"Tai Gong's Six Tao" once stated: One cavalry can serve as eight pawns.

This is not a quantitative ratio that the ancients thought of casually, nor is it the imagination of literati in literary works, but a conclusion drawn from actual combat.

On flat ground, a horse sprints at the fastest speed. Combined with its own weight, the kinetic energy it can generate can knock over eight people in a row.

Note that this is without a saddle or stirrups.

Therefore, although infantry wants to deal with sudden cavalry charging into formation, the best way is to form a formation.

But if the assault cavalry is really not afraid of death, they must attack the already formed formation.

Although it is very likely to be a dead end in the end, the infantry will also have to pay a certain price.

And if the formation of infantry is not determined, it is not impossible to pay a heavy price.

If the charging cavalry is armored cavalry, then the infantry must be even more careful and must make thorough preparations in order to withstand the devastating charge of the armored cavalry.

Facing Sun Quan's formation with building ships as the core, if it were in Cao Pi's time, the Wei State at that time still had a large number of fine cavalry, and maybe he might try to use the fine cavalry to attack in turn.

But the current situation in the Wei Dynasty no longer allows Wang Ling to waste cavalry like this.

Since the first sneak attack on Longyou by Shu captives more than ten years ago, the horse-producing land of the Wei Dynasty has been continuously encroached upon.

In recent years, the situation has become increasingly serious.

In Youzhou, the only horse-producing place in the Wei Dynasty, the quantity and quality of war horses sent to the Central Plains were deteriorating.

This forced the entire Wei army to extend the service time of their war horses.

Even because of the shortage of war horses in the army, the rhinoceros horses that were originally used for transportation according to previous standards were forcibly used as war horses.

Therefore, Wang Ling could not use a large number of cavalry to unscrupulously harass the Wu army's flanks and food routes as previous governors had done with Sun Quan's invasion this time.

After letting the cavalry try to charge without success, Wang Ling did not continue to take the initiative.

Instead, he decisively led the army back to the camp outside Hefei City and quietly waited for Sun Quan's arrival.

"Your Majesty, do you really want to disembark?"

Accompanying Sun Quan this time was Sun Shao, who had been guarding the border for decades.

Having been at war with the Wei army for many years, Sun Shao was well aware of the power of the Wei army. When he saw that Sun Quan was planning to disembark, he personally led the army to Hefei.

He couldn't help but feel worried and advised:

"Your Majesty came here this time just to lure you with your body. Now that Wang Ling has led the army to Hefei, your Majesty's goal has been achieved. Why do you need to take another step and put yourself in danger?"

"Gongli, it is precisely because I am using myself as bait that I have to personally lead the troops off the ship and go to Hefei."

Sun Quan stood on the boat and looked at the Hefei City built on the back of the mountain in the distance with extremely complicated eyes.

Because that was the place where he dreamed of.

But Sun Quan’s tone was serious:

"This Northern Expedition is a nationwide effort. If we continue to make no progress like before, do you know what it means to Wu?"

He didn't wait for Sun Shao to answer, then continued on his own:

"This means that in the future, I, the Great Wu, will only be trapped in Jiangdong forever, and will no longer be able to compete with Han and Wei for the world."

"Gongli, this is a dead end for Da Wu!"

No matter who wins in the end, Han or Wei, Wu will face a situation where it will be surrounded on three sides and eventually trapped to death.

"Instead of being left in a dead situation and slowly waiting for death in humiliation, I might as well fight hard for the last chance of survival."

To be honest, Sun Quan feels a little regretful now.

During the first Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty, he had informed himself that he hoped that Wu would send troops at the same time to destroy the traitors together.

Just thinking of Lu Xun's judgment of the situation at that time, Sun Quan couldn't help but grit his teeth:

"Bo Lu misunderstood me!"

"His Majesty!"

Sun Shao was shocked and turned pale. He quickly looked around and made sure that he was surrounded by the intimate guards of His Majesty's palace. Then he breathed a sigh of relief:

"Your Majesty, be careful what you say!"

Did something happen between His Majesty and the General?

"I'm just telling the truth, why should I be careful?"

When Sun Quan thought of what happened back then, he felt angry:

"Lu Boyan once asserted that the Han Dynasty was small and lacked people, and all roads in Hanzhong were difficult to travel. The Northern Expedition would definitely be ineffective and would only waste national power in vain."

"I suggest that I sit back and watch the war between Han and Wei, and wait until Zhuge Kongming is defeated and returns to his army. Whether it is for self-protection or for the success of defeating the bandits, Han will only become more demanding of me."

Having said this, Sun Quan let out a long sigh:

"Unexpectedly, the Han Kingdom... Alas! Wu has missed great opportunities over the years!"

Sun Quan seems to be an open-minded person, but in fact he likes to keep small notebooks.

Zhu Zhi, an old minister of Sun Jian, had recommended Sun Quan as Xiaolian early on, but later he was dissatisfied with Zhu Zhi and was unwilling to speak out, so he felt resentful for a time.

When Ji Yan was convicted by Sun Quan, one of the words was "Ji Yan's father and brother are attached to evil and rebellion", scolding his father and brother for having failed the Sun family in their early years.

When Zhang Wen was implicated by Ji Yan, he was scolded by Sun Quan for "having an old minister."

Anyway, I will silently remember all your faults, and I won’t speak out until the day I can’t bear it anymore.

This incident about Lu Xun was naturally recorded in Sun Quan's notebook.

As long as Lu Xun was still trusted by Sun Quan, nothing would happen.

But in the past few years, Han State has repeatedly won great victories, and Wu State has repeatedly failed to achieve success. In addition, there is Lu Yi beside him who is greedy either intentionally or unintentionally.

As a result, when Sun Quan thought of this incident, he felt like a thorn piercing his heart deeply.

The greater the victory of Han, the more painful this thorn will be.

Therefore, it was not for no reason that he had become more and more distant from Lu Xun in recent years.

Naturally, Sun Shao didn't know what Sun Quan was thinking at this time. When he heard this, he opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say, and finally remained speechless.

As a close confidant of Sun Quan, he naturally heard about this matter.

Now that he had received confirmation from His Majesty, he had to admit that the General had indeed made a mistake in this matter.

"Your Majesty, as the great general, you are still the pillar of our great Wu, and you are also on duty in front of the battle. Your Majesty should be careful with your words."

Sun Quan took a deep breath, tried to regain his composure, and said with a fake smile:

"How could I not know? It's just something I felt in my heart, I said it casually, and it was just a momentary gaffe."

If it weren't for the fact that in the entire Wu Kingdom, no one could compare with Lu Xun in military affairs, and I still had to rely on him to defeat thieves for me, how could I tolerate him until now?

"But the most important thing at the moment is to do the trick well. The longer we delay Wang Ling here, the better."

After saying that, Sun Quan refused to let Sun Shao persuade him any more. He waved his hand and ordered:

"Get off the boat!"

When the horn sounded, the ships following the building boat responded in turn.

Wu Jun on the ship began to formally disembark and disembark.

At the same time, the Wu army guarding the shore sent a large number of scouts to investigate the surrounding situation.

"Your Majesty, the Wei thieves seem to have retreated. It seems that they are going to defend the city."

"Don't take it lightly. The Wei thieves have many fine cavalry and can come and go freely. Our soldiers are far inferior to the Wei thieves in land warfare."

"In that case, Your Majesty, why don't you let me lead the army to explore the way for Your Majesty?"

Sun Shao pleaded again:

"Even if your Majesty wants to go to Hefei City in person, please don't put yourself in danger."

This time, Sun Quan did not force himself and nodded:

"Then I will give you five thousand elite soldiers to serve as the vanguard to explore the road."

"Here!"

The place to disembark is more than thirty miles away from Hefei New City.

Sun Quan had suffered losses here before, so he would not be careless.

Sun Quan walked this section for a whole day before he set up camp fifteen miles away from Hefei City.

"Your Majesty, it seems that the thief has been prepared."

Standing on a high place and looking at the stacks of camps outside Hefei City from a distance, Sun Shao couldn't help but feel a little scared.

This time, the fleet brought by His Majesty was continuous, but in fact it was not fully loaded with troops.

Unexpectedly, Sun Quan smiled nonchalantly:

"It's better to be prepared in advance. The more prepared Wang Ling is, the more it shows that he is not aware of our true intention at all."

Sun Shao was not as relaxed as Sun Quan.

The bandits' camp is so vast that they will probably have a lot of troops.

If you see through the reality on your side and don't defend and counterattack, you will probably have to fight hard.

I don't know if he heard what Sun Shao was saying. The Wu army had just set up camp when they heard the sound of war drums not far away.

Then, I saw a group of elite cavalrymen from the Wei Kingdom approaching with shouts and shouts, and ran outside the Wu army camp and around the camp.

Various provocative actions were made, and at the same time someone shouted in front of the formation:

"Wu Gou, do you dare to come out and fight?"

The elite cavalry of the Wei army suddenly arrived, causing a commotion in the Wu army's camp.

Sun Quan, however, held his halberd and shouted:
To be continued...