Chapter 759: Kill Cao Chun and seize Xiangcheng

After Cao Chun issued the order to break through hard, he himself was not vague. He set an example and led the way. He rode his long spear and rode his horse to attack the enemy general.

Seeing the distance between the two sides approaching quickly, Cao Chun gradually saw clearly that the military appearance on the opposite side was purged, and the military discipline seemed to be very strict, and there was no sign of unstableness due to the surging power of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

Cao Chun was secretly frightened and carefully glanced at him. Finally, he found a tall and tall general wearing exquisite shiny armor. He slapped his horse and danced his sword and came out to fight.

"Is Guan Yu the opposite side?! How could Guan Yu come to Xiangcheng to intercept me? The main force of the lord is to retreat eastward. If Guan Yu wants to chase, he will chase eastward. How could he not go against the flow and intercept westward and upstream? Don't he know that he is going in the opposite direction?"

Cao Chun was shocked, but unfortunately, he was already in the middle of the road and could not turn back. He really couldn't blame him for this misjudgment, who would have thought that the enemy would go in the wrong direction?

The brave one wins when they meet on a narrow road. The only fine adjustment Cao Chun can do is to slow down his horse speed a little, and don’t rush to the first place. Let the soldiers around him help him share some of the enemy’s first wave of damage.

"Drink!" When the two armies rushed past the wrong horse, Guan Yu just shouted loudly, and his sword was cold and straightforward, and he directly cut off several tiger and leopard cavalry. The Han cavalry beside him also hugged tightly and charged neatly, and was in a state of stern killing.

Guan Yu did not report himself to his family. He was arrogant, so he kept silent when he personally killed the generals, and he could only drink twice at most. This is completely different from Yide Zilong.

Zhang Fei would yell at the right time to go on stage. Zhao Yun had the opportunity to attack. In order to intimidate the enemy, he would seize the opportunity to shout. Guan Yu would not shout if he could.

In this battle, Guan Yu's army was 8,000, with only two or three thousand cavalrymen remaining, with more than 5,000 infantrymen remaining. However, Guan Yu was not afraid at all. Even if the cavalry was only 30% of the opposite side, he still dared to take the initiative to charge forward, and even let his infantry and cavalry go out of touch and respond in a tiered manner.

Although it can be seen from this that Guan Yu was arrogant and not cautious, it also had unexpected results on the other hand.

"I was chasing the remnants of Jue in Liangzhou, and the Qiang and Hu cavalry had been defeated by tens of thousands of cavalrymen. Cao Cao's tiger and leopard cavalry was called elite, and there was no one with iron armor. It was just a war horse wearing half-body armor. What's the big deal!"

Guan Yu's subordinates were not slow, and he slashed and slashed repeatedly, and his heart was so proud.

Moreover, Cao Chun’s ten thousand people are not as well equipped as everyone, and only half of the iron armored soldiers were, otherwise Cao Cao could not afford it. The rest can only be said to be relatively elite ordinary cavalry, but they are also commanded by generals such as Cao Chun.

After being slashed and killed by Guan Yu for twenty or thirty cavalry, even though the tiger and leopard cavalry were brave and brave, they were called the elite of Cao's army. They were not afraid of death, but they were still instinctively tore a hole open to the left and right.

Guan Yu narrowed his eyes and had noticed Cao Chun's banner. He rushed forward and waved the flagpole and the flag bearer in two pieces at the same time with a knife. Then he saw another Cao general close to him wearing a bright armor with a bright heart-protecting mirror.

"The Cao thief was killed!" Under Guan Yu's fierce attack, Cao Chun's soldiers either opened waves and cracked easily or were directly killed. Guan Yu took the wind and thunder and slashed Cao Chun's forehead with a sword.

"clang"

Fortunately, Guan Yu's sword had no fancy moves, and he just cut them down. Cao Chun had time to react and had already dealt with them, so he barely blocked them.

But his arms were sore and his mouth was about to break, and his eyes were slightly dark. If it weren't for the fact that both sides of the war had already popularized the two-sided metal stirrups and the high-san bridge saddle, Cao Chun would probably have been lifted off the horse.

"General Cao, be careful!" The tiger and leopard cavalry beside him shouted "careful", but they were driven by the survival instinct, and they didn't really come up to block the knife and die. They were not afraid, but they just didn't obey their brains.

Fortunately, after Guan Yu's sword, he had already passed by the wrong horse and killed Cao Chun several times before turning around and turning back. This gave Cao Chun a chance to breathe and gradually relieved the numbness of his arms.

This kind of huge force battle technique is always pulled apart after one move, and the inertia is so great that it does not support fighting in circles. Cao Chun thought he was lucky for the time being, but he didn't know that Guan Yu was just trying his best.

When the two sides rushed past the wrong horses again, Guan Yu took the initiative to accumulate strength from a distance, dragged his knife to the ground, and when the two horses were three meters apart, he flew up and swung his sword to maximize the inertia.

Cao Chun had experience and quickly blocked the horse spear with another loud bang, and the spear rod almost broke.

Cao Chun thought to himself that it was not good. He was slightly picked and flew away from the saddle, but his feet were still stuck in the stirrups. He fell backwards behind the horse. His feet and shins could not withstand the huge torque, and they broke in an instant, causing a shrill and miserable pill.

It can only be said that Guan Yu is too experienced. The first knife has already tried to find that Cao Chun is unstable to hold the horse. When blocking the knife, the strength of the muscles in his body is concentrated on his arms before he can barely block it.

Therefore, Guan Yu chose the most suitable method of playing in the second knife, turning the inertia of swing from vertical to swing, even slightly slanted upward. Even if Cao Chun's saddle was a high bridge saddle, the man still flew out.

Cao Chun, who had broken his legs and hung upside down behind the horse's butt, had no combat power. Guan Yu quickly turned the horse around and finished his pain with a knife.

...

With Cao Chun's death, the once arrogant Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was cut through the formation by Guan Yu's much smaller cavalry.

Moreover, the tiger and leopard cavalry were determined to break through and did not dare to fight at all. Even if they were penetrated, they still fled forward. After losing the command of the main general, they became increasingly dispersed and fought on their own.

Guan Yu killed the enemy formation and turned around and fought again. Soon the situation where the Han cavalry was in the south, the Cao cavalry was in the middle, and the Han infantry formation was in the north, the Cao army was attacked from front to back, becoming increasingly dangerous.

But the terrain of Pingding Mountain is indeed not very open in this section, and the valley terrain is not steep, but it is not easy to climb over from both sides. Guan Yu's infantry formation is blocking the road, and it is difficult to circumvent the left and right. Cao's army can only try to concentrate one point to drill through.

Not to mention, nearly 10,000 cavalrymen desperately broke through at one point, and their lethality was still very amazing. Under normal circumstances, cavalry would not collide head-on with cone guns and beryllium gun arrays.

However, the tiger and leopard cavalry were disciplined and could still keep an eye on a collision under the command of those lieutenant-level middle and senior officers. The people in the front row knew that they would die and would pile up and break out.

The horse's impact at full speed was extremely amazing. With the life-changing fighting style, the infantry formation of Guan Yu's army was Guan Ping, but he could not stop it completely.

After being slightly rushed out of a gap, Guan Ping could only change the formation and let the spear rush on both sides of the corridor where the tiger and leopard cavalry rushed out. Leave a hole for Cao's army to seize the way, but to pass this gap, you have to withstand the concentrated fire on both sides.

Although the casualties of the Han army will inevitably increase in such a battle, and the gap will become larger and larger, at least the fight between trapped beasts can be avoided, and the casualty exchange ratio will be much better.

Moreover, after seeing a way out, these tiger and leopard cavalry will only think about breaking through rather than fighting to the death.

At this time, the physical disadvantage caused by their previous forced marching will be completely revealed. Once the breath is leaked, the combat power will collapse.

Guan Yu rushed away from behind just in time. For a moment, the cavalry of Cao's army, who were blocked in the gap, chose to give up the horses and climbed the mountain from both sides, drilled into the jungle and walked to retreat in the rear.

The bloody battle lasted until it was dark. Guan Yu's army cleaned the battlefield and found at least seven or eight thousand living horses or corpses. The bodies of the Cao army's cavalry were at least five or six thousand.

In other words, more than 70% of Cao Chun's cavalry were annihilated, and only about 2,000 people broke out on the front, and more than 1,000 people escaped by abandoning horses and leaping into the woods, so the people passed by. In the end, hundreds of surrendered.

The Han army suffered much smaller casualties, just over 1,000 people, and the proportion of wounded soldiers was high, and only three or four hundred were killed directly in battle.

After all, Guan Ping chose not to fight hard in the last stage but to leave a hole to "drift" the enemy to break through, and at the same time, he stole the output from both sides. Such a way of playing destined to prevent high casualties from the Han army.

However, Guan Yu had no time to count these results and ordered the troops to cross the river and Rushui immediately, preparing to take advantage of the defeat of Cao's army and dare not return to Xiangcheng to see if he could seize Xiangcheng in the chaos.

Because the interception position Guan Yu was looking for before was originally the location where he was about to leave the valley on the north side of Pingding Mountain, and Rushui was not far behind.

Although some people broke out from the remnants of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, considering that the Han army was close, the remaining soldiers would definitely not dare to cut down trees and find wood to cross the river immediately. This would be too delayed. Any attempt to cross the river would lead to being attacked halfway, and maybe they would be destroyed this time.

Therefore, they dared to flee up and down the river, and only then did they dare to consider crossing the river when there was no trace of the Han army near the night.

This destined that the remnants of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry could not cross the Ru River faster than the Han army that was backed by the ferry and returned to Xiangcheng.

Of course, Guan Yu could not break through the city defense of Xiangcheng with force. However, since ancient times, the pursuit and counterattack after major battles can often be quickly expanded and recovered because after the enemy's army retreated, it is impossible for each stronghold to leave heavy troops to defend.

Even if there are troops, it depends on whether those troops have the intention to fight and morale. If people are panic and fearful of being surrounded by the army, it is not surprising that they directly choose to abandon the city and break through.

What Guan Yu wanted was to bluff and kill Cao Chun's power. Xuan Yang had already arrived with Gao Shun and more than 100,000 reinforcements, and to chase Cao Chun so far. The enemy guarding the city did not distinguish between the real and the real, and did not want to leave behind to die for nothing.

The current situation is similar to the time when the Han army fought desperately after the Battle of Hanzhong that Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought in history. The enemy was not necessarily firm, and they were all speculators of Shen Yi and Shen Dan type.

The reason why we cannot compare the Battle of Guandu or the Battle of Chibi is that the two battles failed was the main force and the main force was defeated, so it is normal for large areas of land to change ownership after the war.

In history, the Battle of Hanzhong and today's Battle of Kunyang were not clearly distinguished. However, the attacking side found that many minor setbacks could not gain any advantage, which was a waste of money, and stopped the losses and withdraw troops in time. Therefore, the counter-promotion link of today's battle was destined to not have too many results.

At around the hour of the night that night, Guan Yu's troops clamored and rushed outside the southwest side of Xiangcheng. Guan Yu also asked each soldier to raise two torches, and they all had torches. Both ends of the stick were lit torches, and all the weapons were carried on their backs.

In this way, from a distance, each person was at least four people, and his momentum suddenly grew a lot.

Guan Yu also encountered a rare attack on the villages and towns along the way, but he deliberately drove away the defeated soldiers and killed all the tiger and leopard cavalry. More than 100,000 troops of Gao Shun chased him and wanted to flatten Xiangcheng and then continue to go north to Xuchang, Yingchuan County. Tonight, there will be 50,000 vanguards, and there will be 100,000 to arrive tomorrow.

Among the defeated soldiers, there were officers riding horses who rushed to bring the news of the army's attack back to Xiangcheng, and told all the bad news that Cao Chun was beheaded and the tiger and leopard cavalry were wiped out.

The guardians in Xiangcheng were originally an unknown person, but they were still small officials left during the Yuan Shu period. After Cao Cao came, he was slightly punished and demoted to one level and came to be a county magistrate, so his backbone was not as good as Shen Yi and Shen Dan.

There are occasionally officers loyal to Cao Cao in the city, and they are afraid that they will be surrounded and killed by battle. However, death is worthless and delaying the important military information.

So in the end, no one chose to resist. The officers who were truly loyal to Cao Cao chose to break through the siege and escape from the northeast sides before the enemy siege. Those who went north led their troops to Xuchang to defend, while those who went east were going to Dingling to inform Cao Cao of Cao Chun's death.

The only thing they could do was to set a fire in the granary before leaving the city, and did not want to leave military supplies to the Han army.

However, before Guan Yu even entered the city, the county magistrate who wanted to offer the city to retain officials took the initiative to organize people to put out the fire, so he did not burn much. As soon as Guan Yu appeared under the city, they opened the door and surrendered.

Guan Yu was cautious and did not go in first, but sent a military Sima to bring a thousand cavalry into the city and control the city gate and tower, and then he brought seven thousand people into the city calmly.

The Yingchuan local officials in the city who had worked under the three lords of Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao came to flatter and please, expressing their willingness to open a warehouse to work hard and eat pots of water to welcome the king's army.

Guan Yu counted the results of the battle and found that there were more than 200,000 stones of remaining grain in the city. He asked a little more than 200,000 stones before he found out that Cao Cao would stockpile nearly 20% of the grain and grass needed by the army before launching this battle.

For this battle, Cao Cao prepared enough food for 200,000 people to eat for a winter and next spring. After all, it was an inside battle, and the attack distance was not far, and the waterway dispatch was very convenient, so it was normal to have more front-line garages.

According to the calculation of one and a half stone per person per month, Cao Cao had stockpiled more than 1.5 million stones in all frontiers. Now he has been eating it for almost a month and a half, spending one quarter of it, and there is still about 1.2 million left, and Xiangcheng accounts for 200,000.

Most of the remaining grain, except for Wuyang County, which may have a hundred thousand or more, is mainly in Dingling and Yancheng. There are also some places behind that are scattered with grain, which can also support the front line in emergency situations.

Guan Yu didn't think so much before the battle. He just felt that there was no chance to chase him down the current, so he intercepted the rear troops against the current. Unexpectedly, he even made a small move to fight the rabbit.

For Liu Beijun, the value of 200,000 stones of grain seized on the front line is much more important than the 200,000 in the rear.

Especially now that the canal has not been repaired, even the rations eaten by the river workers who built the river were transported to Bowang County, Qingshuibian, and then pulled a cart to cross Tongbai Mountain for the last 100 miles.

Guan Yu seized 200,000 yuan, which means that next year, nearly 100,000 new recruits in Ye County, Kunyang will be able to come here for nearly two months without having to rely on the rear to transport food for thousands of miles, just eat it on the spot.

If 8 million stones of grain could be seized, it would be equivalent to the canal digging on the side of Kunyang Ye County. Cao Cao helped Liu Bei raise all the canals. He would complete the canal on the northern half of Cao Cao's grain, and the total budget would save billions.

It's like a sleepy person gives you a pillow.

Thinking of this, Guan Yu felt relieved that this battle did not annihilate Cao Cao more.

After all, Cao Cao retreated in a hurry and pursued suddenness, so he would suffer huge losses in the materials.

Not to mention anything else, just outside Kunyang City, leveraged catapults were lost. In order to prevent Guan Yu from experiencing suspicion, Cao Cao did not even dare to demolish and destroy.

Just like although Dunkirk was successfully withdrawn, the weapons and equipment of more than 300,000 people were thrown to the enemy. Cao's army did not have any weapons and armor to throw away, but there were not too many baggage, heavy weapons, food and grass, and chances.
Chapter completed!