Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 132 The Battle of Kunyang
For infantry, the plain area after Ziyun Mountain is like being surrounded by cavalry on the grassland, which belongs to the death zone.

As I said before, in a team of 1 infantry, there are only [-] crossbowmen at most.

Everyone in the light cavalry carried bows and arrows, so even if they were surrounded and shot at each other, Shen Chen's army had only 8000 archers out of 1000, while Cao's army had [-], and the other soldiers could only be used as targets.

However, during the Han Dynasty, the way the Han people dealt with the grassland peoples has always been to use baggage carts or chariots specially used for temporary construction of camps to encircle the city walls and use them as fortresses.

Li Ling used this method to deal with [-] Han troops and [-] Hun cavalry on the prairie for several days, fighting and retreating, and retreating all the way south.

So if there is no terrain like Ziyun Mountain and no other defensive facilities, the cavalry can indeed crush the infantry on the plains and grasslands because of their mobility.But once there is a chariot camp, the situation will immediately reverse.

Compared with archery, infantry are covered by chariots, such as oversized shields, which can resist crossbow shooting.Compared with melee combat, the cavalry's offensive ability is not as good as that of infantry even in the era of stirrups and Takahashi saddles.

So that's why Shen Chen needed to send someone to fetch the baggage carriage from the rear.

At this time, Lou Fa left 1000 people to guard Kunyang, and he personally led 1000 people and came to support with [-] baggage carriages.The cars and horses were rumbling, and the sky was full of dust, like small cars, rolling and surging.

Seeing this situation, Guan Yu immediately said: "The enemy sent chariots and horses over, we must stop them, we can't let their soldiers and horses join together, let's all attack the chariots!"

"attack!"

The messengers issued military orders one after another.

At that moment, many cavalrymen of Cao Jun immediately turned their horses and headed towards the battlefield.

Shen Chen went to chat with Guan Yu, of course Shen Zhen and Deng Zhao knew about it, so even without the chief general, under their orders, the soldiers of Huangmenting were still as safe as a mountain.

Seeing the enemy suddenly turn to the south at this moment, Deng Zhao immediately knew what to do, and immediately said: "Return to the rescue carriage, go!"

"Come on!"

The Huangmenting soldiers also charged immediately.

As the chariot approached in the distance, seeing the cavalry of Cao Jun rushing towards this side, they immediately began to form a camp, and Lou Fa commanded the crossbowmen to shoot arrows outward.

"咻咻咻" the rain of arrows was pouring down, beating Cao's soldiers on their backs, killing and injuring hundreds of people in an instant.

The soldiers and horses of Huangmenting from the rear came again, attacking back and forth, Guan Yu seemed to realize that something was wrong, and immediately ordered: "Quick retreat!"

"withdraw!"

The orderlies sounded their warning whistles to retreat.

Soon Cao Jun retreated with hundreds of corpses. This is how the cavalry met the crossbowmen. Baima Yicong was invincible in Youzhou.

If it hadn't been for Guan Yu's fear that the order would be delayed and Cao Cao would become suspicious and delay for a while, it is estimated that not many of the thousand and five hundred cavalry returned intact.

When Cao Jun fled far away, Shen Chen immediately joined Lou Fa, and then galloped back to Kunyang, leaving Lou Fa to defend the city again.

After Guan Yu was defeated here, he immediately went back to report to Cao Cao.However, the horses had exhausted a lot of energy when they raided before, so he could only choose to retreat a few miles, find a place to feed the horses some fine bean feed, rest for half an hour, and then return.

The main reason is that the stamina of the horse is not very good. If the horse is to maintain its strength, it needs to be fed with fine feed before the battle, and even bring some of it by itself, otherwise it can last at most one day.

For example, tigers and leopards chased for a day and a night. Cao Cao led [-] elite cavalry to cross the Yanshan Mountains for a month and arrived at Bailang Mountain. They all brought their own feed.

This back and forth was delayed for some time, and by the time Cao Cao learned about the situation, it was already afternoon.

"Shen Chen took the chariot?"

Cao Cao saw Guan Yu who had returned.

Guan Yu's face was expressionless, and he looked dignified. In fact, he didn't have a good look at Cao Cao, and said in a dull tone: "Yes, we wanted to delay the time, but we didn't expect Shen Chen to send someone to inform the Kunyang defenders in advance. , the Kunyang defenders sent chariots to come, we were defeated and had no choice but to retreat."

"Well"

Cao Cao nodded. He is a master tactician. How could he not know that chariots can restrain cavalry? He didn't blame him at the moment, and said, "Yun Chang has done his best, you should go to rest first."

"only."

Guan Yu went to the rear to rest first.

After a while, Cao Cao summoned his lieutenant again, and the lieutenant told what had happened, including Guan Yu's pursuit of Shen Chen and Shen Chen's disappearance.

But there is actually no loophole in this process. Now that Guan Yu is well-known, it is normal for Shen Chen to come out to provoke and be chased away. Moreover, Guan Yu’s arrangement is not a problem. If he listened to the left lieutenant and took the initiative to attack, the loss would be even greater. .

So from Cao Cao's point of view, there was nothing suspicious about the whole matter, and naturally he didn't go into it. It was just that when he saw Gan Ning digging trenches and felling trees from a distance, he frowned tightly.

Shen Chen's use of chariots as a cover was obviously beyond Cao Cao's expectations, and it would be meaningless to delay the time now, because the rear pawns would take at least three or four hours to arrive.

And this time is enough for Shen Chen to drive thousands of carriages, and when the time comes to use the carriages to guard against them while walking, they will have no chance.

The sun gradually went down.

Time passed minute by minute.

In the evening, the sky was getting dark, probably at the end of the day, and at the beginning of dusk, Cao Cao's soldiers and horses had already retreated a few miles away.

About an hour later, Gan Ning's army in the distance, although there was no camp, felled a lot of trees, and burned a lot of fires in the open space dug around the earth pit, illuminating the night sky and preventing Cao's army from attacking at night.

Suddenly the wheels rolled in the south, and reinforcements arrived.

Xiangcheng is only forty kilometers away from Kunyang, and Ziyun Mountain is just in the middle.

Shen Chen set off at the beginning of the morning meal. Based on the average marching speed of about five kilometers per hour, it took them more than three hours to walk more than ten kilometers before eleven o'clock at noon, and arrived at the purple city, which is fifteen kilometers away from Xiangcheng. Yunshan area.

It is less than 25 kilometers away from Kunyang. Under normal circumstances, even ordinary people walk at an average of 4-5 kilometers per hour. If you walk a little faster, you can walk four or five times with the foot strength exercised by the Huangmenting soldiers. Hours, you can return to Kunyang around four or five o'clock in the afternoon.

But they were dragged to Ziyun Mountain by Cao Cao, so when Shen Chen set off from Kunyang again to rescue Gan Ning, it was already close to six o'clock in the evening, the sky became dark, and he didn't arrive in Gan Ning until close to nine o'clock. place.

If there is a delay of several hours, the pawns behind Cao Cao will arrive.

At that time, it will be fighting with Cao Jun's main infantry in the wild, coupled with cavalry harassment, the consequences will be disastrous.

"Uncle Xingba."

"Achen."

In the night, soon Shen Chen and Gan Ning met.

Cao Jun cavalry lit torches several miles away and watched them from a distance in the darkness. Shen Chen seemed to be able to feel Cao Cao's hateful eyes from afar.

"let's go!"

Shen Chen shouted, beckoning everyone to retreat.

Cao Jun didn't stop them this time either, because Cao Cao knew very well that it was pointless to chase after them. They could fight them with their horse-drawn carts. With all the carts coming, the bows and arrows must be enough, and the cavalry would only suffer if they shot against each other.

So at twelve o'clock at night, Shen Chen and Gan Ning successfully withdrew to Kunyang and held on to the city with only a loss of two to three hundred people.

Two days later, about 2 Cao Cao's main force arrived at the city of Kunyang.

Li Tong's troops plus some of Xudu's defenders and cavalry led by him personally, because there was a supply unit brought from Xudu in the rear, which contained a lot of siege equipment, so after arriving in Kunyang, Cao Cao was not ambiguous. Order to start attacking the city.

The two sides fought fiercely around Kunyang City. In fact, the troops in Shenchen City lost a part when they robbed Yexian Kunyang Wuyang City, and also lost part when they evacuated. Now there are only 9000 people.

In addition, Kunyang City is not a big city, and it doesn't even have a moat, so this battle was fought extremely hard. Cao Cao had catapults at this time, and he also built a dozen of them.Although there was nothing wrong with the city wall, the towers at the north city gate were blown down, causing a lot of casualties in the city.

In fact, the catapults at that time were very close, with an effective distance of only 70 to [-] meters. This range was completely within the range of archers.But at that time there was something called a wooden mantle, which was specially used to defend against bows and arrows, and Shen Chen didn't have rockets, so under the cover of the wooden mantle, the catapults almost went to the bottom of the city wall to output, constantly bombarding the city.

For a while, the morale of the army in the city dropped rapidly.

However, Shen Chen and Gan Ning personally went to the city to supervise the battle every time. Although the casualties were not small, they still maintained their morale.

In a few days, more than a thousand people were killed and injured on both sides, and the battle was extremely tragic.

Under normal circumstances, Cao Cao would make more catapults, bombard the city constantly, put psychological pressure on the people in the city, and slowly besiege to death. This time can be long or short, as short as a month or two, as long as a year or a half.

After all, the catapults at that time were not very powerful, and it was difficult to cause damage to the city walls. At most, they could deter the soldiers. As long as the soldiers reacted faster, it was easy to escape.

But at this time Cao Cao was obviously in a hurry. After each bombardment, he would send infantry to storm the city.

The reason for this was that Yuan Shao put too much pressure on him, and no one knew when Yuan Shao would come, so he had to eliminate Shen Chen as soon as possible, and immediately go north to Guandu to redeploy his defenses after eliminating the troubles.

It's just that Shen Chen's tenacity still exceeded his expectations. The battle to attack the city was extremely difficult, and there was no effect for several days. The soldiers were also exhausted and their morale was low.

On April [-]th, Cao Cao did not go out today. Instead, he rested in the camp and let the soldiers rest for two days. He planned to make more preparations and build more siege equipment before continuing to launch a fierce attack on the city.

It was the scorching early summer, and the lunar calendar was in April, but according to the Gregorian calendar of later generations, it was already late May, close to the midsummer of June, so the weather was very hot, and the cicadas in the forest outside the city were constantly singing.

Cao Cao has been staring at the map of Kunyang's surrounding terrain in the camp. Kunyang is backed by Funiu Mountain, and its west is a mountain range. Therefore, it is not easy to fight from the west of the city due to terrain problems. You can only attack from the north, south and east cities. Cao Cao I was considering whether to send people to attack Wuyang and Ye County first, and then surround Kunyang on three sides.

It's just that he doesn't know how much food and grass there is in the city. If he can persist for a year or so, then this tactic is meaningless. He doesn't have time to spend it here with Shen Chen.

Just when he was thinking, someone outside the tent suddenly shouted: "Report!"

"Come in."

"Sikong, Man Chong, the prefect of Runan, sent a messenger to see him."

"Let him come."

"only."

The door guard went to deliver the messenger.

After a while, messengers came in and saw Cao Cao knelt on one knee and said, "Sikong, Sun Ce in Jiangdong has made frequent changes recently. He secretly dispatched troops and threatened to go north to attack Guangling. Prefect Man suspected that he wanted to attack Xudu by surprise, so Wrote an official document and submitted it to Sikong."

"Bring it up."

Cao Cao's brows were furrowed. Naturally, Sun Ce's change couldn't be hidden from his eyes, otherwise he wouldn't have put Li Tong and Man Chong in Runan.

But at this juncture he started to move again, which is very worrying.

Sure enough, Man Chong explained Sun Ce's changes in detail these days, and Cao Cao immediately realized that Sun Ce did have the intention of attacking Xudu, and he suddenly felt depressed.

It happened at this time!
It happened at this time!
He walked back and forth in the tent very annoyed. Although Shen Chen hadn't been captured yet, as long as he continued to attack, he believed that Kunyang would last at most another month.

But Yuan Shao in the north hadn't gone south yet, so Sun Ce was going to do it first, which made Cao Cao very upset and his anger rose.

"hateful!"

At the end, he kicked the desk away and shouted: "Pass down my general order, and continue to attack the city tomorrow!"

"only!"

The messengers went to convey orders to the generals of the battalions.

And Cao Cao sat down angrily. The so-called attacking the city tomorrow is of course just a deterrent.

If he couldn't do it at that time, he could take advantage of the situation and pretend to retreat, and it would be fine for Shen Chen to come and chase him. If Shen Chen didn't come, he would withdraw to Xudu.

This is exactly the same as in history when he evacuated Nanyang overnight because he heard that Yuan Shao had attacked Xudu.

It's just that while Yuan Shao threatened him, Sun Ce came to meddle again, which made Cao Cao feel even worse.

After welcoming the emperor, apart from the smooth sailing for the first two years, the situation has taken a turn for the worse since this year. If it wasn't for Jingnan Zhang Xian, he might have been besieged by Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, and Sun Ce.

This Liu Xie is really a double-edged sword.

Thinking of this, he had no choice but to think on the spot if Sun Ce came to attack, what would he choose?

The water route is definitely not possible, and the land route must be chosen.

When the time comes, he will withdraw to Xudu, first let Li Tong go back to Runan, wait and see for a while, see Yuan Shao, Chen Chen and their movements, and then decide whether to go south or north.

It's really difficult to besieged on all sides.

Cao Cao sighed.

Soon, on the second day, Cao Jun launched a fierce attack again and fought fiercely for a day. Like the previous days, Cao Jun left hundreds of corpses and hurriedly evacuated in the evening.

At this moment, Gan Ning was covered in blood. Cao Jun's offensive was indeed swift and fierce. He hit the city wall several times, but he fought back with bloody battles.

Shen Chen also killed two enemies with his hands. Although his strength is not as good as Guan Zhang, he is slightly stronger than ordinary soldiers. If the strength of ordinary soldiers is [-], he should have [-]. After all, he has practiced. Many years of martial arts.

It's just that he needs to occupy the command position and give orders constantly, so he has no record.But at the end of the day, he was exhausted enough, standing on the top of the city, watching Cao Jun receding like a tide.

After Cao Jun returned to the camp, he immediately began to dismantle the camp, as if he had plans to withdraw his troops in the starry night.

To the north of Kunyang City is a flat plain area. Standing on the top of the city, except for some forests, you can have a panoramic view for several kilometers.

Gan Ning was also leaning against the parapet wall at this time, gasping for breath and saying, "Ah Chen, Cao Cao is about to withdraw."

"Ah."

Shen Chen nodded: "We threatened Cao Cao's rear, and he couldn't easily withdraw his troops. This means that either Yuan Shao has a move to go south, or Sun Ce has a move to go north."

"It has something to do with Sun Ce?"

Gan Ning was surprised.

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Sun Ce occupies a safe corner in the east of the river, and the killings have been heavy these years. It is because he has insufficient foundation in the east of the river. Except for Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others, there are very few people who support him from the aristocratic family. Cao Cao coerced the emperor to order the princes, Numerous aristocratic families responded immediately, and it is impossible for Sun Ce not to be envious of such a righteous name."

"He also wants to learn from Cao Cao?"

Gan Ning curled his lips, I heard that Sun Ce is a boy in his twenties, and he has such great talent?

Shen Chen said: "Sun Ce is also a lion in the east of the Yangtze River. Don't underestimate him. Now that there is a severe drought, it is difficult to get to Xuchang from the east of the Yangtze River by water and land. Sun Ce must go by land. I think Cao Cao will divide his troops to Runan. Then we can continue to go north to harass It's all over."

"I hope so."

Gan Ning was so tired that he rested on the city wall. Like him, soldiers were strewn all over the city wall. Those who had the strength in the reserve team at the rear were carrying corpses and stones, and cleaning the battlefield in an orderly manner.

Shen Chen looked at Cao Ying in the north in a daze. He was considering whether to pursue Cao Cao and continue to create pressure on Cao Cao.

Sun Ce died this year. Although Shen Chen doesn't know the exact month, it is estimated that it will be around this month to next month, so Sun Ce will not be able to send troops. When the news of Sun Ce's death reaches Xudu, there is a high probability that Cao Cao will take Li. All the tricks to deal with him.

At that time, the pressure he will face will be even greater. If he can take advantage of Cao Cao's retreat and choose to pursue him, it will be like Huan Wen's Northern Expedition to Guanzhong.

In the Battle of Nanyang, Zhang Xiu chased Cao Cao who was eager to go north. Although he lost the first battle, he won the second battle. If he could pursue him, he might be able to win the battle.

He only needs to be able to kill more Cao troops. When Cao Cao needs to concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shao, Xu Du's defensive power will be further weakened, and he will be able to do more things.

But this idea is definitely good, just need to wait and see to see if Cao Cao really retreats, or pretends to retreat and deceive him.

Therefore, he planned to send scouts to observe the situation and see what Cao Cao was planning.

　Uncle Huang will be here soon, everyone, don't rush.In addition, in the recent meeting, you cannot see the comments between you, but I can see them, so please post more comments to see if there are any problems, and remember to tell me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)