Chapter 6740 Changes

Chapter 6740 Changes
"Zixiao, we can't go any faster. It's raining so hard and the roads are muddy. If we continue to speed up, it will easily lead to a disconnection in the battle line. Besides, it is obvious that the soldiers under your command are resentful because of the high-speed march." Xiahou Yuan caught up with Cao Ren and spoke in an urgent tone.

Cao Ren's face turned heavy when he heard this, and he looked back at the soldiers around him. Although he couldn't see far away, he could see a little coldness in their faces that were soaked by the heavy rain.

After all, marching in this kind of climate is already very unsatisfactory, and Cao Ren is constantly urging his men to speed up. Considering that the soldiers themselves already have some resentment towards the Cao family, the current climate and marching can be said to have further amplified this resentment.

"You have come here from the rear army. What do you think along the way?" Although Cao Ren was anxious about the situation, the attendants around him and the troops led by the attendants all had cold expressions on their faces. It was normal for other lower-level soldiers to look resentful, so Cao Ren had to slow down the march and ask Xiahou Yuan, who had been chasing him all the way from the rear army, about the overall situation of the entire army.

"Not very good. Most of the soldiers have cold and gloomy faces. Forced marching at this time will greatly damage morale." Xiahou Yuan's face was obviously not very good. He was not blind, and he had fought with the army for so many years. He could also see the current state of the soldiers. It was obvious that most of the soldiers were very unhappy about having to work for Cao in this climate, especially having to march in the rain.

"Take a break and calm down the core headquarters." Cao Ren sighed. No matter how anxious he was, he had to stop and rest. Otherwise, if the camp was really blown up, what would it matter even if he could reach the Helmand River ferry? Well, the camp would not really be blown up, but it was very likely that he would work without putting in any effort.

Although it is easy to get into trouble by doing this on the battlefield, the officers and soldiers under Cao's command, all veterans, now have a talent for saving their lives, and some even have a talent for pretending to be dead, which is very disgusting and outrageous. So if they really get to the battlefield and do not put in any effort, it is not too difficult to kill Cao Ren and his group. After all, compared to the soldiers, these officers and soldiers are more valuable in attacking and killing.

As Cao Ren ordered a half-hour rest, all kinds of special secret techniques and talents were quickly put into use. As for exposure, there was no need to talk about it at this time. If the opponent could detect it, an army of this size would be exposed anyway. If the opponent could not detect it, it would not be exposed even if some special secret techniques were used.

In this case, it would be better to let the soldiers perform freely, which can at least further stabilize morale.

"I heard that the opponent this time is Ardashir." Ma Pin held up the force field to form an umbrella-shaped protective shield for more than a hundred brothers under his command. After Cao Ren ordered the entire army to stop and rest, he took out a huge bamboo water bottle from his backpack, which was wrapped in a layer of soft straw. When he opened the lid of the bottle, hot steam gushed out from the mouth of the bottle. Ma Pin took two sips of ginger sugar water to warm his body, and his condition improved a lot.

"Brother Ma, where did you get the ginger and sugar water?" The soldiers under his command came over when they smelled the scent, and Ma Pin poured some for them. The others had limited load capacity, so only he could carry more things. This bamboo kettle with a diameter of more than ten centimeters could hold more than ten kilograms of water at a time. It was heavier than the weapons of ordinary soldiers and took up a lot of weight. Generally, only big guys would use this kind of kettle.

"When I went out, I found the cook from the neighboring camp was boiling ginger and sugar water, so I asked him to fill two pots of it. I thought it was a bit heavy, so I took it along as well." Ma Pin said indifferently. Normally soldiers still have more than 30 kilograms of weight, so they must wear armor. According to Ma Pin, at this level, there is actually no difference between 30 kilograms more or less armor.

"Who else can we fight besides Ardashir?" An old soldier complained after receiving some ginger candy water from Ma Pin to warm himself up. "But it seems that there are not many Holy Death Knights left in Ardashir. I remember that an old man in General Xu's team marked the Holy Death Knights and found that their number is getting smaller and smaller."

"Normal, that thing needs to be at my level to replenish soldiers." Ma Pin had a look of understanding. Although he was knocked unconscious by a dog and thrown into the woods before leaving the country when he participated in the Battle of the Ganges, he learned from his mistakes and has now reached the fifth level of smelting.

"That thing is really hard to deal with. If we really encounter it, we don't know how to fight it." Hu Bo, who came over from the side to trick Ma Pin into giving him ginger sugar water, also had a sigh on his face, and everyone present was silent after hearing this.

For a veteran of Ma Pin's level, encountering the Holy Death Cavalry is worse than encountering the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, because the latter can run away if they can't beat you, and as long as you are careful with the latter, it is unlikely that the opponent can kill you in a few hits. Of course, if three or five veterans like Ma Pin circle a Divine Iron Cavalry, it will be difficult to quickly take it down on the battlefield, but it is different with the Holy Death Cavalry. The Holy Death Cavalry can really kill a veteran like Ma Pin in a few hits.

High attack, high mobility, high breakthrough. Although much more fragile than the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, if a veteran of Ma Pin's level seizes the opportunity, he may be able to pierce the soldiers of the Holy Death Cavalry with a three-edged rapier and kill them directly, but the opponent can also kill a veteran like Ma Pin in a few hits.

It is possible for tens of thousands of fearless ordinary soldiers to hold back the Xiliang Iron Cavalry. Even if the Xiliang Iron Cavalry can break through, it will take some time. But it is impossible to do so against the Holy Death Cavalry. The Holy Death Cavalry may be slightly injured, but with its super high mobility and breakthrough ability, it can directly break through the front line.

Therefore, facing the Holy Death Cavalry, even a veteran of Ma Pin's level would have a headache. This is not an opponent that you won't die if you are careful. It's a real battle. Even if you are careful, you will die. What's worse is that you cannot retreat when fighting the Holy Death Cavalry. If you retreat, the battle line may collapse directly.

The veterans under Cao Cao's command actually sat together and studied the Holy Death Cavalry, but the more they studied, the more they felt that the Holy Death Cavalry was just a sublimation of a regular cavalry. The only problem was that the sublimation was a little too much, which made it impossible for the Holy Death Cavalry to deal with it in a normal way.

"I don't know, maybe it's General Xiahou." Ma Pin said.

"That's probably the legion that has been planned for many years but has never been formed. It is said that all of its soldiers are carefully selected elites." Hu Bo said with some speculation.

The legion that Hu Bo mentioned is actually the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Cao Cao had talked about establishing this thing when he was in the Central Plains. Now, after more than ten years, it has finally made some noise. Moreover, it was not Cao who established this thing, but Cao Ang.

"Are you kidding? Have you been selected?" Ma Pin sneered when he heard that. They were carefully selected elites, how funny! We are two brothers standing together, what are you pretending for?
"I'm not? You were selected?" Hu Bo chuckled and asked Ma Pin, "I'm not an elite. Are you an elite?"

"I'm not an elite either." Ma Pin was not ashamed, but proud. He was just working for Lao Cao, how could he really risk his life? However, even his two brothers didn't receive the news, so he was definitely not an elite. What a joke, in this crappy place like Kandahar, how could there be 5,000 people who surpassed him, Ma Pin?
This is the fifth level of smelting. Not counting those old guys who are pretending to be dead, after experiencing the change of heaven and the curse of world consciousness, the entire Han Dynasty may only have a little over a thousand now. Don't expect more. In this case, how many people above the fifth level of smelting can Lao Cao have? One hundred, two hundred?

Anyway, there are at most a little over a hundred of them. In other words, if a guy like Ma Pin is willing to expose himself, he can at least be treated as a centurion. However, for Ma Pin and his group, a centurion is too dangerous. What if they are named by the strong man on the opposite side? They will be doomed if they can't win. It's better to be a centurion. It's safer!

Even if there are some shameless guys on the opposite side, in a normal-scale melee, veterans with this kind of strength will not suffer any injuries as long as they are not in the most central and strongest area.

"Huh." Just as Ma Pin and Hu Bo were chatting, Hu Bo frowned slightly.

"What's wrong?" Ma Pin looked at Hu Bo and asked.

"My clone was annihilated." Hu Bo said.

"I have the impression that you have hundreds of clones." Ma Pin looked at Hu Bo in silence for a while, "But considering the strength of your clones, it's normal for them to be taken away by snakes, wolves, tigers and leopards in the mountains."

Hu Bo was silent for a while, raised his right hand, and then more than a dozen clones with dragonfly wings, no more than three inches tall, flew out from Hu Bo's palm.

Although he is also a fantasy soldier, after Hu Bo fled from Old Yuan's house to Cao Cao's side, he completely gave up this innate combat ability and instead focused on reconnaissance ability. This thing that is similar to a dragonfly is the reconnaissance ability researched by Hu Bo.

At the same time, the veterans under Cao Cao's command, who had a super-large scale, that is, a starting radius of more than 30 miles and anti-interference reconnaissance capabilities, all discovered some abnormalities.

"Something seems to be wrong." Several veterans with strong reconnaissance capabilities discovered the abnormality. Although they were somewhat dissatisfied with Lao Cao, intelligence and reconnaissance cannot be delayed in war, so after mutual confirmation, the information was quickly summarized in the direction of Cao Ren.

"What? Ardashir's main force did not choose to retreat to the Helmand River crossing, but returned to its previous garrison?" Cao Ren was shocked when he received the news. How could this be possible? If it was a conventional attack, how could Ardashir send out his entire army to encircle and suppress Yan Xing?
"This is what we have discovered. What should we do now?" Xiahou Yuan said with a gloomy face. This was no joke. If Ardashir returned to the high ground where they were stationed before, it would mean that if the other party wanted to break the dam and release the water, they could do so at any time. Anyway, they would not be flooded, so if they could be flooded after the dam broke, they would not lose anything.

Ardashir did want to retreat, but if he retreated normally, he could only go through the Helmand River ferry. But Cao Cao was no fool. Ardashir would retreat there after defeating Yan Gui. As long as Cao Cao blocked him there, a fierce battle would be inevitable.

Even though Cao's foundation is shaky now, the Han Empire's strong power is there. After a fierce battle, even if Ardashir can break through, he will definitely have to hand over some of his cards and expose his true combat power. This is the information Cao needs.

But now Ardashir gave up going back to the Kabul Valley via the Helmand River, and instead returned to his previous camp as if nothing had happened. Then the water attack methods that Ardashir had prepared before really played their due role.

The current situation of Cao Cao and Ardashir is that they both know that the other side must have prepared means of water attack, and they also know that the other side is unwilling to fight to the death with them, and both want to reduce losses. In this case, the main forces of Ardashir and Cao Cao are both within the range of the water attack, and neither side will use water attack unless one side is about to be defeated and then threatens the other side with mutual destruction.

This is also the reason why Cao Cao was not worried at all about his main force attacking and being ambushed by Ardashir and then being completely defeated in one fell swoop. Because at that point, Cao Cao would simply overturn the table and say, "If Ardashir really dares to kill indiscriminately, then we will all die together."

Similarly, Ardashir was not too worried about the demise of his own men. If they were really in dire straits, they would just dig. Therefore, when fighting in Kandahar, Cao did not dare to force Ardashir to death. After all, everyone had to restrain themselves in this situation.

The only time there is no need to restrain oneself is when Ardashir is on the mountain and Cao Cao's main force is on the mountain road, or when Cao Cao's main force is in the city and Ardashir is on the mountain road.

After all, the terrain of Kabul is so dangerous that if the dam breaks, both sides will be flooded on the mountain roads.

But now the problem is that Cao Cao's main force is on the mountain road, preparing to head to the Helmand River Valley, while Ardashir is not planning to retreat to the ferry. Instead, he is preparing to return to his previous highland camp. What is he trying to do?
Just thinking about it, Cao Ren and others' heads began to boil.

If the dam here bursts, all 60,000 of them will most likely be killed. Even if some of them survive, they will not be able to face the subsequent stranglehold of the Holy Death Knights.

"We must send people to stop Ardashir now. If we really talk about distance, we are actually closer than Ardashir. We should just abandon the Helmand River ferry and move the battlefield to the front of the camp abandoned by Ardashir." Cao Ren made a quick judgment.

To repeat, Cao Ren was actually a famous offensive general. Like Sima Yi, he was a famous general with amazing performance in offense. As for why he was famous in history for his defense, it was simply because the opponents he encountered were too strong, making it impossible for them to attack and they could only defend.

Because of the twists and turns of the mountain roads, a straight-line distance of thirty miles may require a detour of hundreds of miles. Even with the blessing of the essence of heaven and earth, which greatly improves the soldiers' mobility and allows them to move hundreds of miles at high speed, in the current climate environment, a raid of hundreds of miles would still be a very dangerous situation.

However, the problem now is that if you do not rush to stop Ardashir, after Ardashir goes up the mountain, he will really burst the dam. If you rush to stop Ardashir, the originally most suitable battlefield for Cao's army will be directly replaced by a new place, and the original situation of waiting for the enemy to tire out has also changed, and it may even become Ardashir waiting for the enemy to tire out.

"We are not much closer than Ardashir." Xiahou Yuan recalled the map of the area, compared it with the location of Ardashir's army detected by the scouts, and then compared the current positions of both sides from the mountain camp according to his memory.

"But if we don't rush over at full speed, Ardashir will reach the mountain camp first and then rely on the terrain to hold on. If a flood comes, my army will not be completely wiped out, but there will be not much left." Cao Ren said with a very ugly expression, "So we can only block it here as quickly as possible and have a big fight with Ardashir."

"Fighting a meaningless war?" Zhang Xiu also arrived at this time. The reconnaissance personnel under his command informed him that they had detected a large group of troops marching at a high speed for more than 20 miles.

"We need to measure Ardashir's combat capability." Cao Ren said in a suppressed tone.

"Ardashir's men are united and can march at high speed. After arriving, they can also maintain considerable combat effectiveness. Can our army do this now?" Zhang Xiu did not refute Cao Ren, but his truth was more advantageous than refutation.

"Near the original Helmand River crossing, I think our army has a chance of victory by waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. At worst, we won't be defeated miserably. But this kind of forced march of nearly a hundred miles, after arriving, it is very likely that we will start a battle on the spot..." Zhang Xiu looked at Cao Ren coldly, "Is there anyone here who is sure that he can defeat the Holy Death Cavalry? Is he sure that he can face Ardashir when the whole army is exhausted?"

Cao Ren's expression looked extremely ugly at this moment.

"Then what do you mean?" Xiahou Yuan looked at Zhang Xiu and asked.

"Just retreat. Since our tactics have no room to be implemented, we might as well retreat and wait for a new opportunity." Zhang Xiu said slowly.

Although his relationship with Yan Xing was average, they were both from Liangzhou after all, and they had some fellow-townsmanship. In addition, Cao Ang's behavior was a bright spot for Zhang Xiu - Prime Minister Cao was unreliable, but Prince Cao was reliable.

After all, Zhang Xiu has already invested a huge amount of money in Cao Ang. If he can avoid jumping ship, he still doesn't want to do so. He hadn't considered this before, but since Cao Ang dared to mobilize troops privately, many things came to the surface.

If it hadn't been made public, people like Zhang Xiu would not have noticed it. But this time it has been almost made clear, so Zhang Xiu would naturally consider it. It seems that Crown Prince Cao Ang is a really good choice.

After having this idea in mind, Zhang Xiu would naturally help Cao Ang when he was able to. For example, now, Cao, your plan has failed. There is no point in making up for it. It is better to fail directly. In this way, he can hit Cao again and prove the justice of Cao Ang's troop deployment. It can also directly characterize the incompetence of the planner. In other words, if Cao Ang had not deployed troops, not only would the plan fail, but also suffer losses.

"No!" Cao Ren sternly rejected Zhang Xiu's idea.

"Then what do you say we should do? Rush over and fight Ardashir?" Zhang Xiu confronted Cao Ren without any fear.

At least I can update on time at work, sigh