Zhang He walked in from outside the tent in full armor. There was no trace of blood on his body, but there were many traces of dried blood on the hem of his robe under the armor.
The conversation between the emperor and three important ministers in the tent stopped abruptly, and they all looked at Zhang He.
The smile on Cao Rui's face gradually faded, replaced by an obvious solemn look.
He said he was killing time by playing chess in the tent.
But among these four people, an emperor and three important ministers, who would not be worried about the battle situation on the front line?
Cao Rui sat up straight, looked at Zhang He and asked, "General, can we win today?"
"Your Majesty, we have won!" Zhang He said hoarsely, clasping his fists and bowing. "Today, our army has captured four camps of the Shu army and one stronghold."
But when Zhang He raised his head, Cao Rui, Cao Zhen, Sima Yi and others all saw Zhang He's bloodshot eyes and slightly pale lips.
Everyone in the tent was familiar with military affairs. If even a veteran like Zhang He was in such a state, how fierce would today's battle be?
The battlefield is here, the terrain is like this, and the opponent is fighting like that.
Cao Rui knew in his heart that the scene on the battlefield today would be ugly, otherwise Zhang He would not be in such a state.
After slowly standing up, Cao Rui walked step by step to Zhang He and stopped three feet away.
"General, do you know that I, the general and I played Tangqi in the tent all day today?"
Zhang He raised his eyes, and their gazes met the emperor's, with a mixture of indescribable complex emotions.
Zhang He had seen many soldiers die in battle, so three thousand dead was nothing.
However, the scene of scattered dead in the wilderness and the scene of everyone dying in the river valley do give people a different impression.
During his forty years of military service, Zhang He experienced countless battles, both big and small.
The most recent one was in Lueyang, where Qian Zhao led 15,000 infantrymen to attack the camps of Wei Yan and Wu Ban, and lost 6,000 soldiers in a day and a half, which was a heavy loss of life and death.
But today, about 3,000 Wei soldiers were killed, which was much more tragic than the battle that day.
In the river valley, which was no more than seventy or eighty feet wide, the front line where the Wei and Shu armies fought was littered with corpses.
Soldiers dressed in Wei and Shu robes were pierced in the abdomen by spears or chopped in the neck by ring-handled swords. The wounded and dying soldiers fell on the battlefield and could only silently let the soldiers behind them step over them and continue to face the fate of death.
The corpses were densely packed, covering the entire valley.
The last time Zhang He saw such a dense concentration of corpses was more than forty years ago.
At that time, the young Zhang He, as a captain in the Hejian County soldiers, followed Huangfu Song's army to besiege Xiaquyang City.
When Xiaquyang was captured, Huangfu Song killed Zhang Bao and ordered the expulsion of more than 100,000 Yellow Turbans in the city to the south, where they were all slaughtered and a Jingguan was built. Zhang He, who was 20 years old at the time, was among the soldiers who carried out the military order, and the scene he saw was unforgettable for the rest of his life.
Outside Xiaquyang City that evening, the setting sun shone obliquely on the Hutuo River, giving a blood-red feeling.
Today, there are corpses everywhere, but it is somewhat similar to the past.
Cao Rui did not shy away from the question and continued, "I can play Tangqi with the general here because you are leading the troops in the battle!"
"General Zhang, are you concerned about the damage today?"
Zhang He's chest rose and fell, and he sighed, "Your Majesty, today the entire army lost about 3,000 soldiers, and more than 2,000 were injured."
"The river valley is too narrow, the Shu army is attacking so quickly, and there is no other way. I really can't..."
Cao Rui stepped forward, grabbed Zhang He's right hand, and squeezed it hard:
"All the people in the world are guilty, and the fault lies with me." Cao Rui and Zhang He stood face to face: "Today, the soldiers of the Wei Dynasty did not die because of you, but because of me and the Wei Dynasty!"
"I ask you! Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, can you count the number of people who have died in vain in battle?"
Zhang He kept silent and shook his head.
Cao Rui let go of Zhang He's hand, looked at Cao Zhen and Sima Yi, then stretched out his right hand and pointed at the map hanging in the tent.
"I said that day that the world is suffering and fighting endlessly because of these self-defensive thieves from Wu and Shu! Rather than delaying the unification of the world for another few decades, it is better to completely defeat the Shu thieves today, in front of me and the general, regardless of the casualties!"
"General Zhang."
Cao Rui's eyes softened as he looked at Zhang He: "I will not ask you about the details of your battle today. I will not ask you about how you will fight tomorrow either."
"I have only one request. Defeat Zhuge Liang for me as quickly as possible, without wasting a single day! Do you understand?"
Zhang He's expression gradually became peaceful, and he slowly but firmly bowed his hands and said, "I understand! Your Majesty, please sit back and watch me fight!"
"Go now." Cao Rui said directly.
"Yes, sir!" Zhang He took his leave.
As the general commanding the battle today, Cao Rui could foresee the psychological torment that Zhang He would face.
Life and death are common in the military, and Zhang He had killed so many soldiers before. But such a tragic battle would indeed make any general's mind tense and stressed to the limit.
Let’s see how Zhang He fights tomorrow.
……
The next day, in the early morning when it was dark, the scouts sent by the Wei army to the east were surprised to find that Zhuge Liang had abandoned two camps and several walls and retreated about two miles.
The emperor had clearly told him last night that he would wait for Zhang He's report on the battle situation. Zhang He did not want to ask for instructions again, so he discussed the matter directly with Guo Huai.
"The Shu army must be scheming!" Guo Huai whispered, "Yesterday, the royal army attacked the Shu army camp with such great difficulty, but after just one night, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to abandon it so far away?"
"Bo Ji, are you saying there is an ambush?" Zhang He asked.
"It must be!"
Guo Huai answered firmly, but soon hesitated: "Mr. Zhang, but I really can't think of how the Shu army will act at the moment. We have to fight to know!"
Zhang He patted Guo Huai's arm and said, "You should be more careful while leading the army in the front! I will be in the back deploying the troops. If anything happens, I will deal with it with you!"
"I understand." Guo Huai replied.
As the sun rose, the battle in the Qingnishui River Valley began again.
Guo Huai saw clearly from the army that in front of a camp not far away, the Shu army soldiers were lined up and waiting.
After just a few rounds of suppression with bows and crossbows, the Shu army could no longer maintain their formation and returned eastward to the rear of the camp.
Guo Huai felt alert.
Guo Huai knew there might be an ambush ahead, but he could not avoid it. Military orders were like a mountain, and the mountain-like military orders not only weighed on the soldiers who charged into battle, but also on him, the general who commanded the troops on the front line.
If you shrink back and delay military operations, it will be a disaster that will destroy your family.
Guo Huai gritted his teeth and ordered his soldiers to climb over the camp and move forward. Just when a few hundred people had passed, Sima, who was commanding the front, sent someone to report the military intelligence.
"General, there are trenches and earthen hills ahead!" The scout pointed to the east in the direction of the Shu army and said repeatedly: "General, there are too many of them!"
Guo Huai frowned, pushed the scout away, stepped forward, stepped on the ladder, stood on the wall and started to watch.
The scout was absolutely right.
What caught Guo Huai's eyes were trenches and earthen hills one after another.
Behind the wall that Guo Huai was standing on, there was another wall about a hundred feet ahead.
Between the two walls, there was a deep trench every few steps. The soil dug out from the trench was piled randomly in the middle of the trench.
If the battle was on flat ground, these earthworks could be bypassed. But this place was in a river valley, and there was no way to hide, so we had to bite the bullet and move forward.
Guo Huai led his troops to charge several times, but they were all shot back by the rain of arrows from the Shu army.
It was impossible to charge headfirst, so Guo Huai had to order his men to charge forward with large shields. The rain of arrows could be resisted to some extent, but the trench was another obstacle that had to be faced.
Rain of arrows, trenches, earthen hills...
Guo Huai spent the whole morning to reach the edge of the Shu army's fortification wall. After leading his army forward and climbing over the fortification wall, he was met with the same close combat as yesterday, with every sword hitting the flesh.
On the same day, Wu Yi faced Qian Zhao's attack in the Baishui River Valley, and they fought back and forth for a while.
Moreover, the intensity of the fighting here is completely incomparable to the battle between Zhang He and Zhuge Liang in the Qingnishui River Valley.
Zhang He held the emperor's edict in his hand, and the emperor was personally in charge of the rear. It could be said that he was authorized with the highest authority in the world, so he naturally did not need to worry about the lives of his soldiers when fighting.
As the Prime Minister of Shu Han and commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang was also responsible for delaying the Wei army and buying time for Wei Yan and Zhao Yun who were heading south, and he was also able to command with a ruthless heart.
But when Wu Yi called on the two of them, the situation they faced was completely different.
Although Wu Yi was grateful for Zhuge Liang's arrangement, how could he ignore his own life and property? Naturally, he commanded more conservatively.
They just kept guarding the camp and didn't dare to send their troops out to fight.
The troops under Qian Zhao were not his own troops, nor were they as elite as his own troops. They were just county troops that Chen Qun had transferred from Jingzhou. The losses that he could sustain in a strong attack on the camp were not great.
In addition, Wu Yi remained in the camp and defended it the entire time, thus falling into a low-intensity stalemate.
In the evening, Wu Yi received a handwritten letter from Zhuge Liang in the camp.
Wu Yi read the letter carefully several times, then frowned and looked at the messenger in front of him: "Why is the military situation on the Prime Minister's side so urgent? In just over a day, they have lost more than three miles?"
That's right, the person Zhuge Liang sent to deliver the letter was none other than the Qianshi Sima under Chen Shi. This person was usually very capable, and today he was sent to Wu Yi's army to explain the military situation.
After the Sima gave a brief and concise description of the military situation, Wu Yi shook his head and sighed. After a moment, he wrote a reply letter in his own hand and stuffed it into the man's hand.
Wu Yi said in a firm tone: "Tell the Prime Minister that I will not let down your plan! Don't worry!"
Sima bowed and then turned and left.
The letter that Wu Yi received was naturally Zhuge Liang's order to withdraw his troops.
Another day of bloody battle.
By the afternoon, Zhuge Liang's main force was almost exhausted, so he transferred 5,000 soldiers from Yuan Chen in the rear, and only then did he hold out for another afternoon. (End of this chapter)
