The Duke of Shu Han began guarding Jingzhou in place of Guan Yu.

Chapter 344 The Reasonable Within the Unreasonable

The Han army amassed at least 20,000 troops around Weishi (county).

Moreover, according to the scouts, reinforcements are still arriving one after another.

This number of troops.

Without a doubt, this is where Miwei's main force lies.

On his journey north, Cao Hong had imagined countless times what the battlefield would be like when the two main forces clashed.

It started with Ruyin.

After the entire territory of Ruyin was recovered, it became Chen Commandery.

After the road to Chenjun was temporarily blocked, the route was changed to Xuchang.

But after Xuchang was successfully rescued, he began to feel somewhat lost.

Where exactly does Miwei intend to make his move and engage in a fair and square main battle with him?
Chenliu or Dongjun?

Or perhaps the other side has no intention of engaging in a decisive battle at all.

As long as Cao Hong's troops are successfully pulled back from the Huainan battlefield, the objective will be achieved.
Cao Hong tossed and turned for many nights because of this.

Even with successive victories along the way, they never relaxed their guard in the slightest.

Because his experience and intuition from most of his life in combat told him...

All those previous victories were tactical maneuvers employed by Miwei to lure him north.

All of these were false victories.

Mi Wei appears to have lost a large number of cities and lost the siege of Xuchang.

However, a careful review afterwards revealed that the actual loss of troops was not serious.

The area around Ruyin was never actually occupied, so it can't even be considered a loss.

On the contrary, by shrinking the distance to the north, the pressure on logistical supplies was greatly reduced.

Conversely, this means that the Wei army's supply lines have become longer.

It's best to retreat!

The Battle of Chengpu, fought by Duke Wen of Jin, was no less famous than Sun Bin's strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao".

How could Cao Hong not see it?

Ultimately, Miwei will have to fight him somewhere.

Not fighting would be a disservice to the reputation of the enemy's renowned generals.

Cao Hong never expected this.

This is the place of the decisive battle.

It turned out to be Wei Shi.

What's the situation like at the battlefield of Weishi?
to be frank.

It's really not that great.

First of all, this place is too flat and open.

Unlike the Changshe where Xiangchong is located in the west.

A relatively three-dimensional defense system can be formed by relying on the Wei River and the hills to the northwest.

It is also different from Chenliu in the east, where no one knows who is guarding it.

The complex river system can be used to effectively limit the Wei army's cavalry.

Although there are ditches in Weishi.

However, they are all artificial ditches used for irrigating farmland.

It's not a big river.

Apart from that, there are vast stretches of flat land.

A racecourse that stretches as far as the eye can see.

For the Wei army, which excelled at cavalry raids, this was a battlefield of advantage.

This is not to say that Han cavalry were not good at raids.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, two warriors capable of defeating ten thousand men, are right next door.

However, cavalry warfare cannot be judged solely on the abilities of individual generals.

Especially when the number of cavalry reaches a certain scale, the role that an individual can play will become smaller.

At this point, the cavalry's traditions, combat experience, including abstract aspects such as confidence, tacit understanding, and willpower, will be magnified many times over to become an advantage over the enemy.

In this respect, the Wei army, which had been riding horses in the Central Plains for more than 30 years, undoubtedly had a greater advantage.

In the past, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry under Emperor Wu's command were renowned and feared by all.
In contrast, apart from the older generation like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, how many years have the other generals of Shu Han been in the Central Plains?
Have you ever witnessed the spectacular scene of thousands of horses galloping on flat ground, only to turn into a river of blood in an instant?

Therefore, Cao Hong never expected that Mi Wei would choose to fight him on such a flat plain.

Then, and this is the point that Cao Hong finds most incomprehensible.

Weishi is neither a pass nor a granary, and it's a place that's somewhat isolated from villages and towns. What makes it worthwhile for Mi Wei to station a large number of troops there?

Because the well-developed irrigation system here is beneficial to agricultural production?

But this is the opposite of its function as a battlefield!
Shouldn't such important grain-producing areas be properly protected in the rear?

How can it be used as the venue for a decisive battle between the main forces of both sides?

Cao Hong was completely baffled.

If we're talking about whether Miwei's choice can have any substantial effect...

That probably leaves only one option: surprise attack.

Because Cao Hong genuinely hadn't guessed it beforehand.

However, since things have come to this point, it doesn't matter whether we guessed it or not.

Both sides prepared for this battle for two whole months and also engaged in a two-month-long war of words.

At this point, the arrow was already on the bowstring. If they didn't shoot it, wouldn't they be ridiculed for being afraid of Shu like a tiger? The attack was first launched by Niu Jin, Cao Hong's vanguard general.

Niu Jin was originally a subordinate of Cao Ren.

After Cao Ren's death, it automatically belonged to his son Cao Tai.

Later, Cao Tai followed Jia Kui to participate in the Battle of Fangcheng between Cao Hong and Guan Yu Mi Wei, and Niu Jin also came along.

He stayed in Yuzhou after that and became a member of Cao Hong and Jia Kui's army group.

Now he naturally became Cao Hong's subordinate.

Niu Jin was also a veteran general skilled in cavalry warfare.

With just a glance at the several earthen hills rising in the southern suburbs of Weishi City, he could discern the Han army's battle intentions.

It turns out that the Han army had built a large number of passageways around several waterways in the southern suburbs of Weishi as fortifications.

At key points, earth was bulldozed into mountains to serve as fortifications for observation and defense.

Although it's called a mountain, it's actually just an earthen platform about three or four zhang high.

In terms of actual obstacles to the attacking side, those shallow and narrow canals were probably less of a headache for the Wei army.

Clearly, the Han army placed its defense center in the southern suburbs.

They never considered that the Wei army might detour to the north.

That makes sense, of course.

At this time, the cities on the east and west sides of Weishi, Changshe on one side and Chenliu on the other, were under the control of the Han army.

If the Wei army attempts to bypass Weishi and reach the north, they are not afraid of being trapped in the north by the Han army in the three cities and then annihilated.

Niu Jin really wanted to give it a try.

It's not that he deliberately courted death.

Instead, he intended to use this rapid and deep cavalry penetration to stretch the Han army's defensive line, thereby helping Commander-in-Chief Cao Hong to understand the Han army's defensive arrangements.

Isn't this precisely the significance of the vanguard?
The open terrain of Weishi gave Niu Jin the space and confidence to operate.

As soon as the war drums sounded, the veteran cavalryman charged forward on his horse.

In an instant, more than a thousand Wei cavalrymen, led by a banner with the character "牛" (ox), surged toward the Han army's position like a flood.

They were first greeted by a continuous rain of arrows.

Repeating crossbow.

As the Han army entered and ruled the Central Plains, this ingenious device was widely adopted and became well-known.

Even the Wei army began to imitate it.

Then they would naturally know how to defend themselves.

It was nothing more than knights wearing armor and warhorses clad in armor.

The advantage of a repeating crossbow lies in its continuous firing rate.

Or, in someone's words, short-duration firepower density.

However, correspondingly, its range and power are inferior to single-shot crossbows and foot bows.

Ordinary armor and horse armor, combined with the warhorse's rapid sideways gallop, were enough to avoid damage.

Of course, increased load and running in a non-straight line will inevitably reduce the efficiency of cavalry raids.

However, considering that this is a direct confrontation between the two sides, and also a reconnaissance-style advance battle, Niu Jin believes it is worthwhile.

Soon, a dense volley of arrows passed.

Niu Jin didn't have time to count how many knights had fallen.

In front of him was a small hill that had just run out of crossbow bolts and had not yet been replaced.

There is also a covered walkway for the waterway.

After thinking for a moment, Niu Jin chose to walk along the tunnel.

Because who knows whether the Han army on the hill really ran out of arrows, or if they were secretly holding back?

Compared to the height advantage of earthen hills, firing from flat ground results in a shorter range.

Taking the tunnel would allow them to get rid of the Han crossbowmen's interference more quickly.

A moment later, Niu Jin's warhorse had reached the edge of the earthen and stone passageway.

The wall was not high, only about three feet high.

Moreover, the other side of the wall is not very visible from this side.

It is evident that the Han army had limited manpower and could only improve the height of their defensive positions.

The aspect of betraying the enemy, however, is dealt with much more superficially.

Without saying a word, Niu Jin spurred his horse forward.

They easily climbed over the wall.

However, the expected sound of falling into the water did not follow immediately.

Instead, it hesitated for several breaths before the horse's hooves landed heavily on the ground.

Because of the force of the fall, Niu Jin almost lost his balance.

Fortunately, he was a skilled rider and held onto the horse's belly tightly, which prevented him from falling.

But not all of their companions who came along were so lucky.

Many people lost their balance and fell off their horses.

He was taken advantage of by the Han army behind the other wall and shot to death with crossbows and spears.

At this moment, Niu Jin suddenly realized what was happening.

It turns out this was a canal with a covered passageway.

The water has already been drained.

(End of this chapter)