In terms of combat strength and mobility, most of the time, thirty thousand cavalry was more valuable than seventy thousand infantry. Furthermore, Cao Cao's troops had lost Ferocious Cavalry. In other words, Cao Cao's troops had suffered quite a loss.
This result was mostly due to the fact that the commander of the cavalry was still Cao Ang. This was also one of the methods Cao Cao used to express his trust. Cao Ang had just been defeated, but Cao Cao still allowed him to command the Ferocious Cavalry. He hoped to encourage Cao Ang by redeeming himself with merits.
However, Cao Cao's orders were to act from the side and chase after the remnants of the enemy. At the same time, he would act according to the circumstances. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be too much of a problem.
However, Cao Ang and Zhang Xun's troops almost collided head-on. This was because both sides met at a mountain ridge. At that time, Zhang Xun's troops had already passed the peak of the valley while Cao Ang's scouts were only halfway up the mountain. Under Cao Ang's rushing situation, he didn't leave his main forces far behind.
As a result, the cavalry was already at a disadvantage in the mountain ridge. With the enemy occupying the peak, Cao Ang's troops were naturally at a disadvantage.
The trust that Cao Cao had given to Cao Ang played a huge role. In this battle, it could be said that Cao Ang was fighting with his life on the line. At one point, Zhang Xun was forced into a passive position. If it wasn't for the two other groups of Yuan Shu's troops coming in time, Zhang Xun might not have been able to hold off Cao Ang.
However, this wasn't because Cao Cao was good at using people. The reason why Cao Cao continued to use Cao Ang was because of his personal habit. In reality, it was also because he lacked generals that could fight.
For example, Cao Cao, Niu Jin, Xu Huang, Sima Lang, Xiahou Yuan, Lu Qian and many other generals had been captured by Yang Rui. Cao Cao also lacked generals that he could use.
Even though Yang Rui always felt that his subordinates were lacking in manpower, Cao Cao also faced the same situation. In fact, it was even more serious. It must be known that Cao Cao was one of the most well-equipped vassals in history.
The continuous and majestic spring rain changed the original situation between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu in Si Lizhou. The unexpected encounter between Yuan Shu and Cao Ang's cavalry was only one of the reasons.
Cao Cao's main force, which was heading towards Luoyang Royal City from the east, was also disrupted by the heavy rain. When they approached Luoyang Royal City, they realized that Yuan Shu's troops had all evacuated the area around Luoyang.
At the same time, Cao Cao suddenly discovered a large number of Yang Rui's troops less than two hundred li away. This was a huge shock!
Yang Rui had already ordered the Imperial Guards to order the Ethereal Ninja to gather his companions and kill all Cao Cao's sentinels. This move was indeed effective.
Even though the Ethereal Ninja was only Fourth Grade, he could still ambush Cao Cao's sentinels with several times the number of soldiers.
More importantly, the Ethereal Ninja's methods of attack, evasion, and escape were extremely strange. In particular, when there were so many of them, they were even more difficult to deal with.
However, the Ethereal Ninja was still inexperienced. Perhaps it was better to say that he wasn't used to the environment. He actually let go of some of Cao Cao's sentinels.
The information Cao Cao obtained came from a doctor who was pretending to be a doctor. It could be seen that Cao Cao not only attached great importance to scouting before the war, he also attached great importance to establishing a chain of information. That was why he had all kinds of scouting personnel, such as doctors and merchants.
Even so, Cao Cao had only discovered Yang Rui's large army when they were two hundred li away. That meant that there wasn't much warning time left. On the other hand, Yang Rui had a clear grasp of the whereabouts of Cao Cao's troops.
Not long after they entered Si Lizhou, Yang Rui had already figured out which army was Cao Cao's main force. As such, he ordered his army to head straight for the army on the east side of Luoyang. Even though Cao Cao had put up a disguise in the other armies, he still couldn't fool Yang Rui.
Of course, this was all thanks to the Ethereal Ninja. Four or five of Cao Cao's armies were all under his banner. However, there were still differences between the commanders. The Ethereal Ninja took up positions around the various armies. After one or two game days, Yang Rui already had a rough idea of Cao Cao's location.
After that, it rained heavily for several days. While the Ethereal Ninja was blocking Cao Cao's messengers, he quickly confirmed Cao Cao's exact location. Later on, every movement of Cao Cao's main force was under Yang Rui's surveillance.
The Ethereal Ninja's instantaneous transmission of information meant that no matter how careful Cao Cao was, he still couldn't compare to Yang Rui's ability to obtain information on the battlefield.
Yang Rui had also experienced this during the World War. At that time, Yang Rui had a flying pet and other convenient and effective scouting methods. However, in terms of obtaining information on the battlefield, he still couldn't compare to the Wo Nation's regional forces.
This also caused Yang Rui to be unable to achieve the desired results even though he had the absolute advantage in numbers. For example, the naval battle at the beginning had taken a lot of effort.
Later on, Yang Rui was the same when he targeted the Lijian Clan. He had been chasing behind them, but he still couldn't achieve anything. In the end, he couldn't even do anything to the remnants of the Lijian Clan.
The experience of the World War with the Wo Nation also helped Yang Rui develop a reliable information channel, allowing him to speed up the implementation of his ideas.
In the end, Yang Rui was lucky enough to obtain the Imperial Patrol Guards of the Nihon civilization's region. Thus, he immediately developed the Ethereal Ninja.
At this time, there was no need to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the Wo Nation's and the Three Kingdoms' troops. This was because the two civilizations specialized in different directions. Of course, the Three Kingdoms also had communication methods that didn't lose to the Ethereal Ninjas. It was just that they hadn't appeared yet.
After Yang Rui gained control of the Ethereal Ninja, under the current situation in Si Li Province, his communication methods were naturally incomparable to Cao Cao.
When Cao Cao discovered the whereabouts of Yang Rui's army, and the key was that they were so close, his hands and feet turned cold. All of his previous plans were about to fail. Most importantly, the other party's intention was to not leave him any way out!
In fact, the battle at Ping County had already happened for a few days. However, due to the heavy rain, Cao Cao only knew that Lu Bu's troops had already entered Si Li Province and thought that there were already people helping to defend them.
Later on, Cao Cao put most of his energy into investigating and taking action against Yuan Shu's troops. Other than the two times he sent news to Lu Bu, which were blocked by the Ethereal Ninja, Cao Cao thought that Lu Bu had already received the news and was cooperating with him.
At this time, for Cao Cao, it was not an exaggeration to say that it was a matter of life and death. Cao Cao didn't have many choices in front of him. After a short period of consideration, Cao Cao chose to directly lead his troops into Luoyang Imperial City.
Perhaps Cao Cao could go all out and attack Yuan Shu's Yu Province with all his troops, giving up on the rear and cutting off all means of retreat to directly attack Yuan Shu. He could also let his previous arrangements continue to work and even eliminate Yuan Shu in one fell swoop.
However, Cao Cao was almost certain that the direction of his troops would inevitably become the direction of the King of Donghai's troops. At that time, even if he took down Yu Province and pushed Yuan Shu, how would he be able to escape the entanglement of this strongest opponent?
In fact, Cao Cao's retreat into Luoyang Imperial City wasn't safe. He was gambling, gambling that Yang Rui wouldn't rashly attack the Imperial City!
After all, Liu Xie was in Luoyang Imperial City. If he attacked Luoyang Imperial City under this background, he might truly become the enemy of the Han Emperor.
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