Guan Yu took the initiative to retreat and deployed Queyue Formation along the river. Not only Cao Ren did not expect this, but Zhang Xi also did not expect this.
The second master actually retreated on his own initiative? !
Originally, Zhang Xi was still thinking about sending troops to rescue the second master at the appropriate time, or to persuade the second master to retreat appropriately and shorten the distance of the supply line. However, the second master simply retreated to the Han River and used Queyue formation met the enemy.
The Queyue Formation consisted of 20,000 people, and there were navy troops to support them. Not only did the Second Master defeat the enemy, there was definitely no problem in holding on, so Zhang Xi also slightly let go of his uneasiness.
When did this second master know how to "flexibly"? !
Nonsense, Guan Yu is already over fifty, he is a very old man, how can Zhang Xi compare with him in battle formation experience.
Most of Er Ye's previous campaigns were in a position where he could not "retreat".
Defending Xuzhou, can he retreat? !
Once you retreat, it will be like a novel, being surrounded by people on a mountain and unable to advance or retreat.
Can he retreat from the White Horse Battle? !
Once Cao Cao retreats, he will be defeated, and he will probably die as well.
In the first half of the war, the eldest brother Liu Bei's foundation was too weak, and Guan Yu was always responsible for guarding the most critical position. He could not retreat. If he retreated, everyone would be finished.
But now that Xiangfan is in control and has the strategic initiative, Guan Yu still has to hold his neck and confront the enemy head-on. This is because he is out of his mind.
Historically, when Guan Yu defeated Maicheng, it really wasn't because he didn't know how to advance or retreat. No one thought that a person like Mi Fang would rebel and surrender without even a fight.
Although the second master was fighting at the foot of Xiangyang City at first, he finally chose to return to Jiangling to aid him. He had even reached Linju, which was only a few days away from Jiangling.
As a result, Mi Fang actually surrendered in Kaicheng.
As long as Mi Fang can hold on for seven or eight days, Guan Yu's reinforcements will arrive. With Jiangling's city defense, it is impossible to lose.
But now Guan Yu is far from the embarrassing situation Guan Yu was in history. He holds Xiangfan and has the strategic initiative. As long as he holds on, there is no need to go head-to-head with Cao Jun.
And strictly speaking, Guan Yu only retreated to the Han River and faced the enemy with Queyue Formation. He did not give up supporting Zhang Xi in Fancheng's defense. It was not a retreat in the true sense.
All in all, the Second Master did not think that he retreated because of fear of Cao Ren. Anyway, I am here. If you have the ability, Cao Ren can lead the troops to attack.
Cao Ren really didn't dare. He knew very well why he didn't get the 10,000 cavalry.
The arrow rain is so dense that no one can escape at the speed of the cavalry. If you ask the infantry to attack, this is not an attack. It is asking the soldiers to die.
Anyway, Cao Ren would not do such a thoughtless thing. As soon as he saw Guan Yu's formation, he decisively stopped his advance and set up camp on the spot to think about his next strategy.
Cao Ren is indeed in a bit of trouble now.
Let's attack Fancheng. It's too difficult to attack the city.
Go fight Guan Yu, it always feels like you are going to die.
But we cannot let an army of 60,000 people do nothing in the wild in the middle of winter and waste food and grass in vain.
And what Cao Ren found most disgusting was that as long as he led his troops to move slightly towards Fancheng, Guan Yu would send soldiers to threaten his flanks. When Cao Ren tried to set up an ambush and surrounded these Guan Yu soldiers who were threatening his flanks, Guan Yu was very The cunning man refused to fight and quickly withdrew. When Cao Ren continued to march, he quietly appeared again and Cao Ren was sickened to death.
In the end, there was no other way out. Cao Ren had to lead his own troops and went to Guan Yu's camp, shouting war curses.
Cao Ren couldn't care less about the general scolding the war for being disrespectful. If there was no further progress, his own patience would be exhausted.
Therefore, Cao Ren didn't care about the lack of face, and personally came out to scold the formation, trying to provoke Guan Yu to fight in the field.
Cao Ren knew that this trick would not work against Zhang Xi, but it might have a miraculous effect on a person like Guan Yu who always had a good reputation.
Sure enough, three days after Cao Ren shamelessly scolded the formation, Guan Yu sent a letter to Cao Ren's military camp.
The book very righteously criticized Cao Ren's lack of general demeanor. At the same time, he said that if the more people attack the less people, then just attack, and Guan Yu will accompany him to the end. Thousands of infantrymen competed against each other.
After all, Guan Yu still wanted to lose face, especially since Cao Ren was so careless in scolding the formation in person. If Guan Yu continued not to agree, it would appear that Guan Yu was afraid of Cao Ren.
However, Guan Yu is not stupid. If you ask me to give up my defensive advantage and fight with you in a field battle, I will only have 20,000 people. If you turn around and you swarm with 50,000 people, you are so short-sighted that you agree to such a field battle.
So Guan Yu's meaning is very simple. If you want to fight normally, then you come to attack and let you taste the power of Queyue Formation.
But if you, Cao Ren, are just dissatisfied and want to challenge, that's okay. Ten thousand people versus ten thousand people, all of them have to be infantry. Let's go one on one and see the truth on the battlefield. This is also okay.
This is the arrogance of the second master. Although it is not in Liu Beijun's interest to do this, if Zhang Xi is here, he will definitely have to persuade him for a while. But the second master always has his own pride.
As for Cao Ren's ten thousand versus ten thousand, it is already the best result.
Of the two people in front of you, one is guarding the turtle shell and not coming out, and the other is guarding the hedgehog formation waiting for you to attack. If you continue to waste it, won't you be the one who suffers?
Do you all know how many people are on the opposite side, how much food and grass are consumed every day, how many people are on my side, and how much pressure I have on food and grass supplies? !
Putting down the pretense of being a general and scolding the formation in person, being able to attract 10,000 people to fight is already a very good result.
As long as these ten thousand people are defeated in a field battle, it will not only kill the effective strength of Guan Yu's army, but also effectively damage the morale of Guan Yu's army. Why not do it.
I just have to command the army one-on-one to agree to Guan Yu, which is a bit troublesome.
It stands to reason that Cao Ren is the commander-in-chief of the first army, and because he personally scolded the formation, Cao Ren must be the one to command these 10,000 people.
However, Cao Ren is still self-aware. In a one-on-one field battle, whether it is personal bravery or command ability, he seems to be no match for Guan Yu.
In fact, the most suitable candidate to lead the army here is Zhang Liao.
But if Cao Ren lets Zhang Liao lead the troops in the battle, on the one hand, it is disrespectful to Guan Yu. On the other hand, doesn't it mean that he is directly admitting that Cao Ren is not Guan Yu's opponent, and he is not even as good as his subordinate Zhang Liao, and he does not dare to personally command the battle. ? !
Coupled with the reputation of "Liu Bian Prefect" that was circulated earlier, does Cao Ren still need his reputation? !
Therefore, there is no other way. Cao Ren must bite the bullet and go into battle, and he must personally command it. The consequences of losing are better than the consequences of letting Zhang Liao go into battle.
Losing to Guan Yu is really not that embarrassing, but being afraid of Guan Yu and thinking that he is inferior to his subordinates is really embarrassing.
After Cao Ren thought about the plan, he replied a letter to Guan Yu, agreeing that in three days, the two sides would have a showdown ten miles outside Fancheng.
There is no way, Wugui can't leave the city, but he must let Wugui see the outcome of this battle. If he wins, won't it also severely damage the morale of the Fancheng defenders? !
In this way, three days later, the two armies each sent out 10,000 people and launched a "battle" ten miles outside Fancheng.
Both sides are dispatched with infantry, and there is no cavalry participation. After all, the arms are too incompatible. If Cao Ren dispatches cavalry, Guan Yu will not agree to any battle, and will just wait for you to attack with the Moon Formation.
Ten thousand infantry versus ten thousand infantry, it all depends on the commander's command ability. Even this battle may affect the outcome of the entire subsequent battle.
There is a saying that Cao Ren's commanding ability is not weak. Among the Xia lords Cao, he is already one of the best. Except for Xia Houyuan who just died in Dingjun Mountain, Cao Ren should be the Cao clan general with the strongest commanding ability.
But facing Guan Yu, after all, he was still slightly weaker in terms of adaptability. From the beginning of the war, he was led by the nose by Guan Yu.
As soon as the battle began, each side left a reserve of 3,000 men, and the remaining 7,000 men went directly into the battle. But as he fought, Cao Ren found that he seemed to be always making adjustments in response to Guan Yu's attack. There was never a time when he took the initiative to attack Guan Yu.
It's not like Cao Ren didn't try to find his own offensive rhythm through adjustments, but for the soldiers of Liu Bei's group opposite, are the weapons in your hands a bit too much? !
It doesn’t matter if the short soldier is a little longer than my own ring-shou sword. Why is it so hard? When the two swords touch each other, my soldiers will basically suffer. Why? !
Could it be that his quartermaster was corrupt and all he produced was substandard ordnance? !
In fact, up to this point, Cao Ren can still endure it. Although there is some gap in the weapons of short-term soldiers, in terms of long weapons, Cao Ren's army is equipped with more equipment, while Guan Yu's army has fewer. Therefore, in terms of medium and long-distance combat, Cao Ren's army still has the advantage.
After Cao Ren discovered this flaw, he immediately made adjustments, asking his soldiers to quickly distance themselves from Liu Bei's army, letting the pikemen and longge soldiers rush forward, taking advantage of the long attack distance to kill Liu Bei's soldiers. Give Liu Beijun room for close combat.
As long as you are not given a chance to get close, no matter how sharp your short-range soldier is, it will be of no use if there is no room for you to use it.
But then, Cao Ren discovered that the three thousand reserves left by Guan Yu began to install long poles on the handles of their broadswords. Pu Daobing came on stage.
In an instant, they changed from short soldiers to long soldiers. Although the attack range is worse than that of spears or long guns, it finally makes up for some distance disadvantages. How can we fight this battle? !
To be honest, the gap between Cao Jun's combat power and Liu Bei's army's combat power is really not too big in terms of personal quality of soldiers, but the gap in ordnance is really too big.
At the beginning, Cao Ren was able to rely on the attack distance advantage of Chang Ge and spears to keep his soldiers apart and avoid close combat with Liu Bei's army. However, with the entry of three thousand swordsmen, this distance advantage was effectively shortened, and with the cooperation of Miao Cao Jun gradually couldn't hold on due to the advantage of the sword's length.
(End of chapter)
