The three-mile area is actually more than 1,200 meters. At the speed of a horse, you can reach it in two or three minutes.
Therefore, when Meng Zhen led the vanguard army out to meet the enemy, Zuo Miao Zhangba and Liu Shi were already close to the front of Lu Zhi's camp. The auxiliary soldiers who were resting outside the camp were frightened when they saw the enemy coming on horseback.
The birds and beasts scatter when the tools are removed.
"Damn it, what kind of order is it to allow defeat but not victory? I, Zhang Fei, have fought all the way from Zhuoxian County and haven't lost a single battle yet, but today I have to lose on purpose. What's the point of this?"
Zhang Fei crouched behind one side of the tent, cursing.
Lu Zhi placed the military camp on a flat land with very little vegetation around it. Although it had rained in the past two days, the enemy would not be easy to attack with fire. But if the stalemate lasts too long, and the grass grows and the orioles fly in midsummer, if the camp is set up in
Places with lush vegetation may be prone to fires.
Therefore, as an experienced veteran, Lu Zhi will definitely arrange the location of the camp to be impeccable, so that it will not be flooded by fire or water.
But there are gains and losses. There is no vegetation cover near the camp. Zhang Jiao, who is one kilometer away, can stand on the tower and see the situation clearly. Zuo Miao Zhangba and Liu Shi's troops can also go all the way.
Come galloping over without any hindrance.
In this way, it was very difficult for Lu Zhi to ambush, so he could only rely on the established camps and several nearby hillsides as cover, and use some of the poor vision to act as bunkers.
Hearing Zhang Fei's complaint, Liu Bei glared at him and whispered: "Yide, don't talk nonsense. This is Master's plan to lure the enemy. Just act according to the plan."
Zhang Fei didn't care at all that Liu Bei blamed him, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I understand, but brother, if you order a charge later, I have to be the first to go."
"Don't worry, my third brother will be killed happily."
Liu Bei clenched the sword in his hand and poked his head out from behind the tent on both sides to observe.
When Zuo Miao Zhangba and Liu Shi saw thousands of auxiliary soldiers fleeing outside the camp, they couldn't help laughing, and led their troops to kill the generals directly from Lu Zhi's camp.
Since the fortifications had not been repaired, all kinds of trenches, fences, and horses could not form an effective defense, and the war horses easily rushed into the military camp. However, because there were many tents erected in the military camp, the horses had to slow down and run like normal people.
The speed is about the same.
Seeing that the time had come, Meng Zhen shouted: "The enemy is attacking, hurry up, hurry up."
Hundreds of soldiers emerged from the tents at the rear. Zuo Mouzhangba and Liu Shi thought there was an ambush, so they were frightened and almost planned to rein in their horses and turn back.
But after observing carefully, I was immediately happy. I saw that the soldiers were not dressed neatly, their hats were askew, some were even barefoot, and their weapons were not steady. They obviously did not expect their sudden attack.
"kill!"
Zuo Miao Zhangba and Liu Shi clamped their legs on the horse's belly and rushed over first.
The troops on both sides fought for only one round before the officers and soldiers abandoned their armor and were killed before fleeing in embarrassment.
Seeing this scene, Zuo Mouzhang was very proud and said to Liu Shi: "I think Lu Zhi is nothing more than this, so why not continue to fight in."
Of course, the camp of more than 30,000 people is more than this. Although it is not as exaggerated as the 700-mile company camp in the later Battle of Yiling, it still stretches for almost several miles, and the front army, middle army, and rear army are stationed separately.
The army is divided into two parts: the camp area and the school field.
The military camp of Zuo Zhuzhangba and Liu Shichong was the front camp, and they had just rushed into the entrance of the front camp. There were countless tents behind them. Just breaking through the entrance of the front camp was nothing. Zuo Zhuzhangba had tens of thousands of troops behind him, and he seemed to have something.
Plans for a massive attack.
Liu Shi was quite cautious and advised: "The good teacher just ordered us to come here for testing. Now that we have found out whether Lu Zhi is real or not, we should wait for the army from the rear to arrive before discussing."
"What nonsense is this discussion? If we don't take advantage of the enemy's defeat and take advantage of the victory to pursue them, why don't we let them escape and reorganize their armor before fighting us?"
Zuo Zhuzhangba snorted coldly: "You are just a coward. If you want to wait by yourself, I won't accompany you."
After saying that, he patted his horse and continued to charge.
Liu Shi had no choice but to continue rushing in with the five hundred knights and Zuo Mouzhangba.
Suddenly, dozens more men and horses emerged from behind the tent. The leader was a strong man with a leopard head and ringed eyes. In terms of physical strength and tendons, he was even better than Zuo Mouzhangba, who was known to be brave in the Yellow Turban Army.
The man was riding on a horse and stabbed a yellow turban knight to the ground in one turn, shouting: "I am from Yan and Zhang Fei, who dares to come up and die."
When Zuo Zhuzhangba saw a good opponent coming, he immediately clapped his horse, danced his sword, and shouted: "Zuo Zhuzhangba is here!"
Two people and two horses intertwined together.
The weapons met each other, and the swords and spears collided. Fierce sparks burst out.
"Look at the spear!"
Zhang Fei lowered his head to dodge the knife, and raised his hand to stab the Zhangba-pointed steel spear diagonally at the gap where Zhangba's left moustache was exposed.
In just two or three rounds, Zhang Fei was able to test his strength. Zuo Miao Zhangba was very strong, but lacked skill. Zhang Fei was confident that this spear would definitely knock him off his horse.
At this moment, Liu Bei rushed out from the flank and shouted: "Yide, I'm here to help you."
Zhang Fei immediately woke up and realized that he was planning to fake defeat. If he stabbed the enemy's head to death and still lost the battle, it would be useless but would be a victory.
The thought only lasted a moment, but luckily the stab had not yet come out.
Zhang Fei immediately changed from thrusting to blocking, raised the spear pole with both hands, and blocked Zuo Zhuzhangba's next slash. He pushed with all his strength, pushing Zuo Zhuzhangba and his horse back a few feet.
When Zuo Zhuzhangba sat down on his horse in embarrassment, Zhang Fei turned the horse's head and laughed loudly: "You are too strong, I can't beat you, so let's go."
Good guy, this taunting skill is directly maxed out.
Zuo Xiaozhangba, who was so good at calming the war horse, was so angry that his lungs were about to explode. You almost overthrew me with both men and horses, and you actually said you can't beat me? You simply don't take me seriously, and you don't look down on people.
Such contempt.
Zuo Mouzhangba, who claimed to be the strongest man in the Yellow Turban Army, was angry at that time and said unconvinced: "You eggless eunuch, please leave, come back and fight me for another 300 rounds."
After that, he patted the horse and chased after him.
When Zhang Fei heard Zuo Zhuzhangba insulting him as a eunuch without eggs, he almost went berserk and wanted to turn around and continue fighting.
Fortunately, Liu Bei still had sense and shouted: "The bandit army is strong, withdraw!"
Seeing that all the troops on his side were retreating one after another, and the enemy's 500 knights and the army at the rear were shouting to kill, Zhang Fei could only retreat with hatred.
The two sides ran and chased each other, and soon arrived at the central campus area of the former camp, which was also the ambush point prepared by Lu Zhi in advance.
The terrain of the school field was slightly more open, and Meng Zhen had already prepared troops and horses to meet Liu Bei. The two commanders Wang Zhong and Zhao Yi led his troops of five to six hundred people to support him.
Zuo Zhuzhangba was not afraid when he saw reinforcements on the opposite side, because these people were infantry, and they could turn back and run away at any time if they wanted to leave.
Moreover, the fences and wooden walls around the school grounds have not yet been built. Even if they cannot turn back and escape from the original route, they can still break out from the left and right sides. It is impossible for the infantry to keep these cavalry behind.
Therefore, Zuo Mouzhangba was not afraid, pointed his sword, and shouted: "Come forward, I will kill the eunuch!"
Five hundred cavalry charged at the same time. Although the formation was not orderly, they were far behind the elite cavalry from Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou. But after all, the gap between cavalry and infantry was there. The dust filled the sky, and the momentum was still scary.
Meng Zhen and more than a dozen middle-level officers with horses rushed in first and fought fiercely with the enemy. The two sides soon became entangled, and more than a thousand people fought together.
Many people think that wars during the Three Kingdoms period relied on one-on-one battles between the generals of both sides. For example, when one side attacked a city, each side sent a general to fight. In fact, this situation was rare, and most of them were fought on the battlefield.
In the general's tent at the rear, soldiers hurried over, knelt down on one knee in Lu Zhi's tent and reported: "Report! The enemy cavalry has entered the ambush circle, and Meng Sima is fighting with them."
Lu Zhi was sitting on the table and reading a book. Although paper was available in the Han Dynasty, it was expensive and difficult to write on, so most books were still carved from bamboo slips.
After hearing about the fighting ahead, Lu Zhi put down the bamboo slips in his hand and said calmly: "Where is the enemy's army?"
"We have entered the front camp."
"Send the order and prepare the entire army to attack."
"only!"
The soldiers returned to deliver military orders.
At this time, the infantry regiment of Zhang Bao, Yu Du and others also arrived on the battlefield. Seeing the overwhelming cavalry troops in front, Zhang Bao was overjoyed and said: "General Zuo and General Liu have already entered. The officers and soldiers are indeed unprepared. Brothers, give me
rush!"
Tens of thousands of Yellow Turban troops swarmed in, killing Lu Zhi's front camp soldiers. There were more than 10,000 officers and soldiers in the front camp, including the vanguard. Seeing the Yellow Turban army pressing down on the border, they abandoned their helmets and armor and fled for their lives.
Zhang Bao was eager to kill, and he chased them on horseback, like a carnival feast. He kept slashing back and forth with the big knife in his hand. In a short time, seven or eight soldiers were dead in his hands.
However, Zhang Bao did not know that these soldiers were not combat soldiers. They were auxiliary soldiers and craftsmen building fortifications, and were arranged by Lu Zhi to serve as bait in the front camp.
Currently, the total number of soldiers fighting in the front camp is only more than 3,000 from Meng Zhen, and not even Liu Bei's new soldiers are here.
In other words, Lu Zhi was using the lives of auxiliary soldiers and craftsmen to confuse Zhang Jue.
This plan can be called cruel. After all, the auxiliary soldiers have low combat effectiveness. If they encounter the elite Yellow Turban Army, they will almost die. With nearly 10,000 auxiliary soldiers facing the attack of tens of thousands of enemy troops, at least a thousand lives will be at stake here.
But kindness does not control the army. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that a general's success will lead to the death of thousands of bones.
If the lives of a few auxiliary soldiers can be exchanged for a large number of enemies to fall into the trap, in Lu Zhi's opinion, it is definitely worth it.
Soon, the officers and soldiers of the former battalion were defeated. Zhang Bao led the army to the school field. Seeing that he was about to join Zuo Zhuzhang's eight soldiers, Meng Zhen saw that the situation was not good and shouted: "The thieves' reinforcements have arrived, withdraw!"
The sound of Ming Jin withdrawing his troops rang out in the middle camp.
Zhang Bao and Zuo Zhuzhangba both thought this was an order from the enemy to withdraw their troops. They were overjoyed and issued the order: "Continue the pursuit!"
However, they did not know that this golden sound was actually a clarion call to order a counterattack.
Meng Zhen led more than a thousand forward soldiers to the gate of the central camp. Zhang Bao and others chased him and were about to follow them into the central camp.
But at this moment, suddenly there was the sound of gongs and drums in the middle camp, and thousands of archers suddenly appeared from behind the fence that had been built. They stood on the wooden platform of the fence, condescendingly shooting arrows at the same time.
Suddenly, thousands of arrows were fired, and the "whooshing" arrows buzzed, causing the Yellow Turban soldiers to flip over.
When Liu Shi, Yu Du and other relatively calm generals saw that something was wrong, they immediately shouted: "No, there is an ambush among the officers and soldiers, retreat quickly!"
However, it was obviously too late at this time. The ambush troops on the left and right sides of the school grounds were all out. More than ten generals of Lu Zhi's army, including 20,000 and 30,000 soldiers, rushed out and surrounded the Yellow Turban Army.
The two armies collided, and the battlefield was extremely chaotic for a while. The Yellow Turban Army was ambushed, their morale was low, and their fighting spirit was very low. At the slightest contact, they were on the verge of collapse.