Five hundred and fiftieth eight chapters clever enemy to fight
"The situation is unpredictable, the left is real and the right is false, and the east is the east and the west is the west."
Back before the war, Yuan Shao sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians south to fight against the emperor. At the same time, he also sent Zhang He, who had been promoted to partial general, to Yecheng to target the flanks that were being harassed by the enemy general Zhang Liao.
Zhang He was a man of resourcefulness and used troops informally. While going south to support, he also heard news about Wei Jun. At that time, Wei Jun was facing enemy forces from the south and southeast. To the south was the bandit general Zhang Liao, led by Zhuge Xuan, the prefect of Hanoi.
There are more than 15,000 soldiers and horses, and in the southeast are more than 10,000 troops led by the powerful general Fan Chou.
The captured general Jiang Qi only had 10,000 troops and less than 20,000 troops plus the defenders in the city. Intimidated by enemies on both sides, Jiang Qi immediately abandoned Neihuang and other peripheral defense lines and went all out to defend the important city of Ye. This strategy was too conservative.
From the beginning, he was criticized by Jushou, the governor of the army, but at this time, it was not him who made the decision in Wei County, but Yuan Shao's beloved third son, Yuan Shang, the shepherd of Jizhou. Yuan Shang was influenced by Yuan Shao and had a skeptical attitude towards Jushou, so
This made Jushou restrained.
After analyzing the situation between the enemy and ourselves, Zhang He decisively proposed the strategy of attacking in the east and attacking in the west. He pointed out in his letter to Yuan Shang: "Although Zhang Liao is strong, most of his troops and horses are Hanoi County soldiers, and Fan Chou's troops are all Liangzhou drought soldiers. If it is necessary to defeat
The enemy should first place suspicious troops outside the city, stop Zhang Liao's army, and then unite his troops to attack south. General Jiang Qi has already withdrawn from Neihuang, and Fan Chou will not be able to predict our return, so there is no defense and it is easy for our army to take advantage of him.
"
As soon as this suggestion came out, it was quickly unanimously agreed by Ju Shou, Shen Pei and others, so Yuan Shang sent two generals, Yin Kai and Han Fan, to strictly guard the city defense. General Liang Qi went out of the camp to pretend that Jiang Qi was bluffing. Jiang Qi led thousands of infantry.
, joined an army of more than 10,000 people with Zhang He and went south at starry night. They met Fan Chou's lieutenant Yang Ang by the Huan River in the north of Neihuang County. Yang Ang was leading the vanguard to cross the river at that time and had no idea of the coming danger.
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"Kill!" Zhang He took the lead in leading hundreds of cavalry to break out of the formation. This was a group of cavalry he recruited from Gongsun Zan's remnants that day. Although they were small in number, they had excellent riding skills. At this time, they rushed to the front of the formation with lightning speed and captured the enemy.
Still halfway across the river, the enemy troops who were not in formation collapsed immediately.
Yang Ang was so horrified that he didn't care to organize soldiers and horses to resist, and hurriedly turned around and jumped back to the pontoon bridge, constantly giving orders to retreat. More than 3,000 people had gathered on the river bank. The general fled, and the rest of the people had no intention of resisting, and some subconsciously
Some turned around and ran back, trampling to death on the pontoon bridge and drowning countless others; some were smarter and ran to both sides along the river bank, but Zhang He ignored him. He led his cavalry alone to clash with left and right in the military formation, with countless shadowy trees rising in the dense forest behind him.
The flags were flying, the shouts of killing were constantly coming, and there seemed to be tens of thousands of soldiers hidden there.
Zhang He immediately rode to the river and saw Yang Ang in the middle of the river urging the people in front of him to move faster, so he casually took off the saddle-carved bow and drew the arrow. At this time, he was far away from Yang Ang and it was difficult to hit him.
The arrow was only meant to intimidate, but it was so powerful that it nailed the wooden stake behind Yang Ang. Yang Ang was startled, and regardless of the fact that he was still some distance away from the shore, he jumped straight into the water and swam towards the shore with a few splashes.
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When Yang Ang fled, he only saw flags waving in the forest, and heard constant shouts of killing behind him. He thought that the main force of the enemy was here. When he staggered to the shore, he looked back in shock, only to find that there were only hundreds of Zhang He and others on the other side.
However, the more than 3,000 soldiers and horses he extradited brought back only a few hundred in a hurry, and the rest were all captured or killed by Zhang He.
Just when Yang Ang was worried and didn't know how to report to Fan Chou, the flags in the forest behind Zhang He immediately separated, and a group of soldiers and horses rushed out, and quickly walked to the shore to clear the battlefield with Zhang He.
"Quick, follow me and report to the general that Yuan Jun's enemy is coming!" There was a hint of happiness in Yang Ang's urging tone.
Jiang Qi on the other side did not let Yang Ang wait long, and immediately chased the defeated soldiers onto the pontoon bridge. At this time, Fan Chou also responded quickly and ordered people to demolish the pontoon bridge, cutting off Jiang Qi's way to cross the river.
"Did you see the banner on the other side?" At night, Fan Chou asked Yang Ang with a dark face: "Our army has been approved by the country and divided its forces to take charge of one side's military affairs. But you failed to make a victory at the beginning and were defeated for a while.
According to military law, I can chop off your head!"
Yang Ang knelt down in fear and said: "General! It was because Zhang He and the other cavalry came too fast that I couldn't deal with them, so I retreated... Please spare my life, general. I will fight tomorrow and I will die for you!"
"You should die today!" Fan Chou was still a little angry, but his tone could not help but soften a little. After all, Yang Ang had served him for many years, he was a close confidant, and a general who dared to fight and was able to fight. He was reluctant to use him to prove his military skills.
Yang Ang kowtowed several times and said hurriedly: "Wei Wei! This battle is unfavorable because of my incompetence. Who knew that Jiang Qi's retreat was just to deceive me, causing our army to lose guard and become lax. I hope the general will forgive me and give me more."
a chance."
Fan Chou paced around impatiently for a few steps, thinking that in the past few years, he had fought in Guandong and had great glory, almost inferior to Zhu Jun. After the emperor's personal expedition, he was transferred to one side. Although there was no clear explanation like Cao Cao's.
Appointed, but in Fan Chou's eyes, how could he compare to Zhang Liao who had just been promoted to general? But now Zhang Liao was marching to Yecheng. He was supposed to be a reinforcement to reverse the situation and take the initiative, but he was defeated by Jiang Qi's trick.
Chaos!
"If Jiang Qi leaves and comes back, who will guard Yecheng? Does Zhang Wenyuan know about this?" Fan Chou muttered in a low voice. He couldn't think clearly why he came, so he simply didn't think about such far-off things and only focused on the present.
. He waved his hand towards Yang Ang and said: "Go and keep an eye on the movement on the other side. Since they like to cheat, there is no guarantee that they won't swim across the river at night. If something goes wrong again this time, just wait!"
Yang Ang shuddered, and hurriedly led his troops to the river with military orders to keep a lookout. He saw the night wind blowing, dark clouds covering the moon, and the river water dark and deep like an ink-colored ribbon. Jiang Qi, Zhang He and other soldiers and horses were on the other side.
The camp has been set up long ago, the bonfire is swaying, the lights in the tent are bright, and there is no other movement.
"A sneeze!" Yang Ang just got up from the cold river water in the afternoon, feeling a little cold. He ordered someone to bring a bowl of warm wine, and while sipping, he thought, such a cold day, such cold water, what would the other side think?
It took a lot of effort to build the pontoon bridge, so where would he have the energy to cross the river and attack at night? Fan Chou was really thinking of ways to punish him.
He wishfully thought that Zhang He and others would not be able to cross the river, but he did not expect that Zhang He was never a stickler for routine. He and Jiang Qi had already selected a few elite infantrymen to swim out in the night. It was the beginning of winter, and the autumn water was gradually disappearing.
Zhang He and others quickly found a place with shallow and gentle water. They carried two people on one horse and ferried two to three thousand people back and forth.
In the second half of the night, Yang Ang suddenly heard a loud noise coming from the camp behind him. He turned around suddenly and saw violent fires rising into the sky. The camp where Fan Chou was located actually burned down, and the culprit was that one.
All the cavalry are galloping on the other side!
"It's Zhang He? How could it be? Where did he cross the river from?" Yang Ang said in shock and anger. He was frightened by the fire and immediately realized that if he couldn't make up for his fault this time, he would definitely not be able to escape later.
Fan Chou's military law, at that time, who cared whether this was his dereliction of duty?
"Kill them all back!" Yang Ang shouted with confidence. He estimated in his heart that if there was a large-scale mobilization of troops and horses on the other side, he would be able to detect it in time. But he didn't. It can be seen that he came back to sneak into the night.
The attacking Zhang He didn't have many troops under his command, but he still had 10,000 troops on his side. As long as he suppressed the panic, the situation could be reversed immediately!
Fan Chou did not place all the task of monitoring the enemy's situation on Yang Ang. He had already told him to be cautious, but Zhang He still took advantage of the opportunity. Fortunately, he only burned the left camp, and he had time to mobilize the entire army to launch a defense.
Zhang He did not give the opponent this chance. He acted according to the opportunity and rushed to the place where the defense was weak and the crowd was panic. Killing was not his main task. He used the flickering of fire and night, as well as the huge momentum caused by his own side to create a panic.
That's the most important thing. This is the most common tactic used by cavalry. He often only leads infantry in battles, but he is also able to lead cavalry with ease. He is no better than the cavalry generals under Gongsun Zan.
Jiang Qi, on the other hand, led the infantry to set fires everywhere in the camp, igniting all the grain, grass and baggage stored in the back. Then, he and Zhang He rode in step by step and joined forces to set foot on the camp.
Fan Chou himself came on horseback with a knife in hand. Zhang He did not respond to the enemy, but deliberately hid in the shadows where the firelight did not shine. It was not until Fan Chou ran into the firelight that he unexpectedly shot a flying arrow. A crowd gathered around Fan Chou noisily.
There was a crowd of people in the crowd, and one of the tall men wearing a douche just happened to move his position, and the cold arrow hit the douche with a 'dang' sound, knocking the tall man off his horse.
This cold arrow frightened Fan Chong into a cold sweat. He did not dare to rashly come out to challenge the opponent's general. He hurriedly moved his horse to hide in the dark to avoid being used as a target in the light. But in this way, Fan Chong, as the general, hid
In a dark place where no one can see, they played into Zhang He's hands. The Xiliang soldiers, who were already panicking and frightened, could not find their general. They thought that Fan Chou had escaped during the night. No matter how powerful the Xiliang soldiers were, they could not summon him.
Full of fighting spirit, they also began to flee in droves.
By the time Fan Chou discovered this phenomenon, it was already too late. He did not dare to come forward to tell everyone, and he could not keep everyone with him to fight against the enemy. Seeing that Yang Ang and other troops were intercepted by Jiang Qi, Fan Chou felt hatred and anger in his heart.
Regretful, he gritted his teeth and fled towards Neihuang with some of the remaining soldiers.
Zhang He breathed a sigh of relief. He and Jiang Qi crossed the river with only two or three thousand people. If Fan Chou had organized his troops, the situation might have been different. Fan Chou only had ten thousand people under his command. Zhang He didn't care how many people he could take to escape.
After Yang Ang's group was eliminated, Fan Chou's few thousand remaining men could not pose any threat to Yecheng.
At this time, Yang Ang burst out with courage and force that was beyond the day. He personally led his troops to attack Jiang Qi's military formation several times, almost breaking the defense line, and joined forces with Fan Chou. In the end, seeing that the situation was not good, he took some guards with him
He mingled with the crowd and tried to escape in the chaos, but failed to escape Jiang Qi's eyes and was captured and killed by him himself.
"Yi Qu, when it comes to the soundness of the troops, none of the people under Yuan Gong's account can compare with you." Zhang He said sincerely. He led his cavalry into the formation and seemed to be invincible. In fact, it was largely because of Jiang Qi's calm arrangement.
Set fire while blocking the light of the organic reinforcements.
Jiang Qi shook his eyebrows and said in an unhurried voice: "You don't need to praise me. There are many people who are better at fighting than me under Mr. Yuan's account. Not to mention others, even you are beyond my reach."
"Those who are good at fighting are easy to gain fame, but those who are good at defense often don't know." Zhang He intended to express his closeness to this unknown general. He whispered: "Yiqu is prudent and has guarded Wei County for many years without making any mistakes.
, how can it be half as good as the general?"
Jiang Qi raised his eyes and looked at Zhang He, and said inexplicably: "I don't like fighting with others. Thanks to Mr. Yuan's personal appointment in these years, we are where we are today. I just want to fight my own battle well. As for Yan and Wen, how arrogant they are is theirs.
thing."
Yan Liang and Zhang He had a quarrel with each other, and Yuan Shao favored Yan Liang several times. Jiang Qi had vaguely heard these rumors. He mistakenly thought that Zhang He's words meant that he wanted to make friends with him and fight against Yan Liang's second general, so he simply and Zhang He
Draw a clear line and don't intend to get involved in these internal conflicts.
Zhang He didn't know if he had misunderstood, so he just smiled and didn't say much.
As the sky gradually grew brighter, the two gathered together more than a thousand surrendered troops, built a pontoon bridge to cross the river, and repaired it in the camp on the other side for a day before turning back north. Yecheng was trapped, and Zhang He and others made plans to attack east and west just to break the enemy's attack.
The situation is like a pincer attack, so even if you win, you don't dare to continue to pursue it in depth.
Fan Chou continued to collect remnant soldiers as he led his troops back, and in the end he only gathered four to five thousand soldiers and horses. Thinking that he had not gained any merit in this battle, but lost his troops and generals, everything inside and outside was lost! He hated Yang Ang so much that he was worried.
He was thinking about how to explain to Dong Cheng, who had high expectations. His face was ugly, but the cronies on the side reminded him without seeing: "General, after the battle is like this, how should I report to the country after waiting for you?"
"How else can you report a victory? How can you boast of a victory in a defeated battle?" Fan Chou cursed, and the confidant shrank his neck in fear, but Fan Chou was so happy that he suddenly became excited: "By the way, victory!"
The cronies around him were all confused. The battle was clearly defeated. How could it be a victory?
Fan Chong called a few capable cronies over in a low voice and ordered: "There are many powerful forts in the suburbs of Neihuang, Fanyang and other places. They gathered troops and food, relied on the Yuan family to rebel, and resisted the king's division. You should be punished! You have been waiting for these few days.
If you refuse to obey me in the conquest, the leader will be the leader, and the food will be the capital. All you need to do is to defeat the bandits. Your Majesty is far away in Qinghe, how can you know the inside story?"
Killing good people and seizing merit, and harassing the countryside were common things that Liangzhou generals like them did a long time ago. However, in recent years, they have returned to the imperial court and been restricted by the system and military laws. They have almost forgotten this old trade. At this time, Fan Chou's subordinates were all from Xiliang.
There is no way for the hard-working soldiers and horses to report anything, not to mention that the powerful people in Neihuang and other places did resist Fan Chou's behavior of arranging food and fodder, so it is understandable to label them as rebellious and rebellious.
On another level, Fan Chou vaguely remembered having a drink with Dong Cheng and talking about the current emperor's cautious attitude towards powerful families. Didn't Dong Cheng get the favor of the Holy Family by defeating a group of small powerful people by clearing Zhanglin's land?
?As long as Fan Chou sent Zhang He and Jiang Qi's army southward and tried his best, he finally waited until Zhang Liao's troops surrounded Yecheng and made the enemy retreat. Then the powerful people in the rear gathered people to cause trouble, which greatly delayed Fan Chou's pursuit. In this way, he could deal with these powerful people.
He became famous as a teacher.
"Is this really going to be okay? The country's military laws are very strict. The Northern and Southern armies are so elite that they don't dare to be arrogant at all under the country's hands..." someone said hesitantly.
"What are you afraid of? The tycoons in Neihuang, Fanyang and other places are all from small families. They are not as good as the Ju clan, Guo clan, Shen clan and other clans. As long as they do things cleanly, who will find out whether they are guilty or not?"
Fan Chou said disapprovingly: "As long as we do the right thing, even Your Majesty will release us lightly."
Seeing how confident he said it, no one had any doubts. They were not people with good military discipline to begin with. They had endured temptation patiently for many years. Now, once Fan Chong opened his mouth, how could they give up so easily?
While commanding the generals to select targets, Fan Chou did not forget to remind him: "In this battle, we need to recruit more troops from various families to form an army. Once recovered, we will still go to Yecheng."