Chapter 334: Push Cao Hong to the Ground and Beat him
As night fell, Cao Hong was still watching every move of Shen Chen's army on the high oar.
His formation was actually no smaller than that of Shen Chen's army. The camp stretched for more than ten miles from north to south, connecting Kunshan to the north and Wuyang to the south, almost blocking the entrance to Nanyang.
And if Shen Chen's army starts to build military camps now, they will also stretch for more than ten miles from north to south, and the battlefield and camp lines will be extremely long.
However, as a veteran on the battlefield, Shen Chen would definitely not give his opponent too many openings. Therefore, although the camp line was very long, he did not spread out the camp immediately, but instead set up the camp vertically.
Camping vertically means setting up camp along the east and west banks of the Lishui River. After the first part of the camp is set up, then spread the camp out vertically from north to south.
Cao Hong had been observing on the high oar for more than two hours, watching Shen Chen's army set up camp without leaking water, but he still showed no action.
Zhao Yan had already heard the news and came over. He watched with Cao Hong for a while. When it was getting close to dark and the sun was about to set, he said, "General, I'm afraid Shen Chen is here for a decisive battle this time."
"Um."
Cao Hong responded and said: "Last time he came, he must have guessed that Jiping and others would not be able to accomplish anything and did not even build fortifications. But this time, he started digging trenches."
"Why did he suddenly attack again? Our camp is well-defended. Does he think he can break our camp?"
In early April, after Shen Chen's military camp was built, he took the initiative to launch an offensive. Various types of ladders, cloud towers, rams, wooden curtains, and nest carts were rolled out. Tens of thousands of troops lined up in front of the camp, like tanks. It roared towards Cao Jun.
This dilemma reminded Cao Hong that Cao Cao once recalled the Battle of Guandu.
Zhang Xiu led the Xiliang cavalry to also cruise around.
On the other hand, the armor coverage rate of Cao's army was much lower than that of Nanyang's army. At least half of them wore leather armor or small iron armor. Only general-level steel armor could be worn. The two sides faced off against Shen Chen. Jun Yiran was not afraid.
Cao Hong looked at this scene from a distance, his face turned pale.
Behind Shen Chen himself, under the leadership of generals Liu Wei, Wang Jie, Li Ying, Huo Yang, Wu Dang, Wu Tao, Shan Yi and others, countless soldiers poured out like a tide and began to line up according to the command of officers at all levels.
At that time, Yuan Shao was shooting arrows like this, so that when Cao Jun's soldiers walked in his camp, they had to move with shields.
Accompanied by the clear sound of arrows hitting the wood and the slight swaying of the tails of the arrow wings, a large number of arrows landed on the wooden curtain, making a clanging sound.
But these soldier equipment were provided by the imperial court in the past. Only the Central Northern Army and the elite border guards deployed in Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Liangzhou could have them. How could ordinary county soldiers get such good things?
Moreover, after the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the feudal princes were in chaos, and the major princes carved up a large amount of territory. Due to limited resources, the equipment was far inferior to the elite central northern army of the Han Dynasty.
After a while, Dongying was broken.
A small number of them hit Shen Chen's army. However, in front of the Nanyang Army, where even the ordinary soldiers were wearing vest-like armor and had iron helmets on their heads, the damage caused by this round of arrow rain was almost minimal, except for A few unlucky ones were shot in the feet, but almost no one died.
One barracks after another rose from the ground, and ditches began to be dug. Later, Lu Chang's rear army brought a large amount of supplies, and the construction of the camps became faster.
This situation is exactly the same as the predicament at that time.
Both sides went back and forth, and the enemy and I suffered many casualties, but Cao's army suffered significantly greater casualties.
Immediately afterwards, thousands of arrows drew a gorgeous arc in the air, and countless dense black dots formed a terrifying arrow network, sweeping towards Shen Chen's army.
Zhao Yan nodded, this arrangement is still very appropriate.
Only Cao Hong stood on the high oar with a stern face, looking at the retreating enemies with a very ugly face.
But even so, the morale of the soldiers in Dongying was greatly reduced. They were afraid that without the protection of the camp trenches, their side would become the enemy's main attack point next time.
Each camp of Cao's army launched a defense in full swing. Groups of soldiers emerged from behind the crenellations of the rammed-earth wall, bows and swords unsheathed. There were iron armor leaves clattering against each other everywhere, and they looked nervously outside the camp.
However, Cao Hong's main force in Taiting was located exactly in the middle of the two cities. The north and south were tens of miles apart, so it was difficult to get water directly from the Shuishui and Lishui rivers.
They were drinking, cooking, washing, and even the ditch water used to protect the river for the camp came from the Lishui River. So many people were eating, drinking, and urinating into the river. They were downstream. Just suffer.
On his left were Lu Chang's men, generals Han Hu and Zhao Jun, who also led their troops out of the camp and began to assemble their troops.
Before, they relied on the Lishui River, which is also between the two rivers, and several ditches dug to the north of the Shuishui River to divert water. But now that Shen Chen has occupied the upper reaches of the Lishui River, they have lost an important water source, and they must consider the future. question.
The elite soldiers who guarded the border in the Han Dynasty were well-equipped. They wore scarves, also called futou, and cloth hats on their heads. But they also wore Zha armor to protect their chest, abdomen and shoulders, generally called Xiao Zha armor.
Shen Chen rode on horseback and slowly walked out of the camp gate.
The two sides were constantly at war.
The distance between the two sides got closer and closer, until they were about a hundred paces away, within the range of the bow and arrow.
Otherwise, there are many trails leading directly to Wudu from Cao Cao's south to Qishan Mountain. As long as he can supply food and grass, Wudu County and even Yinping County, which he has just captured steadily, will be surrendered.
But what the Nanyang army didn't expect was that there was another village wall behind the village wall.
"But they grabbed the upper reaches of the Li River."
Cao Hong stood on the high oar above the camp and gave the order.
At three o'clock in the corner, the morning sun was still hanging in the eastern sky, and the scorching sunshine shone on the earth. With a long and melodious horn blast, the Nanyang Army's offensive officially began.
There was no movement on Shen Chen's side, and he continued to build the fortress for several days.
Deng Zhan suddenly realized: "Liu Bei knew that he could not defeat the King of Wei, so he asked Shen Chen to send troops to Henan, hoping to gain a certain offensive and force the King of Wei to withdraw his troops and return to defense."
Although decades later, Cao Cao unified the north and gained vast land. However, because he had too many troops and financial constraints, good equipment naturally had to be used first for his main force. For example, Cao Hong's army deployed on the Nanyang front line had only a few equipment. Far inferior to Cao Cao's own troops in Xiliang.
Therefore, Cao Hong was already at a disadvantage in terms of equipment when this battle began. Even though he had 30,000 more troops than his opponent, he had no intention of leaving the camp for a decisive battle and could only hide in the camp.
Hearing this sound, Cao Jun's soldiers seemed to be relieved and breathed a sigh of relief. Many of them almost collapsed behind the wall, gasping for air, their clothes soaked with Han water on their backs, and they were too lazy to stand up.
For example, Liu Bei wanted to defend Lucheng against Cao Cao. Not only was the geographical environment there very good, but in terms of the degree of danger, the wooden gate road behind him, Tietang Gorge was many times more dangerous than Lucheng.
Today was just the first confrontation. The troops sent by Shen Chen's army to attack were not many, but more of a duel with weapons and crossbows.
Fortunately, Cao Hong checked the leaks and filled the gaps and immediately sent some reinforcements there, which made the Dongying soldiers feel a little relieved.
The firepower of Cao's army was suppressed, and many people fled with their heads in their hands. They had to hold up their shields to move around the camp.
If the generals of each battalion hadn't issued death orders and officers at all levels desperately urged the soldiers to defend the camp, the central camp in front might have almost become undefended.
Cao Hong's deputy general, Fenwei General Deng Zhan, was quite puzzled.
Cao Hong thought: "We can ask the civilians and auxiliary soldiers to continue digging new canals in the north to solve the water problem in the camp."
Afterwards, Cao Jun used the stronghold wall inside the camp to launch a tenacious defense and drove out the Nanyang Army.
Fortunately, they have a relatively complete defense system, and there are trenches on the outside so that the opponent's attacking equipment cannot break through.
The tinkling copper bells resounded throughout the battlefield.
Without the trench, the soldiers of the Nanyang Army could cross without the need for a trench bridge. Under the cover of the wooden curtain, part of the Nanyang Army fought outside the Dongying Camp.
The main force of Shen Chen's army has gathered in the southeast of Cao Ying. Because to the south is Lishui, Wuyang's defenders must cross the river if they want to come to support, so they are now stationed to the south of Lishui and watch from a distance.
But even so, Cao Cao's 80,000 troops were suppressed and unable to raise their heads.
Cao's camp was like the Great Wall. A large number of Cao soldiers came forward, raised their bows and arrows, and aimed at the enemies outside the camp.
In this case, when the arrows from the Nanyang army rained down, the archers on the wall of Cao's army suffered heavy casualties. Many archers jumped off the wall and ran away, not daring to shoot at the enemy.
Zhao Yan thought for a while and said: "General, this is indeed a big problem. Before, we used several tributary canals of the Nianshui River plus the Lishui River, which was enough. Shen Chen occupied the Lishui River as soon as he came, and we If the water they used is used again, the soldiers may get sick."
There is no need to say more about how important it is to fight to seize water sources.
"Fire the arrow!"
Cao Hong nodded slightly and said: "Brother sent me a secret message last month. Once Shen Chen takes the initiative to attack, I will not be able to hold on and give Shen Chen a chance to defeat us."
Countless bowstrings sounded at the same time.
Hundreds of ladders approached Cao's camp, separated by the camp-protecting ditch outside Cao's camp. Thousands of archers on them fired arrows in unison.
Only after the long-range firepower was suppressed, the Nanyang Army's catapults and bed crossbows began to launch an attack, pressing forward violently, still inflicting heavy casualties on Cao's army in terms of firepower.
"That's all."
Senior generals, just like in the later TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", will be covered with full-body armor from top to bottom, like a deep skirt with a skirt, and the hem is like a skirt, sewn with iron sheets. This is Dazha armor, which is very thick. , only worn by generals.
At this moment, the arrow rain continued to rain out, but the harvest was very small. Then the Yun Tower of the Nanyang Army approached, and the archers above condescendingly began to shoot arrows at Cao Ying.
It is early summer, the weather is dry and clear, the sun is blazing, and the temperature is getting higher and higher. In the early morning, with the sound of various loud horns, gongs, drums, and whistles, the camp gates of Shen Chen's army are opened.
Cao Hong took precautions and ordered people to dig and build a canal to the north so that he could save himself in the future when the water source was cut off.
Immediately after, rows of soldiers walked out of the camp gate in order. More than a dozen small camps surrounded a large camp in the center, and dense crowds began to gather outside the central camp.
Cao Hong said: "Ask Liu Zhu to lead 3,000 men to garrison from Kunyang to the southeast, and then ask Yan Ming to lead 5,000 men to guard the channel. We will also intercept their troops in front. The channel is behind us, so it should be fine. "
The Kunyang garrison went out of the city in the afternoon to come for support, but was attacked by Shen Chen's soldiers from Shen Taohuang's clan, and was severely defeated.
Immediately, thousands of arrows formed a formation that was not inferior to Cao's army's arrow rain, and were fired towards Cao's camp.
Later generations generally called it the ladder.
Under normal circumstances, after long-range fire suppression, the Nanyang Army would probably send out suicide squads of soldiers, build trench bridges, and start forcibly storming the camp.
But Shen Chen seemed to be only attacking tentatively today, only shooting arrows but not charging.
This kind of mobile tower was used by Yuan Shao in the East-West Battle of Guandu. It was usually three or four stories high, and some were even more than five stories high. It was built with wood as an arrow tower, with a ladder underneath, and the soldiers climbed up. The top is like a small room, which can be used to guard against arrows, and then shoot arrows out of the window.
Zhao Yan said: "But we must beware of Shen Chen's men sending people to attack the people digging the canals."
Time passes slowly in the war between you and me.
"Yes."
As the fast-paced horn sounded, the archers on Cao's camp released their arrows one after another.
In addition, Cao Jun's camp was properly arranged, with many camps forming horns of each other. The generals from other camps near the camp in Dongying saw that the situation there was not good and quickly provided support, and finally managed to push back the enemy without causing a chain reaction.
Then he hung a sword around his waist and held a spear and spear. When fighting the nomads, his combat effectiveness was very high because of his armor.
Because the upper reaches of the Li River were controlled and feared that sewage would flow into the camp, Cao Jun blocked the trench to the east of his camp, turning it into a piece of land.
On his right were the members of Gan and Ning's army, generals Zhou Jian and Wu Shuo, each leading thousands of people and walking from the camp, with high flags with the word "Gan" hanging.
Fortunately, Cao Hong made arrangements in advance and ordered the soldiers to store water in advance. After more than ten days, several new canals were successfully dug and the water resource problem was solved.
"Well, this is best."
Seeing this situation, Cao Hong was not willing to be outdone, so he also ordered crossbows and catapults to be carried to the earth mountain in Cao's camp to fight back.
Deng Zhan frowned and said: "These tens of thousands of people eat, drink, and poop every day, and all of them are discharged into the water. We are downstream, and if the water source is broken, we will be smoked to death by them."
The Lishui River flows from the direction of Yecheng, and Shen Chen also sent troops from there, which means that Shen Chen's army must occupy the upstream mouth of the river.
Tens of thousands of people were silent and immersed themselves in advancing. The only sounds left in the world were the various roars, echoes, urgings, gongs, drums, horns and hurried footsteps from Cao's camp in the distance.
Originally, there were 50,000 soldiers plus tens of thousands of civilian auxiliary troops, eating, drinking, and sleeping in the Lishui River. Sure enough, within half a month, the Lishui River was polluted, and the river gradually became turbid and smelled faintly.
The whole process was fast and intensive, as if it had been trained countless times. In just a quarter of an hour, nearly 40,000 troops were already in formation.
Cao Hongjun was stationed at the exit of Nanyang. The water sources were Lishui, Shuishui and Luishui. Luishui was located in the south of Wuyang, and Wuyang was used by Wuyang defenders to draw water. Shuishui was located in the north of Kunyang, and Kunyang defenders diverted water into the city. Don't worry about water sources.
Shen Chen raised his head and glanced at the rain of arrows covering the sky in the distance, but did not give any instructions because it was too late.
Cao's camp felt like it was facing a formidable enemy, and the generals of each camp also issued warning orders at the same time. Various horns, gongs, drums, and whistles were heard constantly.
Secondly, the water source there is relatively abundant. There are several branches of rivers such as the Western Han River and the Wei River. It is convenient to obtain water and it is an important strategic location. Therefore, even if it is not very dangerous and there is no big canyon to ambush, Liu Bei still wants to stop Cao Cao's army at Qishan Mountain. outside.
Then a large number of siege equipment were rolled out by civilians and auxiliary soldiers and set up outside the camp.
But Shen Chen's army naturally did not attack blindly. The wooden curtains were pushed to the front of the team one after another. Under the protection of the wooden curtains, the catapults from the rear and the rams used to attack the camp gates and fences were also heading towards the battlefield.
The Nanyang Army moved slowly, with rolling wheels. Every soldier wore well-made armor, and their weapons were made of steel, with strong combat effectiveness.
Zhao Yan smiled and said: "You don't know yet, King Wei defeated several of Liu Bei's troops in Xiliang, took back Tianshui County, and has already marched into Qishan Mountain to confront Liu Bei at the junction of Wudu and Tianshui County."
Since the height of the ladder was much higher than that of Cao Jun's camp, Cao Jun had to shoot upwards if he wanted to shoot at Nanyang Jun. However, Nanyang Jun could shoot downwards from a high place. In terms of range, power and angle, it was far better than Cao Jun. .
Shen Chen gave the order and the army officially moved forward.
Cao Hong built the pavilion into a turtle shell.
But Lucheng is the first exit of Qishan Road. After passing Qishan south from Lucheng, there are several roads going straight to Wudu.
The two sides fought back and forth for three hours from the third quarter of the corner to the mid-afternoon, with the clanging arrows and the banging sounds of catapults hitting each other.
It was not until the last moment of the afternoon that the voice of Ming Jin finally sounded from Shen Chen's army to withdraw his troops.
"I see."
"March!"
Generals usually wear multiple iron helmets, called iron armor.
After all, the Juishui River is a bit far away, but the advantage is that it is behind them. As long as they block the road, the enemy will not be able to harass the civilians digging canals in the rear.
If you look down from a high altitude, you will see that outside Cao Jun's camp that stretches for more than ten miles, countless dense phalanx sequences begin to move forward.
Although Dongying was defended by thousands of people, the Nanyang army found the weak points to attack and used rams to break through the surrounding walls.
"Buzz!"
At this time, the soldiers' stomachs were growling with hunger and their physical strength was close to being exhausted. The morale of Cao's army had almost fallen to the bottom.
The Wuyang defenders were watching from the other side. There was actually a bridge connecting them behind, but they only dared to watch because on the other side of the river, Shen Chen's disciple Huo Yang led 3,000 people to stare at them. If they dared to come, they would die.
Therefore, although Cao's army was properly deployed and its number was much larger than Shen Chen's army, it was shackled everywhere. The reinforcements did not dare to act rashly, and Cao Hong did not dare to leave the camp for a decisive battle.
This situation is really unpleasant.
On the other hand, although Shen Chen's army retreated, their morale was high and they kept cheering. They shouted "hoo ho ho" and their momentum soared into the sky.
Under the leadership of the Jingzhou God of War in their minds, they fought with less and gained the upper hand. How could this situation not make the soldiers extremely excited and excited?
For a time, the 50,000 Nanyang army was so powerful that they pushed Cao Hong's 80,000 army to the ground and beat him!