Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3496 There Must Be a Reason

"What is that?"

When Zhang Liao heard a loud roar ahead, he immediately rushed to a slope, dismounted his horse, climbed up the slope using his hands and feet, and looked up.

Orange-red flames rose in the distance, followed by waves of echoes in the valley, mixed with the shouts of some people and horses.

"Does Cao's army still have gunpowder left?"

Zhang Liao's expression changed.

It was not uncommon for Cao's army to have gunpowder.

Cao's army's gunpowder was not easy to use, but having too much of it was also troublesome.

Earlier at the Tongguan camp, Zhu Ling had seized some of Cao's army's gunpowder, making the attack of Pang Tong and others smoother and safer, but no one was sure whether Cao's army would have more gunpowder later.

Zhang Liao stood on the slope, listening to the echo of the huge roar in front of him, frowning, and after a moment of silence, he said, "General Ma is probably in trouble..."

"Not really?" the guard replied, "General Ma has been in many battles, how could he really fall into a trap? And isn't this the case with all the bandits..."

"What's wrong?" Zhang Liao turned his head slightly and glanced at the guard. "You think so too?"

The guard said with a sob: "Everyone, ha, everyone thinks so..."

Zhang Liao did not reveal what the so-called "great man" was, but said: "Although General Ma is brave, Prime Minister Cao has been in the Central Plains for many years, and his strategies and tactics are ever-changing. Only the lord can defeat him... Even Pang Lingjun is cautious... General Ma..."

The guards and others looked at each other and stopped talking.

If Zhang Liao said that he was using others as an example, the guards might have said something in reply, but if he said that even the General of Cavalry treated it with caution, then no one would say anything.

Unless you think you are more powerful than the General of Cavalry?

Cao Cao's personal bravery may be inferior to Ma Yue's, but Cao Cao has rich combat experience. How can his ability to respond to emergencies on the battlefield be matched by a proud general like Ma Yue?

If Ma Yue made a mistake in his response, Cao Cao would seize the opportunity.

Pang Tong knew this, Zhang Liao understood it, Zhu Ling was skeptical, but Ma Yue didn't believe it at all.

"The strength of cavalry is speed." Zhang Liao shook his head slightly and said, "If you hit them once, they will run away. If they miss, they will retreat. You must not have any reckless desires. Once you have reckless desires..."

Zhang Liao didn't finish.

No one knew whether the "vain request" he was talking about was for victory on the battlefield or something else.

Zhang Liao raised his hand, "Everyone get ready! We are going to rescue you!"

Zhang Liao's guards were stunned, "General! We only have 500 soldiers! This number of people... may not be enough!"

"Haha!" Zhang Liao laughed, "If we don't go, this amount of troops won't be enough! Once we set out, it will be dark, who knows if we have one or several 500 people?"

Zhang Liao did not conceal his whereabouts, but instead had his men march slowly forward in an orderly manner, waving flags and blowing whistles.

……

……

Cao's army naturally discovered Zhang Liao's undisguised move.

When Cao Cao saw Zhang Liao's flag, he had an idea and immediately ordered his troops to retreat.

In the ambush just now, he injured and killed at least three or four hundred Hussars. Some Hussars failed to control their horses and distance when turning, and ended up running into the river...

This is already a good result.

Moreover, after the gunpowder blasting, the loess plateau became somewhat unstable, forming a long slope on the mudflat. Although this cut off the road leading to the rear line of Hangu Pass from the mudflat, it also created an additional path for climbing.

Although the soil is soft now, it is difficult for people and horses to climb, and there is a risk of secondary collapse, but if you really push people to the limit...

Moreover, Cao Cao was not sure whether Zhang Liao and his men were coming as a group or as a whole...

So, in the end, just as Zhang Liao had expected, Cao Cao did not continue to fight and ordered his troops to retreat.

Cao's army began to retreat in an orderly manner and entered Hangu Pass, leaving behind a devastated battlefield.

On the riverbank, war horses that were shot dead or wounded were scattered all over the place.

More serious casualties occurred under the loess plateau.

One area was directly collapsed by gunpowder, burying a large area under the loess.

Some soldiers who had managed to escape being buried by the earth were still in shock and looked pale.

Zhang Liao was on guard to prevent Cao's army from returning, while he was gathering the remaining troops and restoring order.

After a period of rebuilding the ranks, Zhang Liao gathered up most of the scattered cavalry soldiers and counted the casualties. He found that in addition to the casualties of soldiers and horses, Ma Yue was missing...

Zhang Liao thought that Ma Yue was buried by the collapse of the plateau caused by the gunpowder explosion, so he sent people to try to excavate it.

But the soil was too soft to dig anyone out with just simple tools.

Zhang Liao then asked the defeated cavalry soldiers, and many of them said they didn't know where Ma Yue had gone...

After all, the scene was extremely chaotic at that time. Arrows, crossbow bolts, gunpowder explosions, and flying yellow earth made the formation completely ineffective. Only the hussars who were close could see the traces of Ma Yue and others. Others who were farther away would have no way of knowing.

"Ask again! Inspect carefully!"

Zhang Liao frowned.

If he died in battle, it would be sad and regrettable, but acceptable. But if he was captured by Cao's army, that would be troublesome.

Zhang Liao originally planned to gather his soldiers and evacuate, but now he was forced to stay where he was and look for Ma Yue's whereabouts.

The situation changed and Zhang Liao was unable to make a decision on his own. He could only continue to search while sending someone to report back to Pang Tong.

The follow-up actions that were originally planned to be carried out by Pang Tong were also forced to be suspended for the time being...

……

……

Ma Yue was frightened.

To be precise, both the men and the horses were shocked.

Hangu Pass was not like the open plains and dense population of later generations, but desolate and with many ravines. If it was during the day, Ma Yue might have been able to identify the direction, but the man and the horse were frightened and ran around, and immediately got lost.

By the time the horses and men were exhausted and stopped, they could no longer tell east from west, south from north.

The yellow land was covered with gullies. If the visibility was good during the day, one could see the mountains in the distance, or some other landmark buildings to identify the direction. But now in the darkness, they ran around for a while, and no one knew where they were, or whether the direction in front of them was south, north, east or west.

Logically speaking, Ma Yue should have expected that Cao's army might still have gunpowder and kerosene...

But this is like every person who runs a red light in the future, whether he is a pedestrian, a rider on an electric bike, or a driver, should be aware of and anticipate the danger of someone rushing out from another direction, but what is the result?

If everyone could predict within three seconds like Captain Shan, then everyone would definitely be able to get promoted and make a fortune.

Ma Yue almost fell off his horse, then sat aside in a daze, swaying.

The dozen or so soldiers following Ma Yue also stopped, and after a while of busying themselves, they finally calmed down.

Ma Yue's eyes were a little scattered.

It's probably like the state after a drunk driving accident.

Before anything happens, everyone thinks they are awesome.

After something goes wrong, oops, it’s over…

Where are you and what have you done?

Ma Yue's head was buzzing, and it took him a long time to realize that it was not his head that was buzzing, but the guards around him who were calling him anxiously. "I... cough cough cough..."

Ma Yue opened his mouth and was about to say something when he realized that his mouth was filled with a lot of dust and gravel, and he started coughing immediately.

The guard quickly brought the water bag.

Ma Yue took it and gargled several times with trembling hands before he cleared the sand and dust in his mouth.

The guard looked at the water bag in Ma Yue's hand, his lips moved, but in the end he said nothing.

Water, this thing is the strangest thing.

It is one of the heaviest items you carry with you, but when you drink it, it feels like it has very little weight, or how come it’s gone when you haven’t drunk much?

When fighting, no one would bring extra water bags. Moreover, even if you carry a water bag, it is easy to break. Whether it is scratched by a sword or shot by an arrow, no matter how much water is left, it will be reduced to zero.

Ma Yue's horse was frightened and ran away, and the guards could only follow him all the way, but no one knew where he ran to, and whether there was any new water source nearby...

Small things, but very important.

But looking at Ma Yue's current condition, the guards didn't know what to say.

After a while, Ma Yue regained some consciousness, but he was still trembling. "How did we... lose?"

The guard was stunned.

Ask us about this?

And the first thing Ma Yue asked was this?

Is Ma Yue incompetent?

Then it depends on how you view the word "ability"...

No one can be as omniscient and omnipotent as keyboard warriors.

Ma Yue is an ordinary person. If the cavalry had not appeared in the north, Ma Yue would most likely be a shepherd or a farmer in the fields. He can have today's status, on the one hand, because of his personal efforts, and on the other hand, he happened to be in the right place.

When we follow the cavalry and ride on the wind, we are all brothers and there is no problem for everyone!

When the time comes for you to go solo, it will depend on your own abilities.

Ma Yue was not bad at training troops, leading troops, and defending, but he was not agile and adaptable enough when it came to leading an attack alone.

However, this is not his biggest problem...

After all, in the military, there are winners and losers, and no one can say that they will always win. So Ma Yue's defeat was not a big problem from the perspective of war. This is why Pang Tong still gave Ma Yue troops even though he knew that Ma Yue's chances of success were not high.

People have to go through setbacks and understand pain in order to grow.

However, if the person tries to avoid the pain and refuses to learn the lesson, then there is a big problem.

Ma Yue was like this. He was unwilling to accept his failure, so his first question was "How did you fail?" instead of asking how many soldiers were left or how many brothers had been killed...

When Ma Yue was training before, he treated the soldiers in the military academy very kindly. When he was on duty at Tongguan, he also shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, sleeping in the open air. But at this moment, he forgot everything and ignored the casualties of the soldiers. He only cared about one thing: why did he fail? How did he fail? Did he really fail like this?

Just like some project managers in some companies in later generations. When the project is going smoothly, the project manager can work overtime with his subordinates, eat fast food together, go to the market together, play and joke together, and it seems that there is no problem. However, when there is a problem in the project, his first reaction is to blame whom?

And he took it for granted that he had made psychological and moral preparations. After all, he had a family, children, loans that needed to be repaid, and a new lover, all of which cost money. So he could not take the blame for the failure of the project and could not lose his current position because of it!

"Why didn't the vanguard...scouts find anything unusual?!"

Ma Yue held his head with a distorted look on his face.

He had taken off his helmet because his head felt swollen and hot, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

"General... we didn't send any scouts..."

The guard said on the side.

"No...how come there is no pie?" Ma Yue's eyes widened, "I remember I had a pie..."

"That was before the attack..." the guard answered truthfully, "After detecting that the enemy scouts had retreated, the general said that in order to avoid alerting the enemy..."

"I..." Ma Yue remembered and it was indeed the case.

After a moment of silence, Ma Yue shook his head again, "No, no! Since the enemy army had a trap, why didn't the front team warn us?!"

The guard also fell silent, and when he was silent, he looked at Ma Yue with a strange look in his eyes, "General... have you forgotten? The vanguard warned you that you thought the enemy army didn't have many bows and arrows, so you should speed up and charge forward..."

"I didn't!" Ma Yue jumped up, then sat down dejectedly in the silence of several guards, "I... I, I..."

According to reason, Ma Yue should not be like this now, but reason has always been weak and can be easily defeated by various opponents.

Even if it is occasionally during the sage time after the craft work, after all, the boredom and loneliness after the craft work, plus the guilt caused by sneaking around, will make rationality jump out, and swear that this is the last time, but not long after, rationality will slack off, and then when you see something shocking in the short video, you will start licking your lips and grabbing tissues again...

Again.

Renew your vows...

Then, do it again.

The final result is a complete failure.

Although Ma Yue didn't collapse on the spot, he rewarded himself with a shot, but the psychological activity was not much different from that of a craftsman. It was painful to recognize mistakes, and it was even more painful to correct them, but if you find an excuse for your mistakes, you can escape and be happy.

"There must be some place..." Ma Yue muttered, "There must be some reason..."

……

……

On the other hand, the plan originally formulated by Pang Tong and Zhang Liao was forced to be terminated.

If at this time, Ma Yue was not concerned about himself, and was not trying to find excuses and reasons for himself, but bravely took responsibility and made up for his mistakes, then maybe there would be new opportunities...

It's like taking the wrong road. Maybe after taking a few steps you realize something is wrong. At this time, if you retreat and go back, at most you will waste a little time and walk a little more distance. The sunk cost is not much. But if you are unwilling to change and keep moving forward, thinking that the earth is round and you can come back after going around, maybe you can really come back, but the time consumed, the cost paid, and the dangers encountered in the process will be huge.

And the more serious problem is that Ma Yue is not an individual, he is also a part of the Cavalry Corps.

Ma Yue had a problem, and it affected not only Ma Yue, but also Pang Tong and Zhang Liao's subsequent plans.

Pang Tong had anticipated that there might be problems with Ma Yue, but he did not expect the problem to be so serious.

According to Pang Tong's original plan, he was preparing for a two-stage attack.

After Cao's army defeated Ma Yue, it was hard for them to imagine that there would be a second surprise attack...

Therefore, Pang Tong let Zhang Liao stay behind Ma Yue, which was equivalent to supporting Ma Yue.

If Ma Yue could succeed, everything would be fine. If he failed, Zhang Liao would lead his men to gather the troops and then take advantage of the time when Cao's army was withdrawing back to the pass to launch a short and quick surprise attack.

Zhang Liao was not allowed to lead too many soldiers and horses. On the one hand, if there were too many soldiers and horses, they would easily lose flexibility and there would be a risk of being exposed.

Pang Tong originally estimated that Ma Yue's defeat would result in the loss of some soldiers and horses, but with the addition of the troops led by Zhang Liao, they could still gather a thousand men, which would be enough to give Cao's army a small shock.

On the other hand, it was also to boost the morale of the cavalry soldiers and continue to put pressure on Cao's army. This was consistent with Pang Tong's previous strategy of attacking the hearts and minds, and was also part of winning without fighting.

But no one expected that not only did Ma Yue suffer heavy casualties among his soldiers, but he himself also went missing!

Pang Tong felt a little headache when he received the report from Zhang Liao.

It was pitch black all around, and I didn't know where to look for anyone.

The key point is that if Ma Yue was killed in battle or captured, Pang Tong’s original plan of a surprise attack to boost morale would be meaningless!

It is conceivable that when Zhang Liao led his men to rush in front of Cao's army and was about to make some moves, he saw Cao's army tying Ma Yue and pushing him out, or carrying Ma Yue's helmet and head...

If this is true, even if Pang Tong, Zhang Liao and others rushed to the front of Cao's army, they would only have two choices: either to attack or to retreat. To attack is to attack without any siege equipment or any siege preparations, which is obviously unwise, and even if you attack, you may not be able to take it down. To retreat is to rub salt into the already opened wound...

Therefore, Pang Tong had to change his plan temporarily and immediately sent someone to tell Zhang Liao to suspend the raid and instead focus on finding Ma Yue.

At the same time, in order to prevent Cao's army from discovering any problems, the troops were ordered to light more torches and raise more flags at the front line of Cao's army to confuse Cao's army and ensure the safety of the cavalry soldiers who were searching for Ma Yue.