Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 283: Although the Han Dynasty is declining, the destiny remains unchanged

When Zhang He heard the terrified screams in the distance, he immediately ordered the 1,800 soldiers in the central army to place torches and hold their ground. With the sound of gongs, drums, horns and flutes as the rhythm, they set up battle array to meet the enemy and set up shields, and then held powerful crossbows and were ready for battle. When they heard the sound of horse hooves, they immediately fired their bows and crossbows and defeated the enemy cavalry.

This was the method that Qu Yi used to defeat Gongsun Zan at Jie Bridge. It was also a good strategy for infantry to counter cavalry.

Zhang He's eyes were full of murderous intent. If Zhang Wenyuan dared to lead the cavalry to launch a surprise attack and cause chaos, he would make him taste the pain of Gongsun's miserable defeat.

In the dark wilderness late at night, the sound could be heard from far away. From time to time, terrifying screams could be heard reaching the army formation, making people's hair stand on end and their hearts tremble with fear.

If the soldiers had not held the pieces of wood in their mouths, they would have started whispering and making a lot of noise.

Only the commander Zhang He remained unmoved, looking around under the crackling sound of the campfire.

Time passed quickly, and there was no sign of Zhang Liao's cavalry. Just when Zhang He's bad premonition was gradually magnified.

Suddenly, there were dense and hurried footsteps in the front army. The soldiers all looked panicked and fled in a panic, some even rushed towards the direction of the fire in the central army. Only two or three thousand fleeing soldiers immediately broke up the central army's northern formation.

Zhang He ordered his soldiers to kill dozens of fleeing soldiers in succession but they did not stop. Driven by instinct, they all ran towards a safe place where there was fire.

Zhang He finally had no choice but to give the order to shoot them with a powerful crossbow, and ordered his men to take out the wooden pieces from their mouths. They shouted in unison: "Quickly retreat to the left and right! Anyone who dares to disrupt the formation will be killed!"

Many fleeing soldiers were blocked in front and behind and were shouting in panic, while some of them ignored everything and continued to rush towards the fire.

Zhang He immediately ordered the soldiers in the central army to draw their bowstrings and shoot another round of arrows. As for the soldiers who were afraid to take action, he angrily shouted, "The fleeing soldiers charging the battle formation is no different from the enemy army charging the battle formation. If the central army's formation collapses, the whole army will be annihilated. This is Zhang Liao's trick. He deliberately used cavalry to break through the front army. Don't think about the friendship between comrades and fellow townsmen at this time."

However, at this moment, loud drums sounded from the rear, and deafening shouts of killing came from all directions. All 2,300 defenders of Ge County rushed out of the city and shot arrows at Zhang He's elite troops in the center.

At the same time, he was still shouting: "Yuan Shao of Jizhou has been defeated, Lord Xuande's reinforcements have arrived, kill the enemy!"

"Don't let the villain Zhang He go!"

"Kill Zhang He! Great achievement! Kill Zhang He, great achievement!!"

The Yuan army's center army saw that they were surrounded from all sides, their front army was defeated, and their rear army was silent, so they immediately became panicked.

I don’t know how many people the Qingzhou army has brought. Judging from the situation, it is possible that the main force of the enemy has arrived, otherwise how could there be so many troops and easily defeat the front and rear armies.

No wonder the cavalry suddenly withdrew at dusk. It turned out that they had received the news early. It was only because their infantry moved slowly that they were caught up and surrounded by the Qingzhou army. They wanted to annihilate them all in one fell swoop on this plain.

Thinking of this, Yuan Bing couldn't help but become even more panicked. He was frightened and uneasy at the sound of the wind.

The soldiers standing in the front with swords and shields were the first to collapse mentally. Seeing that there was no chance of survival here, no one wanted to die in a foreign land, so they immediately threw away their weapons and armor, surrendered to the enemy, and ran away as a sign of respect.

Once there is one, there will be two. Someone took the lead in running away, and the morale of the front row collapsed instantly. The already shaky formation suddenly collapsed, and everyone fled in panic.

Courage is the reason why one has the courage to do things. Without courage, no general can reverse the situation on the battlefield and can only be swept away by the defeated soldiers and go with the flow.

Zhang He did not expect that Zhang Wenyuan did not attack all the way along the rear army, but instead took a detour to attack his retreating front army. After completely defeating the front army, he let the defeated soldiers charge into his position.

Now that Yuan Gong had lost his army and discipline, he was defeated immediately. He was also defeated soon after. Even his retreat was seized by Zhang Liao, who defeated him and ruined his plan.

Zhang He grabbed the reins of his horse tightly and fled in panic, unable to help but thinking in grief.

"Zhang Liao is such a cunning bastard. After the defeat, the rear army would rather take a detour to the front instead of attacking our flag directly. It is really hateful."

Zhang He did not expect that Zhang Liao could be so calm in judging and analyzing the situation while charging into battle at night. This shows that Zhang Wenyuan is indeed a tough opponent.

The moonlight hid in the clouds, and everything around seemed darker.

Zhang He, along with a dozen personal guards, rode through the dark woods in the west. He was still worried about the soldiers he had trained so hard, fearing that not many of them would be able to escape back to Bohai. Unexpectedly, he met head-on twenty or thirty Qingzhou cavalrymen who had circled behind him.

Both sides were shocked. They didn't expect that they would collide with each other. Zhang He reacted immediately and shouted loudly: "Don't get entangled with the enemy cavalry, kill them first!"

When the two armies met, a battle was about to break out. The cavalry on both sides immediately drew their bows and arrows, and shot their arrows at each other.

Upon seeing this, both sides simultaneously lay down on their horses to avoid the arrows. Even so, people on both sides were shot and fell headfirst to the ground.

In the dim light, Zhang Liao could clearly see that there was a man in the center of the enemy cavalry wearing iron armor, who was much better than the soldiers. He must be at the level of a military commander or even a colonel. Even if he could not catch Zhang He, capturing this general would be considered a triumphant victory for the enemy.

In a moment, the cavalry skillfully divided into three groups, with the vanguard charging the enemy at the same time, while the left and right wings outflanked and attacked, which was a common tactic used by cavalry.

The difference is that the Qingzhou cavalry would first charge in a cone formation, and when they were about to break through the enemy's formation, they would suddenly squeeze their horses' bellies to speed up and attract the enemy's attention, buying time for the left and right wings.

Like the pincer attack, the real killer move is the two sides. Even if the enemy is large in number, it can be cut into several sections in an instant, and then three sections can attack one section in the form of arrows, forming a local advantage in a short period of time and crushing the opponent. "Kill!"

Zhang Liao roared, aimed at the target, spurred his horse and rushed forward as the vanguard, frightening the opponent so much that he could not help but tremble.

The reason why Zhang Liao dared to charge like this was that he had already changed into armor before setting out, so he was not afraid of the enemy cavalry's arrows falling on him. The military officers of Yuan's army did not dare to rush out of the protection of their personal soldiers without permission.

Because of the special features of his armor, if he dared to move forward a little, the arrows would hit him first.

When fighting on the battlefield, no matter which side it is, the position of the commander of the central army will be hidden. If one wants to attack the enemy in battle, one must either change armor or not display any flags that reveal information. Otherwise, it is equivalent to enabling the position sharing of both sides when the two armies are fighting fiercely.

When the enemy sees this, they will be jealous and fight desperately, roaring and rushing over to kill the general and gain merit.

In particular, raising the flag will easily attract enemy attacks. In history, Yan Liang and Yin Xiaozu both died from waving their flag on the battlefield.

Although Zhang He did not take his flag with him when he escaped, his sophisticated armor still attracted attention. So he naturally hid in the crowd and lay on the horse's back, praying that the personal soldiers in front of him could successfully create a gap so that he could escape the siege of the enemy cavalry safely.

He never expected that the spears thrust out by the three bodyguards were deflected by the opponent's horse lances, and then he quickly swung the lance and knocked the bodyguards off their horses cleanly and neatly, while he leaned sideways to absorb the force.

“Who is this thief? How can he be so good at using a spear…” Before Zhang He could even think of this, he was thrown off his horse and fell to the ground. His thighs were pinned down by the horse, and his lower body was unable to move.

"It's over, it's completely over."

Seeing the enemy's spears approaching, Zhang He's eyes flashed with regret and he closed his eyes in despair.

If Ju Gong had not been allowed to take all the cavalry away, there would not have been a defeat tonight.

If he had not chosen to run this way, he would not have accidentally run into the Qingzhou cavalry, and would not have been captured and killed by the enemy. If he had surrendered in the center of the army just now, he would not have been defeated and killed.

A real man should make contributions to the country in his life. I never thought that this would be the time when I, Zhang Junyi, would die.

All kinds of feelings surged into Zhang He's heart in an instant. He wanted to ask for surrender, but felt it was too late.

He had no choice but to lie on the ground with his eyes closed and wait for the killing to take place. Unexpectedly, after a few breaths, the sounds of fighting had gradually stopped, all his personal soldiers were killed in the battle, and he did not feel any pain in his neck, nor was he cut by a knife.

He opened his eyes and looked at the soldier whose skin color could not be seen clearly. He could only see the short-bearded soldier looking through the documents and seals in his horse bag. He saw him open his eyes out of the corner of his eye and could not help laughing: "Are you Zhang He? How could the famous general of Hebei be so weak in battle? Wen Chou was like this back then, and you are like this now."

"Who are you? If you want to kill me, just kill me. There is no need to say more!" Zhang He did not expect to be ridiculed like this before his death. He immediately took back his words of begging for mercy and said with a pale and red face.

Unexpectedly, the soldier grinned and ordered the knights to tie up Zhang He with ropes. Then he joked, "I won't kill you. I regret not capturing Wen Chou in the battle of Hanoi. Today, I can capture you alive to repay the envoy's kindness in employing you."

"You are Zhang Wenyuan, and you wrote that vulgar ballad?!"

A surge of anger rose in Zhang He's heart, and he asked with a frown.

Fighting is one thing, but making up nursery rhymes to insult others is a bit too much.

"Yes, I am Zhang Liao."

Zhang Liao thought that the agricultural student was not only good at studying farming, but was also adept at composing catchy songs.

Zhang Junyi, the turtle from Hebei, was trapped and unable to move forward. Recently he learned the method of a mud turtle and dared not show his head.

"It is indeed related to me, but I am just trying to provoke you. You and I each serve our own masters. As long as I can weaken your military power, it doesn't matter if I use some tricks."

Zhang Liao said from a high position.

After a pause, Zhang Liao smiled again and said, "If I'm not mistaken, Yuan Benchu ​​has been badly defeated by now, right?"

"The one who led the cavalry to the west earlier should be the military supervisor, Lieutenant Ju Su."

"After Yuan Shao's defeat, Jizhou's people must have lost their morale, and many of them have fled to Hebei. Do you think he can really escape back to Hebei?"

"In the past, General Fu Bo Ma Yuan once said: In today's world, it is not only the king who chooses his ministers, but the ministers also choose their kings. Yuan Benchu ​​is not the ruler of the world, but he is like Wei Xiao and Gongsun Shu. He is really a frog in the well, but he is arrogant. It is better for him to focus on the east and join Xuande, just like joining Guangwu. He should change his mind and restore order for the Han Dynasty. It is not too late to make achievements and establish a career!"

Zhang Liao advised with a smile that he was not satisfied with just defeating Zhang He's troops, as there were Gao Lan and Dong Zhao in Pingyuan, so of course he should gain more merits.

"The Han Dynasty has inherited the Mandate of Heaven for four hundred years. Although the virtue of the Han Dynasty has declined, the Mandate of Heaven has not changed. Jun Yi, ask yourself, are you willing to be a minister of the Han Dynasty again?!"

(End of this chapter)