Chapter 3479: Beyond the Plan

Chapter 3478 Out of Plan

‘Report! A unit of Sima Yi from the left wing pursued the enemy to the valley and fell into the enemy’s trap! ’

Fei Qian was startled when he heard this, and then he was a little angry.

He had just mentioned to Sima Yi two days ago that he should be cautious!

But before Fei Qian could get angry, another messenger rushed over, ‘Report to the cavalry! Sima Yi has defeated the enemy! Now he is breaking through the enemy’s encirclement! ’

The two contradictory messages made Fei Qian a little confused.

Fei Qian turned around and said to Huang Xu: ‘Send someone to the left wing immediately to check the situation and report back immediately! ’

Huang Xu took the order and immediately sent several cavalry guards to the left wing to inquire about the situation.

Fei Qian couldn’t help but rub his forehead with his hand.

Headache.

This is how the battlefield is. Inaccurate and unsmooth information is a common problem. Even if the messenger reported the information, Fei Qian still needed to make corresponding judgments and decisions after his own analysis and interpretation.

Not only the current Zhongtiaoshan camp, but also the troops in Tongguan, and the Sichuan Army further away, are relatively lagging behind in information. That's why there is a saying that the general is away and the king's orders are not accepted. After all, the orders issued by the king may become completely inapplicable after reaching the front line.

Of course, this must be that the king and the general trust each other and have the same goals, otherwise this sentence will be taken out of context and become an excuse for lip service.

Fei Qian turned his head and looked at the wounded soldiers who retreated, "Let the back prepare more hot soup! More firewood! Dry cloth! Give priority to the wounded! '

The messenger answered loudly and ran to the back.

No one wants to be abandoned and abandoned.

Fei Qian didn't give much, but at least Fei Qian really showed his concern for these grassroots soldiers and thought for them, which actually represents an attitude of respect.

As for the soldiers at the bottom, they may not care about life or death, but they will care about whether they are respected or not.

This may be a very strange phenomenon, but it has appeared repeatedly in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad.

Respect, a simple yet not simple word.

The snow in early winter will come soon. Fighting in such a cold night, wearing less will make you cold, and wearing more will make you sweat. Whether it is cold or sweating, as long as you stop, the cold wind will blow, it is very easy to catch a cold. Coupled with cold water and cold food, diarrhea is probably inevitable. As long as one is not well controlled, the collective epidemic may spread, just like Cao Cao's battle at Chibi in history.

Fei Qian gives ordinary soldiers as much respect as these ordinary soldiers will give Fei Qian in return.

From the continuous harassment operations in the past two days to the current night attack, the physical and energy consumption of the soldiers is very large, but Fei Qian has not heard any complaints from these soldiers, or the fear of difficulties and war.

Heroes and the people are originally complementary, but some people will intentionally or unintentionally exaggerate heroes and then erase the efforts and struggles of the people.

The reason why an emperor can become an emperor is not to wear a crown, but to make the people willing to accept this emperor.

An emperor without the people is like a chicken without hair.

Fei Qian turned back to confirm that the wounded soldiers were arranged for treatment, and then asked the guards who hurried back from the left wing, "What is the situation?"

The guard reported: "Sima Congshi led his troops to attack the outer camp of Cao's army, and his subordinate Zhao Quchang chased the defeated Cao army too deep, and encountered an ambush by Cao's army in the desolate mountain valley..."

The guard roughly described what happened.

The ambush was not Sima Yi, but a Quchang under Sima Yi.

The Cao army lured Quchang into the desolate mountain valley and then launched an ambush, but for some reason, the ambush of the Cao army did not work completely. Sima Yi later led his troops to rescue the Naquchang troops. Seeing that the damage was not serious and the Cao army was somewhat confused because the ambush failed, he took the opportunity to counterattack and broke through the central circle defense line on the west side of the Cao army.

After listening to this, Fei Qian nodded and said nothing more.

It is normal for accidents to happen on the battlefield.

Fei Qian can accept accidents, but if the precautions have been explained and human errors have occurred, then it is unforgivable. From now on, it seems okay, but the specific matters will have to wait until after the war to understand.

Sima Yi has opened a gap on the flank...

Xu Chu was blocked by the fire.

Most people may think that Sima Yi is luckier than Xu Chu, but Fei Qian believes that it is because Sima Yi has done more homework and is more fully prepared than Xu Chu for the Cao army layout and geographical features on the west side of the Zhongtiao Mountain camp.

In this case...

Sima Yi's troops alone obviously cannot expand the results of the battle and defeat Cao's camp, so Fei Qian must tilt his combat power towards Sima Yi, which means that Xu Chu's support will be reduced.

Fei Qian originally wanted to give Xu Chu more merits.

After all, in Shandong, the civil officials are undoubtedly too strong, and the military officials are a little weak.

However, before Fei Qian thought too long, the news from Sima Yi made Fei Qian make a decision immediately. Sima Yi found the remaining craftsmen in Huangshanao and asked about several places where gunpowder was buried!

The problem that Fei Qian was worried about at the beginning of the battle was Cao's gunpowder.

Although Fei Qian knew that the power of Shandong's gunpowder was very average, the large number was still a headache.

That's why Fei Qian asked the soldiers to use rockets to ignite the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, hoping that the northwest wind would ignite some of the traps set by Cao's army. However, it was not known whether it was because the fire did not hit the right place or the Cao army was also prepared. It seemed that it did not achieve any good results, which also made Fei Qian hesitate. Now if the trap area of ​​Cao's army can be determined, then combined with the defense map given by Lu Chang, the fog of war in the Zhongtiao Mountain camp can not be said to be completely cleared, but at least it can be understood.

Fei Qian immediately asked someone to check the information sent by Sima Yi with the Zhongtiao Mountain defense map on hand. It turned out that the location information of the traps reported by Sima Yi was indeed 60% to 70% credible!

It's very simple. Most of these traps are near the mountain road, scattered between the middle circle and the inner circle around Zhongtiao Mountain. For Cao's army, it is meaningless to dig a trap that is obviously not visited by anyone, or is not in the place where the troops are deployed. Therefore, by combining Lü Chang's defense map, it is possible to judge the approximate authenticity of these traps.

Fei Qian thought for a moment and gave an order, "Come here! Quickly copy this map and send it to the front army!"

With the trap map, the speed of the cavalry army's advance was greatly accelerated.

The cavalry army, which was originally in the middle circle, was originally worried that they would fall into the trap if they advanced too fast. Now that they knew the approximate location of the trap, they directly attacked from the middle of the trap. The soldiers in the middle circle of Cao's army who were penetrated and broken through were worried about being divided and surrounded, so they could only retreat in a hurry. Therefore, the middle circle of Cao's army, which might have taken a while to break through, was easily captured by the cavalry army.

Of course, there were some unsmooth sounds during the multi-line attack.

For example, some of Xu Chu's soldiers got lost in the mountains. Under the pressure of the fire, some of Xu Chu's men could only avoid the invasion of the flames, and then deviated from the original route. In the absence of mutual communication, opinions could not be unified, and this small group of people actually split into three parts, and the movements of these three parts were different.

One group tried to bypass the Cao army's cordon in the middle circle and attack the Cao army's rear position. As a result, because they were not familiar with the road, they climbed up the cliff and were forced to return. Not only wasted time, but also lost soldiers because of climbing the cliff.

Another group tried to return to the original road again, but because the original road was full of flames, they couldn't get through at all...

Only the last group retreated directly to the foot of the mountain and then found a new organization to return to the team.

This kind of thing also exposed the problem of weak communication of Fei Qian's troops in such a noisy combat environment.

However, Fei Qian has no solution to this problem now.

Whether it is traditional means such as copper whistles, copper mirrors, horns, flags, bonfires, etc., in such an area with insufficient light and undulating mountains, under the current productivity conditions, it is undoubtedly a foolish dream to want to effectively transmit information.

Fei Qian had some problems because of the unsmooth and untimely information transmission, and this problem was even more common in Cao's army.

The fierce fighting in the surrounding battlefields and the roar of the drums and horses in the cavalry formation at the foot of the mountain were like waves, rushing towards the center of the Zhongtiaoshan camp, shaking the flags on the Cao's center.

Dong Zhao looked up at the flags, and his heart was getting more and more flustered.

Compared with the ordinary Cao soldiers on the periphery, the soldiers in the inner circle of the center are naturally relatively elite. Even if the Zhongtiaoshan camp was broken through by the cavalry, these soldiers are still standing in their respective positions, which can provide Dong Zhao with some psychological comfort.

Looking at the various defensive equipment in the camp, they are all ready.

Behind the wall, a circle of large shields and chevaux de frise was specially set up, and knife carts were prepared to block the gaps, as well as sand and gravel to extinguish the flames...

Outside the central army camp, the trenches and fortresses had cleared two roads around the camp, and they were marked.

This was to prepare for the possibility that the defeated soldiers in the inner and outer circles would attack the central army, so that these defeated soldiers could bypass the camp along the road to avoid being directly attacked by the defeated soldiers.

These preparations were complete, but for some reason, Dong Zhao's heart seemed to fall into the abyss, falling all the time, unable to see the bottom.

In about one or two hours, a new day would come, and the sun would rise again.

But what about the Zhongtiaoshan camp?

Since the beginning of the war, Dong Zhao's mood has changed again and again. From the initial joy of thinking that the cavalry had fallen into a trap, to the certainty that he could still hold on, to the anger that the Cao army soldiers did not show the same bravery as the last time they fought against Sima Yi, and finally to the current doubts about the overall situation...

If Dong Zhao's response is broken down, there is nothing wrong. He generally implemented the strategy left by Cao Cao, basically controlled the fluctuations of the Zhongtiaoshan camp, and in principle completed his duties as a commander...

During the day, Dong Zhao was still full of confidence.

In the central army tent, his voice was loud and clear, and his orders were decisive and clear.

But after nightfall, the cavalry fought at night, which surprised Dong Zhao and the Cao army soldiers. Originally, they thought that the cavalry would only launch a surprise attack, and then like last time, they would not be able to break through the middle circle, so they would naturally retreat and wait until the next day to fight...

If you fight little by little, Cao Jun will most likely be able to resist.

After all, the pressure is local and temporary. Dong Zhao can deploy rotations to extend the effective fighting time of Cao's soldiers as much as possible.

But now the Hussars continued to attack, and there were quite a lot of troops deployed in three directions, especially on the left and right wings, which made Dong Zhao somewhat concerned about one thing and not the other.

The west side of the camp was captured, and although the east side was blocked by fire, the flames would eventually be extinguished...

As for the hussars in the middle, although their attack speed is not very fast, who can guarantee that the hussars will not directly attack the heavily armored infantry in the next moment?

Therefore, Dong Zhao did not dare to deploy his troops at will, and it was impossible to let Cao's soldiers take turns to rest.

Therefore, the gap between Cao's army and the Hussars soldiers in physical fitness became more and more obvious the longer the battle lasted.

"military adviser! The riders on the east side of the Cavalry are bypassing the line of fire and attacking towards the center circle again! Central Circle Military Academy is in urgent need of help! 』

"military adviser! The Hussars threw five-element thunder and destroyed the Third Battalion of the East! Our army is defeated! Military Academy Zhang died in battle! 』

"military adviser! Shefeng camp is asking for arrows! There are less than ten arrows left! 』

"military adviser! General Jiang Pi was defeated and did not know where he ended up! Its parts collapsed and couldn't be gathered together for a while! 』

"military adviser! Go up the mountain and activate the trap! The Hussars have suffered a few setbacks and are already retreating! 』

"military adviser! The Hussars avoided the trap and broke through the fifth battalion of the Central Encirclement! Military Academy Chen asks for help! 』

"military adviser! The troops of the western brigade of the Hussars did not go through the North Pass and entered the west branch road..."

When he heard the last military report, Dong Zhao's expression suddenly changed, "What did you say?" 』

"Report to the military advisor!" The Hussars did not enter Beishan Pass! Take the west path! 』

Dong Zhao turned around quickly and reached the table. He looked at the drawings on the table with a gloomy expression on his face.

The westward path leads directly to the inner circle of Cao Jun's camp!

It was understandable that Dong Zhao did not take the north road entrance, but why did the Hussars choose the distance instead of the near road and chose the west road instead?

This road was originally planned for Cao's infantry to go around and attack the Hussars' rear, but now...

In addition to Beidaokou, there are several small roads in Zhongtiao Mountain. They don't have any special names, so they are marked by their directions. The west side road is relatively narrow and does not allow carriages and horses to pass, and only infantry can pass. Therefore, Dong Zhao believed that even if the hussars did not take the north road entrance, they would go up the mountain to the more open middle side road.

"The mountains on the west side of the road are high and the valleys are deep. Fireworks and flags are also set up. Aren't the hussars afraid of an ambush?" 』

Dong Zhao couldn't understand.

Because the west branch road is narrow and has to pass through a deep valley, Dong Zhao thinks that the Hussars will never take this road at all!

Because this kind of terrain is really perfect for an ambush!

As long as there is a blockade at both ends in the valley, the Hussars will be severely damaged even if they are not killed!

Cao Jun's gunpowder was not unlimited, so he did not arrange much gunpowder on the west side road from the beginning. He only buried it in the recesses of the barren mountains, and then faked flags and bonfires to respond to the virtual reality of the art of war.

But now the Hussars have chosen the westward path!

After all, if you want to take the westward path, you must first pass through the barren mountain valley, and then after being bombed once, you will probably not dare to continue forward!

This kind of psychological tactic was used when designing the barren mountain concave trap...

But why didn’t the gunpowder trap in Huangshan Valley work? ?

Where is Captain Cheng? !

"Damn!" Where is Captain Cheng? Dong Zhao said angrily, unable to maintain his expression control any longer, "He was ordered to lure the enemy troops, where did he lure them to?" ! Why did the Hussars break through the barren mountain valley? ! Why wasn't the trap in Huangshan'ao activated? ! 』

Regardless of the flow of messengers at the main tent of Cao's army, some effective information was not conveyed to Dong Zhao. Most of the news from various places were asking for help, asking for help, and asking for help again, but the specifics were There is very little information about how many hussars there were on the battlefield and the specific movements of the hussars.

The trap in Huangshanao was not successfully launched, and no one informed Dong Zhao.

After all, it is a custom in Shandong to hide things from the superiors but not the inferiors.

So Dong Zhao thought that the trap in Huangshan'ao was still there, and he was just waiting for the Hussars to enter the trap. Now that he knew that the Hussars had broken through Huangshan'ao and took the westward path, he realized that there was something wrong with the trap in Huangshan'ao. .

But it's too late...

"..."

Seeing Dong Zhao's anger, the guards on the side also remained silent.

It will take at least two or three hours before dawn. It is the darkest moment of the day. I want to quickly determine the location of an army in the Shili Camp, and then find its leader...

Dong Zhao more or less guessed something, and did not continue to be incompetent and furious. Instead, he slid his finger on the map, then stopped at a certain place, raised his head, and said, "Here comes someone!" Order your troops immediately! Move against Hengshan Rock with someone! 』

"military adviser! No! "The guards came forward and stopped Dong Zhao, "Military counselor, if you lead the army to move to Hengshan Rock, what will happen to the Chinese army's camp? Why not send someone to garrison this place? 』

"Who to send?" Dong Zhao looked at his own bodyguard and said, "Send you?" 』

The guard was stunned for a moment, "Young ones only know how to kill enemies, but don't know how to arrange troops..."

Dong Zhao patted the guard's arm, "I know... I don't mean to blame you, but now... who can be trusted?" Captain Cheng is still from Yingchuan! Now...if the Hussars break through Hengshan Rock, they can directly attack the Chinese camp! If you can't defend Hengshan Rock, you can't defend the Chinese army camp! 』

"Military Advisor, we can stay in this camp! If the Hussars come, we can ask other camps to come back for support, so we can surround and defeat the enemy from all sides, right?" the guard said again. It's not that the guards are afraid of fighting, but Dong Zhao is the commander of a battalion. If he moves to Hengshan Rock now, it will involve too many things. And once the commander moves, if the army is unstable, it will be troublesome.

Dong Zhao looked up at the flag of the Central Army and smiled bitterly. "Staying here and guarding the flag... is waiting to die! If I can defeat the enemy at Hengshan Rock, then the Central Army will be safe and there will be a glimmer of hope! If I can't... If I see the Hussars appear in other places, I'm afraid..."

Dong Zhao sighed, his eyes sharpened again, "Send an order! Invite the troops immediately! Attack Hengshan Rock and fight the Hussars!"