The confrontation between the two armies has been going on for some time, and both sides couldn't help but become a little anxious. They both wanted to be the first to break the deadlock and achieve a staged breakthrough, so they both started some tentative attacks on each other.
This kind of tentative attack is mostly left to the cavalry, because only they can carry out maneuvers at various large angles more quickly and seek the best attack opportunities during the maneuvers.
But not every cavalry attack has good luck...
As the sun rose, Ma Chao led three hundred cavalrymen to patrol and cruise along the Wei River.
Although the Wei River is relatively strong now, it does not mean that it is impossible to cross the river. Moreover, creatures like war horses are born with the ability to swim. As long as the current is not too turbulent, war horses can even lead people to swim across a river that is not wide. Of course,
Riding is not possible, but you can hold on to the horse rope, so patrolling back and forth along the Weishui River has become a necessary measure to prevent the enemy from sneaking around and attacking.
Ma Chao is only sixteen years old this year, which is the age when people feel most youthful. Now Ma Chao's face has just shed its tenderness, but has not yet reached the bottom of maturity. His expression is high, and he is full of vitality when looking forward. Perhaps it is because
A little bored, he was holding a long spear and waving it in vain on the horse.
The spear used by Ma Chao seems to be the same as that of Ma Yan's family. It looks like a dagger with a long handle. The blade of the spear is longer and flatter. This kind of spear blade is good for cutting, but it is not very easy to use for "piercing".
"This style is a rather strange and difficult to use type of spear because the flat and long blade is more difficult to pull out once it gets stuck into a hard object, and the blade is easily damaged if the force is applied at the wrong angle.
But Ma Chao seemed to be very used to it, and even looked a little fond of it.
This spear was a birthday gift given to him by his father, Ma Teng, just this year. It also represents the recognition of Ma Chao's intention to become a warrior. The finely carved spear is swung, and the bottom of the gun blade is decorated with gold and silver threads.
The position of the gun outlines the image of a Suzaku spreading its wings, which is shining in the sun, as if it is about to flutter and fly away, just like Ma Chao's current mood. For so many years, he has always hoped that he could command the army like his father.
Coming and going like wind and thunder, now, he can finally spread his wings and fly high...
"Uh-" Ma Chao lightly pulled the reins, raised his spear, and signaled the entire army to stop, then slowly reined in the war horse.
The war horse slowly stopped, shook its big head, swept it left and right with its tail a few times, then shook the fur on its neck to shake out the sweat stained on the fur, snorted a few times in dissatisfaction, and then
It was like telling Ma Chao why he stopped not long after he started running. It was really uncomfortable...
A war horse is actually like a child. When it runs, it often has to have a lot of fun. It is not very enjoyable until it is exhausted.
Ma Chao habitually bent down and patted the fearful war horse's neck, calming the war horse's mood. War horses like to run, but as a rider, you must always maintain the horse's physical strength and not use it excessively. When Ma Chao was a child with his father,
Just playing on horseback, although there was nothing written about cavalry, Ma Chao still learned a lot from his father.
Suddenly, Ma Chao seemed to see something in front of him, and immediately called two people and asked them to come forward to check.
The two men followed the direction of Ma Chao's finger, but saw nothing. The two couldn't help but look at each other, and then slowly walked forward suspiciously.
Ma Chao saw this, and his expression changed slightly, but he didn't say anything. This was his first time to lead an army alone, and he only got such an opportunity after begging his father for a long time, so these soldiers didn't understand him.
It is natural that hesitation towards his orders is inevitable...
Sometimes opportunities do not come again and again, and when they come again and again, they are often fleeting. If Ma Chao cannot show the qualities that a qualified leader should have, then he may lose the opportunity to lead alone next time, at least in the future.
There won't be such an opportunity any time soon.
The soldiers who went to investigate soon came back. With a look of surprise, they stepped forward to report: "Young Commander, there are water stains and horse hoof prints ahead!"
Ma Chao immediately became energetic. This time he led the troops out alone. Unexpectedly, he encountered a situation. Such an opportunity must not be missed. He immediately waved his hand and led the people to the place where the imprint was mentioned.
Perhaps in the eyes of ordinary people, this place is just a messy water mark with no obvious significance, but in the eyes of skilled scouts, they can easily tell that there are actually people and horses crossing the river...
Fortunately, it was early in the morning and the sun was not very strong, but even so, in an hour or two, this mark would disappear under the sunlight.
So it really is Ma Chao's luck.
"Young Commander, there are at least three to four hundred cavalry, maybe five hundred cavalry, maybe even more..." Because the water stains are gradually drying up and disappearing, so even if Ma Teng specially sent
Some of Ma Chao's experienced personal guards could not tell how many people secretly crossed the Wei River and went around to the rear of Ma Teng and Han Sui.
"Five hundred riders..." Ma Chao sat on the horse's back, looked at the surrounding terrain, then looked in the direction where the water traces disappeared, and frowned.
In the Han Dynasty, as a commander leading troops in the field, there was no such thing as a GPS locator, not even a compass. Everything was done by experience, memory, and personal judgment. It can be said that if
In later generations, if people with a Lu Chi physique were to lead the army in the Han Dynasty, they would probably end up like Li Guang.
Ma Chao needs to quickly combine the terrain here with the impression in his mind, and then determine where the cavalry who are circling behind will probably go...
First of all, one thing that can be certain is that you will never hide too far, because if you run too far, it will lose its strategic significance. Therefore, you must be repairing in a river valley, either to prepare for the next step of setting up an ambush, or to
It is to cooperate with the soldiers on Wuzhangyuan to conduct surprise operations.
So now we must find this cavalry as soon as possible!
Ma Chao's bodyguard half asked, half suggested: "... Young Commander, should we... return to the army now and report to the Commander before we make a decision?"
The cavalry fought around the back route. Although they carried military provisions, they would not last long. Therefore, it was basically determined that the Xiliang soldiers in Wuzhangyuan must have done something in the past two days, so they immediately returned to the army to inform Ma Teng and Ma Teng in the camp.
Han Sui is also a reasonable thing.
Moreover, when Ma Teng asked Ma Chao to lead the army, he only asked Ma Chao to patrol the river and check the situation of the retreat. He did not ask Ma Chao to fight. If it was not a last resort, who would ask a sixteen-year-old child to do so under the conditions of sufficient preparation?
Just go to the battlefield and fight?
But Ma Chao didn't think so.
After thinking for a moment, Ma Chao found two people and ordered them to return to the camp to report such a discovery. Then he turned to his guards and said: "Take fifty cavalry and find a place to hide in the surrounding area. Since you can cross here once,
, we can cross the river for the second time... If there is still a large group of people crossing the river, you will send people to report to the commander quickly. If it is a small group of people, if you can intercept them, kill them!"
"Wei!" Seeing that Ma Chao's words were reasonable, the personal guard loudly agreed, then hesitated for a moment and said, "...You are so little in command..."
Ma Chao raised his head and smiled, "Haha, so-and-so... of course I want to meet these guys!"
Yan Bi didn't wait for his bodyguard to react, so he turned his horse's head and followed the direction of the water trail...
"Young Commander! Young Commander!" the guard shouted twice urgently. Seeing Ma Chao walking forward without looking back, he had no choice but to arrange people to hide nearby while leading the remaining people to chase Ma Chao's figure.
go.
In a valley, Li Li was sitting against a stone wall, straightening his legs, tapping them lightly with his hands, and humming in comfort.
This time, they led four hundred cavalry from the rear of Wuzhangyuan in order to solve the big problem of the coalition forces of Ma Teng and Han Sui.
Although the four hundred cavalry were not many, if they appeared behind Ma Teng and Han Sui at an important moment and launched a surprise attack, the effect would be very fatal.
In order to hide their bodies from Ma Teng and Han Sui's troops on the other side of the Wei River, Li Li and the others went out day and night to prevent the smoke from their march from being discovered by the enemy's scouts, and they tried their best not to reveal their bodies.
For safety reasons, they did not even dare to light a fire at will. Only in this kind of valley terrain, surrounded by all sides, would they stop to take a rest and light a fire to make some hot rice and soup to eat.
Li Li is a member of Li Jue's clan. If we calculate according to blood relationship, Li Li is Li Li's uncle, but there is not much difference in age. Li Li is about two or three years older than Li Jue...
But uncles are still uncles, and elders are also elders, so no matter what Li Li thinks in his heart, he still has to do things as a junior in front of Li Jue.
When he came to Wuzhangyuan this time, Li Li originally thought that he could flex his muscles and finally lead the army alone, but the reality was that Li Jue asked him to just be Fan Chou's lieutenant...
Lieutenant general.
There is only one general in an army, and a deputy general, haha...
Therefore, when he got the opportunity to lead the army alone, Li Li was really overjoyed. You must know that if this battle goes well, then he may no longer be the deputy general of an army, and will always be sent by the main general.
Only when he has the right to lead troops, he will truly become a general with personal guards and the power to command troops!
The surrounding soldiers didn't care what Li Li was thinking. They crossed the river in the middle of the night and rushed to cross the bank before dawn. They also had to find this more secluded valley. Both men and horses were a little tired, especially when they were wearing a full body.
The wet clothes always had to be taken off to dry or dried, so many bonfires were set up in the valley, although there were simple sheds built with tree branches to shield the smoke from the bonfires.
, but as the number of fires increased, the smoke gradually increased. Although it was not obvious at first, over time, the smoke became obviously much heavier than other places.
Just as Li Li was thinking about it, the soldiers in charge of the lookout rushed over and shouted at the top of their lungs: "Cavalry! Cavalry!"
Li Li trembled all over, jumped up quickly, and said: "What cavalry? Where did the cavalry come from?! How many are there?"
The soldier on duty pointed his hand to the outside of the valley, swallowed his saliva and said: "There are many, many, cavalry coming from far away!"
"I know the cavalry is coming!" Li Li almost yelled, "I'm asking you how many are here?!"
The soldier rolled his eyes: "This... no... I don't know..."
"You trash!" Li Li couldn't help it anymore. He kicked the soldier to the ground and shouted, "I have them all, hurry up! Get ready to fight!"
The other soldiers who were waiting around the pot for dinner couldn't help but become frightened when asked. They hurriedly grabbed their weapons, and those who led the horses led the horses. For a moment, they became a mess. Although they were veterans who had been in battle,
However, when encountering such a situation in a hurry, I was still a little panicked. I didn't know how many pots were kicked over in the rush before I managed to form a formation.
But they were still slow after all. When they had just formed their formation and were about to rush out of the valley entrance, they heard a rapid sound of horse hooves outside the valley. The opponent had already arrived near the valley entrance...
Li Li hesitated immediately. He didn't know how many people there were on the other side. If he rushed out so rashly and couldn't pick up the horse quickly, then...
Just when Li Li wanted to determine the number of cavalry coming from the opposite side, the people outside the valley had already lit a lot of rockets, and they fired towards the mouth of the valley with a loud bang, and also threw some rockets that they picked up from nowhere.
The hay and firewood were kneaded into balls, lit and thrown in. Some horse manure was even stuffed into these hay balls. Not only were sparks flying everywhere, but a lot of smoke was also emitted!
When Li Li chose this valley, he was interested in its concealment. If it weren't for the many bonfires that were exposed, it would not be easy to find this valley. But now this hidden advantage has become
It became a nightmare for Li Li and others.
The burning horse dung balls emitted a disgusting thick smoke. Suddenly, the valley was filled with thick smoke, making it very difficult for people and horses to breathe...
"Ahem! Charge! Charge...ahem...charge out!" Seeing that the momentum was not good, Li Li gave the order to charge without thinking of anything else.
The soldiers, who had long been unbearable by the thick smoke, heard the order and swarmed towards the mouth of the valley in a panic, completely losing their formation!
"Damn it! Keep...cough cough...keep...cough cough cough cough..." Seeing this, Li Li couldn't help but want to shout loudly, but he didn't expect that just as he took a breath, he choked on the thick smoke, and suddenly he screamed
Coughing, I couldn't form any words for a while, let alone issue an order.
The Xiliang cavalry, who had completely lost their formation, had just rushed out of the thick smoke. Before they could take a deep breath and regain their chaotic sight, they ran into arrows fired from the opposite direction. Blood splattered everywhere, and they were miserable.
He screamed and fell to the ground...
The Xiliang cavalry who rushed out from behind couldn't see clearly what was going on in front of them, and they didn't understand what was happening under their horses' hooves from time to time. They were suddenly caught by the body of the fallen horse in front, and the horse lost its front hoof with a "pop" sound.
Ma Chao, who was standing outside the valley, was sitting on his horse at leisure, commanding his soldiers to continuously shoot deadly arrows one after another towards the shadowy figure at the entrance of the valley. Although it was still
Such a young face shone with an inexplicable light, and even his eyes were excited, like a wolf that had bitten the throat of its prey for the first time and tasted the sweet taste of blood...
