Chapter 228: Friendly troops are in trouble and remain motionless.
The defense line of Chengu Township is divided into two sections, one is Nanlin Village and Beilin Village separated by Qingshui Branch, and the other is the manor in the rear.
Yuan Shang's main force was stationed in the manor, which was about four or five miles away from the front line.
Because he still didn't know the situation on the front line, Yuan Shang had just organized his troops and horses and was about to leave for Beilin Village to check out the situation.
In the end, no one expected that Guo Zhao would be defeated so quickly. Not long after he set out, a large number of scattered soldiers and horses appeared in front of him, rushing toward his troops like a swarm.
"what happened?"
Yuan Shangqi was horrified as he sat on his horse. There were scattered troops all over the mountains and plains, and the nearest one was less than a hundred feet long.
Shen Pei hurriedly said: "This must be Guo Zhao's defeat. Young Master, please quickly order a retreat and retreat into the manor. Don't let the defeated troops rush into our formation."
"withdraw!"
Yuan Shang immediately gave the order.
But he still had more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, and the formation was bloated. It was not easy to turn around immediately.
Soon, Lu Xiang's troops at the front were attacked by defeated troops, and then a steady stream of Qingzhou troops came, killing Yuan Shang's front army to pieces and fleeing in all directions.
Yuan Shang himself was in the middle army, and Zhang Kai was in charge of the rear army, so they all fled to the rear. It turned out that he had seven generals, Huang Zhong killed three, Xu Chu killed one, and now only Guo Zhao, Lu Xiang and Zhang Kai are left
.
Amidst the chaos, Yuan's army's entire formation began to collapse.
Guo Zhao rode his horse faster and came to Yuan Shang in a state of embarrassment. He shouted loudly: "It's not good, young master, it's not good, young master."
"Guo Zhao, do you still dare to appear in front of me?"
Yuan Shang was furious. He was about to go over to support him, but Guo Zhao was defeated in the blink of an eye. If the front army hadn't been defeated so quickly, how could he have been dragged down by the rout and had to retreat?
Unexpectedly, Guo Zhao said with a sad face: "Master, we were fooled. Dian Wei and Zhang Liao were not at Weiqiao at all. This is all Liu Bei's plan!"
"What?"
The trial partner was shocked and said: "How is it possible? Hasn't it been confirmed by Wei Qiao?"
Guo Zhao pointed to the back and said in horror: "If you don't believe it, you can go and see. It was Na Dianwei and Zhang Liao who led the army to break through the small bridge. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the Qingzhou Army to come over."
"Oh no, something big happened."
Shen Pei immediately realized the seriousness of the matter. If Dian Wei and Zhang Liao had not gone to Weiqiao, Jieqiao would have been a trap.
"Sir, what should we do now?"
Yuan Shang was also panicked.
Shen Pei immediately said: "We must send someone immediately to tell Duke Ming of this matter."
"But our army has been besieged by the Qingzhou Army."
"I can't control that much anymore. Master, first retreat to the manor, and then quickly send someone to Jieqiao to deliver the message."
"good."
Yuan Shang had no choice but to agree.
At this time, in addition to the intertwined Qingzhou Army and Jizhou Army, there was another army in Chengu.
This army was the Ma Yan tribe sent by Guo Tu to pretend to support Chen Gu.
There are five thousand of them and they have arrived near Chengu.
Seeing that the battle had begun here, Ma Yan waited and watched for a while, and then said to the deputy general: "The Qingzhou Army's offensive is very fierce. It seems that Young Master Shang's side can no longer support it. We will attack them from the flank later. Send someone to the prison quickly."
Military message."
"only."
The deputy general took the order and left.
After a while, Ma Yan led his soldiers to prepare to attack and support Yuan Shang.
Unexpectedly, Xu Chu had already been lying in ambush outside. When he saw them dispatching, he immediately led his troops to rush out and killed Ma Yan's tribe.
For a time, the whole of Chengu turned into a battlefield, and the situation was chaotic. After the Jizhou army was defeated in the front, the middle and rear armies also suffered a huge rout. Yuan Shang gathered thousands of his troops to defend the manor.
Just when Liu Beijun concentrated his forces to defeat Yuan Shang's tribe first, Guo Tu also quickly learned the news, because Chen Gu was not far from Linxi in the first place, only more than thirty miles apart.
So when he learned that Liu Bei's reinforcements had arrived in Chengu and were attacking Yuan Shang, Guo Tu was overjoyed and thought that his plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain was successful, so he said to his general Shi Huan: "Send an order to the three armies to march towards the boundary bridge."
Shi Huan was surprised and said: "Jiang Jun, the previous scouts said that Liu Bei was attacking Young Master Shang. Why don't we go to rescue him? If Young Master Shang is in danger, I'm afraid we will not be able to escape the guilt of Duke Ming."
Guo Tu smiled on his face and said: "General Shi, you have to understand that our main target this time is Liu Bei. At this time, Liu Bei's camp is empty. How long will it take if we don't attack?"
"But......."
"There's nothing wrong with it. This is Duke Ming's order. If you delay the attack on Liu Bei, you deserve death."
Guo Tu snorted coldly.
Save Yuan Shang?
joke.
He sneered in his heart.
As a counselor supporting Yuan Tanna's faction, how could Guo Tu save Yuan Shang?
It would be better if Yuan Shang died. In that case, Yuan Shao would no longer have any hesitation on the issue of heir.
Even if he is held accountable, Yuan Tan will protect him.
Moreover, as long as Liu Bei is defeated in this battle and Yuan Shao captures the entire Qingzhou, it will be a great achievement. It is just Yuan Shang's death. Is it more important than the country?
Thinking of this, Guo Tu did not hesitate anymore and scolded: "Go quickly."
Shi Huan had no choice but to say: "Wei."
Guo Tu's troops in Linxi immediately began to move towards the boundary bridge. At this time, Yuan Shao actually learned that Guo Tu had arrived in Linxi and was preparing to attack Liu Bei's rear camp.
Yuan Shao's army has built a large number of low walls east of Jieqiao Bridge, making camp step by step, and advancing slowly, about one mile away from Liu Bei's camp.
In the Qiaotou camp, Yuan Shao took the official document and said to everyone with a stern face: "Guo Tu sent a document saying that Liu Bei's troops sent more than 20,000 people north to attack my son. At this time, Liu Bei's camp was empty, and he was going to take the opportunity to make a sneak attack.
Liu Bei's army is encamped, what do you think?"
"Liu Bei only has more than 40,000 troops, so he dares to use half of them to attack Young Master Shang?"
Everyone was very surprised. They did not expect Liu Bei to be so courageous.
Liu Hui thought for a while and said: "This is to risk death and survive. Liu Bei's camp is easy to defend and difficult to attack. He left Gao Shun's army and 20,000 troops behind. It is still easy to stop us. So he simply divided his troops and planned to go out.
Defeat them one by one to find a way out."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "So what should we do now?"
Yuan Shao asked again.
Liu Hui thought for a while and said: "It's too late to rush to the rescue at this time. We can only attack Liu Bei's camp first, surround Wei and rescue Zhao. It would be better if we can break the camp. If we can't break it, we have to create pressure on Liu Bei and force his troops to come back."
.”
"Um."
Yuan Shao nodded, looked around and said, "Send the order to attack Liu Bei's camp!"
"only!"
All the soldiers took orders one after another.
It’s not surprising that Yuan Shao judged this way, because no one except Yuan Shang and Shen Pei knew that Zhang Liao and Dian Wei’s journey south was a pretense.
Who would have thought that the Qingzhou Army would use the navy to pretend to be the army?
You know, the emergence of a navy in a place like Hebei is a very bizarre thing, let alone asking them to break away from traditional ideas and consider that the navy that could only cruise on the Yellow River suddenly turned into a navy.
How can an army that is capable of conquering and fighting not make them doubtful?
In addition, Chen Mu designed the granary to be placed south of the boundary bridge, making Yuan Shao think that the granary was to provide grain and grass to the two attack points in the north and south at the same time. This confirmed Liu Bei's strategy of pretending to attack the boundary bridge, but actually attacking Weiqiao, so Yuan Shao let Yuan Jun
Fall into the trap.
Otherwise, it will not be easy for Yuan Shao to take the initiative to attack Jieqiao.
Yuan Shao gave the order, and Yuan Jun's army began to march on the border bridge in a mighty manner. The preparations made in the past few days have made them very sufficient. Iron sheets, wooden curtains, and a large number of wooden boards have been prepared. They are all wrapped with iron sheets, which can not only prevent the burning bottles from burning the wooden boards.
, can also resist the penetrating ability of the bed crossbow.
Looking down from the hillside of Liu Beijun's camp, one could see a mile away in the distance, densely packed soldiers of Yuanjun camp, under the command of officers at all levels, gathering like a tide at the bottom of the slope, and then began to follow the river
Advance to the south bank.
Just like when Zhang Liao defeated Gao Lan, Yuan Shao planned to attack from below the west bank and upwards, rather than attacking from other places.
The reason is similar to that of Zhang Liao's battle. The other places are vertical routes and the slope is too steep. It's almost like attacking a city. It's difficult for the soldiers to climb up, let alone attack them. Moreover, the height is much higher than the city wall.
On the west side is a gentle slope, which is two or three miles long from the bottom to the top, so it is naturally easier to go up.
At this moment, Liu Bei and Chen Mu were watching on the bank. A scout had already reported Guo Tu's movements to them. Ju Shou Xun You, Zhao Gao Shun and others were accompanying them. Watching the Yuan army gathering at the foot of the mountain, Liu Bei couldn't help but say:
"Fourth brother, Yuan Jun finally started to attack."
"Um."
Chen Mu nodded and said to Liu Bei: "Brother, let Gao Shun handle this."
"Aren't we going to meet the enemy?"
Liu Bei was surprised.
Chen Mu said with a smile: "You have to create an illusion that the camp is empty to deceive Yuan Shao. Just let him put all his effort into attacking the front camp. We will go to the back camp to deal with Guo Tu."
"good."
Liu Bei then turned around and headed back to the rear camp.
The entire camp is not just a fence and some tents cast on the slope. In addition to the countless fortifications, there are three or four camps alone, which are at the corners of each other. There are connecting roads and a central school ground.
Liu Bei's camp covers an area of about three to four square kilometers, including the alluvial fan-shaped highland where Zhang Liao defeated Gaolan, as well as the hills and steep slopes below the highland, as well as the large plain area where Zhang Liao detoured, which belongs to the rear camp.
, there are now more than two million stones of grain and grass stored in it.
If Dian Wei and Zhang Liao really go south, Liu Bei, Chen Mu and the others will probably have a headache now. Because they are surrounded on three sides and have so much food and grass in the rear, if they don't have enough troops, it is very likely that Guo Tu will break through the rear camp.
Burn down the fire and they will be really desperate.
Fortunately, all this is a ruse. Not only does Liu Bei have enough troops, he has more than 60,000 infantry, but also has 10,000 cavalry. Zhang Fei has 8,000 light cavalry and 2,000 black armor heavy cavalry. This force is not to mention defensive, even for defense.
A fierce battle in the wild was worthy of Yuan Shao's 120,000 troops.
Zhang Liaodian and Wei Xuchu took away about 30,000 people. There were still Gao Shun in their camp and Liu Bei led his headquarters to recruit about 35,000 people. Liu Bei asked Gao Shun to deal with Yuan Shao's attack from the front, and he led his troops to the rear camp.
.
There is nothing too dangerous in the rear camp. It is an endless plain area, surrounded by fences, and there are not too many fortifications.
It was only about twenty or thirty miles from Linxi to this place. In the afternoon, Guo Tu's army had already arrived here.
Chen Mu stood on a high oar above an internal hill in the rear camp and looked out. He saw tens of thousands of troops outside the camp, which had surrounded the rear camp. The gate of the camp was closed tightly, and there were only two or three thousand soldiers on the wall.
The garrison, as if facing a powerful enemy, must be prepared to respond with stern vigilance.
"This Guo Tu is quite cruel. He actually left Yuan Shang alone without going to rescue him. Isn't he afraid that Yuan Shang will be killed by us and Yuan Shao blames him?"
Liu Bei was quite surprised when he saw that Guo Tu really left Yuan Shang alone and came to attack them.
Chen Mu said with a smile: "The friendly troops are in trouble. This is not because Guo Tu is ruthless, but because he does not support Yuan Shang. We will pay back for our detailed work within Yuan Jun. Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang compete for the position of Jizhou Mu. Each faction has its own reasons.
Supporters, Yuan Shao could not make a decision, so there were many factions within Yuan's army and they were at odds with each other. This is why Guo Tu did not rescue Yuan Shang."
"Is there such a thing?"
Liu Bei frowned and suddenly remembered his sons Liu Feng and Liu Hou. These two were legitimate sons, one was fourteen years old and the other was eleven years old. The two brothers did not seem to be very close at ordinary times because Liu Feng did not like to take care of Liu Hou.
I guess it would not be a good thing if the two sons take over the throne in the future.
What's more important is that he also has several concubines. Among them, Liu Yong is extremely smart. He is already like a young adult at the age of nine. He is familiar with scriptures and has learned civil and martial arts. He is among the best in Taishan Academy and is quite a good person.
virtuous.
Hearing that Yuan Shao's inability to decide on the issue of heirs had led to many factions within Yuan's army, Liu Bei couldn't help but worry about whether his future heirs would also be divided.
"What are you thinking about, brother?"
Chen Mu saw his brows furrowed and could understand what he was thinking with just a quick guess.
When Liu Bei saw him, he suddenly laughed and said happily: "I have my fourth brother here, why should I worry about this? Fourth brother, who do you think among my heirs will be able to take on big responsibilities in the future?"
In the Qingzhou Army, if Liu Bei's sons get support from each other's generals and counselors, nothing big will happen.
Only if he can get the support of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Chen Mu, then this person will definitely become the heir.
Because Liu Bei believed that the choice of his three brothers was correct.
Chen Mu smiled and said: "Brother wants to throw the issue of future heirs to me, but I actually don't know. They haven't determined yet, and it's hard to see their abilities and personalities. Liu Feng, Liu Hou, and Liu Yong are all my disciples, and I don't know.
I won’t be biased, but if I really have to choose, I still have to wait until they grow up before making a judgment.”
"Um."
Liu Bei nodded and looked at the enemies outside the camp again.
If we think about these things now, we are actually thinking too far. If Yuan Shao cannot be eliminated, it is still unclear whether he can continue to dominate in the future. Therefore, the top priority right now is to eliminate Yuan Shao.