The Three Kingdoms become stronger when they get treasures

Chapter 412 Two Fronts Battle
After Ma Chao led the troops to Xiabian, he sent General Ya Ren Kui to patrol the mountain to check the enemy's situation, and happened to meet Cao Hongjun who was leading the troops to support him.Ren Kui, a fool, wanted to take advantage of Cao Jun's exhaustion from afar to dampen the enemy's morale, so he immediately raised his gun to fight Cao Hong.

Cao Hong jumped on his horse with his sword in hand and went into battle. In less than three rounds, he beheaded Ren Kui off his horse and the rest of the soldiers fled back in panic.Ma Chao didn't have many soldiers, and he had been ordered by Xu Shu in advance not to start a war casually, so he guarded the pass and did not fight Cao Hong.

Cao Hong also knew how powerful Ma Chao was. Before he came to Hanzhong, he also received a secret order from Cao Cao.

At this time, the combined forces of Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan were quite large, but firstly, he didn't know how many soldiers Ma Chao had, and secondly, he also knew Ma Chao's bravery, so Cao Hong didn't dare to take the initiative to attack until he knew the real situation of the opponent. Ma Chao.This area is full of mountains, if you run into Ma Chao, it will be difficult to run.

The two sides dispatched troops and generals to investigate each other for a month before they got to know each other.

Xia Houyuan and Cao Hong were relieved when they learned that the other party's troops were only about [-] in total, not as many as their own.It seems that Zhang Wu is bluffing here, just to contain his own troops and create opportunities for the Huainan battlefield on the eastern front.

However, Xia Houyuan and Cao Hong are relatively impulsive people, and they don't like to keep passive defense, let alone their own strength.When Cao Hong was guarding Tongguan, he couldn't bear the insults. He knew he couldn't beat Ma Chao but he wanted to go out to fight, but Ma Chao took Tongguan.

Now that I have more troops than the opponent, the opponent dares to give up the pass and go out to fight. In this case, why not fight with the opponent. If Xu Shu can be defeated and the opportunity to occupy Jiameng Pass, then there is a chance to capture Yizhou.

Even if Ma Chao is very powerful, they can't beat them, but they can fight Li Yan who is stationed in Ningqiang.

But Du Xi and Guo Huai did not agree to take the initiative to attack, because Cao Cao's order was for them to defend Hanzhong, not for them to capture Yizhou.That Xu Shu is resourceful and resourceful, he can be called the top strategist in the world, and Ma Chao is brave and invincible. If he is ambushed by the other party, Hanzhong will be in danger.

Xia Houyuan and Cao Hong asked Cao Xiu for his opinion again, because Cao Cao once said that although Cao Hong is the commander on the surface, in fact Cao Xiu is the commander. It seems that Cao Cao also knows Cao Hong's character and ability, and he might really let him command the army. It's all paid off.

Cao Xiu is not such a brainless person as Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan, otherwise he would not be able to be the commander-in-chief of the entire army. He knows that fighting in this area is different from the northern plains, and a large number of people does not necessarily mean an advantage.The opponent's commander, Xu Shu, had already joined Ma Chao. He was a world-renowned military adviser, similar to his own Xun You and Cheng Yu. If he fell into the opponent's ambush, it would be difficult to retreat.

So Cao Xiu said: "Uncles, although Zhang Wu is not here, the enemy's generals Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Pang De and others are all in Xichuan, and there is even a well-known strategist like Xu Shu. It is not clear what the enemy's purpose is. It can be seen that the king of Wei ordered me to hold on to Hanzhong, because he was afraid that if Zhang Wu wanted to take Hanzhong, we would not be able to rescue him in time, so we should not act rashly for the time being, and wait until the enemy's situation is clear."

Now that Cao Xiu said so, Xia Houyuan also knew the importance of Hanzhong, so he sent more people to inquire about the Chu army's military situation, focusing on inquiring about the positions of generals Huang Zhong, Pang De and other generals, while waiting for news from Huainan.

Xu Shu was not in a hurry, because he knew that although Xia Houyuan had less brains, he was a famous general who had fought for half his life after all. He had extremely rich experience in war, so he couldn't be easily fooled.

Outside the city of Hefei, Zhang Wu knew that Cao Cao would not be fooled unless he showed some authenticity, so he ordered Gan Ning to clear out Cao's navy on the Huaihe River, further threatening Shouchun's safety.

After Gan Ning received the order, he took the initiative to attack with Jiang Qin and Zhu Huan, and launched an attack on the water army deployed by Cao Jun on the Huaihe River.

Although Cao Jun's navy occupied the upper reaches, Gan Ning did not use iron locks to connect ships in this battle. Instead, they all used new paddle boats, which were fast and flexible in steering. They were not afraid of the opponent setting fire to the ships upstream.

Instead, Cao Jun took advantage of the upper reaches and dispatched a few large iron chain boats, pushing down across the river, intending to fight Chu Jun hard steel.But the iron chain ship has a fatal flaw, that is, it is afraid of fire. Once it is ignited, it can only abandon the ship and escape, otherwise it will be burned to ashes together with the warship.

Although the Chu army was in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River and could not set fire boats to burn the opponent, fire boats were not the only way to burn the opponent's warships.

In this battle, the Chu army's water army used a large number of kerosene bombs, which were fired from the catapults on the warship to Cao's warship, and then fired rockets to ignite them.The Chu army braved the arrows of the Cao army to set the opponent's warship on fire and then retreated to wait. This is the famous "flying a kite" tactic.Just like a shooter dealing with a fighter who has no displacement, he uses the advantages of speed and range to kite the opponent to death all the time.

After the kerosene burns, the temperature is high and it is difficult to extinguish it, even if it is splashed with water. Most of the warships at this time are made of wood, and the ship can be burned in a short time.Therefore, Cao's army had no choice but to jump onto a small boat to escape, then abandoned the big ship and used small warships to fight like the Chu army.

Returning to the traditional water warfare, the Cao army is no longer the opponent of the Chu army. In addition to the advanced warships and elite sailors, the Chu army's bows and crossbows are also sharper than Cao's army. There are also Gan Ning, Jiang Qin and Zhu Huan. The fierce general of the water army led his troops to rush to kill, and Cao's army was quickly defeated.

The difference in strength was too great, and Cao Jun's navy had to retreat to the shore, giving up the water control rights of the Huaihe River.

After controlling the Huaihe River, the situation became better for the Chu army. You can harass and attack Shouchun from time to time, you can also cut off the grain and grass transported by Cao Jun from the north of the Huaihe River, and you can send an elite army to land on the Huaihe River anytime and anywhere. Harass the rest of the states and counties.

The Qinling and Huaihe Rivers divide China into north and south, so the Huainan area is still considered the south. In this area with a well-developed water system, the Chu army, which has the strongest navy in the world, naturally has an advantage.

This is also the main reason why Zhang Wu took the lead in launching an offensive on the Huainan battlefield. If Zhang Wu was determined to take Huainan, it would be useless no matter how many reinforcements Cao Cao sent, the territory would eventually belong to Zhang Wu.As long as the Huaihe River is firmly controlled, Hefei's defenders can be separated from the north and their retreat can be cut off.

Under such circumstances, Shouchun is also difficult to defend. Relying on the blockade of the water army, sooner or later the Cao army in Huainan will be exhausted.

But after taking Huainan, it was difficult for the Chu army to take a step north, because from the Huaihe River to the north to the Yellow River, there were basically no big rivers, but a flat plain, which was dominated by cavalry.

Therefore, Zhang Wucai deliberately planned to recapture Hanzhong. Only by occupying Hanzhong could he attack Liangzhou, obtain war horses, and form cavalry to compete with Cao's army head-on.

(End of this chapter)