Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1187 Night Attack
After Li Yan and Fei Guanmian sent the messenger away, they looked at each other. They knew that if they went up the mountain at this time, they would most likely never be able to come down.

As time passed, they could already see soldiers on the mountain groping their way down the mountain in small groups, with flags waving, which was a signal to urge the Yizhou soldiers to go up the mountain.

Seeing that Li Yan still didn't move, Fei Guan couldn't help but ask, "Zheng Fang, what should we do now?"

Li Yan looked up at the moon in the sky and said, "Bin Bo, you could have stayed in Yizhou safely, but now you have to follow the army. Do you regret it now?"

Fei Guan smiled bitterly and said, "Don't make fun of me. Others can still stay in Chengdu, but I can't."

"I am using this excuse to come out to protect my life. Otherwise, if I stay in Chengdu, I might lose my life any day."

"I came to the army to protect myself, but I didn't expect that I was abandoned in Yizhou and I am still abandoned here. It can be said to be extremely ridiculous."

Fei Guan's identity was not ordinary in Yizhou because he was Liu Zhang's son-in-law.

Fei Guan's aunt was Liu Zhang's mother. Because of the friendship between the two families, Liu Zhang married his daughter to him. It can be seen that Fei Guan's status in Yizhou was very special before.

The status of the Fei family in Yizhou was also extremely transcendent, and many famous officials came from it. Fei Yi in later generations was the nephew of Fei Guan.

Given Fei Guan's family background, if nothing unexpected had happened, he should have lived a wealthy and prosperous life in Yizhou. However, this was disrupted by the Wei army's entry into Sichuan and the surrender of Yizhou.

Xiahou Yuan led a large army and, with the assistance of Le Jin and Sima Yi, attacked Chengdu, forcing Liu Zhang to surrender. Although Xiahou Yuan said that he would let bygones be bygones, for the sake of Cao Wei's rule in Yizhou, he would never let Liu Zhang stay in Yizhou. So, Xiahou Yuan sent troops to escort Liu Zhang and his family members to Xudu.

This method is exactly the same as the one used to deal with Liu Cong and his mother, which is to minimize the influence of the former lord in the local area to prevent him from being used by evil forces.

Liu Zhang was forced to set off due to the situation, leaving behind a bunch of relatives in awkward situations. Only Liu Zhang and his direct descendants moved to Xu Du. There were too many other relatives, and Xiahou Yuan could not drive them all away, so he put them aside.

Fei Guan naturally understood the reason. As a relative with a close relationship with Liu Zhang, if he did nothing, he would probably have to spend the rest of his life in his own mansion.

But Fei Guan was an ambitious man. After much thought, he made a decision that went against his ancestors.

Take refuge with Xiahou Yuan.

This was undoubtedly a good move. When the gentry in Yizhou were all watching, Fei Guan's public stance undoubtedly set a good example. Xiahou Yuan was overjoyed and arranged a military post for Fei Guan.

At the same time, Fei Guan's good friend Li Yan also served as a guard general and commanded the Yizhou soldiers in Xiahou Yuan's army.

Li Yan was from Nanyang. He previously served as the magistrate of Zigui County in Jingzhou. Because Cao's army attacked Jingzhou, he fled to Liu Zhang and was appointed as the magistrate of Chengdu County, where he became famous.

He and Fei Guan, who was from Jiangxia, were both from the Jingzhou School. They both had very high standards, and most people were not as discerning as them. Li Yan, in particular, had a bad temper, but the two of them got along surprisingly well.

Fei Guan knew that Li Yan was somewhat resistant to the Wei army and had resisted Cao Cao's rule when Jingzhou was attacked, so he fled to Yizhou. But as to why he later defected to Xiahou Yuan, Fei Guan did not know the reason. But he could understand from the other party's few words that Li Yan was obviously ambitious.

Now Fei Guan sees that going up the mountain is dangerous, so he is hesitant, but military orders are hard to disobey. Now he is on the battlefield. If he violates military discipline, no matter whose son you are, you will lose your head!

Now Fei Guan could only pin his hopes on Li Yan, wanting to see if he had any ideas. Facing Fei Guan's expectant gaze, Li Yan said, "There is a way, but it requires some risk."

Fei Guanxi said: "As long as there is a way, it's better than going to die!"

After hearing this, Li Yan said, "Okay, if that's the case, let's take a gamble."

He called the messenger and said to him, "Go to the mountain and tell him that we have found traces of the enemy in the woods below the mountain. I will lead my troops to chase them now."

After the messenger left, Li Yan went to mobilize the soldiers. Fei Guan followed behind and said, "So the Zhengfang side has this trick. It was a false alarm for me!"

"How many people are there across the way?"

Li Yan shook his head and whispered, "I don't know either."

"But we'd better find it, otherwise we'll be in big trouble."

Fei Guan finally reacted and opened his eyes wide in surprise. After all this time, he realized that Li Yan was faking military orders. If he was discovered, he would be executed by military law!
Facing Fei Guan's surprised look, Li Yan said calmly: "I told you, this method is a bit risky."

Fei Guan was about to roll his eyes. This was more than just an adventure; it was simply courting death!

Li Yan said, "So we have to find the enemy's traces in the shortest possible time."

"If we can't find it, we'll die."

Fei Guan was helpless. He was now on the same boat with Li Yan, and it was too late to withdraw. The two men sent out all their soldiers to search the mountain path below the mountain. Tens of thousands of Yizhou soldiers were already exhausted. Due to military orders, they could only curse in their hearts and spread out to the distance, trying to find traces of the enemy.

When this news reached Lu Xun who was lying in ambush in the distance, his first reaction was, could it be that the plan of this evening's action had been leaked by a traitor?
Because Li Yan's bet was correct, Lu Xun was really planning to launch a surprise attack at night.

In fact, this strategy is understandable. After all, it is the most effective way to attack the Wei army. Moreover, Xiahou Yuan probably guessed some signs, so he took countermeasures in advance.

However, because the enemy had not been discovered yet, Xiahou Yuan adopted a relatively conservative approach, which was to preserve his main force and let the Yizhou army act as bait and go up the mountain to attract the enemy.

But he didn't guess that Li Yan did not play by the rules at all. He actually used false military intelligence as an excuse and openly left the most dangerous hill.

Xie Jing, a soldier under Lu Xun, said, "Commander-in-chief, the enemy is almost finding our ambush site. What should we do?"

"If the two armies meet, our fire plan will fail!"

Xie Jing was from Shanyin, Kuaiji, and was of the same clan as Madam Xie, the original wife divorced by Sun Quan. Madam Xie had nowhere to live after being divorced, and Xie Jing's family was also suppressed by Sun Quan, so he simply found an opportunity, took his clansmen to the north to Shouchun, and took refuge with Lu Xun, with whom he had a previous relationship.

Xie Jing already had the talent to lead an army. After Lu Xun met and examined him, he was very satisfied and made Xie Jing a military officer. Now, when he heard Xie Jing's question, he said decisively: "We can't wait like this."

"Pass on my order, the ambush troops will immediately launch an attack, defeat the searching enemy as quickly as possible, and set the mountain on fire once you get to the foot of the mountain!"

After hearing this, Xie Jing hurriedly followed Lu Xun out and issued the order together, saying at the same time: "It will take time to light the mountain fire. What if the enemy resists and there is no time to light it?"

Lu Xun said decisively: "Take out all the rockets and fire them all!"

"No need to hold back, now is the time for the Rockets to perform at their best!"

After hearing this, Xie Jing ordered his soldiers to take out all the stored rockets and said to Lu Xun: "General, it is easy to get lost in the dark. I have surveyed the route in advance and am willing to go there in person to defeat the enemy!"

Lu Xun thought for a moment, then nodded heavily and said, "Okay!"

"I'm waiting for your good news!"

Xie Jing bowed, gathered thousands of troops, and marched directly in the direction of the Wei army. Lu Xun led the remaining Jin army and attacked the direction of the Yizhou army's search alone, hoping to support Xie Jing.

Not long after, overwhelming shouts of killing arose, and the Jin army charged into the exhausted Yizhou army with great bravery.

Fei Guan didn't expect that Li Yan's guess would come true, there were really ambushes on the opposite side!
But his joy did not last long, because the enemy's offensive was too fierce. After just one encounter, the Yizhou soldiers were on the verge of defeat!

He hurriedly moved towards Li Yan, but saw that the other party was giving orders. After listening, Fei Guan asked in surprise: "The positive side is going to shrink its defense?"

"If we do this, the enemy will probably break through and surround us, right?"

Li Yan said slowly: "No."

"Their target should be the main force on the mountain."

Fei Guan was even more surprised. "What the affirmative side means is..."

Li Yan turned his head and looked towards the mountain. "It's normal that we can't stop them, but if the main force can't stop them, then that's their problem."

"If we lose, we can only blame them for their incompetence."

Fei Guan remained silent. Xiahou Yuan used the Yizhou soldiers as bait, and Li Yan used the main force of the Wei army as pawns. What should be said about these two people?
Moreover, it was Xiahou Yuan who figured things out afterwards. Wouldn't he punish Li Yan?

Li Yan seemed to see through Fei's thoughts and said, "Then we have to see if that person can get through this difficult time."

Fei Guan was completely speechless. Li Yan was really brave.

Xiahou Yuan was leading his troops to retreat from the mountain. When he first heard Li Yan's report that the enemy was discovered and rushed to search, he felt unhappy. Why did they discover it during the change of guard instead of earlier?
Do you think you are so gullible?
So he decided to go and check the situation himself. If Li Yan dared to cheat him, Xiahou Yuan would not mind killing him to establish his authority.

But before he reached halfway up the mountain, fighting broke out at the foot of the mountain. Seeing fires everywhere in the dark and shouts of killing coming from all directions, Xiahou Yuan urged his soldiers to kill quickly while muttering in his heart, was Li Yan really telling a lie?

As the shouting and screaming were getting closer, Xiahou Yuan couldn't rush down the mountain, so he slid down the hillside sideways. As a result, he heard noises coming from all directions. Hundreds of long fire snakes rose from the surrounding woods.

Xiahou Yuan knew that these were the Jin army's fire arrows, but the difference from before was that these fire snakes were not facing the sky, but diagonally towards the woods at the foot of the mountain!
After the rocket fell into the woods, it ignited the grass and trees in the four states as soon as it landed. The fire grew bigger and bigger, and hundreds of fire points formed a huge fire circle, encircling the entire foot of the mountain.

Xiahou Yuan knew that there was trouble as soon as he saw it, and at the same time he was extremely angry. Why did the Yizhou soldiers at the foot of the mountain easily allow so many enemy troops to rush to the foot of the mountain?
(End of this chapter)