Bowang is a place name, not the name of a hillside.
But the terrain of Bowang is indeed difficult, and it is the only way to the new wilderness. The most important thing is that this place is indeed densely forested. Even the official road that can be marched is submerged in the forest.
There are mountains and forests on the left and right of the official road, and the main road in the middle that can be marched is narrow and can only accommodate five cavalry in parallel. Once Cao Jun enters Bowang, it is indeed easy to form a long snake formation. Once it is cut off, the ending cannot be seen, and it is easy to form a formation. Chaos.
And in doing so, Liu Bei's army can avoid a head-on confrontation with the main force of Cao's army of 20,000 to the greatest extent.
After all, Bowang is a narrow place. As long as Cao Jun enters Bowang, he will inevitably march in a long queue. Once attacked, it will be easily divided and cut off. Only some of the soldiers can face Liu Bei's main force, while the other part of the soldiers will not be able to command them. I was at a loss to move forward or backward.
In this way, Cao Jun's military advantage can be weakened to the greatest extent.
In addition, it is autumn and the mountains and forests are dry. If they use fire to attack, there will be either mountains or forests on both sides. Cao Jun will not have anywhere to escape.
Escape to the mountains? !
Don't be ridiculous, there are Liu Bei's troops on the mountain. Not to mention being condescending, not many people can survive when a hail of arrows rain down.
Escape into the woods? !
This is okay, but the mountain forests of this era are not just sparse with a few logs like in later generations. The woods are so dense that you can't see more than ten meters when you enter, and there are many wild animals in the forest.
And once you escape into the forest, let alone whether you can get out of the mountain, at least you will not be able to return to Cao Jun's camp in a short time. This is equivalent to weakening Cao Jun's combat power.
Therefore, as long as Xiahou Dun is not stupid, he will definitely drive his soldiers back to open the way they came from, join his remaining soldiers, and give unified command. Only then can there be hope for a comeback.
After all, Liu Bei has few troops and it is impossible to seal all of Bowang. Retreating is the wisest choice.
Only this time, Zhuge Liang had no intention of letting Xiahou Dun off so easily.
"Third General, you lead one thousand troops to ambush in Anlin. Just wait for the fire to break out, and then attack Cao Jun's rear route. You must cut off Xiahou Dun's connection with Cao Jun's rear route. This matter is of great importance, and it still needs to be done. Third general, please take good care of yourself."
Zhuge Liang issued the military order solemnly, but Zhang Fei thought for a while before stepping forward and reluctantly took the order.
As for Zhang Xi, his eyes widened and he looked at Zhuge Liang in disbelief.
What about the saying that "Zhuge will only be cautious in his life"? !
Isn't this right? Is this Zhuge Liang fake? !
If you follow what the novel says, Zhang Xi will definitely not be as dubious as Zhang Fei and Guan Yu when he knows the outcome. If he goes back to persuade Zhang Fei or something, he can also help you smooth things over.
But Zhuge Liang's current military order is completely different from that in the novel.
In the novel, Zhuge Liang only asked Zhang Fei to follow and kill Xiahou Dun, but did not ask Zhang Fei to cut off Xiahou Dun's retreat. These are two concepts.
At least in Zhang Xi's view, this military order is very unreasonable.
Let Zhang Fei lead his troops and defend Xiahou Dun's back road at the risk of being flanked by Cao's army, making it easier for Guan Yu's army in front to encircle Xiahou Dun.
If this is done well, maybe we can really capture this general of Cao's army in one fell swoop.
But if the operation is not done well, it will cost Zhang Fei's entire army and even Zhang Fei's own life.
This is too risky.
No matter in romance or history, no matter who commanded the Battle of Bowangpo, although Xiahou Dun was defeated, he was defeated and not encircled and suppressed. Why is Zhuge Liang so ambitious now, does he want to capture him alive? !
And what is the purpose of doing this? ! What benefits can Liu Bei gain! ?
Could it be that he wanted to completely anger Cao Cao and make him ignore Wuhuan and lead his troops south in advance? !
Putting aside the fact that doing this will not do Liu Bei any good, let’s talk about Boss Cao. After all, Boss Cao is not such a motivated person. So what’s the point of arresting Xiahou Dun? !
Zhuge Liang's plan obviously had some back-up plan, but Zhang Xi couldn't figure it out.
Well, Zhang Xi doesn't know about these high-level decisions for the time being. What he wants to figure out now is how to help Zhang Fei complete this task.
It is not easy to break into Cao's rear and cut off the connection between Cao's rear and Xiahou Dun.
If, like in the novel, Xiahou Dun takes Li Dian and Yu Jin to act with the front army, then this matter will not be difficult.
A group of Cao's troops without a command is just a mob. Just pay attention to intercept the fleeing army commanded by Xiahou Dun.
But if it is like the historical line, Li Dian is not in the front army, but in the rear army. This will be a big trouble.
Xiahou Dun was not a great general, but Li Dian was a real general.
This man has a delicate mind and a good command of the army. He is not comparable to the reckless Xiahou Dun.
Another one, a thousand men inserted into the retreat of an army of more than 10,000 people. Even if Zhang Fei's soldiers practiced the mandarin duck formation, Zhang Xi was not sure if this was not stopped and Zhuge took advantage of the situation, things would be in trouble.
Fortunately, I got a hold of my own general. If he went up and issued a military order, it would not be for nothing to let Zhuge Liang establish his power. Not only would he owe someone a favor? !
Zhang Fei didn't think as far as Zhang Xi thought, but he also felt a little headache about relying on his own thousand troops to intercept more than ten thousand Cao's troops.
But that was a military discussion, and the military order had already been received, so there was no room for bargaining.
After returning to his camp, Zhang Fei took Zhang Xi and the two of them discussed.
Zhang Xi didn't hide it, and told Zhang Fei all his concerns and thoughts.
After Zhang Fei heard this, he was silent for a long time before he raised his head and said, "The matter has come to this, it is useless to think about it. Yuan Zhang, since we have received the military order, we should work together to defeat the enemy. After defeating the enemy, we will fight with that guy again." Ask for an explanation."
Zhang Xi also nodded, but was still embarrassed and said, "It's just that with our strength and other troops, interception is probably not possible."
Zhang Fei understood what Zhang Xi meant.
With his thousand men and horses to intercept, even if Xiahou Dun was intercepted in a desperate battle, he would probably suffer heavy losses after a desperate battle.
They are all soldiers trained by themselves, and they have been getting along day and night for more than a year.
But Zhang Fei understood better the principle of not being in charge of troops. Although he was reluctant to give up, military orders were military orders and no bargaining was allowed.
Zhang Fei is not a warlord. He always feels sorry for his own troops and power. He is Liu Bei's adopted brother, someone who follows Liu Bei for a common ideal and will not care about any losses he suffers.
The most important thing now is how to complete the task.
Zhang Fei means fighting to the death. Even if he fights all the thousand people he brings, he still has to buy time for his second brother.
But Zhang Xi couldn't bear it, but his time was limited. God knows when Xiahoudun would set off, but he didn't even think of a way.
Zhang Xi thought desperately, thinking about the examples of this era where less defeated more.
Battle of Chibi? !
This is caused by various factors, and the main force is the navy, which has no reference significance.
The Battle of Tongguan? !
Where can one find such a pass that is easy to defend but difficult to attack? It has to be so cold in winter that it has to be built on ice overnight? !
Forget about sneaking into Yinping, don't talk nonsense, that is, Deng Ai's opponent is Liu Chan. Even if it were Liu Zhang, Deng Ai would only die.
The Battle of Chencang seems to be somewhat okay.
Although the Battle of Chencang was only a small-scale battle launched by Zhuge Liang to coordinate Soochow's attack on Xiangyang, Chencang's defender Hao Zhao was able to defend Chencang with less than a thousand troops in the face of more than 10,000 Jihan troops. In addition to Chencang's dangerous terrain, In addition, the most important point is that Hao Zhao used rockets.
Yes, Rockets.
It is not that there were no rockets in these days, but they were not used as standing weapons, but as a special weapon.
The normal way to use rockets at this time is to start a fire.
For example, the grain and grass are mixed with sulfur and other igniting substances to attract enemy troops to grab it. At this time, the defenders disperse in a panic, and then launch rockets to ignite the sulfur on the grain and grass. Otherwise, everyone will run away, how did the fire start? !
The idea of using rockets as conventional weapons did not exist at this time. It was not until the Battle of Chencang that Hao Zhao was the one who used rockets on a large scale for the first time.
Zhang Xi feels that this idea can be used for reference.
As for making rockets, it is difficult to say it and easy to say it.
It is not required to tie a sulfur bag to the arrow shaft like a special rocket, then light it and shoot it out. Not only is the cost too high, the range is also short, and anything tied to the arrow shaft will seriously affect the accuracy.
Zhang Xi's method is to stick a small piece of linen cloth on the shaft of an ordinary arrow, then soak it in an oil barrel for three days, and then light it by hand before shooting.
Just want it to burn, not how long it will take.
As for oil, there is no gasoline these days. Tung oil is more abundant in the south and is not easy to find in Jingzhou, but there is soybean oil in Zhangxi.
That unlucky oil-pressing workshop has spent a lot of money, but the problem of oil output has still not been solved. However, these days of constant experimentation have also accumulated a lot of soybean oil.
Zhang Xi often cooks rice on weekdays. Although he doesn't have a wok these days, the feeling of cooking rice with some oil or without oil is really different.
Now, all the oil from the Soybean Oil Factory has been requisitioned by Zhang Xi.
It took three days to extract the first batch of 3,000 arrows and tried the effect, but found that it was not satisfactory.
Although the shooting range does not have much impact, because it is fired after ignition, the archer's psychological quality is not up to par, and accuracy is basically not guaranteed.
Another thing is that although the arrow can continue to burn, it has no power after burning the arrow shaft. In other words, it looks very bluffing, and has almost no effect on killing or injuring the enemy.
Zhang Xi and Zhang Fei were both a little disappointed, but there was really no other way, and there was no time.
According to detailed reports, Cao's army was ready to set off. At this time, Zhang Fei should follow the military order and lead his troops to set off.
(End of chapter)
