Chapter 200 Cao's Army Advances West

The stalemate between the Cao and Liu armies deployed in Yongliang was finally broken due to insufficient food and supplies for the Cao army.

The main force of Yongzhou, Cao's army, was attacked by the main force led by Liu Bei, the King of Hanzhong, and the troops of Wei Yan on Hanzhong, and Zhao Yun and his troops who were killed all the way from Chang'an.

Under such circumstances, even though Xu Huang was very good at governing the army, he was unable to make up for the situation. Finally, two months later, he announced his defeat and tens of thousands of Cao troops stationed in Qinchuan were completely defeated.

At the same time, Cao Hong, who was stationed on the Longyou line and prevented the troops led by Zhang Fei from heading north, also suffered a devastating blow.

It turned out that Ma Chao and Zhang Fei lived in Longyou for a long time, and suddenly had a thought and said to Zhang Fei: "This is not far from the Qiang people. It is better to borrow some elite Qiang people in person to help our army!" Zhang Fei followed his words and asked Ma Chao to go to the Qiang people in person.

Later, Ma Chao borrowed thousands of elite Qiang cavalry and more than 10,000 excellent war horses. He then proposed to Zhang Fei: "Borrow the road of the Western Qiang, go around to Xiliang, and attack the Honghou!" A strategy.

Coincidentally, when Ma Chao's army ran to Cao Hong, Cao Hong happened to receive a letter from Xu Huang for help. He was about to pull out the village and set off, but he did not want to be driven by Ma Chao, so he covered it up and killed it.

In addition, Zhang Fei also went out to attack the main gate of Hongzhai, which caused Cao Hong's army to be defeated, so he had to gather the remaining troops and flee to Anding.

At this point, in the northwest, the two most combative Cao troops were defeated, and the Hanzhong King's army swept the northwest without any obstacles. He left Wei Yan and Ma Chao, each leading an army to sweep away the remaining Cao troops, and himself led the army to Chang'an.

The Chang'an war report had already been delivered to Liu Bei, but he was also very worried about the Cao army north of Chang'an.

Especially when he learned that Xue Bing led 700 cavalry deep into the enemy's backbone in order to stop Cao's army from advancing, he couldn't help but feel sad for Xue Bing.

At that time, he was leading his army to fight with Xu Huang, and he couldn't escape. He wanted to divide his troops to help Xue Bing, but Pang Tong said, "General Xue's actions are really asking the king not to divide his troops and concentrate his troops to defeat Xu Huang.

In this way, Yongliang will be pacified, invade Cao's army, and then drive it. If the king divides his troops, Xu Huang will have the opportunity to revive again. If so, Yongliang will not be pacified. Our army has to retreat all of them back to Sichuan.

"After hearing this, Liu Bei followed Pang Tong's words and concentrated his troops to attack Xu Huang.

After Xu Huang was defeated and Cao's troops were defeated, it was already two months later.

It happened that Zhang Fei's battle report was also delivered at this time, and Liu Bei said happily: "Now that the Cao army in the northwest has been defeated, and its momentum is difficult to resist our army anymore. Yongliang can be said to be completely settled! However, there are still a large number of Cao troops coming to the east. Zi Han's army went deeper, and there is no news yet, so I am very worried.

He was about to lead his army to Chang'an to resist the Cao army. Does the military advisor think it is okay?"

Pang Tong replied: "Now Xu Huang, Cao Hong is defeated! The soldiers and horses under his command are killed and injured and fleeing, and they are really unable to stop our army anymore. The king only needs to leave several generals. He leads the army back and forth to sweep the remaining Cao troops and annihilate them all, and then General Xue's strategy will be accomplished!"

Liu Bei nodded when he heard this, and then ordered Wei Yan and Ma Chao to take charge of a group of troops. The whole route was centered on Qinchuan and occupied all the nearby areas, while the whole route was troops advanced to Xiliang and occupied the northwest.

Then he sent a letter to recruit Zhang Fei back, making him the front vanguard, and rushed to Jingyang at night. Liu Bei himself led the army and more than a dozen generals under his command, slowly looking forward to Chang'an. He comforted the country and the people along the way.

The troops and generals were assigned to the garrison, but the land they captured was stabilized.

When Liu Bei's army arrived in Chang'an, it was already autumn.

At that time, Zhang Ren, the general garrisoned at Chang'an, left the city to connect the King of Hanzhong to Chang'an, and then reported the recent battle situation to Liu Bei to learn about it.

Zhang Ren stood in the hall and bowed and said, "It has been several months since General Xue led his troops into Cao's army. Although Cao's army has not suffered much loss, it has been mixed by General Xue. He can no longer advance westward.

At present, all Cao's army stationed in Gaoling to Feng Sa. They responded from afar, except for transporting food, grass and supplies back and forth, there were even fewer soldiers on patrol."

After learning about the battle in the northwest from Liao Li's place, he then led his army deep into the hinterland of Cao's army, back and forth, wandering around, and searching for a few Cao's patrol troops to massacre.

After several times, Cao Zhen also understood that this invisible and inaccessible enemy army is now looking for a few Cao troops to attack.

Then he issued a general order, increasing the number of patrol soldiers back and forth several times. At the same time, the troops transporting food and grass were more guarded, so that the safety of food and grass must be ensured.

This is because the enemy army that has never seen one face always likes to attack the traffic force.

In this way, although there will be no reports of a certain patrol army losing contact again, most of the army were trapped in place, Cao Zhen had no extra force to continue advancing westward.

Even Xiahou Ba's vanguard troops were recruited back to Gaoling.

On this day, Cao really sat in his room, frowned and wondered how to find the enemy army.

As he was thinking, he came to report to him: "Deputy Governor Sima Yi asked for a meeting!" Cao Zhen was overjoyed when he heard this, so he called Sima Yi in and asked: "Now my army is forced to station here. What kind of tricks does Zhongda have to teach me?"

Sima Yi smiled and said, "Yi is here, and it's just for this!"

Upon hearing this, Cao Zhen hurriedly invited Sima Yi to take his seat and said respectfully: "What are the strategies Zhongda has? Tell me quickly and tell me about it!"

Sima Yi then said, "Now our army is forced to station here and cannot move forward. What is the reason?"

After hearing this, Cao Zhen sighed and replied, "Zhongda is not the first time he arrived, how can he not know? If our army moves forward, it will inevitably lengthen the route of food and grass transportation, and it is very easy to teach the Sichuan army that came without a trace to attack the rear!"

Sima Yi said again: "That's right, but can our army really not compete with the Sichuan army?"

When Cao Zhen heard this, he said with a strange look on his face: "I think this army will win every battle, and all the soldiers of our army are killed. If it weren't for the amazing combat power, how could we wipe out many of our soldiers? Moreover, this army is like the wind, not to mention that the enemy can't defeat it, even if we want to find a battle, we can't get it.

”

Sima Yi smiled and said, "This army is moving quickly, and I agree very much.

However, if it is said that its combat power is amazing, I am afraid it is not detailed!" Cao Zhen was puzzled when he heard this and was about to ask again, but Sima Yi continued: "Since this time the army attacked and destroyed our soldiers many times, Yi finally found some clues."

"After every war, there were many arrows in the land. Almost all of our soldiers died under the arrows. Therefore, Yi thought that this army should hurt people with bows and arrows."

"And this army comes and goes like the wind, so the entire army must be composed of cavalry."

Speaking of this, Cao Zhen also reacted and said in surprise: "With the movement speed of the cavalry, how can ordinary infantry catch up? If so, it is feasible to widen the distance and shoot it with a bow and arrow.

However, there are fewer horses in Xichuan, and even fewer people are good at horses. How did Liu Bei find so many people who are good at drawing bows immediately?"

It turned out that based on Sima Yi's words, Cao Zhen also figured out why his soldiers were always wiped out, and he rarely saw enemy corpses. He could not even get close to him when he opened the distance to shoot arrows like this.

So how can you kill the enemy? If you want to escape, how can the infantry escape at the speed of the cavalry? But if this is true, then the combat power of this army is too terrifying.

All of this is because those who were good at riding and shooting during the Han Dynasty were generals in the army, and Cao Zhen used common sense to judge it. He only said that the army was full of people with excellent martial arts skills.

If this is true, I am afraid that if I face the enemy head-on, I will have to pay more than several times the opponent's casualties to wipe out the enemy. Thinking of this, my brows frowned a little more.

In fact, it is not surprising that Cao Zhen thought so. The Han Dynasty used one-sided stirrups. On horseback, the cavalry must at least control the war horses with one hand. Those who can free up their hands to shoot bows and kill enemies are all commanders who are good at controlling horses.

How did he think that because of Xue Bingdi, the entire army of Liu Bei's army was equipped with bilateral stirrups, which was difficult to control the war horse. It was naturally much smaller than the one-sided stirrups, so the technique of starting the bow immediately was much easier to learn.

And Cao Zhen had never fought head-on with the cavalry of Liu Bei's army and had never seen these double-sided stirrups. Naturally, he could not have imagined that Liu Bei's army had such equipment.

Just when Cao Zhen was surprised at the combat power of the army and frowned and didn't know what to do, he heard Sima Yi chuckling and said to him: "Why should the governor be so worried? Yi predicted that this army would not pose a threat to our army!" Cao Zhen suddenly remembered Sima Yi's coming.

Isn’t it just to deal with this army? Then he said: “Zhongda teaches me!”

Sima Yi said: "Yi predicted that although this army is strong, its combat power is limited after all. Otherwise, why did our army add guards? After all, there were few reports of war? Looking at it, I would like to call out several situations."

Cao Zhen said: "What kind of?"

Sima Yi said: "One, this army is sophisticated! However, the number is not large, and it is impossible to attack the large brigade of troops! These two are that the combat power of this army is not as strong as the governor expected. After seeing the increase in the number of soldiers in our army and weighing the combat power of both sides, he did not dare to take action easily, for fear that the entire army would be wiped out! However, no matter which point, what can be confirmed is that this army does not have much threat to our army!"

Cao Zhen said: "How do you say this?"

Sima Yi said: "Since this army can only attack small groups of soldiers, it naturally does not pose any threat to our army's advance westward. The governor only needs to order the troops and horses so that the army will no longer be dispersed and move forward all the way."

Cao Zhen said: "However, this army attacked our army's food and grass many times. When our army advances westward, the transportation route will be longer. What should we do if it takes advantage of the situation to attack?"

Sima Yi said: "This matter is easy. You only need to divide the front and rear armies. The governor leads most of the troops in front and chooses another general to lead the rear army to protect the food and grass. In Yi's opinion, only five thousand soldiers are needed, and his army dare not attack him.

In addition, try to transport food and grass as uniformly as possible, and do not transport it in batches." After saying that, he said: "Our army only needs to be in every step and be cautious, so that it cannot take action. If this army has nowhere to attack, it must go by itself!"

Cao Zhen was overjoyed, so he followed Sima Yi's words and no longer divided his troops and spread his troops and occupied a wide area. Instead, he concentrated his troops and advanced straight westward. He walked step by step along the way and walked slowly, ensuring the concentration of the army.

At the same time, many provocations were sent to all sides of the army, and they came to report immediately when there was any movement on which side. Then Xiahou Ba, Xiahou Wei divided the cavalry into half of the cavalry, and waited for the enemy to find out the movements, and immediately rushed to chase after him.

As a result, Cao's army was no longer injured and marched for hundreds of miles without any harasse.

Cao Zhen was very happy. After just taking down Jingyang, he could turn over the area north of the Wei River and west of the Yellow River based on Chengxian, find out the hateful enemy army and eliminate it.
Chapter completed!