At this time, it was the first moment of human beings. A crescent moon hung high in the night sky. The cool moonlight shone down without any cloud cover, illuminating the entire blue-white sky and even the dark edges of the earth. It is also stained with a layer of white frost.
On such a night, the visibility is still very wide. At least within one or two hundred meters, even without lighting a torch, you can see what the nearby scene is like.
Shen Chen's mood has hit rock bottom now. He really didn't expect that Cao Cao would have a counter-game with him this time.
Zhang Xiu's time, Cao Cao personally led the main force to break off the rear. After repelling Zhang Xiu, he left a group of troops to block the pursuers. This time, Cao Cao first sent three weaker troops to break off the rear. By the time Shen Chen arrived, all Cao's troops had After arranging it, finally come to the big one.
This strategy is called luring the enemy deep, and no matter how careful you are, you will eventually fall for it.
Thinking about it, the reason why Cao Cao arranged these three ambushes was most likely to consume Shen Chen's scouts for reconnaissance. The scouts were all killed and wounded, and when they arrived at the decisive battle site, they naturally had no way to detect the specific situation.
However, even if he fell into the trap, Shen Chen did not panic, but calmly gave the tactical instructions: "Send the order and seize Cao Jun's supply truck."
He planned to use supplies and vehicles to provide cover first and wait for Gan Ning's reinforcements to arrive.
But they had just taken action when Cao Cao's rear army soldiers driving supply carts began to cut off the ropes pulling the carts, then knocked over the torches on the carts and escaped on their horses.
These supply trucks were originally empty, with empty wooden boxes on them to confuse Shen Chen. Of course, Cao Cao would not give him a chance to seize the supply trucks.
It's just that Cao Cao also made miscalculations sometimes.
The reason why trees in mountain forests are easy to ignite is that, first, dead grass accumulates, which easily accumulates methane gas. Second, trees secrete oil. Once a fire breaks out, it is easy to spread quickly due to dry weather and flammable materials in the forest.
However, even if a torch is thrown into the wooden box, it will not burn quickly unless fish paste is poured into it.
But Cao Cao has now brought almost all the supplies to Guandu. Even the oil for daily use in Xudu City is very low. Where can he waste the fish paste and oil?
Therefore, when the soldiers from Huangmen Pavilion swarmed forward, most of the baggage trucks were not set alight. At most, the flames were extinguished as soon as they started. They quickly grabbed hundreds of baggage trucks.
"Hurry up."
"Line up the cars."
"Crossbowmen prepare."
In the dark night, the original position of Cao Cao's rear army had been occupied by soldiers from Huangmenting, and there were shadows of people among the vehicles.
With good training, the soldiers quickly piled up vehicles for defense.
At this time, the ambush soldiers in the mountains had also rushed down and launched a fierce attack on the defense circle surrounded by vehicles. They were already less than fifty meters away.
"kill!"
Following this roar, which sounded like spring thunder, Cao Jun at the front heard a series of dense and rapid trembling sounds of bow strings and crossbow arms from far and near, and dozens of arrows and crossbows smashed towards their heads and faces.
Immediately afterwards, countless soldiers of Shen Chen's army jumped out from behind the carriage, shouting and killing them, shooting with arrows, knives, and spears. In the blink of an eye, Cao's army fell to the ground.
"Set fire, set fire!"
"No, that car won't burn that fast. Their crossbows are too fast."
"Charge in, charge in. Sikong has an order, whoever can get Shen Chen's head or capture him alive will be promoted to general, rewarded with a hundred gold, and made a marquis!"
"Kill!"
"Quick, quick, move quickly, don't let them get defensive."
Cao's soldiers and horses were everywhere. In the night, there were shouts, shouts of killing, beating of drums and even the sound of horse hooves galloping on the ground. It was as if the entire night sky was shaken and there was no peace.
Shen Chen is now organizing a counterattack to the west. There are at least two groups of hundreds of Cao soldiers in his direction, but he has less than thirty personal guards around him.
Deng Zhao and Shen Zhen also took charge of their respective directions. The sudden attack by Cao Jun obviously exceeded their expectations, but they still managed to grab these vehicles and surround the city in a matter of life and death to defend against the enemies appearing around them.
The two sides fought fiercely around the defense circle formed inside and outside the vehicle. Shen Chen personally led the team and repelled hundreds of invading Cao soldiers, leaving twenty or thirty corpses on the spot, full of arrows.
But not long after, Shen Chen's team ran out of arrows. There were only about one-fifth of the crossbowmen in the team of 3,000 people, and even fewer people were assigned to each team. Most of the arrows they carried with them were There are only twenty or thirty sticks, and they are consumed very quickly.
Before the second attack, Shen Tao said to Shen Chen: "General, I'm going to collect some arrows."
"Be careful."
Shen Chen warned him.
"Some people are coming."
Shen Tao summoned ten men, quickly climbed out of the carriage, and touched the corpse of Cao Jun not far away.
But in an instant, Cao Jun also started shooting arrows, and the arrows rained continuously. Except for Shen Tao and three other soldiers who were relatively agile, everyone else fell into the arrow rain.
He heard a "bang" next to him. As soon as Shen Chen turned around, Shen Tao had already rolled over from the carriage. When he landed, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. At this time, he was quite embarrassed, covered with mud and with hair on his head. There is also an arrow stuck in the bun.
Before Shen Chen had time to ask questions, he suddenly heard the sound of "dong dong dong dong". It was the wooden planks of the baggage truck making a clanking sound. At this time, the outside was probably full of arrows.
Cao Cao worked hard to deceive Shen Chen.
He was afraid that the baggage train would be too light, and he could tell the doorway by looking at the rut marks, so the wooden boxes and sacks used in the vehicle were filled with stones, and bows and arrows were shot on them, making a clanging sound.
"How about it?"
Shen Chen asked.
Shen Tao grinned and got up from the ground and said, "No problem."
"Put away the arrows on the wooden box."
Seeing that he was fine, Shen Chen immediately issued the order.
You don't have to go out this time, just lie down on the carriage or take it from the cracks in the carriage. It's much safer.
"The enemy is coming again."
someone shouted.
"kill."
Shen Chen took the bow in his hand, took over a dozen arrows collected by a soldier, climbed onto the carriage board, exposed half of his body from the carriage and looked outside, and saw that after several waves of arrows from the enemy, he came again Attack.
When they got closer, the spears or halberds of both sides were fighting each other. Shen Chen stood on the carriage and shot out at close range with his bow and arrow.
"call out!"
An arrow shot down one of Cao's soldiers like a shooting star in the dark night.
Just as he was about to draw the second bow, there was a sound of breaking through the air in front of him. Shen Chen lowered his head and squatted down, and several arrows almost grazed his scalp.
This fear of facing death made his heart beat wildly, but everyone around him could be afraid, but he could not show his cowardice, so he endured the discomfort and stood up to draw the bow and shoot arrows again.
But soon a halberd stabbed at him again. In a hurry, Shen Tao got up from the ground and came to his side. She also used the halberd to fight back and hooked the enemy's halberd.
The mainstream weapons in the Han Dynasty were spears and halberds in addition to the ring-headed sword and crossbow. Although guns appeared at this time, they were not used much by soldiers because the shafts of spears and halberds were different.
At this time, the halberds were intertwined and hooked together, so the two sides began to compete for strength. Shen Chen used his bow and arrow to shoot the Cao soldier to death, and then continued to shoot like a stakeout, and soon killed four or five people. The incoming Cao army.
The two sides fought fiercely for nearly half an hour. The crossbows carried by Huangmenting soldiers were almost exhausted. They could only resist around the carriage and fight the enemy desperately. In the end, every soldier fought bloody.
“Ding ding ding ding ding!”
At this moment, Cao Jun's army heard the sound of gold.
After hearing this order, the surrounding Cao troops who were besieging them immediately began to retreat like a tide.
Shen Chen had three wounds on his body and was covered in blood. Han River and blood were intertwined. After Cao Jun retreated, he leaned against the carriage and gasped for air.
"Quick, let everyone collect the arrows."
He forced himself to stand up. Although he was still half a man at the age of fourteen or fifteen, his physical strength was still weak and he was almost paralyzed from exhaustion.
The surrounding soldiers are slightly better. After all, they are raised on sufficient meat, eggs, and milk. A Huangmenting soldier is much stronger than Cao Jun in terms of strength and strength. His physical strength and endurance have also been improved through years of training. Stronger than Cao Jun.
Although they numbered less than 3,000 people, their defense line was reduced to a circle, and each carriage was guarded by at least a dozen soldiers. They took advantage of the terrain to fight in turns, and cooperated closely, barely resisting the attack of Cao's army, which was several times their size.
At this time, there were corpses of Cao Jun everywhere outside the carriage. Most of them were shot to death by crossbows in the first two rounds of charge. There were not many people who died in the close combat. The people in Huangmenting also suffered heavy casualties. In just half an hour, they So I lost another two to three hundred companions who I had been with day and night.
Taking advantage of this breathing space, Shen Chen immediately directed the soldiers to collect arrows, while closely observing the movements of Cao's army. Their position was not large, only two-thirds the size of a playground, and it was easier to support each other.
"Achen, Achen."
At this moment, Deng Zhao hurried over and shouted to him: "Come over here."
Shen Chen immediately ran over and came to the east defense line.
There are not many Cao troops on the eastern defense line, and the main pressure is on the north and west, that is, the post road and the mountain ambush on the left.
Cao Cao's cavalry was in the east. They came at a gallop before, but they did not dare to rush into the formation because they were afraid of the carriage camp. Deng Zhao also led hundreds of people to watch them. Now there seems to be something strange here.
"Chen Chen!"
In the dark night, someone from the cavalry formation came out of the crowd, a stone's throw away, about one hundred twenty or thirty meters away, and shouted loudly in this direction.
"Cao Cao!"
Shen Chen's eyes immediately turned red. He would never forget this person in his life.
That person is Cao Cao.
The second time the two sides met, it was still on the battlefield.
It's like the two people will never meet on any other occasion.
Cao Cao rode on his horse and shouted loudly: "If you are willing to surrender, let the past be bygones!"
"You're dreaming!"
Shen Chen also responded: "I still want to recover from you the blood debts of hundreds of relatives in Zhenyangju. You still can't escape the blood debts of hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou."
"Foolish!"
Cao Cao said coldly: "Do you know what will happen if I serve the emperor and go against him?"
Shen Chen said indifferently: "How can you please the emperor? You are just holding the emperor hostage to order the princes. How can a person who achieves great things in the world not have righteousness? You are unvirtuous. If God does not punish you, I will punish you!"
"I have no virtue?"
Cao Cao said: "How can I be without virtue?"
Shen Chen shouted: "I heard that the emperor has taught that the people can stay close but not leave. The people are the foundation of the country, and the foundation is solid and peaceful! You were in Yanzhou, gluttonous and unruly, hurting and abusing the people, killing hundreds of thousands of people in Xuzhou, is it true? ?”
Cao Cao remained silent.
Shen Chen said again: "We have heard that the Ming Dynasty is trying to control changes in danger, and it is difficult for loyal ministers to establish power! You are in Xuchang, holding the emperor hostage to order the princes, manipulating power, invading officials and tyrannizing the country, and falsifying your orders to attract the emperor's orders. With the imperial edict, is this true?"
Cao Cao didn't speak again.
Shen Chen continued: "I also heard that you sent General Qiu Zhonglang and Lieutenant Jin to the throne. Every time you encountered a sudden attack, no body was exposed. Even though you were in the position of three princes, you behaved like a rebel and desecrated the country and abused the people. , is it virtuous to inflict poison on people and ghosts?”
Cao Cao just watched quietly, unable to refute.
Shen Chen finally smiled and said: "I heard that you wrote a new poem last year, in which there is a saying that "white bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no roosters crowing for thousands of miles." Aren't these all caused by you? You are so cruel in your heart, You are arrogant in your behavior, extreme in your dealings, and stinky in your writing style. You, who have no father or mother, no king or ministers, and no regard for your family, country and people, do you deserve to be called a virtuous person?"
"Beat the drums and shoot the arrows!"
Cao Cao just said the last words calmly.
These things were indeed done by him, and there is no room for refutation.
But Cao Cao never believed in morality and righteousness, he only believed in the power and troops in his hands.
Even if the means are ruthless and immoral, so what?
The one who wins is the strong one!
An order was given, and the drums sounded again.
Cao's army and Shen Chen's army suffered a loss in the previous shooting because Shen Chen had a bunker and they did not.
But now Shen Chen's army has almost used up all its arrows. Countless arrows are raining down, and they are attacking Shen Chen's army overwhelmingly.
There were screams in an instant, and the casualties of Shen Chen's army increased rapidly.
Soon, the outer bunkers were densely packed with arrows. Shen Chen had sword and shield players in the inner circle, but even the shields could not cover up such a dense rain of arrows.
Although Cao Cao transferred most of them to Guandu, he still had tens of thousands of arrows with him. If they were all used, it would be enough to turn all three thousand people into hedgehogs.
In the distance, Guan Yu's veins were now bulging. He was not with Cao Cao at this time, but as a general, he led a part of the cavalry to watch from a distance.
The reason why Cao Cao wanted to persuade Shen Chen to surrender just now was that, firstly, Cao Jun had spent a lot of money on Shen Chen's arrows, and secondly, he actually wanted Shen Chen to surrender, so as to avoid Nanyang's worries.
But now Shen Chen refuses with words, so today it's a life and death battle. After the rain of arrows is over, Cao Jun will definitely launch a new offensive, but by then Shen Chen's army will definitely be wiped out.
Guan Yu now knew that Cao Cao was deceiving him. Now seeing Shen Chen's critical condition, he wanted to rush over and kill Cao Cao with a knife.
But what made him hesitate was that with Xu Chu and Xia Houyuan by Cao Cao's side, he might not be able to succeed.
More importantly, even if Cao Cao was killed, it was easy for him to escape with the help of the red rabbit horse. But Shen Chen still couldn't escape. Li Tong, Xia Houyuan, Xu Chu and the others would not let Shen Chen go, and there were still two sisters-in-law. All.
For a while, Guan Yu was extremely confused.
And just when he hesitated, Cao Cao's bow and arrows were almost used, and a new round of attack began.
Cao's troops from all directions began to launch a final fierce attack on Shen Chen's army.
At this moment, the open space occupied by Shen Chen's army was densely covered with arrows and there were a large number of dead soldiers.
However, everyone relied on the carriage carriage and used the angle formed by the carriage to barely avoid the arrows. Even those who had no position were crouching with their swords and shields in hand.
Therefore, although there were countless arrows, the losses caused were only five to six hundred people, and two thousand soldiers survived with difficulty.
Cao Jun launched another attack, and they all got on the carriage with their swords in hand and began to fight with Cao Jun in hand-to-hand combat.
The fierce battle lasted for another half hour.
At this moment, the sound of a large number of rolling wheels suddenly rumbled on the road in the distance.
At this moment, Shen Chen was hit by an arrow in his left arm and shoulder. He endured the severe pain and held the ring-shou knife in his right arm to assist Shen Tao in the battle, and with difficulty killed a Cao soldier who rushed to the carriage.
Fortunately, while they occupied a favorable location, Cao Cao also helped. Because there were too many arrows on the carriage, it was difficult for Cao's army to climb. On the contrary, it was difficult to capture. They could only use halberds and spears to stab them. The carriage was filled with stones, which could not be broken through, so the two sides fell into a stalemate.
After hearing the sound of rolling wheels, everyone instinctively looked south.
I saw eight hundred people dressed in brocade clothes in the darkness of the night, rushing toward the battlefield. The leader was riding on horseback, and shouted angrily: "Bajun Ganning is here, Achen, please hold on a little longer, and I will come." Got it!"
Behind him were more than 2,000 chariots and more than 6,000 soldiers and horses.
In fact, more than two hours have passed since the battle started, because Shen Chen came through three blocking battles and killed for another half an hour when he got here. Before, Shen Chen ordered Gan Ning to rush to help after half an hour. It's an hour late now.
It was because after Gan Ning followed, the scout cavalry sent discovered this situation, so Gan Ning, who originally only led 5,000 men, returned to Kunyang, took the chariot, and summoned all the soldiers and horses in the city to come forward. Come to the rescue.
That's why it's late.
But the good news is that the combat efficiency in the cold weapon era was not very high. In a fierce battle, it was possible to fight for a whole day, so even if he was an hour late, he arrived just in time.
The rumbling chariots rushed towards Cao Jun's outer formation, and Cao Jun had to choose to disperse.
There were torches everywhere at night, and Cao Jun didn't know how many people came. They were charged by two thousand tanks one by one. This caused the original formation to be scattered, making it difficult to organize a new offensive in a short period of time.
Seeing Gan Ning finally arriving, Shen Chen immediately cheered up and shouted: "Reinforcements are coming, kill!"
"Kill!"
Huangmenting mustered up his courage and actually rushed out of the carriage camp and fought outside.
Suddenly, they attacked from both front and back, causing Cao's army in the periphery to be in chaos.
It was too late for Cao Cao to think about taking command before the battle, so he could only ring the golden bell and tell the soldiers to retreat first, and then make plans after the formation was organized.
But Gan Ning refused to give up and continued to attack Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao ordered the cavalry to shoot arrows and killed some of Gan Ning's soldiers. Seeing the opponent's car formation coming towards this direction, he could only turn his horse's head first. , ordered the cavalry to flee north.
Not to mention that the protagonist deliberately fell into the trap, Zhang Xiu also chased Cao Cao, and he also lost the psychological game. The protagonist is not as resourceful as the protagonist Chen Mu in the previous book. When it comes to psychological games, Guo Jia and Jia Xu are masters. , the protagonist is an all-round talent, but he is not top-notch in any way, and there is still a growth process, so it is normal to fail occasionally, not to mention that the protagonist is also well prepared and has sent Gan Ning to take over.