Chapter 466: Hou Ye, the Champion of the Imperial Court
Author: Playing with Basilisk
Chapter 466: Hou Ye, the Champion of the Imperial Court
At the beginning of the afternoon, Cao Wei retreated to Puban City like a tide.
Xu Huang spat out blood-foamed saliva from his mouth. His old face looked toward the south, showing a hint of uneasiness.
The Han army divided into ten groups and launched a surprise attack on Cao Wei's defense line along the way. Originally, he also divided his troops for defense.
Unexpectedly, a Han army suddenly appeared from the direction of Dong Ting in the north and attacked the Han troops who were defending the Han army in the north, causing the troops to be defeated.
Afterwards, the Han army successfully broke through the wall and rushed in. Xu Huang was shocked when he heard the news and quickly ordered the entire army to retreat.
However, it was too late. At least three of Cao's troops were attacked and suffered heavy losses.
Xu Huang had no choice but to concentrate his troops in Puban County first, planning to ask for help from Zhu Ling in the north and Cao Zhen in the south, while holding on to the Puban defense line and waiting for reinforcements.
He looked sadly to the west. Next to him, Xu Shang was panting, wiping the sweat from the bloody battle on his forehead, and said with a sad face: "General, how did that Han army come here? Could it be General Zhu from the north."
"Pang De led his men to the north to station in Xia Yang. I guessed that he must have wanted to cross the river to attack Pi, but Zhu Ling must have been well prepared, and it was impossible for him to cross the river easily."
Xu Huang said in a deep voice: "This Han army probably came from the mountains to the north."
"In the mountains?"
Xu Shang was surprised and said: "The mountains are so high and steep, how can they come here?"
Xu Huang shook his head: "No matter how they came here, the river bank defense line cannot be defended now. However, I had no intention of defending the river bank, just defending in the city."
Xu Shang said: "But the Han army is coming fiercely. What if they raid Jiucheng behind us? Our food and grass are there."
"hehe."
Xu Huang sneered and said: "Then let them go. Do they have cavalry? For more than a hundred miles, the infantry has to travel such a long distance. I only need to send cavalry to protect them, and the exhaustion will kill them."
It is true that the Han army outnumbered them. The problem is that Shen Chen sent all the cavalry to Nanyang, and now there are only 10,000 cavalry.
These 10,000 cavalry are now led by Zhao Yun to fight Cao Zhen at Tongguan in Huayin.
The distance from Puban to Uucheng is actually the distance from Yongji City, Shanxi Province to Linyi County, Shanxi Province in later generations, which is about fifty kilometers or more than one hundred miles.
This distance seems not far away, but the problem is that Shen Chen is just a foot soldier crossing the river. If he wants to raid Jiucheng, he has to walk more than 50 kilometers a day. At least in this era, Shen Chen's Huang
The forced march of the guards and Xia Houyuan can do it.
Even if Sima Yi ran thousands of miles, he only traveled at a speed of about 40 kilometers per day.
Soldiers on a forced march like this will be very exhausted, and they don't know how much combat power they have even when they arrive. Xu Huang only needs to send cavalry to follow and harass, or wait for work, and the army sent by Shen Chen to attack the granary will inevitably be annihilated.
After hearing Xu Huang's words, Xu Shang understood why Xu Huang was not worried about the Han army crossing the river at all, so he smiled and said: "The general is wise."
"It's not wise to say otherwise."
Xu Huang said with a serious face: "Now our main force is in Puban. While their troops are still gathering and have not surrounded the city, you immediately lead the cavalry out of the city to Jiucheng and place more sentries along the way. If they divide their forces to attack, we will
I will provide support here."
As the old saying goes, surround yourself ten times.
Although Xu Huang only has about 30,000 people, Shen Chen only has more than 50,000 people, which is far from ten times his number.
If Cao's army defends the city, ten thousand people can resist the opponent's attack.
It is impossible for the enemy to surround the city.
So Xu Huang decided to divide his forces and let Xu Shang lead the cavalry to defend Jiucheng. He would resist the Han army from the front.
If the Han army chooses to split up its forces to raid Jiucheng, the Han army's forces will be severely dispersed, and he will be able to concentrate his forces. Whether it is to raid the Han army, or simply abandon Puban, the main force will return to support Jiucheng, and cooperate with the cavalry to completely annihilate the divided Han army. It is possible to attack the enemy with force.
Therefore, Xu Huang was not afraid of losses in the rear, unless the Han army had figured out the location of their granary before he sent troops back, and then sent people there in advance today, and they had to be cavalry.
But how is this possible?
The Han army had no cavalry and did not know the location of the granary. Even if a Han army came around from the mountains to the north, it would not be able to arrive so quickly.
So Xu Huang didn't worry about this.
I just hope that General Zhenxi can successfully repel Zhao Yun and then cross the river to assist him immediately.
Xu Huang looked towards the south with deep eyes, letting himself feel a little calmer in his heart.
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At three o'clock in the day, the flames in Usu Castle were getting bigger and bigger.
The Han army fell into a bitter battle.
Deng Ai struggled to kill a Huns cavalry, but was immediately flanked by both sides.
One scimitar slashed at his back, and the other stabbed at his neck.
At the critical moment, Deng Ai bent over on his horse, stabbed the air with the knife in his neck, and struck the saddle with the knife behind him.
The horse beneath him felt pain, raised its hooves, and started running again among the chaotic army, rushing out of the military formation.
Deng Ai became alone, surrounded by densely packed Huns soldiers, which made him feel tense to the extreme. He was busy trying to turn his horse around and return to his own formation.
But in an instant, several blades were swung at him, and it would be impossible to retreat any further. He could only rush forward, slashing left and right, and continue to break through.
The Huns chose to divide their troops to outflank them, resulting in a frontal force that was about the same size as the Han army, about three to four hundred men, and could not form a very thick formation. As a result, he only ran less than a hundred steps before he rushed out of the formation.
Looking back, he saw disheveled Huns all around, roaring and charging towards him.
What's the point of a general being forced to leave the battle?
Deng Ai was annoyed that he did not control the horses immediately and let the frightened horses run around in the formation. However, the enemy was powerful and he did not have the strength of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, so he could only grit his teeth and avoid it to the side.
However, he never expected that his luck today seemed to be bad. The horse under his legs was frightened, and when he made a mistake, the horse stumbled and threw him completely.
It's over.
Although Deng Ai immediately controlled his body and rolled around to avoid injury.
But he suddenly fell into despair and secretly thought that something was wrong.
If the horse at his hip was still there, he could immediately turn around and run to the outside, waiting for a suitable opportunity to rush in and join the team.
But now that there is no war horse, and the Huns are coming to kill them, two legs cannot outrun four legs, and they will definitely be doomed.
This thought almost flashed through my mind.
The man hurriedly got up from the ground, and as soon as he touched the knife, Deng Ai's mood fell even further to the bottom.
When he fell down just now, the knife accidentally dropped, and it was now ten feet away from him.
The key is that the nearest enemy is less than three feet away from him, and Deng Ai can even see him slashing at his face with a ferocious scimitar.
If you go to get a knife, you will be cut down.
If you don't reach for the knife, endless hacking will follow.
Certain death!
For a moment, Deng Ai even wanted to close his eyes and simply accept this fate.
But he still rushed towards the knife without hesitation. Almost as soon as he picked up the knife and turned around, the Huns' scimitar had already struck him down.
At this time, it was too late to raise the knife to defend.
Deng Ai's pupils dilated and his eyes widened, staring intently at the impending knife, unable to make any reaction.
Just when he was about to think he was about to die, a sound pierced through the air suddenly struck him.
"call out!"
"puff!"
The Huns behind him still maintained the posture of cutting down with the sword, but his body did not continue to cut down, but fell sideways.
The scimitar held tightly in his hand changed direction in an instant, almost grazing Deng Ai's body and fell down. The hair on Deng Ai's back stood up in shock, and even the soles of his feet were covered with sweat.
He raised his head and saw that about eighty paces away, a cavalryman continued to bend his bow and nock an arrow, aimed in his direction, and shot another arrow.
The arrow drew a brilliant arc in the air and shot down another Huns behind Deng Ai.
Deng Ai recognized who the knight was at a glance.
"Boyo!"
He couldn't help shouting.
Behind Jiang Wei, more than a thousand cavalry emerged like a tide, and then galloped to join the battlefield.
Deng Ai perked up, howled and raised the steel knife in his hand to continue fighting.
After Jiang Wei helped Deng Ai out of danger, he immediately galloped over to Deng Ai and helped him fight off the surrounding Huns soldiers.
"Brother!"
After Jiang Wei killed several Huns around him, he turned over and dismounted. When he saw Deng Ai covered in blood, he panicked and said, "Are you injured?"
Deng Ai was indeed injured. He was scratched in the previous fight and had some scratches when he fell off his horse. However, he still waved his hand and said: "It's nothing serious. Why are you here?"
Jiang Wei said: "You left without authorization. Senior Brother is very angry. He said that he will engage in military law for you. It is better for me to persuade him and let him attack the rear of Cao's army first, and I will rescue you."
"Hahahahahaha."
Deng Ai looked up to the sky and laughed, pointing to the blazing Jiucheng not far away and said: "Military law? Tomorrow, senior brother will have to sacrifice me. This place is full of food and grass for Cao's army. If it is burned down, the east of the river will be leveled!"
Jiang Wei turned his head and looked around. Because no one was putting out the fire, the flames had slowly grown in size. Thick smoke was rising, like the brilliant clouds of fire burning in the setting sun.
In fact, he was able to arrive so quickly thanks to the thick smoke guiding the way, otherwise he might not have been able to arrive in time.
Seeing this scene, Jiang Wei sighed with emotion: "Congratulations, senior brother, for achieving a wonderful feat."
"Have your share!"
Deng Ai patted Jiang Wei on the shoulder and said, "Go, kill them!"
"Kill them!"
Jiang Wei also shouted loudly, brought a war horse from the side, and put Deng Ai on it.
The cavalry of the Han army had already attacked behind the Huns like a tide.
The Huns could no longer hold on and fled.
Deng Ai gathered his scattered troops, joined Jiang Wei's more than a thousand cavalry, and then continued to set fire to the east of Jiucheng, increasing the intensity of the fire.
Soon the entire city was on fire, and the black clouds soaring into the sky could be seen for miles around.
Xu Shang was on his way to Jiucheng at this moment.
It took a day for the infantry to arrive. Xu Shang led ten thousand cavalry and galloped their horses. After an hour, they were close to the outside of Jiucheng.
"what is that?"
Xu Shang raised his head and looked into the distance and saw black smoke billowing in the distance. He was shocked and quickly ordered the soldiers to speed up.
After waiting for more than a quarter of an hour and running for more than ten kilometers, Xu Shang's scalp was already numb.
The fire was raging on the horizon in the distance, and the entire Jiucheng was a sea of fire. There were corpses everywhere outside the city, almost all of them were Wei soldiers and Huns. The Han soldiers' own corpses were all taken away by their colleagues.
"Walk!"
Seeing this scene, Xu Shang knew that something big had happened, and quickly turned back and rushed to Puban County. He had to tell Xu Huang about the matter as soon as possible.
It's the end of the day, probably around six to seven o'clock in the evening.
The sky was not completely dark yet, and as the sun set in the west, countless densely packed troops surged in like a tide on the vast land to the west of Puban County.
After repelling Cao's army, Shen Chen did not pursue immediately. Instead, he gathered all the ships and ordered all ministries to transport the baggage, chariots and horses to the shore. At the same time, he demolished the walls and used them to build new fortresses.
While the soldiers in the rear were busy, Shen Chen led an army of about 20,000 people and slowly arrived outside Puban County. Now that Cao's army had retreated into the county for defense, he had to set up camp outside the city.
If it is not dealt with, all the soldiers will go to build camps. If Cao's army goes out of the city and launches a sudden attack, the soldiers will not be able to assemble in a short period of time, and they may fall into an extremely embarrassing situation.
Therefore, experienced generals often concentrate part of their troops when setting up camp to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of them.
Shen Chen was riding on horseback, and Ma Dai looked into the distance next to him and asked: "Grand Governor, Cao Jun retreated into the city. It took us a day to reach the outside of Puban City. This was much slower than expected. .”
"Um."
Shen Chen nodded and said: "Cao's army has many cavalry. The scouts just came to report that their cavalry has gone to the rear. Apparently the granaries are also placed in the rear. It may not be easy to cut off their food routes."
"Their food and grass always have to go into the city, why don't we just block the roads outside their city?"
Ma Dai said.
Shen Chen shook his head: "It's not that easy. Xu Huang wouldn't be so stupid that the city wouldn't even have enough food for more than half a year. The city would have to be besieged for at least half a year. We can't guard their food routes every day, not to mention that Cao Zhen in the south wouldn't be without food. Rush to help. ”
"This is troublesome."
Ma Dai also felt a little headache.
During the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's army of more than 100,000 surrounded Cao's army of 30,000 to 40,000, but it still did not cut off his food route. This was because Cao's army had cavalry to escort the food and grass.
Now Shen Chen's situation is the same. He lacks cavalry. Xu Huang relies on cavalry to protect him, so the grain road will be very safe.
So Kaban will be a tough guy.
However, Shen Chen had already prepared for a tough battle before, so he didn't worry too much. Anyway, the soldiers would stop him, and then the two sides would just have to fight with their wits and courage.
While Wu Dang was talking, Wu Tao, Huo Yang, Shan Yi and others came over in a hurry. Wu Dang stepped forward and reported: "The Governor."
"Where are Deng Ai and Jiang Wei?"
Shen Chen saw that the two most valued disciples were missing among the six disciples who were attacking behind him.
Wu Dang said angrily: "The Commander-in-Chief, Deng Ai said he was going to investigate the enemy's situation, but he got the news that the enemy's granary was in Jiucheng. He rushed in rashly before he could confirm it, and Jiang Wei went to look for him."
"Is that so?"
Shen Chen frowned slightly. This was disobedience on the battlefield, and it could be a big or small thing.
The key lies in whether Deng Ai can achieve extraordinary results.
If he could really burn Cao's army's food and grass, it would be a great achievement.
Just like Huo Qubing.
In the Battle of Dingxiangbei, he was ordered to cover Wei Qing's main force in the attack. As a result, he used his troops as the main force, pursued hundreds of miles with light cavalry, and killed thousands of Huns.
Some people are born with their own war instincts, and there is no need to obey the arrangements above. Acting according to the situation is the best way.
But if Deng Ai fails, it will naturally be disobedience. If it is a serious matter, he will become serious and may even be executed.
Shen Chen didn't want to kill Deng Ai, so he calmed his brows and said: "The general will not accept the military order. Although Shi Zai is indeed a bit reckless, if he succeeds, we can defeat Xu Huang. He can indeed take this risk." Go take a risk, send an order, and have the scouts form cavalry to meet them."
"Report!"
At this moment, a flying horse came running back.
The scout reported to Shen Chenhui: "General Yingyang raided Jiucheng and burned millions of grains and grains of Cao's army. Because the horses are a little weak, they are now recuperating by the Laishui River. Send me back to report to the governor!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."
When Shen Chen heard the news, he looked around and said with great joy: "Shi Zaizhen is the champion of the imperial court. Send me an order to surround Puban. I want Xu Huang to either surrender or the whole army will be annihilated!"