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Volume Two: Set Sail Chapter 158: Slip Through the Net

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    Chapter 158: Slip through the Net

    Cao Zhi wore two armors, leaning against a Luo Tong lying on the ground. He held a book in one hand and a flat wine bottle in the other. He praised "Wonderful" from time to time, and then took a sip.  liquor.  A majestic white horse stood behind him, lowering its head constantly to lick his wine bottle. A dozen fierce warriors stood not far away. When they heard him shouting "Miao", they couldn't help but want to laugh, and then secretly glanced at him.  A glimpse of a Persian cat sleeping on a hunchback.

    The horse given by Xia Hourong, the Sha Zao wine given by Chen Hai, the book given by Yang Xiu, and the Persian cat are the four treasures that Cao Zhi carries with him.

    "Brother Zijian, stop meowing. You are just like this cat." Chen Hai strode over and looked down at Cao Zhi, who was blushing: "Aren't you drunk? You will be here later.  It¡¯s time to go into battle, don¡¯t even be able to ride your horse safely.¡±

    "Zhuzi, which one of your eyes can see that I'm drunk?" Cao Zhi didn't even raise his eyelids. He curled his lips and raised the wine bottle to his mouth, but not a drop of wine was poured out. He looked at it in confusion.  I shook it hard, but there was still not a drop.  He raised his head, glared at the white horse, and cursed: "You beast, are you stealing my wine again?"

    The white horse snorted, turned its head and ignored him, shook its belly, its snow-white mane swaying in the wind.

    "Your mother is just like those barbarians. She just can't understand Chinese, so she's stupid." Cao Zhi cursed angrily, threw the jug to a guard, and shouted: "Here comes the wine!"

    "Stop drinking." Chen Hai grabbed the wine bottle in the air and handed it to the guard. He shook his head and turned to Cao Zhi and said, "The scouts just came to report that the Sasanians have left the desert, and they are at most twenty miles away from here.  .¡±

    "There are still twenty miles left, why are you in a hurry." Cao Zhi disagreed, stretched out his hand, snapped his fingers, and drank again: "Here comes the wine!"

    The guard glanced at Chen Hai in embarrassment, and Chen Hai had no choice. He knew the temper of this young master, and no one could stop him from his aggressive behavior.

    "Zijian, stop drinking." Cao Zhang and a dozen of his bodyguards were struck by a wild blast, kicking up a burst of sand and dust.  Cao Zhi shook the book in dissatisfaction and shook off the sand on the book, but did not dare to say anything more. He looked at Cao Zhang lazily: "I said General Cao, there are still twenty miles, why are you in a hurry?"

    "Twenty miles can be reached in an instant for the cavalry." Cao Zhang reined in his horse and shouted in a deep voice: "We have to rely on you 30,000 infantry to dampen their spirit and entangle them before we can take advantage of them. How can you  Did you take it lightly and forget what you promised me before you came here?"

    Cao Zhi sighed helplessly and muttered: "I asked you not to mention these two sentences all the time. Why are you still as verbose as when you were a child?"

    "What did you say?" Cao Zhang was furious, circling his horse and shouted loudly: "If you don't drink enough, I will let you go to the back to have a good drink. Li Zhengfang is in charge here."

    "Don't!" Cao Zhi panicked now, jumped up, shook his Dantian, and roared: "Array¡ª¡ª"

    At the command, the war drums suddenly exploded, breaking the calm on the battlefield.  Chen Hai said no more, jumped on his horse and went straight to the battle formation on the left side of the formation.  Eight thousand Yue naval forces were already in position. Behind the rows of ballistae were shirtless Yue soldiers wearing leather sandals. They stood in front of their weapons, chatting and laughing softly from time to time. The atmosphere was obviously very tense.  easy.  On the right side of the formation, 15,000 soldiers of the Shu Kingdom were arranged in two square formations. The guard general Li Yan held his knife with both hands and stood with his legs crossed. He squinted his eyes and looked at the smoke and dust rising into the sky in the distance, and streaks of sweat rushed away.  The mud stains on his face made his face look a little ridiculous, but no one dared to laugh, because his eyes flashed with boundless murderous intent, no less than the Uzi sword still hidden in the scabbard.

    A phalanx composed of more than 30,000 infantry from the Wei, Shu, and Yue Kingdoms lay across the road of the Sasanians heading north, blocking their first clear spring after coming out of the desert. The soldiers who had been recharging their strength for several months were full of energy and prepared to  Take the sassanid sacrificial knife that just escaped from the desert.  Ten miles behind them, Cao Zhang brought 15,000 Wei cavalry and 20,000 Guishuang elf cavalry led by King Bodiao, who were waiting for the opportunity to move. As long as the Sassanids and infantry phalanx got into hands, they would be entangled.  Stay, these more than 30,000 fine cavalry will rush out from both sides, and join forces with the infantry to kill the Sasanians.

    The key to this battle was to let the infantry entangle the Sassanid people first, so after discussing with the generals, Cao Zhang decided to use 30,000 infantry as bait to block the clear spring where the Sassanid people drew water.  The Sasanians must have just come out of the desert. They must be hungry and thirsty and eager to get water. When they see 30,000 infantry blocking the way, they will definitely not take it lightly. They will most likely charge forward. At that time, the cavalry will kill them again.  Only when they come out can they have the effect of killing with one hit. Otherwise, although Cao Zhang and the others have more than 30,000 elite cavalry and have the strength to fight the Sasanians, it is not easy to achieve good results.

    The passionate drums frightened the weak Sasanian scouts out of their wits. They had just walked out of the desert and thought they were back on their own territory.They were considered safe and sound, so they seemed a little absent-minded about inquiring about the military situation. Now when they heard the familiar sound of war drums, they realized that they had relaxed too early.

    Some of the scouts came following the sound of war drums. When they saw the army waiting in front of the clear spring, they were dumbfounded. After a brief moment of confusion, they all turned around and galloped away.  They beat the war horses desperately, squeezing out the last bit of potential of the war horses, running as fast as possible, and sending the news to Ardashir as soon as possible.

    Ardashir sat on the horse and poured the last half of the bottle of water into his mouth that was almost smoking.  Before entering the desert, he was attacked by Lu Xun. Although his main force was not damaged too much, most of the heavy troops were left behind. They only had the dry food and fresh water they carried with them.  Dry food is easy to deal with. For the Sasanian people, starvation is a common occurrence. If you save a little, you can survive for several days. However, the problem of fresh water is difficult to deal with. Without water, neither humans nor animals can survive.  .  The Sasanians traveled a lot in this desert and knew where the springs were. However, because they did not bring enough water reserves, they still suffered a lot before reaching the first clear spring. Just their horses were killed.  Several hundred camels were lost, and nearly all the camels carrying the cargo had their esophages cut open to draw water from their stomachs.

    It can be said that this crossing of the desert was the most painful one for the Sassanid people. If it were not for the purpose of going home, and if they did not know that they could replenish fresh water as long as they walked out of the desert, it is difficult to say whether they would have enough strength to survive until now.  Despite this, they still lost a lot of their numbers. At least two to three thousand people fell into a pile of withered bones in the desert due to lack of water and could never return to their hometown.

    Now they are all relaxed. They have returned to their own land and see the green fields again. The air is filled with attractive moisture. As long as they go forward for another twenty miles, they can lie down by the clear spring water and drink.  It was a pleasure to replenish all the water that had been evaporated by the hot desert these days.  They were very excited and poured the last bit of water into their mouths. The water that was once more precious than gold is no longer precious. The clear spring in front can meet all their requirements.

    Ardashir slowly swallowed the last sip of water, his chapped lips were moistened by the water, and the pain of the cracked mouth stimulated by the water also made him feel excited. He raised his hand and touched his sleeves that were dirty by the wind and sand.  Wiping his mouth, the smile just appeared, then froze on his face.

    Twenty horsemen came galloping from a distance. The war horses kicked up smoke and dust like flying earth dragons, and rushed towards the exhausted Sassanid battle formation. The sound of alarm horns came from far away.

    Ardashir felt a strong unease.  He thought for a moment and immediately raised his arm. The messenger hesitated for a moment, then instinctively blew the horn.

    The rapid sound of the horn surprised the excited Sasanians. Although they were very tired, but driven by their long years of experience, they still took action quickly and focused on their respective battle flags. Several thousand captains were rectifying themselves.  The men and horses were anxiously waiting for further orders from Ardashir.  At this time, Ardashir sounded the rallying horn, which was definitely not good news.  Could it be that the enemy has already attacked the Sasanian mainland?  They were all frightened.

    Ardashir's face had turned livid, and he was surprisingly angry.  The Han people were so deceptive that they not only fought against themselves in Aksum and Egypt, but now they even went a step further. They actually landed from the Persian Gulf and rushed to their own land to invite attack. They also used 30,000 infantry to provoke 50,000 to 60,000 cavalry.

    This was an unscrupulous provocation against the Sasanians.

    Such a thing had never happened in Ardashir's memory. He had never heard of infantry daring to attack a cavalry that was more numerous than him. The Roman infantry phalanx was famous all over the world, but after fighting against Ardashir,  According to their records, they had always responded passively, and they were on Roman soil and had never set foot on Sasanian land.

    Not only was Ardashir angry, but several generals who came after hearing the news were also furious. They yelled and wanted to rush forward and kill these ignorant Han people to satisfy their hatred. Recently, they have been tricked by the Han people one after another.  They were very angry after being defeated, and now they were bullied to the doorstep by the Han people. How could they swallow this sigh of relief?

    What¡¯s more, they still have to get water. How can they get water if they don¡¯t defeat the Han people?

    The generals roared and called for battle, but Ardashir remained silent. He raised his head and looked beyond the fists waved by the generals, looking straight into the distance. After a while, he finally  Shaking his head, he said without any doubt: "Change the route, avoid them, and get water at the next water point!"

    "Why?" All the generals asked in unison.

    "Don't ask so many questions." Ardashir was furious, raised his riding crop, and glanced around with majestic eyes, his bloodshot eyes filled with brutal murder.?, all those generals who were as angry as lions were able to stop their mouths.  They looked at each other and ran away without saying a word.  Ardashir breathed heavily, covered his chest and coughed twice, and then called two of his close confidants, the Captain Ten Thousands, to make arrangements. After hearing this, the two men bowed away with frightened expressions on their eyes.

    The army then turned north and headed north quickly along the edge of the desert.  Almost everyone felt the crisis. They kept silent and hurried on with their heads down.

    The news reached the ears of Cao Zhi and others, and Cao Zhi and others were immediately poured cold water on them.  The reason why they acted so openly was that they hoped to anger the Sassanids. Unexpectedly, the Sassanids turned around and left without saying a word.  All their calculations were in vain. They were guarding a clear spring and could only watch the Sasanians escape from the net.

    Cao Zhi did not dare to neglect and immediately sent the news to Cao Zhang.  Cao Zhang and Bo Diao were gearing up to attack. When they saw the messengers coming on flying horses, they thought Cao Zhi and the others had entangled the Sassanid people. Bo Diao was so excited that his eyes were red. When he heard that the Sassanid people were running away  , Bo Tiao's waving arms suddenly froze in mid-air.

    ¡°Run away?¡± Bo Diao was stunned for a while and suddenly yelled.  Cao Zhang, who was thinking, was startled.  He turned his head and looked at the taut and powerful man, and laughed dumbly: "Your Majesty, if you run away, run away. He has to go back to Ctesiphon anyway, so we can just chase him."

    "No." Bo Diao waved his hand. Although he was over fifty years old, he couldn't look any older than him. He walked with a strong spirit. As he walked towards the war horse, he jumped on the horse and said loudly: "Let that old dog  It¡¯s not that easy to fight after entering the city. If we want to avenge this, we can only defeat him in the field, and then we can hope to attack the city in the future.¡±

    "Your Majesty, think twice." Cao Zhang hurriedly took two steps and grabbed the reins of Bo Diao's horse: "The Sasanians are twice as strong as me. It will not be easy for us to win."

    "Humph, so what if they are twice as big as me?" Bo Diao said dismissively, "They just came out of the desert, can they compare with us? Maybe they suffered too much damage in the desert, and the current troops are comparable to us.  Almost, otherwise why wouldn't he dare to fight?" Bo Diao raised his head, looked at the direction of Aldashir's escape, and sneered: "When has this old dog Aldashir ever been so weak? If he didn't have the strength, he would  Can you swallow this breath? General, I'll set off first, and you can come back later."

    After saying that, he spurred his horse and rode away with his guards.  Cao Zhang rubbed his hands, smiled helplessly, and shook his head.  Xun Yun frowned, leaned close to Cao Zhang and said softly: "Ziwen, Bo Tiao is too careless. Ardashir is not an ordinary person. He can stay calm in this situation. How could he not leave any backup plan?  "

    Cao Zhang glanced at Xun Yun, turned around and looked at the Kushan people who were hurried away, and raised the corner of his mouth: "So we must let the Kushan people go first."

    Xun Yun was stunned and suddenly realized. He and Cao Zhang exchanged glances and laughed in unison.  Xun Yun's wife is Cao Zhang's sister. He and Cao Zhang have worked together for a long time, and they 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 stopped talking.

    Cao Zhang reacted quickly and ordered Xun Yun to lead the Hu Cavalry Battalion to set off first, and he would follow with his army.  At the same time, he sent an order to Cao Zhi, asking them to follow at the end and be on guard, not to stay too far away from the army, lest they fall into the trap of the Sasanians.  When Cao Zhi and others heard the order, they sighed in vain, but there was no better way. The infantry felt powerless when facing the cavalry. Whether to fight or not, the initiative rested with the other party.

    "It seems that this Ardashir is well-deserved." Li Yan touched the short beard under his chin and nodded with satisfaction: "This kind of opponent is interesting."

    "It's rare to see General Li so interested. However, General Li can't take credit from us." Cao Zhi laughed, "We agreed that I would be the main attacker in the first battle. I keep my word, but I can't  Breaking your promise makes you fat."

    "That's not right." Chen Hai touched his chin and said with a strange smile: "The first battle has been fought and the enemy was defeated without a fight. How can you still seize the command next time? We agreed at the beginning to take turns.  "

    Cao Zhi chuckled twice: "Since it was defeated without fighting, then there is no fight. How can we say that this battle has been fought? I say General Chen, you still haven't read this book well."

    Chen Hai rolled his eyes. When it came to word-picking, he was indeed no match for Cao Zhi. He gave Cao Zhi a talking point in vain.  Li Yan raised the corner of his mouth and shook his head helplessly.  This time, the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Yue fought together. The Yue Kingdom assumed the main task of transportation and baggage. The Persian Gulf was the sea area that Chen Hai was responsible for. No one could move his position. Otherwise, if Chen Hai was angry, it would be difficult for them to return home.  Wei State has the largest number of troops, 10,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. They have all types of troops and are strong. They are the main force.  Although Shu has fifteen thousand infantry, it has no cavalry.The power cannot be compared with that of Wei, nor can it offend the people of Yue.  He is the oldest among the three of them, but now he can only listen to them most of the time.

    Li Yan was very depressed. He was originally one of the important ministers who took care of Liu Bei before his death, but he was not as popular as Zhuge Liang and his qualifications were not as good as Zhang Fei, so he fell at a disadvantage in the fight.  Seeing that Zhang Fei was getting older, he was expected to succeed Zhang Fei and become an important general in Shu. Unexpectedly, as soon as the letter from the King of Yue requesting troops to be sent to Shu arrived in Shu, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang and General Zhang Fei unanimously recommended him to lead the army.  Of course he knew what it meant, but he couldn't refuse, so he had to travel thousands of miles to Sasan.  He held back his breath, intending to achieve great success in Sassanid, and then return to Shu in high spirits, letting those who looked down upon him see that Li Yan was a general who could really fight, not just relying on connections.  Become an official, and then take over as general with good reputation.  But I didn't expect that the first battle would end in this way.

    "Well, it seems we can't do it without seeing Taixi Fengcheng." Li Yan sighed to himself, got on his horse, and walked back to his battle formation.  Ma Zhong followed him closely. Seeing that his face was not good, he advised: "General, if the Sasanians retreat without a fight, their strength will be seriously damaged. Even if we reach the city of Ctesiphon, we still have a great chance.  "

    "After all, attacking a city is no better than fighting in the field." Li Yan looked around. Cao Zhi and Chen Hai were still talking and joking around, surrounded by people close to him. Zhuge Liang's close confidant Zong Yu was at least twenty steps away from him.  "As long as you have twice the strength in a field battle, you have a chance of winning, but you have to have at least five times the strength in a siege. Do we have so many people? What's more, Ctesiphon is the capital of the Sasanians and is not comparable to an ordinary small city.  The difficulty of attacking will increase a lot."

    Ma Zhong nodded, with a lot of worry in his eyebrows: "Yes, if we can hit the Sassanid people hard this time and wipe out their main force outside the city, then there is still a chance to besiege Ctesiphon. If they can return to Ctesiphon safely,  Feng, this siege is really difficult. To besiege the city is to fight for attrition. The Sasanians have the advantage of the homeland, but we are marching thousands of miles away. No matter how strong the Yue Kingdom is, there will be a time when it cannot sustain it. At that time"

    "Alas" Li Yan sighed and shook his head silently.  He and Ma Zhong had similar thoughts, and were not very optimistic about the prospects of this battle. If there was to be a long-term siege of Ctesiphon in the end, even if the battle was won, it would be a miserable victory. If the strength of the Yue State was not enough to support a long-term siege,  , the consequences are even more disastrous. If the battle is not won, there will be no loot to compensate, and it will be a problem to provide compensation for the soldiers who died in the battle.  This trip was to make money. If he didn't make any money in the end, and the country of Shu would have to pay for it, he, Li Yan, would never be able to get ahead in the future.

    "Dexin, you are right, I am very worried now."

    Ma Zhong looked at Li Yan and comforted him: "General, please relax, His Royal Highness the King of Yue is invincible. Since he can invite us here to join the battle, it will definitely not lead to a situation where both sides will lose. General Cao is used to riding."  General, if they catch up now, they might be able to entangle the Sassanid people, and they might even come and order us to rush over. General, it¡¯s better to be prepared so as not to be caught off guard."

    "Catch up?" Li Yan shook his head in surprise: "The cavalry can travel twenty miles in an hour, and the Sasanians are running for their lives. Can we catch up? I don't expect to be able to join the war, but I hope they don't come to us.  , otherwise, I'm afraid it's not a good thing." He paused, and raised the corners of his mouth habitually, then regained his composure, and lowered his voice and said, "I always feel that Cao Ziwen let Bo Tiao start first, and there is something hidden inside.  With the intention of killing someone with a borrowed knife."

    "Isn't that true?" Ma Zhong looked at Li Yan with some surprise: "How can he still have such thoughts when the enemy is facing us? This is not a good thing."

    "That's why I'm worried." Li Yan let out a long breath: "We seem to have a lot of troops, but they come from several different countries. Everyone has their own thoughts, and it is inevitable that there will be internal friction. Why can the Sasanians be so powerful?  Escaped from Lake Timsach? Isn¡¯t it because the Romans were passive and lazy in fighting? Why could Lu Xun catch up? Isn¡¯t it because he didn¡¯t believe in the Romans from the beginning? Why can¡¯t Yue and Rome guard against each other?  Kushan people?¡±

    "It does sound like this." Ma Zhong nodded in admiration: "The guards are still very thoughtful. I really didn't expect this level."

    "You" Li Yan glanced at Ma Zhong with a half-smile, with a bit of arrogance that he couldn't hide: "You are good at everything else, but you don't study enough. But then again, you read a lot.  It¡¯s not necessarily a good thing to be educated. People who read less are actually more honest.¡±

    Ma Zhong smiled awkwardly and said nothing.

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