Chapter 12 Deng Ai’s plan

A bright moon hung high in the air, dyeing the Guzang city walls into a dazzling silver color. The bright stars in the sky were flashing like gems, slightly embellishing the dark night sky.

In the southern barbarians of Guzang City, the soldiers watching the night were cautiously looking into the distance. Although the night was long, the defenders of Guzang City still did not dare to slack off at all.

In the distance, Cheriji led his commander, and the general of the two Yuanshuo Ge was running towards Guzang City.

The number of Qiang people was not very large, but each of the Qiang people behind was carrying two scarecrows. Behind were five or six hundred large trucks, and they were all scarecrows.

"You listen to me. After a while, I arrived at Guzang City and attacked the southwest of Guzang with all my strength. At the same time, I shouted hard, shouting as loudly as I could." Cherigi said.

"King, just attack the city. Why do you have to bring so many scarecrows?" asked Yu He.

"This is all General Deng Ai's plan, you just do it."

"But the terrain in the southwest corner is not easy to attack, and reinforcements from the west and south gates can arrive at reinforcements at any time. In fact, the southwest corner is the most difficult to fight, so why do we attack here?"

"This is also General Deng Ai's plan, you can do it for me!"

When the Qiang people came to the place near Guzang City, Cheliji gave the order, the Qiang soldiers set up their formation, and the Qiang people behind began to tread the scarecrow on the ground. In a moment, a fan-shaped formation appeared in front of Guzang City. In front of the formation were real people, and behind them were scarecrows. Standing in the southwest corner of Guzang City, looking down, the west and south were all Qiang soldiers, and there were no boundaries at a glance.

It was night, and Cherigi, according to Deng Ai's instructions, set more torches in places where real soldiers were photographed, and there were no torches in places where the straw men were behind. This made it impossible for the soldiers on the city to distinguish them, and the straw men were behind.

And because the place where Cherigi came this time was the southwest corner of Guzang City, the defenders in the city would feel that the west and south gates were all enemies, and they felt like they were surrounded.

Ma Chao climbed the city tower and looked at the Qiang people who could not see the edge in the distance, and his heart trembled slightly. Attacking the city at night was a taboo of military strategists, and this time Cheliji chose the place in the southwest corner of Guzang City. The contact area in this southwest corner was relatively small, which was not conducive to the placement of cloud ladders, and the attacking troops were not easy to deploy. Moreover, reinforcements from the west and south could be reinforced at any time. It can be said that the southwest corner of Guzang City is the easiest place to defend in Guzang.

"What is Cherigi thinking? He actually attacked the southwest corner. Is he trying to send troops for nothing?" Ma Chao murmured.

"Yes, brother, look at Cherigi's attitude. He has brought so many people out. There must be at least 60,000 or 70,000 people here!" Ma Dai pointed ahead and said.

"Sixty or seventy thousand people?" He looked ahead and saw the Qiang soldiers at the edge, and said with an excuse: "We have seen so many of them alone. Now it is night, and we can't see the dark places in the distance, and maybe more Qiang soldiers."

"Haha, if these Qiang people really attack the southwest of the city, they will feel better. As long as there are five or six hundred people here, even his 100,000 troops will not be able to defeat them! This time, Cheriji dared to attack with all his might, and he would often suffer a little." Ma Dai said.

"Give it all your strength to attack?" Ma Chao was slightly stunned. Suddenly, a bold plan flashed through Ma Chao's mind.

"Ma Dai, go and reorganize the army immediately, we are ready to break through." Ma Chao suddenly spoke.

"Breakthrough? Brother, do you think you are breaking through?"

"Yes, you have heard what Deng Ai said today. Zhuge Liang intended to harm me. Now we can't wait for reinforcements, so we have to break through as soon as possible and return to Yongzhou. Look at the front, there are so many Qiang people, which means that Cheriji's main force is here. It's time to break through now and will not be chased by the Qiang people's main force."

"Then Guzangcheng gave up like this?" Ma Dai asked, with a hint of reluctance in his tone. After all, he had been in Guzangcheng for so long, and now he still felt a little reluctant to give up Ma Dai.

"What can I do if I don't give up Guzang? I'll be able to take back the city of Guzang in the future. It's better than losing my life." Ma Chao said.

"Brother, will it be criticized if you say that we will give up Guzang City and return to Chang'an?"

"You don't have to worry about this. We have resisted the Qiang and Di coalition forces in this Guzang City for a year. When we arrive in Chang'an, I see who dares to criticize us. If anyone dares to talk nonsense, I will catch him in this Guzang City and try it!" At this time, Ma Chao finally regained his original domineering.

Torrigi did not rush to attack the city, but instead ordered the army to be stationed in place.

"King, everyone is here, let's attack the city!" Yu He said.

"What time is it now?" Cherigi asked.

"It's almost ugly."

"Wait a little longer, General Deng Ai said that he would attack the city until the ugly moment. At that time, Ma Chao would give us Guzang City." Cheriji said.

"Will Ma Chao give up Guzang City to us?" Yu He asked incrediblely with his eyes widened.

"Then Deng Ai said, Ma Chao will definitely break through tonight... I have sent a spy to the East Gate to investigate."

"Hmph, king, how do you believe the Han people? Deng Ai looks less than thirty years old, how capable can he have! I don't believe it anymore. Ma Chao will give us Guzang City!"

As soon as Yu He finished speaking, the spy sent by Cherigi in the distance came back.

"King, just opened from the east gate, about five or six thousand people rushed out and headed straight to the east." The scout said.

"Five or six thousand people? It seems that this must be Ma Chao breaking through, and he will immediately send an order to attack the city!" Cherigi shouted.

After more than a year of offensive and defense, many people and horses were also lost in Guzang City. Now Ma Chao chose to break through, so he naturally took away the most elite people. Ma Chao's own Xiliang cavalry had 3,000 people, plus some elite soldiers, almost 5,000 people. So when Cheriji heard that five or six thousand people had left the city, he immediately thought that Ma Chao had broken through.

"King, have you let Ma Chao go like that? Ma Chao is only five or six thousand people around him. Now is a good opportunity to get rid of Ma Chao. Give me a team of people and I will chase him!" Yu He immediately asked for a fight.

"Hahaha, direction, Ma Chao can't leave, someone is waiting for him in front!"

"Tait..."

Under the moonlight, more than 5,000 Liangzhou war horses carried more than 5,000 knights and rushed towards Yongzhou to the east.

"Ma Dai, have the Qiang people caught up?" Ma Chao asked loudly.

"Brother, Torrigi didn't catch up."

"Didn't catch up?" Ma Chao suddenly felt a little uneasy in his heart.

Ma Chao has been through the battlefield for a long time, and is from Liangzhou, and is well versed in cavalry tactics. So Ma Chao also knows that in this case, if Cheriji pursues, it will be very unfavorable for him. As the King of Qiang, Cheriji naturally knows cavalry tactics. Now Cheriji does not send anyone to pursue him, which makes Ma Chao feel that there is a strange thing.

"Is there anyone in front of me intercepting me?" Ma Chao's mind appeared, and then shook his head and rejected this idea. When he was in Guzang City just now, Ma Chao had witnessed the dark Qiang army outside the city. Although the specific number of people could not be distinguished in the dark night, judging from the scale of the opponent's formation, the main force of the Qiang people should be outside Guzang City. Even if there are Qiang people in front of me intercepting me, the number of people would not be too large. With the Liangzhou cavalry under his command, a few Qiang people could not stop him at all.

Did Cherigi really give up this good opportunity? Thinking of this, Ma Chao shook his head again. During the war, Cherigi would never make such a mistake.

The further he moved forward, Ma Chaoyue felt uneasy. The sixth sense that had been cultivated in the war over the years kept telling Ma Chao that there might be danger waiting for him in front.

"Stop!" Ma Chao shouted and strangled the horse.

When everyone saw Ma Chao stopping, they also stopped one after another.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Ma Dai asked.

"Do you think something is wrong in front?" Ma Chao asked suddenly.

Ma Dai looked ahead and said, "Brother, have you noticed something?"

"Maybe I'm suspicious, but I always feel something is wrong with it."

"Brother, why don't we take a detour and go south first!" said Ma Dai.

"Okay, go south first, let's take a detour!"

Just a few miles ahead of Ma Chao, Deng Ai was lying here with a large number of Qiang soldiers, waiting for Ma Chao to arrive.

This is Deng Ai's backup plan.

Deng Ai knew that although he did not say that Ma Chao had set up his own business today, he also successfully separated from Ma Chao and Zhuge Liang. Ma Chao believed that without reinforcements, he would definitely choose to break through. However, the Qiang army outside the city besieged the city, and the danger of breaking through was very high.

So Deng Ai deliberately asked Cheriji to go to Guzang at night, and went to the southwest corner of the city with the most solid city defense. He used the grass man to deceive Ma Chao, making Ma Chao think that the main force of the Qiang people were there, making Ma Chao feel that this was a good opportunity to break through. In the night, Ma Chao couldn't tell the difference between the grass man and the real person, so when Ma Chao thought that the main force of the Qiang people were outside, he really chose to break through. As for Deng Ai, he led a large number of Qiang people to ambush on Ma Chao's must-pass road.

"Report..." A Qiang scout came and said, "General, Ma Chao and the others suddenly stopped!"

"Ma Chao stopped?" Deng Ai frowned slightly: "Has Ma Chao discovered it?"

Beside Deng Ai, Qiang general Fa Tong asked, "General Deng Ai, Ma Chao has stopped, what should we do?"

"Look first and wait and see what's going on so as not to alert the enemy!"

"Report..." As soon as Deng Ai finished speaking, another scout ran over again.

"General, Ma Chao and the others are heading south!"

"Ma Chao is heading south! Could it be that he has discovered my ambush!" Deng Ai was shocked, but after a moment, a smile appeared on Deng Ai's face.

"It's worthy of being Ma Chao. I, Deng Ai, really underestimated you! But this is even more interesting!" Deng Ai said, with a hint of cold light in his eyes:

"Transfer the order, the whole army sets off and pursues Ma Chao!"
Chapter completed!