Three Kingdoms: I, the Emperor of Wei, am loyal and honest!

In the second year of Jian'an, in June.

It has been more than half a month since Cao Ang sent troops from Xudu in early June.

Eleven days were spent marching to Xiaopei.

After arriving at Xiaopei, another seven or eight days passed.

During these seven or eight days, Cao Ang stationed troops in Xiaopei, recruited troops, and at the same time provoked Lu Bu to attack.

After defeating Lu Bu outside Xiaopei City, Lu Bu was frightened and led his army to station in Pengcheng, a hundred miles away from Xiaopei.

He planned to wait there for the arrival of Yuan Shu's army, Zang Ba and other Taishan thieves commanders.

As everyone knows, on the night when Lu Bu was defeated, Cao Ang had already led the four generals Li Cunxiao, Xu Chu, Guan Yu, and Hu Che'er, as well as two thousand Xiliang cavalry without horses, and left Xiaopei under the cover of night.

Only Wang Yanzhang, Liu Bei, and Zhang Fei, with three thousand elite troops and three to four thousand new recruits, guarded Xiaopei.

Cao Ang's arrangement also has profound meaning.

He used Wang Yanzhang to cooperate with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei to stay in Xiaopei, which was enough to ensure that even if Liu Bei had other intentions of running away, he would not dare to run away.

First of all, Xiaopei has three thousand elite soldiers, two thousand of whom are Cao Ang's elite confidants, all commanded by Wang Yanzhang.

If Liu Bei wanted to run away, he would have no chance unless he abandoned his thousands of Danyang soldiers.

And even if Liu Bei wanted to rebel and seize Xiaopei, Wang Yanzhang's nickname of Iron Spear was not for nothing.

Wang Yanzhang's marksmanship is as good as Zhang Fei's Zhangba Snake Spear!

With two thousand elite soldiers in hand, Liu Bei is not afraid of any changes.

What's more, Cao Ang also took Guan Yu away, which was even more important insurance.

Unless Liu Bei didn't want him, the most important general under his command, there would be no change.

In this way, with Wang Yanzhang teamed up with Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, 3,000 elite soldiers, and 4,000 new soldiers to defend the city, even if Lu Bu and Yuan Shu's army besieged the city, they could still hold on for a while with the help of the city and fortifications.

Cao Ang, on the other hand, led the four generals Li Cunxiao, Xu Chu, Guan Yu, and Hu Che'er and two thousand Xiliang soldiers, each carrying ten days of dry food, and marched for dozens of miles under the stars.

In the southwest of Xiaopei, they met a cavalry of more than 6,000 horses coming from Mangdang Mountain.

These more than 6,000 war horses have been supervised and fed by hundreds of Xiliang cavalry who are familiar with the nature of horses.

During the day, they received the news sent by Cao Ang's Qianli Falcon, and drove their horses to join them.

Following Cao Ang's order, all two thousand Xiliang cavalry mounted their horses, together with the one hundred cavalry who sent the horses, for a total of two thousand one hundred cavalry.

But there are more than 6,000 war horses, reaching a configuration of one person and three horses.

These are also all the war horses that can run under the command of Cao Cao, Cao Ang and his son.

Moreover, this number was only possible because Zhang Xiu came to invest and brought more than 4,000 cavalry and nearly 5,000 war horses.

Without Zhang Xiu's sponsorship, Cao Cao could only produce more than a thousand war horses at most. Even these more than a thousand horses were scattered among the generals, unable to form a complete 997 cavalry team.

"The whole army obeyed the order and turned to the northeast, heading straight for Lanling!"

After all the 2,100 horsemen were mounted, and the other two prepared horses were distributed to the soldiers, Cao Ang gave an order, and more than 2,000 people and more than 6,000 horses turned directly to Lanling in the northeast.

Lanling , under the rule of Xuzhou, is hundreds of miles northeast of Xiaopei and south of Taishan County and Langya County.

Zang Ba, the most powerful of the Taishan bandits, has been stationed in Taishan County and Langya County. From Kaiyang to Xuzhou, Lanling was the only place to pass.

In later generations, a famous blocking battle took place under Lanling's rule, and Cao Ang led more than 2,000 horses to attack Lanling. It is here to intercept Zang Ba and other Taishan bandit commanders coming from Kaiyang and defeat them!

First, cut off Lu Bu's supporting troops, and at the same time recruit Zang Ba and other tribes for your own use. Under the circumstances, Cao Ang can lead the Taishan bandits back to Xiaopei to fight against the army of Lu Bu and Yuan Shu.

Although Zang Ba and others are called the Taishan bandits, it does not mean that they are not capable of fighting.

Most of the thieves may be cannon fodder, but Zang Ba and other Qu Shuai's men also have a considerable fighting force!

Cao Ang knows that in history, around June and July of the second year of Jian'an, Zang Ba once attacked. He defeated Xiao Jian, the prime minister of Langya appointed by Lu Bu, and obtained Xiao Jian's military supplies and supplies.

Because Zang Ba had promised to pay some tribute to Lu Bu but failed to do so, Lu Bu was furious and led a group of elite soldiers to ask for it. Ba occupied the city and defended it, repelling Lu Bu, and Lu Bu came back in despair.

Later, because he was afraid of Zang Ba, he became friends with Zang Ba again... but because of the existence of Cao Ang, Zang Ba during this period. Before the attack on Xiao Jian and the enmity between Lu Bu and Lu Bu, in order to deal with Cao Ang, Lu Bu proactively promised to give Zang Ba the military resources of Langya Kingdom as a reward for sending troops, so Zang Ba did not attack

Xiao Jian for the time being.

In fact, he was not a bandit.

He was originally a subordinate of Tao Qian. When he followed Tao Qian to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he was appointed as the Cavalry Commander for his merits.

Later, after Tao Qian's death, most of his troops were assigned to Liu Bei. Some of them defected to others.

However, Zang Ba took his own troops and established himself in the Kaiyang area of Taishan with Sun Guan, Yin Li and other generals.

Later, the bandits Wu Dun and others came to join him, as well as some of the remaining Yellow Turbans.

Because he and other thief commander Chang Xi and others were stationed near Taishan County and were allies, he was called the Taishan thief commander by the world. This was also because of his relatively low background. , his father was just a jailer in Taishan County.

Otherwise, if Zang Ba came from a wealthy family, he would not be called a bandit, but would be ranked among the princes. The tribesmen of Mount Tai totaled hundreds of thousands, and they were also overlords, not a small force.

Otherwise, Lu Bu would not have offered huge profits to win over Zang Ba, and Cao Ang had always planned for Zang Ba. Chang Xi and others!

In the original history, Zang Ba also came to rescue Lu Bu when Cao Cao defeated Lu Bu.

But after Cao Cao defeated Lu Bu, Zang Ba ran back to the mountain to become a bandit, and was killed by Cao Cao. He was intercepted halfway. However,

Cao Cao did not kill Zang Ba, but valued Zang Ba very much. He told Zang Ba that as long as he was willing to surrender, he would not only let him continue to guard the Taishan area, but also give Zang Ba a piece of land from Qingzhou and Xuzhou. To govern, he was appointed as the prefect.

Zang Ba then led his troops to surrender to Cao Cao.

And, from then on, he was loyal to Cao Cao and later Cao Wei.

In history, when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were engaged in the Battle of Guandu, Zang Ba led his men Qingxu and contained the Qingzhou troops of Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan, so that Cao Cao did not have to worry about things in the east and could concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shao.

Therefore, Zang Ba also made great achievements.

In addition, Zang Ba fought for Cao Wei in all directions, and once defeated Dongwu general Han Dang at Fenglong. Sun Quan heard about Zang Ba's name and hurriedly withdrew his troops.

After Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, Zang Ba was granted the title of General Zhendong and the governor of Xuzhou. Later, he was appointed as the governor of Jinwu.

It can be said that Zang Ba's status in Cao Wei later was no less than that of the five good generals, and he loyally served the master of Cao Wei for three generations!

Precisely because he knew Zang Ba's life trajectory in history, Cao Ang decided on a strategy to conquer Zang Ba in advance for his own use!

Xiaopei is about three to four hundred miles away from Lanling.

Cao Ang led his light cavalry and fast horses, which could cover more than a hundred miles in one night. He could reach Lanling in three nights under day and night conditions.

Although the speed of the cavalry seems a bit slow, it is actually not slow.

Because this time of year is late June, which is also the hottest time of the year.

Even at night, there is still some heat that has not subsided during the day.

In this case, if the infantry traveled at night, it would only cover dozens of miles in one night.

Therefore, the marching speed of Zang Ba and other Taishan tribesmen will only be slower.

There is no need for Cao Ang to march too hastily, as that will damage his horse power.

In this way, Cao Ang led his troops to sleep day and night, traveling for more than a hundred miles every night, looking for a cool and sheltered place to rest before dawn. Although they passed through the northern counties of Xuzhou, no one found their whereabouts.

At dawn on the third night, they arrived at a mountainous area south of Lanling and set up camp on the spot to ambush them.

Immediately afterwards, Cao Ang released the Qianli Falcon.

This sacred falcon is very understanding of human nature and is very capable in taking on the task of sentinel detection.

It would take an ordinary scout cavalry an hour or two to patrol a fifty-mile radius.

And when the Thousand Mile Falcon flies high, it can see the movement up to sixty or seventy miles away.

It can even accurately detect the movement of prey from a distance of twenty miles.

With this divine falcon, Cao Ang saved a lot of time and manpower and improved efficiency by delivering messages and gathering intelligence.

Soon, the Thousand-mile Falcon flapped its wings and flew back, calling several times affectionately to Cao Ang.

Cao Ang understood, and immediately smiled and threw a stick of meat to Qianli Falcon, looked around and said:"Zang Ba and other Taishan people are still about two hundred miles away from Lanling.

It will take the vanguard two or three days to catch up at the earliest." Come, soldiers, please recharge your batteries and fight again with enough energy!"

On the side, Li Cunxiao, Xu Chu and other Cao Ang's generals always carried out Cao Ang's orders without questioning or questioning them.

On the other hand, Guan Yu, who had been following him for several nights, was slightly frightened, with a hint of understanding on his face.

A few nights ago, when Guan Yu saw Cao Ang mobilizing more than 6,000 war horses outside Xiaopei City like a magic trick, Guan Yu was deeply shocked.

I didn’t know that Cao Ang had laid such a big foreshadowing right under his nose!

Immediately afterwards, Guan Yu followed Cao Ang and rushed towards Lanling.

Cao Ang didn't say anything, and Guan Yu didn't ask much. He just had a guess in his mind.

It was only at this moment, when Cao Ang said Zang Ba's name himself, that Guan Yu finally determined that Cao Ang's goal was to attack and ambush Zang Ba!

Combined with Cao Ang's previous actions, Guan Yu suddenly figured everything out, and the look of surprise and admiration on his face became more intense:"It turns out that the young master hid so many war horses from the beginning. He had already planned to attack Zang Ba!"

At this point! , Guan Yu analyzed it from the beginning:"The young master initially only led 5,000 troops out of Xudu, which gave Lu Bu the illusion that the young master only had 5,000 soldiers.

He even recruited more troops, making the world think that the young master wanted to train troops to accumulate strength before plotting against Lu Bu."

"In fact, the young master secretly built a plank road to Chencang, using the guise of military training to make Lu Bu and others relax their vigilance. The real purpose was to use fast horses and light cavalry to attack the Taishan thieves who were most easily disintegrated, and cut off Lu Bu's arm!"

"In order to ensure that when the young master leaves Xiaopei, Lu Bu and Yuan Shu's army will not attack Xiaopei and find out the clues.

Therefore, the young master first angered Lu Bu and induced him to fight, and then won a small victory for a while, so that Lu Bu did not dare to challenge alone again!"

"In this way, if my eldest brother and the others stay in Xiaopei, they will be safe. (To read Baoshuang novels, go to Feilu Novel Network!)

Lu Bu and Yuan Shu’s soldiers and horses would never have thought that the young master would secretly hide so many horses and attack Zang Ba.……"

Guan Yu spoke slowly, connecting everything recently, and finally understood Cao Ang's plan belatedly.

It is precisely because of this that Guan Yu admired Cao Ang's use of troops.

He sighed in admiration.

After all, Guan Yu is a peerless general who will be famous throughout the ages. Even though he has not yet achieved his later fame and status, he is familiar with the Spring and Autumn Period and understands the art of war. He is also very knowledgeable.

Therefore, we can understand Cao Ang's layout.

The former Zhang Xiu general and now Cao Ang's general Hu Che'er had not thought of this at first.

Even when he first learned that Cao Ang had only led 5,000 men, including himself, to march into Xuzhou, Hu Che'er was in despair. Like Liu Bei, he felt that there was no chance of winning and that Cao Ang was leading them to death.

When he heard Guan Yu's analysis, he was stunned and shocked.

I didn't expect that the young master of Cao Ying whom I was serving at the moment would secretly lay out such a big plan without leaving any trace!

Everyone, including Cao Ang's general Hu Che'er, thought Cao Ang was crazy.

But now I realized that Cao Ang was not crazy at all, but those who thought Cao Ang was crazy were the ones who were really stupid!

Being played by Cao Ang in the applause without knowing it!

Then he thought about the things he had suffered at the hands of Cao Ang as a general under Zhang Xiu.

At this moment, Hu Che'er couldn't help but feel lucky that fortunately, he and his old leader Xiu had taken refuge with the Cao family and his son, and were now generals of Cao's army.

Otherwise, if he were Cao Ang's enemy and faced with such a monster who used his troops like a god, Hu Che'er would not have followed Zhang Xiu and been tricked to death by Cao Ang sooner or later?

In this way, Cao Ang and the generals rested here for three days and two nights.

On the night of the third day, the fourth watch is coming to an end, and there is still an hour before summer dawn.

Then he saw a meandering torch marching up the mountain road not far away.

Cao Ang used the Canopy Fighting Technique and the Guidance Technique of the Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic to strengthen his Qi and blood and bless his eyes. He saw the enemy's flag against the torch in the distance from a distance in the night.

"The banner with the word"Chang", is it Chang Xi's troops who are leading the way?……"

Cao Ang sneered, pretending that he had some concerns.

Chang Xun was second only to Zang Ba among the thieves and commanders in Mount Tai. In history, he also followed Zang Ba and surrendered to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao also treated Chang Xi very favorably like Zang Ba and made him the governor of Donghai County.

However, Chang En was a capricious person and rebelled many times since his surrender.

After being put down by Cao Cao several times before, he still left the appointment and gave him a chance.

However, Chang Xi was really capricious, and when he rebelled again for the last time, Cao Cao sent Xia Houyuan and Yu Jin to conquer.

Chang Xi was defeated and surrendered again, but was executed by Yu Jin.

Thinking of this, the corners of Cao Ang's lips curled up. If this was the case, it would be a good idea to leave Chang Xi alone, so as not to rebel again in the future and cause trouble to himself.

Soon, more than 20,000 thieves under Chang Xi's command entered the ambush circle.

"Shoot the arrow!"

Cao Ang gave an order, and more than two thousand soldiers unfurled their bows and set arrows. They fired several rounds of arrows at the Changxi tribe on the mountain road, killing and wounding an unknown number of thieves.

Then they used the crossbows that had been strung in advance, They all fired a volley, clearing the crossbows.

Then under Cao Ang's order, they attacked the Changxi thieves who were already in chaos due to the crossbow attack. The divine soldiers came from the sky like a flood!

Cao Ang led the Xiliang elite cavalry to rest for many days, but the Changxi tribe was originally a mob, and they marched all night long, just before dawn. They were suddenly ambushed in the dark night. They didn't know who the enemy was, let alone how many soldiers and horses there were. How could they have the will to fight?

Therefore, with a single charge, Chang Xi's tribe was completely defeated. They scrambled to throw down their armor and fled backwards.[]

"Run! One hundred thousand enemy troops are coming to kill!"

"Help, there are enemies all over the mountains and plains. Horses alone are everywhere. I'm afraid there are tens of thousands of cavalry!"

"Spare my life, I am willing to surrender, surrender!"

The panicked thieves had no discernment, and their confusion intensified the panic.

It was obvious that the enemy army only had a few thousand cavalry, but in the end it was reported that it had become an army of hundreds of thousands and a hundred thousand cavalry!

"Don't panic!"

"Don't run around!"

Among the rebellious army, the traitor commander Chang Xi looked angry and frightened, and he quickly stopped.

Although he didn't know where the enemy troops came from and how many in number they were, he couldn't just watch his troops flee.

Even if they were defeated, they had to listen to him. They had to give orders to retreat in an orderly manner, otherwise the enemy would be behind them and everything would be over. However, even if Chang Xi had some knowledge about using troops, how could he stop killing dozens of panicked troops in this situation?

The crowd still couldn't stop the decline, and even flames were ignited everywhere, making the situation even more chaotic.

"Are you Chang Xi?

My young master, I can lend you my head!"

At this moment, a loud shout came from not far away from Changxi……