To the north of Pheasant County, on the west bank of the river, Xu Huang and Cao Xiu commanded Cao's army to cut down trees on the mountain and Puya Mountain.

Cao Xiu pointed to a place and said to Xu Huang: "Gongming, according to what we agreed, the trees are all cut down and supported with ropes, and from a distance, I feel that there are still trees on this mountain!" ”

Xu Huang carefully observed: "Wen Lie, the trees should be cut close to the ground as much as possible, and if the stump left is higher than the ground, fill in the soil and compact, so as not to trip over the stump when you get it." ”

Cao Ren said: "Understood. ”

After a pause, Cao Xiu said: "Gongming, will the thief army be trapped?" Guan Yu has experienced a hundred battles, and it is not easy for us to lure him into an ambush!

Moreover, the ambush of the mountain and the Puya mountain are on the west bank of the river, and the east bank is not conducive to the ambush, if Guan Yu marches on the east bank of the river, then our calculation will be in vain. ”

Xu Huang said calmly: "Our army is the first to enter and wait here for Guan Yu, who is waiting for a long time to escape, and it can be said that it has the opportunity to deal with the hasty and tired thief army with ease and hard work, if you can't win in this situation, what kind of face will you have to lead the army?"

Therefore, we must win, and the results of victory will be huge! Guan Yu's bravery is true, but when it comes to leading the troops, I Xu Huang will not lose to him at my own expense. The opportunity is fleeting, you and I must think more about it, seize the opportunity to break the thief, live up to Your Majesty, and make a name for yourself below, and shock the Quartet! ”

After hearing this, Cao Xiu was in high spirits and said: "Gongming is so courageous! ”

Xu Huang said: "While there is no news yet, we will step up our improvements, and we need to dig more trenches on the banks of the Shushui River to prevent Guan Yu from meeting with Feng Xi and Zong's advance reinforcements."

Also, I just thought that all the hills, high grounds, and other places around this that are conducive to camping should be destroyed immediately, so that the thief army cannot rely on the terrain to set up a village, and if it is necessary to storm the thief army, there is no camp to rely on can greatly reduce casualties.

Zhang He's soldiers and horses will arrive in a day, when the infantry under his command will be left, and the cavalry will have a total of 15,000 troops, and we will lead the cavalry to wear down the thief army, delay the speed of retreat, and wear down the spirit of the thief army.

Guan Yu's retreat to the south of the general (Cao Ren) will definitely be alert and chase after him, Guan Yu's retreat is too slow, he is afraid of the siege of our army, so if he wants to get rid of the pursuers, he must abandon the burden, and the grain and grass are limited.

We led the cavalry to harass, so that the thief army continued to consume speed, spirit and physical strength, and the whole army was impetuous, eager to defeat our army in a battle and successfully retreat. We took advantage of the thief's eagerness to lure them into taking the bait.

If Guan Yu is unmoved, we will follow the steps, wait for the general to arrive, hold each other until the thief army runs out of food, and work together to besiege it! ”

Cao Xiu smiled: "Good plan! ”

Xu Huang said: "The idea is feasible, but it is not easy to realize after all, work hard and prudently to make great achievements!" ”

Cao Xiu affirmed: "Okay, while we are free now, let's go and find out the surrounding terrain!" ”

Xu Huang nodded and said, "Let's go, take a look!" ”

Gan Ning, Zhao Lei, Han Guan, Li Zheng and others led 40,000 soldiers and horses to break away from Lu Hun and retreat all the way south, except for eating, sleeping and resting for three hours, the rest of the time was in a hurry.

After the detailed consideration of Guan Yu, Xu Shu and others during the retreat to the south, although it was predicted in advance that it was very easy to encounter Cao's army when retreating south along the river, it could be weighed many times, and the frozen river channel was conducive to reducing the number of attacks on all sides and guarding against cavalry.

And it is convenient to replenish the water source, reduce the carrying of water, reduce the load, the river is like a marker, and the meeting of the soldiers and horses agreed with Pang Tong is also marching along the river, and it will be able to meet if you go down.

As long as Cao Ren's main force is dragged head-on, with 40,000 elite soldiers, he will march in formation, even if he encounters the enemy.

In order to prevent being caught off guard by attack, Gan Ning ordered Han Guan to personally lead the scouts and rangers to explore the road, and the scouts continued to listen to and return all kinds of news, and all the places that were easy to hide or ambush were searched on foot to ensure safety.

The rangers hunted the Cao scouts and tried their best to hide the news and avoid premature exposure.

The Han army was gradually approaching, and Xu Huang and Cao Xiu judged that the Han army was approaching based on the information brought back by the Cao army's scouts and the fact that some of the men and horses had not returned.

After learning more about the Han army's defenses, Xu Huang and Cao Xiu understood that with the caution of the Han army, even if they hunted and killed scouts, it was impossible to completely hide their whereabouts and launch a surprise attack.

The two simply pulled the cavalry out and swaggered to lead the cavalry to Gan Ning.

Gan Ning ordered Han Guan to withdraw, leaving scouts to continue to guard on all sides, and Gan Ning commanded the army to stop, close to the water to form a tight infantry phalanx.

Cao Xiu ordered every 300 cavalry to form a sharp array, which was surrounded from the east and south in a staggered manner, so that the Han army could see that the cavalry stretched for several miles, and the number of cavalry gave the Han army an illusion.

The cavalry of the Cao army did not charge at first, but accelerated slowly, getting closer and closer, and the speed became faster and faster, exerting a nervous sense of oppression on the Han army.

Xu Huang and Cao Xiu stared at the Han army, and Cao Xiu pointed at the Han army with a horsewhip and said: "Gongming, the thief army reacts quickly enough, the phalanx is formed, and the strong attack is unfavorable."

The art of war says: 'Vigor is sharp, day is lazy, and twilight returns.' Make good use of soldiers, avoid their sharpness, and hit their laziness. ’

It is early in the morning, and the thieves have enough strength to rest all night, and it is not easy for us to compete with the thieves. We swindled into action, circled the line after coming within range of the thieves' crossbows, and retreated.

When the thief army saw that our cavalry would definitely be closely arrayed and put on full guard. We will storm and rest far away, but the thief army will not dare to slack off, and we need to continue to maintain the phalanx, so that the physical strength and energy of the thief army will be consumed.

Let's keep our spirits up, and then confront the thief army, and when the thief army can't hold on, we will break the formation with one blow! ”

Xu Huang agreed: "That's exactly how it should be! Cao Xiu's order was given, and Cao's army charged.

The Han army quickly used large shields, spears, halberds, and bows and crossbows to form layers of defense to wait for the enemy. Seeing that he was about to collide, Cao Jun suddenly moved to both sides, shooting arrows around the formation, and laughing loudly at the Han army.

Gan Ning was unmoved, the Han army raised its shield to block the flowing arrows, arranged crossbowmen to fight back, and the Cao army retreated around for half an hour.

Gan Ning knew that the Cao army would not be willing to give up, and wanted to use the cavalry to form a deterrent and consume the Han army.

Gan Ning was not in a hurry to march, considering that Cao's army would continue to attack and harass in the future, Gan Ning arranged the army on the original basis of the phalanx:

The Chinese army was led by the governor Zhao Lei, with 15,000 soldiers and horses, and the strength of the Chinese army was strong and tough, so that the cavalry of the Cao army was afraid and did not dare to risk a hard attack through the phalanx and maintain the unity of the phalanx.

Gan Ning ordered all the soldiers to put all the items they carried, except for armor, blades and other combat needs, on the cane to reduce their burden.

Li Zheng was ordered to lead 5,000 crossbowmen to march on the east side of the Chinese army, and the outermost side was handed over to Han Guan to lead 5,000 infantry to protect the crossbowmen.

The remaining 10,000 soldiers and horses were on the west side of the water, and this army was the same as the east side, but because of the ice as a barrier, the other three sides were guarded, and even if the Cao cavalry attacked, they could not attack from the west side.

They don't have to concentrate like the foot soldiers on the east side, they can relax a little, save their strength, and leave their canes and equipment to them.

Gan Ning's march stopped for ten miles, and the 10,000 soldiers and horses on the west side rotated with the soldiers and horses led by Li Zheng and Han Guan on the east side, so as to ensure that the Han army had time to rest and had sufficient physical strength and morale.

Gan Ning personally led the most elite 5,000 soldiers and horses to prevent Cao's army from attacking the back of the whole army. The Han army's array was tightly arranged, and Gan Ning, the task of each partial general, was repeatedly explained, everything was ready, and the Han army continued to retreat south.

Xu Huang and Cao Xiu got the report and led the cavalry of Cao's army to return, and the two had already discussed it properly: for now, the first consideration was to drive the Han army from the east bank to the west bank.

On that day, despite the constant harassment of Cao's cavalry along the way, the cavalry rained arrows on the flanks to the Han army, trying to make the Han army constantly cope with it, but could not support the loose phalanx.

However, Gan Ning, Zhao Lei, Han Guan and other generals worked hard to maintain and ensure the solidity of the Han army's formation.

Cao Jun cavalry on the horse non-stop archery harassment, because archery needs to free hands to pull the bow, all rely on the legs to stabilize the body, but the horse marches bumpy, the center of gravity unconsciously swayed, Cao Jun's bow is a good bow, the arrow is a sharp arrow, but the strength and lethality are very limited.

The foot soldiers led by Han Guan did not fall even though several arrows were inserted in their armor, and their actions were still unaffected. On the contrary, the Han army had to constantly hold the shield to keep people close, and the physical consumption was huge, and the Han army's hand raising the shield was obviously slowly downward, and the marching speed became more and more slow.

The Han army was not blindly defensive, the Han army crossbowmen led by Li Zheng took advantage of the approaching cavalry of the Cao army, and quickly inserted the Han Guan infantry into the arrow counterattack, the Han army had a solid ground to stand and aim, Li Zheng ordered every five people to shoot at one Cao army, three to shoot horses, two to shoot people.

All the Cao troops who hit the fire fell with men and horses, and it was obvious that in the counter-shooting, the Han army's crossbowmen had the upper hand in lethality.

Xu Huang and Cao Xiu were mentally prepared that the phalanx of the Han army was not easy to break through, but there was no gap at all, and the strict formation made the Cao army helpless, and the Han army marched forward for sixteen miles.

Xu Huang did not give up, and at night he sent troops to attack and harass in batches, constantly sending cavalry with torches to run back and forth at the Han army's camp, sometimes shooting arrows. The Han army was simply surrounded by baggage and canes, and martial law was imposed all night.

Cao Jun's bow and arrow consumption was huge, and Xu Huang had already collected it in advance and had quite a reserve. However, the situation made Xu Huang foresee that the demand for arrows was only a lot more, and hurriedly ordered the neighboring Pheasant County to make arrows and sent people to Yuzhou to collect arrows in case of shortage.

The two armies held each other for three days, and on the third day, the sky was snowing, the cold wind was howling, and the Han army was wearing iron armor and could not keep warm, and the body was subjected to the biting cold.

In a difficult situation, Gan Ning rushed back and forth, boosted morale, let the soldiers shake their bodies in small steps to keep warm, insisted on maintaining formation and discipline, and advanced in an orderly manner, and Cao's army had no gaps.

Xu Huang and Cao Xiu were mixed in their hearts, happy that they had found out that Guan Yu was no longer in the army in three days, and worried that Guan Yu would inevitably break off in person, Cao Ren's army was afraid that it would be difficult to come for a while, and he was powerless to shake Gan Ning's phalanx.

In less than two days after going on like this, the ambush that had laid out the mountain was about to pass, and the situation made the two of them worried that they would not be able to stop the Han army, and they needed to consider whether to make up their minds to fight the Han army head-on.

Gan Ning was also unhappy in his heart, he knew that Pang Tong had agreed to send reinforcements to respond, so he continued to contact the south every day, but Xu Huang was well arranged, large and small paths, and even jungles and hills were ambushed by Cao's army, and the scouts who fled back made the situation clear.

Gan Ning could not contact the reinforcements, and the army had less food and grass for six days, and the reinforcements did not know where they were. In addition, under the attack of Cao's army in the past three days, the Han army saddled up the horse and tired, some people in the army began to be restless, and many generals and colonels also lost patience and begged for battle.

The two armies have their own thoughts, endure each other, and wait for each other's flaws to be revealed!