Chapter 3354 Comprehensive Considerations

Chapter 3353 Comprehensive Considerations

In dynasties where communication was not smooth, in most battles, the commander-in-chief and the generals of each branch were often out of touch. In other words, it means that the head coach and the branch generals are actually fighting their own battles.

Just like when Fei was hiding in Hedong and preparing to attack Cao Jun, an "uninvited guest" also came to Tongguan.

Zhang Liao.

Along with Zhang Liao came the cavalry troops from Longxi.

As soon as Zhu Ling saw Zhang Liao, his heart went cold.

It's not that I'm afraid, but I feel like I'm not qualified...

It turns out that Zhu Ling had also imagined that if he launched a counterattack against Cao Jun, would he be allowed to be the commander-in-chief of the army?

As a result, when he saw Zhang Liao, he understood that the commander was Zhang Liao.

Of course, Zhu Ling also knew that he could not compare with Zhang Liao.

Pang Tong, who came with Zhang Liao, glanced at Zhu Ling, but did not say anything. Instead, he led everyone to the upper level of Tongguan. He stood on the observation deck of Linzhiyuan and looked at Cao Jun's camp at Tongguan from a distance.

It's like Zhu Ling's rocket idea is very good, but there is a better one ahead.

What can be done?

The fortification defense system of Cao Jun's camp in Tongguan was basically the same as that of the camp in Anyi, and was even stronger than that of the camp in Anyi.

From the former military camp in Niutouyuan, it continued to the side of the river.

Camp, fence, wooden wall, sentry tower.

Traps, flips, ground thorns, and horse rejection.

Zhang Liao looked at it and his brows gradually wrinkled.

What is even more troublesome than the land east of Hedong is that the Cao Jun camp in Tongguan is long and narrow and extremely deep.

The terrain of Tongguan makes it difficult for Cao's army to attack as the attacker, but similarly, now the Hussars will also encounter terrain restrictions if they want to counterattack.

On the Tongguan Slope Road, even if we don't mention the trenches dug by Cao's army, the remaining battle corpses, and various scattered siege equipment, it doesn't look like a smooth passage.

At the same time, because Cao Jun's camp is not clear to the end, if you cannot successfully break through the mutual structures between Cao Jun's camps, you will easily get stuck in a certain fortification or in front of some camp, causing congestion of the troops. .

Once there is a troop congestion, Cao Jun can attack from multiple aspects to cause the Hussars to lose blood.

This was already slightly reflected in the previous Tongguan counterattack.

At that time, Sima Yi invaded Zhongtiao Mountain and raided Cao Jun's pontoon camp on the river. Seeing an opportunity, Zhu Ling and others led the attack, but during the attack they were unable to successfully break through Cao Jun's position, and finally failed. The only option is to retreat back to Tongguan City.

Seeing Zhang Liao's expression, Pang Tong certainly knew what Zhang Liao was worried about, so he pointed with his hand, "This is a way, but it is not the only way..."

Zhang Liao was stunned, and then turned his attention to the river, "Your Majesty, you mean... take the waterway?" 』

Pang Tong laughed and said, "The waterway is also a road!" 』

Zhu Ling pawed at the side and sighed, "That's right!" There are also battleships in Guanzhong! How could Cao Jun's small boats stop this flow down the river? ! 』

Zhang Liao nodded, his brows seemed to loosen a little, but he quickly shook his head and said: "If the water route is the main route, there is still... I think there is still something wrong." 』

Pang Tong smiled and did not speak immediately.

"inappropriate? "Ma Yue was a little confused and stared in the direction of the river. "Could it be that Cao Jun also prepared a naval force? 』

"Cao's navy is not a problem..." Zhu Ling seemed to have thought something clearly, "The trouble is still the terrain..."

"good. Pang Tong nodded, "Fighting by water, except for those pontoons, is restricted by ferries." If we cannot deploy our troops at Jindu, then even if we have thousands of warships, they will be limited to the river. 』

Ma Yue suddenly realized what he was saying and said, "Oh."

Pang Tong's eyes moved slightly, as if he was not looking at anyone, and he seemed to have taken in everyone's performance.

There is no problem with Ma being more loyal, but he is slightly lacking in ability.

Zhu Ling is just like his name, he is flexible enough, but still a little inexperienced in looking at the problem.

Zhang Liao is worthy of being a warrior who has been on the battlefield since the time of Dong Zhuo. He is experienced and experienced...

As everyone said before, if we mainly attack by water, we will encounter some unavoidable troubles, which will be difficult to solve.

If it is like a game, if the ship leaves the soldiers and doesn't care, the ship is a ship and the soldiers are soldiers, then you can really find a place to throw the soldiers off the ship, and then the ship will turn around and walk away.

But in fact, ships are to serve as temporary strongholds and battle fortresses. In other words, if there is no suitable beach for landing operations, then the ships will not be able to provide sufficient support to the soldiers!

Not to mention the infiltration of small units, but in large-scale battles, I have never seen soldiers thrown off the ship at random!

If the Hussars board the ship to fight, they must find a suitable landing point, and whether it is Xiaopingjin or Shaanjin, they are now in the hands of Cao Jun, and they will certainly not let the Hussars ashore so easily.

Therefore, if you want to use the water force to attack the pontoon bridge connecting Cao Jun's Zhongtiao Mountain and Tongguan and suppress the Tongguan camp, then it is a good choice. But if you want to use this waterway to spread out the large troops and transport them ashore, , it is more difficult.

Regardless of whether Cao Jun built any traps at the pontoon bridge, even if not, the remains of the pontoon bridge were an obstacle to passage. Wanting to pass quickly was simply wishful thinking. In addition, the Three Gorges after Shaanxi and Tianjin is also a natural warship trap, so if you take the big river route, you must put all your soldiers off the boat before Shaanxi and Jin...

In addition to soldiers, horses are also a problem.

Unlike the Jiangdong navy, the hussar is called a hussar because it requires a war horse, and the space required by a war horse far exceeds that of a human being. Although part of the cabin can be transformed into a temporary stable in a battleship, the feeling of fluctuations on the water will make those big-eyed cute young ladies restless and even try to break away and escape, causing themselves or other injuries. Human harm.

After comprehensive consideration, Zhang Liao said that the waterway can be used, but there are also disadvantages.

Pang Tong smiled, "Actually, there is another way..."

Pang Tong pointed to his feet.

"ah? 』

…

…

Late summer of the ninth year of Taixing.

Genghai day.

It is suitable for meeting friends, traveling, cleaning, trading, collecting money, praying for blessings, and building foundations.

Avoid getting married, setting up a bed, making a stove, or making fire.

Chongyangshaxi.

Fei Qian climbed onto the high platform.

Since the surrounding terrain is relatively flat, you must stand on a high platform to better observe the opponent's formation and maneuvers.

The messenger's team was far away, blocked from the main army.

After learning about the envoy sent by Cao Cao, Fei Qian's first consideration was not what was written in the war book, but why Cao Cao did this, what was the purpose of doing it, and what did he want to gain?

"War letter?" 』

Fei Qian was indeed a little surprised.

He had thought about sending a letter of challenge to Cao Cao before, but later he felt that this move was a bit superfluous, so he let it go. But unexpectedly, Cao Cao actually sent an envoy and a letter of war.

"What's the messenger's name?" 』

Fei Qian asked.

"My surname is Li Mingcheng." 』

The messenger answered.

Fei Qian frowned and thought for a moment. He really couldn't figure out who this so-called "Li Cheng" was, but he still had someone call the messenger in.

Now the vanguard battle between the two sides, that is, the advance battle for the battlefield, has generally come to an end. Because of Cao's army's inherent deficiencies in cavalry units, except for the Anyi camp and the area behind the Anyi camp, which had a certain degree of battlefield control, the rest was basically given to the hussars.

From this point of view, Xu Chu has generally completed his pre-war mission.

Xu Chu gained the right to dominate the battlefield north of Anyi, while Cao Jun huddled in the camp and played a "defensive counterattack", or "defense instead of attack".

Fei Qian met Li Cheng.

Li Cheng's appearance is not impressive, but his aura is very strong. From the beginning, he said that he is the emperor's special envoy. The prime minister sent Yunyun to ask Fei Qian to greet him according to the etiquette of welcoming an angel, otherwise he will be contemptuous of the emperor!

this……

Fei Qian smiled slightly, this man was a bit interesting.

According to ordinary people's concepts, if Cao Cao is so virtuous and the situation is bad, he still puts on such a show, isn't it offensive and hateful?

But if you think about it, when it comes to issuing a challenge, Cao Cao is still good at it.

"Today, there are 800,000 flood control troops..."

It can also be regarded as a classic among classics.

It's just that many people ignore the background of Cao Cao's letter of war.

At that time, Cao Cao did not want to attack Soochow. It was just that it was too easy to get Jingzhou, which caused Cao Cao's personal expansion. He refused to listen to everyone's advice and also when Jingzhou was not completely restored and stabilized, he sent his army south, thinking that We must determine the country with one fell swoop.

Therefore, there is a high probability that when Cao Cao attacked Jingzhou, he had the seal of the emperor, which is the so-called "Feng Ci to attack crime". However, there was no such "Feng" when attacking Soochow, so he could only "be able to hunt", and in this case In the word "hunt", we can also get a glimpse of Cao Cao's thoughts when chasing deer. Unfortunately, Cao Cao was too proud, which caused him to stumble on Chibi.

So what can Cao Cao be proud of now?

Or...

Fei Qian suddenly understood that Li Cheng was not here to send a declaration of war, but to die.

"Send" again?

"This person is unreasonably arrogant, despises the general, is disheveled, and has incomplete etiquette. He is rude first and then speaks rudely!" For the sake of angels, spare the death penalty! Come on, go out with a certain Todoroki! 』

When Fei Qian saw Li Cheng acting like this, he more or less guessed what this guy meant.

Just like Fei Qian had previously considered sending a letter of war to determine whether Cao Cao was really in the camp, Cao Cao wanted to use this method to test whether Fei Qian was present in person. On the other hand, this was I want Fei Qian to be like Yuan Shao and fall into the bad reputation of betraying the great man.

After all, many people in Shandong only care about good and bad and don’t care about the process...

The human heart is complex yet simple.

After all, they are brothers, so they may have similar ideas.

It's just that Fei Qian felt there was no need to test, but Cao Cao sent someone...

So in fact, it doesn't matter whether you read the gauntlet or not, and there is no need to really kill this guy just because of his words.

No matter in any era, there are some people who want to be famous.

Fei Qian didn't recognize Li Cheng, nor did he remember such a character among the Three Kingdoms characters. Moreover, looking at this person's attitude, it felt like he was here to die. Killing him would be in line with his wishes.

If Fei Qian was angered by him, he would chop off his head, but he would probably have someone send his head back.

Or he would cut off his nose and ears and then send him back.

Then even if this guy didn't die on Fei Qian's side and insisted on returning to Cao Ying, after completing his mission, he would yell "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated", and he would be able to end his life gloriously and get a lunch box. His words and deeds might not be remembered by others, but the disobedience of the cavalry would be widely publicized.

Then if Fei Qian really met Li Cheng according to the etiquette of an angel, then Fei Qian would be really stupid. Who knows if Li Cheng would come to play a trick?

So this person is "meritorious" on both sides. Even if he dies, his wife and parents in his hometown in Shandong will most likely be taken care of for a certain period of time.

At the same time, he also smeared a piece of dirty black mud on Fei Qian...

So Fei Qian simply didn't even look at the letter of challenge, leaving this guy with no place to smear.

But at the same time, Fei Qian also raised a higher level of vigilance.

Why was Cao Cao so anxious to confirm whether he came in person, and immediately sent an envoy when he saw his flag arrive?

You know, Cao Cao is actually very "tolerant"...

Many people who play the Three Kingdoms game think that among the three families of Cao, Liu and Sun, Cao Cao is relatively easy to get started, with more soldiers, more generals, and better territory, but not many people know that Cao Cao actually did not have a good capital at the beginning of the snipe and clam struggle in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

When Lao Cao was in Chenliu, he was wearing the high hat of a eunuch and relied on the prestige of his childhood friends Zhang Miao and Yuan Shao to start his career. After starting his business, it was not all smooth sailing. In the battle of Bianshui, the whole army was annihilated; he went south to Yangzhou to recruit soldiers, and finally won over several thousand people, but almost all of them ran away halfway; under the wings of Yuan Shao, he endured humiliation for more than a year, and Puyang was overthrown by Lu Bu.

So in fact, if you carefully examine the entrepreneurial history of Lao Cao, you will find that it was not easy for him. And in the same period as Cao Cao, there were even many guys who had a richer family background and larger business scale than Cao Cao at the beginning. But in the end, only those three survived.

In Chen Shou's later evaluation of Cao Cao, there are eight words "being hypocritical and calculating, not remembering old grudges", which can be said to be extremely concise.

This "hypocritical" has a slightly different meaning from the words of later generations. "Correct" means to straighten a curved object, and the two words "hypocritical" mean to make subjective emotions conform to reality. "Ren Suan" means to make plans.

It seems ordinary, but if you really think about it, it is really sad.

When it comes to others, there are not many people who can talk about the matter at hand. What's more, when it comes to oneself, it is rare to let subjective emotions conform to reality, rather than talk about emotions and desires, and be willing to put aside previous prejudices and let others do what they want.

Cao Cao can restrain his heart and desires, and tolerate all kinds of intolerable things, which is amazing.

In the Battle of Yanzhou, Cao Cao and Lu Bu were both suffering from lack of food, but Cao Cao could endure it, Lu Bu could not; in the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's military strength and logistics were several times more than Cao Cao's, but Cao Cao could still endure it, and he could endure it until the army was almost out of food, and he told Xu You that the military rations could last for more than a month, but Yuan Shao could not endure it. Shen Pei and Guo Tu asked Yuan Shao to postpone the battle, but Yuan Shao was eager to compete with Cao Cao in a desperate battle...

Fei Qian thought of this, and his eyes were slightly restrained.

So now, who is really "hypocritical and calculating, and forgetting old grudges"?

Accepting or not accepting the declaration of war will only have a little impact on Fei Qian's mood, and will not have any obvious changes to the current layout.

With the arrival of Fei Qian, the cavalry of both sides became more and more dense. Of course, most of the front areas of the battlefield are still controlled by the scout cavalry of the cavalry, and the Cao army cavalry will be active in the area close to the Cao army camp, which is relatively small. When they see the cavalry approaching, they will immediately return to the camp and use the bows and arrows of the camp to force them.

The two armies finally set up their array near Anyi City and in the Yuncheng Basin. Amidst countless flags and shouts, the midfield curtain of the battle was opened...

(The horse monkey on the tree just wanted to cut the field manually, but was shot down by an arrow flying from nowhere. Fei Qian hid the bow behind him and smiled.)

As Fei Qian's army arrived at the front line, the area north of Anyi was almost covered by tricolor flags.

The neat square formations followed orders under the sound of trumpets and drums, and the neat footsteps made the ground vibrate slightly. Under the command of flags, drums, and copper whistles, each camp began to enter its own combat position.

The structure of the Loess Plateau and the gullies in the earth plateau restricted the formations arranged by Fei Qian to a certain extent.

Fei Qian's formation was divided into two levels. The first level was still Xu Chu's front army, which ran from east to west and faced the Cao army camp. The second level was the line of troops commanded by Fei Qian, which was a mixed distribution of infantry and cavalry. There were cavalry formations on both wings and in the middle, and the infantry was in front of the artillery battalion.

The artillery battalion, as the key force for the attack, was now divided into two teams, front and back. Each was led by a military marquis. They were deployed one in front and one in the back, with a distance of one hundred steps between them. There were infantry formations guarding the artillery battalion fifty steps to the left and right.

There was also a baggage engineer battalion in the middle to provide support.

The cavalry on the left and right wings mainly hold the line, control the battlefield, and serve as the initial guard and the final assault. They can not only compress the array of Cao's army, but also use their flexibility and high mobility to pass through the gaps in the square formation to launch rapid attacks and counterattacks on the enemy.

It looks very conventional...

Of course, this is just how it looks, and it is also for the Cao army on the opposite side to see.

Because Fei Qian's current troops can be said to be in the initial stage of the integration and intersection of cold and hot weapons, so apart from Fei Qian, it is likely that only Pang Tong can truly understand how to combine gunpowder artillery and traditional cold weapons, instead of fighting each other separately...

Even in later generations, it is difficult to achieve the combination of infantry and artillery. This combination is not the so-called "infantry rushes after artillery bombards, and artillery bombards after infantry rushes". The real combination of infantry and artillery is that when the last artillery shell falls, the infantry behind has already rushed to the bombardment line of the artillery shell!

Of course, this combination of infantry and artillery has extremely high requirements for both infantry and artillery. It is impossible to achieve such an effect without elite troops. Fei Qian did not want to achieve such precise coordination at the moment, but at least he should not let his soldiers block the artillery line, and then provide timely protection when Cao's army attacked. That's about it.

Fei Qian arranged infantry guards in the artillery camp of the central formation, and also assigned some of his cavalry to the front army to strengthen the strength of the front army cavalry. The other part of the cavalry was placed in a position to prevent Cao's army from attacking from behind.

It can be seen that Fei Qian's central front is mainly constructed around the artillery camp.

A very traditional formation with the center as the main force and flexible formations on both sides.

This is Fei Qian's response to Cao Cao and Cao's army.

There is no need to mention the letter of war, just put out the chips... Oh, put out the formation!

So what will Cao's army react to after Fei Qian plays his cards?