Gan Ning led the Han army to the south, and he desperately hoped to meet the reinforcements on the banks of the Shushui River, which was particularly important for the reinforcement of troops, the replenishment of grain and grass, and the boost of morale.

However, Xu Huang dug a large number of trenches on the banks of the Shushui River in advance to stop the Han army's march. Ganning surveyed the terrain on all sides, and wanted to continue the march south, and the army needed to bypass the trench.

The side of the trench can be described as a flat river, which is just conducive to cavalry combat, and the loss of the water barrier, from three sides of the fortification to four sides of the enemy, the pressure suddenly increases.

Gan Ning considered that since the Cao army dug a trench, the original intention was to change the route of the Han army, and if it was detoured, it would be a fraud.

Obviously, it is impossible to fill the trench, not to mention that there is no stuff, and the consumption of time and physical strength alone is not something that Gan Ning can bear. The four days of strict marching made it impossible for the Han army to rest well, and the soldiers showed some fatigue.

Gan Ning looked into the distance, and the scouts of the Cao army could be vaguely seen staring from afar, waiting for the Han army to react. Gan Ning turned to look at the west bank, where there were no trenches and no troops and horses to defend them.

Gan Ning felt a little strange, Cao Jun could take great pains to arrange on the east bank, how could he leave out the west bank, where was Cao Jun's plan?

However, at the moment, Gan Ning didn't have time to slowly consume Cao Jun's intentions, he had to choose.

Many Han army generals and colonels saw the safety of the west bank, and Zhao Lei, Hu Xiong and other generals naturally said: "You can't march on the east bank, and only when you go to the west bank can you make full use of the protection of the water and continue to go south." ”

Gan Ning saw that everyone didn't understand his thoughts at all, and explained to them that he was afraid that the suspicion would increase the pressure on the soldiers, so he had to order to stay where he was for the time being.

Gan Ning sent Han Guan to lead scouts and rangers to drive away the Cao army scouts, find out where the Cao army cavalry was, how many other soldiers and horses the Cao army had, and send scouts to the west bank of the river to find out the situation.

An hour later, Han Guan brought back all the news that the scouts and rangers had not found any trace of Cao Jun.

The news found on the west bank is that the land is level, and there are no moats and other obstructions, but it was found that Cao's army was set up with vigilant soldiers and horses, and the soldiers and horses were limited.

Gan Ning discussed with the governor Zhao Lei and the partial general Hu Xiong: "Governor Zhao, General Hu has a trench in the south to block it, and we can't continue to rely on the east bank to march on the west bank.

However, I feel that Cao Jun's blocking and releasing is like a trap, as if he deliberately opened his mouth and forced us to follow their path! ”

Zhao Lei thought for a while and said: "General Gan is reasonable, but we can break away from the guard of our army on all sides, and the speed of the march and the morale of the generals will be aggravated.

We have been dividing our troops with the prince for seven days, and the best time to withdraw the troops agreed upon is within ten days, and the agreed day is coming, and our army does not have much food in stock, and it is not good for Cao's army to delay it for a long time! I just looked at the dirt around the trench, it was newly excavated.

Maybe it was Cao's army who wanted to intercept the speed of our army, and temporarily started to dig urgently, but the west bank had not yet had time to dig.

Besides, the number of cavalry of the Cao army has been figured out in the past few days, as long as we can maintain the phalanx and march on the west bank, we are not afraid of the Cao army's tricks! ”

Gan Ning said steadily: "The trench is newly excavated, and the cavalry of the Cao army has been fighting with us, so there must be other soldiers and horses who dig the trench, it seems that the Cao army has a lot of troops, and the situation is indeed not optimistic!"

In the past few days, the reinforcements have disappeared, the speed of retreat to the south has slowed down, the grain and grass are limited, and I am in a lot of predicaments, this is 40,000 elite soldiers, I have to be cautious, naturally I am suspicious, but I don't dare to fight like before! ”

Zhao Lei said: "Junhou and Mr. Xu, they delayed Cao Ren's main force, but Cao Ren's famous general, after all, will see through the truth and try his best to catch up, the slower we retreat, the more dangerous the situation will be, and the general will make a decision early!" ”

Gan Ning thought about it for a long time, and there was no good way to do it at present. made up his mind to order the Han army to leave the east bank and all go to the west bank.

Considering that the soldiers of the Han army were tired and had not yet understood the movements of the Cao army, Gan Ning marched several miles on the west bank, rested on the spot, no longer moved forward, and repaired, so that the soldiers of the Han army could replenish their physical strength, relieve the fatigue of the past few days, and take turns to eat and sleep to nourish their strength and spirit.

Gan Ning, Zhao Lei, Hu Xiong, Li Xing and others were on guard.

Xu Huang and Cao Ren knew that the Han army had walked to the place where they had dug a trench, and they were worried that if the Han army continued to stay on the east bank and advance out of the water, then they would have to use their strategy to engage the Han army.

Cao's army had nearly 40,000 troops, cavalry, and a considerable number of Tuntian soldiers, and they were not afraid of head-on combat.

The concern was that Xu Huang and Cao Xiu were unwilling to let the Cao army suffer huge losses, and the Han army still had Feng Xi's 8,000 soldiers and horses to guard against on the banks of the Shushui River, so in order to trap them, they had to mobilize 10,000 infantry to hold each other and cut off the possibility of the two Han armies being the same.

In this way, the strength of the Cao army participating in the war is discounted, and it is extremely difficult to completely annihilate the Han army, in which case, the overall plan will be greatly reduced, which Xu Huang and Cao Xiu do not want to see.

When the Cao army scouts brought back the news that the Han army had chosen to cross the river, the two were overjoyed, which was exactly the result they were most looking forward to.

Xu Huang quickly sent Commander Sun Ying to lead 3,000 foot soldiers to stand by, and waited for the sky to be dark and quietly crossed the west bank of the river, and set up a horse rejection and dig a trench five miles away from the Han army.

Xu Huang personally whispered beside Sun Ying, Sun Ying's eyes widened when he heard it, and Xu Huang said firmly: "You must do what I say!" Sun Ying nodded silently.

Cao Xiu just wanted to ask, but Xu Huang preemptively said: "Wen Lie doesn't need to ask carefully, he will tell you when it's dark!" ”

Xu Huang and Cao Xiu led the cavalry to cross the ice from the upper reaches of the river, hunted and killed the Han scouts and rangers, and deliberately spared more than ten horsemen, so that they could bring them back to cross the river to attack the back of the Han army from the upstream.

Han Guan continuously reported to Gan Ning the news that his scouts had been greatly reduced and that a few had been brought back, and Gan Ning and Zhao Lei carefully looked at the map, marked the location, and judged that Cao Jun wanted to cross the river upstream.

Seeing Cao Jun acting like this, Gan Ning and Zhao Lei both breathed a sigh of relief, the cavalry of the Cao Army attacked the same from upstream or downstream, but in a different direction, the phalanx did not move like a mountain, which was enough to deal with it freely.

Gan Ningshen ordered Han Guan to continue to keep the scout rangers on the movements of Cao's army, and at the same time send additional guards and horses to make simple antler defenses, while the army continued to rest and recuperate to deal with the next battle.

That night, when it was dark, Han Guan found out that there were thousands of Cao Jun's foot soldiers downstream, but they had not been specifically detected for the time being. Gan Ning became vigilant and sent more people to explore along the river bank in the dark to prevent Cao's army from crossing the river.

Sure enough, five miles away, he found Sun Ying, a military captain of Cao, who was erecting a horse and digging a trench, and the scout flew to report to Gan Ning.

Gan Ning got the report, but he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and said a little calmly: "The Cao army has made a move to show that it can't ignore our army to cross the river, it seems that the Cao army cavalry detoured upstream during the day, and quietly sent foot soldiers to dig trenches at night, wanting to stand in position and open up the encirclement."

The cavalry attacked from behind to force our army to retreat south, and cooperated with the infantry to give our army a front and rear attack, but unfortunately it was not secret.

Hu Xiong and Li Xing were ordered, and the two immediately led 5,000 soldiers and horses to slowly destroy the rejected horses, fill in the trenches, and kill the Cao army who crossed the river, remember, do not pursue easily. The two of them took the order.

Gan Ning secretly gathered troops and horses, and the Han army rested during the day and was full of energy. Gan Ning led 35,000 soldiers and horses to line up the phalanx and spread his bow and crossbow.

At that time, the cavalry of the Cao army approached quietly in three ways, calculating the distance that the horses could impact up, the Cao army got on the horses together, galloped on the horses, and the Cao army waved their blades and shouted in unison, using the shouts and killing sounds on three sides to give the Han army the illusion that it was surrounded, and wanted to make the Han army frightened.

Approaching the Han camp, Cao Jun shot arrows first to suppress the Han army, and the Cao army in the front threw a rope to hook the Han army's cane, and pulled the cane with horsepower to clear the way for the follow-up Cao army's cavalry.

Cao Jun was getting closer and closer, and Gan Ning calculated the distance and shouted: "Release the arrow!" ”

The Han army fired thousands of arrows, and the cavalry of the Cao army fell hundreds of people in an instant, and many others were injured. Cao General Chen Su and Fei were shocked and hurriedly retreated.

The torches in the Han army were lit together, and the surroundings lit up, revealing the figure of Cao Jun. Gan Ning seized the opportunity to counterattack and personally led his troops and horses to chase after him, and the Han army's crossbowmen followed closely behind, shooting as they went, covering the front army.

In the distance, Cao Xiu looked at the attacking Cao army and fell thousands of people in a blink of an eye, and said distressedly: "Gongming, I just said that with Gan Ning's prudence and the number of Han troops, the chances of winning our attack on the camp are not high.

Look, we came around in a circle from the water, but we were ambushed by the thieves, so let's retreat! ”

Xu Huang stopped: "There is also a chance to win in defeat!" This situation is not unexpected, I deliberately made Sun Ying's whereabouts appear to attract the thief army to be on guard, and I did not consult with you in advance, so that you will not be held responsible in case of defeat! ”

Cao Xiu suppressed his anxious heart and said: "Gongming, I really won't agree to act like this, I can't let the soldiers die, what do you want to do, stop it!" ”

Xu Huang was unmoved and said: "Now you can't win the thief camp with all your might, because the thief army can advance and retreat freely with the help of the water." The attack on the camp was invincible, and he took the opportunity to show weakness, which was a ploy tactic of the arrogant soldiers, in order to lure the thief into taking the bait.

Gan Ning is not stupid, fraud may not lead him to chase, only true defeat can make the thief let down his guard and enter my ambush! The order was that the cavalry should not retreat in a hurry, retreat while walking, and engage the Han army.

In addition, he gave Sun Ying an order that the thief army was not allowed to retreat, and if the thief army arrived, it must be fought and defeated! After the herald finished his promise, he turned his head to look at Cao Xiu.

Cao Xiu shouted: "Didn't you hear, don't you go and give the order quickly!" The herald hurried away.

In the dark night, the cavalry of the Cao army retreated while shooting arrows, and now the cavalry attack of the Cao army has been frustrated, the horses retreat, the horses cannot gallop, and they cannot effectively form a strong impact, and the combat effectiveness is greatly reduced, and it is difficult to use the impact force to divide the Han army.

Moreover, Cao's army was already tired when it marched overnight, and the cavalry's vision in the dark was not as good as during the day, and the formation tended to be scattered.

Gan Ning ordered the Han army to stride forward in pursuit, and the Cao cavalry were constantly shot by arrows and fell off their horses or were picked off their horses a little slower.

Chen Su and Fei hurriedly sent someone to ask Xu Huang to order a rapid retreat instead of retreating while fighting, Xu Huang calculated the time, and waited until an hour before dawn before Ming Jin withdrew his troops.

The cavalry of the Cao army gathered from afar, and Xu Huang led the soldiers to the direction of Sun Ying.

Gan Ning saw that Cao's army was retreating, the sky was still dark, in order to prevent an ambush, he did not dare to chase in a hurry, the whole army gathered in formation, packed up the canes, equipment, etc., held the torch high and retreated to the south, and went to meet Hu Xiong and Li Xing.