The night was dark, and the bright moonlight cast a brilliant white glow, illuminating the entire land like a Milky Way.
There were dense forests, and after dealing with several secret sentries in the forest, Zhang Liao had led his army to the vicinity of Yuan Shujun's camp in Xinyang, less than a hundred feet away from the camp entrance in the distance.
Thanks to Qiao Rui, in order to rely on the original Xinyang City Wall, he used the dilapidated wall to build a new camp and cut down a large number of trees in the forest.
This caused many birds that originally lived in the forest to move elsewhere, so that no birds were frightened while the large army of soldiers and horses were walking.
Zhang Liao saw that this was a very ordinary camp with a wall outside. It used to be the city wall of Xinyang County. After the city was ruined, many of the city walls collapsed, and now the original site of Qiao Rui was used to build a new wall.
There are crenels, female walls, and even inner ladders on the walls. People can shoot arrows down while standing on the walls. There are some patrolling soldiers outside the village, in twos and threes, who gather together from time to time to chat without being too vigilant.
They are obviously not Yuan Shu's elite troops, or in other words, Yuan Shu himself does not have any elite troops.
As the most powerful prince at the beginning of the late Han Dynasty, he had nearly 200,000 troops at his peak, more than ten counties, and almost two large states. In the end, he ended up in this state. His advisers, generals, and even ordinary soldiers were only
It can be considered a second- or third-tier level, but far from being that great.
However, Zhang Liao did not underestimate the enemy because of his laxity. He despised the enemy strategically and valued him tactically. This was an argument that Chen Mu had put forward many times when facing many generals in the army, and it has been deeply rooted in the hearts of many generals.
So he decided to adopt the tactic he was best at - a surprise attack!
The core element of this tactic is to highlight one word - reckless.
certainly.
Pure recklessness and thoughtful recklessness are two different concepts.
A reckless man knows his tricks and no one can stop him.
Zhang Liao chose to divide his force of 5,000 men into three groups, with 500 men all the way around to the enemy's rear camp.
The second group consisted of 1,500 people, preparing to attack from the side.
The third way is to personally lead 3,000 people.
After the tactics are arranged, the enemy is most tired at midnight.
There was a commotion in the south camp first. Five hundred people raised fire as a signal, ran to the camp behind the bridge, and suddenly started making loud noises.
The gongs and drums were noisy, the weapons were clashing, and the shouts were endless, just like a fierce fighting. The noise came and woke up Yuan Shu, who was still sleeping peacefully.
Almost like a script, Yuan Shu's generals directly blew up the camp. What happened was no less than a camp roar. Before the enemy came in, his own people started fighting each other. Many Yuan Shu soldiers didn't know what was going on.
Thinking that the enemy was coming, he touched the weapons beside the bed, ran out of the camp, and began to kill at will.
"rush!"
After the soldiers of Liu Bei's army in the south played their part, Zhang Liao could clearly see that the enemy's front camp was also panicking. He immediately ordered the start of a general attack without hesitation.
He personally led the team, dismounted and fought on foot, held a knife in both hands, and charged towards the enemy's camp.
Behind Zhang Liao, countless soldiers from the vanguard regiment also rushed forward with him.
There has always been a very strange issue in the Qingzhou Army, that is, many people are curious about why the slogan of the trapped camp is "The ambition to trap the enemy will lead to death but not life. The momentum of charging will never return."
The trapped camp is an armored heavy infantry battalion. It can only be used for frontal hand-to-hand combat. It can only be exhausted after running several hundred feet. It is impossible to use it for charging.
Therefore, many people feel that being trapped in the camp is in name only.
At least the second half of the sentence is absolutely in name only.
The only legion that truly has the "power to charge forward and never come back" is Zhang Liao's Pioneer Regiment.
Over there, the soldiers at the gate of the northern camp at the base of the bridge were still in a state of shock and uncertainty. They heard the noise coming from the rear camp, but they didn't know what was going on. They all stood there at a loss.
The patrolling team outside and the soldiers guarding the wall all turned their heads to look in the direction of the rear camp. However, they did not notice that countless figures emerged from the jungle less than a hundred feet away from them.
It wasn't until Zhang Liao's vanguard group had rushed halfway that someone noticed something was wrong behind them. When they looked back, they were frightened out of their wits.
They saw that in the darkness, countless ghost-like figures were quietly coming towards them.
"Enemy attack!"
Sharp shouts pierced the sky.
The soldiers patrolling outside began to run into the camp in a panic. A captain who was originally guarding the camp was decisive and immediately ordered the camp door to be closed.
However, there were many regular defenses such as horses, iron caltrops, and fences placed at the entrance of the camp. At that time, the camp gate was generally not closed no matter it was day or night, because the army had to enter and exit at any time, and there were many patrolling soldiers outside.
Including when Gan Ning's Hundreds of Cavalry robbed the camp, they secretly moved the horses away to avoid the iron caltrops on the outside, and then rushed into Cao's camp. Therefore, Zhang Liao rushed into the formation and the enemy's camp gate had no time to close.
The patrolling soldiers rushed to run back to the camp, and some simply dropped their weapons and ran directly to the west, not even having the courage to face the enemy head-on.
Zhang Liao fought until he reached the entrance of the camp and encountered some decent resistance. However, this resistance was quickly broken up by him and he led the soldiers directly into Qiao Rui's camp. The archers on the wall immediately raised their arrows and fired.
Shooting, the first round did cause a lot of casualties to the vanguard.
However, after they had entered the camp, this offensive was gone. Under the leadership of Zhang Liao, the soldiers who had entered rushed to the camp. There were dense crowds of people and the sound of footsteps one after another.
"kill!"
With one blow, he chopped down an archer who abandoned his bow and drew his sword. Zhang Liao's face was covered with blood, and he glanced around like an evil ghost. The archers on the wall here had been dealt with almost, so he pointed to the right and said: "The village on the right
Wall! Go to the two teams! Go up!"
Yuan Shu's army's camp was based on the original structure of Xinyang County. Due to the war, the city was dilapidated and the walls collapsed. Therefore, on the former ruins, the walls were one piece in the east and one in the west. The gaps were only filled with fences, which caused the enemy to
The archers gathered in areas east and west, causing small-scale harassment from time to time.
With a wave of Zhang Liao's hand, one hundred of his men formed two teams and climbed up the wall along the sloping wooden ladder. Yuan Shu's army did not react to such a surprise attack. Although the archers on the wall on the right fought tooth and nail.
He resisted, but was quickly killed, leaving only a position further to the west where arrows were fired.
Sharp whistles resounded throughout Yuan Shu's camp. After taking down the outer wall, Zhang Liao ordered some people to guard the entrance of the camp to prevent the enemy from escaping. Others set fires everywhere to create chaos. He led his troops to start.
Assault on the forward camp.
At this time, Qiao Rui had just stabilized the middle camp and dealt with the roar of the camp. He didn't know the current situation of the front camp. He only knew that there were constant shouts and wails from the other side. After a moment of hesitation, suddenly there was a surprise from the west camp.
Something happened too.
After the First Route Army launched its offensive, the 1,500 men arranged by Zhang Liao immediately launched an offensive from the flanks. They first chopped down the fence outside the Western Camp, then broke into it and wreaked havoc everywhere.
In just half an hour, the front camp, the rear camp, and the west side of the middle camp were attacked in three places, and the entire Yuan Shu army camp was in chaos.
Qiao Rui knew that he could not wait any longer, so he ordered his soldiers to deal with the west side first, while he personally led his men and horses to rush to the front camp.
The distance between the two camps was less than a crossbow. Thousands of people were rushing across the bridge, and the distance of four to five hundred steps was reached in an instant. As a result, as soon as they entered the front camp, the sky-high fire was already burning, and a large number of people were killed from both wings.
The enemy soldiers were led by a big man covered in blood, who looked like a demon from hell.
The man picked up a nine-foot-long knife. The blade was about the same height as the others. The blade was covered with blood. He held the knife in both hands, opened his mouth and roared, and rushed towards Qiao Rui. Qiao Rui knew that this battle must be fought to the death, even if he had a chance to escape.
, with Yuan Shu’s temper, he will definitely die.
At the next command, the two groups of men and horses fought together in an instant. Among the chaos, Zhang Liao seemed to have identified the position of the bridge, slashed several times, and killed the enemy in front of him. Under the protection of the escort,
Like a sharp sword piercing the heart.
This is a beheading operation.
Qiao Rui didn't know Zhang Liao's power yet, but he saw Zhang Liao's left and right flag bearers holding general flags high with the word "Zhang" on them. He knew that this was an enemy general. Relying on his strength, he also led his guards to kill Zhang Liao.
As long as the enemy general can be killed, the battle will be won.
The two sides quickly fought together amid the chaos.
"The thief will be crowned!"
A moment later, Zhang Liao held Qiao Rui's head high, standing proudly like a god of war.
The enemy is ashamed, I will take off his clothes!
Qiao Rui still overestimated herself. When she met Zhang Liao, she only passed a few moves and died instantly.
Almost at the moment when General Qiao Rui's flag fell, Yuan Shu's army collapsed. The front camp was in chaos. Countless people surrendered and fled. No one dared to raise weapons to resist.
Zhang Liao ordered the soldiers to control the prisoners, and sent troops to hunt down the fleeing enemy troops. He was busy for most of the night, and spent more time on the aftermath than on the battle. It was not until the sky turned slightly white that the forward troops finally settled down.
On the second day, the front army arrived at Xinyang in the morning, while the Chinese army did not arrive until noon.
Liu Bei came to the battlefield in person and saw that the site had been cleaned. Many soldiers were still sleeping soundly because they were too tired yesterday. Zhang Liao himself was also resting. The current vigilance task was temporarily taken over by Zhang Fei's former army.
A new camp was built for the vanguard army to rest and regroup.
Some soldiers wanted to inform Zhang Liao that Duke Ming had arrived, but Liu Bei stopped him. He inspected the entire camp, then entered the tent to look at the many soldiers who were still resting and Zhang Liao who was sleeping, and then returned to the central army and held a military meeting.
Meeting.
In the camp, Liu Bei sat high on the throne, with Jushou Tian Feng sitting on the left and right, followed by Zhang Fei, Dian Wei, Qian Zhao and other generals, and then stood Sima Juxu, Wang Dan, Zhang Rao and other captains.
"Wenyuan fought very well in this battle, conquering Xinyang in one fell swoop and winning the first battle!"
Liu Bei affirmed Zhang Liao's achievements, gave a thumbs up and said: "This battle has greatly improved the momentum of our army. Wen Yuan deserves to be credited with the first contribution. He is worthy of being a brave general of our army."
Zhang Fei rolled his eyes beside him.
Okay.
Originally, it was clear that Zhang Liao was scouting the road ahead, so Zhang Liao took the initiative to ask for help, but in the end, he just sent someone to talk to him, and then quietly defeated the enemy army and achieved great success.
Obviously this credit belongs to me...
Zhang Fei whispered softly.
But apart from being competitive, he is not jealous.
Because currently among the Qingzhou military ranks, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Chen Mu Dianwei have the highest position.
In addition to serving as Qingzhou Mu, Liu Bei was promoted to General of the Guard some time ago. This is because the previous General of the Guard, Zhu Jun, was promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry and was in charge of Luoyang's military power.
In fact, this can be regarded as Liu Yu slowly evading Guan Yu and wanting to hold the military power in his own hands. However, Guan Yu didn't care. He was loyal to the Han Dynasty, and he respected Zhu Jun very much, so he was willing to obey Zhu Jun under Zhu Jun's account.
Jun's order.
In order to appease the Qingzhou Group, Liu Yu promoted Liu Bei from former general to general of guard, Guan Yu from former general, Zhang Fei to rear general, Chen Mu to right general, and Dian Wei to left general, all of whom were granted the title of county marquis.
The Han Dynasty respected the right, so the sequence at this time was not front, back, left, and right, but front, back, right, and left. The highest status was the former general, and the lowest status was the left general.
It turns out that Yuan Shu was the general of the left, but he was appointed by the emperor Liu Hong during the reign of Emperor Xiaokang of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, Yuan Shu did not recognize Liu Yu's court, so Liu Yu did not intend to recognize him. Guan Yu had been the general of the left long before, leading the Sili school.
Wei, now after Guan Yu was promoted, he became Dian Wei as the general of the left.
And generals like Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Zang Ba, Gao Shun, Tai Shi Ci, Qian Zhao and others who have been promoted in recent years based on their military merit are just ordinary generals. For example, Zhao Yun is the prefect of Hanoi and the general of the bandits, and Zhang Liao is the general of Hengye.
General, Zang Ba is General Jianwei, etc.
Two of them, including Ju Shou Tian Feng, are generals, one is the Fujun Zhonglang General, and the other is the Military Advisor Zhonglang General. Therefore, Zhang Liao is actually Zhang Fei's subordinate now. As an officer, when his subordinates perform meritorious service, he himself will be honored. Naturally, Zhang Liao is just a subordinate of Zhang Fei.
There is no jealousy.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! It’s just that Zhang Fei hasn’t fought in a long time, and he often whispers in Liu Bei’s ears, “I never leave the saddle, and all the flesh on my thighs has disappeared; now that I no longer ride, the flesh on my thighs will grow.”
"It made Liu Bei's ears almost calluses.
Now that Zhang Liao had made great contributions to the vanguard, Zhang Fei couldn't sit still at that time. He immediately stood up and shouted: "Brother, although Wen Yuan is very courageous, I am not bad at all. Besides, he is tired from this battle and needs to rest.
In the next battle, it’s my turn to take the lead.”
Liu Bei knew that he was anxious, and waved his hands and said: "Okay, okay, you will take the lead in the next battle, but when to fight, how to fight, and where to fight, I'd better listen to the words of the two military advisors first."
Jushu smiled and said: "Ming Gong, it is actually not difficult to defeat Yuan Shu."
"oh?"
Liu Bei asked: "What's the plan?"
Jushou glanced at Tian Feng, and Tian Feng muttered: "Yuan Shu's troops are divided into three groups, and their strength has been severely weakened. We can concentrate our forces and defeat his main force in one fell swoop."
"Yes, according to the secret report of the Military Intelligence Department, Yuan Shu only has an army of 50,000 or 60,000 in Runan this time, while our combined army with Cao Cao has 50,000. Together with Sun Ce's troops, the total strength has exceeded Yuan Shu's."
Jushou continued his analysis: "Besides, if you don't want to fight a tough battle, you can also surround Wei and rescue Zhao."
"Surround Wei and rescue Zhao?"
Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "Could it be that while Yuan Shu's main force is out, he can go south from Xuzhou and take Yangzhou directly?"
"Yes, and this strategy has an advantage, that is, it can capture Xuzhou."
Tian Feng touched his beard, and there was a trace of light in his eyes: "Cao Cao's troops in Xuzhou are not many, and they have been driven away by Yuan Shu. Now if a general is allowed to lead the troops, and cooperates with Cai Yang, Chen Gui and others of Donghai Kingdom,
By the way, the whole of Xuzhou can be included in the bag."
Cao Cao had previously learned of Yuan Shu's intentions and knew that there was no pressure in the south, so he had already transferred Cao Ren, who was staying behind, to the front line. Taking advantage of Lu Bu's new defeat, he pursued and fought fiercely and recovered most of Yanzhou except Chen Liu.
However, he still left Xiahou Dun and Cheng Yu in Guangling, but Xiahou Dun's troops were too small. This time Yuan Shu divided his troops into three groups, one of which was to go north to attack Xuzhou. Xiahou Dun and Cheng Yu could not resist and had already retreated to Xiapi. If at this time
When Liu Bei's army goes south, he can indeed take Xuzhou into his hands.
But Liu Bei thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "Forget it, if this is the case, it will inevitably be suspected of robbing the allies' foundation."
Jushu and Tian Feng had long expected that Liu Bei still had the burden of being an idol. He didn't care about anything else, but he cared too much about fame. Sometimes fame can indeed bring benefits to people, but it can also become a kind of chain that binds people.
live.
So the two just smiled and looked at each other, and Jushou said: "Ming Gong, if we occupy it by ourselves, it is indeed suspected of usurping the foundation of our allies. However, if we take back Xuzhou after sending troops, the imperial court will send another
The governors who come to Guangling, Xiapi, Pengcheng and other places are none of our business, what do you think?"
The imperial court sent someone?
Liu Bei thought about it and realized that indeed, he was only sending troops to recover it. If he did not occupy it himself, he would not be suspected of seizing his allies' foundation.
However, the imperial court had great righteousness and sent the eunuch here. It was justified and Cao Cao could not say anything.
This is a good idea.
Thinking of this, he turned to look at the many generals and said, "Everyone, who is willing to lead the troops south to attack Xuzhou and Yangzhou?"
Forehead......
The generals looked at each other, but no one stood up.
All fools know that Runan is the main battlefield, and it is much easier to make meritorious deeds on the main battlefield than on other battlefields.
If we can conquer the enemy all the way south and invade Yangzhou, it will be a great achievement indeed.
But how can it be greater than defeating Yuan Shu on the battlefield, or even killing or capturing Yuan Shu alive?
So no one wants to go.
"Third brother, weren't you going to fight just now?"
Liu Bei looked at Zhang Fei with a smile.
Zhang Fei shouted: "If there are enough soldiers in Xuzhou to kill me, I'd better stay in Runan. I won't go."
"Where's Liangbi?"
Liu Bei looked at Dian Wei again.
Dian Wei shook his head: "Ming Gong, I have been serving as Ming Gong's personal attendant for these years. I have no experience in leading an army alone."
"You need to learn when marching and fighting. As a general, you should learn to make your own judgment."
Liu Bei muttered: "If you work as a close servant all day long, I'm afraid you won't be able to make much contribution. You will have to fight on the battlefield many more times in the future. In this way, I will ask Yuan Hao to accompany you south. This battle will give you enough experience, and you will be as famous as Ma Fubo in the future."
Only by traveling far and wide can you live up to the ambition of a man."
"good."
Dianwei stood up and said, "I honor your order."
Over the years, Dian Wei has been Liu Bei's bodyguard. Although he has lived a good life, he not only married a wife and had children, but also served as a general and has a very high status in Qingzhou.
But after all, he has never led an army on an expedition, so as a leftist general, he has never been very convincing.
Generals like Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun and Gao Shun who defected later are now starting to take charge of their own affairs. Even Huang Zhong, who was originally a subordinate of Dian Wei, has now been promoted to general due to military merit. If he doesn't work hard, he will be surpassed by his old subordinates.
, Dian Wei is naturally unwilling to rest on his laurels.
At that moment, he arranged for Dian Wei to lead some troops to Xuzhou and join forces with Cai Yang and Chen Gui to attack Yangzhou. Liu Bei then arranged for Zhang Fei to be the vanguard on the way forward. He rested in place for two days and discussed with Cao Cao, who had already arrived in Xiang County.
, go south together and take Gushi directly.
Yuan Shu's army is currently surrounding Gushi, and Linyang is also under his attack. Therefore, Liu Bei plans to go south with his main force to contain Yuan Shu's main force, and then let Cao Cao go to Linyang to relieve Sun Ce from the siege. After Cao and Sun join forces, they will
Attack Yuan Shu.
In August of the fourth year of Xingwu, the vigorous Second Central Plains War began again.