Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3563 A new attempt!

The setting sun is as red as blood, dyeing the yellow earth near and far into a bright red.

Zhang Liao knelt on one knee in front of a crude sand table, with three arrows stuck in the sand pile that symbolized the Yique Valley. The pheasant feathers at the arrow tails trembled slightly in the evening breeze.

There are two ways to attack Luoyang. One is to rush directly to Luoyang, and then use artillery or gunpowder to pry open Luoyang's tortoise shell as soon as possible. Although Luoyang has been restored and rebuilt by the Yang family and reinforced and repaired by Cao's army, it is still not comparable to the heyday of Luoyang in the past. Therefore, to a certain extent, this plan is feasible.

Even though they knew that Cao's army had set up ambushes in Yique Pass and other places, they could still capture Luoyang before Cao's ambushes surrounded them!

But this method was rejected by Fei Qian.

Fei Qian’s idea is that there is no need to take unnecessary risks.

Although this kind of straightforward tactic is very suitable for the Northern style, and it is indeed very satisfying to behead a general in the midst of thousands of troops, but if it fails, it may result in heavy losses.

In history, Guan Yu's killing of Yan Liang was indeed a masterpiece that will be remembered forever, but it was also because it was the only successful one in history that made it a masterpiece!

When Guan Yu attacked the northern part of Jingzhou, didn't he want to kill Cao Ren again?

Guan Yu must have thought of the same thing!

Unfortunately, Cao Ren is not Yan Liang.

Therefore, the tactics originally formulated by Pang Tong and Zhang Liao, which were very suitable for the northern style, were rejected. Now they have to switch to a more safe approach, which is to first knock out the ambush at Yique, capture the outer strongholds of Luoyang, and then attack Luoyang.

There are three arrows, one representing a thousand people, forming a Chinese character "品", controlling the Yi River and Yique Pass.

Zhang Liao frowned and thought.

In the distance, several soldiers saw Zhang Liao frowning and couldn't help but mutter, "It's just 3,000 people, isn't it? Just kill them and it will be over, right?"

"That's right, we have 5,000 people! If we go up there, one for each person won't be enough!"

"hey-hey……"

"Hahaha……"

"What are you talking about?!" A military school student happened to come over and heard the soldiers' discussion. "If you have time to talk nonsense, why don't you check whether your equipment is ready?!"

Several soldiers immediately responded and scattered like birds and beasts.

With the arrival of this military school, several other forward military schools also arrived one after another and gathered in front of Zhang Liao.

"Tomorrow at Mao time, we will bury the pot and make rice." 』

Zhang Liao suddenly spoke.

"The hour of Mao?" a military school student asked, "This will make us two hours late. By the time we arrive at Yique, it will be almost noon..."

Zhang Liao nodded slowly and pointed at the crude Yique sand table in front of him. "What do you think? Do you have any ideas?"

Another military academy, the one who just scolded the soldiers, looked around and said, "General, I just heard someone say that we have more people and we can win if we charge forward..."

Zhang Liao looked over and asked, "You think so too?"

Zhang Liao was not a very strict person at ordinary times, so the soldiers and military officers were also more relaxed when facing him. The military officer smiled awkwardly, "I felt that something seemed wrong, but I didn't know what to say, so I drove them to work."

Zhang Liao nodded, "If we only fight Yique, there is really no need to think too much."

The military academy students present were not fools, so they understood what Zhang Liao meant.

"How can there be no casualties in a war?" said a military school student.

Zhang Liao looked over and asked, "Have you ever been injured?"

The military school student raised his head and said, "I have been seriously injured three times and suffered countless minor injuries."

Zhang Liao nodded and said, "Yes, you are a brave man. However, among the soldiers who joined the army at the same time as you, how many of them can survive after being injured like you?"

"Well..." The military school fell silent.

"We are all made of flesh and blood," Zhang Liao said solemnly, "Don't regret not being careful enough until you are about to die!"

All the military students stood up and bowed in response.

Zhang Liao waved his hand and asked the military school to move closer to the sand table.

The guards also lit torches for illumination. The light shone on Zhang Liao's armor, and the silk stripes of the armor were still stained with yellow soil left over from the battlefield inspection a few days ago.

Zhang Liao pointed at the arrows on the sand table and said, "The camp of Cao's army is clearly visible. It is the camp of Yique Pass. There are three layers of fortifications. The flags are Cao's general flags, but it is unclear which general is in charge."

Zhang Liao's finger slid across the other side and stopped at the groove that represented the Yi River. "Here, the scouts suspect there is a dam..."

The finger continued to slide and moved to the third arrow. "Scouts reported that smoke from Cao's army was found on the south slope... Because it is inconvenient to get close to investigate, the exact number of people is unknown, but it is estimated that there are at least a thousand people..."

"Cao's troops are guarding in a cross-section," Zhang Liao said. "If we attack Yique Pass, the water will be released upstream, and our formation will be in chaos... If we attack the dam blocking the river, there will be Yique guards on the left and Cao's troops ambushing on the right... If we march directly to the ambush of Cao's troops, we will have to pass Yique Pass and reach the dam..."

After hearing what Zhang Liao said, the military academies also found the situation a bit tricky.

If they ignored the casualties and attacked forcefully, these Cao army soldiers would be nothing. For example, they could split up a small team to withstand the ambush and the attack from the defenders of Yique, and then destroy the dam, which would be equivalent to destroying the most powerful trump card of Cao army, and naturally it would be much easier to fight later. But according to Zhang Liao's intention, he obviously didn't want too many casualties, so of course he needed to make a good deployment...

Everyone was thinking of solutions one after another, and the strategy gradually took shape during such discussions.

……

……

Before the morning mist dissipated, Cao's army began to get nervous.

Zhang Liao appeared on the battlefield with the cavalry vanguard, and the smoke and dust that covered the sky was visible to everyone.

Therefore, the defenders in Yique almost did not sleep well the whole night, fearing that the Hussars would suddenly launch a night attack. After finally waiting for the arrival of day, they hurriedly ate breakfast and waited nervously for the appearance of the Hussars.

Cao Jun didn't know when the Hussars would arrive, but they were sure that Zhang Liao and his men had come here not for sightseeing...

The non-commissioned officers of Cao's army were running back and forth on the front line, encouraging the soldiers and themselves.

"We represent the Son of Heaven! We are the army of justice!"

"Before we attacked Tongguan, they defended it and it was difficult for us to defeat them. Now it's our turn to defend it and it's difficult for them to defeat us either!"

"Don't be nervous! Don't be afraid! We have wooden beams and falling rocks! When they come, we will see whether their bones are harder or the rocks are harder!"

These inspiring words may be useful or useless, but if they are not said now, it seems to make Cao Jun even more uneasy.

After waiting from early morning to morning, and from morning to noon, Cao's soldiers' legs and feet were numb from standing so long, and they muttered to each other, "It's like this today, they probably won't come, right?"

"It's better if you don't come!"

"It's better if you don't come..."

As the sun began to move westward, just when most of Cao's soldiers thought they could get through another day, they suddenly heard screams from scouts outside, and then saw smoke and dust billowing up!

All of a sudden, countless sighs of disappointment from Cao's soldiers formed a cool breeze that whizzed past, causing Cao's flags to flutter in disarray.

"The Cavalry is coming!"

"Get ready!"

"Don't be nervous!" "Don't move!"

All kinds of shouts came one after another.

……

……

Zhang Liao stood on a high slope, looking at Yique Pass in front of him.

"Someone, take down my flag!"

The guard beside him said with some concern: "General, if you really want to withdraw...if...why don't we change to a flag with a different surname..."

In ancient cold weapon battles, the general's flag undoubtedly played an extremely important role.

The general's flag is so important that it even directly affects the outcome of the battlefield, because it is not just a flag, but the visual command center of the entire army.

In the cold weapon era without radio and instant communication, the general's flag was the core tool for battlefield command. Soldiers judged the attack, retreat or change of formation by observing the movement, tilt or color change of the flag. In a battlefield environment of several miles in radius, soldiers used flags as spatial coordinates. The position of front, back, left and right was also determined by the direction between the flag and the commander's flag. Once the commander's flag was lost, it meant the loss of the direction reference, causing the troops to easily fall into a state of confusion where they were lost.

Although the Hussars had copper whistles to enhance the transmission effect of sound, they still had to rely on flags to pass messages. After all, the fighting on the cold weapon battlefield was extremely noisy, almost equivalent to the construction site of a large building. You might not be able to hear what was being shouted at face to face, but flags could convey instructions more clearly. In clear weather, they could be effectively conveyed within a range of 500 to 1,000 meters.

Zhang Liao is now going to tear down the commander's flag and hide it, which means that after the battle begins, he will not command the troops again, and the middle and lower-level military academies have become the actual "commanders" on the battlefield.

Zhang Liao hesitated for a moment, and still gave the order, "Withdraw the flags!"

This is undoubtedly an extremely bold attempt!

Although Zhang Liao convened the military academies and assigned tasks to each academy in the pre-war meeting, explaining how to cooperate and implement certain strategies, who can guarantee that there will be no emergencies or unexpected changes on the battlefield?

If Zhang Liao's flag was still there, then when these accidents occurred, these military academies could make corresponding adjustments and changes according to the guidance of Zhang Liao's flag. However, in order to hide his identity and paralyze the defenders of Yique, Zhang Liao took down the general's flag. This would certainly make it difficult for Cao's army to tell where the center of the cavalry army was, and who was the real commander, which was conducive to the implementation of the strategy, but it would also test the middle and lower-level military academies' execution ability and mutual cooperation ability on the battlefield.

The reason why Zhang Liao did not change the flag of other generals was because he kept the last means of rescue. If the situation really happened, Zhang Liao would raise the big flag again and quickly restore the troops to order. If he raised the flag of other generals at the beginning, even if Zhang Liao changed back to the original flag, it might not have any good effect.

Although Zhang Liao had repeatedly confirmed the tasks between the various military academies, the specific contact methods, the execution procedures and other issues in the military meeting last night, when it really came to implementation, Zhang Liao couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Using Yique Pass, a small-scale battlefield, as an experiment, and handing over the command of the battlefield to the grassroots military academy, this is undoubtedly a brand new attempt, and perhaps also represents a brand new beginning...

……

……

dusk.

Hiding in the reeds of Yishui, the cavalry school untied the arm armor on his left arm and told his soldiers, "Get ready, act more realistic, throw a few pieces of armor... Don't all do the same as me, can't you just change the armor on one arm? And you, don't take off your belt, or you'll be in trouble if you can't run!"

In another half an hour, they would pretend to be a defeated army to lure Cao's army into attacking.

The soldiers on the side complained, "Military school, we have never escaped before! If we have never escaped, how can we pretend? We can't pretend!"

"What you said makes me feel like I'm running away every day!" The military school slapped the soldier on the back of his head, "Damn it, the general said that there are Cao's ambushes on the mountain. If we don't lure them out, do we really have to go up the mountain and search it bit by bit?!"

"Wouldn't it be possible to kill all the soldiers if we set fire to them?" one of the soldiers suddenly said.

"You are so smart!" The military school replied rudely, "What time is it now? Autumn or winter?"

"Uh..." The soldier was stuck.

The military school did not continue to mock, but said, "The scouts reported that the Cao army dug up the graves. The Yin soil found in the water a few days ago was dug out by those wicked guys! Now the Cao army may be hiding in the tomb! If you don't lure them out, are you going to open each grave one by one? ! "

"Are Cao's troops still digging graves?"

"How rare, before... Oh, it's okay..."

The military school turned around and said, "Stop chatting nonsense, check each other! Don't give yourself away! Your armor is too neat, pull it a little askew! Bring all the extra weapons, remember, you can only throw them away when Cao's army is chasing you! Don't throw them all at once!"

"Military Academy, your experience... is really..." An old soldier made fun of the military academy.

"You old fellow! Didn't you see how Cao's army was defeated? Do it the same way!" The military school laughed and scolded back, "If you are exposed, I will punish you to be a manure trough for everyone for a year!"

As he was speaking, the sound of a whistle was heard in the distance, which was the signal for preparation.

……

……

The Cao army's military school was stunned when they saw the hussars "disintegrating" like scattered corn.

"this……"

They couldn't believe their eyes.

But those screams of terror, the armor and swords thrown on the ground, and the scattered flags seemed to tell them that nothing is impossible in this world...

"Defeated! Defeated!"

"There's an ambush! There's an ambush!"

Four or five hundred people shouted indiscriminately, and the noise startled a few wild ducks that were trying to rest in the reeds, causing them to fly around quacking.

The Cao army soldiers looked at each other.

So this is all the Hussars are?

"No... Why are these cavalrymen so weak in battle?"

"Is this a fake defeat?"

"What the hell are we good at? What can they cheat us of?"

"So now... chase her or not?"

Just when everyone was hesitant, one of the Cao army officers suddenly raised his sword and rushed out first, "Kill! Kill the enemy army!"

"Wait!" The Cao army soldiers near the military school tried to stop the military school, "This may be the cavalry luring us!"

"I know!" The military school student continued walking, "It doesn't look real at first glance... Think about how many people looked back when we were defeated? Look at those guys, they kept looking back while running. Are they afraid that we would chase them, or are they afraid that we would not chase them?"

The Cao army soldiers were speechless. "If that's the case, then you, military officer..."

"You idiot," the military school student said as he chased after them, "regardless of whether it was a real defeat or a fake one, we defeated the Hussars! We were the first to rush out and kill them! Look at those swords, spears, and armors, we went up and grabbed them first! This is our achievement!"

The military academy had a good idea, and he also felt something was wrong, but he felt it was an opportunity!

Cao's army had been defeated all the way to Tongguan, abandoning all their weapons and armor in a complete mess. And now the Hussars were being "defeated" in front of them. Whether it was true or not, Fangzheng Military Academy wanted to secure the "merit" first!

Seizing the swords, spears, armor and flags of the Hussars would be a great achievement!

Will the others understand, or will they be unable to control themselves and chase too far, and end up being counterattacked by the Hussars...

What does that have to do with him?

As long as he has made some contribution, that's enough!

As for reminding others, or asking them not to chase...

Don't even think about it!

In Shandong, the more you do, the more mistakes you make!

The truth is to find ways to climb up!

There were many people in Cao's army who would specially make dumplings just for two or three dishes of vinegar. If you want to get promoted in such an environment, you can't just rely on doing more work, you also have to learn to make fewer mistakes!

Just like this time when facing the "defeat" of the Hussars, the safe way is to pursue them, rather than saying that the Hussars were faking their defeat. Because the "natural" thing is the right thing to do. Seeing the enemy's defeat, the "natural" pursuit is in line with the compliance of the procedure and also reflects "political correctness".

The Hussars were defeated, but they were not pursued. Was there any collusion between the Hussars and the Chinese? Is it necessary to activate the accountability mechanism?

Anyway, if they win, it's the credit of the superior generals, and if they lose, it's the fault of the lower-level soldiers. If they "actively" express that there is a risk of pursuing the defeat of the Hussars, then if the Hussars are really defeated, or if they don't pursue and someone later brings up the matter, should they bear the "guilt"?

Choosing to follow the "process" and "convention" rather than the actual situation is undoubtedly the best choice for Shandong to protect itself.

As the military school led the soldiers in pursuit, the other Cao army soldiers looked at each other, couldn't help but shout, and chased after them...