Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 527: Huang Xu’s battle is over
As a general, you must be flexible and know how to advance and retreat.

If you know how to proceed but don't know how to retreat, you will be in danger of winning first and then losing. However, most generals often find it difficult to grasp this scale when pursuing victory.

Since Liu Bei adopted Fa Zheng's strategy, he ordered Huang Quan, governor of the rear army, to lead the rear army.

Cao Zhang didn't know the change, but still sent troops to pursue Feng Xi, Fu Wei, and Pang De's troops.

Huang Quan ordered that whenever he fought with Cao Zhang, he would abandon his baggage and tents and withdraw quickly with his troops. Seeing that the Han army was becoming more and more outnumbered, Cao Zhang wanted to inflict heavy losses on the Han army.

Cao Zhang led his troops to pursue for several days, and had eight or nine major battles with the Han army. The sergeants on both sides were exhausted, but in order to pursue Liu Bei, Cao Zhang ordered the exhausted Wei soldiers to continue the pursuit.

Of course, Cao Zhang was not an ignorant general. In order to motivate his soldiers, he rewarded his subordinates several times. Everyone was happy and willing to follow Cao Zhang in pursuit of the Han army.

Sima Yi has led his army behind Cao Zhang. As long as Cao Zhang can stop the Han army's retreat, the two armies will join together to defeat Liu Bei and severely damage the Han army.

"quick!"

"quick!"

"promise!"

However, the formation of the three armies was not stable until Cao Zhang arrived not far away and was still in formation. The spearmen were in a hurry, the crossbowmen were looking for their positions, and the phalanx looked very loose.

At this time, Cao Zhang was like an unparalleled warrior, killing gods when God blocked him, and killing Buddha when Buddha blocked him. Afterwards, the cavalry became more and more courageous as they fought, and they directly broke through the Han army's infantry formation with Cao Zhang, performing a great show of thousands of cavalry breaking through three formations.

After breaking the formation, Wei Qi immediately saw a group of cavalry surrounded by tooth flags, with the words "General Huang of the North of Han Zhen" written on them, and Huang Quan's figure was vaguely visible in the crowd.

Soon, the Wei army crossed the narrow valley and saw that the two generals Fu and Feng who were being pursued were arranging their troops in a vast area. The troops were divided into three formations, with one or two thousand men each. They had a lot of soldiers and horses. Obviously, they were many. Liu Bei sent additional troops to the rear.

Because they were still in the whole team, the Han army's formation was loose and it was difficult to resist the Wei cavalry charge. Even before the Wei cavalry charge, many Han soldiers were afraid of the cavalry charge and had already retreated and fled.

Cao Zhang's war horses are very powerful. He captured them from Liaodong horses during his expedition to Liaodong. Relying on the speed of a thousand-mile horse, he would turn back from the front to the flanks of the infantry from time to time, waving his whip and shouting to make the soldiers under the tent speed up.

Cao Zhang took the lead and fought bravely.

Wei soldiers cheered up and pursued forward.

"Zhenbei General Huang Quan?"

Cao Zhang was overjoyed when he saw the towering flag. He stopped his men from charging back to the Han army's infantry formation. Instead, he pointed at the tooth flag with his palm and shouted: "The traitor Zhenbei general Huang Quan is in front. He is here for the old revolutionary army." My generals, please follow me and charge to kill them."

He was holding a horse spear, stabbing, tapping and pushing, and he seemed to be in a deserted place in the Han army's formation. Several Han infantry who were not afraid of death attacked him and were killed by him on the spot in an instant. The Han soldiers were so frightened that they fled one after another.

Seeing that the Han army's formation was out of order, Cao Zhang, who had been chasing for so long, was extremely excited. He immediately called on his cavalry to charge forward without waiting for his infantry to form formation.

Cao Zhang even nearly killed Han general Fu Wei during the charge. After almost losing his life, Han general Fu Wei seemed to be frightened out of his courage by Cao Zhang, so he retreated with his bodyguard in defeat.

The general was defeated. How could the infantry try their best to resist Wei Qi? The subordinates mutinied and defeated the soldiers. They abandoned their weapons and disarmed themselves and fled into the mountains, ignoring the other two formations of troops. The formation led by Fu Wei was defeated, and the remaining two Han armies only resisted for a moment, and then fell into chaos.

Now we will catch up with the Han army, kill them one after another, try to hold them back so that the Han army cannot retreat easily, and buy time for Sima Yi.

"The thieves fled in fear. If we catch up now, we will be defeated."

The Wei army's infantry and cavalry were galloping along the road, and Cao Zhang urged and shouted.

Cao Zhang took advantage of the unstable foot formation and led his cavalry directly into the formation. The sharp horse spears in the front row easily pierced the chests and backs of dozens of people. He then drew out his sword and ax and used the momentum of the horses to chop and kill indiscriminately. . In an instant, blood rained down, and broken limbs flew everywhere.

Cao Zhang couldn't help but be anxious, it was going to be dark today. If we cannot catch up with Feng Xi, Fu Wei and other Han troops, we will have to wait until tomorrow. And one night can change a lot of things. The Han army may have to travel all the way, and in order to avoid an ambush, he had no choice but to camp on the spot.

"kill!"

The subordinates shouted wildly and followed Cao Zhang, urging their horses to give chase.

Huang Quan was no small figure. His rank in the Southern Han Dynasty was higher than that of Zheng, and his official position was second only to the generals of the four directions. Today, apart from the governor generals of various places, only Huang Quan has the highest military position. Moreover, during the Northern Expedition, Huang Quan had made great achievements in guarding Liu Bei's flanks, and his name was known to the generals of Cao's army.

In order to pursue Huang Quan, the Wei cavalry stretched their bows and shot arrows from their horses. Unfortunately, the distance was too far. The arrows fell weakly after being shot, and they could not hit the Han cavalry at all.

"follow me!"

When Cao Zhang saw that his subordinates were unable to mount and shoot, he pointed his spear forward and said, "Pursue!"

"嘘嘚~"

Being pursued by the Wei cavalry, the Han cavalry became increasingly frightened and ran away quickly.

Under the dusk setting sun, the cavalry of the Han and Wei dynasties escaped and chased each other, and gradually penetrated deep into the dense bushes and grass.

"Quick! Quick!"

The cavalry stomped on the ground and the cavalry galloped, making a sound like thunder, which scared the wild animals in the mountains and made them scream and run away, and the birds perched on the branches were startled and flew away.

In the blink of an eye, the surrounding trees and shrubs became denser.

One of the current generals galloped to Cao Zhang's side and shouted: "Your Highness, there are dense forests around. To prevent the enemy from ambush, why not wait for the infantry to catch up!" "What are you waiting for?"

Cao Zhang stared at the tooth flag in front of him and shouted: "Wait a moment, Huang Quan will definitely escape. If you allow Huang Quan to gather the defeated army, you will not only miss the great achievement, but also fall short of the success. Capture Huang Quan and capture Liu Bei directly. This is for The merit of a man!"

"Chase!"

Cao Zhang quickened his horse speed and led his cavalry along the Wuguan Road to pursue Huang Quan.

Just as Huang Quan escaped through the rugged mountain road and Cao Zhang led his cavalry to pursue him, hundreds of Han troops slowly ambush from the deep forests and shrubs on both sides of the road.

The Han soldiers all held heavy bows and powerful crossbows, aiming at Cao Zhang and his cavalrymen who were galloping on the road.

"Clang!"

Zhu Huan, who was standing on the hill, saw Cao Zhang entering the ambush site. He clenched the handle of the knife and instantly drew the knife to cut off the red flag beside him.

Before the flag fell, a dull horn sounded in the forest.

"Woo~"

The sudden sound of the horn scared Cao Zhang, who was pursuing him, half to death. He quickly pulled the reins and looked around.

While Cao Zhang was watching, the shouts of killing were loud in the forest, and three thousand strong bows and crossbows were fired simultaneously from the dense grass. Before Wei Qi could react, arrows rained down like raindrops. Wei Qi, who was pursuing forward, suddenly paused. The knight and his horse fell to the ground and could not get up again.

The Wei cavalry on the left and right tried to block the arrows with their swords and spears, but how could they block the dense arrows?
There were endless shouts, panic, and screams. Wei's cavalry were hit by arrows one after another, falling to the ground and wailing. The war horses neighed and screamed. They were stimulated by the arrows and ran wildly, bleeding to death.

Cao Zhang was in the middle of the cavalry. The moment he was ambushed, he dismounted, took off the saddle, used the saddle as a shield, and hid under the horse to avoid the dense arrows.

Wei Qi in the rear wanted to break out of the ambush, but was knocked down by a tripping horse rope, and then arrows were fired at the people who fell to the ground.

In order to ambush Cao Zhang, Huang Quan mobilized 6,000 strong bows and powerful crossbows, and asked 3,000 good archers to use the crossbows to hit him. Hundreds of Wei army riders were unable to escape from the ambush circle under the dense fire of arrows.

After two waves of dense arrow rain, the scene was in a mess. Whether they were horses or riders, they all fell to the ground. They were either wounded and wailing, or they had died in battle.

Cao Zhang was lucky to survive under the attack of arrows. He staggered up on his horse's saddle. Due to the saddle, Cao Zhang's vital part was not injured by the arrow, but unfortunately he was hit by a cold arrow in the thigh.

Cao Zhang looked around, seeing only himself and a dozen Wei soldiers. He couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh. At this time, he finally understood why his father Cao Cao always warned him with Sun Jian's stories.

A general who is greedy for success will eventually be defeated.

The Han soldiers began to emerge from the dense forest and deep grass. The front row held long spears and walked forward slowly; the back row held crossbows and continued to advance. Apparently they were ordered by Huang Quan to capture Cao Zhang alive.

Those surviving Wei cavalrymen who were loyal and brave rushed forward with swords and spears brandished. However, how could they defeat the power of others? They were stabbed to death one by one by the spears in the hands of the Han army, screaming in agony.

Seeing this, Cao Zhang was furious. He raised his saddle and waved his horse, and was about to step forward to fight the Han soldiers.

The arrow came, but he blocked it with his saddle.

The Han soldiers were greedy for merit and rushed forward with a spear, but Cao Zhang stabbed him to death with a spear. Following the gap, Cao Zhang blocked the left and right stabs, and with his extraordinary strength, he killed two Han soldiers one after another.

With such martial arts, the Han soldiers did not dare to look down on Cao Zhang. A dozen Han soldiers around him charged at the same time with spears.

Two fists are no match for four hands. No matter how brave Cao Zhang is, he can't stop the jabs of more than ten people.
The next moment, Cao Zhang was stabbed by more than a dozen long spears. His arms were raised, and the sharp spear points pierced the heavy armor, penetrated deep into his lungs, and pierced his heart.

Looking from a distance, Cao Zhang's body was covered in blood, and hot blood kept pouring out of his body. However, his body was supported by a long stick and he couldn't fall down for a while.

Cao Zhang's mouth was bleeding, and he slowly raised his head to look at the setting sun, and finally closed his eyes unwillingly.

Cao Zhang was extremely brave and capable of fighting tigers, but it was difficult for ordinary generals to defeat him. However, if you rely on bravery to advance suddenly, you will eventually be defeated. In the worst case, you will be defeated and return home, in the worst case, you will be defeated and die.

Cao Zhang, who was in his early thirties, died tragically in Liushan in Zhongfu!

Huang Quan returned to the battlefield and looked at the body of Cao Zhang who died in the battle and the mess on the ground, stroking his short beard and smiling lightly.

Fazheng's strategy was to lure the Wei army into pursuit with a defeat, and to seek danger, set up an ambush so that Cao Zhang would not dare to pursue him again.

Huang Quan was appointed by Liu Bei. Although he adopted Fazheng's strategy, he also added his own plan to use the true defeat of six thousand troops to inflate Cao Zhang's ego. As a bait, he lured Cao Zhang into pursuit, deceived him into the ambush area, and finally killed Cao Zhang.

Now that Cao Zhang has been dealt with, the Wei army may no longer dare to pursue him!

"Somebody come!"

Huang Quan ordered the people around him and said: "Clear the battlefield quickly and retreat to the camp ten miles away."

"promise!"

Although Cao Zhang died in battle, Huang Quan did not dare to be careless. He planned to wait and see the situation of the Wei army, and wait until Liu Bei had led his army to retreat before he could look for an opportunity to withdraw.

(End of this chapter)