For infantry, the plain area after passing Ziyun Mountain is like being surrounded by cavalry on the grassland, and it is a death zone.
As mentioned before, the infantry branch creates a team of 10,000 people, and there are only 2,000 crossbowmen at most.
Everyone in the light cavalry carries a bow and arrow, so even if they are surrounded and fired at each other, Shen Chen's army of 8,000 people only has more than 1,000 archers, while Cao's army has 5,000, so the other soldiers can only be used as targets.
However, during the Han Dynasty, the Han people's method of dealing with the grassland peoples was to use baggage vehicles or chariots specially used for temporary construction of forts to form a city wall and serve as a fortress.
Li Ling used this method to fight with 5,000 Han troops and 80,000 Xiongnu cavalry on the prairie for several days, fighting and retreating, and evacuated all the way south.
Therefore, if there is no terrain like Ziyun Mountain and no other defensive facilities, the cavalry can indeed crush the infantry on the plains and grasslands due to its mobility. But once there is a chariot camp, the situation will be reversed immediately.
When it comes to archery, the infantry is protected by chariots, like super-large shields, to withstand crossbow fire. When it comes to close combat, the cavalry's attack ability is inferior to that of the infantry even in the era of stirrups, high bridges and saddles.
Therefore, this is why Shen Chen needs to send someone to fetch the baggage carriage from the rear.
At this time, Lou Fa left a thousand men to guard Kunyang. He personally led a thousand men and brought 500 carriages to support him. The carriages and horses rumbled along, and the dust filled the sky, just like small cars, rolling in. move.
Seeing this situation, Guan Yu immediately said: "The enemy has sent chariots and horses. They must be stopped. Their troops cannot be allowed to join together. Everyone attacks the chariots!"
"attack!"
The messengers issued military orders one after another.
At that moment, many of Cao's cavalry immediately turned their horses and headed towards the battlefield.
Shen Chen went to chat with Guan Yu. Of course Shen Zhen, Deng Zhao and the others knew about it, so even without the general, under their orders, Huangmenting soldiers were still as safe as a mountain.
At this moment, seeing the enemy suddenly turn to the south, Deng Zhao immediately knew what to do and said immediately: "Return to the reinforcement carriage, charge!"
"Come on!"
Huangmenting soldiers also immediately launched a charge.
When a chariot came from afar, they saw Cao Cao's cavalry running towards them. They immediately began to form a camp, and Lou Fa directed the crossbowmen to shoot arrows outwards.
The "咻廻咻" rain of arrows hit Cao's soldiers and caused hundreds of casualties in an instant.
Huangmenting soldiers and horses from behind came again and attacked from both sides. Guan Yu seemed to realize that something was wrong and immediately ordered: "Retreat quickly!"
"withdraw!"
The messengers sent out warning whistles to retreat.
Soon Cao Jun left hundreds of corpses and retreated. This was how the cavalry met the crossbowmen. Baima Yicong was invincible in Youzhou. Three thousand cavalry met Ju Yi's thousand crossbowmen, and the entire army was wiped out in an instant.
If Guan Yu hadn't delayed the order for a while, fearing that Cao Cao would be suspicious of him later, not many of the fifteen hundred cavalry would have returned intact.
When Cao Jun fled, Shen Chen immediately met up with Lou Fa, then rushed back to Kunyang, leaving Lou Fa to defend the city again, while he took a thousand carriages and went north to meet Gan Ning.
After Guan Yu was defeated here, he immediately went back to report to Cao Cao. However, the horses were already exhausted from the previous raid, so he could only choose to retreat a few miles and find a place to feed the horses with some fine beans. Feed, rest for half an hour, and then return.
The main reason is that the endurance of the horses is not very good. If you want the horses to continue to maintain their physical strength, they need to feed them with refined feed before the battle, and you even have to bring some of it yourself, otherwise they can last at most one day.
For example, the tiger and leopard cavalry chased for a day and night. Cao Cao led 10,000 elite cavalry to cross the Yanshan Mountains and arrived at Bailang Mountain in a month. They all brought their own feed.
This back and forth delayed some time, and by the time Cao Cao learned of the situation, it was already afternoon.
"Shen Chen took the chariot?"
Cao Cao met Guan Yu who had returned.
Guan Yu had no expression on his face. He looked serious, but in fact he had no good feelings towards Cao Cao. He said in a dull tone: "Yes, we wanted to delay the time, but we didn't expect that Shen Chen sent someone to notify the Kunyang defenders in advance. , the Kunyang defenders sent chariots, but we were defeated and had no choice but to retreat."
"Well"
Cao Cao nodded. He was a master of tactics. How could he not know that chariots could restrain cavalry? He did not blame him at the moment and said, "Yun Chang has done his best. You can go and rest first."
"only."
Guan Yu went to the rear to rest first.
After a while, Cao Cao summoned his lieutenant again, and the lieutenant told what happened, including the fact that Guan Yu went to chase Shen Chen and Shen Chen disappeared.
But there are actually no loopholes in this process. Guan Yu is famous now. It is normal for Shen Chen to come out to provoke him regardless of life and death. It is normal for him to be chased away. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with Guan Yu's arrangement. If he listens to Zuo Lieutenant and takes the initiative to attack, he will suffer even greater losses. .
Therefore, in Cao Cao's view, there was nothing suspicious about the whole matter, and he naturally did not delve into it. However, he frowned when he saw Gan Ning digging trenches and cutting down trees in the forest from a distance.
Shen Chen's use of chariots as cover was obviously beyond Cao Cao's expectations. It would be meaningless to delay the situation now, because the infantry from behind would not arrive for at least three or four hours.
And this time is enough for Shen Chen to drive thousands of carriages. When the time comes to use the carriages to guard against them while walking, they will have no chance.
The sun is gradually going down.
Time passed by minute by minute.
In the evening, when it was almost dark, probably at the end of the day, and at the beginning of dusk, Cao Cao's troops had already withdrawn several miles away.
About an hour later, although Gan Ning's military formation in the distance did not have a camp, a large number of trees were cut down, and a large number of fires were burned in the pits and open spaces dug around it to illuminate the night sky and prevent Cao's army from attacking at night.
Suddenly there were wheels rolling in the south, and reinforcements arrived.
Xiangcheng is only 40 kilometers away from Kunyang, and Ziyun Mountain is right in the middle.
Shen Chen set out at the beginning of the morning meal. Based on the average marching speed of about five kilometers per hour, it took them more than three hours and walked more than ten kilometers before eleven o'clock at noon. They arrived at Zi, fifteen kilometers away from Xiangcheng. Yunshan area.
It is less than 25 kilometers away from Kunyang. Under normal circumstances, even ordinary people walk at an average of 4-5 kilometers per hour. If you walk a little faster, with the foot strength developed by Huangmenting soldiers, you can walk again. In four or five hours, we can return to Kunyang around four or five o'clock in the afternoon.
But they were dragged by Cao Cao to Ziyun Mountain. As a result, when Shen Chen set off from Kunyang again to rescue Gan Ning, it was already close to six o'clock in the evening. The sky became dark, and he did not arrive in Gan Ning until close to nine o'clock. at.
If it is delayed for a few more hours, Cao Cao's infantry from behind will arrive.
At that time, it will be a battle with the main force of Cao's infantry in the wild, coupled with cavalry harassment, the consequences will be disastrous.
"Uncle Xingba."
"Achen."
In the darkness, Shen Chen and Gan Ning soon met.
Cao Cao's cavalry set up torches several miles away and looked at them from a distance in the darkness. Shen Chen seemed to be able to feel Cao Cao's resentful gaze in the distance.
"let's go!"
Shen Chen shouted and called for everyone to retreat.
Cao Cao's army did not stop them this time, because Cao Cao knew very well that there was no point in chasing them. They could fight them with their carriages. The baggage carriages were already here, and they would definitely have enough bows and arrows. Shooting would only cause the cavalry to suffer losses.
So at twelve o'clock at night, with the loss of only two to three hundred people, Shen Chen and Gan Ning successfully retreated to Kunyang and held on to the city.
Two days later, Cao Cao's main army of about 20,000 people arrived at Kunyang City.
Li Tong's troops plus part of the Xudu garrison and the cavalry he led personally, and because there were heavy troops brought from Xudu in the rear, which contained a lot of siege equipment, after arriving at Kunyang, Cao Cao did not hesitate and immediately Ordered to start attacking the city.
The two sides launched a fierce battle around Kunyang City. The troops in Shen Chen City actually lost part of their money when they robbed Kunyang Wuyang City in Ye County, and also lost part when they evacuated. Now they only have 9,000 troops.
In addition, Kunyang City was not a big city and did not even have a moat, so this battle was extremely difficult. Cao Cao had catapults at this time and built a dozen of them. Although the city wall was fine, the north gate All the city towers were blown down, causing a lot of casualties in the city.
In fact, the catapults at that time were very close, with an effective distance of only forty to seventy meters. This range was completely within the range of archers. But at that time, there was something called a wooden curtain, which was specially used to defend against bows and arrows, and Shen Chen did not have it. The rockets caused the catapults to almost hit the bottom of the city wall under the cover of wooden curtains, constantly bombarding the city.
For a time, the morale of the military in the city dropped rapidly.
However, Shen Chen and Gan Ning personally went to the city to supervise the battle every time. Although the casualties were high, they still maintained their morale and stubbornly repelled Cao's army several times without letting Cao's army take any advantage.
Over the next few days, the casualties on both sides exceeded a thousand, and the fighting was extremely tragic.
Under normal circumstances, Cao Cao would build more catapults, continuously bombard the city, put psychological pressure on the people in the city, and slowly besiege them to death. This time can be long or short, as short as one or two months, as long as a year and a half.
After all, the catapults at that time were not very powerful and could hardly cause damage to the city walls. They could only intimidate the soldiers. As long as the soldiers reacted faster, it would be easy to avoid them.
But at this time, Cao Cao was obviously a little anxious. After each bombardment, he would send infantry to attack the city. The two sides fought fiercely, causing casualties to both the enemy and ourselves.
The reason for this was that Yuan Shao put too much pressure on him, and no one knew when Yuan Shao would come, so he had to eliminate Shen Chen as soon as possible. After eliminating the trouble, he immediately went north to Guandu to re-defense.
However, Shen Chen's tenacity still exceeded his expectations. The battle to attack the city was extremely difficult, with no results achieved for several days. The soldiers were also exhausted and had low morale.
On April 11th, Cao Cao did not go out to fight today, but rested in the camp to let the soldiers rest for two days. He planned to be more prepared and build more siege equipment before continuing to launch a fierce attack on the city.
It was the scorching early summer, and the lunar calendar was in April, but according to the solar calendar of later generations, it was already late May, close to midsummer June, so the weather was very hot, and the cicadas were chirping in the forest near the city.
Cao Cao had been studying the map of the surrounding terrain of Kunyang in the camp. Kunyang was backed by Funiu Mountain and to the west were mountains. Therefore, it was not easy to fight from the west of the city due to terrain problems. Cao Cao could only fight from the north city, south city and east city. I am considering whether to send people to attack Wuyang and Ye County first, and then surround Kunyang on three sides.
It's just that he doesn't know how much food and grass there is in the city. If he can persist for a year and a half, then this tactic is meaningless. He doesn't have time to waste it here with Shen Chen.
Just as he was thinking, someone outside the tent suddenly shouted: "Report!"
"Come in."
"Sikong, Manchong, the governor of Runan, sent a messenger to ask for an audience."
"Let him come."
"only."
The guard at the gate went to send the messenger.
After a while, the messenger came in and saw Cao Cao kneeling on one knee and said: "Sikong, Sun Ce in Jiangdong has been making frequent changes recently. He secretly mobilized troops and generals and threatened to go north to attack Guangling. The Manchu governor suspected that he wanted to sneak attack Xudu, so I wrote an official document and submitted it to Sikong."
"Send it up."
Cao Cao frowned. Sun Ce's unusual movements could not be hidden from his eyes, otherwise Li Tong and Man Chong would not have been placed in Runan.
But at this juncture, he started to make moves again, which is very worrying.
Sure enough, Man Chong explained Sun Ce's unusual activities in detail these days. Cao Cao immediately realized that Sun Ce did have the intention to attack Xu Du, and he suddenly became upset.
Exactly at this time!
Exactly at this time!
He walked around in the tent angrily. Although Shen Chen had not been captured yet, as long as he continued to attack fiercely, he believed that Kunyang could hold on for another month at most.
But Yuan Shao in the north had not yet gone south, so Sun Ce was ready to take action first, which made Cao Cao very unhappy and his anger grew.
"hateful!"
At the end, he kicked the table away and shouted: "Send my order to the general to continue attacking the city tomorrow!"
"only!"
The messenger went to convey the order to the generals of each battalion.
Cao Cao sat down angrily. The so-called attack on the city tomorrow was of course just a deterrent.
If he failed at that time, he could take advantage of the situation and pretend to retreat, and Shen Chen would come to pursue him. If Shen Chen didn't come, he would withdraw to Xudu.
This is exactly the same as in history, he evacuated Nanyang overnight because he heard about Yuan Shao's sneak attack on Xudu.
But now that Yuan Shao was threatening him, Sun Ce was interfering with him, which made Cao Cao feel even worse.
After welcoming the emperor, except for the first two years of smooth sailing, starting from this year, the situation took a turn for the worse. If it weren't for Jingnan Zhang Xian, I'm afraid he would have been besieged by Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, and Sun Ce.
This Liu Xie is really a double-edged sword.
Thinking of this, he had no choice but to think about what Sun Ce would choose if he came to attack?
The water route is definitely not possible and the land route will definitely be chosen.
When the time comes, he will withdraw from Xudu and let Li Tong return to Runan first, wait and see for a while to see the movements of Yuan Shao, Chenchen and others, and then decide whether to go south or north.
It is really difficult to be surrounded from all sides.
Cao Cao sighed.
Soon, on the second day, Cao Jun launched another fierce attack and fought fiercely for a day. Just like the previous days, Cao Jun left hundreds of corpses and hurriedly evacuated in the evening.
At this moment, Gan Ning was covered in blood. Cao Jun's offensive was really fast and violent. He hit the city wall several times, but he fought back with bloody battles.
Shen Chen also killed two enemies. Although his force value is not as good as Guan Zhang, he is slightly stronger than ordinary soldiers. If the force value of an ordinary soldier is thirty, he should have fifty. After all, he has practiced Many years of martial arts.
It's just that he needs to occupy the command position and constantly give orders, so he has no achievements. But at the end of the day, he was very tired. He stood at the top of the city and looked at Cao's army fading away like a tide.
After Cao Jun returned to the camp, he immediately began to dismantle the camp, and seemed to have plans to withdraw under the starry night.
To the north of Kunyang City is a flat plain area. Standing on the top of the city, except for some forests, you can see for several kilometers.
Gan Ning was also leaning on the female wall at this time, panting and saying: "Ah Chen, Cao Cao is about to withdraw his troops."
"Um."
Shen Chen nodded: "We are threatening Cao Cao's rear, and he cannot easily withdraw his troops. This means that either Yuan Shao has a move to go south, or Sun Ce has a move to go north."
"Does this have something to do with Sun Ce?"
Gan Ning was surprised.
Shen Chen smiled and said: "Sun Ce occupies a peaceful corner of Jiangdong. He has been killing a lot of people in recent years. This is because he has insufficient foundation in Jiangdong. Except for Zhou Yu and Lu Su, there are very few people from aristocratic families who support him. Cao Cao coerced the emperor to order the princes. Countless aristocratic families responded immediately, and it is impossible for Sun Ce not to envy this kind of righteousness."
"He also wants to learn from Cao Cao?"
Gan Ning pouted, I heard that this Sun Ce is just a young boy in his twenties, and he still has such great talent and strategy?
Shen Chen said: "Sun Ce is a lion from the east of the Yangtze River and should not be underestimated. Now that there is a severe drought in the world, it is difficult to reach Xuchang from the east of the Yangtze River by land and water. Sun Ce must take the land route. I expect that Cao Cao will divide his troops to go to Runan. Then we can continue to harass the north. Xudu is here."
"I hope so."
Gan Ning was so tired that he lay down on the city wall to rest. Like him, there were soldiers everywhere on the city wall. Those who had the strength in the rear reserves were carrying corpses and stones and cleaning the battlefield in an orderly manner.
Shen Chen looked at Cao Cao's camp in the north in confusion. He was considering whether to pursue Cao Cao and continue to create pressure on Cao Cao.
Sun Ce died this year. Although Shen Chen didn't know the specific month, he estimated that it would be around this month to next month, so Sun Ce would not be able to send out troops. When the news of Sun Ce's death reaches Xudu, there is a high probability that Cao Cao will send Li Use Tongman Chong Tiao to deal with him.
At that time, the pressure he will face will be even greater. If he can choose to pursue Cao Cao while he is withdrawing his troops, it will be like Huan Wen's Northern Expedition to Guanzhong. He retreated due to lack of food and was defeated by Fu Jian, losing his troops and generals.
There is also the Battle of Nanyang. Zhang Xiu pursued Cao Cao who was eager to go north. Although he failed in the first battle, he won the second battle. If he could pursue him, he might be able to achieve victory.
As long as he can kill more Cao troops, by the time Cao Cao needs to concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shao, Xu Du's defensive strength will be further weakened, and he will be able to do more things.
But this idea is definitely a good one, we just need to wait and see to see if Cao Cao really retreats, or if he pretends to retreat and then deceives him.
Therefore, he planned to send scouts to observe the situation and see what Cao Cao's plan was.
Uncle Huang will be here soon, please don't rush me. In addition, during the recent meeting, you can't see the comments between you, but I can, so please leave more comments to see if there are any problems, and remember to tell me.