Cao Chun plopped his head on the ground and said with a choked voice, "My lord, I am incompetent. Please punish me. I will never complain."
Cheng Yu hurriedly stepped forward and said, "My lord, now is not the time to pursue the case. It's better to recover the food as soon as possible. That's the business."
Cao Cao suppressed his anger and glared at Cao Chun fiercely, "Get up, let's plead guilty for the time being and perform meritorious service. If you commit the crime again, you will be punished for both crimes."
Cao Chun hurriedly handed over his hands in thanks, but he was a little worried in his heart, "My lord, the enemy's cavalry is really powerful. They don't get close to us, they just shoot arrows from a distance. We must be careful."
Cao Cao frowned, looked around and looked at everyone, "Do you have any good strategies to deal with the enemy's cavalry?"
Cheng Yu smiled slightly and said slowly, "My lord, although the opponent is a cavalry, there are few people after all, so there is no need to be afraid.
We only need to place the sword and shield soldiers on the outside, and then the archers inside to make them dare to get close. They have bows and arrows, don’t we?"
Hearing this method, Cao Cao was immediately overjoyed, "Okay, just follow this method and pass on the order. The army is rushing forward. Anyone who dares to neglect will be killed."
Following the order, the army immediately accelerated and headed towards the mountain pass.
……
Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian pursued Cao Chun to the mountain pass and saw Cao Chun fleeing into the Maling Mountains. They did not pursue him and ordered everyone to rest.
After this period of galloping, the war horse was so tired that it kept sneezing and had to rest to conserve its horsepower.
Cheng Lian came to Zhang Liao and said with a smile, "Old Zhang, this battle was so exciting. When we catch those scattered horses, it will be a huge gain."
Zhang Liao nodded, but his face was a little solemn, "Cao Chun has gone back. Once Cao Cao finds out, I'm afraid he will lead an army to chase us."
Cheng Lian was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand, "What are you afraid of? We have horses. If they want to catch up with us, unless they have four legs, they can only eat smoke and dust from behind."
Zhang Liao shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Although we can run, what will happen to the baggage team? Do we have to return it to them?"
Hearing this, Cheng Lian's expression froze, and then he shook his head with a wry smile, "This is bad. With all that food, we can't even run away."
Zhang Liao nodded, "We don't know when Marquis Wen's army will arrive. Now we can only delay. When Marquis Wen's army arrives, we won't be afraid anymore."
Cheng Lian nodded, turned to the soldiers beside him and shouted loudly, "Don't be stunned, go search around quickly and find the arrows that were fired. The time you save is not enough."
At the same time, Cao Cao also received the news from the spies and knew that the Bingzhou Cavalry was outside the mountain pass. He hurriedly ordered the army to arrange according to the plan, and then rushed out of the valley.
When Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian saw Cao Jun coming out, they immediately roared and charged forward with their cavalry.
When they rushed into the range of the bow and arrow, the two of them yelled at the same time.
"Fire arrows."
Whoosh!
Just as the two of them finished speaking, almost at the same moment, countless arrows flew from Cao Jun's camp and enveloped the Bingzhou Cavalry.
The sword and shield soldiers at the outermost edge of Cao's camp saw an arrow coming, and hurriedly raised their shields to block it, and their losses were greatly reduced.
The Bingzhou cavalry horses were very fast, and the bows and arrows in Cao's camp, although powerful, did not cause any damage.
Seeing that the situation was bad, Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian hurriedly shouted, led their horses in an arc, and fled far away.
Cheng Lian caught up with Zhang Liao and said loudly, "Old Zhang, they are on guard."
Zhang Liao sneered, "Since they are prepared, we will change our tactics and let them taste the power of our Bingzhou cavalry."
Cheng Lian laughed loudly and roared, "Brothers, since they want to compete with us in bows and arrows, let them see what real bows and arrows are."
Cao Cao stood in the middle of the army and watched the Bingzhou cavalry running in the distance being repulsed. He was overjoyed. He turned to look at Cheng Yu beside him and said with a smile, "Zhongde, this is a good idea. If you encounter them again in the future, just use it."
You can use this method to deal with them."
Cheng Yu nodded, "Although this method can temporarily deal with it, if they have supporting troops or more cavalry, this tactic may be useless."
Cao Cao was a little surprised, "Why?"
As soon as he finished speaking, horse hooves galloped in the distance and rumbled from a distance again.
Different from the last time, this time the Bingzhou cavalry were very scattered, and there were gaps in the team. The most important thing was that this time they did not get too close and immediately fired their bows and arrows.
"Projection."
A skilled archer can make his bow and arrow shoot farther if he uses the throwing method.
Of course, although this can shoot farther, the accuracy of the bow and arrow is greatly reduced because it is a projectile shot. It can even be said that this is aimless archery.
However, that is only aimed at one archer. Hundreds of archers launch the projectiles together, and they are all launched together by the archers who have cooperated for a long time. Although they cannot accurately hit a certain enemy, they can form a large-scale attack.
Range strike.
Seeing this scene, Cheng Yu's expression changed, "It's terrible."
As soon as he finished speaking, arrows like dark clouds fell from the sky, bypassing the sword and shield soldiers in front, and actually hit the spearmen and archers behind.
"Ahhh!"
Cao Hong, who was directing the battle, saw this scene and was furious. He roared, "Archers, fight back quickly."
The archer was suddenly stunned. When he reacted, the second round of arrows from the Bingzhou cavalry had already arrived.
Whoosh!
"Ahhh!"
Cao Hong finally organized a counterattack with archers, but the Bingzhou cavalry had already rushed over, leaving only smoke and dust in the sky.
"Everyone, get ready. When they come over, we will also launch the ejection."
Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian rushed out a few miles and immediately ordered the soldiers to stop and rest. At the same time, they closely watched the movements of Cao Jun's camp.
In order to meet the enemy, Cao's army has stopped and stretched out its formation.
Cheng Yu looked at the cavalry in the distance, and suddenly a bad thought came to his mind, and his face suddenly became ugly.
Seeing this, Cao Cao frowned and asked, "Zhongde, is there something wrong?"
Cheng Yu sighed and pointed at the Bingzhou cavalry in the distance, "Lord, look, they stopped to rest."
Cao Cao was stunned, "After charging several times, maybe the horses were tired, so they took a rest. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Cheng Yu shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Lord, if they keep resting, should we rest too?"
After hearing these words, Cao Cao also reacted. His eyes suddenly widened and he stared closely at the Bingzhou cavalry in the distance, but secretly complained in his heart.
I came out to recover the food. If I wait here, wouldn't it make the food go further and further?
Thinking of this, Cao Cao gritted his teeth and said, "Give me the order. After a cup of tea, if they don't come over, the army will continue to move forward."
Upon hearing this order, Cheng Yu wanted to say something, but in the end he just sighed silently.
The fact was as Cheng Yu thought, the Bingzhou cavalry never came. After a cup of tea, Cao Cao gave an order and the army began to move forward.
At this time, the Bingzhou Iron Cavalry, which had been resting in the distance, finally made some movement.
Hearing the rumble of horse hooves, Cao Cao did not dare to be careless and hurriedly ordered the team to stop and prepare to fight.
The Bingzhou cavalry rushed not far away, but did not get close. They just circled Cao Jun's camp, waiting for opportunities to strike.
Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian are not in a hurry to attack, because their current task is not to destroy Cao's army, but to delay time.
The reason why he took the initiative to launch two attacks just now was mainly to let Cao Jun see the power of the Bingzhou cavalry and act as a deterrent.
The effect was obvious. When Cao Jun saw the Bingzhou cavalry rushing towards them, they did not dare to move and obediently stopped and prepared to fight.
Cao Cao looked at the Bingzhou cavalry galloping around, his face turned livid, and his teeth chattered.
"Cao Chun, you immediately lead the cavalry to drive them away."
Cao Chun was stunned for a moment, and a trace of determination flashed in his eyes, "I will obey your order."
Cheng Yu suddenly raised his hands and said, "Lord, let's retreat."
"What?"
Cao Cao's breathing became rapid, and he turned to look at Cheng Yu, his eyes like bells, "You said retreat?"
Cheng Yu knew that Cao Cao was feeling uncomfortable, and originally planned to plot against Lu Bu, but who would have thought that Lu Bu's army did not come together, but only sent the fastest cavalry to catch up with the baggage team. p>
Now, if the food is taken away and he has to retreat obediently, anyone will be furious. Cao Cao can stand here calmly and talk, which is considered his endurance skill.
"My lord, the reason why the Bingzhou cavalry did this must be to delay time. If there is no accident, Lu Bu's army is also rushing here. According to our current speed, even if we rush over, Lu Bu's army has already arrived.<
/p>
In this state, it is not easy for our army to win."
In fact, what Cheng Yu said was already very implicit. When fighting on the plains, as long as Lu Bu has Bingzhou cavalry, there is no big difference in the numbers of both sides. There is almost no way he can defeat his opponent.
Cao Chun wants to lead his troops out to drive away the Bingzhou cavalry, which is even more impossible.
At the beginning, Cao Chun had 1,200 men, but he was still defeated.
Now that there are only more than 400 people left, can they defeat the Bingzhou Cavalry?
Cheng Yu was sure that in this state, if Cao Chun led the last cavalry to rush out, there would be no other option except for the entire army to be annihilated.
That's why he persuaded Cao Cao to retreat.
When Cao Cao heard Cheng Yu's words, he also reacted. Looking at the Bingzhou cavalry running in the distance, he suddenly sighed, turned to look at Cao Chun, and said slowly.
"Zihe, given time, can you train a cavalryman like this?"
Hearing these words, Cao Chun felt a rush of heat rushing into his mind. He immediately knelt down on one knee and said loudly, "My lord, I swear that I will train a cavalry that can defeat the Bingzhou cavalry."
Cao Cao nodded, waved his hand, and said calmly, "Give me the order, we will retreat."
Cao Hong was surprised, "Lord, those grains?"
Cao Cao shook his head and said calmly, "Just think of it as our gift to Lu Bu's son."
Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian stood there, looking at Cao Jun who was slowly retreating, their faces full of ecstasy.
"Lao Zhang, it's great. They have retreated. Haha, the food belongs to us."
Zhang Liao nodded, looked at the direction in which Cao Jun was leaving, and said slowly, "Cao Mengde is indeed extraordinary."
Cheng Lian was stunned and asked doubtfully, "Old Zhang, how could you say such a thing?"
Zhang Liao smiled slightly and said, "Be decisive in doing things, knowing that you can't do something, and never being sloppy. It's just that very few people can do it."
Hearing this, Cheng Lian thought of the batch of grain and couldn't help but nodded, "That's true. If I were old enough, I would definitely attack it and never let go of that grain."
Zhang Liao waved his hand, "Okay, now that Cao Mengde has retreated, our mission has been completed. Let's go back and deliver."
……
When the two caught up with the baggage team, they saw flags waving in the distance, spears standing in rows, and countless soldiers surrounding the grain truck.
When the two of them saw the word "LV" on the banner, they were overjoyed. They hurried to the front, jumped off their horses, and went to see Lu Bu.
Lu Buzheng, Chen Gong and others were checking the food. When they heard that Zhang Liao was back, they hurriedly asked people to bring them over.
"The last general will see Wen Hou."
Lu Bu waved his hand and said with a smile, "I thought I was just asking you to inquire about the news, but I didn't expect that you gave me such a big surprise. You two should be the first to contribute."
Cheng Lian smiled and said, "Marquis Wen, not only did you get the food back this time, but Cao Mengde also ran away."
Hearing this, Chen Gong's eyes lit up, "General Cheng, do you think Cao Mengde ran away?"
Cheng Lian nodded, the corners of his mouth raised, and he said proudly, "Marquis Wen, we originally wanted to hold Cao Mengde back, but who would have thought that Cao Mengde would be scared away by us."
Lu Bu frowned and turned to look at Song Xian, "General Song, take a group of people to Maling Mountain to see if Cao Mengde has withdrawn his troops."
Song Xian bowed his hands and hurried away with a group of troops.
Chen Gong suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "Marquis Wen, this time, Hao Xuan fell into Cao Mengde's plan again. If we act rashly and go to pursue him, we will definitely fall into their ambush."
Lu Bu nodded, but said nothing, thinking in his heart.
Cao Mengde did not know about this action, which is enough to show that even if there is a problem, it will not be on his side.
But what is the problem?
Since he already knew Cao Mengde's plan, Lu Bu was not in a hurry and immediately sent an order to go down and let the whole army rest where they were.
When it was getting dark, Song Xian and others who were sent out to find out the news finally hurried back.
"Informing Marquis Wen, the general went to Maling Mountain to check carefully, but found no trace of Cao Jun. He led his men to pursue him along the road, and indeed saw that Cao Jun had withdrawn from Maling Mountain and should be heading towards Juancheng.
”
Cheng Lian hurriedly said, "Marquis Wen, why don't you let the last general lead a team of soldiers and horses to pursue Cao Mengde?"
Lu Bu shook his head and said, "No need. Since Cao Mengde has retreated, it's time for our army to recuperate."
Chen Gong frowned and asked tentatively, "Marquis Wen, should we also withdraw our troops?"
Lu Bu nodded and said slowly, "Cao Mengde has indeed retreated. Please pass on the order and our army will also retreat and return to Puyang."