The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 531 Stable Lower Limit
At this moment, Cao Cao completely let go of all the burdens in his heart and only wanted to win the battle.

"Order Cao Ren to withdraw his troops quickly and in an orderly manner! Retreat in the direction of Shililin."

"Order Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan to abandon the ships and lead the troops to ambush in the woods on both sides of the Ten-Li Forest."

"Order Cao Hong and Li Dian to lead 30,000 troops each to station troops on the east and west sides of Shililin. When the enemy arrives at Shililin, attack from both sides and cut off the connection between Xu Rong and Guan Yu's army."

"Order Cao Chun to lead the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to ambush at Yanmapo, north of the Ten-Li Forest, and attack the enemy's rear after the battle begins."

"Order Zhu Ling to lead 50,000 troops to the south of Shili Slope and launch a frontal assault."

One order after another came out of Cao Cao's mouth.

In fact, he had already prepared for this battle.

All the generals put aside their worries and took orders with full fighting spirit.

They believed in their lord.

……

To the north of Shilipo, Xu Rong and Guan Yu's troops were chasing the fleeing Cao Ren's troops one after the other.

Looking at the food and military supplies scattered everywhere, as well as the panicked and embarrassed Cao army, the two men were not careless at all.

"Cao Cao's use of troops would never be that simple."

They all firmly believe this.

Therefore, no matter how hard Cao Ren acted, they still pursued him at a leisurely pace.

Small groups of cavalry took turns chasing and killing the enemy, dismembering Cao Ren's army like cutting meat with a knife.

"Damn it!" Cao Ren was in an extremely bad mood at this moment.

He didn't expect that these two people would be so patient and never take the bait.

Although the cavalry chasing him were not numerous, their combat effectiveness was considerable and they were able to severely cut off a large number of his troops every time. However, he was unable to turn back and fight back and could only endure it silently.

If this continues, it won’t be long before the fake defeat becomes a real defeat.

Faking a defeat is inherently risky, and it is difficult to boost morale once it's gone.

The Qi army seemed to have not noticed the supplies he had intentionally dropped. Did they have no idea about the military achievement? Cao Ren was puzzled.

You know, there are quite a few valuables among those supplies.

If these pursuers just bent down and secretly stretched out their hands, they would get a lot of fortune, but no one did it. The plan to disrupt the pursuers' formation completely failed.

The military discipline of the Qi army is truly terrible.

Little did people know that Tian Ze had already noticed this problem in the military during the process of military reform.

Although grabbing heads and spoils can inspire the morale of soldiers, it can also be easily exploited by the enemy to disrupt the formation and eliminate fighting spirit.

If the soldiers were carrying a large amount of gold and silver, would he still chase them desperately? Everyone was grabbing things, what could you gain by chasing them foolishly?
This is a problem that has existed since ancient times and has been used time and again to defeat the enemy.

However, there was one person who solved this problem very well, and that was Qi Jiguang.

The Japanese pirates often used this method when fighting against government soldiers after looting civilians.

Since they were not in a dominant position, they pretended to retreat and left behind a large amount of money and treasures. The soldiers of the government army naturally rushed to grab them, and the originally tight military formation had a lot of flaws, and no one wanted to fight. The Japanese pirates then turned around and counterattacked, and they were always successful.

Tian Ze drew on Qi Jiguang's methods of military management and strictly prohibited soldiers from embezzling spoils of war. He established a special system for collecting and distributing materials in the army and also made changes to the military merit system.

In Tian Ze's opinion, this can only be regarded as a change, not an improvement.

Because to a certain extent, this reduced the enthusiasm of the soldiers to kill the enemy, which was not as good as the original incentive effect. However, different situations require different troops.

Choose the lesser of two evils. Tian Ze's fundamental requirement for the army is stability, so military discipline must be strict, so he chose this method.

There are many similar rules and regulations. While they restrict the bravery of the soldiers, they also effectively stabilize their combat effectiveness.

Simply put, it lowers the upper limit of the army's combat power and raises the lower limit of the army's combat power.

Such a Qi army may find it difficult to fight a good battle, but it will basically not make mistakes and is very stable.

At this moment, the advantage of this stability is obvious.

Cao Ren's plan was completely self-inflicted trouble. Not only did it fail to weaken the enemy, but it also caused his own morale to drop further.

"It seems that I can only rely on my lord." Cao Ren said bitterly.

The two sides chased each other and soon arrived near Shililin.

It was already noon, and both Cao Ren's army and the pursuing troops had been rushing for half a day.

Even though the speed of both sides was not too fast, their condition inevitably declined.

Xu Rong noticed this keenly and was about to stop the army and take a short rest.

At this moment, from the mountains and forests on both sides of the Shililin, the troops of Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun, who had been ready for action, rushed out.

Cao Ren ordered the rear army to evacuate to the mountains and forests on both sides without hesitation.

The vanguard army, which had been marching in strict formation all the way, immediately changed direction, quickly reorganized its formation, and launched an attack on Xu Rong's army.

Behind Cao Ren, countless Cao troops emerged with such momentum that they blocked out the sky and the sun.

"You've been ambushed!"

Hearing the shouts of Cao's army, Xu Rong was not panicked at all. He said in a deep voice: "Don't panic, form a fish scale formation and defend on the spot."

As the number one general under Tian Ze, Xu Rong did not get the position based on his seniority, but rather on his real abilities.

If Cao Ren had observed carefully, he would have discovered the peculiarities of Xu Rong's army's march.

Even when pursuing, Xu Rongjun still maintained a dynamic formation. Not only could they form a formation on the spot at any time, but the marching speed of each team was controlled within a stable range, and a certain amount of rest time was left.

At Xu Rong's command, his soldiers acted quickly, like a precision machine. In a flash they found their positions and formed a strict fish-scale formation.

The soldiers' shields were connected and their spears were crossed. Under the sunlight, they looked like an indestructible steel barrier.

Xun Yu and others who were standing side by side with Zhu Ling in the back couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts when they saw this scene.

What a terrible army!

Fortunately, the Lord did not choose Xu Rong's troops as the main attack direction, otherwise...

However, even if Guan Yu’s army was defeated, what should be done with this army?
At this moment, Xun Yu and others felt the tremendous pressure deeply, and understood why Tian Ze valued and trusted Xu Rong so much.

The ability to march and respond alone is enough to astonish the world.

Xu Rong's way of leading troops was a perfect match with the Qi army's combat mode, and what was presented to them was an iron army that was completely invincible.

Can we really win this battle?
Xun Yu and others couldn't help but feel suspicious.

However, Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan had no time to think about these things at the moment.

Although he knew it was a feint, if he couldn't put enough pressure on Xu Rong's army, he would not be able to lure Guan Yu's army out.

Even though they knew the army in front of them was not easy to deal with, they still had to fight!
(End of this chapter)