Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 92 Liu Bei: You fell before I even used any strength?

In Yingpan, more than ten miles away from Neihuang County, more than twenty wooden bridges were built against the Huan River, and dozens of boats were sailing on the river.

Yan Liang ordered his men to build equipment and surround the city, preparing to recruit civilians from the rear to test the siege.

However, a scout hurriedly reported: "General, a large banner with the word Liu appeared on the right side of the camp, and the troops are coming with drums beating!"

Yan Liang, who had just finished inspecting the camp, was startled and asked hurriedly, "How many troops are there? Could it be that Liu Xuande is here in person?"

"There are very few cavalry, and the infantry should be less than 4,000." The scout thought about it and glanced back hurriedly while running for his life. The number of Qingzhou troops should not be much different.

After hearing this, Yan Liang was overjoyed, and immediately sent someone to lead his horse and put on armor for him. He then gathered the soldiers in the camp and sent them out in two groups.

He sent 5,000 auxiliary soldiers to intercept the defenders who might break out of the city, and he personally led 4,000 combat soldiers and 3,000 auxiliary soldiers, totaling more than 7,000 people, to defeat Liu Bei's troops who had come from afar.

Another 2,000 auxiliary soldiers were dispatched to guard the wooden bridge to prevent it from being burned down, and the remaining auxiliary soldiers defended the camp walls and guarded the military supplies and siege equipment.

On the way, Yan Liang said to his soldiers with a smile: "I thought I had no merit to be awarded, but I didn't expect Liu Xuande to come across the river to give me merit. It is said that if you don't take what God has given you, you will suffer the consequences. If you don't take what the time has come, you will suffer the consequences."

"If I had led my troops to the battle quickly and let Liu Xuande escape, Lord Yuan would have blamed me."

In Yan Liang's opinion, Yuan's 7,000 elite troops would be able to defeat Liu Bei's 4,000 troops, and Liu Bei was using his troops to attack a chariot with an egg.

He also sent auxiliary soldiers to intercept the defenders in the city to prevent their morale from collapsing due to being surrounded on two sides.

From the news sent by the scouts to the deployment of troops, he was confident that everything was appropriate.

But they forgot to consider what to do if the field battle was not going well.

When he was several hundred steps away from the formation, Yan Liang suddenly felt a chill in his heart. Even when the enemy was marching, their formation was well-organized, with very small gaps between each formation and good coordination.

They advanced in unison like flags covering the sun, overwhelming the sky like a raging torrent, and the feeling of oppression was extremely strong.

Only those who have been in the military for a long time can see that they are definitely elite and fierce soldiers.

Although there were only a few thousand of them, they felt to him better than Gongsun Zan's disorderly army of ten or twenty thousand or so.

Now the arrow is on the string and has to be shot. If the troops withdraw, the entire army will collapse.

Yan Liang thought that the loss of the three counties of Weijun had made Yuan Gong very angry. If he was defeated again, he would become the target of public criticism, and the resentment towards Guo Tu would be transferred to him.

The only solution now is to grit our teeth and forcefully defeat Liu Bei's troops.

"Beat the drums, blow the trumpets, and march!" Yan Liang shouted.

The flag bearer received the order and waved the flag, and the drums of Yuan’s army suddenly sounded.

Yan Liang also ordered his auxiliary soldiers to be divided into the left and right wings, so that they could use their numerical advantage to attack the enemy's flank, causing chaos in the Qingzhou army and breaking the frontal battle formation.

Unexpectedly, before the auxiliary soldiers got close, they were shot by powerful crossbows in turn, which caused an uproar and the formation began to become chaotic and was about to fall apart.

Seeing that the auxiliary soldiers were of no use, Yan Liang frowned.

These soldiers recruited from other counties were extremely bad. They were almost exhausted after three or four rounds of arrows and had stopped, not daring to move forward.

Yan Liang thought that if he had not given more of his soldiers to Qu Yi, he would not have had to lead this ragtag group of troops to fight Liu Bei. But it was too late now.

"kill!"

"Kill!"

The two armies collided head-on, and the shouts of killing between the two armies resounded throughout the battlefield.

The Armored Battalion passed the Vanguard Battalion and rushed to the front, panting. Like a hammer, the formation of Yuan's soldiers was instantly smashed open with a huge gap.

Yan Liang, who was watching the battle from behind, suddenly twitched his eyes. This soldier was even more ferocious than the more than a hundred halberd warriors beside Yuan Gong!
Holding a long sword and a long hammer, with a visor protecting his head, he used only 500 armored soldiers to charge into the battle formation, and broke through the battle formation of his 5,000 soldiers. The army behind him broke through the gap directly like a rotten wood!

Seeing that the gap in the army was getting bigger and bigger, the sound of trumpets and drums came from behind.

The guards stationed in Neihuang had already rushed out of the city, and the county soldiers were unable to stop them. Their formation was broken into several pieces. The cavalry of Qingzhou joined forces with the guards and defeated the auxiliary soldiers sent by Yan Liang to intercept them. The soldiers fled in panic.

When the cavalry of both sides met, Taishi Ci called out to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, telling them that the envoy was still fighting against Yan Liang's army and had not yet defeated the enemy. The three of them were anxious, so they led 140 cavalrymen and attacked the rear of Yan Liang's central army.

Yan Liang knew that the remaining county soldiers were already fighting with the enemy and he had no time to take care of them.

The soldiers in front of them were on the verge of collapse. If they did not lead the central army to charge, the army of ten thousand people would undoubtedly be defeated.

When Liu Bei saw Yan Liang marching forward with his flag, he also ordered the 400 soldiers who had not yet moved to meet him with spears, swords and shields.

The enemy used cavalry to shoot arrows in an attempt to collapse his flank, but to no avail.

Although there were casualties among the auxiliary soldiers, the rate of armored soldiers was high. Moreover, Liu Bei's morale was high in the army, so he did not turn back to chase the broken Yuan army on the opposite side as if he was cutting melons and vegetables.

Yan Liang suddenly saw Liu Xuande's banner not far away and his eyes were shocked.

He suddenly rode his horse and led his troops to charge forward, directly charging into the gun formation.

Fifty steps, twenty steps, ten steps...

Yan Liang was horrified to find that Liu Bei's central army was not panicking or afraid at all when facing the cavalry charge, and no one dodged instinctively.

"Boom! Boom!"

When the cavalrymen made their final charge, they covered their horses' eyes with their arms and were knocked off their horses and men by the impact of their shields.

Some knights had their spears pierced into the shields, and fell to the ground, being trampled by the horses behind them.

The dozens of cavalrymen in front risked their lives to break through Liu Bei's formation, and the hundreds of cavalrymen behind continued to charge forward. Yan Liang's neck turned red, tightly grasping his spear, and shouted fiercely: "Whoever kills Liu Xuande will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins!"

Suddenly, the horse he was riding neighed as if in pain, and threw him to the ground, and the horse had difficulty getting up.

There are caltrops in the shallow grass on the ground...

Yan Liang was filled with grief and indignation, and his attempt to charge into the battle line and kill the enemy was also unsuccessful.

When Liu Bei saw that the cavalry had returned after shooting arrows, it was clear that they would not give up, so he ordered the soldiers to throw down the caltrops.

He also didn't expect that Yuan Shao had so many Hu cavalry, so how could he march without being on guard?

Liu Bei ordered the two wings to stretch out and encircle the remaining cavalry and kill them.

The cavalrymen surrounded by the infantry were like serving vegetables. In their panic, they were unable to withstand the spears and lances stabbing at them from all directions while riding on their horses, and they fell to the ground one after another.

Yan Liang's legs were broken and he was tied up by the soldiers and brought to Liu Bei. Liu Bei stood up and dusted off his armor.

Looking at the collapse of the enemy behind him, Yuan Jun sighed, "I thought that there were at least 13,000 to 14,000 people who came all the way here to fight with them, but I never thought that it was 5,000 to 5,000. Before the central army could move forward, there was a gap in your formation."

"Your strategy of dividing the troops made me wipe the blade several times in vain along the way."

"I originally wanted Yunchang to take your head, but you showed your courage and sent it directly to me. Remember this well, using cavalry to charge into well-armored infantry will only lead to death."

After Liu Bei finished speaking, he waved his hand and asked the soldiers to take him away.

He glanced at Neihuang County and said, "Continue to march forward and strangle the fleeing soldiers. After meeting up with Yunchang and Yide to replenish food and grass, we will cross the river... and go to Yecheng!"

(End of this chapter)