Cao Ren observed the changes in the situation on the battlefield and fell into thinking.
The current situation is not much different from what he had expected. Although the Central Army was once frustrated, after investing a thousand reserve troops, the Central Army has a tendency to counterattack.
If we push forward now, we should be able to gain a good initiative, and may even lead to offensives from the left and right wings, making the situation more favorable to ourselves.
But what Cao Ren is worried about is that Zhang Fei's army has not all been dispatched. It is estimated that there are still about 500 people, and they are still relying on the chariot formation for defense. Zhou Yu's Chinese army is not only located on the slope outside the west gate, but is still there. More than a thousand people defended it.
Cao Ren's plan was to consume as much of the Sun-Liu coalition forces as possible on the battlefield and weaken the morale of the soldiers. When Jiangdong's army was exhausted, he would send out a cavalry assault and try to defeat Zhou Yu's Chinese army in one fell swoop. If possible, capture or kill Zhou Yu's army. Killing Zhou Yu is the best result.
If the cavalry is sent out now, let alone Zhang Fei's 500-man chariot formation for defense, let's talk about Zhou Yu's central army, which is located on the slope. If the cavalry wants to attack, it will attack from the rear. If there are still a thousand soldiers, just Archery is enough for the cavalry to drink a pot, and Zhou Yu also has enough time to mobilize Zhang Fei's army to return reinforcements.
Therefore, Cao Ren decided to continue waiting.
In addition to cavalry, Cao Ren relied on another thing - the combat power of Cao's soldiers.
It is true that most of the defenders of Jiangling City were the defeated troops gathered in the Battle of Chibi, with the original Jingzhou soldiers as the main body, but there were also many elites brought by Cao Cao from the north.
The 10,000 soldiers selected for this decisive battle were Cao Ren's reorganized soldiers with Cao's army in the north as the backbone. Even if their combat effectiveness was not as good as that of his own elite Chinese army, it would not be weaker than the Jiangdong army on the opposite side.
If nothing else, there is a gap in equipment.
The armor coverage rate of soldiers in these years was not high, but the armor coverage rate of Jiangdong Army was even worse than that of Cao's army.
If the ordinary soldiers of Cao's army had leather helmets and a piece of leather armor to block their chests, then Jiangdong's army basically wore linen uniforms, which was considered protective.
As for the elite, let alone the elite. The elite of Cao's army can basically guarantee half a set of leather armor protection. As for the Jiangdong Army, only Zhou Yu's central army has wooden armor or bamboo armor. The other personal soldiers of the Jiangdong Army generals may not be able to. I can afford these armors.
There are gaps in equipment and there are gaps in actual combat experience.
Whether it was the northern soldiers of Cao's army or the local soldiers in Jingzhou, Cao Ren chose infantry and had rich experience in land field operations.
As for the Jiangdong Army, the most elite soldiers are the navy, who can enforce orders and prohibitions, and who obey orders are also the navy. Even if Zhou Yu wants to use the army to fight the decisive battle, the quality of the soldiers does not allow it, and it must be a mixture of navy and army.
Cao Ren believed that even if Jiangdong Army temporarily gained the upper hand due to the gap in general command at the beginning, if the stalemate continued, the situation would reverse.
In the battles of this era, the outcome will ultimately be determined by soldiers fighting for their lives. The quality and training level of the soldiers will play a key role.
The actual development of the situation was indeed as Cao Ren expected.
At first, Jiangdong's army was on both wings, relying on the command of Lu Meng and Ling Tong, and briefly suppressed Niu Jin and Chen Jiao. However, as time went by, Cao's army gradually reversed its disadvantage and began to suppress Jiangdong's army in turn.
Zhou Yu naturally saw this, so he sent out his Chinese guards again and again to strengthen the attack on both wings.
This made Cao Ren overjoyed.
This Zhou Gongjin made a mistake after all. Adding fuel tactics is a taboo for military strategists.
Cao Ren continued to wait, waiting for Zhou Yu to continue to spare his Chinese guards. At that time, his cavalry could directly attack Zhou Yu's main formation.
At that time, even if they attack from the rear, the six hundred cavalry can easily defeat Zhou Yu's empty central army.
Zhou Yu was still making arrangements. After rescuing the two wings three or two times, Zhou Yu had already dispatched his central army to a defense of only about 300 people.
Cao Ren was still waiting, showing no intention of attacking in a hurry.
Zhou Gongjin has "created" such good offensive conditions for himself, and Cao Ren certainly wants to maximize his interests.
If the cavalry is sent out now, it is certainly possible to break into Zhou Yu's middle army, but Zhang Fei's 500 "beggar army" at the rear are still there. If they return quickly for reinforcements, the cavalry may still be blocked, and Zhou Yu may be able to mobilize from both wings. The army returned to support.
Although this will cause both wings to collapse and Cao Ren can win, it is estimated that it will be impossible to capture or kill Zhou Yu alive.
Cao Ren was waiting for an opportunity to end the siege of Sun and Liu's coalition forces once and for all.
For this reason, Cao Ren immediately ordered his center army to move forward, suppressing and killing the front army sent by Zhang Fei as much as possible, and forcing Zhang Fei to lead 500 rear troops to support.
Three thousand people versus five hundred people have been killing for almost half an hour. If Zhang Fei doesn't save him, then these five hundred people will be left on the battlefield.
As for Zhang Fei and Zhang Xi, they watched Zhou Yu evacuate his central army step by step, and saw Cao Ren begin to increase the intensity of the attack in the middle. They looked at each other and sighed.
"This Zhou Gongjin is really good at knowing things. But it's a pity that he is a lunatic!" Zhang Xi muttered.
Zhang Fei, on the other hand, sighed and said, "Zhou Gongjin is a hero after all. The matter has come to an end. We will just act according to the plan."
Zhang Xi shook his head slightly and said, "This matter is too risky. It is inappropriate for Zhou Yu to ignore the safety of the commander of the army and use him as bait. I still leave a hundred people to garrison here just in case. The three generals and four generals will Can we attack with a hundred people?!"
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "Cao Ren, Piffle, four hundred people are enough. Although Yuan Chang is here to guard the Zhou Governor, let me go and get the Cao Ren dog head!!!"
After saying that, Zhang Fei got on his horse, opened the small door of the chariot formation, and led four hundred soldiers to rush out to support the front army.
When Cao Ren saw Zhang Fei's army coming out, he was overjoyed. He immediately waved the flag and issued an order, asking the rear cavalry to attack. They first broke into the enemy's formation from the southwest flank, and then rushed straight into Zhou Yu's main formation.
There are 600 cavalrymen, while Zhou Yu's central army only has 200 to 300 men, and they are all infantry. How can they lose this battle? !
Cao Ren's cavalry entered the battlefield and immediately caused a commotion on the battlefield.
The impact of the cavalry was fully demonstrated at this time.
To the southwest of the battlefield was the army commanded by Lu Meng, but at this time Lu Meng was entangled by Niu Jin and could not divide his troops to take effective defensive measures. The cavalry came quickly, and Lu Meng watched helplessly as his left wing was killed. Wear one pair.
When Niu Jin saw the cavalry appearing, he immediately understood that Cao Ren had launched the general attack, and immediately commanded the entire army to entangle Lü Meng's soldiers with all his strength, preventing Lü Meng from quickly returning reinforcements.
But to Niu Jin's expectation, Lu Meng did not quickly gather his troops at this time and fight and retreat to rescue the Chinese army. Instead, he increased his offensive intensity and suppressed Niu Jin's attacking troops for a while. Deniujin had to redeploy and focus on defense.
Ling Tong of the right army reacted a little slower. After all, it was impossible for Ling Tong to observe the cavalry entering at the first time. However, after Ling Tong discovered that the cavalry had entered, he did not immediately return reinforcements, but instead increased the intensity of the attack. , and even almost killed Chen Jiao in front of him.
Niu Jin and Chen Jiao obviously knew what the appearance of the cavalry meant, but what they didn't understand was, didn't the Jiangdong Army on the opposite side see it? !
Please, your Chinese army is very empty now. Zhou Yu only has 300 personal guards around him. Even if you don't return reinforcements, why do you increase the intensity of the attack? !
Do you really not care about the life or death of your coach? !
Niu Jin and Chen Jiao could not understand Jiangdong Army's reaction, but they had no time to think about it now. Jiangdong Army's offensive was too fierce, and they had to direct Cao Army's defense with all their strength.
And the speed of Cao Jun's cavalry was indeed fast enough, and they quickly rushed to the vicinity of Zhou Yu's central army.
Now Zhou Yu was not panicked at all, and even had a sneer on his lips.
"Light the fire! Wave the flag and order the entire army to assemble in the center regardless of casualties, beat the drums and attack!!!"
Zhou Yu still calmly finished all the orders.
Following Zhou Yu's order, a wall of fire about one foot thick suddenly appeared outside the Chinese army's camp. Moreover, this wall of fire completely surrounded Zhou Yu's Chinese army camp, killing Zhou Yu and three hundred soldiers. Surrounded by a wall of fire.
Cao Ren's cavalry outside the wall of fire had just arrived, and they were a little dumbfounded when they saw the wall of fire that suddenly appeared.
Zhou Yu's Chinese army camp is located on a small slope outside the west gate. The cavalry attack itself has to climb the slope, which is already quite unfavorable attack conditions.
But because Zhou Yu's army was small, the slope was not too steep, and it was not a big obstacle. But now a wall of fire actually burned under the slope? !
Cao Ren's cavalry didn't understand why there was a wall of fire, and Cao Ren was also dumbfounded.
How did this fire wall appear? !
Zhou Yu's plan was obviously not as simple as Cao Ren thought.
This wall of fire was naturally caused by Zhou Yu sending people to dig trenches outside the Chinese army camp overnight, digging a gully one foot wide and surrounding his Chinese army.
Then he poured fish paste, sulfur, firewood and other substances into it, and when Cao Ren's cavalry approached, he lit a fire to block the attack of Cao Ren's cavalry with a wall of fire.
Zhou Yu's plan was to use himself as a bait to gradually draw out the air force, lure Cao Ren's cavalry to appear, and then block the road with a wall of fire to temporarily prevent Cao Ren's cavalry attack.
Then, compete with Cao Ren for speed and time.
Cao Ren wanted to attack Zhou Yu's central army, and Zhou Yu also wanted to attack Cao Ren's army. As long as Cao Ren was killed, Jiangling City would surrender without a fight.
However, Zhou Yu was always worried about Cao Ren's cavalry, fearing that Cao Ren would use cavalry roving to defend his central army. In this case, even if Jiangdong's army could approach Cao Ren's central army, it would not be able to defeat Cao Ren's central army under the threat of cavalry. .
Now, Zhou Yu used himself as bait to lure Cao Ren's cavalry to attack his central army.
Then Zhou Yu immediately ordered the entire Jiangdong Army on both wings to attack, move closer to Cao Ren's Central Army, and help Zhang Fei's Army of the Central Army to contain Cao's army regardless of casualties.
Zhang Feijun in the middle had only one purpose, to get out of the passage as quickly as possible and go straight to Cao Renjun's center.
This plan, in Zhang Xi's words, means that Zhou Gongjin is crazy.
Yes, this plan is quite risky.
If Zhang Fei cannot lead his army to defeat Cao Ren's army in the middle, then Zhou Gongjin will be surrounded by cavalry. Even if there is a wall of fire blocking the way, the wall of fire will always be extinguished.
It's not burning gasoline, it's just fish paste and sulfur. When the firewood is burned out and there is no more attachment, the fire is extinguished.
At that time, Zhou Yu had no choice but to wait for death under the attack of the cavalry.
The top priority of Zhou Yu's entire plan was whether Zhang Fei could lead his army to defeat Cao Ren's middle army. This was also the reason why Zhou Yu had a private chat with Zhang Xi after the last military meeting.
Obviously, Zhang Fei did not live up to Governor Zhou's expectations.
Now Cao Ren had no time to think about what to do if the cavalry encountered the wall of fire. Zhang Fei personally led four hundred men to kill him, and he also took the lead. As soon as he entered Cao's army, a group of people immediately fell on their backs.
Cao Ren gritted his teeth, stamped his feet, and got on his horse. Be prepared to take on the challenge.
Isn't it just a battle? OK, come on, whoever is afraid of whom.
Let's see now, whether you, Zhang Fei, will defeat my central army first, or whether my cavalry will capture and kill your chief governor first.
(End of chapter)
