Chapter 338: Night Attack and Great Victory
Zang Ba looked at Xiahou Dun's fleeing army with excitement in his eyes.
After preparing for a long time, the other party finally took the bait.
With both sides exhausted, the huge gap in numbers was no longer a problem.
Not to mention the current environment, Xiahou Dun's army is already in a state of panic, with more people dying from trampling and hacking than from being chased.
Everyone was scrambling to flee backwards, but now they were exhausted. In desperation, many soldiers naturally began to hold their teammates back.
I don't need to run faster than the pursuers, I just need to run faster than my teammates.
At this moment, Cao Cao's army's poor discipline was completely exposed.
Among all the princes, Cao Cao had the greatest control over the army.
For example, Yuan Shao and Liu Bei, most of the soldiers under their command were recruited from aristocratic families and formed their own troops.
Although they are constantly infiltrating and trying to win them over, it will take a long time.
Although Sun Ce made his way in life on his own, he did not have many direct descendants, and most of the troops under his command were followers of the powerful families in Jiangdong.
Only Cao Cao, because he had accepted the Baibo Army and others, had nearly 100,000 troops under his command.
The advantage of this is that Cao Cao does not have to consider the ideas of the aristocratic families too much when doing things. He is largely free from his dependence on the aristocratic families, has strong execution and combat capabilities, and can implement reforms most quickly.
But the disadvantage is that Cao Cao has to find a way to support these 100,000 soldiers by himself, which is extremely stressful.
Without the support of money, food, equipment, horses, etc. provided by the powerful families, Cao Cao had to equip everything by himself, which made him the poorest among the princes in the Central Plains.
In addition, many of these soldiers who were trained from the Baibo bandits have turned looting into their instinct, so one can imagine what their military discipline is like.
In order to gain complete control of the army, Cao Cao had to weigh the pros and cons and form a large army with these "bandit soldiers" loyal to him as the core.
Without sufficient supplies as a foundation, and unable to forge a strong will, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of this army, Cao Cao could only focus on the big ones and let go of the small ones.
The focus was on dealing with issues such as retreating during the war and killing civilians after the war, and they had no time to take care of other issues.
Although this kind of army would normally reveal some shortcomings, they were harmless in Cao Cao's view. However, when faced with the current situation of a great defeat of the army, and the law did not allow for the majority to be held responsible, these soldiers became completely chaotic.
Many times, it is easier to kill 100,000 people than 100,000 pigs.
Because pigs have simple thoughts, even if they don't fight back, they will only run away and won't kill each other. But people are different.
Zang Ba led three thousand elite soldiers in pursuit and the success was so smooth that it was unimaginable.
Although the burial place prepared by Xu Shu for Xiahou Dun was not in a dangerous location, it was difficult to travel to.
While being chased, facing continuous steep slopes and hills, these soldiers of Xiahou Dun's army could not retreat quickly even if they wanted to.
They were easily hunted down by Zang Ba's army, which was familiar with the terrain and adept at mountain warfare.
Especially since it was already dark, Zang Ba's army, which was well-nourished and had received special training for night combat, was not greatly affected.
However, many of Xiahou Dun's soldiers suffered from night blindness. They ran around like headless flies. From time to time, some of them rolled down the hillside, and their lives or deaths were unknown.
Some soldiers couldn't tell whether the people around them were friends or enemies, so they killed anyone they saw.
How could Zang Ba miss such a good opportunity? He stayed awake all night and, along with the other 7,000 tired soldiers, kept chasing Xiahou Dun's army.
When the next day dawned, Zang Ba looked at the rising sun in the distance and breathed a sigh of relief.
He threw the fifth knife in his hand to the ground.
The blade was covered in blood, had many gaps, and was bent.
That night, he couldn't remember how many enemies he had killed, probably no less than a hundred. Not only him, but the Zang Ba soldiers around him were also exhausted, their bodies were covered in blood, but there were few scars, most of which were splashed by the enemies they killed.
Xu Shu looked at the enemies lying on the ground around him, put the sword in his hand back to his waist, and took off his armor with some difficulty.
The blue shirt was completely stained with blood.
This was the first time he had killed someone since he gave up martial arts and turned to literature, but he had killed far more people than before.
Zang Ba looked at Xu Shu with appreciation and admiration.
He patted Xu Shu on the shoulder and said, "Yuanzhi, good job."
There were many counselors who dared to pick up swords and kill people, but there were not many who could fight as well as Xu Shu. Zang Ba felt that he had met this kind of talent who was both civil and martial, and who also had a good temper, too late.
If I had met him earlier, I would not be inferior to Zhang He and Xu Huang, or at least better than Gan Ning.
Xu Shu forced a smile, looked at the terrain around him, and roughly understood where he was.
"Xuan Gao, we chased for dozens of miles this evening!"
His plan was successful, but the effect was so good that it was beyond Xu Shu's imagination.
During the previous night attack on Fenggao and other counties, Xu Shu knew that Zang Ba's army had good night combat capabilities, but he did not know they would be so strong.
With the combination of multiple elements, the outcome of this battle truly amazed Xu Shu.
"Yes! This evening, Xiahou Dun's army suffered at least 30,000 casualties. There is nothing to worry about anymore." Looking at the corpses scattered around, Zang Ba said excitedly.
"It's a pity that Xiahou Dun was not kept, otherwise this battle would have been a success." Xu Shu said with a little regret.
Everything has pros and cons.
With the help of the night, Zang Ba's army completed a shocking massacre, but because of this, Xiahou Dun escaped.
Given the surrounding terrain and the state of Xiahou Dun's army, if Xu Shu and others had not been unable to see Xiahou Dun's location and lock onto his target, Xiahou Dun would have been unable to escape.
"It's okay." Zang Ba said nonchalantly.
"Xiahou Dun is not a strong general. Although he performed well in stabilizing the rear and suppressing bandits, he is not a big threat to us. He can just run away if he wants."
The situation system under Tian Ze's command can almost be said to have completely infiltrated all the princes. People like Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao's right-hand man, have naturally been thoroughly understood.
Xiahou Dun's talents and personality are not suitable for frontal combat at all. At most, he can only fight battles where the strong bully the weak.
In history, he was defeated repeatedly and almost never won a head-on fight, but he kept getting promoted.
Such people are not important in Zang Ba's eyes.
Xu Shu shook his head when he heard this.
A good warrior may not have great military achievements.
Xiahou Dun may seem weak, but his importance under Cao Cao is no less than that of Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan and others, otherwise Cao Cao would not rely on him so much.
Not only is he good at pacifying a region, but what is rare is that he also has some ability in political strategy. His value is no less than that of the five great generals under Tian Ze.
Xun Yu and Xiahou Dun both played a crucial role in enabling Cao Cao to lead his troops into battle personally without having to worry about the rear and food supplies.
If they could capture it, it would be like cutting off one of Cao Cao's arms.
(End of this chapter)
