Chapter 315: Law and filial piety escaped, Zhang Wenyuan was the best in the three armies

Horses leaps on the big tent.

Gao Shun, Fang Yue, Xu Huang, Gan Ning, and Ma Dai entered one after another, lined up in front of Ma Yue, clasped their fists and said loudly: "See the lord."

Ma Yuesu said, "Forgive."

"Thank you lord."

All the generals thanked him and turned around and joined the list.

Ma Yue's eyes fell on Gao Shun's face and asked, "Has the defense of Yuanhe (Gao Shun's name is a good example), Hangu, Luoyang, Hulao and Xingyang been arranged properly?"

The city is located in a dangerous position in these four levels, which directly concerns the safety of the Liang army's food supply road. Of course, those who stay behind must be cautious.

Gao Shun said: "Xingyang is guarded by the third general Ma Xiu, Hulao Pass is guarded by Mengda, Luoyang is guarded by Suze, Hangu Pass is guarded by Chen Hu, and there are 2,000 county soldiers left in each city. The last general has ordered the four generals. If Cao's army comes, they must not fight with them. They are all deep ditches and high bases, and wait for reinforcements, so that they will not be wrong."

"Yeah." Ma Yue nodded, "It's so good."

"Lord!" As soon as Ma Yue finished speaking, Li Su stepped into the tent, bowed to Ma Yue long, and said loudly, "The news has been heard from the spies in Yecheng, and the whole story has been clarified."

Ma Yue said: "Tell me."

Li Su said: "In the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao listened to slander, killed his military advisor Tian Feng, and forced Zhang He, Jiang Qi, Han Meng and Zhang He to rebel in front of the formation of 50,000 former Jizhou troops, leading Cao's army to attack Hebei Daying. Yuan's army was defeated, and the 300,000 army collapsed overnight. In the end, Yuan Shao only led hundreds of cavalry to flee back to Yecheng."

Jia Xu said: "Yuan Shao was defeated so completely?"

Ma Yue said, "It's just a pity that Tian Feng has a lot of wisdom, but he has never met a wise master."

Jia Xu's eyes turned and thought about it, he said to Ma Yue: "Lord, 50,000 of Cao Cao's 70,000 are the surrendered troops in Jizhou. This is an opportunity worth taking advantage of."

Ma Yue said, "Are you going to have a plan?"

Jia Xu said: "Cao's army has a lot of troops, and the daily amount of food and grass will inevitably be huge. It is difficult for Xuchang City to last for a small period of time. If our army takes the initiative to fight, Cao Cao will be in line with his thoughts."

Ma Yue said, "Well, it makes sense."

Jia Xu said: "When the two armies meet, our army will attack Cao Cao's old subordinates at any cost. When Cao Cao's old subordinates suffer heavy casualties and their troops are reduced to less than 10,000. At this time, there are still nearly 50,000 surrendered troops in Jizhou. In this way, the boss is weak and the servants are strong, and the servants are almost too strong to lose. There will be a rift between the old subordinates of Cao and the surrendered troops in Jizhou. Our army will win without fighting!"

Ma Yue said, "I'm pretty good at it, just do it."

Xuchang, Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Cao Cao was summoning Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Liu Ye, Jia Kui and others to discuss matters.

Liu Ye said to Cao Cao worriedly: "Lord, I just got the news that the surrendered army in Jizhou gathered people to cause trouble because of insufficient food rations. General Cao Xiu took people to stop him and was also injured several soldiers. Later, although the situation was suppressed by General Zhang He, it was not a solution to continue like this."

Cao Cao said helplessly: "I also know that this confrontation is not a solution, but now the emperor has been kidnapped by Guan Yu, Xuzhou and Huainan are also ambiguous in their attitudes and are reluctant to escort military rations. What if it does?"

Jia Kui said: "Lord, why not give up Xudu and retreat to Xuzhou?"

Cao Cao remained silent.

Xun You shook his head and said, "This is not the case. The reason why the Xuzhou gentry surrendered to the lord is because the emperor is in Xudu and the great righteousness is in the prime minister. Today, it is unknown who will fall into his hands. The lord raised his public to Xuzhou at this time and would be rejected by Chen Gui, Sun Qian and others. At that time, Xuzhou will be blocked by the strong city of Xuzhou, and Liangzhou cavalry will be pursued by our army!"

"Then go back to Qingzhou." Liu Ye said, "Yuan Shao was defeated and the Hebei army suffered heavy losses. Qingzhou must be prepared for emptiness. The lord can take advantage of the situation and attack it as the foundation, and then Xu Tu's plan to follow."

"Qingzhou?" Xun Yu said, "It's easy to get in, but it's difficult to think about it."

"Now is no longer the time for heroes to rise up and the world is in power. The Han Dynasty has fallen into the hands of a few warlords such as Ma Yue, Yuan Shao, Sun Jian, Liu Biao, and Liu Zhang. If the lord retreats to Qingzhou, the land of the Central Plains will inevitably fall into the hands of Ma Yue. At that time, the horse butcher is in the hands of Guan, Liang, Hetao, Sili, and the land of the Central Plains. How can the prime minister compete with him?"

Liu Ye said: "That's what you say, we can only fight to the death with the Liang army!"

"Clang."

Cao Cao suddenly pulled out his sword and chopped the table down, shouting sternly: "I have decided to fight to the death with the butcher Ma. If anyone else refuses, he should be the same as this case!"

Everyone was ashamed.

Cheng Yu said: "Lord, if you fight, you must fight quickly. Although you can relieve your worries for a while, it will not be a long-term solution!"

Cao Cao said: "Let's wait for tomorrow, we will set up a large army to fight the Liang army to the decisive battle!"

Liu Ye said: "Lord, what if the horse butcher avoids the battle?"

"No!" Cao Cao said decisively, "The Liang army needs to transport military rations from Guanzhong. The journey is not far less than a thousand miles. Although our army is short of military rations, the Liang army is not much better. Our army goes out of the city to fight to the decisive battle, but the Ma Butcher is afraid that it will still be unsuccessful! If it were not for the situation, how could I give Ma Butcher such an opportunity? If the military rations are sufficient, our army only needs deep ditches and high bases to defeat the Liang army."

On the official road of Runan to Jiangxia, Guan Ping was ordered by Guan Yu and was leading two hundred soldiers to escort the "Son of Emperor" and "Officials" to head towards Jiangxia County with great fanfare. When he was walking slowly, a fast horse suddenly came and ran to Guan Ping, turning over and getting off the horse and kneeling down on the dust, crying and saying insult: "Major General, wuwuwu..."

Guan Ping saw it with sincerity. Seeing that it was Hu Ban's confidant Hu Qiang, he couldn't help but say, "Hu Qiang, what happened?"

Hu Qiang cried loudly: "Major General, the old general...he..."

Guan Ping's heart jumped and he sternly said: "What's wrong with him, my father?"

Hu Qiang said: "The veteran general... was killed by Ma Chao!"

"ah?"

Guan Ping felt his eyes turn black when he heard this, and almost fell from the horse's back. Fortunately, his personal soldiers rushed forward to support Guan Ping. After a while, Guan Ping came to his senses and howled to the sky: "Father, where is my father..."

"Boom~~"

"All Guan Yu, don't leave!"

When Guan Ping was so sad, the sound of hooves suddenly appeared on the northern official road, and he turned around in shock. Thousands of Western Liang cavalry swept over like storm waves. The first general waved a heavy wolf-toothed iron hammer and roared to the sky. The sound of horse hooves like thunder could not suppress his loud voice.

This general is naturally the strong general Xu Chu of Liangzhou.

"Not good, Xiliang Iron Cavalry is coming."

"Oh my God, run!"

"I don't want to die here, brothers, run away~~"

Except for the fifty cavalry of Guan Ping, the other two or three hundred people were surrendered by Cao Cao's old subordinates, or the new officers who forced to recruit the army on the way. At this time, seeing the Western Liang cavalry crushing over with a scattered momentum, they immediately dispersed. The group of Qiao Zhuan's "Son of Emperor" and "Officials" also rushed into the mountains and fled.

Seeing that things were not done, Guan Ping had to lead the long sword in his hand south and sternly said: "Go!"

At the order of Guan Ping, he led the only fifty personal soldiers of the cavalry to flee to Jiangxia in panic.

Xu Chu couldn't catch up with him, so he had to order the soldiers to rob the "Emperor" and "Officials" who ran into the mountains. When the soldiers snatched him up, he realized that they were just pretending to be the people. He immediately shouted that he was deceived and lamented to Chen Dao behind him, "Shuzhi, we have been deceived. This is the trick of Guan Yu's husband. The real emperor and all officials must have fled to Lujiang!"

Chen Dao advised: "General, don't be discouraged. When our army chased Jiangxia, Cao Hong, Cao Zhen and Yu Jin were chasing Lujiang. After all, Runan is Cao Cao's territory. As long as the county soldiers in various places could be slightly delayed, Guan Yu would be caught up by Cao's army. Our army would turn back to intercept him at this time, and it would be too late."

"Oh, it's still time?" Xu Chu was overjoyed when he heard this, and quickly turned his mount to shout at the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry behind him, "Brothers, go to Lujiang and go!"

With Xu Chu's order, three thousand iron cavalry swept away like a tide.

Runan.

At the foot of the Dabie Mountains, a dangerous pass.

After three days and nights of crossing mountains and ridges, the three thousand mountain elite soldiers led by Pan Zhang finally crossed the steep Dabie Mountains and took a shortcut to grab the front of Ma Chao's eight hundred iron cavalry. Pan Zhang immediately ordered the soldiers to set up camp in the middle of the official road, and stuck Gepo's only official road to Runan.

Because Ma Chao's eight hundred cavalry were all cavalry, they could not cross mountains and ridges like mountain elite soldiers, but had to advance along the flat official road. Many times, from one side of the mountain to another, the straight line was actually only a few miles away, but the cavalry had to walk around a big bend and dozens of miles.

Because of this, the marching speed of the Western Liang Iron Cavalry is far less than that of Pan Zhang's Shanyue elite soldiers.

Ma Chao led 800 cavalry to protect the emperor. The officials walked in the Dabie Mountains for three days. Before they even walked out of the mountain, they were snatched by Pan Zhang and blocked the way. At this time, the two thousand light cavalry led by Taishi Ci also chased after him again, only half a day away from the Liang army. Now there was a blockage in front and pursuers behind, and the Liang army was almost dead!

Taking advantage of the afterglow of the setting sun, Ma Chao and Fa Zheng walked up to a cliff on the left side of the official road, and observed the Wu army camp set up by Pan Zhang from a high place.

Fa Zheng put on the tent with his hand and looked around for a moment, saying, "From the banner, it looks like the Wu army, not the Cao army!"

Ma Chao said: "There are not many troops, up to three thousand people!"

Fa Zhengdao: "The entire official road has been completely sealed. If our army wants to pass, it will have to attack one by one. However, the Wu army set up three simple camps along the official road, with layers of defense and resistance. Such an arrangement can greatly dampen our army's aura and increase the difficulty of our army in breaking the enemy camp. It is simply impeccable."

Ma Chao said: "It seems that the chief general of Wu army is also a tough guy, and it is difficult to deal with!"

Fa Zheng looked back and frowned and said, "Two thousand Wu army light cavalry are behind our army, and it only takes half a day to catch up. At that time, there will be blocking in front of our army and pursuing soldiers behind us, but it will be doomed!"

Ma Chao slapped the rocks around him with a palm, and actually smashed a huge rock as big as a millstone. He said hatefully: "It's a pity that this is not the Central Plains or the Mobei. Our elite cavalry was blocked by only three thousand Eastern Wu infantry! Humph, if it was changed to the open terrain, the general would be able to destroy these three thousand Wu soldiers without any effort."

Fa Zheng said: "This is the limit of the terrain on the troops! There are many plains in the north, which is conducive to the galloping of war horses, so the cavalry is extremely powerful, but there are mostly mountains in the south, so the power of cavalry will be greatly reduced. For example, among the mountains and ridges of the Dabie Mountains, the advantages of cavalry will be gone."

Ma Chao said: "I'm afraid it's not possible to fight hard, I still have to find a way to get around it."

Fa Zheng said: "The mountain here is steep, and the soldiers can naturally cross it by abandoning their horses and walking, but the emperor, how can they do it? Moreover, once the iron cavalry loses the war horse, if the Cao army and the Wu army arrive again after hearing the news, how can they get rid of the pursuers?"

Ma Chao said: "If you don't know how to be filial and honest, can you have a good idea?"

Fa Zheng turned his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Let's give him a golden cicada to escape!"

Ma Chao said: "How to escape from the cicada?"

Fa Zheng pointed to the vast Dabie Mountains behind him and said in a deep voice: "Major General, look at the Dabie Mountains, with clouds and mists. If it weren't for winter now, the pursuers could escape the footprints left by the snow, even if they were hiding a hundred thousand troops, let alone the eight hundred iron cavalry?"

Ma Chao nodded and said with regret: "Yes, it's a pity that it's the middle of winter, and the mountains are covered with heavy snow, so it's hard to hide their tracks. Otherwise, the eight hundred cavalry would just hide in the mountains and ridges, how could the Wu army find it?"

"Major General, don't worry." Fa Zheng said, "When you look at the celestial phenomena at night, it is likely that heavy snow will fall from the sky at night."

Ma Chao said: "Oh, will there be heavy snowfall in the sky today?"

Fa Zheng said: "Major General, you can find a hidden valley in advance, hide the emperor and the officials, and then select 900 good horses to stay. Han De led more than a hundred elite soldiers to take care of him, and then ordered the soldiers to smooth the footprints of the people and animals entering the valley. When the heavy snow falls to the dawn of the next day, the traces will disappear, and the Wu army will find it difficult to find the emperor, the officials and the hidden horses."

Ma Chao said: "Since that's the case, why not the entire army hides into the valley and makes it difficult for the Wu army to find traces?"

"Major General, no," Fa Zheng shook his hand quickly, "If the entire army hides into the valley and the Wu army suddenly loses its traces when our army suddenly disappears, they will definitely send a scout to search every nearby valley. In this way, no matter how hidden our army is, even if all traces are covered by heavy snow, it may be difficult to escape the search of the Wu army."

Ma Chao nodded and said, "What Xiaozhi said is so true, this general almost made a mistake."

Fa Zhengdao: "You can order the soldiers to stab all the captured Guan Yu army's horses and the remaining war horses of our army to death and abandon them on the official road. The major general led the soldiers to abandon their horses and walk on foot, climbed up the dangerous peak along the steep slope on the right side of the official road, and bypassed the camps set up by the Wu army ahead. In this way, the Wu army would think that our army had abandoned its horses and walked on foot."
To be continued...