Chapter 3496 There must be a reason
『What is that?』
When Zhang Liao heard the huge roar in front of him, he immediately rushed to a place of the earth slope, turned over and got off the horse, climbed up the earth slope with both hands and feet, and looked up.
Orange-red flames rose in the distance, and then there were echoes in the valley, mixed with the shouts of some people and horses.
"Have Cao's army still used up any gunpowder?"
Zhang Liao's expression changed.
It is not rare for Cao's army to have gunpowder.
Cao's army's gunpowder is not easy to use, but it is also troublesome if there are too many.
Before, Zhu Ling took out part of the gunpowder from Cao's army in the area of ​​Tongguan camp, making the attacks of Pang Tong and others smoother and safer, but no one ensured whether the gunpowder was added to the Cao army in the future.
Zhang Liao stood on the slope, listening to the echo of the huge roar in front of him, frowned, and after a moment of silence, he said, "General Ma is probably in trouble..."
"Not it?" The guard replied from the side, "General Ma has experienced a long battle formation, can he really fall into a trap? And isn't this the thief army always like this..."
『What's going on?" Zhang Liao turned his head slightly and glanced at the guard, 『Do you think so too?"
The guard sipped, "Everyone, ha, everyone thinks so..."
Zhang Liao did not reveal what the so-called "Everyone" was, but said: "Although General Ma was brave, Prime Minister Cao had been circulating in the Central Plains for many years, and his strategies and tactics were changing. Only the lord in the world could surpass him... Even Pang Lingjun was cautious again and again... General Ma...
The guards and others looked at each other and stopped talking.
If Zhang Liao said it was someone else as an example, the guard might have replied a few more words, but if the General of the Cavalry was treated with caution, then everyone would not say anything.
Unless you think you are more powerful than the General of the Cavalry?
Cao Cao's personal bravery may be worse than Ma Yue, but Cao Cao has rich combat experience. How could he compare to the situation like Ma Yue in response to this battlefield?
As long as Ma Yue responds with a mistake, Cao Cao will seize the opportunity.
Pang Tong knew this, Zhang Liao understood, Zhu Ling believed it, but Ma Yue didn't believe it at all.
"The cavalry is the speed." Zhang Liao shook his head slightly and said, "One strike will lead to a retreat, and if you don't hit, you must not have the intention of seeking delusion, once you seek delusion..."
Zhang Liao didn't finish speaking.
No one knows whether the "false seeking" he said was to seek victory on the battlefield or something else.
Zhang Liao raised his hand and said, "Everyone is ready! Let's go to rescue!"
Zhang Liao's guard was stunned, "General! We only have 500 soldiers! This number of people...is not enough!"
『Haha!』 Zhang Liao laughed and said, 『If we don’t go, these people will not be enough! As soon as we move, it’s dark. Who knows if we are one or several five hundred?』
Instead of concealing his whereabouts, Zhang Liao asked his subordinates to blew copper whistles, and walked forward slowly in an orderly manner.
...
...
When Zhang Liao was dispatched without any concealment, Cao's army naturally discovered it.
When Cao Cao saw Zhang Liao's banner, he felt a move in his heart and immediately ordered the Jin Dynasty to withdraw his troops.
In the ambush just now, he injured and killed at least three or four hundred Hussar cavalry, and some Hussar cavalry were unable to control their horses and distances when turning, and eventually rushed into the river...
This is already a good result.
Moreover, after the earth plateau was blasted by gunpowder, it became a little unstable, forming a long slope on the mudflat. Although the road from the mudflat to the back line of Hangu Pass was cut off, there was also an additional road that could be climbed.
Although the soil is soft now, it is difficult for people to climb, and there is also the danger of a second collapse, it is really a big deal...
Moreover, Cao Cao didn't know whether Zhang Liao and others came to the team or a bunch of them...
So, in the end, Cao Cao did not continue to entangle, just as Zhang Liao expected, and ordered the Jin Dynasty to withdraw his troops.
The Cao army began to retreat in an orderly manner and entered Hangu Guanzhong, leaving behind a messy battlefield.
Above the river beach, the war horses shot dead and injured were everywhere.
The more serious casualties occurred under the earthen plateau.
One area was directly smashed by gunpowder, burying all the large areas under the loess.
Some soldiers who escaped the loess were buried by luck and were in shock and looked pale.
While being on guard against Cao's army, Zhang Liao was on guard to prevent Cao's army from returning, he also cleaned up the remaining troops and reorganized the order.
After a period of reconstruction, Zhang Liao gathered most of the scattered Hussar soldiers and counted the number of people who lost their troops. He found that in addition to the soldiers and horses, the horses were missing...
Zhang Liao thought that Ma Yue was buried by the collapse of the earth plateau caused by the gunpowder explosion, so he asked someone to try to excavate.
However, the soil layer is soft and can't be dug by simply using simple tools.
Zhang Liao asked the defeated Hussar soldiers again, but many people said they didn't know where Ma Yue was going...
After all, the scene was extremely chaotic at that time. Arrows, crossbows, gunpowder explosions, loess flying, and the array was completely ineffective. Unless the Hussars were close to see the traces of Ma Yue and others, it was impossible for others to know that far away.
『Ask again! Check carefully!』
Zhang Liao frowned.
If you died in battle, although it is a pity, it is acceptable, but if you are captured by Cao's army, it will be troublesome.
Zhang Liao originally planned to evacuate his soldiers, but now he is forced to stay where he is looking for Ma Yue's traces.
The situation changed, and Zhang Liao could not make a decision alone. He could only continue to find people while giving people a quick return to Pang Tong.
The follow-up actions of Pang Tong were originally forced to pause first...
...
...
The horse is shocked.
To be precise, the people were shocked.
Hangu Pass is not as open and dense as in later generations, but desolate and numerous ravines. If it were during the day, Ma Yue would not be able to tell the direction, but the people and horses were frightened and ran around and got lost immediately.
By the time the war horses and people were exhausted and stopped, they could no longer tell the difference between the east, west, south and north.
The loess is full of gullies. If you have a good view during the day, you can still see the mountains in the distance or other landmark buildings as the direction. However, in the darkness, you are running around for a while, and no one knows where you are running, nor whether the direction in front of you is south or north, east or west.
Logically speaking, Ma Yue should have expected that Cao Jun might have gunpowder and irritation oil...
But this is like every guy who runs a red light in later generations, whether pedestrians, electric bikes, or driving, should realize that there may be dangers that will rush out in another direction, but what is the result?
If everyone can predict three seconds like a single captain, then everyone will definitely be promoted and made a fortune.
Ma Yue almost fell off the war horse, and then sat aside in a daze, shaking in confusion.
After following Ma Yue's more than a dozen soldiers stopped, then after a while, he finally settled down slowly.
Ma Yue's eyes were a little distracted.
It's probably like driving drunk and then having an accident.
Before something happened, I felt awesome.
After something happened, oh, it's over...
Where are you and what are you doing?
Ma Yue's head buzzed, and then after a long time, he realized that it was not the buzzing inside his head, but the guards beside him were shouting anxiously.
『I...cough cough...』
As soon as Ma Yue opened his mouth, he was about to say something, but he realized that he had been filled with a lot of dust, sand and gravel. He immediately started to cough.
The guard quickly brought the water bag.
Ma Yue took it and rinsed several times with his hands tremblingly before he could clean up the sand, gravel and dust in his mouth.
The guard looked at the water bag in Ma Yue's hand, his lips squirmed, and finally said nothing.
Water, this thing is the strangest thing.
It is one of the heaviest items to carry with you, but when you drink it in your stomach, you will feel that you don’t have much weight, or why will you lose it if you don’t drink much?
During the battle, no one will deliberately bring too many water bags. Moreover, even if they are carried, they will easily break. Whether it is scratched by swords and guns, or shot through by arrows, no matter how much water is left, it will be reset to zero.
The horses and horses were frightened and ran around, so the guards could only follow them all the way, but no one knew where they ran and whether there could be new water sources around them...
Incredible things are very important.
But looking at Ma Yue's current state, the guard couldn't say anything.
After a while, Ma Yue regained his mind, but he still trembled, "Why are we... defeated?"
The guard was stunned.
Ask us about this?
And the first thing Ma Yue asked was this?
Is Ma Yue poor in ability?
Then how do you view the word "ability"...
No one can be as omniscient and omnipotent as a keyboard warrior.
The more ordinary Ma is, if there were no cavalry in the north, then Ma is likely to be a shepherd man or a farmer in the field. The fact that he can have today is his personal efforts, and on the other hand, he is just in the forefront.
When the cavalry was riding the wind, everyone was brother and everyone was fine!
When you fly solo, it depends on your ability.
Ma Yue was not bad at training troops, leading troops, and defending, but he was indeed not smart enough in leading the attack alone.
But this is not his biggest problem...
After all, if a military strategist wins and loses, there will definitely be a loser if there are winners, and no one can say that he will always win and never defeat. Therefore, from the perspective of war, it is not a big problem. This is why Pang Tong knew that Ma Yue's probability of success was not high, but he still gave Ma Yue's troops.
People have to go through setbacks and understand pain to grow.
However, if the person tries to avoid these pains and refuses to learn lessons, the problem will be big.
This is how Ma Yue was. He was unwilling to accept his failure and was unwilling to accept it. So the first thing he said was "how to fail", rather than asking how many soldiers there were and how much losses his brothers had...
When Ma Yue was training troops, he was very kind to the military academy. When he was on duty at Tongguan, he also shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and slept in the open. But at this moment, he forgot everything and ignored the casualties of the soldiers. He just cared about one thing. Why did he fail? Why did he fail? He really failed like this?
Just like some project managers in some companies in later generations. When the project goes smoothly, the project manager can work overtime with his subordinates, eat fast food together, run the market together, and play and make jokes together. There seems to be no problem, but when there is a problem with the project, his first reaction is who to blame?
And he was also very natural to be prepared for psychological construction. After all, he had family, children, loans that he still needed to repay, and lovers he had just met, all of which required money, so he could not bear the blame for the project failure and could not lose his current position because of this!
"Why didn't the striker find any abnormality?!"
Ma Yue held his head, his face distorted.
He had taken off his helmet because he felt his head swelling and hot, and he felt very uncomfortable.
"The Lord...we did not send scouts..."
The guard said from the side.
『No...how could there be no sect?" Ma Yue widened his eyes, 『I remember I have a sect...』
'That was before the attack...' The guard replied truthfully, 'After detecting the scout of the thief army retreated, the general said to avoid arousing the thief army's surprise...'
"I..." Ma Yue remembered it, it was indeed the case.
After a moment of silence, Ma Yue shook his head again, "No, no! Since the thief army has a trap, why didn't the front team warn?!"
The guard also fell silent, and when he was silent, his eyes became a little weird when he looked at Ma Yue, "General... have you forgotten? The vanguard warned that you think there are not many bows and arrows in the thief army, so you have to speed up and rush over..."
"I don't!" Ma Yue jumped up, and then sat down dejectedly in the silence of several guards, "I...I, I..."
According to reason, Ma Yue should not be like this now, but reason has always been weak and can easily be defeated by various opponents.
Even if you occasionally go in the sage time after craftsmanship, after all, the boredom and loneliness after craftsmanship, coupled with the guilt caused by secrets, will reason jump out and swear this is the last time, but not long after, reason will slack off. Then when you see something big thunder when you watch a short video, you will start licking your lips and holding a tissue...
Once again.
Swear again...
Then, do it again.
The final result is that it is completely ruined.
Although Ma Yue doesn't collapse on the spot and reward himself for a reward, it is also similar to the psychological activities of craftsmanship. It is very painful to recognize mistakes, and it is even more painful to correct mistakes. However, if you find an excuse for your mistakes, you can escape and be happy.
『Sure, there must be something...』 Ma Yue murmured, 『Sure, there must be some reason...』
...
...
On the other hand, the original plan formulated by Pang Tong and Zhang Liao was forced to be terminated.
If at this time, Ma Yue is not concerned about himself, not trying his best to find excuses and reasons for himself, but bravely assumes responsibility and makes up for his mistakes, then there are no new opportunities...
It’s like taking the wrong path. Maybe after taking a few steps, you will find something wrong. At this time, you will be able to retreat and walk back. At most, it will be a waste of time and a small extra road. The cost of sunk is not much. However, if you are unwilling to change and go forward with your teeth, thinking that the earth is round, and you can come back if you go around, or you may really come back, but the time spent, the cost you pay, and the dangers you encounter in this process are not a little bit.
And the more serious problem is that Ma Yue is not a single individual, he is also part of the Cavalry Army.
Ma Yue had problems, and it was not only Ma Yue who affected him, but also affected the follow-up plans of Pang Tong and Zhang Liao.
Pang Tong expected that Ma Yue might have problems, but he did not expect that the problem would be so serious.
Within Pang Tong's original plan, he was preparing to take a second-stage strike.
After Cao's army repelled Ma Yue, it was usually hard to imagine that there would be a second raid immediately...
Therefore, Pang Tong asked Zhang Liao to be behind Ma Yue, which was equivalent to putting the formation on Ma Yue.
If Ma Yue succeeds, everything will naturally be fine. If it fails, Zhang Liao will bring his men to gather his troops and then take advantage of the slightest and fast raid in the gap between Cao's army withdrawing troops and returning to the pass.
If Zhang Liao didn’t let too many soldiers, on the one hand, if there were more soldiers, he would easily lose his ambition and risk exposure.
Pang Tong originally estimated that Ma Yue would definitely lose some troops when he retreated, but with the troops brought by Zhang Liao, he could still make up a thousand, which would be enough to give Cao's army a little shock.
On the other hand, it is also to restore the morale of the Hussar soldiers and continue to put pressure on the Cao army. This is consistent with Pang Tong's previous strategy of attacking the heart and is also part of winning without fighting.
But no one expected that Ma Yue not only suffered heavy losses from the soldiers, but also disappeared!
Pang Tong received a reward from Zhang Liao and had a headache for a while.
It was dark all around, and I didn’t know where to look for someone.
The key is that if Ma Yue died in battle or was captured, the original plan to boost morale by Pang Tong to make a surprise attack would be meaningless!
It is conceivable that when Zhang Liao rushed to Cao's army with his men, and was about to make some moves, he saw Cao's army tied up Ma Yue and pushed it out, or carried Ma Yue's helmet and head...
If this is true, even if Pang Tong and Zhang Liao rushed to Cao's army, there would be only two choices left, either attacking hard or retreating. A strong attack would be equivalent to attacking without any siege equipment and no siege preparations. It was obviously unwise, and even if it was an attack, it might not be able to attack. Retreat, that is, sprinkle a handful of salt on the originally cracked wound...
Therefore, Pang Tong had to temporarily change his plan and immediately sent an order to Zhang Liao to suspend the raid, and instead search for Ma Yue with all his might.
Chapter completed!