The weather in Liangzhou in winter is very changeable.
The sun was shining brightly a few days ago, but after a few strong winds, thick clouds covered the mountains.
The soft and thin snowflakes are like blown dandelions flying all over the sky, scattering and gathering, seeming to float and fly.
The soldiers who stood on the low wooden fence of the Wei army camp couldn't help but put their hands to their mouths to breathe after every dozen or so breaths, which warmed the numbness and stiffness of their fingers.
It's so cold.
But more of Cao's soldiers were extremely hot.
was angered by the Han army.
Ever since the Han army came to invite war and was rejected by Xia Houru, the general who refused to conquer the west, the Han army sent two to three thousand soldiers to a stone's throw away every day to show off their power and shout and curse.
It's like blowing the drums loudly, beating the shield and singing the "Song of the Great Wind" loudly.
After each song, they roared "Conquer the Central Plains" and formed military formations on the spot, treating the battlefield as if it were the garrison of the Han army.
For example, he loudly cursed with contemptuous words such as "the rats who rebelled against the Wei Dynasty can't shrink away", "Liangzhou has no blood and brave men".
Some vulgar people, while salivating, lay down on the snow casually, or took off their armor and wrestled with their robes for fun, etc., and regarded the Cao Wei soldiers who were close at hand as if they were nothing.
The most outrageous thing is that when the Han troops returned at dusk, they would all shout in unison, "In the past, we marched to the west as tigers marched to the right of the Pass, but now we march to the west behind closed doors to trace our eyebrows."
This is heartbreaking!
Xia Houyuan, who is on the right side of Hubu Pass, is Xia Houru's father.
Both of them served as generals to conquer the West, but Xia Houyuan was invincible in the land of Yongliang and is still famous to this day; but now Xia Houru has the advantage of military strength and avoids fighting.
She was despised by the Han army as a woman who painted her eyebrows with rouge!
Not only does it claim that the Xiahou family, the founder of the Wei State, has no successors and their glory is gone, it also satirizes that the officers and soldiers of the Wei army are cowardly.
Just imagine, the governors and commanders are all women, what do they mean to these soldiers?
Not even as good as a woman?
Not surprisingly, those soldiers who felt that they had been greatly humiliated started clamoring for their respective generals to go and challenge Xia Houru.
It's just that the results were a little bad.
He left filled with righteous indignation and returned with his head bowed and a sigh.
Although Xia Houru, the general who conquered the west, also had a dark face, he still said, "Generals cannot fight in anger" and rejected their request for orders.
Even if these governors try to persuade them in every possible way.
Some even had a fierce temperament and even issued military orders such as "If the battle is unfavorable, I am willing to behead the villain", but they still returned home full of grievance and anger.
Among them, Wang Mi was the most aggrieved.
As Xia Houru's trusted general, he knew very well why Xia Houru did what he did.
It’s not that we won’t fight, it’s that the time has not come yet.
Xia Houru wanted to hold on first and use up the vigor they had gained when they first came from Ni Shu. After time and wind and snow had worn away their determination to fight to the death and retreated, they could then pursue and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
By doing this, you understand the essence of the art of war.
However, Wang Mi could understand, but he could not accept it.
He is a Wuwei man and has the courage to fight to the death.
Almost all of his subordinates were recruited from various counties in Liangzhou. These soldiers followed the folk customs of the frontier and were tough and fierce. They had already complained about all kinds of provocations and insults against Shu.
Not only did he feel that Xia Houru was afraid of fighting, but he also felt that Wang Mi, the superior officer, had lost his courage.
Because Hu and Han people live together in Liangzhou, and there is generally little literary etiquette, the common people are not very loyal to the Wei State, and they also admire the pleasure and grudges of the knights. These soldiers are usually restrained by various military regulations and laws in the military camp.
I have suppressed my anger for a long time. Now that I am in battle, I still want to be insulted. Do I want to retaliate?
If you are so useless, you might as well become a horse bandit to enjoy your revenge!
Anyway, most of the soldiers in the frontier areas only support their families with some food rations, and few have the extravagant hope of becoming a marquis or a general.
In other words, after the implementation of the nine-rank official system, the Luoyang temple occupied by the high-ranking families in Guandong did not see the struggle of their people.
This dissatisfaction spread not only among Wang Mi's subordinates, but also with Xia Houru's 12,000 cavalrymen who came to guard this place.
After all, soldiers who lick blood from their swords are inherently bloody men.
However, if the military is dissatisfied and dissatisfied, military orders that often show off to the public must still be obeyed.
Therefore, the Han army continued to provoke for four or five days, but the Wei army showed no sign of going to war.
Zheng Pu felt a little regretful about this.
The Li Shu people here were all behind the Wei military camp, so he could not find a woman's clothing to send to Xia Houru.
However, it doesn't matter anymore.
In the past few days, he has also been preparing for a strong attack.
It is not a strong attack with big yellow crossbows and bows and arrows in the rear, like in offensive and defensive battles. The soldiers in the front fill the ravines fearlessly and push siege vehicles, ladders and other equipment to climb up.
This method of warfare has a high casualty rate among soldiers.
The Han Dynasty couldn't afford it, and he would not let his subordinates die for the sake of military exploits after completing the strategic intention of containing the forces of the Wei Dynasty.
It's a trick that's tailored to local conditions.
The military camp set up by Hou Ru in the Xia Dynasty against the Wei Dynasty is similar to the Wild Geese Formation.
When you can maximize the power of long-range weapons such as the crossbow, in order to ensure that the crossbow will not accidentally damage your own army, the left and right wings will be very dispersed.
Zheng Pu then planned to concentrate his forces and attack one of the wings.
Under such circumstances, the other wing of the counter-Wei army was like a dummy; and it was difficult for the Chinese army to send troops to support it.
After all, once they come to support, too few troops will not help; if there are too many troops, it will become a desperate battle between the two armies in the wild.
Many veteran generals are well aware of the shortcomings of the Flying Geese Formation.
But few people take advantage of it.
Because attacking the flanks would result in more losses than gains for the whole army.
The price of war is victory, but the price of war is not long.
Exhausting all the vigor of the soldiers on one wing is equivalent to giving up the plan of attacking the enemy's entire army. Moreover, all the time and food for the attack have been used up, and the troops will have no choice but to retreat, and will be followed by the enemy.
Since ancient times, kindness has not led soldiers.
Any commander with some military career would be willing to pay the price of having one wing defeated in order to win a great victory.
This is the reason why Xia Houru dared to arrange his troops in such a way.
However, he underestimated a little.
Zheng Pu is not greedy for credit!
He had no intention of capturing Jincheng County in the first place.
The reason for sending troops is to prevent Xia Houru from sending troops to Xiping County for reinforcements!
Whether the camp can be captured here and how many levels of beheadings there are are acceptable results for him.
If there is, there is joy; if there is none, there is no sadness.
Naturally, Zheng Pu, who was known for his resourcefulness and decisiveness, would not decide to attack without reason. He found a way to reduce the defensive advantage of Ni Wei's military camp.
On flat terrain, the Wei Wei military camp was built on stone and wood and was not very high.
After Zheng Pu led the army to this place, he also asked his soldiers to return from logging in the wild and build his own military camp.
The difference between the two is that Zheng Pu's military camp is simpler and can move slowly; the Han army's military camp is based on wheeled Wugang carts and carriages.
Instead, wooden structures were framed horizontally and vertically in front of the large scull of the Wuhan Iron and Steel vehicle, and fixed with rivets and ropes to form a wooden railing wall. Then more than ten vehicle bodies were placed side by side to form a simple camp.
For each Wugang cart, more than ten soldiers can slowly push forward.
Together with the car body, it is about two feet high, almost as high as Ni Wei's military camp.
The defense of wood is enough to withstand the penetration of powerful crossbows.
As for the big yellow crossbows and thunder chariots used by the Wei Dynasty, if the soldiers were hidden behind the chariots before departure, there would not be too many casualties.
After all, ordnance such as the big yellow crossbow and the thunderbolt chariot will break down if used frequently, and it is impossible to equip them on a large scale in a place like Liangzhou.
Furthermore, the Han army was not without suppressive weapons.
When the Wei Dynasty used equipment such as rhubarb crossbows, the Han army could also counterattack. The outcome depends on the preparation of the battle.
Everything was ready, and in the early morning when snowflakes were flying in the sky, thunderous drums sounded in the Han army camp.
The Han army, which had already moved its general camp to the left flank of the Wei Dynasty four hundred paces away, shouted trumpets and pushed the Wuhan Iron and Steel chariot forward step by step amid the sound of drums and drums played by their respective uncles.
Behind them are the soldiers with large oars, and those behind them are soldiers carrying earth bags or planks of wood.
Under the protection of shields and under the pressure of crossbows and stones, they had to first fill in the trenches in front of the Niwei camp, trap horses in pits, and remove iron caltrops and other debris.
Such movement naturally woke up Wei Jun.
The guard of the frontmost camp on the left flank of the Wei army was none other than Secretary Wang.
When he heard the sentry's warning, he quickly came to see the enemy's situation.
But when he saw the Han army's camp slowly approaching, he couldn't help but be stunned.
After being stunned for a while, he rubbed his eyes vigorously and looked carefully. He thought it was the snowflakes like catkins and morning mist, which caused an illusion in his blurred vision.
Only when he saw the Han army slowly approaching a stone's throw away and starting to clear the roadblocks did he realize that this was not a dream.
He also hurriedly asked his trusted aides to report to Xia Houru. He drew the sword in his hand and loudly encouraged the morale of the soldiers who were also performing their respective duties.
It's just a little unsatisfactory.
In Liangzhou, there are many customs and taboos about demons, especially ghosts and gods.
For example, in the past, when Bian Zhang and Han Sui rebelled against Liangzhou and led their army into Meiyang, Fufeng, they were evenly matched with the Han army led by Zhang Wen and Dong Zhuo. But one night there was a shooting star like fire, with a beam of more than ten feet long, illuminating the border.
In the camp of Zhang and Han Sui, the donkeys and horses were allowed to bray, which made all the rebels think it was ominous and clamored to return to Jincheng County. This also gave Dong Zhuo and others an opportunity to attack and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
Nowadays, the Han army's camp has moved in unexpectedly, which also makes these soldiers who were born in Liangzhou feel fearful.
No matter how much Secretary Wang encouraged them, their morale was somewhat low.
Xia Houru, who was in the Chinese army, was also surprised.
"The Nishu military camp is moving to attack!"
These were the words of Wang Mi’s personal soldiers who urgently reported the matter.
Can the military camp still be moved?
Feeling puzzled, Xia Houru also quickly put on his armor, put all the military camps under tight security, and rushed to the Wang Mi's military camp with his personal guards.
After taking a look, it became clear in my heart.
This method of pushing Wugang chariots to fight in military formations was the method used by the Han Dynasty in the past when they defeated the Huns with their footwork.
This will be familiar to any general who has a general in his mind.
Even if the weather gets colder and dripping water turns into ice, the Han army can still use water to fill the sand and build the city wall.
Just like what Lou Gui planned for Wei Wu and Cao Cao in the Battle of the Wei River in the past: "It's cold today, you can build a city from sand, and fill it with water, and you can build it overnight." A city was built from flat ground!
But he understood it, but he had no explanation for it.
Because his military camp cannot retreat, nor can he allow the soldiers in the right-wing military camp to respond.
The Han army also sent two thousand soldiers and horses, forming a tight formation on the right wing, just waiting for the Wei army to come out of camp and fight!
Even the cavalry of the Wei army could not attack the formation from the side.
As early as a few days ago, the general in charge of the cavalry sent people to inform Xia Houru that the Han army camp was not only heavily guarded but also had many Yuanrong crossbows transported.
Xia Houru knew about Yuan Rong's crossbow.
A being who could kill a war horse within twenty or thirty steps. No matter how stupid he was, he would not let the cavalry die without the support of infantry.
"Someone is coming!"
After pondering for a while, he turned his head and gave an order to his soldiers, "Go and transport half of the Chinese army's thunderbolt chariots and big yellow crossbows!"
"promise!"
One of the guards shouted in response, turned around and strode away.
Secretary Wang also took the opportunity to move closer and whispered in a low voice, "General, I'm afraid even if the ordnance has arrived, it will be difficult to suppress the counter-Shu offensive."
Hearing this, Xia Houru turned his head slightly and glanced at him.
But he said nothing and turned back to continue watching the enemy.
As Secretary Wang said, the frontline barracks of the Wei army are not large and cannot accommodate many soldiers, nor can they place too many thunderbolt chariots and large yellow crossbows. In addition, Ni Shu will also suppress Ni Shu with bows and arrows, so it is indeed difficult to contain Ni Shu's attack. offensive.
But how could he not know such an obvious trend?
To put it bluntly, Wang Mi’s reminder was just a vague retelling of an old incident: I asked him to agree to the generals’ request and send troops to fight against Shu!
"The enemy of Shu will attack, you go and dispatch the soldiers."
After a short silence, Xia Houru's voice was faint and he gave orders to the king secretly without even thinking.
"promise."
Helplessly bowing his head in ceremony, Wang Mi left angrily.
At this moment, the Han army camp was already close to a stone's throw away and stopped.
I saw two or three Wuhan Iron and Steel chariots in the middle pushing forward to make room on both sides, and many large oar soldiers poured out from inside.
Under Shi Chang's orders, they gathered in groups of ten, holding their shields high to form a small circular fortress, protecting the soldiers carrying earth bags and wooden soldiers slowly forward, pulling out iron caltrops, filling pits with earth bags, etc.
At the same time, the Wei army's crossbowmen, who had been waiting in full formation for a long time, also drew their bowstrings under the scoldings of their respective uncles.
"put!"
Following the Wang Secretary's order, the crossbow bolts were fired directly to clear the obstacles for the Han army, and the arrows were thrown into the Han army's formation, instantly turning the sky black.
"Hey!"
"Hey! Hey!"
The sound of arrows hitting wood or shields was loud and shocking.
However, the lethality was very low, and most of the crossbow arrows were blocked by the Han army's large oars.
What really shocked people's hearts was the Thunderbolt Car.
Under the influence of the gravity of the lever, countless small stones the size of goose eggs, with sharp edges and corners, whistled in the air, drew an arc, and then burrowed down into the Han army camp like birds returning to their nests.
"Raise your shield! Cover the roof!"
Without Zheng Pu's order, the roars of dubos at all levels in the Han army rang out.
The fist-sized stones bounced happily on the shield. Some of them slipped off after two bounces, while others hit the corners of the shield and flew into the bodies of several soldiers.
Some of them drilled in with force, and some of them made a crisp sound of fractures.
Without exception, the unlucky soldiers all burst into mournful screams, which made people feel that the cold wind was so freezing.
Some Thunderbolt vehicles are equipped with huge boulders to project, and once they hit, they will directly smash the person and shield to the ground.
