Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 70 The Last Battle

"Central Military Inspector, the tens of thousands of Wei bandits who came to Chencang to reinforce us didn't attack our Weibei camp. Instead, they made their way into the wilderness just like the Wei bandits in Meiwu!"

A member of the Tiger Riders in charge of reconnaissance returned to the camp near Mount Qishan to report the news.

"What does this mean?" Wei Xing stood up from the haystack and looked far to the south, but he could not see the Wei River.

If we could see it, there would be no need to send scouts.

The place where they are now is a plateau that is nearly a hundred miles long from east to west and twenty to thirty miles wide from north to south. It is called Zhouyuan, the ancestral land of the Zhou Dynasty.

Because the Wei River flows in the depression under the plateau, it cannot be seen from here. Only the towering Wuzhangyuan on the south bank of the Wei River can be seen.

Soon, Guan Xing, Wei Xing, and Yang Tiao led more than ten riders to ride north and climbed to the hillside of Mount Qi to look into the distance.

Sure enough, I saw a large crowd of people slowly moving northward in the depression at the bottom of the plateau, and behind them, they had cleared a loess road for several miles.

"What are they doing?" Yang Tiao frowned, puzzled.

Wei Xing stood with his hands on his hips, looking puzzled. After a moment, he said simply, "Who cares? As long as it doesn't affect our great cause, that's all."

Yang Tiao pondered for a few breaths after hearing this, then nodded slowly. However, after looking at it for a while, he became confused again:

"It seems that the Wei dogs are unwilling to tangle with Your Majesty's Weibei troops, but if they are truly numerous and powerful, they should at least test the camp first, right?"

Why did tens of thousands of troops choose to open a path instead of testing the enemy's strength?

Wei Xing immediately turned his gaze towards Yang Tiao, and then suddenly realized:

"You mean, the Wei invaders appear to have 40,000 or 50,000 men, but in reality, they don't, or that most of them are civilians and auxiliary soldiers?"

Guan Xing said that the Han Dynasty had previously captured Jieting with a large number of 20,000 civilians, who were disguised as Han troops.

Guan Xing pondered and said:
"The Wei invaders acted this way, perhaps because they didn't want to waste their manpower fighting the Han, and wanted to reserve their strength to besiege Chencang and ascend Longshan.

"Or maybe they want to lure the big man into taking the initiative and then wait for him to tire himself out.

“It’s also possible that there simply aren’t enough troops.

"But it's more likely that the Wei invaders want to keep these 10,000 Han troops in Weibei?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Xing instantly turned his head to look at Guan Xing who was standing beside him with a sword in his hand.

Just as he was about to ask, he saw Guan Xing's hawk-like gaze suddenly turned southwestward towards Chencang, his pupils dilated with shock and anger. "Not good! I'm afraid Zhang He wants to take Wuzhangyuan!"

"What?!" Wei Xing's scalp first felt numb as if struck by lightning, and then his eyes were fixed on the direction of Chen Cang.

Yang Tiao was also extremely shocked:
"not good!
"We all thought that once Zhang He went down to Longshan, he would return to rescue us after learning about the strength of our Guanzhong army. However, we overlooked the possibility that he might go straight to Wuzhangyuan!"

Guan Xing frowned and nodded absentmindedly:
"Zhang He had 40,000 to 50,000 men, and he divided several thousand of his troops to engage the Wei army in the direction of Meiwu, thereby tying down the main force in northern Wei.

"Send another 10,000 troops to block General Zhao in Chencang.

"We still have 20,000 to 30,000 troops left. We can march eastward along the south bank of the Wei River to Wuzhangyuan!"

"Isn't this a risky move?" Wei Xing frowned.

Yang Tiao also nodded. "There are no boats upstream of the Wei River. Zhang He led his troops over a hundred miles from the south bank of the Wei River. Isn't he afraid of running out of food and fodder? There are no official roads there."

It is a hundred miles from Dasan Pass to Wuzhangyuan.

Moreover, the first fifty miles of this hundred miles have been deserted since ancient times and there is no official road.

"Isn't there a grain ship in Meiwu?" Guan Xing said.

"If Zhang He could lead 20,000 to 30,000 troops to launch a surprise attack on Wuzhangyuan..." At this point, Guan Xing paused to think, and then was shocked again.

"Oh no! If Zhang He really intends to launch a surprise attack from Weinan, he'll probably send people to forcibly dismantle the pontoon bridge!"

"Forcibly demolishing the floating bridge?" Yang Tiao was puzzled. "How can the Wei dogs forcibly demolish the floating bridge if they don't have any boats?"

Guan Xing was already anxious, his five fingers tightly gripping the hilt of his sword as he spoke anxiously, "King Qiang, this is what is called the surprise attack in military strategy!

"You and I both know that the Wei invaders have no boats. Your Majesty, Minister Dong, and Deng Yangwu also have no boats. Therefore, they must be completely unprepared!
"The Wei River is swift over there. If they build more rafts and boats loaded with ignition materials, the army will be caught off guard and the pontoon bridge will catch fire in an instant. There's absolutely no way to save it!"

Yang Tiao and Wei Xing were both shocked.

At this moment, even Wei Xing understood what Wei Kou was trying to do:

“If the pontoon bridge is destroyed, the Wei invaders who launch a surprise attack from Weinan may not be able to successfully reach the plateau, but it will not be difficult to sever the connection between Wuzhangyuan and the defenders below.

"If this happens, the main forces in Zhongzhou and Weibei will be cut off from food supplies.

"The Wei invaders in Meiwu can transport the food directly to the south bank of the Wei River to support Zhang He's 20,000 to 30,000-strong army."

If Zhang He really burned the pontoon bridge, this plan would be perfect. It would seem that it would be extremely risky to advance alone, but in fact there would be almost no risk.

The Han Dynasty did not have many ships, and according to scouts, most of them stayed on the south bank of the Wei River, upstream of the floating bridge.

If a fire ship really came down the river, these ships would probably not be spared.

"Zhang He wants to carry out this plan and launch a night attack. How can he travel a hundred miles in one night? Even if he can, how can he maintain his combat effectiveness?" Yang Tiao thought of something.

"There's no need to rush a hundred miles." Wei Xing said.

"From Sanguan to Wuzhangyuan, a distance of a hundred miles, only half of Wuzhangyuan can be seen.

"And the several hundred light cavalrymen under Wei Koubu on the south bank of the Wei River had already occupied that area when they drove out Your Majesty's scouts yesterday.

“So they can organize a night attack from Wuzhangyuan, fifty miles away.

"Visibility is poor at night, so we need to seek cover along the way, or perhaps we can kill the scouts and get close to Wuzhangyuan for ten or twenty miles before being discovered. It might not be impossible!

"No more talking, I'm going to report to His Majesty!"

After Wei Xing finished speaking, he rode down the mountain, completely forgetting the idea of ​​capturing the king with Guan Xing.

"Angel, please be careful!" Guan Xing shouted from a distance at Wei Xing's back.

From this place to the Wei River, it is nearly thirty miles away, and there are Xiongnu scouts patrolling everywhere, which is quite dangerous.

If you want to avoid being discovered, you must abandon your horse and sneak away.

But if they abandoned their horses and sneaked away but were discovered by the Hun scouts, they would be dead.

Wei Xing, who was riding his horse and speeding down the mountain, obviously heard Guan Xing's call, but he did not reply or look back, leaving only a waving back to the two people on the mountainside.

"King Qiang, the situation is critical. You and I can't wait any longer.

"Please lead your troops towards Meiwu immediately, and leave the rest to me."

Guan Xing stood on the high ground, holding his sword, looking towards the south at the group of Xiongnu cavalry.

"Okay, you must be careful too." Yang Tiao said nothing more, jumped on the horse and reined it in to go down the mountain.

...

...

On Wuzhangyuan.

Liu Chan's expression under the wooden pavilion changed slightly.

In the wilderness south of Mount Qi, the Han cavalry, which had been confronting the Southern Xiongnu for more than 20 miles, had already set off to the southeast.

"What is An Guo going to do?" Zhao Guang, who was standing behind Liu Chan, obviously saw the movement and suddenly spoke.

Liu Chan then looked in the direction of Guan Xing's movement towards Wugong, where he saw a grain transport fleet belonging to Cao Wei.

"Perhaps the Anguo scouts have also discovered that the Wei invaders have few soldiers guarding their grain reserves and are planning a surprise attack?"

After saying this, Liu Chan looked at the group of Hun cavalry in the wilderness again.

Perhaps because they hadn't discovered it yet or what, the Huns did not respond.

Two quarters of an hour passed.

The Han cavalry had slowly advanced five or six miles to the southeast, but the Southern Xiongnu had not moved.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

The Han cavalry had already traveled nearly ten miles to the southeast, but the Southern Xiongnu still did not move.

Finally, when the Han cavalry and the Xiongnu light cavalry were more than 20 miles apart from each other, the Xiongnu finally moved.

Liu Chan wasn't that stupid, and he realized the key point at this time: "It seems that the Southern Xiongnu want to wait for the opportunity. If An Guo really attacks the Wugong grain ship, he will probably be intercepted and killed by the Xiongnu."

"Your Majesty, it seems An Guo brought back more than just war horses from Mount Qi. It seems he also brought cattle?" Zhao Guang was somewhat surprised. Since the foot of Mount Qi was over thirty miles away, all he could see clearly before now were two groups confronting each other.

As Guan Xing moved southeast, the shadow became clearer and clearer.

Liu Chan squinted his eyes and looked hard, and it seemed that the shadows of some livestock did not look like war horses.

"Bring cattle... Could it be that An Guo doesn't want to attack the grain team at all, but wants to use the fire bull formation to attack the Wei bandits or the Huns?" Liu Chan's eyes lit up.

Whenever cows appear on the battlefield, they must be part of the Fire Bull Formation. Otherwise, why bring cows?
"Fire Bull Formation?" Zhao Guang was stunned when he heard this, and then he thought of the story of Tian Dan's restoration of the country that his father had told him.

Tian Dan of Qi State secretly gathered more than a thousand cows, tied sharp blades to their horns, tied straw to their tails, covered the cows with blankets and poured grease on them, and then set the cows on fire.

More than a thousand armed fire bulls rushed towards the Yan army madly due to the pain, charging around.

The fire on his body spread to the Yan army's tents and wooden camps, creating a sea of ​​fire, and the Yan army was terrified and in chaos.

Finally, the Qi soldiers following the cattle herd broke into the camp and defeated the Yan army.

"But the bull Anguo... has not been hidden. Could it be that the Xiongnu and Wei invaders are completely defenseless?" Zhao Guang asked doubtfully.

Liu Chan didn't understand either, and speculated, "Perhaps the Xiongnu have never read our Han history books?"

In this era, not everyone is qualified to read history books. They are all treasures, and each family hides them away.

Sima Yi's family passed down a copy of "Han Shu", and Guan Yu even read a copy of "Spring and Autumn Annals" for most of his life, which shows how precious historical books are.

Zhao Guang suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly:
"Your Majesty is right, I was just taking things for granted.

"Not to mention the Xiongnu, even the Zuo Zhuan and the Spring and Autumn Annals that I have access to do not record the story of Tian Dan's restoration of his country. This Fire Bull Formation was orally described to me by my father and brother."

Liu Chan nodded slightly when he heard this.

Not everyone knows history.

Tian Dan's restoration of the country comes from "Records of the Grand Historian", which is a banned book.

Zhaolie may have shown some of the stories to Zhao Yun in private, but he would never have allowed him to copy them.

Besides, copying books is not easy these days.

Before Zhaolie's death, the prime minister took some time to copy the relatively small works of Shen, Han, Guanzi and Liutao for Adou.

As a result, the person who delivered the book lost it halfway, and I don’t know if it was stolen or what.

More than a year later, the prime minister sent these books to Adou again.

This is the case even for a book with few words, not to mention a huge work like "Records of the Grand Historian". It would be impossible to copy it all without several years of hard work.

Of course, in addition to historical books such as the Spring and Autumn Annals and Zuo Zhuan, which one can still have the opportunity to read if one works hard, many families with generals would record down some battle strategies after being lucky enough to personally witness or hear about them.

It was either passed down orally or copied down on bamboo slips, and then accumulated and passed down from generation to generation, eventually becoming the untold secret that ensured the family's long-lasting prosperity.

Sima Yi's great-grandfather Sima Jun served as the General of the Western Expedition in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his ancestor Sima Ang was even named King of Yin by Xiang Yu.

Sima Yi's great military achievements are inseparable from the military knowledge and experience accumulated by his family over hundreds of years.

Jia Kui, the governor of Yuzhou in the Wei State, was also a man of both literary and martial talents. According to historical records, his grandfather "orally taught him tens of thousands of words of military tactics."

In this way, even though Liu Bao has become a Chinese citizen, he may not have heard of the Fire Bull Formation.

However, when he thought of this, Liu Chan felt inexplicably excited for some reason.

As an unqualified history enthusiast, he could only barely remember some of the most exciting and most praised strategies, battles and tactics.

The essence of two thousand years of history is probably comparable to the Sima family's hundreds of years of inheritance in some aspects, right?
He really didn't know the details of leading an army in battle, and Zhaolie didn't teach him either.

But as the Son of Heaven, isn't it enough for him to know some general ideas and be able to use some ingenious strategies?
For example, at the moment, although we don’t know whether the Wei army will really use fire attack, it is always right to be prepared.

After all, if he hadn't happened to have such historical memories, wouldn't Dong Yun, Deng Zhi, and Zong Yu really have been completely unprepared? Even the eight or nine lieutenants and dozens of military officers in the army didn't offer any suggestions.

Thinking of the Han generals who neglected the issue of fire prevention, and Zhao Guang's question just now whether the Huns would not set up defenses, Liu Chan, who had just traveled through time for a month, came to his senses.

He used to judge others by his own standards, thinking that everyone was overly "knowledgeable" and that everyone could do everything.

But in this era where all knowledge and experience are monopolized by a very small number of people, how can everyone be Sima Yi?
When he thought of this, a strange idea suddenly arose in Liu Chan's mind: Perhaps Zhang He would not attack, but he was just too cautious. After all, it was more important to keep Longyou.

Immediately kill this thought.

If he could be defeated and retreated to Xiegu, Zhang He would be able to rescue Longshan without any hindrance.

dusk.

Guan Xing's thousand-plus cavalrymen had already reached more than ten miles north of the road recently opened by the Wei army, and seemed ready to attack the Wei army at any time.

Seeing the sudden arrival of more than a thousand Han cavalry, the Wei people began to organize thousands of armored soldiers to wait in formation, protecting the troops who were clearing the way there today and setting up camp.

The Xiongnu cavalry were still looking at each other from a distance of about twenty miles, and had no intention of stopping the Han cavalry from attacking, showing great strategic determination.

Seeing this situation, Liu Chan did not know for a moment whether this was the decision of Liu Bao, the Left Wise King of the Southern Xiongnu, or the decision of Lu Zhao, the captain who protected the Xiongnu.

According to those who surrendered, the captain of the Xiongnu protection team, Lü Zhao, did not stay with the Southern Xiongnu, but brought two thousand Pingyang County soldiers with him, and followed Guanqiu Jian and Linghu Yu to protect the food and clear the way.

Night falls.

Guan Xing and more than a thousand riders lit a bonfire in the wilderness.

More than 2,000 Southern Xiongnu cavalry also lit a bonfire.

The Wei people who opened the way to Meiwu set up camp on the spot. After all, they had already left Meiwu for more than 30 miles and it was impossible for them to go back and spend the night.

The other group of Wei people stationed to the west of Zong Yu and Deng Zhi and heading northeast took about an hour to return to the camp.

This was probably because the road they opened was still close to the camp. After all, it would take an hour or two to set up camp again. Moreover, there might not be enough materials for them to build a new camp.

Soon after nightfall, all the lights in the camps in the wilderness were extinguished.

Liu Chan did not continue to wait and see, but chose to go to bed early.

If you want to launch a surprise attack, the best time is definitely the late night or early morning.

If there is any movement, the night watchman Longxiong Langwei will wake up the emperor.

...

...

A day has passed.

March 27th.

At Chou time in the early morning, the crescent moon begins to rise.

At the Cao army camp, which was the farthest from Chencang City, about four or five miles away, the Cao army soldiers, who had stayed up all night the night before and had just rested during the day, suddenly received an order to take their armor and weapons and set off with gags in their mouths.

No one knew where to go.

No one knew what mission was to be carried out.

Many soldiers were like blind men at night and could not see the road at all.

The officers tied everyone together with ropes, and put a strange strong man in front of each group to lead the way, and they walked in the dark.

When they reached the wooden bridge over the Wei River south of Sanguan, a small number of soldiers slipped and fell into the water because they could not see the road clearly.

The bridge was built in such a deserted place, and the only purpose was to be walkable, so there was no way it would have handrails or guardrails.

But when they arrived here, the army had already lit torches and was marching, but there was only one torch every ten or so steps.

This place is twenty miles away from Chencang. With such a sparse number of torches and a thin fog in Guanzhong, it is almost impossible to see Chencang City.

"It's okay even if you saw it." Zhang He, who was carried on a stretcher by his personal guards, spoke weakly to Zhang Yu, the commander of the personal guards.

Under the firelight, Zhang Yu, who put his ear close to Zhang He's head and tried to listen, had a sad expression on his face.

This will be the last battle of the general he has followed for most of his life.

"Wouldn't Zhao Yun be alarmed when he saw our army in Weinan?
"By then, I want to see if he can still hold on to Chencang?"

On the stretcher, Zhang He first roared ferociously with all his strength, then gasped for breath, and finally smiled weakly.

"Now I am also besieging Wei to save Zhao, so why shouldn't he go and save his own emperor?"

(End of this chapter)