Chapter 58 Leakage

Cao Zhi was dressed in two armors, leaning against a Luo Tong lying on the ground, holding a book in one hand and a flat wine jug in the other. From time to time, he praised "wonderful" and then took a sip of wine. A Shenjun's white horse stood behind him, constantly lowering his head and licking his wine jug. More than a dozen plagiarism warriors stood not far away. Hearing his shout, he couldn't help laughing, and then secretly glanced at the Persian cat lying on its hunchback and sleeping.

The horse sent by Xia Hourong, the jujube wine sent by Chen Hai, the book sent by Yang Xiu, and this Persian cat are the four treasures brought by Cao Zhi.

"Brother Zijian, don't 'meow' anymore. You are just like this cat." Chen Hai strode over and looked down at Cao Zhi, who was blushing: "Isn't it drunk? You're going to fight later. Don't even ride a horse.

"Ji Zi, which eye do you have to see me drunk?" Cao Zhi didn't even lift his eyelids. He curled his lips and raised the kettle to his mouth, but he didn't pour out a drop of wine. He looked at it puzzledly and shook it hard, but there was still not a drop. He looked up at the white horse and scolded, "You beast, steal my wine again?"

The white horse blew his nose, turned his head to ignore him, shook his stomach, and his snow-white mane swayed with the wind.

"Your mother, like those barbarians, just can't understand Chinese, just don't be stupid." Cao Zhi scolded antonically, threw the wine pot to a guard, and drank, "Come on the wine!"

"Don't drink." Chen Hailing grabbed the wine pot, turned to the guard, shook his head, turned to Cao Zhi and said, "The scout just came to report that the Sassanids have come out of the desert, up to 20 miles from here."

"There are still 20 miles left. What's the hurry?" Cao Zhi didn't think so. He reached out and snapped his fingers and shouted again, "Come with wine!"

The guard looked at Chen Hai in embarrassment. Chen Hai had no choice. He knew the prince's temper, and no one could stop him from starting the surname Niu.

"Zijian, don't drink." Cao Zhang, with more than a dozen guards, scratched wildly and rolled up a burst of dust. Cao Zhi shook the book with dissatisfaction and shook off the sand on the book, but he didn't dare to say anything more. He looked at Cao Zhang lazily: "I said, General Cao, there are still 20 miles left. What's the hurry?"

"Twenty miles can be reached in an instant for the cavalry." Cao Zhang strangled the war horse and shouted in a low voice, "We have to rely on your 30,000 steps to hurt their sharpness and pester them so that we can take advantage of the fire. How can you take it lightly and forget what you promised me before?"

Cao Zhi sighed helplessly and muttered, "I said, don't always mention these two words, okay? Why are you still as wordy as when you were a child?"

"What did you say?" Cao Zhang was furious and shouted loudly, "If you don't drink enough, I'll let you go to the back to have a good drink. This is under the command of Li Zhengfang."

"Don't!" Cao Zhi panicked, jumped up, shook Dantian's anger, and roared: "The array--"

With an order, the sound of war drums suddenly exploded, breaking the calm on the battlefield. Chen Hai said nothing more. He jumped on the horse and went straight to the battle array on the left side of the array. The eight thousand Yue sailors had already lined up. Behind the rows of crossbows were Yue soldiers wearing cowhide sandals and shirtless. They stood in front of their weapons and whispered and laughed from time to time. The atmosphere was obviously very relaxed. On the right side of the array, 15,000 soldiers of the State of Shu were lined up in two phalanxes. Li Yan, the general of the guard, held the knife with both hands and stood with his legs crossed. He squinted at the smoke and dust in the distance. The mud stains of sweat made his face a little ridiculous, but no one dared to laugh, because his eyes flashed with boundless murderous atmosphere, which was not comparable at all. The Uzi sword hidden in the scabbard is inferior.

The phalanx composed of more than 30,000 soldiers of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Yue crossed the road to the north of the Sassanians, blocking the first clear spring after they walked out of the desert. The soldiers who had been nourishing for several months were energetic and ready to take the Sassanian sacrifice knives that had just escaped from the desert. Ten miles behind them, Cao Zhang brought 15,000 iron riders of the State of Wei and 20,000 noble frost elite riders led by the wave king, waiting for the opportunity to move. As long as the Sassanids and the infantry phalanx were entangled by them, the more than 30,000 elite cavalry would come out from both sides and kill the Sassanians together with the pacers.

The key to this battle is to let the soldiers entangle the Sassanians first, so after discussing with the generals, Cao Zhang decided to use 30,000 steps as bait to stop the clear spring of the Sasans to get water. As soon as the Sassanids came out of the desert, they must be hungry and thirsty. They were eager to get water. When they saw 30,000 steps in the way, they would not pay attention to them. They were likely to rush up. At that time, the iron riders would have the effect of killing again. Otherwise, although Cao Zhang and others had more than 30,000 elite riders and had the strength to fight with the Sassanians, but It is not easy to achieve good results.

The passionate drums scared the weak Sasanne scouts. They had just come out of the desert and thought they had returned to their territory. They were finally safe and sound, so they seemed a little absent-minded to inquire about the military situation. Now when they heard the familiar sound of war drums, they knew that they had relaxed too early. Yes.

Some scouts followed the sound of war drums. As soon as they saw the army in front of Qingquan, they were stunned. After a short period of distraction, they coincidentally turned around and ran wildly. They desperately beat the war horse, squeezed the last trace of potential of the war horse, ran as fast as possible, and sent the news to Ardahir as early as possible.

Aldahir rode on his horse and poured the last half of the pot of water into his dry mouth. Before entering the desert, he was attacked by Lu Xun. Although his main force did not lose too much, most of the heavy troops were left behind, leaving only dry food and fresh water with them. Dry food is easy to do. For Sassanians, it is common to endure hunger. You can save a little food for a few days, but the problem of fresh water is difficult to do. Without water, neither people nor livestock can support it. The Sassanids traveled back and forth in this desert a lot, and it was clear where there was a spring. However, because they did not bring enough reserve of water, they still suffered a lot before reaching the first clear spring. They killed hundreds of war horses alone, and almost all the camels were cut open their esophagus to take them from their stomachs. Water.

It can be said that this crossing of the desert is the most painful time for the Sassanians. If it is not to go home, if they don't know that they can replenish fresh water as long as they go out of the desert, it is hard to say that they have enough strength to support it until now. Despite this, they still lost a lot of staff. At least two or three thousand people fell into the desert due to lack of water and became a pile of bones and could no longer return to their hometown.

Now they are very relaxed. When they return to their land, they see the green fields. The air is filled with seductive moisture. As long as they walk 20 miles forward, they can lie down by the clear spring and drink and make up all the water steamed by the hot desert these days. They were very excited and coincidentally poured the last bit of water into their mouths. The water that used to be more precious than gold is no longer precious now, and the spring in front can meet all their requirements.

Aldahir slowly swallowed the last mouthful of water. His dry lips were moistened by water, and the pain of the cracked mouth stimulated by water also made him excited. He raised his hand and wiped his mouth with his dirty sleeves blown by the wind and sand. His smile just appeared, and then he froze on his face. .

Twenty horses rushed from a distance, and the horses rushed up with smoke and dust like a galloping earth dragon, straight to the tired battle array of the Sassanians, and the horn of the alarm came from afar.

Aldahir felt a strong uneasiness. He thought for a moment, immediately raised his arm, ordered the soldier to hesitate for a moment, and then instinctively blew the horn.

The rapid horn surprised the excited Sassanians. Although they were very tired, driven by years of experience, they quickly took action and focused on the banners of their respective wars. Several tens of thousands of husbands waited anxiously for Aldashier's further orders while rectified their own people. At this time, Aldahir sounded the rallying horn, which was definitely not good news. Has the enemy attacked the Sassanid territory? They were all frightened.

Aldahir's face had turned blue, and he was surprisingly angry. The Han people bullied people too much. They not only fought against themselves in Aksum and Egypt, but now went further. They actually landed from the Persian Gulf and rushed to their own land to attack, or provoked 50,000 to 60,000 cavalry with 30,000 steps.

This is an unscrupulous provocation to the Sassanians.

Such a thing has never happened in Aldahir's memory. He has never heard that peds dare to attack more cavalry than his own. The Roman infantry phalanx is famous all over the world, but in the record of fighting with Aldahir, they have always been passively fighting, and in the land of Rome. I have never set foot in the land of Sassanids.

Not only Aldahir was angry, but several generals who came when they heard the news were also furious. They shouted that they wanted to rush to kill these Han people who didn't know life or death to dispel their hatred. Recently, they were successively defeated by the Han people with tricks. They were very angry. Now they were bullied by the Han people to their door. They How to swallow this breath.

What's more, they have to take water. If they don't defeat the Han people, how can they take water?

The generals roared and asked for battle, but Ardahir never said anything. He raised his head, looked over the fists waved by the generals, and looked straight into the distance. After a while, he shook his head and said indisputably, "Redirect, avoid them, and get water at the next water intake point!"

"Why?" The generals asked the same question.

"Don't ask so much." Ardahir was furious, picked up the whip, and his majestic eyes glanced around. His bloody eyes were full of tyranny and murder, which kept those lion-like angry generals shut. They looked at each other and ran away without saying a word. Ardahir gasped, covered his chest and coughed twice. Then he called the two cronies to arrange it. The two men listened and bowed away with fear.

The army then turned north and headed north along the edge of the desert. Almost everyone felt the crisis. They didn't say a word and rushed on their way.

The news reached Cao Zhi and others, and Cao Zhi and others were immediately splashed with cold water. The reason why they did such a flamboyant was that they hoped to anger the Sassanids. Unexpectedly, the Sassanids turned their heads and left without saying a word. Their abacus all failed, guarding a clear spring, they could only watch the Sassanid people get out of the net.

Cao Zhi did not dare to neglect and immediately sent the news to Cao Zhang. Cao Zhang and Bo Ting were rubbing their hands and waiting to attack. When they saw the messengers coming from the Pegasus, they thought that Cao Zhi and others had entangled the Sas. The Bo Tzu was so excited that their eyes were red. When they heard that the Sassanids had run away, the waved arms suddenly froze in mid-air.

"Run away?" The wave was stunned for a while, and suddenly roared. Cao Zhang, who was thinking, was shocked. He turned his head to look at the beard, the powerful tone, and laughed dumbly: "Your Majesty, run away. Anyway, he has to go back to Taixifeng. Let's just chase him again."

"No way." With a wave of his hand, he couldn't see a little oldness when he was over 50 years old. He walked around. As he walked to the war horse and flew on the horse, he shouted, "It's not so easy to let the old dog enter the city. If we want to avenge this, we can only defeat him in the field, and there will be hope to attack the city in the future."

"The king thinks twice." Cao Zhang hurriedly took two steps and grabbed the rein of the wave tone: "The Sassanians are twice as good as me. It's not easy for us to win."

"Well, what about twice as much as me?" The tone disdained, "They just came out of the desert. Can they compare with us? Maybe he lost too much in the desert. Now the people and horses are similar to us. Otherwise, why doesn't he dare to fight? Bo Ting raised his head, looked at the direction of Aldahir's escape, and sneered: "When did Aldahir, an old dog, be so weak? If it hadn't been for the strength, could he have swallowed it? General, I'll go first, and you can come back later."

After saying that, he urged the war horse and left with the guards. Cao Zhang rubbed his hands, smiled helplessly bitterly, and shook his head. Xun Yu frowned and came to Cao Zhang's side and whispered, "Ziwen, the tone is too careless. Ardahir is not a generalist. If he can stay calm in this situation, how can he not leave his back?

Cao Zhang glanced at Xun Yan, turned his head and looked at the Guishuang people who were leaving in a hurry. He picked the corners of his mouth and said, "So we want the Guishuang people to go first."

Xun was stunned and suddenly realized that he exchanged eyes with Cao Zhang and laughed at the same time. Xun Yu's wife is Cao Zhang's sister. He and Cao Zhang have been together for a long time and are much more familiar with each other than other generals. Cao Zhang only said one sentence, and he understood Cao Zhang's intention and immediately said no words.

Cao Zhang quickly reacted and ordered Xun Yu to take Hu's cavalry camp to set out first, and then led his army to follow. At the same time, he sent an order to Cao Zhi to follow at the end and be on guard. He should not be too far away from the army, so as not to be trapped by the Sassanians. When Cao Zhi and others heard the order, they sighed in vain, but there was no better way. The soldiers had this sense of powerlessness in the face of the cavalry. Fighting or not, the initiative was all in the other party.

"It seems that this Aldahir lives up to its reputation." Li Yan touched the short beard under his jaw and nodded with satisfaction: "This kind of opponent is interesting."

"It's rare to see General Li so interested. However, General Li can't compete with us. Cao Zhi laughed and said, "We have agreed that I will be the main attack in the first battle. If a man believes what he says, he can't be fattening himself."

"It's not right." Chen Hai touched his chin and smiled strangely, "This first battle has been over. The enemy has been defeated without a fight. How can you still grab the next command? We agreed to take turns.

Cao Zhi smiled twice: "Since there is no war... and collapse, there is no war. How can it be said that this battle is over? I said, General Chen, you still haven't read this book well.

Chen Hai rolled his eyes and wanted to talk about stinging. He was really not Cao Zhi's opponent. He sent a handle to Cao Zhi for nothing. Li Yan raised the corners of his mouth and shook his head helplessly. In this joint battle between the three countries of Wei, Shu and Yue, Yue took on the main task of transportation and carrying. The Persian Gulf was also the sea area that Chen Hai was responsible for. His position was unmovable. Otherwise, Chen Hai would be angry and it would be a problem for them to go home. And because the State of Wei has the largest number of troops, 10,000 soldiers, 15,000 iron cavalry, all kinds of arms and strong strength, it is the main force of the benevolent. Although the State of Shu has 15,000 soldiers, it has no cavalry. Its strength cannot be compared with that of the State of Wei, nor can it offend the people of Yue. The three of them are the oldest, but now they can only listen to them most of the time.

Li Yan was very depressed. He was originally one of the important ministers of Liu Bei before his death, but his popularity was not as good as Zhuge Liang, and his qualifications were not as good as Zhang Fei, so he fell behind in the battle. Seeing that Zhang Fei was old, he was expected to replace Zhang Fei as a pivotal general of the State of Shu. Unexpectedly, as soon as the letter of King Yue's request to send troops arrived in the State of Shu, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang and General Zhang Fei recommended him to lead the army in unison. Of course, he knew what this meant, but he couldn't refuse, so he had to come all the way to Sassan. He held his breath and wanted to make a great contribution in Sasan, and then raised his eyebrows and returned to the State of Shu to let those who looked down on him see that Li Yan was a real general who could fight, not an official based on his relationship, and then justly took over as the general. But I didn't expect that the first battle ended in this way.

"Well, it seems that it's not good not to see the lockdown of Taixi." Li Yan sighed secretly, got on the horse, and walked back to his battle. Ma Zhong followed him closely. Seeing that his face was not good, he advised, "General, the Sassansans retreated without fighting. I think their strength is seriously damaged. Even under the lockdown of Taixi, we still have a great chance."

"After all, the siege is not as good as the field." Li Yan looked around. Cao Zhi and Chen Hai were still talking and laughing. They were all close to him. Zhuge Liang's cronies were at least 20 steps away from him. As long as you have twice the strength in the field, you can have a chance to win, but the siege must have at least five times the strength. Do we have so many people? What's more, Tai Xifeng is the capital of the Sassanians. Compared with ordinary small cities, it is much more difficult to attack.

Ma Zhong nodded, and there were many worries in his eyebrows: "Yes, if we can hit the Sassanids hard this time and destroy their main force outside the city, there will still be a chance to besiege Tai Xifeng. If they are allowed to return to Taixifeng safely, it will be really difficult to attack the city. The siege is to fight for consumption. The Sassanians have local benefits, but we are on a ten-thousand-mile expedition. No matter how strong the strength of the Yue country is, there are times when it can't be supported. At that time..."

"Alas..." Li Yan sighed and shook his head without saying a word. He and Ma Zhong think about the same thing. The prospect of this war is not very optimistic. If the long-term siege of Taixifeng in the end, this battle will be a tragic victory. If the strength of Yue is not enough to support the long-term siege of the city, the consequences are even more unimaginable. If you don't win, there will be no trophy to compensate for it. All the soldiers are in trouble. This trip is to make money. If the money is not made in the end, and in turn, the State of Shu will have to pay. Li Yan will not come forward in the future.

"Dexin, you're right. I'm also very worried now."

Ma Zhong looked at Li Yan and comforted him, "General, relax. His Royal Highness is invincible. Since he can invite us to participate in the war here, he will not be defeated by both sides. General Cao is also a general who is used to riding. Now they are catching up. Maybe they can entangle the Sassanians. At that time, they may come and order us to rush there. The general might as well be prepared to avoid being caught off guard.

"Catch up?" Li Yan shook his head in surprise: "The cavalry can walk 20 miles in an hour, and the Sassanians are running for their lives. Can we catch up? I don't expect to participate in the war. Instead, I hope they don't come to us. Otherwise, I'm afraid it's not a good thing. He paused for a moment, and the corners of his mouth were used to picking up his surname, and then he calmed down. He lowered his voice and said, "I always feel that Cao Ziwen let Bobo set out first, and there was the idea of killing people with a knife hidden in it."

"Isn't it?" Ma Zhong looked at Li Yan in surprise: "How can he have such a mind in front of the enemy? This is not a good thing."

"So that's why I'm worried." Li Yan exhaled for a long time: "We seem to have a lot of troops, but we come from different countries. Everyone has their own thoughts, and it is inevitable that there will be internal consumption. Why did the Sassanians escape from Lake Timsak? Isn't it because the Romans are passive and lazy? Why did Lu Xun catch up? Isn't it because he didn't believe in the Romans from the beginning? Vietnam and Rome are on guard against each other. Why can't they guard against the noble frost people?

"It does sound like that." Ma Zhong nodded with admiration: "The guard is still thoughtful. I really didn't expect this layer."

"You..." Li Yan looked at Ma Zhong with a smile, with a little unconcealed arrogance: "You are good at everything else, but you read less. But then again, it's not necessarily a good thing to read more books. People who read less are more simple and generous.

Ma Zhong smiled awkwardly and said nothing.

(to be continued)