immediately take their places and reorganize the formation.

This scene made the voice of doubt no longer exist, tens of thousands of Han troops were all over the wilderness, the front and end of the line were seven or eight miles long, and the long dragon of torches seemed to ignite half of the sky.

Thundered!

Just as everyone was hurrying away, a low thunder was heard in the north.

At first it was quiet, but then it got louder.

The faces of all the Han soldiers changed suddenly, because everyone knew that it was not rolling thunder, but the sound of tens of thousands of horses galloping.

"Woooooooo

The desolate trumpets resounded throughout the wilderness, and it was the beginning of dusk, and the sky was not yet completely dark, but the night was not yet night, and the bright silver light fell on the earth, so that one could see clearly a mile away.

The Han army at the back had already seen countless figures appear in the distance under the distant night, and they were rushing towards their side at a very fast speed.

It just so happened that the Han army of the two phalanxes was still in the situation of changing the formation, and when the enemy arrived, the formation did not change all of a sudden, which caused the fake chaos to become real chaos, and for a time all kinds of miscellaneous sounds were intertwined on the battlefield.

Zhang He, who led the cavalry in pursuit from a distance, naturally saw that scene from afar, as a veteran of the battlefield, he could see at a glance whether the enemy was really chaotic or fake, and when he saw that the other party was really in turmoil, he was immediately overjoyed and ordered to continue the pursuit.

The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, even if Zhang He did not intend to let the cavalry charge directly, but stopped at the periphery and used the traditional cavalry to infantry method, first shoot with a bow and crossbow, and then dismount and fight, but it still made the Han army over there busy and made mistakes, and the generals in the rear were even more anxious to reprimand the soldiers to assemble quickly.

"Prime Minister."

At this moment, among the people in the central part of the Han army, Wang Ping, the general of this department, stood on the chariot and looked, under the light of the fire and the moonlight, he saw the enemy chasing after him, and the rear army was chaotic, and he was suddenly startled and said: "There seems to be something wrong with the timing of our change of formation." ”

Zhuge Liang stared at the past, shook his head and said, "No, it's the right time." If the formation change has been completed, it will be recognized by the enemy if it is not good, and it happens that this chaos makes the enemy think that this is real chaos. ”

"So what should I do, do I rush to the past now? If we don't rush to help, I'm afraid the rear army will be finished. ”

Wang Ping felt a little uneasy.

Let the enemy insert himself into the rear in this way, in case the rear formation is directly defeated, and the feign becomes a real defeat, forming a reversal, it will inevitably affect the three armies.

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and said, "Use the wind array." ”

"Wind gusts?"

Wang Ping was stunned.

The world doesn't know that Zhuge Liang has been training soldiers for Liu Bei as early as Jingzhou.

In the battle of Pingting and the Cao army, Zhuge Liang served as the commander, changed the formation several times, resisted the attack of the Cao army to the death, and held on until Shen Chen defeated Zhou Yu, came north to help, and finally defeated the Cao army.

Therefore, the elite soldiers under Liu Bei's command have actually received training from Zhuge Liang and have a certain foundation in the military formation.

Zhuge Liang studied Qimen gossip and had a very high understanding of the military formation, and this time he went north, he had temporarily arranged a change in the formation and made a certain command.

Among them, the wind array is to let the Chinese army spread out left and right, forming a relatively thick two wings, like a concave array, separating the center, allowing the enemy to enter the formation, and outflanking from the left and right.

But using this formation is tantamount to giving up the rear army, which shocked Wang Ping.

Zhuge Liang said in a deep voice: "Use the wind array, and then let the rear army retreat south, lure the enemy into the ambush circle, and drag them down." ”

"Yes"

Wang Ping hesitated for a moment, but had no choice but to comply.

Since it was already dusk, it was almost night, and his vision ability was reduced, and Zhuge Liang could not use the five-color order flag, so he could only convey it through the horn.

A moment later, the melodious sound of the horn came, and the generals of the Han army in the middle and on both wings, who were already ready for battle, heard this voice, hesitated slightly, and immediately acted according to the deployment.

Soon the Chinese army dispersed, revealing huge gaps. The chaotic rear army was already fighting with the Cao army at this time, and after a few rounds of arrow rain from the Cao army, the Han army fled in embarrassment, turning directly from fake chaos to real chaos, and rushed towards the main formation in a panic.

If Zhuge Liang does not change the formation, then it is his Chinese army that suffers. Once the rear army formed a revolt, the 50,000-strong army would be instantly crushed by the enemy's more than 20,000 cavalry.

But at the critical moment, Zhuge Liang did not hesitate to change the formation, and scattered the three middle divisions, about 10,000 people, so that when the rear army retreated, it retreated directly to the central open space, and it did not threaten the safety of the formation.

And Zhang He over there obviously didn't find out that he was still rushing to kill in the chaos, and most of the Cao army had already dismounted at this time, chasing the defeated Han army and rushing into the middle formation, and no one found out in the chaos that the two wings of the Han army were silent at this time, and they were slowly surrounding.

In an instant, the fighting and shouting continued, and more than 20,000 cavalry and more than 30,000 Han troops were entangled together, and the killing was inseparable.

In the darkness, there were shouts, shouts, and the sound of blades trying to touch.

Zhang He led dozens of guards to pursue the Han army, and after defeating a small army formation composed of more than 100 Han troops, he wiped his face and glanced around.

I saw that the sky had completely darkened at this time, and countless torches formed a long line under the night, and there were enemy soldiers fleeing or fighting everywhere, and the Han army seemed to have no formation, as if it was engaged in a fierce battle with the Cao army.

"General, it doesn't feel right."

One of the guards looked from a distance and found that the Han army had actually achieved counter-encirclement, and said to Zhang He: "Their formation is not chaotic to the point of rout. ”

Zhang He also naturally discovered this, frowned and said: "The elite of the Han army should not be underestimated, see if we can withdraw first, and when General Xiahou's help arrives, we can win." ”

As he spoke, he turned his horse's head and prepared to retreat from the encirclement first.

But when he gathered the attacking soldiers everywhere and evacuated back, he found that the encirclement on both flanks of the Han army had begun to close, and the retreat route had been cut off.

It was only at this time that Zhang He realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly sent a signal, asking all departments to concentrate on him immediately.

However, the Han army and the Wei army fought together, and it was obviously impossible to get out of the battlefield in a short time, so the Wei army quickly fell into disadvantage after being surrounded by a counter-encirclement.

At this time, the two sides are actually still evenly balanced.

Because Zhuge Liang's rear army was also defeated by Zhang He's army, the Han army on both sides even lost more than the Wei army.

But after Zhuge Liang's rear army collapsed and the two wings contracted the encirclement, the situation suddenly reversed, and it became difficult for Cao's army to break the breakout circle from the inside.

Fortunately, Zhang He also arranged cavalry on the periphery, and under the combination of inside and outside, he wanted to forcibly kill a breakthrough from the north and rush out.

This is a bitter battle.

The battle lasted from the beginning of dusk to three o'clock in dusk, and it was only half an hour, and it happened that Xiahou Ba led another part of the cavalry to rush over and join the battlefield non-stop.

This was already all the cavalry of the Cao army, about 40,000 people, launched a surprise attack from the flank, breaking the outer encirclement of the Han army at once.

After Zhang He rushed out, he joined up with Xiahou Ba and began to launch a counterattack again.

Because the main force of the Cao army arrived immediately, at this time, with the arrival of Xiahou Ba, the Cao army itself was already in an advantage, and when the main force of foot soldiers arrived, their opportunity to defeat the Han army was in front of them.

At this moment, Zhuge Liang still scanned the entire battlefield situation.

After the change of the wind gust, the encirclement of the Cao army failed, and they rushed out, and the battlefield was scattered with soldiers and horses fighting with the enemy and us, but the Han army was not defeated, and the Cao army had not put so much pressure on them.

It's just that the two sides have entered the entanglement stage.

Seeing this situation, Zhuge Liang did not change the formation, but only ordered the Chinese army to gather again, reorganize the defeated rear army, and put it on the battlefield again.

As the situation changes dramatically, it becomes more difficult to make temporary readjustments, so there is no need to make changes.

In the darkness of the night, the two sides were locked into a fierce battle.

In Ziyun Mountain, Gan, who was old, with a white beard but still strong muscles, quietly watched the chaotic battlefield below.

As the chief general of the left wing of the Han army, he has always strictly abided by Zhuge Liang's military orders.

Never attack until there is a signal.

It's just that he is in a hurry to keep doing this, he is like an ant on a hot pot, sweat sliding down his forehead, staring at the battlefield, and saying to Pang Tong beside him: "Shang Shuling, are we going to do something?" ”

"No, you don't."

Pang Tong was also looking at the battlefield, and he couldn't see anything clearly from a distance, only countless fire dragons were waving.

In the wilderness, many people even threw away their torches when they were fighting, causing fires in the wilderness, and flames rose everywhere on the battlefield for more than ten miles, making the whole situation even more chaotic.

"And when are we going to wait?"

Gan Ning asked.

Pang Tong raised his head and looked at the sky, it was already midnight, it was a good day today, there were no dark clouds, only the moon as big as a disc hung overhead, illuminating the earth as if it were day.

Farther away, cavalry ran back and forth from time to time in the north, and it was obvious that the scouts of Cao's army were constantly conveying changes in the battlefield situation to the main force in the rear.

"Soon, wait."

Pang Tong comforted Gan Ning and said: "Now that the Cao army is entangled with us, it is difficult for both sides to quickly get out of the battlefield, and when their main force arrives, they will definitely attack as soon as possible, and we will kill from the flank, and cooperate with General Zhang's cavalry, we will definitely be able to defeat the Cao army." ”

"Okay."

Gan Ning replied helplessly, and could only continue to stare at the changes in the situation on the battlefield.

Zhuge Liang's side continued to invest reserve forces, resisting the attack of the Cao army, and the two sides almost won and lost each other, some places the Cao army had the advantage, the Han army was defeated, and some places the Han army had the advantage, and the Cao army was annihilated.

The melee of nearly 100,000 people is not a complete defeat on the scale of a few thousand people, but a situation of staggered dogs and teeth on a battlefield that lasts for more than ten miles.

Cao Wei's side was obviously satisfied with this situation, because their task was to entangle the Han army and wait for the main force in the rear to arrive.

This is the same as when Cao Cao's cavalry chased and killed Shen Chen.

But the Han army did not rout at the first time, which was also unexpected by Cao Jun, in fact, at this time, Xiahou Ba and Zhang He already faintly felt that something was wrong.

After all, the reason why they attacked was that they thought that Zhuge Liang lacked military experience and could not take on the heavy responsibility of commanding the three armies.

But since the other party's main general is a straw bag, why can the Han army hold out for so long?

But this thought was only fleeting.

In the current situation where the two sides are entangled, there is not much time for them to calm down and think, so they can only continue to attack.

After another two hours, at the end of the rooster crow, at the beginning of the day, the sky gradually became brighter.

On the northern horizon, countless figures appeared.

The main force of the Cao army is here!

The Cao army on Zhang Hexia's side was already exhausted, and when he learned of this, his spirits were lifted and he immediately stepped up his offensive.

However, they didn't know that Zhuge Liang's side was also in good spirits and issued a new order.

(End of chapter)