The two troops that appeared behind Wu Ban were actually Zhu Zan, who was ordered to support Mei County, and Wang Ping, who wanted to desperately hold Zhu Zan back.
After being scolded by Sun Li's letter, Zhu Zan made his strategic goals clear. He divided more than a thousand troops to block Wang Ping's interception. He led 3,000 soldiers to avoid a head-on confrontation with Wang Ping and rushed to the aid of Mei County.
Wang Ping, at the risk of running out of food, decided to abandon the stronghold and pursue Zhu Zan all the way.
Although the Wudang Feijun's combat effectiveness may be slightly inferior to that of Cao Wei's Central Forbidden Army on the plains, Wang Ping used more than 2,000 men to attack more than a thousand Cao Wei's Forbidden Army, so he had an advantage in terms of strength.
Although it was impossible to completely defeat the forbidden army blocking them, it was still possible to kill a large number of these Wei troops when they had the upper hand.
As for Zhu Zan, after all, he was not the kind of person who would ruthlessly abandon Pao Ze. After seeing that his intercepting troops were at a disadvantage and suffered heavy casualties, he still chose to turn around and respond. If Wang Ping continued to pursue, then Zhu Zan would really I don’t mind having another wild battle with Wang Ping.
After all, there were many people in Zhuzan this time.
But Wang Ping is not stupid. The two sides have already fought in a field battle, and they have an intuitive understanding of each other's combat effectiveness. Wang Ping is too naive to challenge you head-on? !
Wang Ping's goal was to delay the enemy's rescue, but this goal was not a one-and-done deal. If he had exhausted all his troops, what else could he use to delay Zhu Zan.
Therefore, as soon as Zhu Zan responded, Wang Ping immediately led in and retreated for more than ten miles, temporarily breaking away from the Wei army.
When Zhu Zan led his troops and continued to advance, Wang Ping immediately took advantage of the Wudang Feijun's advantage in foot distance and caught up again, falling behind the Wei army by less than five miles.
Wang Ping chose to take advantage of Wudang Feijun's advantage in small unit combat, dividing his troops into several parts, looking for the enemy's weak spots, and harassing Zhu Zan's rear wing troops from time to time. It disgusts you.
Zhu Zan was really disgusted.
Although Zhu Zan did not carry too much food and grass during this rescue, so there is no need to worry about the loss of food and grass for the rear wing troops. But there is always someone following you, and this person has made it clear that he has no good intentions towards you. Who can go on the road with peace of mind? !
But if Zhu Zan leads his troops to counterattack and kill the enemy, the enemy troops will not be scattered. He will quickly retreat as soon as he sees that he is leading the counterattack. The soldiers who are really difficult to retreat will try to hide in the mountains and forests. Zhu Zan, who has suffered a loss once, will definitely not dare Then lead the army into the dense forest easily.
After going back and forth like this several times, Zhu Zan was a little annoyed. It was getting dark, so Zhu Zan led his troops to set up camp temporarily and wait for daybreak before heading on their way.
Then Zhuzan was disgusted again.
Because he did not have many troops, Zhu Zan could not cut down trees on a large scale to build a camp. He could only build a simple camp and arrange for soldiers to take turns keeping watch to prevent sneak attacks by the Shu army.
Zhu Zan was not sure whether this Shu army had the ability to fight at night, but considering that these soldiers could move in the dark forest, he could just assume that they had the ability to fight at night.
Fortunately, Zhu Zan led the Central Forbidden Army. Not everyone in the Wei's Forbidden Army had the ability to fight at night, but they were certainly much stronger than ordinary Wei soldiers. At least they still had the ability to guard fires and tents at night.
….
So, although Zhu Zan is a bit less adaptable, he is at least very thoughtful and does not reveal too many flaws. If he were to be replaced by an ordinary Han army, would he really be able to use Zhu Zan's tactics? What can I do?
However, Wang Ping led the Wudang Flying Army.
Although Wang Ping himself is illiterate, he is from a Taoist background, and all the Wudang flying troops he leads are from Nanzhong. These people all have a common skill - wilderness survival skills.
This skill is usually not used, but now... haha.
Wang Ping's brain was quick after all. Seeing that Zhu Zan's camp was well guarded and not easy to attack by surprise, but he couldn't just watch the group of Wei troops rest. Wang Ping's brain suddenly changed and he asked his soldiers to go to the mountains and forests. Catch some snakes, insects, rats, and ants over here.
This matter is really not a problem for these unworthy soldiers. When necessary, they can
They are people who rely on these things as temporary food.
After catching these snakes, insects, rats, and ants, Wang Ping was not polite and ordered some elite soldiers to quietly approach the Wei army's camp. Taking advantage of the opportunity when the Wei army patrol soldiers were not paying attention, Wang Ping threw them all into the Wei army's camp.
It doesn't take much, just putting more than a hundred of these snakes, insects, rats, and ants inside is enough.
Wang Ping didn't expect these snakes, insects, rats and ants to cause any harm to the enemy. He just didn't want the Wei army to sleep peacefully.
In fact, this trick works surprisingly well.
If it were an ordinary Wei soldier, the effect of this move might not be too obvious. Most of the people who serve as soldiers these days are civilians. In the past, they didn’t even have enough to eat. Even if they became soldiers, they wouldn’t see a piece of meat in a month. , maybe your eyes will light up when you see these snakes, insects, rats, and ants.
But what Zhu Zan was leading was the Imperial Guards of the Wei Dynasty. Those who could serve as the Imperial Guards, how could the Emperor of the Wei Dynasty afford them less food? !
Although many of these forbidden troops were from the former Qingzhou soldiers, the Qingzhou soldiers were indeed adapted from civilians in the early days. By the time Cao Cao was in his later years, the Qingzhou soldiers had already degenerated into **, and they could still be expected to recover. Return to the previous living conditions? !
Although these forbidden troops still maintain a good combat effectiveness, they are still killers on the battlefield. They are not afraid of these snakes, insects, rats, and ants. But it is really disgusting to be unable to resist them!
Think about it, you are sleeping comfortably, and suddenly you feel itchy. When you open your eyes, you find a mouse running over you, or a few weird bugs getting into your crotch. Even if you are not afraid, you Can you sleep well? !
Not to mention the soldiers, even Zhu Zan couldn't sleep well.
You must know that this is the era of the late Han Dynasty, when the slightest movement by an army sergeant could trigger the bombing of the camp. If anyone woke up in the middle of the night and found these snakes, insects, rats, and ants, a scream could cause the companions sleeping next to them to jump up and draw their swords. The era of facing each other.
In order to avoid blowing up the camp and to stabilize the morale of the army, Zhu Zan had to wake up these soldiers in the middle of the night, assemble them, and then catch these snakes, insects, rats, and ants throughout the camp.
It's not to really catch them all, but just to stabilize the morale of the army and prevent the soldiers from sleeping in the middle of the night and screaming loudly, causing the camp to explode.
In fact, there is no other way. Zhu Zan can only do this. Although the soldiers will sacrifice a lot of sleep time, at least they can sleep peacefully in the second half of the night.
….
But even so, when Zhu Zan led the army out again the next day, not to mention the soldiers, even Zhu Zan himself set off with a dark circle under his eyes.
Damn that Shu general is not a human being, he actually released snakes, insects, rats and ants again in the middle of the night.
In this way, during the day, Wang Ping still kept Zhu Zan's army at a distance, and would make sneak attacks when he had the opportunity. At night, Wang Ping would throw snakes, insects, rats, ants and other things into the Wei army camp without warning, sometimes two in one night. times, sometimes four or five times a night. Zhu Zan was so disgusted that he was so sick.
In the end, Zhu Zan had no choice but to speed up the march as much as possible. As long as he could get to Mei County quickly and spend less time camping in the wild, he could have a sound sleep.
As for Zhu Zan's speed of marching, Wang Ping had no intention of playing such tricks with Zhu Zan. He must not let Zhu Zan really increase the speed of his march.
In desperation, Wang Ping could only gather his soldiers again, bite Zhu Zan's rear wing troops, and try his best to slow down Zhu Zan's march. This was a real fight.
In a real fight, Zhu Zan had the upper hand in the end, while Wang Ping's side, in addition to being weak in military strength, finally ran out of military rations no matter how frugal they were.
Wang Ping really tried his best. When Wang Ping ordered people to catch snakes, insects, rats and ants, he also kept some of these things as a supplement to the army rations. Coupled with the attrition of soldiers from time to time during this period, the army rations finally supported two more soldiers. However, Wang Ping did not wait for Xiang Chong's food transport team after all, and did not receive any military food supplies.
Wang Ping has not let the soldiers of the Wudang Fei Army know this news yet. Only he and the grain and grass officer know about it. But this matter cannot be kept secret for too long. As long as the military rations cannot be produced tonight,
Even if there is no flying army, the morale and morale of the army will be exhausted.
Wang Ping didn't know if he could continue to hold on, and what would happen to him. He might be killed by the angry soldiers, or he might surrender to the Wei army.
Just when Wang Ping was helpless, God still favored the big man after all.
Less than twenty miles ahead of Wang Ping, Wu Ban led 10,000 people and was marching.
Wang Ping suddenly saw hope again. His people were right in front of him. As long as he cooperated with his people to kill this group of Wei troops, he would be able to eat hot military rations at night.
At this time, Zhu Zan also received intelligence from his scouts and learned that there was a Shu army of more than 10,000 people ahead.
Zhu Zan didn't know that Mei County had been lost at this time. He thought that this Shu army was the Shu army that was going to attack Mei County.
Zhu Zan's purpose is, of course, to rescue Mei County, but now the Shu army is right in front of him. Although the Central Forbidden Army led by Zhu Zan is at a disadvantage, it is not without the strength to fight. Zhu Zan's choice is clear. .
Zhu Zan led the army and launched a surprise attack on Wu Ban's rear flank.
When Wang Ping saw Zhu Zan's direction of action, he immediately guessed Zhu Zan's intention. Wang Ping was not sure whether this army was led by General Wei himself and whether it could block the Wei army's surprise attack. But Wang Ping knew very well. What exactly is your mission?
Wang Ping immediately led his army to bite Zhu Zan's rear wing. This time, regardless of casualties, he must hold back Zhu Zan's army and give his colleagues in front time to react.
However, the reaction time of his colleagues at the front was somewhat long, and Wang Ping fought really hard.
Because he thought it was the last battle, Wang Ping really didn't save any force and attacked with all his strength. Therefore, Wang Ping's army suffered heavy casualties.
As for his own colleagues, they only sent 3,000 men at the beginning, seemingly to respond to him, but with that fighting force, Wang Ping had to concentrate on responding to the other party, and was defeated by Zhu Zan's army one by one.
Until the Wu Ban army pressed forward, completely suppressing the Wei army with three times the numerical advantage, and taking the initiative on the battlefield, it was finally Zhu Zan's turn to feel uncomfortable.
This is no longer a question of whether they can be rescued in Mei County, but a question of whether they can escape alive.
And just when Zhu Zan was facing despair, a burst of smoke suddenly appeared from the northeast corner of the battlefield.
Anyone who has experienced battles can basically see clearly - this is a cavalry team of at least several thousand people, suddenly breaking into the battlefield.
At this critical moment, Guanqiu Jian arrived with three thousand cavalry.
(End of chapter)
Batu Caves
