Zhang Fei left five thousand soldiers and horses for Deng Ai to cut off his rear.

The crowd of five thousand said it was not too much, but it was too little.

Under normal circumstances, it is enough to cover the retreat of the army.

In the past few months, the Han army had been surrounding the Wei army in Wancheng and attacking, which led many generals in the Han army to believe that Sima Yi would not lead his army to pursue them when they retreated.

After all, in terms of morale and military strength, the Wei army did not have an advantage.

But Deng Ai did not take it lightly.

After Zhang Fei led his army several miles away from Wancheng, Deng Aicai led his army from the camp and slowly retreated to cover Zhang Fei's army.

Zhang Fei not only left five thousand Han troops with Deng Ai, but also left two powerful generals to assist Deng Ai.

These two heroes are Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong.

As the second generation of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong were proud of themselves.

Their fathers were all feared by everyone in the world, so from the day they joined the army, they wanted to make a name for themselves so as not to disgrace the reputation of their fathers.

It's just that Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong are both good at martial arts, but not good at strategy.

This leaves the two of them with very few opportunities to make meritorious deeds.

With Zhang Fei in Jingzhou, I think there is no Wei general who dares to challenge the Jingzhou army to fight without fear of death.

There are not many opportunities for meritorious service, which means that Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong's current positions are not high - both of them are only Zhonglang generals.

But what about Deng Ai?

Before the Northern Expedition, Deng Ai had become Zhonglang General due to his achievements in the Southern Expedition.

Before being sent to Jingzhou by Mi Yang, Mi Yang was worried that Deng Ai was too young to convince the public, so he specially promoted Deng Ai to "General Xingzhechong".

According to Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong's knowledge, Zhang Fei recently deliberately removed the line on Deng Ai's head.

Of course, there are countless people in the Han army who have higher positions than Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong, but the important thing is that they are all much older than Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong!

More importantly, Deng Ai was just a direct subordinate of Mi Yang.

So much has changed in the past few years.

In terms of background, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong were no worse than Mi Yang. In their early years, they and Mi Yang were collectively known as the "Four Friends of the Prince" by people in Chengdu.

But a few years later, Mi Yang left them behind and became a general with less than ten thousand people. Even his subordinate Deng Ai had a higher position than them.

How could Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong not be disgusted by such a huge contrast.

We are all young people, and it is normal to be competitive.

Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong could not hide their thoughts from Deng Ai.

It's not that Deng Ai's emotional intelligence suddenly became higher, it's mainly that Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong have been looking at him with inquiring eyes in the past few days.

Anyone who has been stared at like this can guess some reasons.

Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong were exploring whether their abilities were inferior to Deng Ai's, or whether they had joined the wrong army?

Fortunately, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong had very strict upbringings. Although they were puzzled and dissatisfied, they did not turn their emotions into dissatisfaction with Deng Ai.

In the past few days, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong have been very obedient to Deng Ai's orders.

Originally, if there were no accidents, the relationship between the three of them should have developed in such a dull way, but there are always some smart people in the world who like to act like monsters.

When Deng Ai led his army to retreat to a plain ten miles away from Wancheng, a group of fine cavalry from the Wei army suddenly arrived and attacked the Han army led by him.

When he left Wancheng, Deng Ai had sent out scouts in the rear, which made him well prepared.

In addition, under Mi Yang's repeated attacks, it is difficult for the current Wei army to have a large number of cavalry.

So in the end Deng Ai successfully commanded the Han army to repel the Wei army's attack.

After repelling the Wei army's attack, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong came to Deng Ai together and suggested:

"As expected by the cavalry general, the bandit army planned to attack our army.

Now that the bandit army's attack has been repelled by our army, our army can join up with the cavalry general as soon as possible."

Zhang Fei gave Deng Ai the task: if Sima Yi sends troops to pursue him, then repel the Wei army's attack.

From this perspective, Deng Ai's mission has been completed.

In addition, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong knew that Zhang Fei would rush back to Chang'an before New Year's Day.

This means that there is less than a month left for Zhang Fei to arrange the defense of Jingzhou.

Under this situation, if they can immediately join Zhang Fei and rush back to Jingzhou as soon as possible, they will undoubtedly save a lot of time.

Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong's suggestions sound quite reasonable.

However, Deng Ai shook his head and rejected their suggestions.

Deng Ai's refusal puzzled Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong.

Could it be that Deng Ai was worried that Sima Yi would launch another attack on them?

But this is unlikely.

The art of war throughout the ages has always disapproved of pursuing retreating enemy troops.

And even if they have to pursue, most generals still have the attitude of giving it a try.

If the first attack was successful, then Sima Yi might launch a second attack.

But the first attack by the Wei army can only be described as a dismal outcome.

After the defeated Wei army returned to Wancheng, they reported to Sima Yi that their army was well-defended. From common sense, Sima Yi would not launch a second attack.

It was precisely because of this inference that Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong made that suggestion to Deng Ai.

But it's obvious that Deng Ai has his own ideas.

"The two generals don't know something.

Since Ai came to Wancheng, he has watched the old thief Sima use his troops many times.

In the past few months, our army has repeatedly attacked Wancheng, but they were all repelled by the bandits. This is not only because Wancheng is a strong city, but also because the old bandit Sima is a good general.

Any general who is good at defense must have a calm character.

With the calmness of the old thief Sima, he will not launch an attack on our army rashly.

The thieves who came to attack our army today are neither large nor elite. Isn't that different?

According to my expectation, today's attack by the bandit army was an act of showing weakness by the old bandit Sima.

Our army should not take it lightly."

Deng Ai patiently explained his views to Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong.

In fact, Deng Ai's character was quite arrogant in front of ordinary generals.

There was nothing we could do about it, Deng Ai was already an adult when he joined Mi Yang.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Mi Yang can change Deng Ai's life trajectory, but he cannot reverse Deng Ai's established character.

Just out of respect for Mi Yang, Deng Ai, who has always been arrogant, would try his best to remain humble towards those who valued Mi Yang.

After listening to Deng Ai's words, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong thought for a long time.

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong found that they still didn't quite understand Deng Ai's concerns.

This is because in previous battles, these two men never paid attention to what kind of person Sima Yi was.

Moreover, everyone has different talents in strategy. Even if they paid attention, it would be difficult for them to have as keen a judgment as Deng Ai.

However, seeing that although Deng Ai stuttered, he still explained himself word for word, Zhang Bao and Zhao Tong did not continue to persuade him.

They are Mi Yang's friends and should trust Mi Yang's vision.

...

The distance of tens of miles could be reached in one day for the fleeing cavalry.

That night, Sima Yi, who had been waiting so hard, received the news.

Unsurprisingly, the troops he sent to pursue the Han army suffered a disastrous defeat.

The news of the tragic defeat not only did not make Sima Yi distressed, but also made him smile with joy.

Sima Yi's strange behavior made the Sima Master on the side confused again.

When Sima Yi sent out cavalry to pursue the Han army, Sima Division had advised Sima Yi: The Han army retreated in an orderly manner, and it would be difficult to achieve success without sending elite troops to pursue it.

But Sima Yi ignored this suggestion.

But when the news came that the pursuit failed, Sima Yi was not angry but happy. Why?

Master Sima immediately asked Sima Yi about his confusion.

This time Sima Yi did not ignore Sima Shi.

Sima Yi was in a good mood and said to Master Sima with a smile:
To be continued...