『Report!』 The scout of Cao's army came hurriedly, 『Report to the general! The guard posts on the high tidal flats of the Cavalry Army seemed to be no one else! They all ran away!』
The distance between the sentry at the soil plateau on the tidal flat is relatively close, so there is feedback first.
Cao Hong stood up immediately, then pinched the joints of his fingers anxiously, making a click.
This habit is not good, and it is easy to cause joint aging and damage, but it is obvious that Cao Hong does not understand these. This is just a mark left by his teenager fighting. Before the two sides confront each other and are about to rush out and punch and kick, they always make some movements to strengthen their momentum...
Cao Hong couldn't help but want to rush out.
But he still endured the second wave of scouts who went to Hangu Pass to inquire.
When the second wave of scouts reported that they suspected that Hangu Pass was full of dummies and that they were shot without screaming or bleeding, Cao Hong lit up his troops, rushed to the river beach, and rushed to the rear of Hangu Pass. He led his own command and came to the front of Hangu Pass.
Under Hangu Pass, corpses were everywhere.
Cao Hong didn't even take a look at it, just staring at the movements on Hangu Pass.
In the night, some braziers on Hangu Pass were shaking in the wind, illuminating the figures of soldiers beside the battlements.
However, the large-scale attack of Cao's army was not small, but the soldiers at Hangu Pass did not move at all...
Cao Hong was almost sure that Zhu Lingqi Pass had escaped, but he still drew an arrow and shot a straw target soldier on the wall with a slight sound.
That's right, the straw target soldier.
If you are caught in an arrow, you will not be beaten or bleed.
Cao Hong waved, "Climb the city!"
A group of soldiers carried the ladder and rushed straight to the city, then quickly climbed up the city wall, and then shouted at Cao Hong, "General! The thieves have all run away! They have burned the warehouse!"
Cao Hong slapped his face, "It should be..."
"boom!"
Before Cao Hong could finish his voice, he heard a huge explosion sound on the earth plateau on the river beach. With the explosion, the creepy sound of collapse, the dull sand and soil friction and impact sounds collided back and forth in the night sky, and the hearts of Cao soldiers continued to collapse, scaring the Cao army behind Cao Hong, which made the Cao army and horses behind him inevitably riots.
"What's going on?! Hold on! Calm down, calm down!"
Cao Hong was shocked and immediately warned people, as if they were facing a great enemy. He also grabbed a shield and blocked him, leaving only his eyes exposed on the upper edge of the shield and aimed around him.
The elite troops of Cao Hong's central army quickly calmed down, but the ordinary Cao army around him and the auxiliary soldiers of Cao's army who were later students were unable to return to their original state so quickly, and the buzzing sounded for a long time.
Fortunately, after a while, as the movements on the other side of the river beach gradually decreased, Cao Hong's side slowly returned to peace.
The Hangu Pass was still quiet, and there were no ambushes, and they rushed out screaming.
『Hmph, hahahahaha…』 Cao Hong put down some shields slightly and laughed loudly, 『I laughed at the guards for no reason! If there were ambushers on his side, wouldn’t it be a great victory?』
The surrounding guards also laughed.
The degree of funnyness of a joke actually depends on the position of the person who is telling the joke.
Especially at the wine table.
Although what Cao Hong said was not funny at the moment, since Cao Hong laughed, the other guards could only laugh, and then more Cao's soldiers laughed inexplicably.
The laughter made the Cao army soldiers quickly calm down, and no longer paid attention to the matter on the river bank and mudflats, and focused their attention here on Hangu Pass. However, in the dark night, no one could see clearly that Cao Hong was smiling, his eyes were very cold.
Although the soldiers along the other side had not had time to repay, Cao Hong could imagine that it must have been the Hussars who buried gunpowder on the earthen plateau, and then when the Cao army soldiers passed under the earthen plateau, they lit the gunpowder...
Cao Hong's slight pleasure before has disappeared now.
At this moment, the fire in Hangu Guanzhong is gradually getting bigger and bigger.
Cao Hong raised his head and sniffed hard.
The air was filled with the smell of blood and rottenness, and it seemed to have a different kind of smell.
The breath of gunpowder.
There is also the smell of loess.
Perhaps it was left behind before, or perhaps it was floating over the river and mudflats, which made Cao Hong feel a little uneasy.
Since the Hussars buried gunpowder on the soil plates of the tidal flats, what about in Hangu Pass?
『Send a team of soldiers into the city first to control the fire.』 Cao Hong ordered, and then reminded him in a special way, 『Keep alert and be careful of ambushing!』
Cao Hong didn't plan to enter the city now, he was going to wait at least until dawn.
Cao Hong felt that in the dark night around him, there seemed to be countless hostility, entangled around him with a greed and cruel aura.
Cao Hong's prudence protected himself, but he could not protect all Cao's army. The Cao army marquis who received the order thought he could have obtained the first-level merit, so he excitedly led the people in. Even though the first-level merit was somewhat far-fetched, he was the first to enter Hangu Pass after all, right?
So Cao Junhou was in the urn city and was blown into pieces by buried grenades...
The injured Cao army soldiers cried and howled.
"It's okay...
Cao Hong saw all this through the upper edge of the shield.
After the explosion, Cao Hong suddenly realized that his caution was nothing wrong.
On the battlefield, when facing death, there is no big difference between generals and soldiers.
Most of the time, it was like a leaking cowhide water bag, which broke into a hole and died.
And the Cao army soldiers in front of us were just a different way of death, and the results were the same.
"Come." Cao Hong raised his chin slightly, "If you are seriously injured and unable to cure, give them some pleasure. Please search carefully for the rest! Say it again! Pay attention to the tincture oil and gunpowder!"
The soldiers of Cao's army took the order forward. They gave the seriously injured a relief, and then divided them into three or five teams and began to carefully search every corner of Hangu Pass.
『However, how did this be done...』
Cao Hong muttered to himself in confusion.
There was indeed no one on the top of the city and in the urn.
If someone is close to you, then Cao's soldiers will definitely be able to discover it.
So is it a long lead?
Can the leads be so long now?
And it won't be wet with dew or something?
How exactly did it?
Cao Hong frowned tightly. Not only did he suffer unreasonable damage to the soldiers, but he also felt that the war pattern this time seemed to be different from everything he had experienced before...
——
Tongguan.
"What?" Zhu Ling, who received the news, was a little dissatisfied. "I couldn't fry the big fish? I just fry a small shrimp? It's so boring... I've spent so much effort..."
Ma Yue laughed aside, "It's good to have shrimp!"
Zhu Lingba smacked his lips, "Tsk... Sometimes I think, is the Xiahou family of Cao a little lucky? They are not planning to do this? Unfortunately, the gunpowder I used in the early stage was too harsh and could not save anything, otherwise I would have to blow up the walls for him, and I would not leave them at all!"
Of course, Zhu Ling was just talking about it. After all, the amount of gunpowder needed to blow up stone slabs and city walls is not at the same level of equivalent.
"Is there a bad luck!" Ma Yue laughed, "This is the caution for the generals! This gunpowder is not the first time we are using it. How could the General Cao's army easily fall into a trap and fall into danger regardless of it?"
Yuan Shao can be said to be the first time he suffered a loss, and before Yuan Shao, no martial artist would be wary of gunpowder.
After Fei Qian used gunpowder to attack the city and trap the ground, almost all cities in Shandong strengthened their defense structure at the city gates...
"Precaution?" Zhu Ling frowned when he heard this.
Ma Yue gradually stopped his smile and nodded, "Yes. There was a mention in the Shandong public opinion in the martial arts hall... Don't think that we are the only ones fighting, and the generals in Shandong are fighting for years! If the generals who are not careful and careless will be dead long ago and will not be able to live now. It is not easy to live until now, and you must not take it lightly...
Could it be that Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun's tribe members only achieved Cao Hong and Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Shang, etc.?
Even if all the people from the Xiahou clan of the Cao clan who could keep their name were included, there were only seventy or eighty people. And there were only a few members of the Xiahou clan of the Cao clan? Are these the only people responsible for commanding the soldiers under Cao Cao?
Obviously not.
But those who can stay have some skills, but have no ability, or are unlucky, just like the Marquis of Cao Jun, who has no name and dies, and no one will take a look at it.
I think Cao Hong, Cao Ren and others are really lucky. I think before they live long, I don’t think about why they live long?
Ma Yue was obviously kind enough to remind Zhu Ling.
"Uh?" Zhu Ling was stunned for a moment, "Is there this in the newspaper in the martial arts lecture hall? I have read it every time, why don't I remember it?"
"Oh, the latest issue, just sent it not long ago..." Ma Yue said, "Oh, you may not have received it in Hangu... The diary is still in my room, so I will ask someone to show it to you..."
Zhu Ling bowed to express his gratitude, and then said with a little emotion: "This... Cao's army is almost on his face, and the Guanzhong martial arts lecture hall newspaper has not forgotten to publish it... This is really... Pang Lingjun is still really calm... Cao's army is coming in a large-scale attack, and the forward vanguard alone has three thousand soldiers, five thousand auxiliary soldiers, and nearly ten thousand laborers are recruited. If Hangu had not prepared a large amount of military supplies before, I would not have been able to hold on for a few days..."
Ma Yue nodded, and there was also a look of worry.
Resisting to endure is not a problem, the question is how long to endure.
War must be consumed, and it is not a linear consumption curve. The longer it drags on, the greater the consumption.
"The soldiers assisted the soldiers, and the labor force was twice as hard as possible..." Ma Yue frowned and sighed, "If it is delayed until the beginning of next spring, will Shandong not be afraid of abandoning the farmland? The people of Shandong are too hard..."
Zhu Ling nodded, "Yes, but this old thief Cao wouldn't have thought of these things? What was his plan?"
The Cao army directly used the troops and soldiers, and it seemed that they could not be considered too many, but in total, the regular soldiers had 80,000 to 90,000 soldiers, which were distributed on the entire front from Youzhou to Jingzhou in the north, and the labor force recruited exceeded 150,000. If the short-distance transportation manpower in the rear was added, various subsequent replenishment of manpower, the strong men caught in Heluo, etc., the total manpower dispatched would definitely exceed 300,000, and it might be close to 500,000.
Therefore, Cao Jun claims to be a million, but it is not too outrageous to be praised...
The number of people is a key factor in war, but not an absolute factor. War is not simply a competition of the number of people. Otherwise, both sides only need to pile up the number of people, and then we can decide the outcome?
When the Qing Dynasty attacked the Ming Dynasty, I guess I could not have imagined that the Eight-Nation Alliance came to attack.
A temporary win or loss is also not an inevitable condition that determines the final direction of the war. When Da Chou fought against Da Yuan, he almost always won. Well, at least he won in Da Chou's official propaganda, but he lost in the end. A big defeat was a complete defeat...
Cao Hong's forward was a little worried, but it only damaged the fur, so Cao's army would inevitably continue to march. When Cao's army moved forward, the supply line was lengthened, and the supply line was lengthened, which means that labor would go further and take longer.
Although the Cao army in the middle route could transport food and grass through the river, the Cao army's naval force was not strong, at least not strong in the area of ​​Yuzhou, Jizhou, and the Jingzhou naval force could not jump over the river and go to the river, so the sky could only be used for transportation and could not be used for attack.
And there are naval troops in Tongguan.
Previously, Fei Qian trained the navy and built the tower ships in the Xuanwu Pond in Chang'an, which seemed to be for today's battle...
Even if Cao's army took Hangu Pass, it would be difficult to conquer Tongguan head-on. If he attempted to attack Shaanxi and Tianjin to bypass Tongguan, he had to fight against Fei Qian's navy and his troops in Shaanxi and Tianjin.
So what exactly does Cao Jun do?—
Two days later.
After Cao's army packed up the wreckage of Hangu Pass, Cao Hong moved his base forward and moved to the place of Hangu Pass.
The "conquest" of Hangu Pass basically included most of Hongnong County as a whole into the big family in Shandong, even if there was not much warm embrace...
This is naturally considered to be the merit of Lao Cao's expansion of territory and regaining mountains and rivers.
Cao Cao's army also set off from Luoyang and came straight to Hangu Pass. He did not hesitate and acted as a direct attack on Tongguan, even if he did not obtain any specific information about the Tongguan defense system.
Only a rough map.
Because most caravans from Shandong are not allowed to go to Shangtongguan City, and they are not allowed to enter the military area of ​​Tongguan City. They can only transport goods to the top of the earthen plateau through cranes in Xiatongguan City, and then transport them to the inner plateau by Chang'an horse team, or board a ship from Tongguan and travel backwards to the inner wall through Fenglingdu. Therefore, even if Cao Cao sent spies to explore the internal defense system of Tongguan, the isolation layout of military and commercial causes the inability to obtain detailed information in Tongguan.
While preparing for the attack on Tongguan, Cao Cao's army moved forward and became more powerful and also tentatively attacked Shanxian County and Jin.
Wei Yan gave up the first line of defense in Shan County, and also ignited the remaining fortifications. Then he confronted Cao's army on the second line of defense for three days. After consuming part of the Cao army's vitality, he evacuated from Shan County, crossed the floating bridge, retreated back to the northern bank of Shaanxi and Jinjin, burned the floating bridge on the river, and controlled the Shaanxi-jin ferry.
Cao's army built a shield chariot and pushed it to the shore to block the shooting of Wei Yan's navy and the archers on the northern bank of Shaanxi and Jinjin. They also built earth walls to cover the shooting of archers and Wei Yan, and tried to build a floating bridge.
Both bows and arrows caused some damage, but they were not enough to determine the decisive direction of the battle.
Unlike on the land of Shaanxi County, Wei Yan, who retreated to Shaanxi and Tianjin, had an absolute advantage and repelled Cao's army's attacks many times in succession. Cao Cao divided several forces to restrain Wei Yan with heavy troops. At the same time, he sent some of his troops to move upstream and downstream of Shaanxi and Tianjin, as if to try to find a suitable place to build a floating bridge, but Wei Yan also sent a flexible mountain troops to move upstream and downstream with Cao's army's armor, and cooperated with the watercraft to prevent Cao's army from building a floating bridge...
The initial contact between the two sides was not fierce, and there were not many casualties. Many times, when Cao's army saw that it could not achieve the expected results, they retreated frankly. Although it was somewhat futile, the Cao army had a large number of soldiers, and they did not lose much physical strength after taking turns. Wei Yan had relatively few soldiers, so he could only rely on geographical advantage and naval forces to narrow the gap.
Overall, Cao Cao lost some soldiers' lives and Wei Yan lost some soldiers' physical strength.
But Cao Cao wanted to make Wei Yan lose more, so Cao Cao put on a coquettish posture...
Come and make it!
But when Cao Xiu yawned and walked out of the ambushing place listlessly the next day, he could not see Wei Yan.
Could it be that it is not coquettish enough?
Can't it be considered a seductive figure?
Cao Cao looked at the other side of the river and fell into thinking.
"Fengxiao, Wei Yan and Wei Wenchang, didn't you say you like to use surprise attacks and Su Xi attacked at night?"
Cao Cao asked.
"Ming Gong, this Wei Wen was good at Sichuan and Hanzhong, and won many surprise attacks..." Guo Jia replied awkwardly, because of the strategy of seducing the enemy, he also agreed, and in his opinion, the success rate was at least 70% to 80%, but now...
Wei Yan did like to attack surprises in his previous battles, using small to win big, and using weak to defeat strong, especially in dangerous places, but for some reason, Wei Yan did not come this time.
Maybe I didn't catch up?
Maybe I went somewhere else?
Cao Cao had no intention of blaming Guo Jia, because no one could guarantee that all strategies could be 100% successful.
Guo Jia is very smart, but Guo Jia is not a god.
『Teat the enemy again…』 Cao Cao made a decision, 『Send someone to curse and yell…』
So, Cao's loud voice soldiers stood on the south bank of Heda River and slapped the north bank. Later, they simply took off their pants and exposed their butts to insult Wei Yan, clamoring and ridicule, but soon Cao's soldiers stopped doing this...
Well, that's right, it's too cold.
The cold wind is like a knife, and the pain of exposed little chirping in winter is not something that ordinary people can tolerate.
Chapter completed!