Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 24 Yuanrong Crossbowmen
March 5th.

Not even three moments later.

Cao Zhen's first military order was quickly passed on by his personal soldiers to the captains of each camp.

All the soldiers in the camp, who had been resting for half a day, started moving.

At 4:00 PM, in addition to the 2,000 personal soldiers and over 700 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry guarding the general's platform,
Including Le Lin's troops of more than 1,400 soldiers, there were a total of 13 divisions and more than 27,000 soldiers all lined up one mile in front of the village.

Soon, Cao Zhen issued the second military order.

"Order Zhang Hu, Le Zhao, Li Zhen, Zhu Shu, and Lu Fan as the vanguard. Send out immediately to fight the Shu invaders for the central route and slope!"

Several personal soldiers galloped down the plateau on horseback.

4:00 p.m.

The five divisions of the Wei army, totaling more than 10,000 soldiers, maintained their formation and slowly moved towards the slope where the first battle took place in the morning.

There, the four divisions of the Han army, totaling about 8,000 soldiers, had been waiting for about an hour. When Cao's army came out of the camp and formed a battle array, they were all armored and ready to fight.

As soon as the central army set out, Cao Zhen immediately issued a third military order.

"Order Sima Hao Zhao to lead two divisions of 4,000 men on the right wing to attack the left wing of the Shu army!
"Pang Hui led 700 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to the central slope. After reaching the battlefield, they immediately turned around and headed straight for the Shu invaders' northern camp!
"If no one comes to stop the Shu invaders, we will drive the people into chaos and set fire to the stronghold!

"If the Shu invaders send reinforcements, they will retreat to our left wing, conserve their energy and strength, and save their power for future use!

"Wang Shuang will lead a battalion of infantry as a rear guard, stationed between the five troops on the central slope and the two troops on the right wing, to provide support. Act accordingly!"

Soon, the northernmost part of the army, namely the three divisions of Cao's right wing, totaling 6,000 infantry and 700 tiger and leopard cavalry, set out one after another.

Due west in front of them were two camps of Han troops totaling about 4,000 men, ready for battle. Their formation was slightly further away from the central army at Banpo and closer to the Han stronghold.

Cao Zhen already had his own judgment on where the outcome of this decisive battle would be decided.

Not the central army.

But the left and right wings.

Although there are some soldiers in the Shu army who are willing to die, it is impossible for the entire army to be willing to die.

Banpo is a place that must be fought for. The elite and death-defying soldiers of the Shu army must be stationed there, while the left and right wings will definitely be weak.

As long as the two wings open up the situation, the center of the Shu army may not be able to escape defeat.

Soon, the two battalions of the Wei army's left wing near the Qinling Mountains, totaling 4,000 infantry, also entered the battlefield after Cao Zhen gave the order.

At this moment, Cao Zhen still had three captains and one personal soldier, a total of 8,000 people left in the camp for use.

To the west, on top of Yushanjiangtai.

Liu Chan was a little nervous when he saw that Cao's army actually sent out the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in the first round, and he didn't know whether they were heading towards the center army or the left wing of the Han army.

After all, the Han army's manpower prepared to deal with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was all deployed on the right wing at the foot of the Qinling Mountains. Even the mud ponds that blocked the cavalry were larger and muddier on the right wing than on the left wing.

While Liu Chan was feeling uneasy, the old general on the stage had already begun to give orders:
"Order the two thousand men left behind in the North Camp to leave, and send another five hundred archers to prevent Cao's cavalry from attacking the civilians and disrupting our camp!"

After the personal guards had left to deliver the message, Liu Chan asked:

"How did General Zilong know that Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were heading for our northern camp, rather than harassing our center or left wing?"

Zhao Yun stared at the battlefield, and after a moment he said, "Your Majesty, I am only judging others by my own standards.

“When I set up camp, I deliberately placed the civilian camp in the north to lure the Wei cavalry into attacking.

"General Cao Zhen of Wei is no incompetent man. He will definitely come here to give it a try."

I don’t know if it’s because the surge of adrenaline caused the decline in intelligence, but Liu Chan is still a little confused.

But Zhao Yun didn't notice Liu Chan's expression, and only said helplessly:

"Your Majesty, the Wei cavalry are attacking, and our army has no choice but to send troops out of the camp to resist.

"At that time, he will use his speed advantage to rush back to our right wing and wait for us to tire out.

"The battlefield is only four or five miles narrow at one point and six or seven miles wide at the other. It's too late to move the guards to our right wing, so we can only mobilize the rest of the troops to protect it.

"Cao Zhen wants to use this cavalry to mobilize as many of our available troops as possible, and then use the central force to attack our weak points."

After the voice fell, the king and his minister on the platform fell into silence for a moment.

War breaks out at any moment.

The central army was the first to engage in battle. Although the Han army had fewer men than the enemy and was slightly surrounded by the Wei army, they relied on the advantage of being at a high ground and having physical strength to enter a stalemate with the Wei army after engaging in battle.

This time, although Feng Hu's 1,000 elite soldiers were in the battle, they were unable to unleash any amazing power. After all, the battle line was two or three miles long, and the front of the Wei army was also full of elite soldiers.

The two armies were equally armed and had similar morale. After hacking, stabbing, and parrying each other for a long time, only a few people fell.

In fact, these elite warriors who have experienced many battles are accustomed to this.

In a battle, the greatest casualties are often not caused by the fighting between the two armies when they engage, but by the trampling of one side after its collapse, or by the loss of defense caused by abandoning armor in order to escape faster, and then being caught up and slaughtered by the pursuers after being exhausted.

So many people died in the battle that morning simply because the Wei generals underestimated the Han army, which led to them losing the space to form a battle formation after they penetrated deep into the Han formation. The Han army then formed a dense battle formation and took on two waves of heavy arrows from the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

As the two armies fought fiercely, the dust covering the slope began to be shaken high into the sky. Within half a minute, the yellow dust in the sky had completely obscured the vision of everyone on Yushan Mountain.

We can only rely on the rear of the two armies that are not covered by smoke and dust to judge whether the front line is advancing or retreating.

Unable to see much clearly, Liu Chan had to turn his attention to the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, which had bypassed the left wing of the Han army and headed directly towards the Beizhaimin camp.

It must be said that they attacked at an extremely fast speed. If General Zhao had not been prepared in advance, they would have caused chaos in the Beizhai civilian camp by now, and took advantage of the chaos among the laborers and auxiliary soldiers to cause trouble for the Han army that had not yet left the camp.

Soon, two thousand infantrymen and archers hidden in the civilian village successfully drove the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry out of the northern village.

Liu Chan, who was unfamiliar with military affairs, could not help but sigh inwardly at Zhao Yun's foresight, wondering if this was what the art of war meant by "attack the enemy but not be attacked by the enemy"?
Mobilize the enemy, don't be mobilized by the enemy.

Although the Han army had to send people to guard the camp, if General Zhao had not set up the civilian camp in the north of the formation to lure them out and set up defenses in advance, then with the speed of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, they might not have been able to provide reinforcements in time.
Looking towards the northwesternmost part of the battlefield at this moment, after being shot by the Han army's hard bows in the civilian camp, leaving more than a dozen corpses, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, who suffered a loss, turned around and left the Han army's northern camp.

Because more than 2,000 Han army infantrymen had already left the northern camp and followed them, they did not choose to attack the Han army's left wing, which was currently engaged in battle with the Wei army and had already exposed its back in front of them.
He just passed by and fired a few waves of heavy arrows, killing nearly a hundred Han soldiers, and then he fled the local battlefield directly according to Cao Zhen's order.

Comes and goes like the wind.

For them, not only the heavy arrows they carry are consumables, but horsepower is also consumable, and they must be reserved for the most critical moments.

On the other side, the two thousand Han troops who were chasing after them quickly joined forces with the Han army's left wing. Acting accordingly, the Wei general Wang Shuang also led two thousand troops to join the right wing battlefield for the Wei army.

Cao's army generals' platform.

Cao Zhen was quite disappointed as he watched the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry withdraw from the battlefield after failing to harass the civilian camp.

The Han army responded so quickly that it was beyond his expectation. He soon realized that he must have been seduced by the Han army commander and had caused the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to consume a wave of horsepower for nothing.

But this is the battlefield, randomness is everywhere. If he doesn't try, he will never know whether this seemingly random test will cause the enemy to fall into disarray and win a victory.

Not all generals can do everything.

But he wasn't disappointed for long.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry quickly arrived at the left wing battlefield at the foot of the Qinling Mountains.

After resting for about a quarter of an hour, feeding and watering the horses, this Tiger and Leopard Cavalry successfully led another battalion of Shu troops out of the Han camp.

However, the reinforcements from this battalion were standing far behind, ready for battle.

Their troops were about half a mile away from the central slope, about one mile away from the right wing of the Shu army at the foot of the Qinling Mountains, and about two miles away from the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. It seemed that if the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry did not move, they would not move either.

By this point, according to Cao Zhen's estimation, there were about 20,000 Shu troops on the battlefield.

There were five to six thousand soldiers on each of the left and right wings, and eight to nine thousand soldiers in the center.

The Shu army is likely to be running out of troops.

However, speculation is just speculation. In this battlefield where the first battle is also the decisive one, there are too many unknown factors.

He was not prepared to send all his men forward at once before finding out whether there were more troops in the Shu army camp.

However, the Shu army's operation of sending out troops battalions at a time, without concentrating its superior forces to break any of his lines, really made him sense that the Shu army was not confident in their own strength. Moreover, after three or four quarters of an hour of fierce fighting, the left and right wings of the Shu army had already revealed obvious signs of fatigue and were beginning to lose their footing.

So he had only one doubt left:
Why haven't the hundreds of cavalry guards of the false emperor appeared on the battlefield yet?

"Someone come!
"Order Pang Hui to lead the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to slowly advance to the left wing of the Shu invaders. If the Shu invaders do not provide assistance, attack their left wing with all your might!
"If the Shu invaders' infantry arrives to support us, we will lead them to the Han army's left wing, then turn around and attack the Han army's right wing!
"If the Shu invaders' cavalry come to our aid, destroy them!"

Cao Zhen issued several military orders in succession, and then called in his personal guards to help him put on his armor.

Nearly another quarter of an hour passed.

On the plateau of Yushan, under the banner of Jinwu.

Even Liu Chan, who was unfamiliar with military affairs, could see at this time that at the foot of the Qinling Mountains, the right wing of the Han army, which was more advanced than the central army, was almost unable to hold on.

It’s not that there were many casualties, but the battle line was slowly retreating. The right wing, which was originally slightly ahead of the central army, has now been pushed back.

Not long after, as two Wei cavalrymen ran from the rear to the side of hundreds of Tiger and Leopard Cavalrymen, the hundreds of Tiger and Leopard Cavalrymen who had been resting in the rear finally mounted their horses, and then maintained their cavalry formation and slowly galloped towards the north of the battlefield, which was the left wing of the Han formation.

At the same time, without Zhao Yun's orders, the two thousand infantrymen who had been facing the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry from a distance, led by the Right Lieutenant General Zong Yu, began to trot directly to the left wing of the Han army at the same speed!

Yushan General's Platform.

General Zhao had already led his personal army down the mountain, leaving only his second son Zhao Guang and Zhao Pijiang to lead more than 200 personal guards to protect the emperor.

Liu Chan stared at Zong Yu's troops being led away by the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry with bated breath.

Sure enough, just when the two thousand infantrymen of Zong Yu's army were about to rush to the left wing battlefield with all their strength, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry finally turned their horses around, and the rear team became the front team, and suddenly rushed towards the foot of the Qinling Mountains!

The horses' hooves rumble!

The earth trembles!

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, which had been gathering strength, was like a sharp spear, stabbing straight at the right wing of the Han army at the foot of the Qinling Mountains!
It’s only four or five miles away, and it arrives in almost an instant!

Then, after just a few dozen breaths and five or six waves of heavy arrows, the right wing of the Han army, which had lasted for almost an hour, collapsed!

Under the expulsion of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the remaining 3,000-odd soldiers on the right wing of the Han army began to retreat to their own camp in a disorderly and desperate manner!

More and more Han soldiers threw away their armor and weapons and fled. After several rounds of shooting, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry finally forced their way to the fleeing Han army. Then, one by one, they put away their horse bows and took out iron hammers or iron spears in tacit understanding.

For a moment, blood and brains splattered everywhere on the battlefield!
At this moment, Cao Zhen, realizing that the Han army had no more extra troops available, finally led all 8,000 of his troops into the battlefield!

On the general's platform at Yushan.

Liu Chan looked at the right wing of the Han army being driven out and slaughtered by the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry at the foot of the mountain not far away, a little dazed.

Is this what a crushing defeat looks like?

The vast majority of the defeated soldiers were not killed by the Wei army, but were trampled to death by the friendly troops and horses that followed them after they stumbled and fell.

Looking at the distance, it was impossible to tell whether the main force of Cao's army had thousands or tens of thousands of troops, but they were now charging towards them in a square formation.

"Shu dog, die for me!" On the battlefield, Pang Hui, who led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, stabbed with spear after spear, and was completely bloodthirsty.

Ever since his father was beheaded by Guan Yu, he has been thinking about going to the battlefield day and night to kill the Shu dogs and avenge his father!

"Hmph, you foolish Shu bandits, how ridiculous! Do you really think that a mere quagmire can trap me?!" Another spear thrust out, directly piercing through an armored Shu soldier.

When he cursed this, he felt really angry and ridiculous.

You created a quagmire to disguise it, and you want to trap the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry here?
The fishy smell of the river mud can be smelled even from two or three miles away!
During the pursuit just now, anyone with eyes could easily notice that there were constantly defeated soldiers fleeing directly into the mud, and many of them were trapped in it.

The layer of grass camouflage covering it sank into the mud, exposing the trap.

Looking back at this time, it was actually just a quagmire one or two miles long and wide, not a large swamp that could cover the enemy's camp. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry just circled around and continued to intercept.

The quagmire even slowed down the escape of some of the Shu invaders, allowing his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to chase them more comfortably at the edge of the quagmire.

He rode his horse and continued to chase forward. He saw that the fleeing soldiers in front were less than two miles away from the Shu army camp. With a few easy stabs of his spear, Pang Hui killed several people in a row.

After running for a while, he saw that the Shu bandits who had rushed out of the camp when he was chasing the fleeing soldiers had finally formed their battle formation, carrying a general flag with the word "Zhao" on it, and slowly moving towards the fleeing soldiers and his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

The leader was vaguely seen to be an old man with a white beard riding a white horse.

He stopped his horse for a moment and looked intently, wanting to see the group of fleeing soldiers charging into the army.

But the reality was not as he imagined. The defeated soldiers just scattered to the left and right and made way for the two thousand Shu invaders in formation.

He frowned immediately, but before he could relax his brows, he found that some defeated soldiers began to run to the back of the Shu army and re-formed their formation.

After a while, the old man on the white horse led a battalion of infantry and rushed towards him.

Pang Hui, who understood what was going on, spat unwillingly, then led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to turn around and prepare to leave the battlefield.

However, he soon discovered a problem.

The corpses of the Shu bandits lying on the ground seriously slowed down his speed of returning along the original route.

His more than 600 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry could not run at all along the way they came.

As for the mud pond on the right side, which was one or two miles long and wide, it was even more impossible for him to wade into it.

Behind them came Zhao Yun with two thousand infantrymen.

He could only look to his left front.

The Shu army that he had just led by the nose was now running towards him desperately, and was about a mile away from his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

Their formation was stretched out very long, and many people were left behind. Only about five or six hundred people rushed to the front.

For some reason, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

But then he thought again, what could the five or six hundred Shu bandits, who had already lost their formation and strength and had fled, do to his Tiger and Leopard Cavalry?

On the general's platform on Yushan Mountain, Liu Chan held his breath and concentrated.

Hundreds of Tiger and Leopard Cavalrymen who were trapped at the edge of a mud pond and unable to move forward turned their horses around and charged at the Yuanrong crossbowmen with their lances.

In an instant.

The wailing of war horses resounded throughout heaven and earth.

Nearly a hundred war horses died.

Only a dozen Tiger and Leopard Cavalry rushed into the scattered formation of the Yuanrong crossbowmen, but were then easily shot to death by the Yuanrong crossbowmen who arrived later.

Hundreds of war horses huddled together, neighing incessantly.

The Yuanrong crossbowman who had already shot an arrow did not need to go through the complicated and lengthy process of reloading the arrow. He just stepped on the crossbow and then calmly shot another arrow at the panicked and immobile Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

Afterwards, he stepped on the crossbow and shot another arrow.

That's all.

The war horses neighed.

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, unable to move, kept falling down.

In the end, hundreds of Tiger and Leopard Riders were carried by their war horses into the mud pond and eventually died in it.

The battlefield on the right wing soon became quiet.

In sharp contrast to the quietness of the right-wing battlefield, the left-wing battlefield became extremely noisy.

Liu Chan watched intently.

I saw that Cao Zhen's 8,000 infantry had rushed to the front of the formation, and General Zhao's 2,000 infantry and the Yuanrong crossbowmen led by Zong Yu were also approaching there.

His eyes moved to the left, across the sloping water, and climbed up the Wuzhangyuan that rose from the ground seven or eight kilometers away from him.

One can vaguely see the shadow of a war horse on the slope of Wuzhangyuan facing the Wei River, but it is not clear.

As for the further distance, on the other side of the Wei River, fifteen or sixteen kilometers away from him, whether there were really cavalry from Chang'an trying to force their way across the Wei River, he could not see them anyway because of the smog.

(End of this chapter)