Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1473 Encounter
Wen Qin and Niu Jin led the cavalry out of Yiling and headed straight for Dangyang. Sima Yi stood on the top of the city wall and thought for a long time, then sent away the people around him, leaving only Du Xi, and asked: "What do you think is the possibility of them stopping Zhao Yun?"

Du Xi hesitated for a moment and said, "Not many. The mobilization capacity of the Jin army is far superior to that of the Wei State. Even if we fight to the death to kill some of their cavalry this time, there will be a steady stream of cavalry coming from behind."

"It can be said that when Zhao Yun appeared on the battlefield, our chances of winning were already very low."

"I suggest that we prepare for the worst. If Jin State holds us back, once Hannan State recovers, we will be stuck in a dilemma."

Sima Yi said in a deep voice: "What's your plan?"

"We can neither advance nor retreat. Sooner or later, Yizhou will be conquered by the Jin army. What shall we do then?"

Du Xi's eyes flashed, and he said, "Whatever the general does, Xi will follow him."

Sima Yi pondered in silence. To him, the rise and fall of the Wei Kingdom was not important. The most important thing was to protect himself.

Moreover, I have done my best for the State of Wei over the years. I can't let myself die with the State of Wei, right?

Over there, Wen Qin and Niu Jin led the cavalry all the way to Dangyang City to meet Wang Shuang.

Wang Shuang came out to greet them and said, "Shuang failed the general's trust and lost Changbanpo. Now Zhao Yun is leading the cavalry on the opposite side, and he is always on the move. I have no idea where he is going."

Wen Qin thought for a while and said, "The enemy will definitely not use cavalry to attack the city. Their purpose is to delay us. What we need to do is to find them out and use the cooperation between cavalry and infantry to consume their cavalry so that we can surround Maicheng again."

"But the Jin army's intelligence and reconnaissance here are much better than ours, so it's very difficult just to find them."

Niu Jin said, "This is easy. We just need to burn a few villages and the Jin army will come to rescue us."

"When the time comes, you will wait in the city and watch me deliver the message, and then rush out in one fell swoop, which will naturally make them take the bait."

Wen Qin and Wang Shuang looked at each other and thought that although this was a solution, weren't they afraid of provoking the other side's anger?

Wen Qin thought for a moment and said, "The general also transferred Wei Ping and Fei Yao at the same time. We must at least wait until they arrive before we can make arrangements."

Niu Jin said, "Counting the days, Wei Ping and his men will arrive in two days. The cavalry from the other side will probably arrive around this time. If we wait for them to arrive before taking action, they may have already left."

"I will go out of the city to rob for two days, which will be a good opportunity to attract the Jin army. Then we can surround them unexpectedly and leave them nowhere to escape!"

Wang Shuang and Wen Qin listened and discussed for a while, and agreed with Niu Jin's idea, so they advised: "General, be careful on the road. If you meet Zhao Yun early, you must retreat immediately."

Niu Jin agreed readily but did not take it seriously in his heart. He was also from Cao's camp. He thought that Zhao Yun's great power in Cao's camp was ten years ago. In recent years, apart from dealing with the Hu people in the north, he did not make much achievements against the Wei State. As long as he was careful to keep a distance from him and did not fight him head-on, what could he do to him?

At that moment, Niu Jin led more than 300 cavalrymen out of the city and sent out a dozen cavalrymen to scout in various directions. When they encountered the Jin army, they immediately sent back a warning.

These spies were dozens of miles away from the main force, which gave them enough time to react. However, Niu Jin did not expect that after his main force had been marching towards Changbanpo for most of the day, they suddenly discovered that the scouts who had fallen behind had lost contact.

At this moment, Niu Jin panicked, because he suddenly realized that it was very likely that the rear passage had been cut off by the Jin army!

If the main force of the Jin army appeared in the rear, Niu Jin's response would be to immediately move to the front and flanks to avoid the pursuit of the Jin army, and then find a way to return to Dangyang.

But the biggest trouble now is that Niu Jin doesn't know the direction of his retreat. Is there another main force of the Jin army waiting for him? What if the Jin army behind him deliberately set up a false formation to let him escape into the encirclement?
This is not the most terrifying thing. What if there are Jin troops in four directions and he has no way to escape?
Niu Jin broke out in a cold sweat instantly. He warned himself not to panic. The most important thing now was how to preserve the manpower and escape!
After much deliberation, he decisively ordered the entire army to turn around and retreat directly to Dangyang.

He had a good idea. He was only fifty or sixty miles away from Dangyang, and it would only take half a day to get back. Even if he was blocked by the Jin army on the way, the Wei army in Dangyang could come to rescue him. By then, even if the Jin army had cavalry, their number would definitely not be able to compete with the Wei army in Dangyang city!
Under the leadership of Niu Jin, the Wei cavalry retreated in a panic without even having time to burn down a single village, looking as terrified as a dog that has lost its home.

However, when they finally returned to Dangyang after a day of traveling, and saw the outline of Dangyang City in the twilight, Niu Jin and his cavalry were all stunned.

Because Dangyang City had been surrounded by an unknown number of Jin troops, the Jin soldiers outside the city were digging trenches and setting up catapults, while thousands of cavalry were galloping around the moat.

When Niu Jin saw this scene, he felt bitter in his mouth. Where did this come from? However, he did not have time to hesitate. The scouts of the Jin army had already discovered the cavalry. Immediately, several fireworks exploded above Niu Jin's troops. Seeing the signal, the Jin cavalry immediately turned around and rushed over.

Niu Jin saw at least two cavalry units coming from both sides, and after a moment's hesitation, he immediately led his men to flee in panic the way they came. However, before he could run for half a minute, a general stood in the road ahead and shouted, "I am Zhao Zilong from Changshan. Dismount and surrender immediately!"

Niu Jin had no intention of fighting any longer, and hurriedly took his subordinates to break out and escape under the cover of night. He turned around and shot arrows as he fled, trying to stop Zhao Yun from chasing him.

Zhao Yun rode his horse in pursuit, drew out his longbow, aimed accurately, and shot an arrow at Niu Jin's back, killing him under his horse. The remaining Wei cavalry fled in panic, and many of those who wanted to resist were surrounded and killed by the Jin cavalry.

Zhao Yun looked at the Wei cavalry who were obviously veterans of many battles. They resisted fiercely and fought to the death in the face of surrender. However, they were restricted by the horses under their crotch and were eventually surrounded and killed by the Jin army. Even so, they still caused considerable casualties to the Jin cavalry.

Zhao Yun came to his senses and realized that these people were probably the only remaining elite Tiger and Leopard Cavalry when Wei State fled to Yizhou. They no longer had suitable horses and could only ride Yizhou horses to fight. It could be said that they had finally found their destination.

At this time, Wenqin and Wang Shuang in Dangyang City also had extremely ugly expressions on their faces, because as soon as Niu Jin left, a large number of Jin troops appeared behind him. After all, they arrived at the foot of Dangyang City and cut off the way to the city.

Judging from the direction they were coming from, they were not coming from the northeastern direction of Maicheng and Changbanpo, otherwise the Wei army would have been alerted long ago. Instead, they were coming from the northwest through Jingshan, going around to the direction of Linju, and without even taking the city, they rushed over to surround Dangyang!
Wen Qin looked unhappy and said, "The speed at which the Jin army is mobilizing troops is abnormal. Even if they recruit soldiers from along the Han River, it is impossible for them to disembark from Mamai City so quickly, unless..."

Wang Huan said, "Unless they send troops directly from Xiangyang, and much earlier than the fleet arrives!"

Wen Qin gritted his teeth and said, "That's it. They actually risked being defeated one by one and sent out soldiers in advance!"

Read more latest popular novels at 6.9*shuba!

The two guessed correctly. When Lu Xun led his troops to station in Nanyang, Jingzhou, he used Xinye and Wancheng as rotation sites for reserve troops to continuously replenish troops from Shangyong, Fangling to Hanzhong.

When he personally led his troops to Khan, although he did not think it was unlikely that the Wei army would be able to capture Yizhou, he still placed Liu Ye, the then deputy governor, in Xinye to let him take action as the opportunity presented.

When Baidi City was captured by the Wei army, Liu Ye realized that something might happen in Jingzhou, so he urgently mobilized troops from Jianghuai. Zhao Yun's thousands of cavalry were also mobilized by him, otherwise they would not have joined the fleet so quickly.

Liu Ye himself was accompanied by generals such as Zhang Xun and Qin Yi. They were very familiar with the Jianghuai region and quickly led their troops from Xinye to Xiangyang, then crossed the river into Jingshan, intending to attack the flank of the Wei army.

Previously, as the Guanzhong area was taken, the Heishan area lost its strategic significance, so the Heishan Army was disbanded. Zhang Xun retained the most elite group, and together with Qin Yi, they marched from Jingshan together with the recruited Jianghuai soldiers.

These soldiers were very familiar with mountain marching, so Zhang Xun quickly passed through Jingshan and waited near Linju until he received Zhao Yun's order from Changbanpo. Then he hurriedly marched to the city of Dangyang to cooperate with Zhao Yun to form suppression.

This time, the two men brought almost all the troops in Xinye, including more than 10,000 infantrymen alone. However, Wei Ping and Fei Yao of the Wei army had not arrived yet, and the Wei army in Dangyang could not confront them head-on and could only respond by defending the city.

Unfortunately, Niu Jin's army was killed purely by coincidence. Wang Shuang and Wenqin knew that Niu Jin might not come back, so they had to bite the bullet and go to Shouchun. The cavalry brought by Wenqin had to wait in the city in a very frustrated manner.

Zhao Yun met Zhang Xun and Qin Yi and said, "The Wei army has reinforcements. You are responsible for besieging the city, and I will be responsible for providing assistance."

"Over in Maicheng, Commander Lu has personally led his troops to rescue. In just two or three days, the Jin army will arrive. Before that, we just need to hold back the Wei army!"

Not to mention that Zhang Xun and Qin Yi received orders, Maicheng was also caught in a fierce battle at this moment because Lu Xun arrived with Xu Sheng.

Guan Ping had been almost defeated by the Wei army and the city was almost lost. He also heard that Guan Yu was injured, but the two sides were separated by the Wei army and he was unable to respond. This made him very angry. Now that he saw the reinforcements coming, he personally led his troops to fight and dispersed the Wei army that surrounded Maicheng.

He was about to lead his troops in pursuit, but Lu Xun sent someone to stop him and said, "I heard that General Yunchang was seriously injured this time. He is now in Nanjun, 200 miles downstream. I sent 50 warships to help the general open up the waterway. Now the two sides will meet up, which is the best strategy."

Guan Ping heard this and clasped his fists and said, "Thank you very much. I will always remember your help!"

Lu Xun said: "General, be careful along the way. Sima Yi is cunning, be careful not to fall into his trap."

Guan Ping did not take it seriously and immediately led his troops on board the ship and headed towards Jiangling.

(End of this chapter)