"My Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and my elite cavalry are all here. Is there any place in the world that is safer than the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry? Could it be the camp guarded by the remaining soldiers here?"
Sima Yi was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to say.
Cao Rui smiled, glanced at the rack with armor hanging on the left, and slowly stretched out his arms.
Seeing this, Chen Jiao and Wang Su on both sides of him hurried to the rack to take the emperor's golden armor and tied it for Cao Rui one after the other. While Wang Su was tightening the straps on the golden armor, Chen Jiao took out the helmet and presented it to him with both hands respectfully.
Although the two were Shizhong, what they were doing at this moment was exactly the original intention of establishing this position during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Cao Rui weighed the helmet with one hand and said in a loud voice: "Sun Li will lead 3,000 cavalry to lead me! Huan Fan and I will lead 4,000 cavalry behind you."
Sun Li and Huan Fan agreed one after another. Cao Rui turned sideways and looked at Sima Yi and Yang Fu with a smile on his face.
Yang Fu swallowed unconsciously, took a half step forward, bowed and said: "I am from Longyou. Although I am fifty years old, I can still wear armor and hold a spear to guard Your Majesty!"
Sima Yi also quickly added: "I also ask to follow your majesty!"
"Okay!" Cao Rui nodded slightly.
Just as everyone was preparing to go into battle and Dian Man had already led 3,000 men out of the camp in a hurry, Jiang Wei and Jiang Boyao came alone from the rear army to the outside of the central army tent.
Thanks to the fact that he had been in charge of sorting out confidential matters in His Majesty's army during the southern expedition to Huainan at the beginning of the year, Jiang Wei had become familiar with the tiger guards who were guarding the camp and did not encounter too many obstacles. He was just not allowed to approach His Majesty.
Just as Cao Rui, Yang Fu and Sima Yi put on their armor and walked out of the big tent, Jiang Wei immediately shouted from several feet away.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty! I also ask to go with Your Majesty. I can also fight!"
Cao Rui squinted his eyes to see who was speaking, and seemed to have thought of something, and laughed again: "Is it Bo Yue? Let him come over!"
The tiger guards made way for Jiang Wei, who ran over quickly and knelt down in front of the emperor before Cao Rui could ask him anything.
"Your Majesty!" Jiang Wei raised his head and said seriously, "Although I may have overstepped my authority, I still ask Your Majesty to allow me to protect Your Majesty together!"
"I am originally from Ji County, Tianshui. Now the imperial army has come here for the expedition to Longyou. How can I just sit in the camp? I also practice martial arts and can fight!"
Cao Rui looked down at Jiang Wei's sincere face, took two steps forward, and gently helped Jiang Wei up.
"Bo Yue is so brave! But I have to correct you on one point." Cao Rui looked into Jiang Wei's eyes calmly, "Longyou is also my land. I came here for the stability of Wei, not just for Longyou. Do you understand, Bo Yue?"
Jiang Wei stood up, took a half step back, and bowed: "I understand!"
"Yuan Ze." Cao Rui called Huan Fan softly, "Send someone to give him armor, weapons and horses, and let Jiang Wei follow me to protect me!"
Huan Fan nodded in agreement and immediately asked someone to do it.
Behind the Shu army camp in the south, Captain Pan Yi, who suddenly broke in, gradually discovered that something was wrong. There were no Shu soldiers in the barracks on the left and right sides.
Pan Yi had already passed through the camp wall, and the soldiers behind him kept rushing forward. His Majesty was behind him, and he could not retreat no matter what.
Pan Yi had no choice but to order his soldiers to destroy and tear down the walls, while at the same time forming a square formation to deal with possible invading enemies.
Just when more than half of Pan Yi's 1,500 troops had entered, a shrill horn sounded, and the Shu troops lying in ambush behind the barracks on the east and west sides shouted at the same time.
The Shu troops who had been holding out here for days rushed out together, pushing down the camp walls and leveling the fences, shouting and killing sounds were heard everywhere.
After a day and a half of defense, the casualties of Wei Yan's 8,000 soldiers were only 800. Compared with the heavy losses suffered by the Wei army yesterday and today, the importance of the camp and fortifications was further highlighted.
After leaving 5,000 soldiers to line up in the south of the camp, ready to retreat at any time, Wei Yan personally led 2,000 men and divided them into two teams, left and right, to ambush on both sides of the gap.
After a morning of fighting, Wei Yan had already figured out the rules. Each Wei army team had only about 1,500 people.
Two thousand men are enough! The camp is narrow, and no matter how many troops there are, they can't be deployed.
The Shu army formed a battle formation and attacked the center. Pan Yi, who was ready to die, did not retreat. He still tried to maintain his formation, which was swaying like a candle in the wind under the attack of the Shu army.
But not all soldiers were like Pan Yi. Facing the attack of the Shu army, more soldiers only wanted to flee. The soldiers in the north wanted to go south through the camp to join the battle, while the soldiers in the south wanted to escape back to their own camp in the north. In this way, they squeezed into a big group in the chaos. When Pan Yi was anxious, a team of elite Shu soldiers in black armor came through the gap in the army formation, penetrated the panicked Wei army as if strolling in the garden, and rushed directly to Pan Yi who fell behind.
In his panic, Pan Yi only noticed that the leader was holding a long halberd with a red tassel, and on his helmet was an extremely dazzling brocade feather like a hexagon crown, and he was rushing towards him with the momentum of a tiger.
Before Pan Yi could see the general's face clearly, his throat was cut by the sharp tip of the halberd. He fell down with unwillingness in his eyes.
Wei Yan wiped the blood that had splashed on his face, stretched out his long halberd and pointed it forward with a ferocious look: "The enemy general is dead! Leave all the enemy troops here, and then push back!"
The Shu army beside him responded with a roar, and the soldiers from Jingzhou were even more unbearable when they saw that the captain was dead. At this time, Wei Yan had no idea that the Wei army captain he had just killed was actually his fellow villager from Yiyang County.
The narrow open space in the Shu army camp was like a meat grinding wheel at this moment, squeezing inward from the east and west sides, crushing Pan Yi's troops almost instantly.
Although Pan Yi died, his death was not in vain. He used his flesh and blood to buy precious time for the Wei army.
Just when the Wei army was about to be killed by the Shu army, the scout on the watchtower blew the horn of the enemy attack.
Wei Yan was puzzled for a moment, and in a hurry he had no time to ask. He could only order his guards to prepare the army behind him, and he led the horse alone and galloped to the watchtower behind him.
When Wei Yan saw the densely packed Wei army marching towards him in formation in the distance, and large groups of cavalry gathering in front of the Wei army camp farther away, he felt as if he was cut by ice and an intuitive chill rushed to the back of his head.
"Hurry up and beat the drums to withdraw!" Wei Yan shouted to the messengers and guards: "Go and tell Wu Ban to stop fighting and come over to join me!"
The scouts rushed out, and the Shu troops that had just rushed out of the village wall were pushed back again.
Wei Yan watched his captains and lieutenants commanding the soldiers to re-form the formation. He stood with his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky, his eyes full of disappointment.
It was not Wei Yan who took the initiative to retreat.
The situation is stronger than the people. Wei Yan has had this premonition ever since Qian Zhao's troops acted like they were risking their lives yesterday, braving the bows and crossbows of his own army and destroying all the deer horns and trenches outside the camp.
Just now, I saw clearly from the watchtower that the armor and clothing of the Wei army in the north were somewhat different from those of Qian Zhao's troops. Most of the uniforms in Qian Zhao's army were brown, while the clothes of the infantry and cavalry on the opposite side were all black. As they slowly advanced from north to south, it was like a row of black waves spreading over.
Without antlers and trenches, what’s the use of a layer of wall?
Wei Yan did not hate Ma Su anymore. He knew that Ma Su only had less than 15,000 soldiers. Even if Ma Su was generous and allocated another 5,000 soldiers to him, it would still be difficult to resist such a large number of fresh troops.
In any case, if Lueyang is lost, it is lost! On the Longshan Road, which is 120 miles south of Lueyang, there are still two cities, Lieliu and Xiali. Besides, the Prime Minister is also behind us, so we can make a long-term plan!
Wei Yan knew clearly that the Northern Expedition was to take Longyou and Liangzhou to strengthen the Han Dynasty, not to fight in vain and wipe out the army!
With his mind made up, Wei Yan led the army, which had not yet formed, to slowly retreat. Wu Ban's troops in the east knew that something was wrong, so they did not bother to form an army and retreat. More than 2,000 soldiers almost all ran towards the army left behind by Wei Yan in teams of 100 according to the battle assignments.
Just as Wei Yan was retreating slowly, Ma Dai, who was leading 5,000 infantrymen behind him, sent someone to deliver a new message to Wei Yan.
"Zhao Yun sent Ju Fu to lead a thousand cavalry to help me?" Wei Yan grabbed the collar of the messenger, looked straight at the young sergeant in his twenties and said, "Go tell Ma Dai to tell Ju Fu, Ma Su and Zhao Yun that I can't hold the camp here!"
"I know they have a lot of soldiers over there, so we shouldn't act rashly. I will lead the army to Duanshankou and let Zhao Yun and Wang Ping prepare in advance!"
The messenger hesitated for a moment, and after Wei Yan repeated it again, he took the order and moved away.
Compared with Pan Yi, General Yin Jian was indeed a lucky man. He was assigned to the east by Qian Zhao during the march, avoiding Wei Yan's surprise attack, and now he calmly passed through the camp and arrived at the Shu army camp.
Dian Man was in the west, and when he reached the camp he encountered no Shu troops at all. Yin Jian was in the east, and had already reached the south of the camp wall.
As the two infantry units, one in the west and one in the east, pushed down and destroyed the fortress walls, leaving a large gap nearly a quarter of a mile wide on each side, the situation gradually became clear.
The correct way of military strategy is to defeat the minority with the majority.
But this "more" refers to the amount of fighting power. Sometimes, even with fewer troops, they can have more fighting power because of better organization, better weapons and armor, and excellent command by generals.
But at this time in the northeast of Lueyang, Wei and Shu had been fighting for several days on the north and south of the wall. Whether in terms of the number of troops or the level of elite troops, the Shu army was at a disadvantage.
"Pass on my order." After seeing the wall gradually breaking through, Cao Rui said softly: "Let Xiahou He and Cheng Xi advance from the east and west respectively, attack to the southwest, and try their best to block the two Shu armies from going west!"
"Tell Sun Li to follow Cheng Xi. I will be right behind him!" (End of this chapter)
