Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 130
"Ah Chen, how are you doing?"

Gan Ning came on horseback. At this time, the Huangmenting soldiers in the rear had already formed a team. Under Shen Chen's command, some of them hid in the Ziyun Mountain on the left, and the other formed an formation on the road.

Shen Chen was also on horseback, watching from a mound about two or three meters high, and when he heard Gan Ning's words, he said, "It's Cao Cao's cavalry who have arrived."

Gan Ning said in a deep voice, "I have ordered the soldiers to form formations immediately, but I am afraid that the enemy will just surround and not attack."

"Definitely so."

Shen Chen nodded and said: "The cavalry can't charge forward, they must swim without attacking, delaying our retreat until the infantry behind arrive, this place is not far from Kunyang, we will fight and retreat, and cover each other. "

"it is good."

Gan Ning said, "I'll go back to the formation immediately, you should be careful."

"rest assured."

Shen Chen nodded. The cavalry is indeed powerful, but before the Tang and Song Dynasties, the role of the cavalry was actually very limited. "Six Secret Teachings" said: "In battle, a cavalry cannot be a pawn."

In other words, the combat effectiveness of a cavalry is not as good as that of an infantry. It was not until the Tang and Song Dynasties that the importance of cavalry was brought into play.

The reason is that before the Western Jin Dynasty, because bilateral stirrups and high-bridge saddles had not yet come out, the cavalry lacked a stable and reliable focus on the horse, so they could not use the powerful impact long-handled weapons of later generations, such as big axes, broadswords, and horses. Lance, armor-piercing cone, etc.

The reason why the fierce generals at that time were able to become fierce generals was that their riding skills were extremely superb. They could clamp the horse's belly completely by relying on the strength of their legs, and forcibly use the strength of their legs and waist to give the upper body a point of strength.

Others can't use big axes, big knives, horse lances, and armor-piercing cones to charge the battle, but they can achieve it. One man and one horse will fight in the crowd, such as Xiang Yu and Guan Yu.

Don't look at the later fierce generals who were also very fierce. For example, Li Cunxiao and Yang Zaixing were fierce generals who were killed by a hundred people. But if they lacked stirrups and Takahashi saddles, they may not be able to achieve the impressive results in history.

So this is why there is a reputation that the king is not a bully, and Guan Yu is the enemy of ten thousand people.

Therefore, the cavalry before the Western Jin Dynasty had not actually evolved into the later shock-type heavy cavalry that could smash the infantry formation head-on with a thunderous force.

It is the kind of cavalry-type light cavalry who occasionally uses halberds, spears, ring-head knives and other melee weapons that are not difficult to operate, and focuses on bows and arrows.

Because of this, the cavalry at that time were mainly used to perform auxiliary combat tasks such as reconnaissance, security, patrol, and sneak attack.

For example, in the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao led [-] cavalry straight to Wuchao. After arriving at Wuchao, he actually dismounted to fight and defeated Chunyuqiong, and burned Wuchao's food and grass.

From the Qin Dynasty to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the so-called invincible Huns cavalry had lost many battles.

For example, the tactics Meng Tian and Li Mu used to defeat the Xiongnu were infantry + chariots + crossbows, and their weakness in attacking fortifications was fully exposed.

Even in the late period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the tens of thousands of cavalry of the Xiongnu were helpless in the face of the [-] infantry formation formed by Li Ling. Their final victory was largely due to the fact that the Han army ran out of bows and arrows.

Therefore, combining all kinds of factors, it is enough to show that it was difficult for the cavalry at that time to form lethality against the infantry formed in formation.

Their only role in the frontal battlefield is to outflank from both wings when the infantry of one's own side engages with the infantry of the enemy.

This kind of combat example was the same before the Western Jin Dynasty, including the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the wars of the Roman Empire. There has never been a frontal assault of cavalry.

Because of this, Shen Chen was actually not very worried about the cavalry cavalry of the cavalry rushing towards him.

It's just that the cavalry of Cao Jun obviously didn't want to confront them head-on, but to restrain them by riding and shooting from the flanks, and then strangled them from the flanks when the infantry from the rear came up.

For this set of tactics, Shen Chen had never eaten pork, but he had seen pigs running. He had seen this kind of play of the Huns when he was watching "Historical Records", so he had to respond.

"Array, array, array!"

High-pitched shouts spread throughout the wilderness, officers at all levels whistled and urged, and the soldiers began to line up neatly and point their spearheads to the north.

At this moment, the sound of thunderous iron hoofs whizzed over, as if the earth was shaking and the mountains were shaking, wanting to crush everything in front of them into powder.

Cao Cao personally led the cavalry, and they have chased to Ziyun Mountain area. This is actually not a good place for cavalry, because the official road is relatively narrow. On the left side of Shen Chen’s army, and on the right side of Cao Jun’s army is Ziyun Mountain, a remnant of Funiu Mountain. .

On the right side of Shen Chen's army and the left side of Cao's army, there was a wilderness, with farmland, villages, and jungles. Although there were some grasslands, the criss-crossed fields still had a great impact on the cavalry's rapid attack.

Even if the hinterland of the Central Plains is a plain area, it will cause some troubles for the cavalry due to the reclamation of farming civilization.Later, when the northern nomads went south countless times, this was proved.

At this moment, Cao Jun's cavalry was pressing down like a cloud.

Shen Chen was watching from a small hillside at the foot of Ziyun Mountain. From a distance, he saw first a black dot appeared on the northern horizon, then dozens, hundreds, and finally formed a dense row, like It occupied the entire ground and did not stop until two miles away.

No one moved.

In this way, the two sides fell into an extremely silent confrontation. The originally noisy sound of horseshoes running, high-pitched roar, and the roar of the earth gradually subsided. Except for the occasional neighing of war horses wagging their tails, the air was quiet.

The soldiers in the front row of Huangmen Pavilion tightly clenched their weapons. No matter how much they trained on weekdays, when they actually went to the battlefield and encountered the enemy's cavalry force head-on, they must have felt guilty.

In this tense confrontation, Shen Chenjun was the first to break the silence.The soldiers in the first row suddenly received an order to evacuate from the left and right sides and go to the back row.

The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately started to run backwards as a whole, followed by the second row, the third row, and the fourth row. The front row continued to maintain the fighting posture, and then retreated backwards.

3000 people are not many in the first place. In future generations, when four or five thousand students from junior high school or high school hold a conference, the team will be denser than them.

Just because of the need to stand separately, the area occupied is still not small, about half the size of the playground.

The soldiers in the front row are generally only about [-] people. This small-scale rapid movement not only maintains high efficiency, but also makes it difficult for the enemy cavalry to attack directly. Once they make a move, the soldiers in other rows can fight.

Seeing this, Cao Cao in the distance waved his hand and said, "Shoot the arrow!"

"Fire arrows!"

shouted the orderly.

Hulala Thousands of knights took off the bows and arrows hanging from the side of the horse, and then rode the horse and galloped in the direction of Shen Chenjun.

Strictly speaking, riding archery has appeared as early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, such as the most famous Hufu riding archery, but the problem is that there is a lack of saddles and high bridge stirrups, so it is impossible to shoot arrows while riding a horse.

This kind of person requires extremely high riding skills, as well as superb skills.According to the entire official history of the Three Kingdoms, only Liu Bei, Dong Zhuo, Gongsun Zan, Lu Bu and a few generals who grew up in the border areas and were extremely powerful in horsemanship can do it, and ordinary soldiers can't do it at all.

Therefore, these people basically rushed over on horseback, and then reached a position about an arrow away from Shen Chen's army, and began to draw their bows and shoot arrows.

The problem is that it's no different than two sides shooting at each other.

Li Ling's 5000 men were stationed at the foot of the mountain. Relying on crossbows and shields, they fought against [-] Hun cavalry. Then, under the siege of [-] Hun cavalry, they fought and retreated for several days and nights.

If it was replaced by heavy cavalry with stirrups and heavy armor, Li Ling would have died long ago.

It can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the cavalry in the Han Dynasty is no different from that of infantry except for their mobility. Only a particularly fierce general can control it.

Seeing that the opponent did not charge with a spear and a horse, but charged towards this side with a bow and arrow in his hand, obviously intending to shoot an arrow, the soldiers in Huangmenting were in a commotion, and the officers kept berating them before they calmed down.

Shen Chen immediately shouted: "Pikemen retreat, sword and shield hands move forward, and crossbowmen get ready!"

The [-] Huangmenting soldiers were armed by a small-scale military school group with the standard of the Han Dynasty. Those who have seen the pictures of the soldiers' equipment in the Han Dynasty should know that the soldiers of the Han Dynasty were divided into different types, some with shields and swords, and some with shields and spears. Yes, some with bows and crossbows, and some with daggers on horseback.

They are sword and shield hand, gun shield hand, crossbowman, light cavalry, and sword and axe hand without shield.

However, that was the Western Han Dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, weapons and equipment became more abundant. With the mass production of ring-shoulders, the swords and shields of the Western Han Dynasty gradually withdrew from the historical stage and transformed into swords and shields. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, even hook-embedded shields appeared.

It’s just that the Huangmenting soldiers didn’t set up this kind of hook inlays. The shields at that time were not all iron. Most of them were wooden shields with iron sheets inlaid on them, and they were small in size, ranging from 0.6 meters to 0.8 meters in length. When encountering archery in war, people can curl up behind the shield to resist arrows.

Now Cao Cao ordered the cavalry to shoot arrows, not the kind of Mongolian soldiers who fly kites and shoot on horseback. In fact, it will not take advantage of it.

At present, under Shen Chen's command, all arms immediately began to line up. The spearmen retreated and ran in the direction of Ziyun Mountain in the rear, and the sword and shield hands moved forward to cover the crossbowmen and counterattack!

He shoots arrows, we shoot arrows too, just shoot at each other!
"Fire arrows!"

With a shout, the sharp whistle resounded through the sky.

"Fire arrows!"

The archery orders were issued almost simultaneously on both sides.

"Boo! Hah! Hah!"

The sound of the arrows tore through the void, and the distance between the two sides was exactly one arrow, that is, more than 140 meters, and they all shot from their backs.

In an instant, the people on both sides turned their backs on their backs, Huang Menting's side lost a lot, and Cao Jun's loss was even greater.

After all, they couldn't raise their shields on horses.

"withdraw!"

Cao Jun's tinkling golden sound resounded.

The cavalry began to retreat one after another, leaving behind nearly a hundred horses and soldiers' corpses, turning their horses' heads and running back.

The order to withdraw troops was given by Cao Cao. He frowned and felt sorry for the horses on the ground.

It was so embarrassing for the cavalry to deal with the infantry at that time, so this is why since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the farming civilization has made the nomads unable to find the north. After the appearance of the stirrup and the high bridge saddle, the situation will be reversed.

Now Shen Chen formed an array on the spot, shooting each other with him.Although both sides have bows and arrows, because they are not in the camp or city, the supply troops have not kept up, basically only the arrows they carry with them.

Like Li Ling, there was a large cart as a battalion. In fact, they had to bring a certain amount of luggage, so that they could last for a few more days. They didn't have vehicles to follow them, and they probably disappeared after a few rounds of shooting.

So Cao Cao felt sorry for the lack of war horses, secondly, he didn't have many arrows, and thirdly, Gan Ning's entire army was coming to this side, so he couldn't get all five thousand cavalry to rush forward and take all the arrows he carried. All the arrows were shot.

"Take the corpse of your companion and go!"

Seeing Cao Jun retreating, Shen Chen immediately seized the opportunity to retreat.

At this time, Gan Ning had also lined up his team to press forward to cover Shen Chen's team, and soon Huangmenting's soldiers retreated to the south.

Xu Chu asked beside him, "Sikong, do you just let them go?"

Cao Cao looked at Ziyun Mountain, shook his head and said, "The terrain here is extremely unfavorable to us. They are backed by mountains and have supporting troops beside them. Once they get entangled, the consequences will be unpredictable."

"so what should I do now?"

Xu Chu asked.

Cao Cao pointed to the front and said: "After passing this mountain, there are still tens of miles to Kunyang. The road is flat, so we can take advantage of the cavalry and surround them from all sides. I don't believe their turning speed can be faster than ours. quick."

It has to be said that Cao Cao's tactical command before battle is indeed a genius level.

The disadvantage of cavalry is obvious. They can't charge into battle, they can't ride and shoot, they can only stand and shoot arrows, which is equivalent to a group of highly mobile archers. , You need to cooperate with infantry to exert your strength.

But it is not impossible to deal with infantry on the plains. They have [-] cavalry against [-] infantry, and they can try to divide their troops to encircle them.

Everyone in the cavalry has bows and arrows, but the proportion of crossbowmen among the 5000 infantry is actually not high. For example, Li Ling's 1000 troops actually only have more than [-] crossbowmen.

Once the cavalry formed an encirclement circle against the infantry on the plain, even if they were standing and shooting at each other, the infantry would not have enough crossbowmen among the infantry, and coupled with the need to deal with shooting from multiple directions, it would be impossible to cover everything.

At that time, Shen Chenjun will be completely targeted.

Therefore, when Shen Chen's back was against the mountainous area, the cavalry had no effect and could not stop them from retreating, but when they got out of the mountainous area of ​​Ziyun Mountain, the situation would take a turn for the worse.

So Cao Cao commanded Cao Jun's cavalry to retreat a little first, and followed them like the tail of a crane.

Seeing this situation, how could Shen Chen not know what Cao Cao was thinking?
Immediately he approached Gan Ning and said, "Uncle Xingba, we are now at the foot of the mountain, covered by forests, Cao Jun can only attack from one direction. But when we get out of the mountain, Cao Cao can let the cavalry surround us to shoot arrows, our bows and crossbows It is impossible for the hand to fight back in every direction, and the loss will inevitably be heavy, and after a few rounds of arrow rain, the team collapses, and they can pursue and kill."

"What should I do?"

Gan Ning frowned, this is indeed a big problem.

Shen Chen said: "Now there is only one way, leave a group of troops to contain them, and the rest of the troops go back to Kunyang and use the supply carriage to cover the retreat of the troops. You should send someone back to Kunyang immediately and let Lou Fa get the carriage ready. Send someone to meet us."

This method was not Shen Chen's idea, but he read "Historical Records" records, when Wei Qing was fighting the battle of Dingxiang North, the main force of the Han army ran into the main force of the Xiongnu Shanyu on the northern grassland hundreds of miles away from Dingxiang. That is to use the heavy carts as cover, shoot with a strong crossbow, annihilate thousands of Huns, and then return to Dingxiang to rest.

Including when Li Ling was in the battle of Junji Mountain, he also used the heavy carts as camp fortresses to repel tens of thousands of Huns cavalry.

Therefore, the best way to suddenly encounter cavalry in the wild is to find a way to find a bunker to prevent the cavalry from outflanking and dividing the battlefield after shooting arrows.Now they can still do this by relying on Ziyun Mountain, but they can't do it on the plain behind, so they have to go back to Kunyang to get the baggage truck.

But Gan Ning said: "I have a large number of troops. If I go back, they will definitely choose to bypass you instead of fighting with you, and come directly to chase me. The infantry can't outrun the cavalry. When you come, I will definitely lose It's so serious, it's better for me to stand firm here, you go back first, and then cover me after you get the baggage cart."

"Well"

Shen Chen pondered for a while, and after thinking about it, he nodded and said, "Okay."

There are few people and the goals are small.

Cao Cao definitely wanted to encircle and suppress Shen Chen's main force. Gan Ning left 5000 men here. Cao Cao could not let this big piece of meat go, so there is a high probability that he will let these 3000 people go.

However, we have to plan for the worst, that is, Cao Cao chooses to go after him, abandoning Gan Ning who stayed behind in the mountains, and runs to chase Shen Chen.

Therefore, Gan Ning had to block the entire road in order to break the queen for Shen Chen.

Everyone in Xiangcheng knows that there are Lingwu Mountain, Baishi Mountain, and Ziyun Mountain in the west of Ziyun Mountain in the south, and Shou Mountain in the east. It is a small mountain range that stretches for more than ten kilometers.

This means that there are mountains on the left and right sides of this mountainous area, but the problem is that the distance between them is a bit far, more than ten kilometers, so the two mountains do not form a valley, and the cavalry is a formation that can completely bypass Gan Ning.

The good news is that there are too many farmland and villages on both sides, which seriously hinders the cavalry from pursuing. Therefore, as long as Gan Ning spreads out his formation, the enemy will have to detour a long way even if he wants to pursue him. Gan Ning can still retreat to follow Go to Shen Chen for support.

At that moment, Gan Ning and Shen Chen began to divide their troops. Shen Chen's troops passed through Gan Ning's troops and arrived at the rear. Spread the word, be serious.

And Cao Cao in the distance also saw this scene, but he didn't know where Shen Chen was. After all, he was so far away. He just saw the enemy divide his troops, and two to 3000 people retreated to the rear, obviously wanting to cover and return to Kunyang.

"Shen Chen didn't bring any luggage when he came here this time, and the number of bows and arrows must not be very large. I guess he will go back to Kunyang to mobilize the rear reinforcements this time, and the second will go back to get the luggage vehicles. When there are enough arrows, there is no need to use them." afraid of us."

Cao Cao analyzed and said.

Xu Chu said, "Sikong, why don't we bypass those blocking the road and pursue and destroy those who divide the troops?"

Cao Cao shook his head and said, "No, this Purple Cloud Mountain stretches for dozens of miles. Even if we chase after them, they will immediately cling to the mountain like now. At this time, the former army returns to help, but we are in danger."

"That"

Xu Chu thought so too. The cavalry had to go out of the mountains to show their strength. They hadn't gone out of the mountains yet. At that time, they would continue to rely on the defense of the mountains, and then the troops intercepted in front would go back. Wouldn't they be double-teamed?

At this moment, Guan Yu said, "Sikong, since that's the case, why don't you divide your troops and pursue them?"

"If you divide your troops."

Cao Cao pondered for a moment, then glanced at Xu Chu. Xu Chu's riding skills were average, and he might not be able to act as a cavalry commander to command the cavalry to fight.

This is also true.

Looking at Xu Chu's record in his life, he was relatively poor in the early stage. He teamed up with Xu Huang and was repulsed by Guan Yu.

It can be seen that, at least for now, he is no less than Dianwei Zhang Fei in foot combat, but he is only one level behind in cavalry combat.

At least during the Battle of Guandu, Xu Chu, the first-class military general, and Zhang He, the first-class general, were evenly tied for [-] or [-] rounds, which shows that his cavalry is at best first-class or even weaker.

Seeing Cao Cao's hesitation, Guan Yu took the initiative to say: "The final general is willing to share Sikong's worries!"

"Well."

Cao Cao thought about it, Xu Chu's cavalry level is average, but Guan Yu is very strong, he should be able to take on this important task.

But if Guan Yu wasn't around, would he take this opportunity?

Thinking of this, Cao Cao looked at Guan Yu suspiciously.

But Guan Yu looked at him seriously.

Cao Cao suddenly woke up.

Yun Chang has always been loyal and would never leave secretly, so he said: "Okay, Yun Chang, you lead 500 people to chase after you."

"only!"

Guan Yu let out a whistling sound, and took his orders and left.

At that moment, he was riding a red rabbit horse, leading fifteen hundred knights, and detoured eastward to the direction Shen Chen left to catch up with him. Xu Chu said, "Sikong, will Guan Yu take advantage of this opportunity?"

Cao Cao shook his head: "It's okay, Yun Chang is a loyal person, he won't be like this."

"That's too much to say."

Xu Chu stopped talking.

Cao Cao squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of the Gan Ning army in the distance.

He didn't know that Shen Chen was in the leaving army, but it didn't matter, as long as it was delayed for a few more hours, this army couldn't leave Yingchuan!

　Originally, what I wanted to finish writing this chapter was nothing more than the interaction between Guan Yu and Shen Chen. Immediately, Uncle Huang will arrive in Runan, but he moved tonight and ran away with a bucket carrying a salute, so he couldn't finish it.

　　In addition, some people say that you should stop cooperating with Liu Bei. Don’t use Liu Bei from the last book. I didn’t write the last book well.

　　And if you want to fight against Cao, you must cooperate with Liu Bei, because the protagonist wants to be self-reliant, it is too difficult, at least Yuan Shao has to be the general of the Han Dynasty in the name of supporting the Han Dynasty, and he is a belt edict, if you don’t With righteousness and fame, the end is no different from Yuan Shu.Unless I cheat on the protagonist, I will definitely be scolded for cheating.

　　So it’s difficult to say that everyone’s opinion is difficult. I’m going to hang up the protagonist’s self-reliance, and the readers scold it for being untrue. Liu Biao and Liu Zhang dare not proclaim themselves emperor even if they are relatives of the Han Dynasty. How is it possible?
　　But I don't cheat on the protagonist, like a normal person in the Three Kingdoms, he has to rely on the rules of the time to act, and you scold me for not being self-reliant and embarrassing the time traveler, it's really difficult.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)