Chapter 3483: The Same Old Tricks Are Used Again
Chapter 3482: The old tricks are used again
Cao Cao was facing the enemy head-on, and the one who led his soldiers to make a detour from the side was naturally Cao Hong.
As the most important and trusted general under Cao Cao, Cao Hong has been known for his bravery, loyalty and courage since he established his position as a general. Therefore, even if Cao Hong has this or that problem, and even if he is greedy for money to the extent that Cao Pi is somewhat disgusted, Cao Hong's contribution to the foundation of the Cao family cannot be denied.
Cao Hong is not afraid of death, and his military strategy may not surpass other contemporary generals, but as Cao Cao's first thug, even if he is covered in wounds and killed like a blood gourd, his loyalty to Cao Cao will not be shaken.
Such a general naturally reassures Cao Cao and convinces other military schools.
After Cao Zhang and Liu Fu retreated, Cao Hong cooperated with Cao Cao and became the mainstay of Cao's army to resist the attack of the Hussar Army.
From the first moment of the attack by the Hussars, Cao Hong led his soldiers to fight with Zhu Ling and Ma Yue, and resisted until now. When a position was captured by the Hussars, he led his soldiers to retreat to the next position to resist.
Throughout the whole day, although Zhu Ling and Ma Yue's attack was also very hard, with Cao Hong's support, and even fighting in the front line, Cao's soldiers tried their best to resist in every position.
It was also because of Cao Hong's existence that the Hussars' offensive momentum was still quite difficult, even with Zhu Ling and Ma Yue's repeated advances. Every step forward had to pay the price of blood.
The fierce battle reached such a point that Cao Hong was still injured, not to mention that he was still injured. Even if he was not injured, such a high-intensity battle was still not something that everyone could withstand. Cao Hong was now killing with his sword and armor broken, and his throat was broken. Now every time he shouted a military order, he felt like a knife cutting his throat.
However, Cao's army has an "advantage", or rather, an "advantage" under helplessness, that is, Cao's army is tired of people, while the cavalry is tired of horses.
People are more resistant to fatigue than cattle and horses!
This is why ancient feudal dynasties liked to raise more slaves and use fewer cattle and horses.
Cattle and horses are more delicate than people.
There is everything on the battlefield.
In addition to corpses, perhaps a broken blade can force a warhorse to withdraw from the battle sequence, but people can still fight after being cut by a knife.
Didn't Cao Hong also get chopped several times, with wounds on his body and still bleeding, but he still took out the last bit of strength and resisted the attack of the cavalry again and again.
The endurance of the cavalry warhorse is obviously not as good as that of people. After all, the previous battles of the Hussars were famous for their swiftness and bravery, not for their endurance. On the contrary, the soldiers of the Cao army had more experience than the Hussars in how to preserve and recover as much as possible in the bloody battle between the two armies.
Whether it was conquering the Western Qiang or attacking the Western Regions, the Hussars were as fast as the wind and as fierce as fire, like a gust of wind sweeping away fallen leaves. They rarely experienced long battles, and the soldiers led by Cao Cao and Cao Hong were all veterans who survived the battles with the two Yuans. There were so many battles between the princes of the Central Plains, and the Cao army was once in a disadvantageous situation, but it still persisted. The resilience of these elite Cao army soldiers has been tempered many times in these battles, and they are much stronger in tenacity than the Hussars cavalry units fighting in the northwest.
Of course, the core troops of the Cao army were only Cao Cao and Cao Hong with these veterans.
Old soldiers will eventually grow old, and the comparison of the combat effectiveness of the two sides will be more and more disparate in the future, but at present, Cao Hong did block the flank attack of the cavalry. In such a desperate situation, the Qingzhou soldiers of the Cao army were, after all, the soldiers and horses forged in the current Central Plains field troops of the Han Dynasty, and finally fought with blood and anger. Zhu Ling and Ma Yue fought fiercely for a day during the day, but they only repelled Cao Hong step by step, but they could not completely defeat him.
Each line of battle resisted until the end before giving up. Every fortification would not retreat until it was captured by the cavalry. During the day, they were more or less afraid of the long-range weapons of the cavalry and did not dare to go beyond the defense system to fight. At night, because the efficiency of long-range shooting of both sides decreased, the Cao army even sent a team to reversely attack Ma Yue and Zhu Ling's troops!
The two sides fought in a mess in the night, and the shouts and killings shook the world, as if the stars in the sky were shaken by the sound of fighting.
Cao Cao and other generals and military officers all knew that this battle was a chance for the morale of both sides to rise and fall. If they could take advantage of the opportunity of the desperate situation and hold on to the attack of the Hussars, there would be a glimmer of hope in the future. If they could not hold on, they would collapse and perish.
Similarly, Pang Tong, Zhang Liao, Ma Yue, Zhu Ling and others also knew that the Cao army could not hold on for too long in this state of desperate situation. If they could defeat the Cao army's front line this time, the Cao army would no longer have the ability to engage in large-scale battles. In the future, when they marched into the Central Plains, as long as Fei Qian arrived with the soldiers from Hedong, it would be like a rushing river, unstoppable!
Both sides had reasons and persistence to win, so the fight was even more tragic.
The smell of blood filled the entire battlefield, and everything around was shrouded in the deafening sound of drums and shouts.
Another charge by the Hussars was repelled.
Cao Hong's armor was covered in blood and flesh. He ignored the arrows whizzing past him and jumped onto a slightly crooked chevaux de frise to look around, seeing that the battlefield seemed to have turned into a Shura hell.
The hussars and horses, along the flanks of the plateau, were like a long snake, rolling and stretching their bodies, winding towards Cao Jun, seemingly endless!
Cao Hong took a deep breath, sat down on the horse, threw aside the sword that had cut out large and small gaps in his hand, and said to the guard: "Here comes the sword!" 』
The guard handed over his sword. Cao Hong shook his hands, wrapped the sword around his hand again, and said: "Now the hussar soldiers see my flag here and know I am here... What do you think they will do next?" What to do? 』
The guard also found a sword from the ground that someone had thrown away. He was looking at the gap in the knife under the firelight. It was still usable, "Of course, a large team of people must be sent to rush here!" 』
"That's right!" ” Cao Hong laughed, but he didn’t know that it affected the wound there and turned into a breath, “If they want to kill here, they will definitely ignore that place! This is where our chance comes! 』
Cao Hong jumped down from his horse, raised the sword in his hand, and shouted to the surrounding soldiers: "Men!" The Hussars are coming! As long as you can survive, every one of you will be rewarded with thousands of gold! The head of a hussar soldier, plus ten thousand gold! I won’t take any of what the lord gave me, I’ll give it all to you! If the reward is not enough, I will make up for it even if I sell my belongings! 』
Cao's soldiers who were stationed along the Juma trench heard this and made some noise to give Cao Hong some face.
Cao Hong was a little embarrassed.
An old Qingzhou soldier leaned against the trench and said to Cao Hong, "General Cao!" If you don’t retreat, brothers won’t retreat! Let’s talk about rewards after we survive! We came from Shandong and felt that we were a bit useless all the way! Just kill me today! 』
Cao Hong was not annoyed when the old soldier contradicted him. Instead, he shook his sword at the old soldier and said, "What a man!" Then let’s compare who can kill more in today’s battle! 』
These Qingzhou soldiers, perhaps since they left their hometown and followed Cao Cao to fight everywhere, there was only one thing left in their lives, fighting.
There are no generals among the Qingzhou soldiers.
In other words, there are no generals from the Qingzhou soldiers themselves.
They have no spokesperson.
Not one!
This was naturally Cao Cao's intention.
What? The surname is Zang? That's the Taishan soldier. Moreover, Zang Ba and others' distrust of Cao Cao was caused by Cao Cao's attitude and management methods towards the Qingzhou soldiers.
Cao Cao only needs the Qingzhou soldiers as war machines and powerful soldiers on the battlefield, but he does not want the Qingzhou soldiers to have their own ideas, so no middle-level military academies have been produced among the Qingzhou soldiers. All Qingzhou soldiers are directly led by Cao Cao and those whom Cao Cao trusts the most. It was led by several generals.
Under such circumstances, the Qingzhou soldiers' military discipline will naturally not be good.
Qingzhou soldiers have no tomorrow, they only have today.
Kill alive, lie down dead, it's that simple.
As for the original leaders of the Qingzhou soldiers, they were all captured and killed by Cao Cao.
The use of the word "bird" illustrates Cao Cao's attitude towards the original military academy leader of the Qingzhou soldiers.
In addition, Cao Cao not only controlled the Qingzhou soldiers, but also controlled the families of these Qingzhou soldiers. Most of the Qingzhou soldiers in the villages were family members of the Qingzhou soldiers, so in a sense, these Qingzhou soldiers were equivalent to Cao Cao himself. Private soldiers.
After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi's ability would be just like that, so the Qingzhou soldiers would definitely not be able to survive. Neither the nobles of Jizhou nor the powerful men of Yuzhou would allow Cao Pi to possess these soldiers like Cao Cao again, so they collapsed in chaos. It has become inevitable and disappeared under the waves of history.
Now that Cao Cao is still there, the core of the Qingzhou soldiers is still stable. The morale of these Qingzhou veterans who have regarded themselves as dead people will not be very high, but they will not collapse to the point of being beyond control.
Cao Hong knew that the Qingzhou soldiers looked like this, so when he saw that the morale of these soldiers was not much broken, he came down from the trench, sat in the line, and asked the guards to bandage his wounds.
Some soldiers of Cao's army took advantage of the time before the hussars came up to repair the fortifications and defenses. Anyway, they could make up as much as they could.
Cao Hong watched the soldiers busy and felt pain everywhere in his body. There were obvious and internal injuries on his body, no one knew how many. The outer layer of the two layers of armor on his body was already somewhat tattered, and even the inner layer of armor was also damaged.
Cao Hong really wanted to lie down and have a good rest, but now he was almost supporting the flank core of the entire Qingzhou soldiers' front. He could sit down and rest, but he absolutely couldn't lie down, so he could only grab the shoulder of a guard and huff. Screaming and enduring the pain, he asked the guards to bandage the wound more tightly.
In any case, Cao Jun did a good job in this battle.
Of course, Cao Cao's command is nothing to say. He mobilized his soldiers layer by layer and resisted step by step, consuming the hussar offensive. Even under Zhang Liao's attack, he kept the line from collapsing. During the day, he was restricted by the hussars. The cavalry of the army is fast Because of their ability to counterattack quickly, they did not dare to use soldiers to intrude. Now at night, they began to send soldiers to throw iron caltrops and tie horse ropes around, so that the hussars could accidentally be attacked, and it also relieved some of the pressure on the frontal battlefield.
The latest chapter of this novel is first released, please go and read it!
Dispatching troops on the battlefield is a test of the generals' abilities. Cao Cao is very good at this. He not only maintains the frontal resistance, but also pays attention to the changes here of Cao Hong, and occasionally sends fresh troops to supplement Cao Hong's flank.
This is why Cao's army has maintained its front line until now, and Cao Hong has the opportunity to adjust and rest in the intervals between battles.
Cao Hong looked back at the position of Cao Cao's central army, and saw that Cao Cao's big flag was still standing quietly in the firelight, and he felt a little relieved. Cao Hong vaguely guessed that Cao Cao moved the central army close to the river to lure the navy of the cavalry army to attack him, but he still couldn't help but worry.
Although the cavalry navy only had a few tower ships and more than ten fighting ships, it was too threatening to Cao Cao and others. From Tongguan to Shanjin, the cavalry navy could not only destroy their pontoon bridges and cut off the connection between the north and south of the river, but also cross their defense lines on land and transport soldiers directly to their rear, forming a multi-sided encirclement!
Therefore, if you want to break the deadlock and regain some initiative on the battlefield, you must first defeat the navy of the cavalry army!
This is similar to Liu Fu's previous plan, but the trap designed by Liu Fu is not as attractive as Cao Cao, and the soldiers deployed are not sharp enough. They did not cause much damage to the cavalry navy. Instead, they were defeated by the cavalry navy's artillery and crossbow shooting...
Now Cao Cao's front line is holding off Zhang Liao, and Cao Hong is holding off Zhu Ling and Ma Yue. If the cavalry army wants to break the deadlock, it must send out the navy!
...
...
Pang Tong looked at the battlefield in the distance and frowned deeply.
The tenacity shown by the Cao army at the moment surprised Pang Tong.
This kind of war of attrition is obviously not a war mode that Fei Qian is willing to accept, but why is it like this now?
Pang Tong has a vague answer in his heart...
They fought too fast!
There are advantages to being fast, but now the disadvantages of being fast are showing up.
Whether it is a grenade, a rocket, or a flamethrower, they are all consumables.
Consumables mean that once you finish this cup, there may be no next cup.
From Guanzhong to Tongguan, a transfer order is issued, and it arrives on the same day and starts on the same day. It can reach the forbidden ditch of Tongguan in three days at the latest. It can be directly transported to Tongguan by manpower and horsepower, which means one more day.
But after leaving Tongguan, the route was lengthened...
The replenishment in the rear could not keep up with the consumption of the fierce fighting in the front.
All of this was expected by Cao Cao before?
Fighting from day to night, no matter how high the morale of the cavalry soldiers was, they could not avoid fatigue.
After all, people are not made of iron. Even if they are made of iron, they need to be oiled from time to time, right?
Moreover, this kind of life-and-death fight on the battlefield consumes people's energy and physical strength, which is almost several times, or even more than ten times, that of training. Although the cavalry army was well-equipped with dry food, water, and medical treatment, the soldiers who returned could receive relatively basic care and protection, but the energy and physical exhaustion could not be restored by drinking a few sips of water or eating a piece of cake...
Some of the cavalry soldiers who returned sat on the ground, ate a few bites of cake and drank a little water, and then fell asleep, and could not be woken up no matter how they were called.
Although Pang Tong did not understand what the sequelae of adrenaline were, he also knew that the fatigue accumulated by the cavalry army after a series of battles was gradually showing up.
Starting from the attack on the Tongguan camp, several layers of defense of the Tongguan camp were broken in a few days, and then Yanxiang was broken, and Cao Zhang and Liu Fu were chased and killed, until they ran into Cao Cao's troops. The cavalry army had not adjusted and rested properly for a long time.
This is not good...
Pang Tong also knew this, but before running into Cao Cao, everyone felt that they "should" and "could" just kill all the way and kill directly to the Central Plains!
Pang Tong is not Fei Qian.
He was able to control and command these generals not because of how attractive Pang Tong's fat chin was, but because Pang Tong had been authorized by Fei Qian. These generals actually obeyed the general Fei Qian, the cavalry general!
So if these generals would execute Fei Qian's words and orders 100% regardless of whether they could understand them or not, and whether they were convinced or not, then the instructions issued by Pang Tong on behalf of Fei Qian would be fine for those who could understand them, but those who could not understand them would probably be 100% dissatisfied in their hearts...
Pang Tong originally thought that this kind of fatigue problem would only become more obvious after reaching the Heluo area, when both the attack and defense surfaces were expanded, and then adjustments would be made, as well as the arrangements for these generals, but he did not expect that it would be detonated in advance by Cao Cao here.
The cavalry army is good at attacking, but the Cao army is also good at defending!
As the attacking party, the cavalry army does have the advantage of being able to concentrate its forces for assault, but for the Cao army, their defensive ability is also trained in the meat and blood mill of the Central Plains!
Especially these old soldiers in Qingzhou!
These Qingzhou soldiers had poor military discipline and were less well trained than the Hussars, but they were no different from the Hussars in one thing: they were not afraid of death!
Dare to fight! Dare to die!
Zhang Liao retreated. Even a brave general like Zhang Liao was now panting, taking the food brought by the guards, and eating it while mumbling: "Your Majesty... The brothers are tired... It's difficult to break through from the front..."
Pang Tong nodded, then pointed at the center of Cao Cao's army, "The old thieves' formation is close to the river... This is a flaw, but... I suspect it's also a trap..."
Zhang Liao looked in the direction of Pang Tong's finger, "The old thieves are cunning... Last time they wanted to sneak attack our navy, but failed, and now they are trying to do the same thing again? "
While the two were discussing, a messenger suddenly came in a hurry.