Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3190 The iron-clad battle has never been forgotten

"What did you say? ! 』

Cao Hong's anger was like an exposed flame, making the surrounding air extremely hot.

Sima Yi raided Cao Hong's camp in Zhangyangchi and caused serious damage to the camp, but he was not able to kill all the Cao soldiers who stayed behind. To put it simply, not many people died, but there was a heavy loss of supplies and food.

Most of the soldiers of Cao's army who escaped from the camp lost their helmets and armor and did not carry much luggage.

Looking at Puban County, which was so close at hand, Cao Hong gritted his teeth.

 The soldier of Cao's army who came to report the news fell to his knees, trembling all over, for fear that Cao Hong would kill him in anger to vent his anger.

Cao Hong took a deep breath, pushed down the depression and irritability in his chest as much as possible, and then said one word from between his teeth, "Get out!" 』

The soldiers of Cao's army who reported the news hurriedly ran away, fearing that Cao Hong would regret it the next moment.

 After getting rid of his anger, Cao Hong began to realize that he was wrong.

 He was too anxious.

 The land east of the river was not as simple as he thought before, and Cao's soldiers were not as tenacious and brave as he originally thought.

pity…

 Lessons are often bought with blood.

　　『Give me the order...』

Cao Hong was silent for a long time, and then said with some difficulty, "Get ready to withdraw." 』

Cao Hong suspected that Cao Cao's original strategy was seen through by Fei Qian, so that Fei Qian did not jump into the preset Yuncheng Basin battlefield at all. This made Cao Hong and Cao Xiu feel lonely with their arms crossed.

If Cao Hong's baggage is still there, then Cao Hong can continue to attack Pubanjin and threaten Guanzhong to force Fei Qian to move. But now that the baggage has been destroyed, Cao Hong is powerless even if he has the intention. He can only retreat first, then join up with Cao Cao, and then think of other ways...

 Perhaps there is no other way.

　　　　Come here! 』

 Cao Hong thought for a long time, and then shouted in a deep voice.

 The guard came in.

Cao Hong pointed to the armor in the corner of the tent, "You put it on, then under my banner, take half the troops and horses and rush to Zhang Yangchi!" Pick up the remaining soldiers and reorganize the army! 』

The guard was stunned, "I'm wearing the general's armor?" 』

 Cao Hong nodded.

After successive setbacks, Cao Hong no longer underestimated Sima Yi, began to abandon his original prejudices, and re-examined the previous battles.

 Now that the back road has been attacked and the food and grass have been destroyed, normally Cao Hong should retreat.

 But Cao Hong was unwilling.

So Cao Hong decided to take a gamble.

Sima Yi now uses his cavalry to roam outside Zhangyangchi and Puban County, like a bad wolf, always staring at Cao Hong's flaws.

Now if Cao Hong is unwilling to withdraw his troops, then Sima Yi will undoubtedly have only three attack directions.

 1. Call for reinforcements and attack Cao Hong’s troops returning for reinforcements.

  Second, continue to attack in the direction of Zhongtiao Mountain to cut off the connection between Cao Cao and Cao Hong.

Three, Dou came back to attack Cao Hongcai's new camp under Puban County.

 The first thing to rule out is to continue the attack in the direction of Zhongtiao Mountain.

Because on the one hand, Sima Yi does not have many troops. Even if the connection between Cao Cao and Cao Hong is cut off, it is impossible to maintain this state for a long time. Once Cao Cao sends some troops, Sima Yi will have to retreat, so for Sima Yi , the offensive benefits in this direction are undoubtedly the worst.

Then all that's left is to call for reinforcements and come back to attack the new camp.

Cao Hong felt that more than 80% of Sima Yi's troops would attack Cao's army's new camp here in Puban County.

 On the one hand, Sima Yi's main defense responsibility must be from Zhangyangchi to Pubanjin, and Puban County is undoubtedly the core focus of defense. Although Sima Yi destroyed Cao Hong's food and grass in the rear camp, Cao Hong's troops marching into Puban County originally brought some food and grass, so if Sima Yi once again destroyed the new camp's food and grass in Puban County, then Cao Hong had no choice but to retreat.

Unless Cao Cao can deliver food and grass in time...

 But this possibility is too low.

If they directly attack Cao Hong's returning troops and kill Cao Hong in one fell swoop, the war in this area can also be ended. But this first requires Sima Yi to have enough force, and he also needs to find a suitable ambush location.

Of course, this is not completely impossible.

  After all, if Sima Yi summoned any other generals...

After thinking about it, Cao Hong still felt that he had a better chance of catching Sima Yi by squatting in the grass in Puban County.

 In addition to the consideration of probability, Cao Hong still had some resentment and some shame in his heart, and wanted to give it to Sima Yi properly when he met Sima Yi!

 …

 …

Before daylight, Cao Cao had already stood up and put on his armor.

 He walked out of the Chinese army's tent, got on his horse, and then walked around the Chinese army's camp.

Cao Cao knew that although he could use swords and guns a few times, compared with the generals, he was still far behind. But as long as he walked around in such a suit of armor, the army would naturally settle down. Even now, there are still many Difficulties, the weather is still cold.

At several crossings of the river, the pontoon bridges could not hold up for long under the impact of drifting ice. They had to be repaired and reinforced frequently, which undoubtedly made the already heavy transportation task even worse.

Shandong has a large population, which is an advantage, but the problem is that it also requires more materials.

Feiqian is a defender, and most of the troops are stationed. This means that the only areas where Feiqian consumes a lot of money are Tongguan Wuguan and other places. Moreover, Tongguan Wuguan and other places usually have strategic reserves, so the consumption of transshipment is not Not big.

Comparatively speaking, the biggest problem of Cao Jun’s expedition to Guanzhong was consumption.

As the saying goes, "Food is the first priority for the people." Soldiers are also human beings, especially those who are away from work. Not only do they consume a lot of food, but they also consume a lot of other supplies.

 Luggage carts, some big and some small.

 It’s not that the truck cannot be made larger, but the material of the axle is not good, and the wooden axle is often damaged during transportation, which results in a serious limitation on the amount of grain transported.

 During the march of the army, shipping is the only effective way to solve the upper limit of the number of soldiers.

But unfortunately, transportation along the river from Shandong can only reach Shaanxi County. It is very dangerous and difficult to cross the Three Gorges of the river. It is better to take land transportation. But even so, from Shaanxian County to Tongguan The road is still ups and downs and not easy to walk.

 Generally speaking, a grain transport team is the configuration of at least one baggage camp, with hundreds of carts, 80% of which are used to transport grain and grass, and the rest are used to carry consumables such as soldiers, armor, and equipment.

Cao Cao's army is at Tongguan. Even if the auxiliary soldiers only eat half of the regular soldiers, and the labor service is further reduced by half, they will need to consume eight or nine hundred shi of food a day. For the convenience of calculation, the average daily consumption of 10,000 people is two meals per day, which consumes 200 shi. Each person consumes an average of 2 kilograms of grain and grass, 2 qian of salt, and 5 liang of supplementary food per day.

 Sufficient food is a prerequisite for maintaining the combat effectiveness of the army, so the transportation of food has always been a big headache for Cao Cao.

 Land transportation requires vehicles, mules and horses, and both people and horses need to consume food and grass during transportation. The longer the journey, the more consumption. Although water transport has a large transport volume and low consumption, it also has disadvantages. That is, food is easily wetted by water, and due to limitations of navigation technology, the transportation speed is not fast, especially when going upstream.

Of course, Fei Qian's troops also need food and grass, and in terms of single consumption, Fei Qian's consumption is even greater than that of Cao Cao, because many of Fei Qian's troops are cavalry.

 War horses also need food.

 Approximately speaking, a war horse needs to eat a bunch of grass a day, plus three liters of beans, as well as some coarse salt and other supplementary food.

So if Fei Qian really does what Cao Cao hopes and pulls out his troops to fight Cao Cao head-on, regardless of whether he can win or not, and no matter how he fights, just say that this daily consumption is enough to bring down the Hedong Guanzhong. Economical.

Isn’t it true that some people in later generations used their own standards to measure the food intake of soldiers based on how much they thought they could eat at home, and thought they could eat that much? He said that he couldn’t eat more than a small bowl of rice every time! I completely forgot that in addition to eating carbohydrates for dinner, I also eat various snacks, milk tea, snacks, red meat and white meat protein...

 And this is without much exercise.

  If you are doing civil engineering in the wild, which consumes a lot of physical energy, the demand for food will increase sharply.

Of course, the ancient army did not consume a lot of food at ordinary times. If it was supported by farming, it could even hand over food to the court. But when it comes to war, 2 kilograms of food a day can't be completely consumed.

If Fei Qian really mobilized his troops to confront Cao Cao, Cao Cao would be very happy, because this is completely in line with Cao Cao's idea before the war.

 Consumption.

 Whether it’s consuming people, money and food, people’s hearts, the economy, etc.

 But now only Cao Cao's side is consuming, and Fei Qian's large forces are at the pass or at the garrison, and have not fully entered the field readiness state, which makes the consumption of both sides completely disproportionate.

 Cao Cao originally had three goals when he sent out his army: upper, middle and lower.

On the top, it is natural to capture all of Guanzhong and win in one fell swoop. On the other hand, Fei Qian will be dragged down, causing the decline of Guanzhong and Hedong...

 Now, Fei Qian seems to have seen through everything and has already made arrangements. It is impossible to find the upper level, and there is gradually no hope in the middle. I can only rush to the lower three roads.

 …

 …

 Wuguan.

Wenpin had been attacking the dangerous road for six days without being able to make any progress. He was so anxious that his mouth was covered with sores and the corners of his mouth were rotten.

On the valley and mountain roads, there are corpses left behind by Cao's army's attack.

Blood seemed to soak every piece of soil and every rock.

He knew that he had to withdraw and rest. If he did not withdraw, even if the morale of the army was not broken, all his soldiers would be wiped out.

 The key point is that the vast majority of those who died were Jingzhou people and Jingzhou soldiers.

 But just can’t get through.

The Wuguan defended by Liao Hua, coupled with Huang Zhong's assistance, was like an iron wall, causing his head to be covered with blood.

 For the current situation, even if he can conquer Wuguan, he will not be able to deal with the people in Jingzhou.

With resentment in his heart, Wenpin felt a fishy smell in his mouth. He didn't know whether it was a ruptured aphthous sore or bleeding gums, which made him even more uncomfortable...

 Suddenly, a golden sound sounded.

Wenpin was so frightened that his soldiers were completely defeated and in chaos, so he retreated without waiting for his orders.

As a result, he took a closer look and found that it was not his own side that was calling for gold, but the defenders of Wuguan who took the initiative to withdraw.

Looking from a distance, the three-color flag of the Hussars is slowly moving northward in the mountains, heading towards the main city of Wuguan.

　　　『The Hussars have withdrawn! They withdrew! 』

 Cao's soldiers shouted loudly.

There is no excitement, only a vague sense of relief, or the exhaustion of surviving death.

Whether it was the soldiers of Cao's army or the military academy generals such as Wenpin, they all knew that it was not they who defeated the Wuguan defenders here, but the Wuguan defenders who were actively retreating.

 These are two completely different concepts.

The other side can defend if they want, and withdraw if they want. No matter how many false words you use, you can't modify this distinction between high and low.

Wenpin looked around at the defeated soldiers on the mountain road. He seemed to want to say a few words of encouragement to the soldiers, but in the end he didn't say anything. He just sat down on the ground slowly like other military academy soldiers and took off his clothes. He took off his helmet, showing the same tired look.

 They tried their best.

 …

 …

 Night gradually fell.

At Cao Jun’s new camp outside Puban County, Cao Hong’s general flag was removed and replaced with Zhang Xi’s surname flag.

The camp was tightly closed, and the surrounding trenches were only half dug because of the return of reinforcements.

 Everything is as if Cao Hongzhen had withdrawn.

 Cao Hong spent a lot of money this time.

 When he is engaged in ordinary battles, he will not easily use his direct subordinates, especially the two hundred heavily armored soldiers under him.

 But today, Cao Hong not only used them, but also used them all at once. He placed all the heavy armored soldiers in the camp, hiding them among the ordinary soldiers of Cao's army.

They are divided into two types. One is responsible for the front row, holding a large shield and spear, hidden in the tent, and responsible for garrisoning and resisting the horse, mainly to resist the impact of the cavalry. The other type is responsible for fighting in the back row, holding a halberd, cutting off horse legs, and beheading people.

 This kind of tactics can indeed restrain the impact of cavalry very well.

  After all, the Han Dynasty had been fighting against nomads for a long time. There were already many mature tactics on **** cavalry with heavy infantry.

 In addition to using horses, you can also use chariot formations.

 But it would be too obvious to use chariots, so Cao Hong just used horses.

 In fact, nomads are not that scary, nor are they the natural enemies of farming peoples as many people claim.

For a long time, Zhuanjia called the beasts for some purpose, claiming that the nomads were ferocious and often took advantage of the weakness of the Central Plains dynasty to rob them. However, this statement is incomplete and not comprehensive.

 In fact, if there can be peace and stability, most of the time, no one will think of starting a war. The main reason why nomads go south is that they often can’t survive!

Throughout history, climate has always been the Sword of Damocles shared by the Central Plains dynasties and the northern nomads.

Moreover, due to cultural faults, the nomads would quickly decline even if they had a sudden rise. The Central Plains dynasty suppressed the nomads most of the time.

 One man is worth five barbarians, it is not a lie.

 The problem is that the expansion of farming has stopped at farming.

When the farming people drove the nomads to the north of the 400-millimeter precipitation line, they stopped.

Throughout the changes in the territory of China, the actual area ruled by the Central Plains Dynasty has always been within the Great Wall, and the land north of the Great Wall has always been lost and recovered. The reason is this 400 mm precipitation line.

 The reason why the subsequent Central Plains dynasties seemed to be increasingly at a disadvantage to the nomads was that the internal exploitation of the Central Plains dynasties was actually gradually deepening.

 The system of small-scale peasant economy has inhibited commercial development for a long time, resulting in poor people's nutritional intake being seriously insufficient and their bodies weak.

 With no fat, no protein, only carbohydrates and various plant fibers, how is it possible to have a strong body?

In the Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasty, when there was no such serious suppression of commerce, the Central Plains people could wear heavy armor and hold heavy crossbows and confront nomadic cavalry head-on. After the Song Dynasty, although there were also heavy armored foot soldiers, there were far fewer burly men. It is almost impossible for most soldiers of the Song Dynasty to wear more than 100 kilograms of equipment and fight in formation. Even if they can barely put on heavy armor and form a formation, they can often only be dragged down by nomadic cavalry.

Therefore, if you want to be strong, you cannot rely solely on what is written in the scriptures; you must have flesh.

Cao Hong can now have two hundred heavily armored soldiers, which of course are obtained by eating meat.

 If you want to have meat to eat, you must have stronger warriors.

 China originally had the opportunity to eat more meat, but unfortunately some people forced it to become a vegetarian...

Now, Cao Jun just wants to eat a bite of meat.

 A mouthful of Sima Yi’s flesh.

 They are like vicious wolves, hiding in the camp, waiting for their prey to appear.

Cao Hong himself also wore a suit of heavy armor.

 Different from the previous set of armor with gorgeous patterns, this set of heavy armor looked gloomy and gray.

 The battle ax lay before him.

 In the silent night, there seemed to be only the sound of the howling cold wind.

Cao Hong's eyes were firm. He believed that Sima Yi was not far away, observing the camp.

In this battle, Cao Hong knew that even if he won, it might not be able to change the disadvantageous situation, but he was still waiting here.

Because at this moment, after several setbacks, Cao Hong also woke up from the state of that angry father. He recalled the battle experiences between him and Cao Cao, those **** moments on the battlefield...

 This is a huge test, for him and for Cao Cao.

Although Cao Hong’s previous answers were poorly written, he now has the opportunity to write them again.

 Even though there is not much blank left for him.

 But he could not live up to Cao Cao's hopes.

  He is a member of the Cao family, so of course he must fight for more breathing space and more opportunities for the Cao family to eat meat.

 The cold wind is still there.

Cao Hong suddenly opened his eyes, and he heard some noise in the wind.

Cao Hong lowered his head and stared closely at the battle ax in front of him.

Under the flickering light of the torches in the camp, he saw the gravel on the surface of the battle ax slowly sliding down...