Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

According to the traditional military practice, an troop that is chosen as the vanguard or first to attack must either be favored or have trustworthy combat capabilities, one of the two must be the case.

After the Qinzhou battle two years ago, Yin Jian, who was originally a general, was promoted to a general. After being transferred from Qian Zhao's troops to Zhang He's command, he gradually became a favorite of Zhang He.

As Zhang He, Lu Xun and Li Yan went to the enemy to check the situation, the Wei army in the camp behind them also prepared for battle. Lu Xun led the Qiang cavalry to guard the camp, while Zhang He led 14,000 foreign troops to advance seven or eight miles and confront the Shu army camp from a distance.

Two thousand soldiers were thrown out by Zhang He as the spearhead of the army. Yin Jian, who led this unit, took the order firmly and marched forward from the army formation.

Regardless of winning or losing, you must always maintain your momentum. In an army, you can tolerate mediocrity, defeat, and corruption, but the only thing you cannot tolerate is being cowardly and afraid to move forward when the commander orders you to attack.

"I have heard of Zhang He's great reputation. I wonder if he is really cautious or underestimates you and me, so he sent so many people to attack our camp for the first time."

Inside the Shu Han camp located on the mountain ridge, Liu Yong watched the Wei army's movements from a high place and complained to Wei Yan beside him in a low voice, with a lot of disdain in his tone.

Wei Yan was wearing armor, and his already burly figure glanced forward from a high position, his posture seemed even more arrogant: "If the Prime Minister had not given the order in advance, I would have left all these two thousand men here. I can't let the Prime Minister's plan go wrong. If he has two thousand men, I am weak enough to defend them."

"Nanhe, my troops will stay at the rear and will not move. Your 3,000 troops will be enough to guard the camp and deal with them."

Liu Yong smiled slightly and nodded in response, "Mr. Wen is right. Although luring the enemy is not a great achievement, it is still some hard work. I will do it today."

"Very good." Wei Yan gently touched the short beard on his chin.

Before the enemy, no one knew how the enemy would act. The situation would gradually become clear when the battle actually started. Liu Yong's 3,000 men were responsible for guarding the camp, while Wei Yan's 5,000 men were stationed behind the camp, acting as a reserve and rear wing.

Yin Jian attacked at the exact time of Chenshi, along the slightly rising mountainous area. At first, he was still worried, but he accepted Zhang He's order. But when he followed the army, holding shield and sword, and marching forward under the arrows of the Shu army, he unexpectedly found that the Shu army's fighting power was not that strong, so there was no reason to retreat. When Yin Jian led his troops to approach, he only saw a formation of about 500 people waiting in front of the camp.

Wei Yan observed the battlefield in front of the camp expressionlessly, and turned his head to the guards and ordered: "Come here, quickly tell General Liu that we should gradually increase the force to force the Wei army on the opposite side to retreat. Don't pretend that two thousand people really reach the front of the camp. That would be a joke and it doesn't seem real."

"As you wish." The guard bowed in response and quickly went to pass the message.

When Liu Yong heard this, he just sneered and sent out another 500 infantrymen from the camp. It was not until the Han army outside the camp reached a scale of 1,000 people and fought with the Wei army for a long time that they took advantage of the terrain to force the Wei army to retreat.

It was not until more than half an hour had passed that Yin Jian led his troops to retreat slowly in accordance with the orders given by the gongs and drums behind him. After initially meeting with the main army and settling the soldiers in his own camp, he rode alone to Zhang He and reported on the battle situation just now.

"From your point of view, the Shu army seems to have a small number of soldiers in the camp, only about 2,000 or 3,000?"

"In reply to Mr. Zhang, according to my observation, this number should be exactly right. The Shu army garrison commander also seems to be an incompetent man. He seemed a little panicked at first, and it seems that he sent out the garrison troops in the camp before forcing my troops to retreat."

When the two armies were fighting, Zhang He did not stay idle in the army, but accompanied by his elite troops, he approached the front line and observed the battle situation from afar. The situation Zhang He saw with his own eyes matched what Yin Jian said.

"Let's go back to camp." Zhang He said softly, "It's getting dark, let's attack again tomorrow morning."

After saying that, Zhang He stared at Yin Jian and said, "You did a good job today."

"This is my duty." Yin Jian clasped his fists and saluted.

On the second day, Zhang He ordered General Yin Jian and General Zhao Buqi to lead a total of 4,000 soldiers to attack. Zhang He himself led a thousand elite soldiers to follow behind Zhao Buqi's troops. He did not participate in the battle, but watched the situation ahead from afar.

With yesterday's incident as a foundation, Yin Jian's confidence increased today. Zhao Buqi had heard Yin Jian's words and thought that with his reinforcement today, the four thousand men could quickly capture the camp.

However, the attackers were undoubtedly at a greater disadvantage when attacking from the bottom up in the mountains. Until noon, they had not seen any weak points that would provide an opportunity for the entire army to break through.

Zhang He remained calm and composed. Just like yesterday, he ordered Generals Yin Jian and Zhao Buqi to withdraw their troops and then retreated to the camp in the rear.

During the military meeting in the evening, all the generals with a salary of more than 2,000 stones were present, and Lu Xun and his Sima Zhou Duo were also in the tent.

When Yin Jian reported to Zhang He, his words were different from the hesitation of yesterday. There was a hint of regret and annoyance in his words:

"I am incompetent. When I was on the battlefield today, I saw that the enemy was weak. I only regret that I was not strong enough to defeat the enemy quickly."

Yin Jian didn't have the guts to tease Zhang He. Not only did he not do that, even Lu Xun was unwilling to do so. So Yin Jian could only take the blame himself.

According to Yin Jian and Zhao Buqi, the two generals fighting on the front line, the enemy army was already unstable near noon today. If they could hold out for another hour or two, or get more reinforcements from the rear, the Shu army camp would be broken today. But Zhang Zhengxi wanted to withdraw, and he withdrew at noon! "It's not your fault. The enemy army is a bit strange today." Zhang He made a brief comment and gently let the matter go. After instructing some daily matters in the camp, the ordinary generals were sent out, leaving only Li Yan and Lu Xun in the account except Zhang He.

That's right, all the generals above the rank of 2,000 stone knew about Li Yan's arrival. However, these people didn't know the secrets of the Shu army's strength that Li Yan mentioned.

They did not know that it was Wei Yan who led 8,000 men to garrison here, nor did they know that Li Yan had handed over all the military intelligence he knew to the Wei Dynasty, nor did they know the objective situation that the Wei army had limited military rations.

Their rank has not yet reached this level.

Lu Xun and Li Yan knew it.

Lu Xun said in a deep voice: "General Zhang did a good job today. I saw that Yin Jian seemed to have regrets in his words. They didn't know that it was Wei Yan in front of them, nor did they know that there were supposed to be 8,000 people."

The original plan was to have 8,000 people? That means we don't know whether the 8,000 people figure is true or not.

Li Yan, a surrendered general, heard these words with a hint of suspicion. For the sake of face or to maintain trust, Li Yan hurriedly bowed and explained:

"Mr. Zhang, it was indeed Wei Yan's 8,000 men who were guarding Wudu a few days ago. However, a few days have passed. Perhaps the Shu army has changed its defenses, or has withdrawn its troops from here!"

Zhang He did not say anything, but calmly responded: "You have been behind for the past two days, but I have seen clearly from behind Yin Jian and Zhao Buqi that there is something strange about the Shu army! Whether there is an army ambushing behind or Zhuge Liang has transferred the troops here, we must pay more attention."

"I'd better write a letter to the general to inform him of what happened here and wait for his order."

"That's all right," Lu Xun replied.

"Very good. It will be more appropriate to receive the military order." Li Yan replied.

All the generals under Zhang He had military duties, and after leaving the central army tent, they all went back. Only Lu Xun's Sima Zhou Duo was still waiting in the small tent outside. The Qiang cavalry was not strong in combat, and they were all light cavalry. Their camp was at the back of the army, so they had no combat mission at all.

After Lu Xun came out of the tent, Zhou Duo tactfully led the horse over, and the two of them rode their horses along the road between camps lit by torches back to the camp.

Zhou Duo lowered his voice and said, "General, although I am not very familiar with military strategies, today's battle is a little... a little puzzling."

"What's wrong with Jin Ning?" Lu Xun asked calmly.

Zhou Duo said, "I just can't understand why Zhang Zhengxi didn't seem to be attacking the camp these past two days with so many troops behind him. He seemed to be testing the enemy. Yin Jian just said it in a subtle way in the tent, but his words implied that if he made a little more effort, he could take down the enemy camp."

"With so many troops, why should we be afraid of an ambush? Can't we just send more troops to break through?"

Lu Xun smiled and said, "Jin Ning is still a little young after all, and doesn't understand the twists and turns behind this. Come to my tent later and I will tell you in detail."

"Yes." Zhou Duo said.

Before Lu Xun went to sleep, Zhou Duo arrived as promised, and the two of them sat together under the light of the oil lamp in the tent. As if it was too bright, Lu Xun extinguished three lamps and left only one.

"I can explain Jin Ning's question in one sentence. Zhang Zhengxi is old and wants stability. He doesn't want any more trouble, and he doesn't even want his troops to suffer heavy casualties, so he is retreating today without fighting."

Zhou Duo frowned and said, "Play it safe? You clearly have a chance to win, why do you want to play it safe?"

Lu Xun laughed: "You don't command 10,000 soldiers, so you can't understand this kind of thinking for the time being."

"Zhang Zhengxi's early reputation was exhausted by his defeat at Dangqu by Zhang Fei in the 20th year of Jian'an and the death of Xiahou Miaocai in Hanzhong in the 22nd year of Jian'an. During the few years when he guarded Yongliang without any trouble, most of his achievements were gained from the Qiang and Hu people."

Zhou Duo was puzzled: "But Zhang Zhengxi has also made many contributions in the past two years!"

"You also know that it was in the past two years." Lu Xun said, "In my opinion, when Zhang Zhengxi stopped the Shu army in Lueyang, wasn't it because Your Majesty and the general led the central army to rescue him from a long distance that he encountered a turning point? The battle of Chiting to defeat Zhuge Liang was famous, but it also shed blood. Would he dare to fight a battle that would cost the lives of his soldiers again today?"

"As a minister, there are some battles that are fought differently when the emperor is present or absent." (End of this chapter)