Chapter 103 Battle of Chencang
When Ma Su urgently gathered Chen Cang's military power and quickly adjusted his deployment to prepare for the battle. Guo Huai personally led his army across the Lishui River, and tens of thousands of Wei troops arrived at Chencang Road.
Lianshui is not wide, so it can be used as cover for small-scale battles, but it is useless for large-scale battles like this. Wei Jun quickly built a pontoon bridge and crossed the river.
I have to say that this time, Cao Zhen spent a lot of money to get back Chen Cangdao. He added more than 20,000 troops to Guo Huai, and forced the Qiang and Hu people in the north to send troops to support Guo Huai.
At the same time, because he was worried that Guo Huai was weak alone, Cao Zhen also transferred another general from his own army to support Guo Huai.
This man's name is Chen Tai, the son of Chen Qun.
These soldiers and horses, together with Guo Huai's own tribe, combined more than 40,000 troops to recapture Chencang.
Of course, in order to support Guo Huai, Cao Zhen also tried to put some pressure on Shu Han on another battlefield. He ordered Sima Yi, the newly appointed governor of Liangzhou, to launch an offensive against Anding County in an attempt to force the Shu army to abandon Chencang.
There is no way, Chen Cang is too important. Once this place is lost, it will be a matter of time before Yongzhou falls.
If Yongzhou is lost, Guanzhong will not be able to be saved. Sooner or later it will be cannibalized by the Shu army. Although the northwest is not the core territory of Cao Wei, it is still a large area with a population of one million, so how can it be surrendered to it?
Therefore, Cao Zhen must recapture Chencang. When necessary, Cao Zhen has already planned to end the battle himself.
Forty thousand Wei troops crossed the Lishui River, and the Wei army's scouts informed Guo Huai of the Shu army's movements. Guo Huai was very surprised after seeing it.
"The troops of the Shu army left Chencang and formed a formation behind the city?" Guo Huai's eyes flashed with a hint of astonishment. He did not expect that the Shu army not only did not stand firm but planned to fight with them?
At the same time, Guo Huai was also keenly aware that something was wrong with the Shu army.
"The coach of the Shu Army is not Li Yan anymore?"
"That's right, the banner of the Central Army of the Shu Army is embroidered with the characters "General Fenwei of the Han Dynasty, Ma Di"." The scout nodded and replied respectfully.
"It seems that there is trouble within the Shu army... God help me!" Deputy General Chen Tai rode his horse alongside Guo Huai and said to Guo Huai with a smile.
Cao Wei also had a general understanding of the internal situation of Shu Han. For example, the overt and covert struggles between the three major factions, and the conflicts between Ma Su and Li Yan.
Although the countries basically severed diplomatic relations during the Three Kingdoms period, there was no shortage of private exchanges. The officials and nobles of the Three Kingdoms exchanged private letters very frequently, and they basically knew each other's situation to a certain extent.
Obviously, Chencang's Shu army probably experienced a power struggle. Li Yan didn't know why, but he didn't compete with Ma Su, and Ma Su usurped power.
What a bargain! The majestic Hussars General has not even competed with the little General Fenwei. Li Yan might as well just die.
"General Guo, it should be a chaotic period for the transfer of power within the Shu army. Ma Su was probably afraid that the defenders would not be able to gather the troops, so he chose to give it a try." Chen Tai quickly straightened out his thinking and guessed the specific situation very differently. Not bad anymore.
Ma Su's status was nothing more than that of a general. Forcibly seizing the position of General of the Hussars, there must be many people in the army who are unconvinced. Judging from Ma Su's posture, he probably wanted to take a gamble with Cao Wei head-on and defeat the Wei army to establish his power.
It is indeed in line with the rumored Ma Su's character. He likes to use dangerous tactics and clever strategies to win.
It's a pity that the 20,000 Shu army led by you, who have their own evil intentions, can really defeat our great Wei Tianjun?
"General Zhenxi should now speed up the march of troops and horses, and feel that Chen Cang is holding down the position and confronting the Shu army as soon as possible." Chen Tai thought for a while and quickly suggested to Guo Huai.
"With Ma Su's prestige, the military morale within the Shu army is probably still unstable. If the general can take advantage of this to attack, he will definitely defeat the Shu army!"
"No!" However, to Chen Tai's surprise, Guo Huai rejected the suggestion without saying a word.
"I have fought with Ma Su several times. He is very cunning and very good at sneak attacks. If we speed up our march, it is easy to fall into Ma Su's way. Once we are attacked by sneak attacks, we will be in danger."
"We might as well fight slowly and slowly push forward to defeat the Shu army."
Since Yongxian was attacked and both Hao Zhao and King were plotted to die in Chencang, Guo Huai doubled the threat to Ma Su.
He knew Hao Zhao, one of the top ten players in the northwest. He knew Wang Shuang well, he was a general in terms of his strength and ability to lead troops.
As a result, these two people were guarding Chencang and were assassinated by Ma Di's thousand men. In addition, Qianqi robbed Yong County, and Ma Su's name had already frightened the Yongzhou soldiers to the extent that they were afraid of him.
This is an enemy no less powerful than Zhuge Liang, and we cannot relax a little when facing him.
Who knows if this was Ma Su's civet cat exchange for the prince, and he pretended to seize power to attract him deliberately.
Under Guo Huai's order, 40,000 Wei troops stabilized the square formation and marched steadily from Chencang step by step.
When the Wei army marched to the vicinity of Chencang, Ma Di and his more than 20,000 troops had been waiting for a long time.
Although Ma Su was Zhuge Liang's apprentice, the prime minister didn't learn much about the formation.
Therefore, Ma Su's deployment was very simple. Twenty thousand soldiers and horses were arranged into an infantry square formation. Bai Shou and Zhang Xiu were on the left, Wang Ping's troops and horses were on the right, and Li Yan's old Jiangzhou troops were placed in the center.
Ma Di personally led the 3,000 cavalrymen from his headquarters who had just arrived, one mile away from the army, and were deployed as a vanguard at the front.
Seeing Ma Su's arrangement, both Guo Huai and Chen Tai felt a very familiar feeling.
"Is this the formation Yuan Shao wanted to use against Gongsun Zan in the Battle of the Border Bridge?" Chen Tai said in surprise,
"Is Ma Su so proud? He actually came out in the exact same formation?"
When Yuan Shao occupied Jizhou in the past, Gongsun Zan led his troops to seize it. When the two sides met at Jieqiao, Gongsun Zan led 30,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry against Yuan Shao's 40,000 infantry.
In theory, Yuan Shao is bound to lose, because Gongsun Zan has 10,000 cavalry that can be called nuclear weapons in this era. Generally speaking, Yuan Shao's infantry was absolutely overwhelmed by Gongsun Zan.
As a result, Yuan Shao arranged such a strange lineup to face Gongsun Zan. In order to cover up the incompetence of his infantry, Yuan Shao asked Qu Yi to lead a thousand troops to station one mile in front of the formation.
As a result, Gongsun Zan's 10,000 troops were disrupted by these 1,000 men, and the infantry was overwhelmed by his own cavalry. Yuan Jun then covered up the attack and defeated Gongsun Zan's Youzhou elite.
The Battle of Jieqiao established Yuan Shao's position in Hebei, and this military formation was also studied by Cao Cao.
Ma Di now has such a formation, Chen Tai can think of anything he wants to do with his butt.
The purpose is to lure the Wei cavalry to attack and recreate the Battle of Jieqiao.
It's a pity that Cao Wei already knew how to crack it. There is no need to pay attention to Ma Su at all, let the infantry slowly press up and fight with them hand to hand.
The Shu army was internally unstable and had no choice but to resort to such a trick. In Chen Tai's opinion, they only need to press forward slowly, and fighting at close range with the Shu army is enough to defeat them!
However, this time Guo Huai stared deeply at the three thousand Shu army cavalry. At the front of them was a very well-dressed general with a pale face but firm eyes.
The big flag behind him stood high, with the words "Han Fenwei General Ma Su" embroidered on it.
This guy Ma Su actually plans to lead the way to stop him personally?
"Something's wrong! Ma Su is cheating!" Guo Huai suddenly shouted, with a heavy look of fear in his eyes.
Ma Su dares to sit at the front with confidence, there is definitely a conspiracy!