I practiced magic in the Three Kingdoms

After Wang Jing entered Yanzhou, he fought wars in the south and the north, drove out the Black Mountain Army in the west, and pacified the people of Qingzhou in the east. He marched non-stop all the way and finally succeeded in suppressing the rebellion.

The entire Yanzhou escaped from danger and regained new vitality because of Wang Jing's arrival. People from all counties and prefectures lined the streets to welcome the royal army with food and drink.

Xun You's sharp eyes fell on Liu Yi, weighing heavily on his shoulders. His words were like a huge hammer, hitting his heart: "My lord is dedicated to suppressing the rebellion, serving the court loyally, and seeking benefits for the people. What he has done is witnessed by heaven and earth."

"How did Zhang Mengzhuo and Zhang Menggao do it?"

Xun You then changed the subject and his tone became fierce: "Who among the people of Yanzhou has not received the kindness of our lord in helping the needy? But how did Zhang Mengzhuo and Zhang Menggao repay us? These two took advantage of our lord's absence in Changyi to secretly mobilize troops and finally defected. Brother Zixiang, tell me, why is this so?"

To surrender and then rebel again is a violation of morality.

Liu Yi was a true gentleman, so he was speechless after hearing what Xun You said, and he could not find any reason to defend the brothers Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao.

Seeing Liu Yi's low spirits and silence, Xun You struck while the iron was hot: "Brother Zixiang, the giant stone cannon has arrived at the front of the battle. My lord is furious because of the betrayal of Zhang Mengzhuo and Zhang Menggao. If it weren't for my efforts to persuade him, after the city was captured, I'm afraid that Wenyang would be slaughtered without a single survivor."

Xun You made up a lie, saying that the giant stone cannon had been transported here, and then made some false threats, threatening to massacre the city.

Unexpectedly, Liu Yi was really scared by him. After weighing the pros and cons in his mind, he found that Wenyang would be difficult to hold no matter what.

Liu Yi, who did not want his subordinates to sacrifice in vain, finally chose to surrender to Wang Jing.

Yay!
When Wang Jing led his army to the outside of the city, the gate of Wenyang City suddenly opened, and the word "Zhang" on the flagpole on the watchtower was replaced with Wang Jing's military flag with the word "Wang".

Xun You went forward to greet Wang Jing with a smile on his face: "My lord, I have fulfilled your command. I have captured Wenyang without bloodshed."

"Haha, before the drums of war even sounded, Gongda had already captured a city and made the first contribution. This move will surely greatly boost the morale of our army."

"This is all thanks to the great power of the Lord. Otherwise, even if You had a silver tongue, it would be difficult to persuade Liu Zixiang to surrender the city."

Xun You smiled modestly. He was a low-key person, so he did not take credit for himself.

Then Wang Jing asked again: "Where is Liu Zixiang?"

"My lord, you must be trying to get inside information about Zhang Miao's army from this person, right? Don't worry, I have already taken care of it."

Xun You had already asked Liu Yi about this, and through his questioning, he had obtained a large amount of intelligence information about Zhang Miao's army: "My lord, the two Zhang brothers have more than 30,000 soldiers, but most of them are local militiamen and so-called wandering knights. Their combat effectiveness is not strong, and they are even vulnerable because they lack famous generals who are good at commanding troops in battle."

More than 20,000 people against 30,000 people, it seems that the number difference is not big.

Not really!

In the era of cold weapons, professional soldiers who had undergone rigorous training and had adequate nutrition could create a huge gap between themselves and local militiamen who were poorly trained and temporarily recruited.

What's more, the recruitment standard for the Shenwu Army formed by Wang Jing starts with warriors at the first level of martial arts, and those above the team leaders are even sharp warriors with martial arts bones, which is a world of difference compared to the combat effectiveness of ordinary soldiers.

The three thousand Shenwu Army could easily sweep away the so-called thirty thousand troops of Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao. The other side had no power to fight back against the elite soldiers of the Shenwu Army.

Therefore, after learning from Liu Yi that there were only 10,000 defenders in Fenggao and most of them were not very strong, Wang Jing immediately ordered his troops to attack along the Wen River and even surrounded Fenggao City.

Jibei, Bo County.

Zhang Chao's face turned scary when he heard that Wenyang surrendered without a fight.

He knew very well that he had to send troops to rescue at this time. Once Wang Jing took Taishan, Jibei would certainly be lost.

The gate of Bo County slowly opened, and eight thousand soldiers filed out of the city and lined up outside the city.

Zhang Chao, who usually appears as a scholar, is now wearing armor and standing in front of everyone. His eyes are full of desolation and melancholy.

It was because he knew very well in his heart that it would be difficult for Bo County to hold on any longer. Even for one day, the soldiers in the city would be almost exhausted.

If Wang Jing mobilized his troops and then launched a thundering attack with the giant stone cannon, Juping County would fall into the hands of the enemy within a day.

To be honest, the Northern Army is currently invincible. Even if he could luckily repel Wang Jing a few times, it would be of no help in turning the tide of the war.

Zhang Chao also did not think that he would lose, and he did not think that his elder brother would lose.

In his opinion, Fenggao City is still in the hands of Dong Fang. As long as Fenggao is not lost, Taishan County will be safe.

The Bo County where he was currently stationed was just a small county town between Taishan County and Jibei County. Its fall or not had nothing to do with the overall situation of Qingyan.

The reason why Zhang Chao chose to mobilize all his forces was because if he won the battle, he wouldn't have to defend, but if he lost the battle, everything would be over.

Therefore, even Zhang Chao's men suggested to go around and capture Wenyang to cut off the food supply of the Shenwu Army.

Zhang Chao hopes to turn Wenyang into Wang Jingjun’s grave.

At that time, the tens of thousands of troops commanded by Wang Jing would become an isolated force that could only fight alone.

The fate of an isolated army usually has only one outcome: the entire army is annihilated and the soldiers die without a burial place!
But Zhang Chao was also very clear that if Wang Jing learned that his troops suddenly appeared in Wenyang, he would definitely not dare to attack the city again and would definitely use all his strength to turn around and fight him.

Zhang Chao had already planned in his mind how to retreat and fight at the same time and deal with Wang Jing to the end!

However, when Zhang Chao rushed into Wenyang to cut off Wang Jing's retreat, he met Taishi Ci and two thousand defenders who were guarding there.

"Who will take this city for me?"

"I am willing to take this city for you!"

Yang Da, a brave general under Zhang Chao, stood out with two hammers in his hands. He had a sturdy figure, a voice like a bell, and his cultivation in the fourth realm of martial arts was outstanding in Taishan County.

"If you can defeat the enemy, I will reward you handsomely!"

"Thank you, Lord!"

Yang Da was very excited when he heard this. He came from a poor family, and the reason he joined the Zhang family of Dongping was to obtain resources for cultivation and stand out in the troubled times.

Dang~
Yang Da suddenly struck his two hammers against each other, the sound echoing for ten miles. He rushed to the city of Wenyang and shouted, "You rats, dare you come out of the city and fight me!"

In front of the city wall, the provoked soldiers of the Shesheng Camp were furious. Three of them were sharpshooters who could shoot with a six-stone bow. For a moment, sharp sounds broke through the air and strong winds whistled.

However, dozens of arrows were blocked by Yang Da swinging his double hammers, and he said arrogantly: "Hahaha, weak, too weak, didn't you eat? You want to kill me with such weak archery skills?"

At this moment, Taishi Ci moved.

His face was stern, his pupils were as sharp as an eagle's, and his strong and slender arms suddenly exerted force, pulling the ancient red longbow in his hand to the limit, and the string was like a full moon!

The moment the arrow left the bow, the world was silent, everything was quiet, only a brilliant white feather arrow passed through Yang Da's body like a stream of light.

puff~
The armor on Yang Da's body was pierced by an arrow. After his flesh and blood were torn apart, he heard the sound of the arrow breaking through the air.

"What kind of...archery is this?"

The strong body fell to the ground with a loud bang, and an expression of disbelief froze on Yang Da's face. Before he had the chance to write his own story in the troubled times, his life came to an end.

"Wan Sheng! Wan Sheng!"

Taishi Ci shot and killed the enemy general with one arrow, which greatly boosted the morale of the Shesheng Camp.

Outside the city, Zhang Chao was also shocked: "Yang Da has reached the fourth level of cultivation and has reached the great perfection of martial arts, how could he not be able to catch even one arrow? Wang Yuanxu has such a fierce general under his command, who is he?"

Although Yang Da was killed, Zhang Chao had no way to retreat and could only launch an attack on the city. However, he did not dare to approach within three miles of the city wall, for fear of being shot to death by Taishi Ci's arrow.

After several days of siege, thousands of people were killed or injured. More than a dozen martial arts masters of the third realm in the army were killed by Taishi Ci's arrows. Most of the masters trained by the Zhang family of Dongping with great effort were killed or injured, which was a serious blow.

Despite such a tragic sacrifice, Zhang Chao was still unable to capture any of the gates of Wenyang City from Taishi Ci. On the contrary, the morale of his soldiers was low due to the heavy casualties.

Taishi Ci was indeed a future famous general of the Eastern Wu. He then saw the opportunity and led two hundred cavalrymen, holding halberds and bows, and rode out of the city to launch a surprise attack on Zhang Chao's troops. Zhang Chao was stunned. He never expected that the Northern Army, who he thought was defending the city so hard, would come out of the city and attack him.

Zhang Chao's army was recruited directly from local militia. Except for a small number of personal soldiers who were trained as the main force, the rest were small fry with uneven combat effectiveness, which was far behind the Northern Army.

Wang Jing attached great importance to training soldiers. From the lowest-level soldiers to the regular soldiers who received professional combat training in the barracks, the huge combat power advantage brought by the complete training system was fully demonstrated at this moment.
Not only is there a gap in organizational and combat capabilities between the two sides, but the morale and state of Zhang Chao's troops are also completely crushed.

Led by Zhang Chao, they fought against Taishi Ci, but they had no place to vent their energy. After several fruitless sieges, their bodies were exhausted.

It was precisely because of seeing this situation that Taishi Ci immediately realized that now was the time to attack them.

Taishi Ci was brave and courageous. Before going into battle, he issued an order: "Within an hour, break into Zhang Chao's camp. I need to make him lose his temper, no matter if I set fire to him or anything else! And our army must win in the midst of chaos!"

Taishi Ci's military orders were simple and crude, but direct and effective.

There is no back-up plan, and there is no need to keep any tricks. Just simply attack, attack, and attack again, and use the most ferocious battle to defeat the enemy in front of you.

In an hour, they broke into Zhang Chao's camp outside the city, caught the enemy off guard, and then severely damaged his morale, repelling his attack.

"kill!"

The attack was going smoothly at this time, and the soldiers under Taishi Ci all had excited expressions on their faces.

Under the leadership of Taishi Ci, a first-class general, the troops marched quickly. Within just one hour, at dawn, they arrived at the gate of Zhang Chao's first camp.

Zhang Chao led tens of thousands of troops to attack in full force. Their camp covered an area of ​​three miles, and the marching tents stretched to the far end, as if endless.

Break one and there's another.

Break through one layer, and there is another layer.

However, this war is already on the verge of an arrow. Once the bowstring sounds, the enemy will die, but if you stop, you will die too.

The cavalry charged forward with all their might, and Taishi Ci led the team personally, breaking through several lines of defense in succession, demonstrating the momentum of trampling the allied camp.

Taishi Ci continued to attack without stopping, wielding his double halberds in close combat and using bows and arrows at range, killing seven brave generals under Zhang Chao in a row. Every time he broke through a camp, he set fire and killed people, creating chaos and never giving the enemy a chance to breathe.

The reason for such a strong attack was that Taishi Ci knew that he must not stop the offensive at this moment. Otherwise, by the time Zhang Chao reacted the next day, not only would the troops he led be in danger, but even Wenyang City would be easily breached in one fell swoop. Wang Jing's main force would lose its retreat and supplies and be trapped to death in Taishan County.

Taishi Ci would never allow this to happen.

So he had no choice but to attack and attack again!
He continuously broke through the numerous defenses set up by Zhang Chao, and finally, he arrived in front of Zhang Chao's base camp, only a few hundred steps away from Zhang Chao.

Hundreds of cavalrymen stood tall against the wind, and the secret guards who were sent out also came back to report to Taishi Ci about the situation in the camp.

"Captain, we have already eliminated the scouts sent by Zhang Chao. At present, the enemy will never be able to discover our two hundred cavalrymen."

"How long until daybreak?"

Taishi Ci suddenly looked up at the sky, and saw that there were neither stars nor moon in the pitch-black night.

The secret guard standing in front of him estimated the time and replied, "Looking at the sky, it will probably be sunrise in another hour."

The guards around Taishi Ci also looked at him, waiting for his orders.

"Then let's do it before dawn!"

Taishi Ci pondered for a moment and made a decision: "Two hundred cavalrymen, all of whom are elite soldiers wearing armor, can break into the enemy's camp and set fire everywhere, thus disrupting the enemy's deployment. When the enemy is in chaos, the rest of the soldiers in the city will rush out as reinforcements and join forces with us to attack the camp. If there is enough time, we can even disguise ourselves as Zhang Chao's soldiers and blend in with them, and then kill and destroy them!"

Before Taishi Ci finished speaking, he emphasized again: "No one is allowed to retreat in this battle, otherwise I will be killed without mercy! Even if it is me, if I dare to retreat, you will chop off my head!"

The commander was determined to fight to the death, and his men were all awed and responded loudly: "Yes! We are willing to live and die with the commander!"

The current 200 cavalrymen, among whom the main members are soldiers trained in the Hedong camp, because Hedong has war horses, in addition to the ranch funded by Wang Jing, of course there are also BMW horses imported from the Xiongnu and Xianbei. Now, coupled with professional soldiers with superb riding skills, their combat effectiveness is very strong.

These Hedong soldiers were all Wolf Cavalry veterans invited by Wang Jing from Bingzhou and trained one by one in Hedong County in order to gain powerful combat effectiveness.

In order to enhance the combat capability of these cavalrymen, Wang Jing even specially asked the Mohists to make some weapons suitable for cavalrymen to arm them to the teeth.

Now that they are being used by Taishi Ci to fight tough battles and tackle tough problems, he naturally hopes that they will have miraculous effects on the battlefield.

Fortunately, most of these Hedong cavalrymen were from Hedong at first and had a foundation in riding skills. After entering the military camp, they were screened several times and a group of weak ones were eliminated. Now the remaining members are all elite cavalrymen with sufficient experience.

Although they had captured several outer camps and consumed some physical and mental strength, at this moment, Taishi Ci did not have time for them to rest and continue to familiarize themselves with the situation, so sending troops directly was the best option.

Just because on the battlefield, speed is of the essence!
What Taishi Ci wanted was to not give Zhang Chao's troops even a little time to react, and to destroy the enemy's morale with a devastating battle.

When fighting with a smaller force against a larger one, the key is to attack with all your might. Otherwise, the enemy will come to their senses and attack with heavy troops, and even Taishi Ci will have no choice but to turn around and flee.

Taishi Ci was seen riding on a horse, holding a pair of halberds, and charging into the camp alone.

Zhang Chao was awakened from his sleep and immediately shouted: "Enemy attack!"

"Where is the enemy?"

"Hurry up and organize a defense!"

"Oh no, the camp is flooded!"

The troops under Taishi Ci's command were as fast as thunder and as fierce as a raging wave.

One charge caught Zhang Chao's troops off guard and they fled in all directions.

Zhang Chao heard the shouting outside from inside the tent and immediately panicked. He grabbed the weapon beside him and rushed towards the battlefield, saying in a deep voice: "Who are you? How dare you attack my camp?"

He indeed did not realize that the Wenyang County garrison guarding the city, with such a huge disparity in troop strength, actually dared to come out of the city and fight him in the field. They were simply courting death!
Although Zhang Chao was a scholar, he had also learned martial arts in his daily life. With the long sword in his hand, he soon came into close contact with the Hedong soldiers under Taishi Ci, and even killed several of them.

But until this point, Zhang Chao didn't know who the enemy general would be.

It can only be said that Taishi Ci is not famous nowadays. In the eyes of the princes, he is just an insignificant little transparent person.

"Everyone, move closer to me, and after we form a formation, follow me to kill the enemy."

Zhang Chao was completely beaten into a state of confusion and could only shout loudly and convey military orders instinctively.

At this moment, he didn't know who the enemy was, nor did he know the number of enemy troops. It was dark, and even with a torch, the line of sight was less than two meters. This gave Taishi Ci's Hedong soldiers many means and room for maneuver, making combat more flexible.

Soon, terrifying fires broke out everywhere in the tent.

The fire was fanned by the wind and soon filled the camp with thick smoke.

Zhang Chao was slightly surprised.

Suddenly, a young general appeared before his eyes.

"Are you Zhang Chao?"

"Who's next?"

"The one who killed you is Taishi Ci of Donglai!"

Taishi Ci suddenly swung the double halberds in his hands, creating a whistling sound.

The iron halberd smashed hard, bringing a fierce attack that left Zhang Chao unable to resist for a moment. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and raised his sword to fight back the moment he dodged. (End of this chapter)