Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 431 Switching sides in battle

The two armies lined up to fight. In addition to the bravery of the enemy's and our own soldiers, the factor that determined victory or defeat was also the general's own ability.

Among the many abilities, battlefield reading ability is particularly critical.

Northern surprise generals such as Guan Yu and Zhang Liao were successful because of their strong battlefield situation. Guan Yu's white horse beheaded Yan Liang, and Zhang Liao's white wolf defeated Wu Huan, both of which are one of their masterpieces.

Macro strategic layout is not Guan Yu's specialty, but micro tactics are second to none.

To lure Cao Ren into his trap, if he cannot defeat him with his own troops, but still needs to use Lü Meng's troops, then he is underestimating Guan Yu.

Guan Yu chose to fight at Mankou because he saw a terrain that was beneficial to himself but disadvantageous to the enemy.

From the east and west, the terrain of Mankou is surrounded by mountains and rivers; from the north and south, its terrain is wide in the south and narrow in the north.

Therefore, when Cao Ren was in formation, he sent Nanxiang Governor Fu Fang to lead state and county troops to seize the gentle slopes of the mountains on the west side, while Niu Jin led his elite troops to form formations on the gentle terrain to fight against the Southern Han Dynasty. Cao Ren's arrangement indeed blocked the Han army's attack in the early stage of the battle.

Although this arrangement is good, if any one of them is defeated, it will cause a chain reaction. Especially once the west side is defeated, the gentle slopes of the mountains are occupied by the Southern Han, and the Han soldiers are condescending, Niu Jin's troops will inevitably retreat.

After a long battle, Guan Yu had an insight into the changes in the situation in the gentle slope mountains to the west, and found that the state and county soldiers commanded by Fu Fang were not very effective in fighting, and because they were stationed on the gentle slope, they were far away from the other parts of the army.

Since Cao Ren had such a flaw, Guan Yu naturally sent Liu Zan, his most powerful general, across the mountains and forests to attack Fu Fang's troops stationed in the mountains.

Liuzan is nearly nine feet tall, with a burly body and thick beard. Because I have lived in Kuaiji since I was a child, the weather is hot and exposed to wind and sun, and my skin is quite dark.

Wearing a fish scale armor with thick armor leaves, holding a sword and shield. Because of the shadows of the mountains and forests, his burly figure was very intimidating.

In order to win with one hit, it will create a surprise-like effect. Liu Zan decided to climb the mountain from the side while Fu Fang's attention was attracted by Meng Da and Guan Ping.

Under the command of Liu Zan, nearly two thousand elite warriors, armed with strong weapons, walked among the shadows of the mountains and forests.

When Guan Yu conquered the mountains and crossed the mountains, he collected tens of thousands of people from the mountains and crossed the mountains and used them as his elite troops. As wars broke out frequently, many people in Jiushan suffered casualties. Fortunately, there were many Shanyue people left behind. Guan Yu selected 2,000 of them as elites and gave them to the fierce general Liuzan to command them.

For these mountaineers, climbing over mountains and ridges is like walking on flat ground. Today's sprint down the small slope is really not that difficult.

Running to the slope, the Wei soldiers stationed on the gentle slope discovered Liu Zan's troops and couldn't help shouting in panic, shouting "enemy attack".

Then, dozens of Wei army crossbowmen appeared first and shot arrows randomly, as if they wanted to drive back everyone.

The Shanyue soldiers did not panic, held up their shields, and rushed towards the gentle slope at a faster pace. The companions who followed held the already strung crossbows and pulled the crossbow machine. The crossbow bolts shot out of the air and shot down several Wei army crossbowmen.

A small number of crossbowmen were suppressed. Liuzan was worried that a large number of soldiers would come to help. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he stepped up hard, three steps at a time, and rushed up the gentle slope.

The figure kept moving, and with an angry roar, Liu Zan used his high-pitched throat to shout: "Kill!"

Shouting in support, the light of the sword flew up like a sword. Liu Zan directly smashed the helmet and bones of a Wei soldier in front of him, and split his face into pieces. The white nose bones were exposed, and his left eye was blinded, and there was hot blood. Flying out.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a cold light coming from the left. Liu Zan blocked the incoming sword with his shield, then waved the Huanshou sword in his hand and chopped down the Wei soldiers with one strike.

In a few breaths, Liu Zan took the lead and killed two Wei soldiers.

Seeing the bravery of their own general, the Shanyue soldiers were in high spirits. With spears and knives in hand, they rushed into the square formation of Wei soldiers. As the swords and axes were swung, blood splattered. The Wei soldiers were either dead or running away, and their morale was horrified.

With his sergeants joining the battle, Liu Zan stood at a high place and could see the battlefield situation clearly. The two armies of Niu Jin and Zhou Cang were fighting inseparably. In order to cover Liu Zan, Guan Ping led his cavalry into the narrow area between Niu Jin and Fu Fang, and got into a fight with Wei Qi.

There were about 5,000 people in Fu Fang's tent, and a lot of his attention was attracted by Meng Da and Guan Ping. There were only about a few hundred troops left to guard the west side. Fu Fang seemed to have reacted now, and brought the extra troops in the formation to support him, trying to stop his troops.

However, the Shanyue soldiers who had experienced hundreds of battles could not be dealt with by ordinary state and county soldiers, and their strength was still sparse.

Even Guan Yu was amazed by Liu Zan's military strategy. In order to completely defeat Fu Fang's troops, Liu Zan picked up a sharp ax and joined the battlefield with Zuo Zuo.

The spear flew, and with the sound of "whooshing" in the air, Liu Zan swung his ax and struck the Wei soldier on the shoulder.

"Crack!"

Under the tremendous force, the shoulder blade was broken in half, the ax was cut directly from the shoulder to the armpit, the arm fell directly to the ground, and bright red blood spurted out.

"what!"

The soldiers of Wei let out a shrill cry, and the shrill screams could be clearly heard even among the thousands of people fighting in the chaos. The Wei soldiers who fell to the ground were painfully beaten to death amidst wailing sounds.

There were several arrows stuck in Liuzan's fish scale armor, and the armor was soaked with blood, making it look cruel and frightening.

Wei Jun's momentum was greatly reduced!

Fu Fang and the people around him were overwhelmed by Liu Zan's courage and the danger of being surrounded on three sides.

Fu Fang looked timid. He was not a pure warrior. He was just the governor of Nanxiang County and served as a civilian leader.

In the Northern Wei Dynasty, soldiers and horses were divided into two types, one was the state and county soldiers, and the other was the central soldiers.

The generals of the state and county soldiers are none other than the prefects of various counties and the governor of that state. The person who commands the central army is the general appointed by Cao Cao.

For example, during the Northern Expedition of the Shu-Han Dynasty, the Yongzhou troops alone were not enough to defeat Zhuge Liang, so Zhang He was often sent to lead troops to rescue Guanzhong or Longyou. Since Zhuge Liang's death, Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition was far less threatening than during Zhuge Liang's time, and he only sent out troops to defend Longyou against Shu.

Therefore, it is difficult to say that a county governor like Fu Fang has outstanding strategic abilities.

Now that Zhong Mengda's plan was going deep alone, he was already filled with fear. But now he was on a higher level, facing a three-party siege. The enemy invaders were so brave, which made him even more frightened. "Who is this? Is this Guan Yu?" someone asked in a trembling voice.

"no!"

Fu Fang swallowed his saliva and said, "Guan Yu is sitting in charge of the central army, how can he dispatch it?"

"How can a water thief be so brave?"

"What should I do now, Mr. Fu?"

Everyone was frightened and asked questions.

"Liu Zhengming is here, why don't you surrender quickly!" Liu Zan shouted loudly.

When Liu Zan called out his name, the Shanyue Army had already wedged itself deeply into the rear group, crushing the Nanxiang County soldiers with overwhelming force. Although many soldiers fought with bravery, they could not withstand the strong armor and outstanding martial arts of the Shanyue soldiers. The sergeants sent before had been defeated.

"General Chariot and Cavalry has sent sergeants to support us!"

Someone saw Cao Ren sending a troop towards the mountains for reinforcements and shouted loudly.

Then came the Shanyue soldiers, driving the defeated Wei soldiers, destroying the military formation everywhere, causing a chain reaction, and the entire military formation was disintegrated. Not only did Liuzan rush in, Meng Da also led his sergeants to break through the formation.

"The enemy has broken through the formation and can't hold it anymore!"

"Master Fu, retreat immediately!"

Between retreating and fighting, Fu Fang had many doubts in his heart.

Looking at the overwhelming defeat of his own army, and the unstoppable Liu Zan and his Shanyue soldiers.

Fu Fang hesitated for a moment and suddenly said: "Cao Renzhong Mengda's plan to fake surrender and lead his troops to advance lightly, our army's defeat is certain. The journey is long and the mountain road is rugged, so we may not be able to escape. Now our army has fought hard to reach this point. I have lived up to the emperor’s favor.”

"Now our army has been defeated and is surrounded on three sides. For our important plan, we must surrender to the Han army. Guan Yu defeated Cao Ren and entered Nanxiang with victory. We can put it to good use!"

As the governor of Nanxiang, Fu Fang is not an idiot. In this situation, his troops were defeated and the army was destined to be defeated here. If he does not jump ship and surrender at this time, his treatment will be different when he is captured.

Cao Ren led the troops in Jing and Xiang to be defeated, leaving Jingzhou empty, and his Nanxiang County was the first to bear the brunt. If Guan Yu further attacks Jingzhou, he will be of great use in the future as the current governor of Nanxiang.

"Surrender to Guan Yu?"

Someone questioned, but when they saw the Han army that was about to kill them, they changed their words and said: "Liu Gong is the most popular in the world, and Guan Junhou is so powerful that he can surrender!"

In a few breaths, Fu Fang and his men reached an agreement.

In order to avoid being injured by the Han army, they shouted loudly, saying: "The governor of Nanxiang surrenders to Guan Junhou!"

"The governor of Nanxiang returns and surrenders to the Lord Guan!"

……

After more than a dozen shouts, both Han and Wei sides on the battlefield knew that Fu Fang surrendered to Guan Yu.

In the middle army, Guan Yu heard that Fu Fang had surrendered to him. He stroked his beard and laughed, saying: "The traitor general has surrendered before the battle, and the enemy army has been shaken. Now Cao Ren is gone!"

"Drum beat, the whole army attacks!"

"promise!"

Compared with Guan Yu's happiness, Cao Ren was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood.

If Fu Fang persists for a few more times, it won't be like this when the follow-up troops arrive. Now, as Guan Yu said, he is about to die!

Cao Ren cursed angrily: "Fu Fang is a thief!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Hu Xiu said in an urgent tone: "General, our army was ambushed by the enemy. Fu Fang surrendered before the battle, so we should withdraw immediately!"

"If our army is destroyed, Jingxiang will be empty!"

"Mengda!"

"Fu Fang!"

Cao Ren bit his gums tightly and said resentfully: "I will kill him from now on!"

With that said, Cao Ren looked deeply at the 'Guan' banner and ordered: "Ming Jin withdraws his troops and lets Niu Jin try to preserve his strength!"

"promise!"

"Ding Ding!"

(End of this chapter)