"Cavalry?" Zhang He was taken aback: "Where did they get the cavalry?" ”

The scouts didn't know either, and in the face of Zhang He's questioning, they could only shake their heads blankly and shake off beads of sweat on the ground.

It is almost common sense that the Shu Han army did not have formed cavalry. Among the Shu Han army, there are only more than 1,000 Ma family troops led by Ma Dai, who were defeated by Zhang He not long ago, and should still be in the Mumen area. Even if they had already rushed back to Shangti, they should not have appeared in the north of Shangti City.

What's more, the scouts didn't see Ma Dai's battle flag, which is enough to show that these people are not cavalry led by Ma Dai.

When did the Shu army come out with another cavalry?

Zhang He was puzzled.

However, it was not only the unknown origin of these cavalry that worried Zhang He, but now he had to consider the intention of these cavalry to suddenly appear in the north of Shangqi City. This is not difficult to guess, Zhang He thought about it for a while, and he understood the danger.

Although Guo Huai had more than 10,000 people, after several months of siege, the soldiers in the city suffered very large losses. The vast majority of them were wounded, because of the lack of medical care and medicine, and even food rations were very tight, and the non-combat casualties were already on the verge of crushing them. Now it's the elite who can pick up arms and charge. In the face of the two thousand Shu army, Guo Huaizhi is sure to win, he will definitely attack with all his strength, in order to break through Hu Ji's position as soon as possible, and then flank Xiang Lang, before Zhuge Liang's main force arrives, solve the battle outside Shangqi City.

Then, Shangtai City is an empty city.

Then, when he and Hu Ji were fighting together, there were not enough reserves to stop the Shu knights who suddenly appeared. In the face of the onslaught of the cavalry of the Shu army, his losses will be very staggering.

Zhang He was remorseful. There is such an important matter that the Shu army has cavalry, and he actually didn't hear about it, which is a responsibility that cannot be shirked. Even if no one blames him, he can't forgive himself. It was originally a battle that was nine out of ten, because of this mistake. There will be an unpredictable reversal. If Guo Huai was defeated, Shangqi would fall into the hands of the Shu army, and his strategic intention to seize Shangqi would become very slim.

"Start attacking now!" Zhang He's face was calm. The order was given to attack. He wanted to support Guo Huai by putting pressure on Xiang Lang. Without breaking Xiang Lang's block, he could not effectively support Guo Huai.

At this moment, he received another piece of news that Zhuge Liang had led the main force to reach thirty miles south of Shangqi City. Xiahou Ru is relying on the favorable terrain to block the attack with all his might.

Zhang He was even more anxious, Xiahou Ru only had 3,000 people, and he could only provide an early warning. Even if he went all out, he could only block Zhuge Liang for half a day. If the battle under Shangtai City cannot be solved in half a day, and Zhuge Liang's main force is rushed to the battlefield, then he will inevitably fail.

If there was no cavalry that suddenly appeared, Zhang He was sure enough to settle the battle in half a day, but now there have been unpredictable changes, whether he can win or not. It is no longer in Zhang He's grasp.

After so long of hard work, when victory is just around the corner, but it falls short?

Zhang He was furious and ordered an all-out attack. He wanted to break through Xiang Lang's position before Zhuge Liang arrived.

Seeing that a large number of soldiers in the Wei army began to line up. Xiang Lang also knew that the war had reached the most critical moment, and if Zhang He broke through his position and joined Guo Huai, then Shangtai City would be Zhang He's bag.

However, compared to Zhang He, his mentality was relatively more stable, because the battle situation was developing in a direction favorable to his side, and Zhang He, who was confident, suddenly ordered an attack, obviously Wei Ba's appearance had a great impact on his mind. The two sides are evenly matched, and the mentality of the generals on both sides has become a key factor that may affect the outcome of the battle.

Zhang He was in a hurry, the more stable he was. After all, the current situation was not expected by Zhang He, but for him, it was a long-awaited result. Psychologically, he has already won the game.

Xiang Lang raised his arm and roared sharply: "the gunner, the repeater, get ready to shoot-"

"Ready to shoot—" The shouts echoed the drums of war.

The Wei army rushed out of the position, and with overwhelming momentum, swooped down on the position of the Shu army. Behind them, two groups of cavalry began to line up, ready to storm the two wings of the Shu army.

"Shoot—"

"Boom!" The earth trembled, and dozens of thunderbolts threw their long wooden tips into the air, and the stone bullets rushed into the sky with a sharp roar, turning into a small black dot, and quickly becoming larger, smashing into the Wei army's position.

"Smack!" The shield shattered, and a Wei sergeant took two steps back, fell to the ground, spat blood, and quickly stopped convulsing.

"Smack!" A Wei soldier was hit in the head, and the helmet disappeared with half of his head in an instant, but his body continued to take two steps forward before he fell to the ground with a bang.

"Boom!" The stone bullet slammed into the ground, sending up a puff of smoke and dust, making every soldier in the vicinity frightened.

Before all the stone bullets fell, the "whoosh" arrow feathers galloped one after another, and the dense arrows shot at the shield, clattering, shooting on the body of the Wei soldiers, piercing through the leather armor, and making the armor leaves of the iron armor rattle.

The Wei army's attack was stagnant, and then the drums of war rose again, more intensely, urging all the soldiers to continue forward.

On both sides of the large array, the cavalry began to run, rushing to the positions on both sides of the Shu army, and quickly approached the two flanks of the Shu army's position.

"Ignition!" Xiang Lang stared at the knights who were getting closer and closer, and gave orders loudly. The bannermen waved their banners, and the footmen who had been waiting for a long time in the distance threw their torches into the ditch and ignited the grease that had been poured into them.

With a "boom", a two-person high fire rushed into the ditch, and the flames quickly extended forward as if they had life, and in a moment, the three trenches became three walls of fire, mercilessly scorching everything nearby.

"Xi Yu Yu ......" The war horse that had just rushed through the trench was frightened, and stood up with a long neigh, and threw the knight on horseback down.

"Shoot!" The Shu army's crossbowmen began to shoot, and sharp arrows pierced through the wall of fire and appeared in front of the panicked Wei knights.

The Wei army's smooth charging formation was suddenly blocked, and there was chaos.

Zhang He frowned, and ordered Fei Yao to lead the infantry to launch another frontal attack, he jumped on horseback, carefully inspected the general battlefield, and called his son Zhang Xiong.

"You, lead a thousand horsemen, blindfold the horse, rush along the river bank, go around to Xiang Lang's right flank, and support Guo Huai!"

"Whoa." Zhang Xiong turned his horse's head and rushed towards the river bank with a thousand fine horses.

Xiang Lang stood on the command car, watching the battle flag waving in the Wei army's formation, and a group of light horsemen rushing towards the riverbank, and immediately understood Zhang He's intentions. The fire ditch he dug was very weak at the river, as long as the horse was blindfolded, the war horse would not be frightened by the fire, and could smoothly flow across that section of the riverbank, straight to his right flank, and could attack his rear, or directly attack Hu Ji's rear. He didn't know if Wei Ba and they had solved Guo Huai, but at this moment, he definitely couldn't let Zhang He get it easily.

"Guard the camp, block the river, and don't let the horses go ashore."

Xiang Tiao rushed out with the personal guard battalion, rushed to the knee-deep icy river, and set up a position to intercept Zhang Xiong who was wading through the water.

The two sides fought on the bank of the river, stirring up the clear water of the river, and the soldiers fell down one by one, and streams of blood gushed out, gradually, staining the river red.

……

Thirty miles south of Shangtai City, Xiahou Ru stood on the hillside, nervously watching the more and more Shu troops gathered under the hillside.

Last night, the scout reported that the Shu army was still a hundred miles away, but this morning, 10,000 Shu troops suddenly appeared in front of his position. They came so suddenly that it wasn't until they appeared twenty miles away that Xiahou Ru received news from the scouts.

Xiahou Ru knew very well that this was certainly a reason for the scouts to be lazy, but the Shu army's slow march before also played a lot of deceptive role. Not only that, Zhuge Liang traveled seventy miles in a hurry, and his military appearance was still so neat, which greatly shocked Xiahou Ru.

Xiahou Ru remembered Zhang He's evaluation of Zhuge Liang: his military formation is very rigorous, and it is difficult to find flaws.

Xiahou Ru didn't believe it at first, and subconsciously thought that this was an excuse that Zhang He made for his reluctance to attack Zhuge Liang's big array. But seeing Zhuge Liang's military formation with his own eyes today, he knew that Zhang He was not wrong at all.

As to whether he could hold the position and stop Zhuge Liang for half a day, Xiahou Ru was a little unconfident. He arrived in a hurry, unable to carry large ordnance, so he could only take advantage of the advantage of arriving first, seizing the favorable terrain, and then cutting down some trees, pushing down some stones, and creating some roadblocks. These barricades are of course useful, but for the Shu army, which is dominated by foot soldiers, the effect is obviously not too obvious.

Then the only thing that works is the terrain.

Xiahou Ru looked at the position of the Shu army and prayed secretly. He had already sent an urgent report to Zhang He, hoping that Zhang He could solve the battle under Shangqi City as soon as possible, and then come to reinforce him. Thirty miles, the infantry has to march for an hour, for the cavalry is only half an hour, as long as they arrive, Zhuge Liang can know the result of the city, and his fighting spirit will inevitably be severely frustrated. The siege of Shangtai has been lifted, and there is no need for him to go to Shangtai again.

When Xiahou Ru was secretly comforting himself, Zhuge Liang under the mountain had already ordered an attack after checking the terrain. To Xiahou Ru's surprise, Zhuge Liang's first attack force was not a frontal attack, and two armies of about 1,000 foot soldiers broke away from the large formation and climbed up the hillsides on both sides. These people seem to have walked the mountain road all year round, and the steep hillside has no effect on them, and they walk like flying one by one.

Xiahou Ru suddenly remembered one thing: Zhang He had reminded him that the Shu army had no cavalry, but was good at mountain warfare, and Zhuge Liang's men had many barbarians who were good at mountain stations, they climbed mountains and mountains, and if they wanted to hold the valley, they had to build strong positions on the slopes on both sides, so as not to break through the two wings.

Xiahou Ru looked at the positions of less than three hundred people on the slopes on both sides, and broke out in a cold sweat. He immediately ordered reinforcements, but as soon as his order was issued, Zhuge Liang also issued an order to attack.

Two thousand foot soldiers rushed out of the position, roaring and rushing straight to Xiahou Ru's main formation. (To be continued.) )